Space Science

The battle-scarred star carrier Flying Dutchman is finally on her way back to Earth, after an exceptionally successful series of missions that have once again saved the world. The ship needs a serious refit, and her exhausted crew just wants a break from constant clandestine warfare against a vicious and superior enemy. Wishes come true, right? Not for the Merry Band of Pirates.

The galaxy is doomed. Monkeys may be clever and too stubborn to give up, but Skippy The Idiot Who Got Played knows the harsh truth: this is a fight he can’t win. The odds are not only stacked against him, he was designed not to win this fight. Maybe he can salvage some faint memory of the civilizations that inhabit the galaxy, but those beings are doomed. Doomed. Including the Merry Band of Pirates.

In the future, venturing out into the stars is more than a way for humanity to chart the cosmos—it's big business. Every time a new planet is discovered, the highest bidder gets first dibs with exclusive property rights for a year. Anything they can find, they can keep. The planet Limbo was considered a waste of rock to most, which is the only reason apprentice cargo master Dane Thorson and the rest of the crew of the Solar Queen could afford to bid on it. But they soon discover that Limbo is far from uninhabited, the Solar Queen is far from the first ship to explore it.

As they seek the final pieces of a powerful alien technology, the Solaran Fleet and their xeno nemesis vie for control of the galaxy. If these relics fall into the wrong hands, Overmind X and her rogue swarm will have the advantage in the most deadly space battle the Fleet has ever fought. But a surprise visit from a wealthy and enigmatic patron complicates the admiral’s plans, revealing new mysteries about the ancient technology’s true purpose.

Peacetime can be a rough adjustment for the battle-hardened Merry Band of Pirates.

Especially when aliens don’t get the memo that the shooting is over.

Experimental physicist at CERN and acclaimed science presenter Harry Cliff offers an eye-opening account of the inexplicable phenomena that science has only recently glimpsed, and that could transform our understanding of the fundamental nature of reality. Something strange is going on in the...

Rapid colonization of the moon is pushing both national space agencies and powerful corporations to negotiate a New Lunar Accord in an effort to prevent escalating conflicts over valuable resources and territory. But hope that this treaty will bring stability to the nascent lunar civilization is suddenly dashed when a high-energy solar storm causes a cascade of destruction to the vast satellite constellations that orbit Earth. Now it’s only a matter of weeks before the ever-increasing debris cloud makes travel back to the home planet impossible.

The remnants of the Expeditionary Force stranded on the alien-controlled planet "Paradise" get a chance to prove themselves, in a simple off-world training mission with a ship full of teenage alien cadets. When the mission goes horribly wrong and the survival of everyone on Paradise is at risk, the Merry Band of Pirates may have to come to the rescue. Unless they get killed first....

The escape pods are long gone. A distress beacon is still active. Chase off the pirates and the wreck is all theirs. What was a crime scene moments before just became legitimate salvage, fair game for an opportunistic starship captain. Carl Ramsey is that opportunist. His crew of misfits includes his ex-wife as pilot, a drunken mechanic, a predatory bodyguard, and an outcast wizard from the Convocation. On their best days, they’re a well-oiled machine, capable of taking on any challenge. In theory. If that ever happened, Carl would be as shocked as anyone.

On the penal colony of Hibiscus Station, no positions are as key as the Pomps, who direct the dangerous mining operations to remove highly valuable—and volatile—crystal from the moon's crust. Young was previously in training to be a Pomp until a depressive episode, mental break, and a suicide attempt. She doesn’t need the other convicts on her work team to suspect she’s unraveling again, so when she suddenly hallucinates visions of the unstable crystals in the tunnel walls around her—along with the potential danger they hold—she keeps her mouth shut.

The Carryx—part empire, part hive—has waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy in its conflict with an ancient and deathless enemy. When they descend on the isolated world of Anjiin, the human population is abased, slaughtered, and put in chains. The best and brightest are abducted, taken to the Carryx world-palace to join prisoners from a thousand other species. Dafyd Alkhor, assistant to a prestigious scientist, is captured along with his team.

The sand-blasted world of Arrakis has become green, watered, and fertile. Old Paul Atreides, who led the desert Fremen to political and religious domination of the galaxy, is gone. But for the children of Dune, the very blossoming of their land contains the seeds of its own destruction. The altered climate is destroying the giant sandworms, and this in turn is disastrous for the planet's economy.

In the gripping Never Panic Early, Fred Haise, Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 13, offers a detailed firsthand account of when disaster struck three days into his mission to the moon. An oxygen tank exploded, a crewmate uttered the now iconic words, “Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” and the world anxiously watched as one of history’s most incredible rescue missions unfolded. Haise brings listeners into the heart of his experience on the challenging mission—considered NASA’s finest hour—and reflects on his life and career as an Apollo astronaut.

The elite crew of the pirate ship UNS Flying Dutchman had a simple mission: determining whether the Thuranin are sending another starship to Earth. Along the way, they became sidetracked by securing a future for the UNEF troops on the planet Paradise. When asked whether Earth was now safe, their ancient alien AI responded "Not so much"...now they have to deal with the consequences.

After the Renegade mission by the crew of the starship Flying Dutchman, the UN Expeditionary Force thought Earth was safe for hundreds of years, at least. After there was trouble on the home front and the president had to authorize a nuclear strike on an American city, UNEF decided they did need the Merry Band of Pirates again. So, the Flying Dutchman is sent out on a simple recon mission. But for the pirates, nothing is ever simple, and their mission will become Armageddon.

Terry Clark grew up surrounded by his parent’s life’s work, the rescue and rehabilitation of cetaceans. Born just after first contact with the Galactic Union, he’s never known a time when aliens weren’t visiting Earth. At 10 years old, he had a normal life, until a visit from one of the aliens resulted in a ground-breaking discovery. The cetaceans have a developed and complex language...and it can be deciphered by the aliens’ translators.

When a time travel "prank" goes wrong. Jessie and Eric Ramsey are launched five years into a future they don't recognize. Now she's a deserter from Earth Navy and he's been branded a dark wizard. On the run as fugitives, they make their way through the galaxy, making friends and allies. Along the way, they meet new alien friends, discover a powerful starship, and learn the political landscape of a galaxy that's falling apart.

The discovery of an ancient alien pyramid buried under the ice in Antarctica changes Earth forever. We learn that we are the forgotten slaves of a galaxy spanning empire called the V'kit'no'sat who abandoned our planet 100,000 years ago during a massive rebellion. Our ancestors, the Zen'zat, were given special genetic powers and ordered never to reproduce under pain of death...for themselves and their offspring. That means Earth's entire population is illegal and if the V'kit'no'sat return to reclaim their lost border colony they'll wipe out every last one of us.

Max Tyco is a truck driver on the road more days than he's home. Events are about to transpire that will lead this everyday Joe on an adventure of a lifetime. Things like traveling through space, starships, alien monsters, and blasters have all been daydreams...until now. The Rowki is a fraternity of intergalactic guardians tasked with keeping the balance between the light and the darkness. A call for help from the oldest galaxy in the universe and the central planet in that galaxy will uncover an ancient secret that could mean the end of the universe as we know it.

TwiceFar station is at the edge of the known universe, and that’s just how Niko Larson, former admiral in the Grand Military of the Hive Mind, likes it. Retired and finally free of the continual war of conquest, Niko and the remnants of her former unit are content to spend the rest of their days working at the restaurant they built together, The Last Chance. But, some wars can’t ever be escaped, and unlike the Hive Mind, some enemies aren’t content to let old soldiers go.