Cogar san gaoith, agus sroicheann sé Tír na Marbh. (A whisper in the wind, and it reaches the land of the dead.) Doctor John Alistair is a CI, or Consciousness Investigator. Part psychologist, part detective. When tragedy strikes the Maiden of the Stars on her first voyage, over 40,000 souls are lost out near Saturn. Only one of the three Black Box probes are retrieved, and the debris is quickly spreading. It's John's job to interview the neural recordings of passengers on the Black Box, and find out what happened. Why did the ship go dark twelve days before it was lost with all hands? As he interviews the passengers, and some crew, one thing becomes evident: There's a clock ticking, and John has no idea what it's counting down to or what happens when it reaches zero.