Alpha Rising
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.
Published: April 15, 2007
Language: eng
Number of pages: 296
ISBN-13: 9780595411009
First sentence: May 25, 2020. Kennedy Space Center. The countdown clock's bright yellow numerals flashed to T minus 4 hours and counting.
Description: May 25, 2020. NASA dispatches Commander "Bach" Turner on a perilous mission to find four astronauts lost beyond Earth's solar system. Minutes after rescue, the edge of a lethal, swirling cloud of galactic plasma draws the earthship deeper into space and deposits it on a strange planet.
 
Bach's troubles multiply when his crewmates are abducted by an evil army of Rooks—Rulers of other kingdoms.  His rescue by Altemus Rider, the patriarch of a clan of geniuses, and his daughter Star, lands Bach in a beleaguered future world where he delves into alien technology with a single-minded goal: find his crewmates and return to Earth.
 
In this unstable zone of space, time is running out on all life forms, children are missing, few can be trusted, and Bach's DNA is of particular interest to one alien. When he learns of a tunnel of light on a distant mount he cautiously ventures in. There, the Creator delivers the first of several instructions: search this weird, inverted galaxy for those with a sacred icon.
 
After a race against time through lands of future and past with Star at his side, Bach's harrowing, prophetic journey takes an unthinkable turn when deep space rumbles a forewarning--and he realizes he didn't get the Creator's final instruction.
Notes: Hungry for a taste of the future? Fast-forward to May 2020-- sci-fi becomes reality.