Ali Karil is left behind with the Martian rebels while Captain Shagrug and Atalanta depart for distant Titan with a shipload of refugees. The ship is found mysteriously adrift and damaged in Jupiter orbit, the captain missing along with the lifeboat, the Martians dead. Karil and Galilean Security agent Loris collaborates to learn the secrets of the attack, Shagrug’s disappearance, the murders of the refugees, Atalanta’s crippling higher-functions madness, and finally the meaning of the Brazen Anvil clue in the rings of Saturn. Atalanta is the central character and has the best lines in the story..