Tera, a young girl, dreams of adventure, and finally joins her uncle David's smuggling spaceship, the Celeris, as his apprentice. Over long journeys on the Celeris, she learns the rules of the trade from him. Then her uncle accepts a job to transport the corpse of a monstrous Charkazak to an outer planet for experimentation. When their ship is attacked by pirates, David is killed, and Tera must survive as a stowaway on the ship. In hiding, she realizes the transported Charkazak is actually alive. To survive the pirates, she frees the Charkazak, who murders the pirates but spares her. She befriends the Charkazak, who wants her to help him free the other trapped, experimental creatures. She agrees, on the condition that they will proceed as smuggling partners.