A novel of visionary terror and adventure! Light years from Earth, the pinnacle of mankind's genius is reached: two hundred men and women carve an idyllic self-sufficient colony out of the vast planet Tau Ceti Four. Among the biologists, genetic engineers and farmers is one man who urges caution - Colonel Cadmann Weyland, a warrior among strangers. They ignore his warnings and tear down his defenses - until a monster of lightning speed and awesome brutality threatens to destroy their peaceful, fragile world. Now Weyland leads the colonists into deadly, desperate battle. But the beast's annihilation is a fatal mistake, and the true nightmare is just beginning...