Lisa liked a quiet, straightforward life in the space station at Terpsichore. Used to handling drunks and other minor skirmishes, she is not expecting any surprises. But when sent to investigate a free floating object in the hold, she finds herself drawn into solving a mystery and leading a team to a secret colony where women and children are kept as slaves.
This is hard science fiction, set in the near future, where space travel is difficult and takes many months. Colonists invent and build their own equipment from local materials. While truly isolated, they are part of a movement aiming to create thousands of independent communities throughout the Belt.

(Second edition, with some new illustrations and minor revisions to the text)