(The term "Ageratan" must be from a recently revised text; in editions published through the 1970s these people were Arcturians, humans from Arcturus Three.)

There they meet Joyd Cummi, an Ageratan Vice-Sector Lord who has come to the city with almost two hundred people from a starliner that has made an emergency landing nearby.

In a mind-to-mind battle, Cummi succumbs to the hideous disease, a type of deadly fever called emfire, that he has spread to the natives.

Inside the building, they find the legendary, almost mythical Hall of Leave-Taking and realize that the planet on which they stand is Terra of Sol, old Earth, the original home of humanity.

An engrossing adventure that is skillfully set on a small stage against the massive background of intergalactic intrigue and decadence.The reviewer of Kirkus Reviews August 1, 1953 Issue[3] wrote: The 80th century (sic) A.D. when an impartial rule of galactic systems is disintegrating frames a science fiction story with adult concepts and a catchy theme.

Kartr of the loyal Space Patrol crashes on a strange planet where they find that the democracy to which they have been faithful is no more than a shell and that their own chieftain has false ambitions.

Reptiles and birdmen as well as humans people this and their worlds are a myriad of far-reaching systems, quite imaginatively projected.In the Saturday Review for November 14, 1953, the reviewer wrote:[4] Natives of a dozen planets, the Rangers were a varied lot, birdmen, reptile men, human beings, and others, but they were all loyal to Central Control, which commanded the First Galactic Empire.

Things were in a bad way in the year 8054 A.D.; there was corruption in high places, space pirates had disrupted celestial commerce, and one by one the universes were falling to enemies.

Short of supplies because of betrayal, the crew of the patrol ship Starfire was wrecked on a planet that had been unmapped and forgotten for centuries.