Hard Contact

In the year 2255, of all the sentient beings in her universe, it was a woman named Salma, twenty years old, who was the first fully to see the object called Planet Nine. See with her own eyes, albeit moderated by her ship's instruments. If not to recognise what it was, not yet. Not that the object turned out to be a planet, or the 'ninth' of anything. Briefly thought to be a black hole, it suddenly changes, expands and sends a message. There is something waiting on its service. Something not quite human.

The aliens are here. And they want to help. The extraordinary new project from one of the country's most acclaimed and consistently brilliant SF novelists of the last 30 years. The Jackaroo have given humanity 15 worlds and the means to reach them. They're a chance to start over, but they're also littered with ruins and artifacts left by the Jackaroos' previous clients.

Nova ist ein einsamer Planet, seit ewigen Zeiten unterwegs zur Andromeda-Galaxie. Und doch ist er bewohnt – von Menschen, die nie etwas anderes kennengelernt haben als die Höhlen unter der Oberfläche, die sie vor dem Vakuum und der kosmischen Strahlung schützen. Eine überraschende Begegnung ändert alles. Der Planet bekommt Besucher, die ihre eigenen Pläne zu haben scheinen und dabei so fremdartig sind, dass Kommunikation aussichtslos erscheint.

In the distant future, humanity is still alone among the stars. War ravages the superpowers of the planet in a seemingly never-ending conflict. Technological advancements to aid both sides of the war has pushed humans into the stars, in an effort for resources and colonization. The United Federation of Nations chose four planets for colonization, three were successful. During colonization, they discovered an ancient technology: the hyper-drive. Humanity had instant and unlimited access to its colonies, but the war continued to ravage.

Rick and his crew live on the edge of Earth Corps space, where the law is what you make it and the taxman doth fear to tread. While a war rages, he salvages its wreckage, profiteering from the misery of others. Despite his plan to sit it out from the sidelines and fill his pockets, Rick is drawn into a galactic conflict. When an alien armada is set to crash down upon Sol, he has to choose between cold hard cash or his conscience.

Im Jahre 2031 finden Forscher in den Signalen einer Roboter-Sonde, die den Saturnmond Enceladus studiert, eindeutige Spuren biologischer Aktivität. Beweise für außerirdisches Leben - eine Weltsensation. Fünfzehn Jahre später macht sich ein eilig dafür gebautes, bemanntes Raumschiff auf die weite Reise zum Ringplaneten. Der internationalen Crew stehen nicht nur schwierige siebenundzwanzig Monate bevor: Falls sie es ohne Zwischenfall bis zum Enceladus schafft, muss sie mit einem Bohrschiff den kilometerdicken Eispanzer des Mondes durchdringen.

A charming rogue, Dan Courtney is learning fast that it takes more than a little charm to lay the groundwork for a railroad. Particularly when the plan is to build it across some of the roughest and most dangerous territory on earth. Courtney's been hired to survey the land that would link up the Uganda Railway to the Anglo-Egyptian railroad. Running through desert, jungle and mountains, this is one line—and story—with more twists and turns than the New York City subway system.

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.

The first novel in a brand-new series from rising SF star Jamie Sawyer, The Eternity War: Pariah is an action-packed adventure set in the same universe as his acclaimed Lazarus War novels. The soldiers of the Simulant Operations Programme are mankind's elite warriors. Veterans of a thousand battles across a hundred worlds, they undertake suicidal missions to protect humanity from the insidious Krell Empire and the mysterious machine race known as the Shard.

Valentinian and Dave have escaped the Dominion’s Internal Security Bureau. Now they’re fleeing for their lives, heading for systems outside of Dominion control, looking for a place where they can rebuild their lives. Figure out what comes next. Who they want to be, or to become. Hard Bargain - the second novel in the series, Shadow of the Dominion - takes you even further into Wildspace, human variants, and maybe even a crooked card game or two.

Am Gemini North Observatorium entdeckt die NASA-Physikerin Melody Adams in Teleskopdaten einen Himmelskörper nahe Pluto, der gar nicht existieren dürfte. Was sie für ein künstliches Objekt extraterrestrischen Ursprungs hält, wird von weiten Teilen der Wissenschaftswelt als Messfehler abgetan und die NASA scheut Ablenkungen von ihrem Artemis-Programm. Erst zwei Jahre später erhält Melody Besuch vom Secret Service. Das Objekt nähert sich Saturn und verhält sich eigenartig: Es wird langsamer.

La forma de vida que nuestros exploradores han descubierto en Encélado les ha dejado un mensaje inequívoco: en la luna Ío de Júpiter anida un peligro que amenaza a toda la humanidad. Sin embargo, resulta desconcertante que Ío pueda albergar nada. Su superficie, hecha de lava ardiente, mares de azufre y erupciones es lo más parecido al infierno que hay en todo el universo. Nuestros héroes tendrán que desviarse de su camino de regreso a la Tierra para indagar, sin saber que ya llevan un peligro oculto a bordo.

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.

Their family reunion will be disrupted, however, when a catastrophe strikes the space station. The crew of the Edison suddenly find themselves fighting for their lives - and amongst the chaos, Taniya will discover that she's not the only member of the crew with a secret....

The adventures of Christiaan, Daniel, and Hannah continue on the planet Hyperios. It’s the third planet among the 12 Planets the three Tellurians have visited. It doesn’t go well. They endure crisis after crisis. When Christiaan mysteriously vanishes while trying to return to Schyllus, Daniel goes in search of him, leaving Hannah all alone on Hyperios — for decades — just as things go from bad to apocalyptic. Daniel eventually finds his dad in a strange solar system in the unknown part of the universe called Eternity, where phantasmal laws prevail. There, they encounter a mysterious...

What happens when 12 civilizations from different planets meet for the very first time? Will their common origin unite them into a mighty Intergalactic Empire? Or will they destroy each other? The people of the planet Schyllus in the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy possess the "Intergalactic Map" which plots 12 planets in the Local Group of galaxies colonized by the children of the "Maker" called the "First Ones." Schyllus is one of the planets. Earth is another. There are 10 more. Scientists on Schyllus discover that the Maker has created a device in deep space—the Gryben Anomaly—that allows ...

Jonathan Bartell is a young man, just out of university, when he signs up for the position of Quarantine Officer at the Orbital Launch Station. He is part of a crop of students who flocked to study exo-biology when bacteria were discovered on Mars and who are now all making their living flipping burgers because the jobs are few and hard to get. He is lucky to get a job in space, no matter how mundane. Or so he thinks.... Gaby Larsen is a doctor at the tiny hospital at the space station, and she keeps secrets.

With an introductory biography of the late Isaac Asimov, this classic work gets better. Red and Slim found the two strange little animals the morning after they heard the thunder sounds. They knew that they could never show their new pets to their parents. Enjoy the listen, leave a review and check out our other retro sci-fi books!

On a distant planet, a fragile peace is about to be shattered.New Bali is a swamp world located 20 light-years from Earth. Colonized by humans almost two hundred years before, the planet is also home to an intelligent, methane-breathing race of amphibians. The natives have a unique culture that precludes war and vengeance, but recent events have begun to unravel a once fragile peace. Sophie Singh, heir to a vast conglomerate, must decide whether to retain her family's control of Wetworld while Brother Moises Borbon, a conflicted Jesuit researcher, races against time to unlock the true ...

QUANTUM STATE As corporate greed and nationalistic fervor turn Mars into a bloody battlefield, the world's leading academics are called upon to assemble a team to rebuild the failed Martian colonies. Together on Mars, this eccentric crew and their quirky AI cognizant, SAMI, make a startling discovery: SAMI can communicate with extraterrestrial life using their new Quantum computer. But as they begin to unravel the mysteries of this unknown culture, they uncover a devastating threat that looms on the horizon. With the fate of humanity hanging in the balance, they must decide whether to rely ...