A derelict spaceship, its human crew long dead, suddenly appears on a radar screen. The only survivor, an android, tells a story that leads two old enemies to jointly undertake a momentous voyage of exploration-into The Void at the edge of the galaxy, a place of mystical significance to one side, a mere astrophysical anomaly to the other. But whether the two rival powers-one autocratic and constrained by religious dogma, the other egalitarian and bound only by the rules of commerce-can maintain their uneasy alliance remains uncertain, especially when a "silent partner" schemes to undermine the entire voyage. Among those forced to take the journey is Kellen Blake, who is already engaged in an odyssey of his own, one that has caused him to question much of what he believes and even some of what his senses perceive. Now, he will be among the first to find out what lies Beyond the Edge of the Universe.