Humanity is in a state of crisis. Thirty years after the end of the war on terror and ten years after the quake of 2077-which devastated the West Coast of the United States-the Earth is wounded, desperate for salvation. Global warming continues unabated, fossil fuel reserves are exhausted, and famine has overwhelmed an already hopeless population. With humanity's options growing more limited by the day, it has extended its voracious existence out into the heavens. Brave pioneers have sacrificed everything they once knew to build colonies on the moon and Mars. The human race finds hope for new life among the stars, thanks to a new propulsion system designed by Dr. Maxwell Stell. With the power to explore beyond the edges of the solar system, five ships represent the hope of humanity's future on other planets. Once adversaries, the United States and Russia have teamed up on this bold, new adventure. When the people of Earth learn that one of the ships has gone missing, however, two of its sister ships are sent on an interstellar search-and-rescue mission. The Seattle and the Tacoma race to the missing ship's last-known position, hoping for a miracle. What they get instead is a surprise. They make first contact with an alien ship, setting off a series of events that will change the future of both species in an instant. Is this the first day of a new era of prosperity-or the beginning of the destruction of the human race?