Kim Rendell is an outlaw, in danger of torture from the Disiplinary Circuit, which keeps the masses in check. His one hope lies in the Starshine, his great grandfather's spaceship. In a world where matter transmission is the norm, no one travels by interstellar vessel anymore. Rendall uses the Starshine to save his girlfriend and himself and to travel to Ades, the planet of outlaws. Once there he defends the planet from an interstellar empire and then frees the planets of the empire from its tyrannical rulers. First rate space opera.