A race of intelligent primates has made a distant world their home. Over the years their numbers have grown. And now, needing more room, the colony sends scouts into theunknown land beyond. But by venturing forward, the apes are encroaching upon hostile ground -- where creatures dwell that can rip an adult simian to pieces in less than an instant; monstrous reptilians whose incredible savagery isequaled only by their awesome brainpower. To venture into their midst is almost certain doom -- but to remain behind would be suicide. Because another foe is lurking in the shadows: the enemy called Man. And in the ruins of a crashed human starship a hideous melding of brain, flesh, and metal lives on -- waiting ... plotting ... refusing to die as long as a single ape draws breath on the planet.