Douglas Hooker is a paranoid schizophrenic who steals a Bussard Ramjet ship to cross interstellar space and take revenge on someone he believes has wronged him. When a second ramjet ship gives chase, both ships begin to accelerate out of known space, fueled by an endless supply of interstellar hydrogen.

A sentient entity that emerged as patterns of energy in a nebula or in empty space, never having had a physical body.