"It's well established now that the way you put a question often determines not only the answer you'll get, but the type of answer possible. So. a mechanical answerer, geared to produce the ultimate revelations in reference to anything you want to know, might have unsuspected limitations."
A stellar communications repairman is sent to repair a beacon on a planet, and discovers that its presence had a profound influence on the planet in question. Needing to deal with a locally evolved sentience and a bizarre ritual, the repairman needs to use his best plan to complete his mission and end up alive and whole too.
When overwhelming danger is constantly present, of course a man is entitled to have a bodyguard. The annoyance was that he had to do it himself. and his body would not cooperate!
Charles Chase is the Chancellor of the Alliance. He is not a king, or a ruler, or a monarch of any kind. He is a leader. A leader of many worlds, many kings, many rulers, and many monarchies. Join The Chancellor as he finds wives, concubines, allies, and foes alike, treating each with the love, consideration, respect, or vitriol, they deserve. From his childhood friend to the daughter of the leader of a most hostile civilization, he meets the best of the best and the worst of the worst.