Jim Reese returns to Colony Eight on the jungle world of Damballa hoping to mend his strained relationship with Lois, but instead finds the settlement warped into a nightmare. A warning from Kuhli, a drug-addicted native who steals away with narcotics, sends Reese back in time to realize the danger is real: the colony is wrong, and Lois may already be in peril. What should be a familiar home has become eerily alien, with friends acting like strangers and the air thick with dread. When Reese is attacked by Lloyd Kramer and learns the name of Dr. Tersen, he uncovers the terrifying truth that the colonists are being driven like obedient zombies under a hidden mind control. Hunted through swamp and jungle, tormented by needleworms and the transformed voices of those he once trusted, Reese struggles to survive while searching for answers and for Lois before the colony's unseen master closes the trap completely. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.