Roger Griffin's lifetime dream lay before him. He stood within an immense interstellar vessel that had lain beneath the Wyoming mountains for millennia. It had remained a virtually impenetrable fortress to the scientific teams that prowled its two-mile-long exterior-until they managed to pry open the door. Then the dream of scientific discovery became a horrific nightmare as an earthquake awakened the long dormant brain of the malfunctioning spacecraft-and rocked the door shut. Griffin and his fellow survivors frantically tried to escape, but the ship's computer took steps to rescue itself and exterminate the humans in board. Suddenly, the newly awakened control room displayed a clock for its terrified inhabitants to see. Its lights blinked in and off, but the message was clear: Six hours until lift-off. Six hours to live. Six hours to die.