When the Council of Supreme met for Interstellar Trade Day, Jan Darzek was startled when Eight, the Councillor for Uncertified Worlds, admitted he needed council - something it was better at giving than requesting. When Darzek tried getting more information from the Councillor, he finds him unusually evasive and after he'd got the promise of a meeting out of the councillor, Darzek is startled to find that Eight had gone missing. He's even more worried when he learns the councillor had gone on a mission to Kamm, the world he had raised concerns about but when the being doesn't return he's worried enough to make his own way to Kamm. But with only limited training and background knowledge Darzek is startled to find that virtually all the members of the team of watchers assigned to Kamm have disappeared. Darzek has to uncover the mysteries behind Kamm's death ray before it became known to Central where it would trigger an automatic death sentence on the world of Kamm.

Although this doesn't have the laughs of most of the Darzek books it held me in suspense as I read it and I liked the description of Kamman life and societies to the degree we get to see such. ( )