Approximately on million B.C., an automated factory ship from an alien civilization passes too near a star unexpectedly gone nova. Suffering extensive damage to its electronic circuitry, it continues blindly for millennia before crashing into the snows of an uncharted world. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, a probe from Earth orbits Saturn's moon Titan and launches a lander. Unfortunately, the lander malfunctions before transmitting pictures from the surface - at least that is the official story. A colony ship supposedly destined for Mars is surreptitiously rerouted to Titan ... and only the leaders of the Military Industrial Complex know why. Aboard the interplanetary transport - in addition to the usual mix of flight crews and scientists - are parapsychology researchers, linguists, psychologists, representatives of industry, an ambassador ... and elite military units from several Western nations. Clearly something is up. But no one is talking!