Jake Simms has convinced his wife to join him on Virago 4. All she has to do is get used to their new friends. Did he mention they were giant ants? You'll be fine honey, they're really sweet once you get to know them. Meanwhile Jake has to take a science team to a remote valley to check on some strange readings. Did they mention the team consists of a couple of teenagers? One is so annoying that Jake wants to kill him before they leave. And the other one is a member of the royal family? And he has a new plane to fly. He's flown one of these before. In fact the last one was on fire when he got out of it. It was assigned to him by his new boss. Maybe this one won't try and kill him like his old one did. The last time he was on this dead world he found out what caused it to be that way, now he'll find out why. Because the source of those strange readings at the remote location holds a terrible secret, the only thing worse than finding it, is waking it up.