Now that the truth of the genetic experiments on Mars has been revealed, new missions are on their way to gain control of this extraordinary technology. In the process, they seek to exploit and enslave the colonists - turning them into nothing more than lab rats. Worse, these newcomers are well armed, and prepared to go to war with each other to win control of the colony and its people.

The only survivor of the ill-fated ISA mission is now stranded on Mars. Having been designated a bio-hazard by Earth, any hope of returning home is all but gone. She is alone, isolated, and abandoned. That is, until another human shows up in the main colony airlock. However, he's barely alive and soon dies without regaining consciousness. More disturbing though, a DNA test identifies him as a colonist who has already died, several years earlier - impossible as that may be.

All contact is lost with the first human colony on Mars during a long and destructive sandstorm. Satellite imagery of the aftermath shows extensive damage to the facility. The 54 colonists who called it home are presumed dead. Three years later, a new mission sets down on the surface to investigate what remains of the derelict site. But it's not long before they realize the colony is not as lifeless as everyone thought. Someone is still alive - hiding out somewhere. Yet, before they can find the elusive colonist, a strange illness starts to affect the crew.

Commander Scott McNabb, of the science vessel Hermes, is three years into a five-year-long survey of the asteroid belt. It’s an excruciatingly dull mission, yet it keeps him far away from the agencies that are chasing him down. However, his fortunes change, along with the other four crew members, when they discover a derelict spaceship in orbit around a binary asteroid. Scott’s share of the salvage would be enough to clear his name and start a new life.  

The science vessel Hermes has been urgently recalled from its mission to survey the moons of Saturn, just as First Officer Miranda Lee receives bad news from home - her mother is dying so she must leave the ship and return to Earth - for good. Commander Scott McNabb is so distraught by her sudden decision to leave that he pays little or no attention to the parameters of the new mission being requested by the Council of Europa. Big mistake. Powerful forces on Earth are now moving to resume inter-AI communications, risking the development of an all-out war.