"It can't be true! It must be some kind of hoax!" These were the words that went spinning through Neil Banning's mind when the Greenville authorities told him that the house he had grown up in, the aunt and uncle who had raised him, had never existed.
So Banning found himself in jail, charged with disturbing the peace—and maybe insanity. But when a stranger from outer space came to his cell at midnight and hailed him as the Valkar of Katuun, then Banning decided that maybe the authorities were right, maybe he was crazy. Because the only alternative was to believe the impossible explanation of the Outworlder—that he really was the exiled ruler of a remote star-world, and the personality of Neil Banning was an elaborate fraud.
It didn't really matter, though, who was right. Banning was on his way to Katuun whether he liked it or not. And as Banning—or the Valkar—he would have to save that star-world from the terror of THE SUN SMASHER . . . or perish with the loyal subjects he might never even have known!
"It can't be true! It must be some kind of hoax!" These were the words that went spinning through Neil Banning's mind when the Greenville authorities told him that the house he had grown up in, the aunt and uncle who had raised him, had never existed.
So Banning found himself in jail, charged with disturbing the peace—and maybe insanity. But when a stranger from outer space came to his cell at midnight and hailed him as the Valkar of Katuun, then Banning decided that maybe the authorities were right, maybe he was crazy. Because the only alternative was to believe the impossible explanation of the Outworlder—that he really was the exiled ruler of a remote star-world, and the personality of Neil Banning was an elaborate fraud.
It didn't really matter, though, who was right. Banning was on his way to Katuun whether he liked it or not. And as Banning—or the Valkar—he would have to save that star-world from the terror of THE SUN SMASHER . . . or perish with the loyal subjects he might never even have known!
"It can't be true! It must be some kind of hoax!" These were the words that went spinning through Neil Banning's mind when the Greenville authorities told him that the house he had grown up in, the aunt and uncle who had raised him, had never existed.
So Banning found himself in jail, charged with disturbing the peace—and maybe insanity. But when a stranger from outer space came to his cell at midnight and hailed him as the Valkar of Katuun, then Banning decided that maybe the authorities were right, maybe he was crazy. Because the only alternative was to believe the impossible explanation of the Outworlder—that he really was the exiled ruler of a remote star-world, and the personality of Neil Banning was an elaborate fraud.
It didn't really matter, though, who was right. Banning was on his way to Katuun whether he liked it or not. And as Banning—or the Valkar—he would have to save that star-world from the terror of THE SUN SMASHER . . . or perish with the loyal subjects he might never even have known!
