The worlds of the stellar Commonwealth stretch from edge to edge. What's around them? Unexplored worlds, dead and alive. From some of them, Arvar slave traders bring interesting, expensive slaves. But the path of slave traders often goes past patrols of the Aratan Empire. This time too, the patrol repelled thirty-six frozen slaves, among whom were two old enemies - a thief and a policeman. And there is a feeling that the game of cops and thieves will continue in the new place. Policeman Jeremiah Simpson has been catching the lucky thief Nail for too long to give up even among the stars.