The diadem that crowned the head of Aleytys was in contact with her central nervous system - and invisible to outsiders. But even that star-born fugitive herself did not know what the diadem's powers were or what it could do to or for her.

What she did know was that it made her the target of the diadem's unrelenting and non-human owners who had tracked it across space and were still on her trail. She herself had started in search of her own people - but before she could make progress she would have to conquer both the unyielding mind-slave band she wore and the menace it held for all in contact with her.