Hurt while scouting for salvage on his ruined planet, Berke Rylan runs across two other travelers who offer help. Unaccustomed to accommodating strangers in a world of nothing, Berke is hesitant to accept. But when he passes out from blood loss, he has little choice.
He later awakens, healed and his resources unexpectedly refilled—with no signs of the kind strangers. Once he returns to the outpost he calls home, the gifts the strangers have given him cause more trouble than they might be worth.
The leader of the outpost demands to know where he received them, and Berke has no answer to give but the truth. He isn't believed, and sentenced to die... a sacrifice to the gods of rebirth and life.