Rex Knight is a survivor and intends to make a life for himself in the quasi-civilized Erden where he was mysteriously teleported. Opportunities and hazards exist for a modern man in a nineteenth century world of Civil War era technology, slavery, drugs, cotton, and competing colonial empires. With Rex's help, the indigenous Wapitis have prevailed in their confrontation with warlord James Donnelly. Unfortunately, that success has earned him the odium of the not-quite-human Ichneumon emperor who has much gold and a predilection for hiring bounty hunters to collect his enemies' heads. Rex figured an alien emperor couldn't be any worse than the Afghanistan Taliban and focused on making a living in an alien world. He believed the new river steamboats and hauling cargos offered an opportunity to build a business, if their boilers would stop exploding. A young female slave claims to have solutions to that problem and Rex's Ichneumon predicament. She's willing to barter. He's not sure either of them can afford her price for helping him.