Commander Mariucci and his hand-picked research team know they will have to muster all of their expertise, creativity and teamwork to survive the very harshest of conditions in orbit around the king of planets. But when they intercept a peculiar radio transmission, they have to investigate. Nothing should work in these impossible conditions, so what is sending the signal . . . and why? With a degrading ship and crew at breaking point, there's every chance they will tear themselves apart before they ever find the answer to the ultimate question - are we alone in the universe? And more importantly - what do we do if we aren't?