When Systems Analysis sends Frankie an emergency package that turns out to be their most difficult passenger yet, she's tasked with delivering a brilliant physicist to a secret research base disguised as a toxic waste site. Someone there has stolen technology that could replace jump gates—or weaponize quantum physics itself.

Now Frankie and her cyvlossic partner Spike must help investigate which of the scientists on the isolated base is the traitor, all while managing a passenger who thinks cargo haulers are beneath her and dealing with the Skolls who seem very interested in what they're carrying. With the fate of instantaneous travel—and possibly the galaxy—at stake, Frankie's about to learn that sometimes the most dangerous cargo is the kind that talks back.

Perfect for fans of Becky Chambers' Wayfarers and Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries—readers who love locked-room mysteries in space with found family, quantum shenanigans, and protagonists way out of their depth.