Space is vast, mostly empty, extremely cold, very dangerous, and just generally a rotten place to travel. But what if a spaceship out there had no passengers? Would it get lonely? Would it go searching for new customers? And what if...it found us? This is the story of Flynn Hopper, a graduate assistant in astrophysics and a last-minute addition to a team making humanity's first trip to the outer planets. The expedition is privately funded...it employs a hazardous and technically unexplainable craft...and it may be just a bit illegal. Who would go on such a thing? (That is, if it weren't for the cheap tickets and high potential for career-making discoveries.) What adventures might a young crew member on such a mission fall into? Who would he have to leave behind? And what would he find there in outer space-or rather, what would find him?