Synopsis: When Peter Ward saw the lone woman standing in the ruins of an obscure temple on a remote Greek island and singing Sappho in the original Aeolic Greek, he may have thought her a goddess, but he would never have imagined her true identity. For Ruth Thalia Adams was a singular entity. Although she appeared as a beautiful athletic young woman, no one was even sure of her species. And "Alia" as she was called by the Galactic Transit Authorities had more mysteries than just her species. No one on Earth knew what it was she had done, but to the Auld Galactic Marshal, she was the most dangerous individual in the spiral arm and had to be caught. He had chased her through several hundred worlds to no avail, but now he had her cornered - for Earth was the end of the line! (from the back cover of the first edition)