Captain Hardesty and Commander Bowman must shelve their romance long enough to rescue a mining colony and their sentient spaceship, known as Candide, from the threats of a corrupt policeman and a few opportunistic thieves. Bowman shines as she deduces the fate of Candide and all inside of him pivot on a sixty year old fulcrum that calls out to a rebels rebel, a player left offstage for six decades. Bowman has the choice of survival and success or the end of her command. She chooses survival. All the while opening a new tomorrow to the newest addition to her manifest, the miner girl Piglet whose youth and vigor threaten Candide with happiness and new adventures. Black Hole Drive is a tome on hope and spins a tale of true satisfaction for those in its world. Piglet is thus launched into intrigues and art with few to guide her but the crew she has just met and the mining colony that has been her home for nearly two decades.