Emmett accepts an interstellar space contract but learns en route that to win the promised fortune he and nine other recruits face a brutal competition, putting their very humanity at risk. The number of zeroes on the Babel Corporation's contract has Emmett Atwater boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family-- forever. But it turns out he's one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts...