Synopsis: From the first page of the Ace Double: "Dard Nordis grew up in a world that had been devastated by atomic catastrophe. The remnants of humanity had set up an iron dictatorship to hunt out and destroy the last free bands of scientists hiding in mountains and caves. And the day came when Dard's secret laboratory home was raided - and he escaped by the skin of his teeth. Where else could men go to keep the torch of liberty and knowledge burning? Dard's martyred brother had given him a key to that unknown haven, but how could Dard learn to use it? Where were the engineers and their spaceships hidden? The gripping, always exciting story of how Dard fought his way through an antagonistic world to find the gateway to the stars is one of Andre Norton's finest science-fiction novels."