Martian businessman Jutt Bristol is killed by accident while visiting the Martian polar ice processing town of Cryogen, leaving behind a top secret project to develop a new propulsion system for the military. Soon after his demise, two custom's officials are murdered, agents he had been paying to overlook a smuggling operation. Space freight pilot Blue Hieidelburn, transporting Jutt Bristol's cargo to Mars when the customs murders happen, is jailed on smuggling charges and suspicion of murder when he arrives at Mars. The mysteries of those deaths create problems for star media journalist Terra Antoni Twenty-six year old Terra Antoni has special access to a developing story about the first interstellar space probe to an earth-like planet orbiting a star twelve light years away. Her coverage of the story is interrupted by a smuggling and murder story involving Jutt Bristol, the uncle of her fiance. She is compelled to come to the aid of an innocent Philippines based space freight pilot jailed on the murder charges.
Recruiting a Filipino detective to help with the investigation, they uncover the mysteries of the crimes, leading to revelations that the United Nations Space Force is involved with a secret mission to hijack the secret propulsions prototype.