The diadem that crowned the head of Aleyts 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 into a 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 unyeilding mind-slave band she wore and the menace it held for all in contact with her.