Murder on an international space vessel... Plundering the riches of an African nation... The first Court of Outer Space... A conspiracy of the greatest proportions, threatening to destroy mankind... These seemingly unrelated events weave themselves into a mystery that encompasses every continent of Earth and the far reaches of outer space. The United States stands on the brink of its greatest conquest yet, the arrival of a crew on Mars and the exploration of the "Red Planet." But powerful forces are at work to stop the West from "reaching beyond." The extent to which these forces will go to stop the conquest of Mars is unimaginable and unforeseeable, that is, to everyone but a small tribe of Gypsies in Europe.