When The Planetara, a space cargo ship under the command of Gregg Haljan, docked at the moon to be loaded with a special load of moon ore bound for Grantline Corporation, everyone knew it was a risky business. The ore was valuable, and there were plenty of ruthless pirates and brigands willing to go to great lengths to have it.

Ray Cummings (byname of Raymond King Cummings; August 30, 1887 - January 23, 1957) was an American author of science fiction, rated one of the "founding fathers of the science fiction pulp genre". He was born in New York City and died in Mount Vernon, New York.