Posing as a prisoner named Valzhan, Buck Rogers has been taken to a penal colony on a moon of the planet Zeta where he springs a female inmate named Jen Burton free. The young woman had taken the blame for crimes committed by her boyfriend, Malary Pantera, and the Earth's Directorate wants her to testify against him. However, she still loves Pantera and refuses to cooperate, and Pantera happens to have a business associate back on Earth, a diplomat whose involvement could be exposed once she testifies. Furthermore, they have to cross a dangerous desert on foot to reach the nearest spaceport and are being pursued by an android prison guard, damaged during the prison break.
—Woodyanders