To escape extermination by their Heavyworld colleagues, Kai, Varian and their companions sought refuge in the suspended animation of cryogenic sleep. Now time has elapsed - how much is hard to tell, but at least two generations - and the survivors emerge from their hibernation. Ireta, the Dinosaur Planet, is much changed. The Heavyworlders have regressed to primitive barbarity. Much necessary life-support equipment has malfunctioned or disappeared. The very face of Ireta has altered.
