"This is only the first ring. If you survive into the fifth ring, you shall come to my supper. I shall dine on you, Apollos Thorson."

A clean, bold, and often funny/often dark, space opera that combines science fiction, potboiler detective work, and broad comedy, all set out in the distant cosmos. While Doc Thorson is running a dangerous test in his private lab, his high school students Jack and Penny intrude and are swept out into the cosmos. Doc sets off in pursuit, to discover that humankind has already reached the distant stars.

It's hardly a surprise that crime and grifting await as he searches for the students. Never fear! Mags Hardbottle, Detective to the Stars, joins the case when Doc rescues her. She and her trusty, ape-like valet and chauffer, Kogrik, lend a hand. Jack is marooned on the back streets of a desolate planet and Penny has been kidnapped by body snatchers who intend to "process" her for her natural immunity. Big corporations, casinos, and ruthless scientists are getting away with murder out among the stars.

The sturdy little detective with her huge imagination and loyal chauffer join in on Doc's search. In short order, they are on the track of ruthless science and a network of merchants who sell the very components of human life. But somebody else is tracking Doc, a shadowy figure who intrudes only once to warn Doc, that when he reaches the Fifth Ring, the intruder will dine on him. Somebody or something out in the cosmos knows who Doc is and is also hunting him. A fast paced mix of mystery, adventure, and discovery, as the team works together to overthrow the criminal enterprise, evade a secret enemy, and return safely home to earth.