They are free hunters of the galaxy. Their prey is ghost ships, lost in space and time. But one day, information about a mysterious lost ship of the Federation, the largest state in the human sector of the Galaxy, falls into their hands. And then the hunters become the game - anyone who touches this information is doomed to death. Someone is interested in preserving the secret of the lost ship. This is understood by both Detective Neiman, who accidentally touched upon a forbidden topic, and the crew of the Steel Thorn, a tough vulture of the star roads. And only those who fly on a lost ship suspect nothing about it. They are worried about something else: whether they managed to escape the monstrous mortal threat from which they fled from their planet, or a bloodthirsty darkness lurked in the holds of their own ship...