Science Fiction Space Survival

The vicious, evolving blues are sweeping the land like a plague, driving humanity toward extinction. Calvin Herschel might be the only one who can stop it—but first, he must face the teenage girl he orphaned a year ago. She holds the key to his mission, whether she’ll give it to him or not. Together with his old rival Nicholas and a mysterious newcomer, Neoma, Cal heads north to seek the Artifact—a hope that might save them all. But the blues are growing deadlier, and the real monsters may not be the ones lurking outside. Meanwhile, another desperate group fights for survival, hunted ...

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza - but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion? Meanwhile Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance.

One last mission. It's a promise familiar to Captain John Duggan. Each final battle has another following it, with another after that. They come to him with the inevitability of death. His latest task seems no different to the others before it. As events progress, Duggan begins to believe - he starts to see how his life might change at the end of it and how the lives of billions in the Confederation may be saved if he succeeds. This time, his superiors plan no less than the destruction of the Helius Blackstar itself.

Captain John Duggan and his crew are stranded deep in hostile territory. Their spaceship, the ESS Crimson is damaged beyond repair. Enemy warships hunt them, eager to locate the vessel which has caused so much damage to their military. All seems lost. Duggan is not a man to go down without a fight. Determined to take matters into his own hands, he leads his squad across the surface of an inhospitable planet in order to make a raid upon an enemy base.

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.

We are entering another ice age. In less than a year, my brother and I will freeze to death, unless we starve first. Experts have created biodomes, built tunnels, and rationed food and fuel to make the end more tolerable, for a bit. When Lon of planet Kaipra contacts me, claiming he has the key to our survival, I have to listen. He’ll help humans survive the ice age, but at the ultimate cost—I must agree to leave my brother, my friends, and the entire planet I call home to travel across the galaxy with him. Can I trust him? What are his plans with me? And do I even have a choice? ...

Lieutenant Ryann Voss craves a career-defining mission, but her first deep-space assignment aboard the UNS Indira Vahl is anything but. A routine convoy escort quickly devolves into a monotonous patrol, leaving Ryann bored and restless. Yet, her sharp mind soon uncovers unsettling anomalies: a ship humming with quiet disinterest, subtle system irregularities dismissed by her stoic superiors, and an undercurrent of unease that hints at something far more sinister. When a horrific accident cripples a crewmate, Ryann unearths a terrifying truth: the Vahl isn't just battered and war-weary, it's...

I thought dying in prison was my only option… …then I was given a choice. I can either board an alien spaceship with 400 fellow criminals or rot in prison on a freezing Earth. The spacecraft's captain, a handsome alien who looks remarkably human, has been visiting me in my dreams for over a year. He has given me the companionship I need during my time locked up in solitary confinement, and the way he holds me in my mind makes me forget the Earth is on the brink of extinction. But was that nothing but my imagination? The alien in question doesn’t seem to know anything about the hours ...

Exodus From Elyria follows the inhabitants of a distant planet as they send Explorer Hybrids across the cosmos in search of a new home, escaping toxic gases. After a tragic crash, the lone survivor passes his essence to a human, sparking new life. Meanwhile, the AI Ava uncovers a deadly path gen that threatens humanity. As two million Elyrians race toward Earth, the fate of both civilizations is at stake in a thrilling tale of survival and cosmic destiny.

In "Firebase Alpha," the zombie apocalypse has plunged the world into chaos, leaving seasoned veterans John Mcgammon and Ethan Bennett to defend their sanctuary against the relentless undead. Firebase Alpha stands as a last bastion of hope, fortified and prepared for the horrors that now roam the outside world. However, the true terror emerges from within the horde: Raisa, a cunning and intelligent zombie who commands the infected, turning them into a cohesive and deadly force. As Raisa’s influence grows, she becomes a formidable adversary, exploiting the weaknesses of those trying to ...

The year is 2072. Soon a volcanic eruption will trigger catastrophic devastation, and the only way out is up. While the world's leaders, scientists, and engineers oversee the frantic production of a space fleet meant to save humankind, their children are brought in for a weekend of touring the Lazarus|a high-tech prototype spaceship. But when the apocalypse arrives months ahead of schedule, First Daughter Leigh Chen and a handful of teens from the tour are the only ones to escape the planet.

Fresh from his rebirth in the galactic graveyard, Mick Triton is a man with a new ship and an old problem: a dwindling bank account. To get back in the game, he takes a job that sounds too good to be true, a contract from a desperate corporate suit to retrieve the Star Wanderer, a legendary multi-trillion-credit luxury liner that vanished on its maiden voyage in the Sargasso Nebula. Every spacer knows the stories—the Nebula is a place where ships go to die, a navigational nightmare of gravimetric tides and phantom signals. But the payday is obscene, a king's ransom that could set him up ...

Rostislav Volkov, a man defined by meticulous plans and an unshakeable faith in logic, finds his meticulously ordered universe shattered on the alien world of Lumina. Stranded after a catastrophic ship malfunction, he confronts a hostile landscape of shifting light and unpredictable dangers, battling not just the elements, but the bitter echoes of a past failure that cost him everything. His rigid protocols prove useless against Lumina's raw, chaotic beauty, and a failing life support system threatens to turn his armored suit into a tomb. Salvation arrives in the unexpected form of Kira, a ...

In a future where humanity has conquered mortality, Dr. Isabella Moretti, a renowned exo-archaeologist dedicated to deciphering the secrets of extinct civilizations, faces an unwelcome "Second Life" of compulsory service. Thrust into the Aegis Legion, the Concord's shield against frontier perils, she's deployed to the desolate Erebus System at galaxy's far edge —a place besieged by the Phantoms, an unseen, merciless alien force whose motives are unknown. With colonial outposts systematically obliterated by devastating kinetic strikes from orbit, Isa and her newly formed platoon, Void ...

Take a extraordinary journey with Emma Sinclair in "Stowaway to the Stars," a thrilling tale of courage, innovation, and the boundless possibilities of space exploration. Initially a genius yet isolated girl on Mars, Emma stows away on the Celestial Pioneer, bound for the uncharted realms of Pluto. What begins as a desperate escape transforms into an inspiring saga of Emma's evolution from a hidden passenger to a pivotal leader in establishing the first human outpost on Pluto. Through trials, triumphs, and the unwavering bonds of a newfound family, Emma and her crew face the daunting ...

The world’s most destructive spacecraft is about to get hijacked.Virago is the codename for a top secret project between ACE Corp and the US Space Force. Its goal is to deploy the first fusion-powered battleship to ensure American domination of any potential conflict in space. There’s only one problem. Virago has been stolen. The world is now at the brink of war as the hijacked spacecraft forges a path of destruction across known space. The task to intercept and retake this dangerous adversary falls on corporate fixer Stilicho Jones and NASA Special Agent Darian Arante. This time the ...

Are we truly alone in the universe? This age-old question propels three brave astronauts on an ambitious mission deep into the cosmos. Their goal is simple yet vital: locate a planet that possesses water, the essential element needed to sustain human life. Fueled by hope, curiosity, and the instinct to ensure humanity’s future, they embark on a journey beyond the known boundaries of our solar system—into the uncharted darkness that lies beyond the Milky Way. However, what begins as a scientific quest quickly transforms into something far more profound and perilous. Upon arrival at a ...

It is Earth year 2256 - but the fate of the few who even remember Earth is perilously in doubt. Mina Saunders-Chang and many of the surviving humans are stranded in the Centauri system, having barely survived their confrontation with the Telphon refugees. Now everyone - human and Telphon alike - is caught in the blast zone of the Centauri supernova. And yet there's only one question Mina is asking: Where are Liam and Phoebe?

Today’s fans of science fiction and fantasy have an appetite for stories that address a wide variety of voices, perspectives, and styles. There is an openness to experiment and pushing boundaries, combined with the classic desire to hear about spaceships and dragons, future technology and ancient magic, and the places where they intersect. With a diverse selection of stories chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and Diana Gabaldon, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020 explores the ever-expanding and changing world of SFF today.

Liam and Phoebe, having barely escaped our exploding sun with their lives, are in stasis for the decade-long journey to the rogue planet Delphi, where they hope to meet up with the rest of the human refugees, find help for their injured parents, and pass along the devastating things they discovered on Mars: that someone destroyed their world intentionally, and that that someone might still be after them, trying to finish the job. Phoebe is carrying her own dark secret. One that finds her waking up secretly at various points in their journey, changing their path through space.