AFTER FIRST CONTACT, when earthlings learn the Djbrr tale of creation, a tale of conflict between Darkness and Light, humans interpret the story as a metaphor for Satan's revolt against heaven, or the battle between good and evil, or the struggle of light and darkness inside the soul. As is often the case, the universe will prove them wrong.Humanity faces a choice as it reacts to the Djbrr, friendly and technologically advanced extraterrestrials who LOVE to party: should it embrace the fun-loving Djbrrs and their high-tech gifts, or fear them? At first, jubilation sweeps earth following the Djbrr's arrival. But celebration turns to distrust when catastrophe strikes earth's greatest technological achievement, Grissom Base on Jupiter's moon Io, and humans face a crisis of confidence. Kelso Frick, earth's top physicist, responds, creating Excelsior, the craft he believes will travel faster than light, an achievement the Djbrr—like Albert Einstein—think is impossible. Frick hand-picks the crew who will join him on Excelsior's quest to break the light barrier: Mission Commander Roy Geiger, a Navy veteran haunted by his role in the Grissom Base disaster, Pilot Nancy Mac, decorated war hero, top test pilot, and aerial combat ace, Science Historian Thomas Wilson, tasked with documenting Excelsior's historic journey, and Science Officer Mnggs, known to earthlings as Mingus, the Hero of First Contact, first Djbrr Nobel Laureate and first Djbrr celebrity, and to Las Vegas casinos as an optimistic—and compulsive—gambler. Excelsior's mission is soon imperiled by the suspicious death of a crewmember, rising anti-Djbrr sentiment, and an unknown scientist's warning of hidden danger lurking behind the light barrier. Despite these setbacks, Excelsior launches, hurtling ever faster through space, and in accordance with Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity, time aboard the craft slows relative to the passage of time on earth. As a year goes by on Excelsior and decades pass on earth, scientists who question the mission's safety rush to decode a message left behind in the echoes of the Big Bang, dislike of the Djbbr intensifies into a powerful political movement, and support for Excelsior's mission waxes and wanes. Aboard Excelsior, crewmates struggle with earth's shifting political winds and the dictates of their own consciences. As concerns grow about the consequences of breaking the light barrier, each of them must decide whether to fulfill their destiny by continuing the mission, or aborting it. Their decision will determine the fate of the cosmos and answer the question: which is faster, the speed of light or the speed of darkness?