When Keith Stoner awoke, he found himself in a world changed almost
beyond recognition. Eighteen years before, Stoner had been the American member
of a joint U.S.-Soviet mission to capture an alien ship. The Soviets had to pull out, but
Stoner persisted, and while on the strange ship, he fell into suspended animation.

Jo Camerata, the ambitious young student who fell in love with Stoner, is now head of
Vanguard Industries, which has recovered the alien ship. As a result, her company is
now in control of its vast new technology and the fortune it reapsand in control of
Keith Stoner. What Camerata doesn't know, however, is that someone else has been
awake, someone who dwells within Stoner's mind. The alien presence that has kept
Stoner alive all this time is now free and intends to explore our world, letting nothing
stand in its way.