Once, Dan Randolph was one of the richest men on Earth. Now the planet is spiraling into environmental disaster, with floods and earthquakes destroying the lives of millions. Like Randolph, Martin Humphries, fabulously wealthy heir to the Humphries Trust, knows that space-based industry is the way of the future. But unlike Randolph, he does not care if Earth perishes in the process. As Randolph flies toward the Asteroid Belt aboard a fusion-propelled spacecraft, Humphries makes his move, and the future of mankind lies in Randolph's hands.