Disra Senkovi wakes from decades of cold sleep aboard a Terraform Initiative ship, using a private dream sequence he secretly programmed into the ship’s systems. The dream places Senkovi in a recreated Great Barrier Reef with an octopus, reflecting Senkovi’s lifelong attachment to aquatic life and preference for nonhuman company.

As Senkovi fully wakes, the narration reveals Senkovi’s unusual personality and technical brilliance. Senkovi had hacked mission systems before launch, read Senkovi’s own psychological assessment, and learned that Senkovi barely qualified socially for the mission despite exceptional competence. Senkovi’s abilities led to Senkovi becoming head of Terraforming, second only to Overall Command.

Senkovi finds Yusuf Baltiel, the ship’s commander, waiting alone in the sleeping compartment. The rest of the crew remains in cold sleep. Baltiel has embargoed key data, blocked transmissions to Earth, and asks Senkovi for a second opinion before informing anyone else. Senkovi senses Baltiel’s tension and follows Baltiel through the crew ring to Overall Command.

In Overall Command, Senkovi studies the Tess 834 system. The target world, Tess 834h, appears highly suitable for terraforming: warm, larger than Earth, moon-stabilized, resource-rich, and located in the habitable zone. Senkovi initially sees only promising mission data and assumes the planet is an ideal candidate.

Baltiel waits for Senkovi to look past the expected readings. Senkovi finally realizes the anomaly: Tess 834h already has signs the old surveys and ship systems failed to interpret properly. Humanity has crossed more than thirty light years to seed a lifeless world, only to discover that life is already present there.