Maris doesn't exactly have the greatest life. Her father's an alcoholic, her mother's an airhead, and to top it off, she's always broke. Why? Maris is a Thanatosian, and Thanatosians have six times the strength of a normal human being. Generally, this would not be a bad thing, except that the planet Thanatos blew up years ago, and the rest of the galaxy is not set up for people who are six times as strong as everyone else.

So to keep the destruction her race does to a minimum, Thanatosians are made to wear harnesses that limit their strength. However, Maris accidentally destroys everything she touches and as all damages are docked from her wages, every mission she's assigned to by the Inter-Galactic Space Patrol takes her further in debt.

(from wikipedia)