Acorna

"Something's Alive In There!" She was just a little girl, with a tiny horn in the center of her forehead, funny-looking feet, beautiful silver hair, and several curious powers: the ability to purify air and water, make plants grow, and heal scars and broken bones. A trio of grizzled prospectors found her drifting in an escape pod amid the asteroids, adopted her, and took her to the bandit planet Kezdet, a place where no questions are asked and the girl might grow up free. But Kezdet has its own dark secret. The prosperity of the planet is based on a hideous trade in child slave labor, administered by "The Piper" -- a mystery man with special plans for Acorna and her powers. But free little girls have a way of growing into freedom-loving young women, and Acorna has special plans all her own. . .

'I must find my own kind!' Found as an infant drifting in space, Acorna, the Unicorn Girl, has become a young woman. She still has her tiny, translucent horn, and her 'funny' feet and hands. And, she still has her miraculous ability to make plants grow and heal human sickness. But Acorna has strange dreams of a gentle folk who mind-speak by touching horns. With her 'Uncle' Calum, one of the three grizzled asteroid prospectors who rescued, protected, and raised her, she sets off to find her people. No sooner does she leave than a mysterious craft appears, piloted by the Linyaari, a gentle race with telepathic powers. The Linyaari are roaming the galaxy, spreading the alarm about the deadly Khleev--And searching for a beloved little girl they had given up for lost, long ago...

Beloved by millions of readers, Anne McCaffrey is one of science fiction's favorite authors. Writing with award-winning author Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, she has created the bestselling Acorna series focusing on the adventures of the brave unicorn girl. Now the exciting saga of the next generation begins. First WarningKhorii, daughter of the near-mythic Acorna and her lifemate, Aari, must contend with an overwhelming legacy to forge a path of her own through a universe filled with new adversaries and adventures. A simple journey home to visit her parents turns into a race against time when Khorii happens upon a derelict spacecraft drifting in space, its crew dead in their seats. But this gruesome discovery is only a dread harbinger-a deadly plague is spreading across the universe and not even the healing powers of the Linyaari can slow its horrific advance. Khorii, one of the few unaffected by the outbreak, must find the nefarious perpetrators and a cure before the disease consumes all in its path-including her beloved parents.

It is difficult growing up in the shadow of heroes revered throughout the galaxy. But that is the lot of young Khorii-daughter of the legendary Acorna and her lifemate, Aari-who must now follow her own destiny through a fantastic universe of wonders and perils. Khorii became a hero in her own right as she fought to save the universe from a mysterious, deadly plague that not even the healing powers of the Linyaari could stop. Now, confined with the rest of the survivors on Paloduro, the home planet of the disease, it seems as if the danger may be fading, and Khorii and her friends may be able to stem the tide of death and disease . . . until ominous signs indicate that the perpetrators are near and that the epidemic is only beginning. As old enemies reemerge and a shocking family secret is revealed, Khorii must unlock the malevolent mysteries of the deadly pestilence with the aid of her android "brother" before their unknown foes complete their covert mission to cripple the entire star system.

The dramatic conclusion to the breathtaking saga of the children of Acorna and Aari. Khorii, the rebellious daughter of Acorna, the near-mythic heroine of her people, has tried to follow in her mother's footsteps in this time of plague and terror. But the pressure on the courageous young woman to succeed is tremendous, and the legacy she is expected to fulfill is overwhelming. The insidious enemy that has ravaged countless known worlds has left Khorii's illustrious parents too weak to oppose it. Now, as the deadly foe prepares to launch its devastating final assault, it falls to Acorna's children-Khorii and her newly discovered sister, Ariin-to halt the brutal attack once and for all. But victory may prove too difficult, elusive, and ultimately fragile-and even time itself may be conspiring against the daughters in their desperate battle to save their family . . . and their universe.

Acorna, the "unicorn girl" has made peace with her Linyaari past, and aboard the interplanetary salvage vessel Condor she is finally free. But dread overtakes her when a distress signal summons Acorna and her companions to a nearby planet. For among the myraid wonders of this world of sentient plants and intoxicating perfumes are unmistakable signs that everythng Acorna holds dear is in peril. A promise of world-shattering devastation is in the celestial winds-and impending catastrophe at the claws of the cold-blooded insectile race that seeks to eradicate all Linyaari and human life from the galaxy...the Khleevi!

Acorna's people, the Linyaari, have begun reclaiming their homeworld from the ravages of the brutal Khleevi. But the first wave of explorers has unlocked a larger mystery about the origins of the Linyaari -- one that has led Aari, Acorna's beloved lifemate, on a dangerous journey from which he may never return. Setting off on a quest to find Aari, Acorna and her friends -- Captain Becker, Mac, Nadhari, and RK -- are forced to crash land on the beautiful and barbaric exotic jungle world of Makahomia, home of the mysterious Temple Cats. But an evil scheme threatens to destroy the sacred felines. To save the cats, Acorna will lead a band of rebels on a journey into Makahomia's temples and hidden sanctuaries. And there, within one sacred shrine, she will discover shocking information that could lead to Aari . . .or to disaster.

Aari has returned! Now he and his lifemate, the brave and beautiful Acorna, can finish rebuilding their once-decimated homeworld. Yet Aari's travels through time have left him oddly changed, and he barely remembers Acorna or their love. And as Aari's actions turn more sinister, Acorna must shift her attention to stopping the destruction of innocents by a vicious criminal. It is precisely the sort of weakness and confusion the dreaded Khleevi have been hoping for, as the brutal insectile oppressors set in motion their final invasion and the total destruction of the Linyaari and the conquest of their world. Though Acorna's heart is wounded, her courage and determination must remain strong in this dark time -- for only then will she be able to rescue the Aari she knows and adores, and halt the bloodthirsty alien menace for good and for all.

The homeworld Acorna has never known was horribly scarred in the brutal attack by the cold-blooded Khleevi, but the Linyaari -- the unicorn girl's gentle, spiritual race -- live on. Now is the time for healing and rebuilding, for restoring the natural beauty corrupted by the savage insectile oppressors. But Acorna's Linyaari friends and colleagues begin mysteriously disappearing soon after work gets under way, among them her beloved Aari. And her desperate search for answers will lead courageous Acorna to a shocking discovery beneath the surface of her people's world -- and deep into the realms of limitless space, where the truth of the origin of everything awaits.