Space Unbound

Year 2217. Earth's biosphere is dying, Mars' terraforming projects are in ruin, and even the voidoids-eerie portals into nearby star systems-have failed to uncover any new Earth-like worlds within Bound Space. But, that's about to change. Terra Corporation's discovery of Silvanus, a pristine forest world 27 light-years from Sol, should be cause for rejoicing. Instead, humanity is on the brink of a catastrophic war over its possession, and Aiden Macallan, the company's planetary geologist aboard the Argo, finds himself plunged to the center of the conflict. After a skirmish between military forces of Earth and Mars, Aiden is, stranded alone on Silvanus. Drawn into its mysterious beauty, he soon discovers the entire planet is alive-living proof of the Gaia Hypothesis. Its vast global network of symbiotic fungus has evolved a neural net, from which a consciousness of profound depth has emerged. It also happens to hold the key to restoring Earth's dying biosphere and the rapid terraforming of Mars-but only if Aiden can solve the deeper puzzle of why Silvanus is killing itself. Aiden's quest is, facilitated by an eccentric AI whose fondness for jazz enables communication with the planet's neural net, and by his love for Skye Landen, a gifted geophysiologist from the Lovelock Institute. But, time is running out. Cole Brahmin, Terra Corp's malevolent jackal, has gone rogue. He's racing toward Silvanus aboard the Domain's most powerful battle cruiser, bringing war in his wake and pursuing foul designs of his own in which the ruination of Silvanus is only a prelude. Determined to stop him and to help Aiden in his quest to save the planet, Skye Landen enlists the aid of renowned quantum physicist Elgin Woo, founder of the Cauldron. Together they set out for Silvanus aboard Woo's Starhawk, an experimental spacecraft with mind-boggling capabilities. Meanwhile, Aiden must trek across a living landscape of exquisite diversity, guided by a recurring dream in which dark pagan archetypes grow frighteningly real-and more personal-with each step of the way. They're all on a collision course that can end only in the destruction of civilization or its ultimate salvation.

Year 2217. Earth's biosphere is dying, Mars's terraforming projects are in ruin, resource wars are brewing, and even the discovery of voidoids- eerie neo- quantum portals into nearby star systems- has failed to yield other habitable worlds in Bound Space. But that's about to change. Aiden Macallan, Terra Corp's maverick planetologist aboard the survey ship Argo, is plunged to the center of a deadly conflict over a miraculous discovery in the Chara system, 27 light years from Earth. For a dying human race, Sylvanus-a singular incarnation of the Gaia Hypothesis fully realized-should be a cause for rejoicing. Instead, Unified Earth Domain and the Allied Republics of Mars are on the brink of a catastrophic war over its possession. But Aiden has even deeper concerns. Long before his arrival in the Chara system, he's been haunted by a recurring dream that transports him to a lush alien forest where pagan archetypes grow frighteningly real, and more personal, with each step. It's one part of the intricate puzzle he'll need to solve as he treks across a very real, but profoundly mysterious, landscape in a race against time to save an extraordinary world from destruction-a world that holds humanity's last hope for survival.

Aiden Macallan never doubted for a moment that his mother, an outspoken advocate for worker's rights on Luna, had been murdered by Terra Corp, the most powerful and ruthless corporation in Bound Space. But his act of revenge had only earned him prison time in the Domain's deadliest penal colony. Now he's working for that same corporation as a planetary geologist aboard the company's survey ship, the Argo, and they're speeding toward most miraculous discovery ever made. But after voidjumping into the Chara system, 27 light-years away, the Argo finds itself in a dangerous race against arch rivals, Allied Republics of Mars, to stake a claim of questionable legality. As a catastrophic war is about to erupt, Aiden is pulled into its vortex of violence and into the heart of a profound mystery where the key to humanity's future lies hidden. To find it, he must trek alone across a living landscape, guided only his quirky AI sidekick, Hutton, and by a recurring dream that grows more real, and frighteningly personal, with each step. It's the only way to save an extraordinary world-and the human race-from certain destruction. ". . . brisk, urgent pacing . . . an action-packed climax . . . thrills and wonder." - Kirkus Reviews What Amazon readers are saying: ★★★★★"Beautifully crafted and impossible to put down, the author sends his readers on a journey to the future, while delivering relevance to earth's current environmental and political circumstance. Imagination and attention to detail are paramount in this suspenseful and fascinating tale. You will not want this book to end." ★★★★★"Jeffrey masterfully combines hard science with adventure and dreamscape to create a fascinating, thought provoking page turner. I'm looking forward to the next books in the series!" ★★★★★"Great balance of science and story. Strong characters. Looking forward to the sequel!"

Year 2218. For fifty years after their discovery, the voidoids-eerie neo-quantum portals into nearby star systems-have enabled the human race to expand within a 36-light-year radius from Sol, but for unknown reasons not beyond. Exploration of Bound Space has provided valuable resources for restoring Earth's dying biosphere and for salvaging Martian terraforming projects. It also led to the greatest treasure of all-the discovery of Silvanus, the only Earth-like exoplanet known to exist in Bound Space, a living Gaia inhabited by a vast global intelligence. But the voidoids are becoming increasingly unstable, fluxing in and out of existence, putting the entire human population on edge. All the gains made through the voidoids, and the promise of so much more, are now gravely threatened. No one knows why the voidoid fluxes are happening, or who is behind it, but one thing is for sure: if all the voidoids shut down, not only will humanity be locked out of Bound Space forever, but the Big Rip will be unleashed, a cosmological catastrophe of runaway dark energy that will literally tear Bound Space apart-everything from atoms to planets to stars, including all organic life. It will happen soon and will happen fast, unless someone can stop it. That someone will have to be Aiden Macallan, the reluctant hero of the Chara Crisis, discoverer of the alien intelligence on Silvanus. Still haunted by a traumatic past and a potentially devastating addiction, he's given command of the UED's most powerful voidship, the Sun Wolf, and tasked with nothing short of preventing the certain annihilation of the human race. On a mission to solve the mystery of the failing voidoids, Aiden is accompanied by Roseph Hand, his laconic Executive Officer; Dr. Maryam Ebadi, the renown quantum astrophysicist from the Cauldron; and the combative Colonel Victor Aminu, a deeply suspicious government agent. Along with Aiden's hand-picked crew, they set out to investigate their only clue: the sighting of a mysterious vessel in the Alpha-2 Hydri system out on the Frontier, attempting to disrupt the system's voidoid. But someone is trying to stop the Sun Wolf, someone following from the shadows, launching lethal attacks at every opportunity. Someone who just might want the destruction of the voidoids to proceed. Aiden soon realizes that to accomplish his mission he must find Dr. Elgin Woo, the most brilliant scientist in Bound Space, the eccentric founder of the Cauldron, and multiple Noble Prize-winning inventor of the zero-point drive. Woo is convinced that the voidoids are alive and that they function to keep our corner of the universe intact. He also knows who might be trying to destroy them, certain malevolent forces that only he and the Cauldron can oppose. The problem is, Woo disappeared nearly a year ago in his experimental spacecraft, the Starhawk, during an outlandish attempt to do the impossible-to jump to a star far beyond Bound Space, 127 light-years away. No one has heard from him since. On a hunch that Woo may still be alive and stranded at his destination, Aiden believes the only way to find him is to figure out how he got there and do the same in the Sun Wolf. In a race against time, Aiden and his crew must find Elgin Woo before unimaginably dark forces catch up with them and before it's too late to save Bound Space from total destruction. But even if Aiden finds Woo in time, and even if Woo knows how to stop the rapidly approaching Big Rip, Aiden Macallan may be the only person alive with the unique physical and psychic gifts to actually pull it off.

The Netvor are ruthless Posthuman clones with hyper-augmented bodies and minds, bred to wipe out the human race. Total annihilation of Earth is just days away, and only Jo, a woman born in a Netvor creche, knows how to prevent it. Saved by a genetic mutation from becoming a Netvor monster herself, Jo was the sole specimen of a new breed-a Trans sapien-physically a Netvor but with purely human emotions and spirit. Now she's learned there are others like her who escaped the cloning creches. Their secret colony on a hidden planet possesses advanced technology that humanity desperately needs to defeat the Netvor. But will the Netvor find the colony first and destroy it? Even the enigmatic Elgin Woo, missing for over five years, returns to join the hunt. He believes the colony can help him stop the Netvor from stealing the keys to all gateway voidoids in the galaxy. But no one knows where the colony planet is. Concealed within the vast reaches of Astrocell Beta, its inhabitants made sure they would never be found. Only Jo has a clue, and only Captain Aiden Macallan of the Sun Wolf can follow it before it's too late.