Earth lies in the grip of the Avantists, a repressive regime that has crushed dissent and now threatens to extinguish the last bastion of liberty, the maverick interplanetary corporation known as Fireball. His heroine, Kyra Davis, a beautiful and courageous young space pilot, is entrusted with a high-risk mission to rescue an electronic ghost - Fireball's founder, Anson Guthrie, whose mind was stored in a computer after his death - and rally the resistance to strike a blow against tyranny. Pursued by Avantist forces, she and Guthrie engage in a desperate battle of wits against a brilliant adversary: a copy of Guthrie's personality that has been reprogrammed to serve the enemy.