In an interplanetary future, the only access to the heavy-metal ring of Solitaire is by traveling through the Cloud. Normal ships' drives will not operate in the Cloud. It can only be traversed with a dead (but recently alive) person at the controls. This phenomenon is a mystery. But the powersthat-be pay the price, because the galaxy needs the metals mined on the Solitaire moons. The usual practice is for each ship to carry two zombis, convicted criminals whose sentence is carried out just as the ship reaches the Cloud.

The Bellwether's voyage into the system would have been routine but for the presence of Gilead Raca Benedar, a high-level aide to a baron of interplanetary commerce. Gilead's value to Lord Kelsey-Ramos stems largely from his Watcher skills. The Watchers, a religious sect, perceive hidden emotions and other inner states through the disciplines they learn.

Gilead...