Space Science Exploration

Sandstorm: Publisher's Pack 2 contains the final two books in the Sandstorm series: Dustborn, Book 3 and War Torn, Book 4. Tired, dirty, and sick, the Red Rock survivors eke out an existence on the Watchers' cliffs, hoping to avoid the monster. But life up high is almost as bad as life on the ground. Water is scarce, and no meal is guaranteed. And deep inside the tunnels, a new threat is building, something that might consume them all....

When a human team is sent to scout a few hundred light-years in front of the death wave, it encounters a civilization far in advance of our own, a civilization of machine intelligences.These sentient, intelligent machines have existed for eons and have survived earlier "death waves" - gamma-ray bursts from the core of the galaxy. They are totally self-sufficient, completely certain that the death wave cannot harm them, and utterly uninterested in helping to save other civilizations.

With the Gral sent home, abandoning their posts around the colonies, humans are once again in charge of their own fate. Zane and Julia are determined to find the mysterious forty-fourth colony. They devise a plan and set into action while Lorna and Henry search the Forever World for evidence of the elusive alien race. Carl is sent into enemy territory with only a shred of hope as his guiding light. For both father and son, choice is synchronous with consequence, but how can you be sure you've made the right one?

From the Solar System itself, Imperator James Calvin Walkingstick prepares the remaining fleets of the Commonwealth for a desperate and brutal campaign to retake their borders and unify humanity one more. On the other side of the Commonwealth’s seceding star systems, Dictator Kaleb Periklos gathers his fleets to avenge their humiliation. To the mercenary Admirals of the Stellar League, it doesn’t matter whether the worlds they conquer still kneel to Terra.

A corporate aristocracy descended from Africa rules a colony on a distant planet. Life here is easy—for the rarified and privileged few. The aristocrats enjoy a powerful cybernetic technology that extends their life spans and ensures their prosperity. Those who serve them suffer under a heavy hand. But within this ruthless society are agents of hope and change. In a secret underwater laboratory, a separatist cult has created a threat to the aristocracy. The Primes are highly intelligent, manipulative products of genetic engineering, designed to lead a rebellion.

On a routine border patrol, pilot Zane Lucas encounters a mysterious cluster of drones. When he reports it to the Scorpius head office, they quickly sweep it under the intergalactic rug and place him on leave. That same night, Zane is contacted by an estate lawyer from the distant planet Earth and learns he's the sole beneficiary of a person he's never met. Determined to get answers, he finds himself thrust into a dead man's quest, along with a resourceful colleague, Julia Rossi. Zane's mission is tied to an old children's story based on The Forever World.

The TARDIS arrives in Gaul in AD 451, on the eve of battle between the forces of Attila the Hun and those of the crumbling Roman Empire. But the Doctor soon finds that both sides are being helped by sinister supernatural creatures. While Graham makes allies in the Roman camp and Ryan is pursued by the enigmatic Legion of Smoke, the Doctor and Yasmin are pressed into service as Attila’s personal sorcerers. But the Doctor knows there is science behind the combat magicks - and that the true war will pit all humanity against a ruthless alien threat.

Captain James T. Kirk and the Enterprise crew escort Spock’s father, Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan, to a dilithium-rich planet called Akiron. They arrive to find this world under siege by creatures that some of the planet’s denizens believe are demons. Sarek orders Kirk to abandon the mission, but the young captain won’t turn his back on people in danger.

The brink of disaster. The Relentless is destroyed, and Captain Husher has fallen into a coma. The Brood harries the battle group from all sides, and the end seems near. Can the allied humans and aliens pull together to escape to the Milky Way and warn humanity of its impending doom? The time of reckoning has come.

As Chinese and US spacecraft compete to be the first to land on Mars, a former astronaut, his cousin, and four teens from Florida decide to take matters into their own hands. If they can quickly build their own space-worthy ship using scrap metal, appliances, and power tools, they have a chance to come from behind - thanks to an inventive new power source that can propel them to the Red Planet within three days. No guts, no glory.

Twenty years after the elemental conflict that nearly tore apart the cosmos in The Saga of Seven Suns, a new threat emerges from the darkness. The human race must set aside its own inner conflicts to rebuild their alliance with the Ildiran Empire for the survival of the galaxy. In Kevin J. Anderson's The Dark Between the Stars, galactic empires clash, elemental beings devastate whole planetary systems, and factions of humanity are pitted against one another.

A meteor makes landfall in South Africa, carrying a strange substance that alters plants, soil—and humans. Yet something much more dangerous is on a collision course with Earth—something that will change the future forever. In a Hail Mary attempt to save the planet from certain doom, the government sends a ship and its crew directly into the path of the oncoming threat. The crew’s daring plan might be the only way to save humanity.

Two hundred thousand feet up, things go horribly wrong. An experimental low-orbit spaceplane breaks up on reentry, falling to earth over a trail hundreds of miles long. And in its wake is the beginning of the most important mission in the history of spaceflight.

With the alien Dhryn cutting a pathway through the inhabited spaceways - bringing about the annihilation of many of the races who have the misfortune to lie along the star trail they are following - time is running out for all sentient life-forms. Can biologists Mackenzie Connor and Emily Mamami solve the riddle of the Dhryn before their part of the galaxy becomes as dead as the mysterious region known as the Chasm?

Deep in space lies the black hole known as Angelmass, so called because it emits enigmatic particles with the unusual ability to render humans calm, reasonable, and incapable of lying—which would normally be seen as a good thing. But not by everyone. Academic Jereko Kosta is pressed into service by the Pax to spy on the Empyrean, joining the crew of a ship actively hunting the particles. But what he learns turns out to be both scientifically fascinating and morally frightening.

Following the events of Artifact Space, the galaxy continues to change and expand. Frontiers are challenged and what was once a safe space becomes contested, hostile, and unpredictable. From normal people caught up in the unstoppable machinations of politics and war, to spies faced with making the ultimate sacrifice for their nations, these stories follow the DHC as it faces a challenge to everything it holds dear - human rights, fairness and equality. When a rogue system questions their values and power, how can they stay true to their beliefs and protect their citizens?

Journeying to the bustling spaceport of Hinterland after being saved from certain death by a dubious Rogue Trader, Zelia, Talen and Mekki continue their quest to reach the Emperor’s Seat. But much here is not what it seems. Alone in a strange place and surrounded by aliens, whom can they really trust, and what are the secrets of the Tau?

Adan is ready to leave Earth behind. He successfully transformed his massive asteroid into an amazing spaceship, but faces an even larger challenge as he tries to negotiate the repercussions of the many deals and compromises that were required along the way. The choices he makes will not only impact those people who remain behind, but will also determine how the society onboard his vessel survives far into the future.

Aran awakens in chains with no memory. He’s conscripted into the Confederate Marines as a Tech Mage, given a spellrifle then hurled into the war with the draconic Krox and their Void Wyrm masters. Desperate to escape, Aran struggles to master his abilities while surviving the Krox onslaught. Fighting alongside him are a Major who will do anything to win, a Captain who will stop at nothing to see him dead, and a woman whose past is as blank as his own.

Nine hundred Vennans undertake a cultural exchange to Tradepoint, a space station where aliens from different worlds meet to do business. A young and gifted Speaker, Gredin, is translator and diplomat for the happy occasion. But a horrific vision shatters her first night’s sleep on Tradepoint. Venna, their homeworld, has been destroyed. Now, the safety of the only Vennans left in all of time and space, rests on Gredin’s young shoulders. Stunned and grieving, she navigates trade wars and political prejudice, bartering with other races. And the cost of failure is the unthinkable.