It's ten years later, and Joat, the eleven year old techno-demon from "The Ship Avenged," is an adult herself, and by hook, crook, and blackmail (with an assist from Rand, her very own Artificial Intelligence), she's become one of the youngest commercial ship owners in human space.

Using the good ship WYAL (for While You Ain't Looking) for various motley "transport" jobs, she has quickly gained a reputation as a trustworthy courier with a flexible approach to the rules. Which is why Centrals Worlds Security haas recruited Joat and the WYAL to determine the present whereabouts of the Kolnari space raiders, with whom Joat has an old score to settle.

But Belazair of the Kolnari has his own plans for revenge through an incurable and highly infectious disease that quickly destroys the higher brain functions, leaving the body a mindless husk. Belazair needs to find a carrier ship to spread the infection - and the carrier he has hired is Joat, who is completely unaware that she is receiving a deadly cargo which could destroy civilization throughout the galaxy!

From Kirkus Reviews

Another entry in the Brain/Brawn series created by Anne McCaffrey, and a direct sequel to the paperback The City Who Fought (McCaffrey and Stirling); brains'' are humans wired directly and immovably into their spaceships,brawns'' their mobil human partners. Planet Bethel bigwig Amos ben Sierra Nueva and his daughter Soamosa are kidnapped by the evil mutant, Belazair of Kolnar, in revenge for a previous defeat; Belazair plans to infect Amos with a contagious brain-destroying virus and then send him back to Bethel. So, after some arm-twisting by secret agent Bros Sperin, spaceship Wyal (brain: Rand; brawn: Joat Simeon-Hap) speeds to the rescue, though Joat and Rand don't yet know about the virus. But then Belazair's kindly son, Karak, refuses to torture Soamosa; instead he falls in love and escapes with her. Joat, meanwhile, discovers that one of Belazair's key associates is the drug-ruined uncle who, when she was a small girl, sold her into slavery in settlement of a gambling debt. Not to worry, though: In McCaffrey universes, the good guys always win in the end. Pretty good ersatz McCaffrey, despite the feebly unconvincing love story. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

It's not necessary to have read The City Who Fought in order to enjoy this sequel, though familiarity will certainly lend to this title's appeal. One of the youngest commercial ship owners finds her cargo a carrier ship for a deadly worlds-destroying infection in this compelling story of resourcefulness and politics in space. -- Midwest Book Review