[2][3] The cover art of the first edition was created by Luis Royo and features the main character, Aaron Pardell, sliding along the cables outside of Thromberg station.
The story is set in a future where Earth has become crowded and Humanity is prompted to expand beyond Sol system.
Humanity was eager to set out to their new homes and potentially make first contact with sentient alien beings until the deadly Quill effect made habitation on the terraformed worlds impossible.
Immigrants to the new worlds become stranded on the stations, unable to continue to their intended homes and not permitted to return from where they came when Earth sanctioned quarantine against all those outside of Sol system in an effort to keep the poorly understood Quill from striking at humanity's core.
People must learn to survive when food, air, water, privacy and even reproduction necessitate strict control and compromise.