A secret, military project is in the process of colonising a planet called Springfield. When contact with Earth is lost, the Springfielders are forced to look out for themselves.

In this story about alternative worlds, there are alternative endings. In the first, aggressive aliens arrive, forcing the Springfielders to choose between fight and flight.

In the second ending, a machine intelligence seems to offer renewed contact with Earth. Unwittingly, it attracts an apparition previously believed to exist only in legend.