Pilots in the employ of Emergent Systems Corporations keep colonies supplied by guiding massive ships through the void of deep space. When Conall, one such pilot, undertakes one final voyage before his retirement to earth he expects nothing more than the usual tedium of going from the cockpit to cold sleep and back again. Along with him is a new prototype android VZ-9712, intended both as his copilot and his companion. Conall and VZ-9712 gradually grow closer in the snatches of time they can spend together, until the android finally reveals that a terrible fate awaits them at the end of this trip. Together the companions work on a plan that might save VZ-9712. Will they succeed, or will VZ-9712 have to return to earth - to their doom?