A man follows his dreams into the vast Solar System to mine for minerals.
After years as a corporate flunky, 'Gus' Ferguson chucks his entire life into the trash bin and buys himself a little spaceship. He names it the Tyson and leaves Luna Station to mine the asteroid belt.
But strange things happen before his ship takes off and nothing goes as planned. He gets a message from the Sysop of the Communications network and a mysterious Geisha brings him live cargo to transport — a cat. When he baulks at the deal — who wants to clean up cat hair and a litter box? — she sweetens the deal with a cleaning robot — Maintenance Unit Six.
The Maintenance Unit series of robots were a failure, but these little robots can learn simple tasks. Cats are designed to hunt and kill small creatures. To Gus's annoyance, the robot becomes prey for the bored cat.
Now the Life Support system isn't thriving! Gus could run out of air, like a hundred Spacer-Joes before him. He's starting to think they will never make it to Beta Station! As The Point of No Return looms, Gus must decide — turn back to Luna Base, or gamble on making it to Beta Station?