Jack Sands, the story's narrator, is a spaceship pilot down on his luck. In September 2111y, he is about to be evicted from a flophouse when he is recruited by his old friend Captain Harris Henshaw to co-pilot an expedition to Europa. Sands is one of only two survivors of a previous visit to the Jovian moon. The other was his drug-addled co-pilot Kratska, who crashed the expedition's ship, the Hera, while landing it on Earth. While Sands lay unconscious in a hospital, Kratska put the blame for the crash on him, ruining his reputation. Kratska has since disappeared.
"In his short career, Stanley G. Weinbaum revolutionized science fiction. We are still exploring the themes he gave us." —Poul Anderson
"Stanley G. Weinbaum's name deserves to rank with those of Wells and Heinlein—and no more than a handful of others—as among the great shapers of modern science fiction." —Frederik Pohl