Anderson, Poul - Flandry 09 - A Circus Of Hells -

Now a junior lieutenant stationed at a neglected imperial outpost, Flandry is bribed by a galactic crime lord to scout Wayland, a supposedly barren moon rumored to hold vast mineral wealth. Accompanied by Djana, a deeply religious prostitute with her own hidden agenda, Flandry discovers that Wayland is far from empty. It is controlled by a deranged computer brain that uses a race of strange, multi-legged creatures as lethal "chess pieces" in a programmed game of death. Core Themes and Deep Context Retro Review: A Circus Of Hells by Poul Anderson

In A Circus of Hells (1970), Poul Anderson pivots from the grand space opera of Ensign Flandry to a more localized, hard-science adventure that underscores the cynical pragmatism of his protagonist, Dominic Flandry. Narrative and Setting Anderson, Poul - Flandry 09 - A Circus of Hells