When Brian's mother dies suddenly, the teenage genius is stripped of his last vestige of a normal childhood, the invincibility and limitless possibilities of youth. The exposure to mortality magnifies Brian's inner fears resulting in him becoming evermore cautious. Despite his social awkwardness, Brian forms an unlikely friendship with Will Star, a charismatic, popular and fearless athletic dynamo battling his own demons and living on the edge. While touring a new spacecraft developed by Brian's father and his team at NASA, an accident launches the vehicle with Brian and Will inside through a wormhole to the Alpha Centauri star system with no way to return home. The boys discover an Earthlike planet inhabited by the Chimera, a technically advanced race that has already enslaved the people of two worlds and which has their sights set on Earth. Only Brian's genius can stand in their way, but to join a slave rebellion entails great risk, a risk that fearful Brian is reticent to accept. When Will joins the rebels, Brian must choose between retreating to the security of his ship or joining Will and giving the rebels their only real chance of toppling the Chimera, and thereby protecting Earth. As events unfold, Brian learns many things about himself and life, but none more important than You Can't Live if You Can't Die.