Have you ever flown by rocket ship beyond the Black Magellanic Cloud? For years, Vera had longed for adventure and thought she had all the tools to meet it. Now that adventure is actually before her, she cannot seem to muster the courage of a cosmonaut. Vera is heading to a planet entirely populated not by men or women as we know them, but by massive upright lizards. Who can say that these creatures, with their strong jaws and immense hands, beclawed and wrapped in the armor of their thick reptilian skin, will not develop a taste for human meat? But Vera is the daughter of seasoned galactic travelers. Both of her parents are translators for the United Planets. Surely the polite and peaceful ways of the interplanetary diplomatic corps are up to the task of survival?