Life on Earth was intolerable - and yet Man had stayed there, his dreams and potential suffocating under the dead weight of bureaucracy. The stars were unattainable - thanks to the Infall Drive - but only a few heard the call of deep space. Some had already gone to colonise a new world. The second ship was ready at last. Ready to escape the Earth's prison; ready to seek refuge in deepest space. But it wasn't only freedom that awaited it...