From publisher blurb: Quick-witted and clever, with a sharp tongue, Peremuz served his creator for several years as a laboratory assistant, conversationalist, messenger, and spy. But when Lofty Raiton died, her progeny bickered over ownership of Peremuz as though he were a pet or a tool rather than a person. Shouldering a pouch full of coin, he departed to make his own destiny.