In orbit at the New Hope satellite men finally made contact with a civilization in the stars. It came in the form of a complex signal which enabled the building of a super-computer to embody it. Top secret, they called the entity Stanley and allowed it to project a humanoid image to speak for it.

But that XT—that Extra-Terrestrial intelligence—played a cagy game with its interpreters. Possessed of a data bank containing the whole knowledge of an alien super-science, it refused to divulge anything until its own questions about humanity were answered.

The battle of wits at New Hope—Stanley versus humanity, scientists versus politicians, and possibly planet versus planet—became a growing crisis that could either open up the stars or else put an end to Earth's fondest dreams.