The year is 20—. Unbeknownst to most of humanity, a rogue group of scientists, engineers, and AIs has recently developed a working hyperspace drive. Even fewer are aware that the drive is actually a person. That person, known to his colleagues as Alpha-Four, is not bothered by his present obscurity. He and his AI co-pilot, Sentinel, happily traverse the howling wilderness of hyperspace, secure in the knowledge that when the drive is revealed they will be the most rich, famous, and powerful duo on Earth.

Then, on a routine jump between Tau Ceti and Earth, a massive upheaval in hyperspace forces their ship off-course, into an unknown universe where Newton's three laws are flagrantly disregarded and Clarke's Third Law is a force of nature.