Ivar Trevelyan, a progressor by profession and an adventurer by spirit, continues his stellar odyssey. He should have long ago been in Pekla, or rather on Pekla, a planet with a disgusting climate and no more attractive population - cannibalistic nomads who are going to dine on the farmers from behind the mountains - and save the local underdeveloped civilization. However, an unexpected meeting in space and the events that followed it violate all deadlines and change plans. Now Ivar can either die without getting out of this mess, or become a hero. The second is preferable and, what can I say, more familiar...