Victimized by technological and human failure, Sarah, on her first voyage as a star ship captain, is stranded in deep space. She desperately wages a war of survival, marshaling every resource and idea to return her ship and her crew to civilization. But as time passes, her resources - her body and mind, her crew, the air on her ship, the food in its holds, the technologies of space travel - dwindle and fail. She is losing the war. Cold, black vacuum - always advancing, never retreating - is closing in. Jimmy, released from prison, is prosperous, a celebrity for his daring rescues. But for all his success, he has pursued a single obsession - finding Sarah, dead or alive. He has failed. He crosses an anniversary of her disappearance and begins to lose hope. She has been missing more than a year. Everyone else believes that Sarah and her crew are dead. Jimmy wonders if they might be right. Hope, tragedy, ingenuity, and courage collide in an explosive ending, concluding the Belt Stories.