Over the last day of their first manned mission to Mars, a team person in Tantalus Base believes he's generated an astounding discovery signs of life. Unwilling to allow the relief team maintains all of the glory, he disobeys orders to pack up and is outside on an unauthorized expedition to gather samples. However a regular excavation turns to disaster when the porous ground collapses and he falls into a deep crevice and near certain death. His devastated colleagues attempt to recoup his entire body. When a person fades, they start to assume that is perhaps not without danger.