Eighteen years ago, astronaut Keith Stoner had been the American member of a joint U.S.-Soviet mission to capture an alien ship that had entered the solar system. It was the greatest adventure in the history of Earth--but disaster struck when a bomb placed on the Soviet craft forced its recall. Stoner refused to return to Earth, staying behind in the strange ship alone where he fell into suspended animation.

Jo Camerata, the ambitious young student who fell in love with Stoner, is now head of Vanguard Industries. Jo's dogged determination has forced the recovery of the alien ship, and now her company is in control of the vast new technology--and in control of Keith Stoner. What Camerata doesn't know, however, is that when Stoner wakes, someone else awakens, too. The alien presence in Stoner's mind that has kept him alive all these years is now free, and intends to explorethe world.

And it will let nothing stand in its way.