Hard Contact

It is the year 2051, and the International Space Institute has just sent two rival astrobiologists to search for extraterrestrial life on Europa, the mysterious ice moon of Jupiter. What they encounter could not only revolutionize science, it might make one of them the most famous person on Earth. Or does the Universe have other plans?

Der Übergang durch den Versuchsteleporter von Al'Antis ist geglückt. James und sein Team haben den ursprünglichen Teleporter der Ältesten gefunden. Doch was sie auf der anderen Seite erwartet, ist nicht das, womit sie gerechnet haben. Sie finden die Antworten, die sie sich so sehnlich wünschen, aber keine davon macht ihre Zukunft angenehmer oder leichter. Im Gegenteil: Sie sehen sich plötzlich einer letzten, großen Gefahr gegenüber, die ausgerechnet ihrem Heimatplaneten gilt, der unerreichbar schien: die Erde.

Auf Planeten und Asteroiden kämpfen die Menschen um das nackte Überleben gegen die fremdartigen und erbarmungslosen Mächte, die auf das Universum losgelassen wurden. Die Zeiten sind verzweifelt und das letzte, was die Konföderation jetzt benötigt, ist eine neue und entsetzlich mächtige Waffe. Und doch ist Dr. Alkad Mzu fest entschlossen, den Alchimist zu bergen - um ihre dreißig Jahre alte Rache zu vollziehen und eine Sonne zu vernichten.

Mankind explores Venus for signs of life, and an abandoned alien outpost is discovered. Dr. Veronica Hatch is sent to investigate, and she discovers an alien race escaped its dying planet and colonized Venus. When news reaches Earth, humans fear the aliens will invade and conquer the solar system, and they prepare for war.

Die Besessenen breiten sich scheinbar unaufhaltsam über Lalonde aus. Die Konföderation entsendet eine Flotte, um ihnen Einhalt zu gebieten. Kann sie verhindern, daß der Planet aus dem Universum entführt wird? Oder daß die Besessenen die Welt verlassen und andere Planeten in ihre Gewalt bringen? Gleichzeitig wird eine alte Frau nach langer Zeit im Exil wieder aktiv, um uralte Rachepläne zu verfolgen. Wenn es ihr gelingt, den Geheimdiensten zu entkommen, droht der gesamten Menschheit eine bis dahin beispiellose Gefahr.

AD 2600. Die Menschheit entdeckt endlich ihr ganzes Potential. Hunderte von Kolonien, verstreut über die ganze Galaxis, bieten eine Unzahl unterschiedlichster Kulturen und unermesslichen Reichtum. Gentechnik hat die Grenzen der Natur gesprengt. Der Handel blüht, und die Konföderation sorgt für Frieden und Sicherheit. Ein goldenes Zeitalter scheint angebrochen. Doch etwas ist schiefgelaufen. Extrem schief!

Master criminal Christmas "Crazy-Eyes" Parker is trying to plan an impossible heist of a mysterious package she was contracted to steal, while also trying to track down and kill her government contact Horace Murchison, who double-crossed her and her men. Meanwhile, Detective Ben Weizmann attempts to track down Parker as part of a wider case against her boss, ruthless industrial magnate Atusa Navarro, whom Weizmann-correctly-suspects of being the lynchpin of a conspiracy between the government and organized crime.

In their Noon Universe novels, they imagined twenty-second-century Earth as a space-faring communist utopia, devoted to guiding the progress of civilization on alien worlds. But as the authors became increasingly disillusioned with life in the Soviet Union, their Noon Universe stories grew darker and more complex as well. The Waves Extinguish the Wind provides the epic conclusion to the Noon Universe saga, as eighty-nine-year-old Maxim Kammerer looks back at his most earth-shattering investigation, which brought an entire era of human civilization to an end.

Vincent Frieso is a lowly salesman, wasting his days away at a computer store with no prospects or hopes for the future. However, when a strange new lifeform hitches a ride to Earth on an asteroid and lands in the Southern Pacific, the whole world flips over in an instant. The world that Vincent once knew had permanently changed. Whether for better or for worse, he did not yet know. Will Vincent find himself swept away by the currents of change and history? Or will he forge his own path in a world that becomes increasingly alien by the day?

Humanity has united under one government and has started to take to the stars. However, FTL is dangerous, expensive, and still slow. So a probe is sent out to gather samples and bring them back for analysis. Dr. Avery Hutton is one of the scientists assisting in analysis back on Earth. But these samples contain something a bit nastier than anything humanity had encountered before. A pathogen that, if not contained, could kill everything on Earth.

When a high-ranking businessman and two clones are murdered, Marshal Onima Gwok of the Confederation Bureau of Investigation (CBI) gets assigned the case. But nothing quite adds up. Is there something more insidious going on? There is just one witness - a clone. When the war ended 10 years ago, the clones who had fought it were discarded, forgotten, and became second-class citizens of the new confederation. Jace Rojas, designated AC J7-2247, is an infantry clone.

Relationships get complicated when you don’t know who - or what - you really are. Esen must find a way to rescue a hapless group of chimeras, beings who are a new and unique blend of species she knows, when she can’t become one herself. When Evan Gooseberry tries to help, he is shattered to learn he himself isn’t entirely Human and begins to suspect his new friend Esen isn’t what she seems. Complicating matters, a mysterious contagion has killed the crew of the ship that brought the chimeras - and Evan - to Botharis.

Dr. Eliza Raines has just made the discovery of a lifetime: Actual alien ruins on the surface of Mars. But during a massive dust storm, her expedition and mankind’s first colony on the Martian surface falls radio silent. It’s assumed to be a downed transmitter in the storm. The resupply vessel Murcielago, and its crew, are directed to assist with repairs. But neurotic ship’s engineer Leo Taggart can’t shake the idea something is terribly wrong. Gruff military policeman Kyle Locklear is confident in his team’s ability to handle whatever’s going on.

Sent to Earth to explore, survey, collect samples and report back to its makers, an alien probe arrives in the middle of a warzone. Witnessing both the best and worst of humanity, the AI probe faces situations that go far beyond the parameters of its programming and is forced to improvise, making decisions that have repercussions for the future of our entire world.

Mark Thomas is a sailor on a freighter ferrying people and lithium ore between the utopian colony world, Elysium, and Earth. The starship is sabotaged, the crew presumed lost. But there's one survivor. Alone, Mark finds safe harbor in the barely charted star system, Trappist-1. Marooned, he thought that his biggest challenge was how to call for help. When he discovers that something ancient and dangerous is also marooned in the archipelago of a star system, his plight goes from bad to worse.

For exobiologist Cassie Clearwater, the chance to explore the planet Obsidian is the opportunity of a lifetime. The austere black world has liquid water and a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere that might support life. She discovers a mysterious species of plant that emits copious quantities of complex chemicals. Her colleagues on the mission care only about the diamonds they've discovered, but Cassie wonders how these plants, and nothing else, thrive in such a dark and barren environment.

Der Widerstand stemmt sich verzweifelt gegen den Einfluss des Forums und der Implantatträger. Während die Menschheit immer mehr Zeit in der künstlich geschaffenen Metawelt verbringt, stößt Steve Työpaikkaa auf eine entsetzliche Wahrheit, die an den Fundamenten der Zukunft rüttelt. Derweil begibt sich seine Tochter June auf eine gefährliche Reise, nachdem der Widerstand auf die Quelle eines neuen Signals stößt. Sie muss zerstört werden, wenn der Widerstand überleben will - doch der Erfolg könnte einen Preis erfordern, den June nicht zahlen kann.

Earth has attained world peace at last. Overseen by the World Council, based in Jerusalem, the planet has truly become a global community, and humanity has reached an age of enlightenment. This is the time when the visitors arrive. Wielding near-miraculous technology, they arrive claiming to have seeded Earth with humans, and have returned to claim "their own." Their claims and their appearance seem prophesied by the Bible, and religion and politics clash as arguments break out about whether these visitors have the right to take people.

In Garbriellium, the largest and most prolific of those colonies on Europa, Jupiter's ice-covered moon, Justin and Jessica Forsythe embark on related but separate quests to answer what life exists beneath the ice, how humans and AIs interrelate with one another, and set out to solve mysteries surrounding the spontaneous natural birth of the first human being in nearly 2,000 years.

It's been two years since the invasion. Two years since the slicks came to our planet and herded humanity together like cattle, placing us under constant watch in the few cities that remain. The lucky ones are left to their own devices. The unlucky few are rounded up and carted off to labor camps to face an unknown fate. Former homicide detective Adrian Grace was cut off from his family, but has somehow managed to survive. When one of the slicks is murdered, they ask him to find the killer.