Commander Gray died when his experimental ship crashed on Mars, but a recording of his mind survived. After Maggie discovers the wreck a century later, she becomes the target of a psychopathic rival intent on stealing it, and a hive of weaponized lifeforms bent on erasing it. To survive she must unravel Gray's secret: his ship was capable of traveling faster-than-light, which makes it an incredibly valuable and terribly dangerous prize, for a starship is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.