When Beowulf "Bey" Shaeffer and his wealthy friend Gregory "Elephant" Pelton want to discover something new, they pay a stellar fee to the alien Outsiders for the location of the "most interesting" star system of which they're aware. When the Outsiders accelerate their ship, Slower than Infinity, to absurd 0.8c to catch a rogue solar system passing through local space, Bey and Pelton attempt a landing on one of the planets. They note that the system is nearly clear of asteroids, and they can see what appear to be creatures. As they near the surface, the "indestructible" General Products hull of their ship vanishes.

They flee the system, living in an inflatable habitat bubble, and return to human space using their hyperdrive, bleeding off momentum on several passes through the local system, looping around with their hyperdrive to continue deceleration. When they file a claim with the General Products corporation, the Pierson's Puppeteer (the alien owners of GP) representative agrees to pay the claim, noting that the only thing that could have destroyed the GP hull was antimatter. It then dawns of Beowulf and Elephant that the "interesting" aspect of the system was that it is made of antimatter.