In the far future, humankind has made contact with numerous other species: the Gowachin, the Laclac, the Wreaves, the Pan Spechi, the Taprisiots, the Caleban, and others. Humankind has also found the need for a Bureau of Sabotage (BuSab).
In Whipping Star, Jorg X. McKie is a saboteur extraordinary, one of the chiefs of BuSab responsible for detecting, exposing, and correcting strains of violent or anti-sentient behaviour.
19 years prior to the setting of Whipping Star, the Calebans appeared and offered jump-doors to the collective species, allowing sentients to travel instantly to any point in the universe. Gratefully accepting, the sentiency didn't question the consequences. Now, a psychotic human with immense power has bound a Caleban in a contract that allows the Caleban to be whipped to death; when the Caleban dies, everyone who has used a jump-door (which is almost everyone) will die as well. McKie has to find the human and stop her before that happens.
The sequel to this novel is The Dosadi Experiment.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump