Mithras had been set up as a Penal colony - no one would have gone to such a frozen hell voluntarily, Even five generations later, no inhabitant could escape from Mithras alive. And now, Howell discovered to his horror, the Confederation Colonial Service was using it as a dumping ground for its own troublemakers. He was marooned on Mithras - its new commandant, yet as much a prisoner as any convict. And to add to his tribulations, the entire colony was being terrorized by a fourteen year-old girl.