Carialle was born so physically disadvantaged that her only chance for life was as a shellperson. As the brain, Carialle, is a bodiless human wired into a spaceship, while her human partner, Keff, is the brawn. Their mission: to search the galaxy for intelligent beings. Intelligent life is thin on the galactic ground, so when Carialle and Keff arrive on a very nice little world with very nice little aliens—fuzzy, polite, and eager to please—they are overjoyed. But appearances are deceiving—their fuzzy friends turn out to be virtual slaves to a race of sorcerers who seem to possess magical powers of frightening potency. By the time the explorers discover the planet's secrets, they find themselves in a desperate battle to save it.