In a far-flung future, planoforming ships knit together a galaxy ruled fromEarth by the ruthless benevolence of the mysterious Lords of theInstrumentality, who presided over a utopia without death, danger--orfreedom. The Underpeople, humanlike beings created from animals to do the workof utopia, had no rights, and could be disposed of at the whim of a human. Butthey had become more humanlike than their creators, and their leader, the catwoman C'Mell, had a plan for gaining their freedom--which made hermuch too dangerous a person to be permitted to live. Elsewhere in the galaxy,the planet Norstrilia had power of its own, for it was the only source ofstroon, the drug which arrested aging and made humans immortal. Its inhabitantswere wealthy beyond comprehension, and one of them, a boy named Rod McBan, withthe help of his computer, had manipulated the galactic economy until hecompletely owned the planet Earth--which made him much too dangerous aperson to be permitted to live. But when Rod came to Earth and joined forceswith C'Mell and the Underpeople, the petrified utopia of theInstrumentality began to crack and fall apart as freedom was reborn in thegalaxy. . . .