Thomm Coney and Eryc Kartoneas witness the first test launch of the experimental engine that will propel them to their destiny; the Blackstar drive utilizes miniature black holes to catapult vessels to other worlds. While the entrepreneurs are off-world, natural calamity strikes New Bombay! In the devastated slums of the Ghost Quarter, the man called the Wraith rises to power, plotting the death of those who would dare take mankind to the stars!