An alien spy assumes a human body and infiltrates Earth to aid humanity against the pebble-skinned Medlins. But Aar Khiilom, now calling himself Abner Harris, discovers a devastating truth: his own people, the Darruui, are the real tyrants of the galaxy. He's been their weapon against a species no more villainous than any other. Trapped between three hostile worlds, he finds himself drawn to a human woman and forced to confront the question of where he truly belongs. Every allegiance has been betrayed. Every side has cause to destroy him. And yet he must choose, between the species that created him, the species he was sent to protect, and the one he's come to love, or remain forever a man without a planet. Silverberg's early novel is a tense meditation on identity and loyalty, asking whether belonging is earned or assigned.
