The starship Lady Macbeth encounters a long-abandoned alien spacecraft, with its escape route still intact - but leading where? If the crew claims salvage rights, the technology inside could make them wealthy enough to buy planets. But first they need to make sure it's as empty as it seems. According to the author, of all the short stories he's written, this was the most fun and the most difficult to write. This hard SF is set firmly in the universe of the author's Night's Dawn trilogy and concerns the starship Lady Macbeth when Joshua Calvert's father, Marcus Calvert, was her captain.
Given the history already established in Reality Dysfunction, Hamilton had to write inside clearly defined parameters to make the plot dovetail with the Confederation timeline. The Lady Mac had to come out badly damaged but still space worthy. On top of that, the flight had to be an experience that stopped Marcus from wanting to fly her again.
