The Earth year 2401 finds the N.S. Phoenix still adrift for over two hundred years after a failed Earth mission to Saturn's moon, Dione. Disabled by radiation from a massive solar flare, the artificial intelligence, AI Jhenna, steadfastly adheres to hope that it, and the one surviving crewmember, the sleeping Captain Terry Dankin, will somehow survive. Meanwhile, the D.S. Classtoria from the planet Darlon, on a routine mission to Earth's system to find out why all radio and microwave ceased coming from the third planet, stumble upon a small, wayward ship. The Classtoria and crew eventually arrive at Earth to find a grim reality, yet another planet destroyed by environmental collapse. But not all is lost as a shocking discovery is made on Earth's moon.