The crew chases down some unanswered questions that remained after their last adventure. This leads them to the Scavengers, who hide in places that no one wants to visit, and to another species that appears to have disappeared: the fuzzies. The more they discover about this species with a cute-sounding nickname, the less they like what they uncover. They encounter several new and very different aliens along the way, but the enigma of the portal remains unsolved. They finally believe they now have a safe way to send a ship back to M33 and search for answers. What they discover is that they are not alone in exploring the portal, and some things dont want to be rescued...