Synopsis: Thul - an iceball of a world beset by sudden treacherous, life-stealing storms, a planet that had once had an active military installation but was now scarcely even an outpost of civilization. Eli Pike had served his time on Thul when he was in the SpaceNav, and he'd planned never to return there. But a free-lance holo journalist can never turn down the chance of a scoop, and after his misadventures on the planet Scorpio, Pike was low enough on credits to follow up on any lead - even a wild tale of the ultimate racing beast, being bred and trained in the wilds of Thul. But far more than the search for a creature out of legend awaited Pike on Thul. For in his hunt he would stumble upon a previously unsuspected tribe determined to keep its existence concealed from the rest of the galaxy... (from the back cover of the DAW Books first edition)