Man's biggest and fastest starship was on its way to Alpha Centauri, using tachyon technology to travel faster than the speed of light. It was impossible that anything could stop them and yet it happened, and they were pulled across the lightspeed barrier to a complete halt in deep space, apparently by an alien ship that then attacked and destroyed their vessel. A handful of survivors managed to board the strange craft, but there was no sign of any alien. Were they prisoners? Where was the strange ship taking them? And, most important of all, what was the threat to Earth that they must all face? The future of the human race was in their hands.