You can never go home. That had always been understood, so when Major Thomas Birch and his bedraggled crew limped back hundreds of years later it was clear that something had gone wrong. In fact nothing had gone right. Their mission of hope had been hopeless from the start. The new world they had tried to create had nearly destroyed them, and when their commander, Colonel Ratliff, had disappeared Birch had done the only thing he could. He had taken command and taken them home. Failure had not been an option. It had been inevitable. They had given up so much for this mission. Their lives were over. Everything they loved had died long ago. They had done it to serve others, for the common good, or so it was said. Major Birch had his reasons. Everyone had their reasons. Nobody volunteered to be frozen and blasted into space without a reason. But now they were going home. Hardly knowing what to expect, they returned to find Base Two abandoned, a desolate outpost crumbling back into the Martian soil it had risen from. And now earth wasn’t answering. Was anyone left, or in this vast universe were they now truly alone? Stumbling from a failed past into an uncertain future the crew of the Hypnos III find that sometimes the only thing worse than what you run from is the thing you run to.

You should never go back. Experience had taught them that, but like a planet with its own gravity, the past wouldn't let them go. Seeking a future in the broken dreams of yesterday, Major Thomas Birch and his crew discover that dreams can't be fixed when they become nightmares.