Advances in genetic engineering, or splicing, have become widely available as Mankind has spread across the stars, leading to a new race called the Chimerans, who resented their Terran creators. In the wake of the Genetic Crusades, most of the Chimerans accepted their defeat and made peace, but a dangerous few still remain, sought by marshals and bounty hunters. On the outer frontier, a small group of them kill the partner of bounty hunter Sidewinder, and now he's out to collect!