Space travel is routine in the 22nd century—for both commerce and crime. A pilot with a past seeks to redeem himself by flying a spacefreighter single-handed to Saturn.
Two thousand years after the destruction of Pompeii, footprints are uncovered in a layer of ash on mountain slopes a few miles to the south. A joint Anglo-Italian dig is progressing well—until the English archaeologist, Professor Julian Lockhart, disappears mysteriously.
Two British scientists find themselves in a deadly race against a genetically engineered organism that threatens to extinguish all animal life on Earth.