The year is far future. Earth has conquered the stars, but some pleasures remain deliciously primitive: the hunt. Extrone is wealthy, bored, and dangerous, a man who has turned exotic sport into an art form of cruelty. When he travels to a distant world to pursue the farn beast, he brings money, weapons, and absolute certainty that the universe exists for his amusement. His guides, Ri and Mia, have no choice but to follow him into the alien forests. They know this world. Extrone does not. What begins as a straightforward hunt becomes something else entirely, as Extrone decides that Ri will serve as bait. This is a story about the moment the hunter realizes he's become the prey, and the terrible arithmetic of who pays the price when the game goes wrong. Written in 1951, this is science fiction as sharp social commentary: a brutal, unflinching look at class, power, and the violence hidden inside the word 'sport.'
