Forever and a day—Brigadier General Benjamin Shore ignores a Presidential command and launches a revolutionary phase ship and its crew on an incredible journey deep into the uncharted regions toward Galactic Centerpoint...Investigating one planet after another in search of a habitable world, they encounter the vicious vine-tigers; a weasel-like pre-men, who live on an innocent looking planet lit by the sun of Polaris; the slim Gray-furs, a race possessing fantastic knowledge yet strangely inept; and the giant conquerors, the Golden People, with their magnificent cities, and their deadly javelin guns. With half his crew lost, General Shore prepares to return to Earth, only to find his most formidable foe aboard the phase ship itself...