''Earth is real,'' Dumarest insisted.

''A world old and scarred by ancient wars. The stars are few and there is a great single moon which hangs like a pale sun in the night sky.''

In the quest for his legendary birthplace, Earl Dumarest has traversed galaxies. Now, at least, he reaches Ourelle, a planet close to Earth - out along a far arm of the Milky Way. There he finds Jondelle, a boy who may hold the key to Earl's search.

But then Jondelle is kidnapped. And Dumarest's pursuit of the imperilled boy leads him to a city of paranoiac killers - madmen whose terrible violence is always on a hair-trigger!

(First published 1973)