Two stops from Technos, Earl arrived on Selend to visit the very ancient city of Korotya, hoping for information on Earth’s
whereabouts. He learned Korotya had been destroyed 50 years before. Leaving the museum he was accosted by an attacker with a paralyzing drug. Earl fled, and awoke in police custody cured of the assassin’s drug but with significant medical debts. The police decided to deport him on the Lachae at dawn. Earl felt that the Cyclan had probably paid to have him delivered to the Lachae’s destination and wanted to switch ships. He tricked and overcame his guard and took a low (suspended animation) passage to Dradea on a ship leaving in the night, destroying Kalin’s ring and using the metal as payment.
On Dradea everything was controlled by the “Owner” descendant of the original proprietor of the colony in a system very like that on Toy. The Owner, Chorzel, had no children but only a niece and nephew by different parents. Deceived by cyber Surat, he had instituted to strengthen his people. His niece, Veruchia, a beautiful young woman whose epidermal melanin was distributed in the pattern of a
spiderweb, wanted to end the games, as did high tenant Selkas, her long time friend and unbeknownst to her (but knownst to Selkas, Montarg and us) her true father – the result of a moment of passion with her mother Lisa, the otherwise unrequited love of his life and wife of his best friend. Montarg, a sadist, wanted to expand upon Chorzel’s misguided policy.
Selkas, Chorzel, Montarg and Veruchia were watching a gladiatorial contest with huge and invariably deadly birds called Krell, and suddenly Selkas, seeing Earl told Veruchia to make a large bet with Montarg on Earl. Montarg arrogantly took the bet. Selkas had seen Earl years before in a combat when, despairing of ever having Lisa had travelled for a time at the center of the galaxy. Earl, in characteristic fashion, studied and then destroyed the bird. As he was doing so, Chorzel suffered a fatal stroke.
Later, Selkas went to Earl and employed him protecting Veruchia. The next day aristocratic High tenants met in council to choose between Montarg and Veruchia as new Owner. Montarg, admitting the same degree of relationship, claimed seniority. Veruchia claimed that she was additionally descended from the first Owner through her mother, which, if true, gave her priority. Montarg disputed her claim. The issue was whether the first Owner was Lisa’s ancestor Chron or Chorzel’s ancestor –and Lisa’s husband’s and Montarg’s ancestor- Dikarn) Veruchia claimed the secret was in the original ship whose whereabouts had been lost. The council, greatly disliking Montarg but unable to refute his challenge, gave Veruchia 100 days to find her proof.
Using her winnings from Montarg, Veruchia had Earl lead a search for the ship. Finally, time almost up, they found the ship perched on the edge of the continental shelf in a part of the Elgish Sea rife with vicious squidlike Decapods and enormous predatory eels. Earl and Veruchia lost several men finding and clearing to the ship’s airlock. As they did, they were beset by several eels and Earl forced Veruchia into the lock. In the ensuing struggle, the ship was dislodged and dropped off of the continental shelf into the deep.
Veruchia found the cabin full of air and took quicktime to extend her survival. Earl went to Dradrea’s only biolaboratory and, from memory, assembled the 15 molecular units of the affinity twin in the proper sequence creating the dominant and recessive symbiotes. This activity was reported to Surat. Surat disuaded Montarg from killing Earl, and Montarg later deduced the Cyclan’s secret. Earl had fisherman catch a huge decapod into which he placed his conciousness using the affinity twin. Controlling the decapod, Earl raised the ship back up to the continental shelf, letting the eels kill the decapod to return his consciousness to his body. Veruchia was rescued, and the ship’s log proved Chron was first owner (There were references to three planetfalls whose coordinates differed from modern ones – they were Terra-centric, not Galaxy centered. This would have given Earl the coordinates of Earth, and apparently Tubb was then thinking of ending the series. However, read on) Earl, Selkas and Veruchia were captured by Montarg and Surat. Montarg tortured Veruchia to induce Earl to tell Surat the secret, but Earl caused a quarrel between them, and, breaking free, killed them.
Veruchia was chosen Owner ending the games. Selkas persuaded Earl to remain with Veruchia, at least for a while. Since Earl re-appears several planets down the line in Mayenne, we can assume that, after staying a year or so, Earl set out again. Veruchia loved Earl and was one of the few women he genuinely respected, so it is unlikely she was the cause. Tubb apparently concluding there were a few good tales left, put Earl back on the road an indefinite interval in the future, leaving the parting of Earl and Veruchia a mystery. Earl’s other marriage, besides his time on Chron with Kalin (#4), was in Haven of Darkness (#16) and Prisoner of Night (#17) where he finally had to give up his wife and unborn child because of the Cyclan’s relentless pursuit. Arguably he had a third long standing liaison with Ysanne in The Coming Event (#26) and Earth is Heaven (#27) which ended with her death.