Emmett accepts an interstellar space contract but learns en route that to win the promised fortune he and nine other recruits face a brutal competition, putting their very humanity at risk.

The number of zeroes on the Babel Corporation's contract has Emmett Atwater boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family-- forever. But it turns out he's one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden-- a planet that Babel has kept hidden. There they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe. Emmett has a choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won't forever compromise what it means to be human.