Aelor exists as a disembodied consciousness aboard a survival capsule floating in space. The capsule's energy reserves are running low. Aelor sends a distress call via a hypercommunication system.

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August 19, 2250 NGE: During the escape of the PHOENIX from the dark world Kushlur, two Leun technicians, the Zha-Leun Woritak and the Kheti-Leun Nupat, remained on board. The two involuntary passengers attempted to take control of the spaceship; the on-board Semitronics Phoenix prevented this. However, Woritak destroyed almost all of the robots on board. Nupat was injured in the process of this. Woritak, overwhelmed by the situation, finally makes contact with Phoenix. Since Nupat's injury did not appear to be life-threatening, Phoenix did not intervene. Instead, he kept the two Leuns busy with trivial conversation.

Phoenix intercepts a distress call and navigates to the transmitter's coordinates. There, he finds an egg-shaped, 4.80 x 3.40 meter capsule; the shell features a nine-pointed star within a circle. The object is brought into a cargo bay. Phoenix manages to establish acoustic contact. The being on board introduces itself as Aelor and demands command of the PHOENIX. It claims to have an important mission, although it cannot recall it at the moment.

Aelor is threatened with starvation. However, to feed, it needs a body. Phoenix is ​​able to extend the deadline by supplying energy to the capsule. He maneuvers the ship into the tracking shield of a giant blue sun to hide from the searching Leun ships.

Nupat has discovered that the PHOENIX has recovered something from space. The two Leuns then force their way into the cargo bay. Woritak fires indiscriminately, but Phoenix manages to bring the capsule and the last remaining robot to safety in the medical station. Woritak threatens to bring in the ship's cannon to penetrate the station.

Aelor offers Phoenix support in the defense against Woritak and Nupat. In return, it demands a clone body into which it can transfer its consciousness. Phoenix agrees. A tissue sample reveals that Aelor has no neural structures of its own, but is more of a symbiote or parasite. Almost all of the gene files Phoenix has at his disposal turn out to be genetically incompatible, including those of Terrans and Arkonides, as well as those of the two Leuns on board. Aelor reacts to the holos of Gucky and Tin with disgust that it itself cannot explain. Phoenix determines that Aelor's long-term memory is damaged. He can regenerate the relevant tissue, but cannot restore the lost memories. Phoenix ultimately decides on a humanoid female clone, which grows over the course of that day and the next.

August 20: Although the clone body is not yet fully grown, Aelor insists on taking it over now that its life energy is almost depleted. The capsule opens, and Aelor's web of tissue penetrates the clone through her nose.

The two Leuns use an improvised bomb to detach the cannon from the ship's hull and position it in front of the medical station. Woritak collapses the protective shields there and begins to disintegrate the hatch, when it suddenly opens. In the station, they are greeted by a being resembling a teenage Sichu Dorksteiger, who calls herself Aelor. Woritak demands medical assistance for Nupat. Aelor initially feigns helpfulness and then kills both Nupat and Woritak with a vibro-scalpel.

As the Leun ships approach, the PHOENIX hides in another sun.

Aelor's connection to the clone body is imperfect and begins to lead to rejection. Aelor is also dissatisfied with the brain capacity of the Ator body.

Aelor remembers receiving a distress call when she woke up. Phoenix can determine the source of the signal from the escape pod's log. At these coordinates, they find the wreckage of a spaceship destroyed a few days ago. Phoenix determines its age to be between 60,000 and 100,000 years old, which matches the age of the escape pod. No survivors, bodies, or usable records are found. However, Phoenix discovers a thirty-kilometer-long hose with a damaged retaining device at its end. The sight of the hose awakens some memories in Aelor: he now knows that he is the last of the Ennu Malor, the last hunter of the Nothingness. The Burning Nothingness belongs to his people, and the Yuits stole it. The Nothingness is necessary for the fight against a nameless threat.

Phoenix locates an alien ship in the debris field. To establish contact safely, he ejects Aelor's capsule and has it transmit a message that only a Galactic can understand. Perry Rhodan responds to the message. A short time later, Perry Rhodan boards the PHOENIX from the decommissioned Leun ship, which he has christened FRENEMY II. The debris is the remains of the Aeon Ship that Rhodan had explored on behalf of Terrybor. He was searching in vain for Krash, drifting in space. This also dashed any hope of learning the coordinates of the Star Cube. Once again, the ship is forced to flee as search ships approach the Leun.

Phoenix introduces Rhodan and Aelor to each other.