Ran Loman wanted only to be left alone, to get away from it all. That's why he volunteered for duty on Pia 2, the most remote, isolated world in the Galaxy. The problem on Pia 2 was redwing, a plant used throughout the galaxy as a medical fixative. Redwing grew ony on Pia 2. And lately, less and less was being harvested. Lomar's assignment was simple: find out why, and do something about it. Station Officer Tan Carlo Harb tried to warn him the job might not be quite as simple as it sounded. But Lomar had to find out for himself about the strange inhabitants of Pia 2 - the Tocks, the Tame ones and the Wild ones, and the mysterious, legendary "rorks" that everyone feared. A murder and kidnapping that sent Lomar and a Wild Tock woman across an uncharted rork continent on their own taught Lomar rather more than he bargained for . . .