ENTER DR. KAIFENG . . . Of all possible enemies, Cap Kennedy had yet to cross swords with the legendary master of galactic villainy, Dr Kaifeng. In the struggle for the mind of the tyrant of Papan, they finally met - and Kennedy was the loser. There was only one chance to save the situation and that was to pay the price of the enigmatic super-surgeons of the Kraid. He would have to take a role in their eternal play-acting. The stage would be the past, a barbaric world of swords and sorcery. Kennedy would be just a sword-wielding freebooter with a crew of murderous puppets at his back. And if he survived, Kaifeng would be waiting at the stage door.

There was something eerie about the storm . . . The blizzard had risen too fast, the wind howling as if from the throat of a rabid dog . . .the entire world had turned into a featureless hell of ubiquitous white. A world in which Malkar knew himself . . . to be completely lost.