Cirrus@Austlit

Grimes is given a seemingly straightforward the assignment by Survey Service command to ferry a Mr Adam from Lindisfarne Base (Earth) to Delacron. However, he soon discovers that this is no ordinary passenger. Mr Adam is an advanced robot that has been manufactured by the Federation for the sole purpose of stirring up revolt among the robots on a planet that happens to be in the Federation’s bad books. Unaware of these plans or Mr Adam's purpose Grimes invites it to the control room to observe the ship's departure, and later to his cabin for drinks and a yarn. It's a simple act of kindness that inadvertently leads to mutiny.

Having been responsible for the (unavoidable) destruction of a very expensive piece of Federation equipment - the robotic mutineer Mr Adam ("The Tin Messiah") - Grimes' punishment is to transport a hibernating Shaara princess from Droomoor to Brooum. When the spaceship Adder begins leaking deuterium the temperature rises, causing their passenger to wake. Grimes finds himself caught up in another life and death struggle when the princess, having torn open her silk cocoon, uses her telepathic powers to try and destroy Adder and her crew.

'It shouldn't have been there. Nothing at all should have been there, save for the sparse drift of hydrogen atoms that did nothing at all to itigate the hard vacuum of interstellar space, and save for the Courier Adder, proceeding on her lawful occasions. It shouldn't have been there but it was, and Grimes and his officers were pleased rather than othwerwise that something had happened to break the monotony of the long voyage...' (Bertram Chandler)

What was there that shouldn't have been is a sphere... an emisary of the old ones that had probably malfuntioned eons ago while on its missionary voyage. When Grimes and his psionic officer Spooki Deane investigate their curiosity almost costs them their lives.

The Serpent Class Courier, Adder, is sent to Olgana to deliver mail to the Federation Survey Service base. Originally a lost colony Olgana is now inhabited by an intelligent race but still situated well off the main Galactic trade routes. With the crew given shore leave, Grimes goes on holiday with Spooky Deane, the ship's psionic communications officer, to the continent of Nevernever. They meet two Australian school teachers also on vacation and visit Cragge Rock, the largest monolith in known space. 'During a demonstration of native dance, Deane and the school teachers are overcome by their racial memories, claiming they have the blood of the "Old Ones" in them. What Grimes comes to realise far too late is that Cragge Rock isn't what it appears to be...

Lieutenant John Grimes, Captain of the Serpent Class Courier Adder is in a bitter and twisted mood. Blamed for the disappearance of Cragge Rock and the desertion of his psionic officer Spooky Deane ('The Mountain Movers'), Grimes has also been overlooked for promotion (again!). For Grimes the problem isn't so much an issue of not knowing the right people but rather, that the wrong people know him. And to make matters worse he is now being ordered to ferry the officious and overbearing Mrs Commissioner Dalwood and her coldly efficient robotic servants to the planet Dhartana. A real Captain, one with four gold bands on his shoulderboards and scrambled egg on the peak of his cap would never have tolerate the situation that Grimes and his crew are about to endure... but then for all his authority and responsibility Grimes's rank is still too low for him to challenge an officer of the Board of Admiralty, even if she is a civilian. Before the assignment is over the Adder's Captain is going to need all of his infamous luck to keep both his ship and his career intact.