In Outbound, a quadriplegic test pilot gets selected for a one-way trip through the galaxy, meeting his neighbors. Stewart Blackwell is a very educated and experienced biological engineer specializing in research but who has become a quadriplegic and is bitter at his new status in life. He is approached by an Air Force General to participate in a new program at Wright Patterson Air Force Base utilizing robotics and virtual reality in an attempt to return him to a productive life with three other quadriplegics. They are told the program is to develop virtual reality programming for computer simulation of their previous professions. When they become comfortable with their new virtual reality world, they learn that their personal consciousness is being transferred to fully functional robotic clones. The General explains that they have found life in a distant star system many light years from Earth. They have also designed and built a space ship to travel to the new life discovery. A few months on their journey, they are suddenly approached by an alien ship that fires on them. They take evasive action by slowing their ship, causing the alien ship to move out of synch with their speed and it cannot catch them when they fire their main engines again. A few weeks later, another alien ship approaches them. This time, the alien occupant speaks their language and introduces himself.