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Cub IV was a beautiful planer--it had a reputation as being one of the most peaceful and favorable planets for human colonization--but it wasn't. There was an alien intelligence on Cub IV, a malicious intelligence that would not rest until every human had been eliminated.

It was a death trap... and Gerald Knave found himself with the job of saving what was left fo the human colony, while keeping himself alive in the process. He would have to use all his survival skills and more, to perform that miracle.

GERALD KNAVE: SURVIVOR

it says on my cards. I got the call just before people started getting killed...

Humans and Tocks didn't mix all that well on Haven IV. People found Tocks a bit snake-like for their tastes, and the Tocks in turn were disturbed by the mysterious tendency toward violence. Still, things werer peaceful enought--until the sacred Tock crown jewels disappeared. Tocks didn't even have a word for theft; the concept was unknown. But they called in the head of th esmall human colony on Haven IV to express, very wuietly, their confidence that the unthinkable incident would be remedied. Soon.

There was only one man to call under the circumstances. Gerald Knave was rumored to be arrogant, expensive, and dangerous, but Haven IV bit the bullet: Knave came, he cost plenty, he offended everyone. Before his job was done, he alone would stand between the peaceful folk of Haven IV and an inter-space war of annihilation.

I never felt sillier in my life. For two seconds I was the original sitting duck. Somebody potted the duck. I went into freeze.

Freeze is supposed to be an entirely new state for the human body--something that never existed before the paralysis beam. But it feels exactly like being knocked cold.

You even wake up with a headache. This, they tell me, is due to the distortion effect fo the radiative field. It is just like the ache you get when you're been knocked cold, except that it has no specific place to be.

It aches all over. No worse than a bad hangover, and I thought I could be courageous about ti an dopen my eyes.

For one thing, I wanted to see what I was fastened to.

Surprise, surprise: It turned out to be an electric chair.

...from "The Wheelbarrow Thief," just one of the sevel stories you'll find in this rollicking collection staring everyone's ultimate survivor...

Table fo Contents:

• ix - Introduction: Knave's World - essay
• 1 - Love in Bloom - [Gerald Knave] - (1984) - short story
• 20 - The Wheelbarrow Thief - [Gerald Knave] - novelette
• 43 - The Very Best Defense - [Gerald Knave] - novelette
• 55 - Expiration Policy - [Gerald Knave] - (1983) - short story
• 70 - The Samaritan Rule - [Gerald Knave] - (1984) - short story
• 86 - Testing - [Gerald Knave] - (1980) - short story
• 96 - Toadstool Sinfonia - [Gerald Knave] - (1980) - novelette
• 124 - The Swagger Stick - [Gerald Knave] - novelette
• 151 - The Lost Secret - [Gerald Knave] - (1983) - novelette
• [175] - About the Author (Knave & the Game) - essay by uncredited