John Petersen, second mate on the interstellar run, met the gorgeous Ilona in the passengers' lounge of the ship. Then he met her again in her apartment on Carinthea. In fact, that's where he was when he missed the return flight, thereby becoming a Distressed Terran Spaceman.
For a while, it looked like Petersen was in deep trouble, for a D.T.S. is the land of guy no one wants around. That's why he was extra dubious when a Carinthean private eye offered him a job.
And taking that job was like jumping out of the alpha and in the gamma rays. For Petersen was soon to find himself in his own vicious time cycle. And unless he could figure it out, he wouldn't even have the pleasure of dying.
