Maris's work with the local underworld on the huge space station was anything but honest, but life was much more pleasant than it had been before the gang's leader had picked her up from the slums. Then her boss grabbed a visitor to the station who was asking too many questions, only to find out that she was a very important diplomat. Then his prisoner apparently committed suicide by jumping through an airlock into hard vacuum. Since Maris and the missing diplomat had a strong facial resemblance, he decided to let Maris's corpse be found with the diplomat's IDs to avoid a search in his territory. Instead, Maris used the IDs to escape to the planet the Diplomat was about to investigate-and found herself in a hornet's nest of corrupt officials conspiring with a local tyrant in a mysterious scheme. Surrounded by people who wanted her eliminated, the only person she could trust was Gabrel, a young officer who set off on a cross-planet trek with her to get evidence that would expose the web of corruption. Maris was strongly attracted to Gabrel and the feeling seemed to be mutual. Of course, he thought she was a high-ranking government agent; but she was only a petty criminal on the run, and her deception could not be maintained much longer. . . .