John MacAlister knew he should be happy.
After his redemption with the Star Corps, he’s settled into a respectable new life on Kaldikar-6, grinding a living out of the desolate Blanchlands while building a relationship with his officer girlfriend, Tam.
But the yearning for adventure remains. When a covert message is received from a scientist long believed dead, John takes it as a sign that his days as a space adventurer aren’t yet over.
The message is from Bernie Jennison, a brilliant AI engineer and the progenitor of Castor - an AI so dangerous that its creators shut it down a decade earlier - or so they thought!