This book picks up just where the events in Planetfall ended with Major Birch, Jane Grey, Lauren, Edward and the captured Ares kid escaping earth on the Hypnos III only to discover they have no where else to go except back to R67.3 the grey dust ball they ran to earth to escape from in the first place. It's definitely not a good idea to go back there again but with Jane being so insistent and no other options available they start the two year trip back. For major Birch it is two years of hell alone when his cryogenic tube fails and the ship itself tries repeatedly to kill him. When they finally do arrive on the miserably barren and windy world the struggle to survive is just beginning for Jane, Lauren and Edward. They learn the real reason Jane was so insistent to come back and what the real reason for the Hypnos missions were when they find Lt. Colonel John Ratliff is not dead but locked in a cryogenics tube filled with blood. Ratliff explains that the missions were really a way to extend the lives of the elite by using the rest of the crew like batteries by draining their blood and living off them like vampires. This is why Ratliff tricked them into leaving to save his wife from tis horrible fate and what happened to the colonist that arrived after they left the planet. The talented programmer Peter Wagner has left behind clues to help them find the safe new world that some of the colonist were able to escape to and the Ares kid who they find is not only a talented fighter but a wiz on anything related to old time computer gaming helps them solve the puzzles he left behind . Just when you think that everything is going to be ok its not, now they must survive the horde of hungry vampire colonist led by the evil security chief James Miltant who have taken over the Hypnos III while they were down on the planet. Full of action and adventure with lots of plot twists and a cliff hanger ending that will leave you rabidly waiting for the next book in this clever series to come out. ( )