Synopsis: From the back cover of the DAW Books first printing: Smoothly, remorselessly, inhumanly, the controlled flow of people continued. As each of the great planetary shells approached population maximum, the surplus mass of humanity was transported out. Inexorably they filled the space made ready for them by Zeus, the master-minding intelligence. Mars shell, Asteroid, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus... But at Uranus shell the flow stopped and the pressure of the countless billions had pushed the shell to the very edge of breakdown. Beyond Uranus lay ready Neptune shell, Zeus-designed, Zeus-built, but no longer Zeus-controlled. Anther giant intelligence had usurped all power. And so it was that Maq Ancor, Master Assassin, Magician Cherry and Sine Anura became the eyes of Zeus as they journeyed to the place where all systems failed, where chaos and the Tyrant of Hades ruled.