200 years after the death of the planet Earth, Jimmy West works in the lower strata of the liferaft, Saratoga--the last of twelve county sized, self-sustaining biospheres that escaped the Earth's destruction the day a meteor punched a hole through the Earth's mantle and jettisoned chunks of molten core and continent adrift through space. West, as he's called by other grease monkeys like him, is the victim of an accident that pits his life against standard limitations rationed for crew retrieval should the worst happen--a crew member is flung from the Saratoga and set adrift. Now, West must stay calm and use a dwindling number of resources to reconnect with the Saratoga or a die a cold death alone in space.