When I lost my low paying, dead-end job, a friend offered me a one-way ticket to Val Segas. I didnt want to take advantage of his generosity, but we both knew that that ticket was probably the only way Id ever get off Cenclare.

He surprised me with a ticket on the Lady Elizabeth, InmonCorps newest luxury spacecraft. Even the cheapest, smallest cabins were supposed to be loaded with luxuries. When my elevator made an unscheduled stop on an unfinished deck before Id even made it to my cabin, things got complicated fast.

After finding a dying man in what was meant to be an empty corridor, I found myself being bribed with a long list of upgrades, clearly designed to get me to keep quiet about what Id seen. The bribes might have worked, too, if it wasnt for the man Id been sharing the elevator with when it made its unscheduled stop.

Colonel Jonathan Brazee is determined to conduct his own investigation into what he is convinced was murder, and he seems equally insistent on dragging me along for the ride. All I know is that Ill be a lot happier if I dont have to spend the next twenty-six sectors traveling with a killer.