After their exploration ship is brutally attacked without warning by a previously unknown alien race, Lon and the other members of the Marintha's crew flee—with their new enemy in hot pursuit. The aliens chase the humans, who barely escape using overdrive. And to their surprise and horror, the aliens give chase—which shouldn't be possible in overdrive.

Emerging in an unexplored system, the damaged Marintha crashes on an Earth-type planet. With the aliens in close pursuit, they know they have no time for repairs. Sure enough, as they escape their ship on foot, an atomic missile blasts it from orbit.

Can the four humans survive on this strange, alien planet and get a warning to Earth? And what if this new world isn't as uninhabited as it looks?

A classic, never-before-reprinted short novel by Murray Leinster, author of Time Tunnel, Space Platform, and many other Golden Age science fiction books and stories.