The first human expedition to the dwarf planet Ceres in the Asteroid Belt becomes stuck there. Can the crew free their ship before the launch window to home expires? They came, eager to exploit the ice here. Now the ice itself will not release them. A cryovolcanic eruption on Ceres traps an exploratory spacecraft named the Lunar Princess. A portion of the ship is now embedded under a discharge of frozen regolith. The launch window back to High Earth Orbit arrives in only five weeks. Can the crew free their ship in the time remaining? Or are they doomed to become permanent residents of Ceres?
