The "Chindi" in the story is an asteroid that's been converted into a space ship to capture samples from across the galaxy. The story of Chindi is another example of McDevitt tossing a bunch of spoiled, uninteresting, flat and minor characters into a spaceship piloted by Priscilla Hutchins, the least commanding commander ever, and having them do stupid things repeatedly despite life-threatening scenarios on repeat. These "rich, amateur SETI enthusiasts" hire her to pilot them on a jaunt to try and track down where a mysterious signal is coming from, and their journey takes them on a sort of hare and hounds trip from one planet to another, each of which is orbited by an alien satellite. Why Hutch would go off on yet another trip populated by idiots is a mystery, and I forget what happened here. Maybe she lost her job or got fired or something, and was desperate for the gig?
Given that one of these secret satellites is around Earth, it's very strange that this group and Hutch are the only ones who are pursuing the signal, but here it is. Improbable is what McDevitt does, but he's well-off and old now so I guess she doesn't much care how he got there. The idiots abroad encounter evidence of a snake society which destroyed itself in nuclear war. How snakes would ever get that far is a mystery, but this is how McDevitt creates his aliens: they're just like Earth creatures with no consideration given to how or why. After snake world, they encounter beautiful aliens who fool the visitors into falling in love with them only to prove to be murderous and who take two victims from the passengers.
Finally they encounter the asteroid and discover it's a space-going zoo, so really, Star Trek 'The Menagerie'. It's been so long that I read this and I barely remember it, so I guess it really didn't leave much of an impression, but it certainly didn't turn me off the series otherwise I would never have moved on to the next one, which I did. Reflecting on it now though, several years later, I feel less benign toward it!
