Mark would rather jump off a cliff than do what he's told. Alex actually experiences physical pain if he doesn't. Mark has a broken marriage and his life is a total mess. Alex has no life. Both are running out of time. Mark has less than a second before he hits the rocks at the foot of the cliff and Alex urgently needs to talk to him about the fifth paradigm of interstellar travel. But they aren’t the only ones who are short on time. The Earth is too; and it desperately needs both of them to get their act together.