Space First Contact

Season after season, the clans of the Brilliant Valley rely upon nature's dependable bounty. From their river's ceaseless flow, to the berry patch's delectable fruit, none among the valley's inhabitants could ever conceive of drought, or deprivation of any kind—until the night a colossal entity fell from the stars… The Shepherd of the Brilliant Valley - a new sci-fi short story from the bestselling author of The Dig and Exigency.

Titan: The largest moon of Saturn. A deadly enigma harboring the greatest secret in the history of humankind. In the wake of the first mission, two companies with very different goals plot a return to that distant moon. Their ships are safer, their technology has improved…and they want answers. The competition triggers a new space race that will push the crews to the very edge of survival. Yet Titan does not hold all the secrets. On Earth, a startling ocean discovery reveals that whatever created the alien artifacts has been to our planet before…and it’s coming back.

It is the second stage of human colonization - the first age, humanity's initial attempt to people the stars, ended in disaster when it was discovered that Earth's original superluminal drive did permanent genetic damage to all who used it - mutating Earth's far-flung colonists in mind and body. Now, one of Earth's first colonies has given humanity back the stars, but at a high price - a monopoly over all human commerce.

The crews of Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Ezri Dax, and William Riker unite to prevent a cosmic-level apocalypse - only to find that some fates really are inevitable.

Trouble infiltrated the Harakens' capital city of Espero, in the form of New Terra criminal gangs who grew wealthy and powerful on the moons of Ganymede, hiding behind the cover of an ill-conceived mining charter. The gangs brought stims and addictive hallucinogenic drugs to Espero, distributing them to the young on the planet.

Ten years have passed on Tines World, where Ravna Bergnsdot and a number of human children ended up after a disaster that nearly obliterated humankind throughout the galaxy. Ravna and the pack animals for which the planet is named have survived a war, and Ravna has saved more than one hundred children who were in cold-sleep aboard the vessel that brought them. While there is peace among the Tines, there are those among them - and among the humans - who seek power. And no matter the cost, these malcontents are determined to overturn the fledgling civilization....

Wildcat colonies are illegal, unauthorized, and secret - so when an injured stranger shows up at the wildcat colony New Seattle, the colony leaders are understandably suspicious of who he is and what he represents. His story of how he’s come to their colony is shocking, surprising, and might have bigger consequences than anyone could have expected. Walk the Plank is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories.

Mars. The red planet. A new frontier for humanity: a civilisation where humans can live in peace, lord and master of all they survey. But this isn't Space City from those old science-fiction books. It's more like Hell City, built into and from a huge crater. There's a big silk canopy over it, feeding out atmosphere as we generate it, little by little, because we can't breathe the air here. I guess it's a perfect place to live, if you want to live on Mars. At some point I must have wanted to live on Mars, because here I am.

Catie finally gets to go visit all the other civilizations known to the Paraxians. She is supposed to get them to join the Delphi League. But things don't go as smoothly as she expects. For some reason, there's resistance to anything she does. Come along and help Catie uncover the secrets on Aperanje.

Time is running out for the people of New Pallas. Nobody knows that better than Alvera Renata, a tenacious captain determined to scout past the stars with nothing but a handpicked crew and a promise: to find a new home for humanity. But when a perilous journey across dark space leads to first contact with a galactic civilization on the brink of war, Alvera soon realises keeping her word might not be as easy as she thought.

Jack Morgan has been framed for theft. He's hiding on a distant planet with the virtual presence of his deceased Uncle Virge, a con man who has been his only family since Jack's parents died. Jack knows he must clear his name before the cops catch up with him. A firefight among ships in the skies above leaves a downed ship near Jack's hiding place, with a single unlikely survivor. It looks like a dragon, and it must join with a human host within six hours or die. The only available host is Jack. Draycos, Jack's new companion, is a K'da, a dragon-like species that lives symbiotically with the humanoid Shontine. The attackers, determined to exterminate Draycos's people, will find them if they don't flee; so the pair works together to escape the planet and begin a search for the truth behind Jack's frame-up and the identity of the attackers. With Jack's future hanging in the balance, as well as the future of billions of Draycos's people, the pair must track down the people who framed Jack, and prevent the destruction of the remaining K'da and Shontine. They'll also discover whether their union was mere coincidence, or a friendship written in the stars. Zahn keeps the story moving at breakneck speed.

Binti has returned to her home planet, believing that the violence of the Meduse has been left behind. Unfortunately, although her people are peaceful on the whole, the same cannot be said for the Khoush, who fan the flames of their ancient rivalry with the Meduse.

Two Syndicate World star systems have fallen prey to a mysterious fleet of warships - a fleet controlled entirely by artificial intelligence - that is now targeting Alliance space. The warships are no mystery to Geary. They were developed by his government to ensure security but malfunctioned. If the Syndics learn the truth, the war with the Alliance will resume with a vengeance.

The greatest threat humanity has ever faced lies beyond the frontier of its galactic civilization, but dangers closer to home have been overlooked and allowed to grow. As greed and personal ambition in the Terran Union push the common good aside, the Navy is forced to turn to unconventional means. Jack Samson is ordered to team up with former allies to uncover and destroy the rot eating the Union from the inside. Chasing down a trail of smuggled alien technology through the Union's underworld, they soon discover the web of treachery reaches farther than anyone could have expected.

The McCormacks have been trying to keep a low profile so they can complete their plan to bring Earth to the club of spacefaring civilizations without creating a world war over the technology. But it’s hard to keep a low profile while building a space station, what with lifting all the material they need, designing new shuttles, and harnessing asteroids. Without any other choice, they go public.

Andre runs into trouble riding with Rachel while he's on leave. By the time he's back on duty, Rachel has decided to join up with BSR. Her first job is a doozy, though. She has to keep the twins out of trouble. Slavers show up again with hopes of getting the company out of the way. After the fleet explains the error in their ways, they head out to check on a new planet. A stowaway causes trouble for Topper, but it turns out for the best.

I'm Jace O'Malley, computer genius and prankster. I made a serious error in judgement with my last prank. Now I'm in the brig while my dad is trying to figure out how to solve the tainted water supply problem on board our ship. He's off-world, and he's going to be furious when he gets back...if he gets back. Something is wrong, and I've got to figure it out. But first...I have to escape from my cell. Join me on my great adventure!

A chance encounter with a strange creature puts Nathan on the trail of a lost civilization that predates everything else in the galaxy. For thousands of years, many have abandoned the deadly search, but there are powerful forces that will do anything to possess the promised technological marvels that will change everything. Determined to uncover the truth, Nathan joins the hunt, but when the race for the ultimate prize turns deadly, it will test the loyalty of his crew.

Ryo is one of the Thranx, a race of social arthropods. From his larval years to now, his life has been normal, though his love of learning and insatiable curiosity set him apart. He has settled into his work as an agriculture specialist and is premated to a lovely female. Yet Ryo still feels something is missing from his life, and when he heroically defends his colony from the Thranx's reptilian nemesis, Ryo gets a taste of excitement that's hard to forget.

Earth seceded from its suzerains' state and declared independence. Naturally, such a bold move did not go unnoticed by its powerful neighbors in space, who had aggressive plans for the inhabitable yet overly self-reliant planet. With black clouds gathering and the term of safety growing ever shorter, positive lines of the probable future for Earth's humanity and its allies were nowhere to be seen despite all Gnat the Devourer's efforts and unique abilities.