Klaus Ericsson is trapped in a derelict freighter drifting in deep space, the victim of a pirate attack. A competent and respected engineer - that is, when he can keep his mouth shut - he must baby-sit his only fellow survivor, a rookie tech named Antoniy Gureivich. In the absolute silence of their metal tomb, each man suspects that the other may not be what he had thought. Their only chance for survival is an unlikely rescue, the remote chance that a ship will reach them before their food and air run out. Their situation cannot possibly get worse. Until they are rescued. Perhaps the timely...