Pyrrus and Kerk travel to the planet Eastworld to buy weapons. Weapons are needed to combat the aggressive plant and animal life on Death Planet. The adventurers get involved in a power struggle between freedom fighters and a cruel and centrally controlled regime. Unfortunately for Pyrrus he also meets the dictator, who doesn't take kindly to what the two space travellers did on the planet Westworld. Pyrrus ends up in a horrible concentration camp. Everything culminates in a fierce battle for life and death.
This is the third novel about the space adventurers Pyrrus and Kerk, whose motto is 'It will get better'.
"The beam of the searchlight suddenly swept across the river. The refugee in the water seemed to stiffen for a moment. The beam of light continued and shone again on the barbed wire on the other side. But then the searchlight suddenly stopped and swept back again. It got stuck on the swimming figure in the river."
"Finally he saw the roof edge. In desperation he stretched out his left hand but couldn't get hold of the edge. For a moment he thought he was about to fall headlong down to the ground, but at the same moment the fingers of his right hand got hold of the edge. His fingers ached more than before and he almost panicked. He fumbled with his left hand to find his knife and drove it hard into a board that stretched over the entire edge of the roof."
"A tribute to Harry Harrison and his Stainless Steel Rat."