When John Miller signs up for the rescue mission to the Proxima Centauri outpost, he expects to find his former lover, Hana, the brilliant physicist behind the invention of near light engines, dead. Instead he and his team find Hana missing and a large part of the outpost destroyed. John's team suspects suicide. John knows Hana would never give up so easily. John and Hana are very different people. Their relationship was a fluke born of proximity and convenience. But when he discovers her Hail Mary attempt to return to Earth with a dangerous, experimental faster-than-light vessel, he has to follow her. But it isn't where Hana has gone that is the real surprise. It's when ... Vessels damaged, fighting for survival, Hana and John struggle to rebuild the basics of civilization from scratch. They're in a world where unboiled water or an untreated cut can result in death, and four-legged predators lurk in the trees. But the greatest threats to Hana and John are almost human.