Russ Atkins, an ex-con space pilot with a gift for sensing mind intrusion, hungers for a fresh start on life. Restoring a telepathic child to her clan in defiance of the law is not what he has in mind.

The Union of Planets, governed from twenty-third century Earth, nurtures a deep-seated loathing toward its former thought-shifting overlords, the Ilanians. Aside from an enslaved group of Ilanians, many of whom are used as special agents to hunt their own kind, all telepaths and humans who help them face execution.

With a death penalty hanging over his head, Russ plunges into a criminal underworld to evade capture. But when his young friend’s clan is threatened, will Russ overcome his own prejudices to defend them against a powerful Union agent from his past?