The planet Zantia has a secret: most of its men are gone! The prime minister has passed a law legalizing the kidnapping of men for sale to women as mates! A man named Cassius Thorne and his two associates lures Buck there with a phony distress signal - the latest of his captures. It seems most of the Zantian men are prisoners of the Ruathans, with whom they fought a war. That's a problem, because Earth is presently locked in tense, failing negotiations with Ruathan ambuquad ambassador Mr. Devronin - Ruatha is Earth's chief source of the rare mineral barbasite. So when Buck becomes involved in a Zantian plot to kidnap Devronin, Wilma must stop him...

A mysterious pyramid assumes orbit about Earth and fires a beam of energy that hits well outside of New Chicago - and nevertheless shakes the city! It is part of Princess Ardala's latest assault on Earth. This time, she demands that Buck Rogers marry her, as part of her ascension to the Draconian throne! With the fate of Earth's cities on the line, Buck may not have a choice - unless he can convince a hermit to teach him what he must know to find the weapon's control center aboard Ardala's ship.