Sadler knew that the discovery of heavy metals on the Moon could lead to a devastating war between Earth and the younger colonies of Mars and Venus. And someone in the quiet, respectable group of scientists on the Moon—someone Sadler had to find—was passing information to the unseen warships in outer space...

Was it Jamieson, the young astronomer devoted to the peaceful pursuit of pure science... or Jenkins, whose contacts in Supply gave him easy access to couriers from the rival planets... or even Director Maclaurin, whose knowledge of Earth's plans made him the most dangerous if he chose to tell...

If war came, the Moon would be the target. But Sadler's job was to prevent that war if he could... while the uneasy days, hours, seconds ticked away.<