EZ-J makes his way in life by hustling people in holo chess. One day after blasting a terra farmer over a deal gone bad he has to jet back to his home planet Terra-1in order to evade the cops and the terra farmers angry friends. On terra he learns of a struggle between those who want to extract more of Terra-1's resources and those who want to conserve the remaining resources.

Secret Agent Lorry Quaid can handle much. How much?