Hard Contact

Budrys's final novel opens with the report of a man found electrocuted on suburban train tracks in Shoreview, Illinois. Neville Sealman appeared to be just another commuter, but after his tragic death, no one comes forward to claim his body. And a routine autopsy reveals some disturbing physiological anomalies. Then a spaceship is unearthed in a New Jersey swamp. Its passengers, human in appearance, were forced to go their separate ways in an alien world after crash-landing. Now their cover could be blown.

Childhood therapy cured Stephen Fisher of disturbing visions and the delusion of having come from another world. But when his daughter obsesses over a star in the night sky, he fears that his genetic legacy may have burdened her with the same illness. His sanity is then shattered when he loses his child and the military abducts him claiming that she recorded a song broadcast from another world.

Attention all you Salvage-5 and Colonel Tucker Petersen fans!! Hold on to your seat. The swashbuckling, cigar chomping, whiskey drinking, no-nonsense hero is back. Tucker goes on a personal quest to rescue Captain Cassandra Phillips. It’s been a long six months for the Colonel, but now the time has come for him to steal the SSV-5 and embark on their most dangerous mission yet: Return to asteroid 52 Europa.

Der Raumhafen auf dem Planeten Alvarado ist ein Sprungbrett zu vielen Randplaneten. Entsprechend gut laufen die Geschäfte. Seit Jahren schon streiten zwei Familien um die Kontrolle über diesen Umschlagplatz, und mittlerweile wird die Fehde mit harten Bandagen geführt. In diesen Kleinkrieg geraten John Donovan und seine Crew, als sie nichts weiter als ein paar Rinder verkaufen wollen.

Manche bezeichnen sie als Verbrecher, andere als Helden der Randplaneten. Sie selbst nennen sich Frontiersmen: Furchtlose Männer und Frauen, die Fracht und Flüchtlinge dorthin schmuggeln, wo der Weltraum noch frei und wild ist. John Donovan ist einer von ihnen und chronisch knapp bei Kasse, sodass er auch riskante Jobs übernimmt. Etwa einen Passagiertransport zur rauen Koloniewelt Heaven's Gate.

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.

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.

Sometimes the few must stand against the many. From the dark, cold void came an unknown force. Their target: a remote planet, the home of a group of people distancing themselves from mankind and pursuing a path of piety and peace. If they have any chance at survival, a disparate group of pilots must come together to fight back any way they can. But the best these aces can do might not be good enough.

Life on the planet Jupiter? Former Senator Mitchell Ryan had always been told the violent, storm-tossed world was devoid of life. He had dismissed rumors of a strange life form living in the energy rich atmosphere as mere fantasy. Confronted with several mysterious deaths, sabotage, and similar acts of terrorism - possibly perpetrated by wealthy politicians who profit from the current crisis of fear - Ryan faces a dilemma that will change his life and determine the fate of the solar system forever.

As I recall, it all started with a mystical dream. I awoke from that dream only to find that we had a mission the Five Moons could not handle. Can you even believe that? The Five Moons. So it was that my father brought me over the quantum portal to a secret - a whole new ship - the Green Jinn. Everything about the Green Jinn was an illusion, and nobody even knew that she existed. Admiral Dallas Blake made me captain of the Green Jinn. I am Chon ko Gonin.

Before the time of man, according to the ancient legends, the gods walked the earth. The Egyptians had a name for this time. They called it "Zep Tepi" - the first time. That time is where this story began. Five Moons: Zep Tepi picks up the story 10,000 years later.... It all started with an emergency call from a world at the farthest edges of explored space. “You are our only hope,” they tell Dallas Blake and the crew of the Five Moons. A deadly virus will kill them all if the Five Moons doesn’t get the vaccine to them right away.

In our darkest hour, Dallas Blake first stepped foot upon the decks of the Five Moons and changed everything. He didn’t know that evil men had conspired to destroy the ship and its crew when he bought a ship that was never meant for sale. Dallas found the crew they thought was lost and gone forever. He saved the Five Moons.

With the fraudulent election of President Venalis Proditor, the Union does not stand a chance, because after his election, a powder keg of chaos erupts in the torn nation, and a rebellion forms to overthrow the US government. However, what the rebels fail to foresee is that Proditor has been in alliance with the corrupt UN, who, in turn, combine forces with the NATO troops and stage a war on American soil. With the use of highly advanced nano-biotechnology, the invading forces trigger the beginning of the end of humanity....

The planet of Hope Nation has always loomed large in Nicholas Seafort's life. It was there that he built a name for himself, saving the planet from civil war and from the insatiable, fishlike aliens. But not everyone in that colony appreciated Seafort's efforts. Randy Carr, son of Seafort's old friend, Derek Carr, blames him for his father's death and wants Seafort to pay for this bitter loss. Trouble brews for Seafort on Earth and on Hope Nation.

Jack Kildare and the survivors of the Spirit of Destiny are stranded on Europa, while an alien planet-killer sets its deadly sights on Earth. But Jack's not done fighting. Not yet. Abandoned by mission control, the astronauts embark on a life-or-death pursuit of the alien behemoth that now has Earth in its crosshairs. The 400-million-mile running battle will test Jack and his ship to their limits. Yet the greatest danger lurks closer to hand, on board the Spirit of Destiny itself. Which ship will win the race?

Tiger has lost almost everything. Her village. Her community. Her father. But her brother, Tarren, who has been kidnapped by the deadheads that razed her village, still lives. With only the loyal but enigmatic old man, Sai, to guide her into the nightmare-jungle that was once North America, Tiger must face her greatest fears in a race to save her brother before he is lobotomized, even while the world around her is bled dry by Those That Watch.

While space biologists Jonathan Bartell and Gaby Larsen attend a conference held at a base in the asteroid belt, a man approaches Jonathan in great distress. He's been asked to take over command of a previously commercial research station, but strange things started happening: plants glowing in the dark, lights turning themselves on and off, computers misbehaving. He discovered the cause, but Section Command issues a gag order on the issue. This is strange, because the Force is investing big in research.

EINE VERZWEIFELTE MISSION - EINE HANDVOLL ÜBERLEBENDER - EIN GEHEIMNISSVOLLER PLANET. Kriege, Umweltzerstörung und Seuchen - die Erde des 22. Jahrhunderts steht vor dem Kollaps. Das Ende der Menschheit droht! Daher soll die Terraforming-Mission Genesis einen weit entfernten, erdähnlichen Planeten urbar machen. Doch es kommt zur Katastrophe, und die Genesis stürzt auf einem unwirtlichen Gesteinsbrocken ab. Wie konnte das passieren? Was erwartet die wenigen Überlebenden auf diesem unbekannten Planeten? Und werden sie die Erde je wiedersehen?

Um Kontakt mit außerirdischen Intelligenzen zu suchen, wird auf der Erde das "Projekt S.E.T.I." betrieben. Damit sollen Radiosignale aus dem All aufgefangen werden. Gerade, als ein Senator des US-Finanzausschusses dem Projektleiter die Streichung der finanziellen Mittel mitteilt, wird etwas Ungewöhnliches empfangen, zunächst nur unverständliche Funksignale. Wie sich herausstellt, handelt es sich um komplexe Zahlenreihen und Bezeichnungen für bestimmte Aminosäuren.

The ongoing case of "The Cloud Conspiracy" is taken from the files of special agent Tray Marrow. A super-intelligent UFO crash survivor is held at a quasi-government research company named Genesis 15. He is given the name Lawrence. As an advanced species, he creates an implantable microchip enabling humans to become one with the cloud. A power-hungry loner named Larry Fledges realizes the power that the microchip holds. He steals the chip and self-implants becoming "one with the cloud". The clock is now ticking for special agent Marrow to locate Fledgers before world chaos ensues.