Polar City - capital of Hagar, one of a handful of worlds on which the tiny, human- dominated Republic sits, uneasily squeezed between the powerful Interstellar Confederation and the enormous Coreward Alliance. When a suspected alien spy from the Confederation Embassy is found murdered, a potentially explosive situation is brewing for Police Chief Bates. And when talented psychic Mulligan is brought to the scene to pick up echoes of the murder, what he experiences sends him into amnesiac shock. Meanwhile, the murders continue unabated and a major crisis threatens to destabilise the Republic...Cover art by Mick Van Houten.