Captain Armistead Johnson hated life and the ridiculousness of society. Since childhood, all he ever wanted was to be left alone. But careful what you wish for.

Celebrated with much fanfare, the technological wonder that was the Mourning Bird (aka the Arc) was to ring in a new era for humankind and its place in the cosmos. Mars was, at last, commutable. With imminent possibility humankind would one day go the way of the dinosaur, the mission to the Red Planet was the first phase in implementing the long planned 'Exit Strategy Project' (E.S.P) to prepare it for terraforming. But, after the Arc's initial quantum leap, the Earth's solar defences collapsed with catastrophic result–the annihilation of the planet.

Barely escaped the lick of solar flares, Armistead gains consciousness to find himself trapped in his chair with his oxygen supply depleting. He is met only by complete silence and pitch black. Hundreds of crew, together with the ship's computers, are dead, and the ship, itself, is plummeting the bottomless pit of space. With the realisation he is the only person in existence with absolutely nowhere to go, panic sets in. All he can do is wait for death.

With only a pen and the bare bones of a writing pad to keep him occupied, he imagines the end of the world with only his dehydration and extreme hunger serving as inspiration. Over days, boredom is his biggest enemy. Never religious, but he comes to question if he were, in fact, a chosen one. With samples of the DNA of every species that ever existed on board, was he the new Noah?

With his pad filled, and nothing to do but think, he reflects affectionately on the parents he thought he hated and the love he never declared for his Communications Officer, Benoit. Regret is at the forefront of his thoughts as he wishes he had lived the life he intended to end on Mars very differently.

Eventually, with its primary systems back online, The Arc, discerning a lack of crew and ship wide damage, overrides his commands and sets a course for a home planet that no longer exists. It is then the abrupt image of a woman appears to deliver astonishing news, as well to present an ultimatum Armistead cannot refuse.