Rod Garvin just made too many waves for the thought control board that controlled the plastic Society of the 21st century. Throwing him in an insane asylum didn't restrain him, nor, when that didn't work, did sentencing him to a suicide job on mars. Garvin was bright, driven and stubborn so the only thing thought control could do was get rid of him quietly and permanently. And that was fine with Garvin since it meant he could make his dream of a voyage into deep space. But even Beyond saturn, Garvin couldn't avoid his talent for trouble. When his exploration ship stumbled on asteroid people by remnants of Starfire and race and possessed of incredible mineral wells. It happened to prospect of unlimited for earth and the thought control, if only Rod Garvin hadn't been the man to find it.