"A dying man's last words brought Dumarest to Loame, 'the garden planet'. Its name was a mockery--Loame's gentle citizens could only watch in horror as their fields were ravaged by a mutated vine that destroyed all it touched. They were sure the acid-dripping vine was the work of their enemy world, Technos.Technos was not a world open to outsiders--but Dumarest is not a man who takes no for an answer. As a fugitive, as a prisoner of war, as the captive bedmate of a queen, he continues his quest, seeking an answer to the question that his his life's obsesson: 'Have you ever heard of a planet called _Earth_?'"