Catalyst opens with its protagonist, teenaged Kaslin, running from the school bully Histly, who is threatening to poison him with one of the poison needles in the tips of her fingers. Histly's parents, the richest and most powerful family on Chudoku colony, have bought her a lot of implants. Kaslin, on the other hand, is much closer to the bottom of the food chain, his family being refugees from Hithertoo, another colony world, where things had been going reasonably well for his family until his father decided to engage in an unsuccessful embezzlement scheme. Hoffman neatly sums up Kaslin and Histly's relationship, established Kaslin's first day at school:

"Kaslin saw Histly and thought, yum. Histly saw Kaslin and thought, prey. After that first day, Kaslin saw Histly and thought, run."

(Source: Tachyon Publications)