A determined group of colonists are attempting to establish a bridgehead on the planet Pandora, despite the savagery of the native lifeforms, as deadly as they are inhospitable.

But they have more to deal with than just murderous aliens: their ship's computer has been given artificial consciousness and has decided that it is a God.

Now it is insisting - with all the not inconsiderable force of its impressive array of armaments to back it up - that the colonists find appropriate ways to worship It.