Set against the trackless void of space, Ben Bova''s new novel is a duel between two men. One is the murderer of a whole world; the other is one of his victims.

The Second Asteroid War climaxed with the brutal destruction of Chrysalis: hundreds of men, women and children on the miners'' habitat died terrible deaths in the vacuum of the asteroid belt.

But one ship escapes destruction. Low on fuel, her communications destroyed, the ore ship Syracuse flees towards deep space with fifteen-year-old Theo Zacharias at the helm.

Three years later, the war long over, Syracuse still drifts through the void. Meanwhile the man who now calls himself Dorn – the destroyer of Chrysalis – roams space gathering up the bodies of his victims. He encounters Theo Zacharias in a clash of purposes, hopes and fury . . .