"Emergency...emergency...this is the commander of the spaceship" Daria. "A major catastrophe has occurred..." Having detected an alien distress signal, the Main Mission staff listens to the sombre appeal. The voice of the alien commander tells how large areas of his ship are devastated, with thousands dead and hundreds sick and dying. The signal ends with a plea for immediate aid—then is revealed to be an automated transmission when it loops back to the beginning. The vessel, drifting close to the Moon's trajectory, measures twenty miles long by five miles wide. While marvels that each deck measures one hundred square "miles", the instruments register life signs.