A Pulitzer Prize winning photographer is fired from his job for not being sensationalistic enough. After he purchases an old camera at a yard sale, he discovers some undeveloped film in it, including photos of an apparent alien abduction. When he goes public with the photos, he garners the attention of his former boss, the government and a woman who thinks her father was the abductee.

Menno is a computer programmer at The Resort, an enormous funhouse where people can live out their fantasies in virtual reality. Feeding their personal data into a software program called The System, head of security Felix Medina is setting up a big voting fraud, in order to win the presidential elections. His only concern is a group of terrorists, rebelling against his plans. As an ex-colleague of their leader, Menno is forced to help them.

Lieutenant John Barton is sent on a special mission to deliver a special vaccine to a distant mining colony. He is infuriated to find Lee, a stowaway aboard his spacecraft. Barton has only enough fuel to carry himself and his precious cargo, and Lee's added weight insures that they will crash if she stays on board. They have gone too far to turn back, and Barton's superiors make it clear: the mission takes precedence and Lee has to be dumped into space. But she won't go quietly.