Voyagers (Bova)

Ex-astronaut turned physicist Keith Stoner knew that the fiery object hurtling toward the Earth was an alien spacecraft-but the world might never know. He was trapped in an iron cordon of secrecy, for the discovery had set off a brutal power struggle among the elite, raging from the sacred halls of the Vatican to the corridors of the Kremlin and the Pentagon. Each nation wanted to be the first to contact the aliens, to learn their superior technology. The forces of fear and treachery would use any weapon at their command-from mind war to sabotage-to keep the world in darkness. Aided by a brilliant Soviet linguist and a lovely young student, Stoner planned a desperate mission-a wild, heart-stopping gamble to preserve the legacy of the star voyager for all mankind.

When Keith Stoner awoke, he found himself in a world changed almost beyond recognition. Eighteen years before, Stoner had been the American member of a joint US—Soviet mission to capture an alien ship. The Soviets had to pull out, but Stoner persisted, and while on the strange ship, he fell into suspended animation. Jo Camerata, the ambitious young student who fell in love with Stoner, is now head of Vanguard Industries, which has recovered the alien ship. As a result, her company is now in control of its vast new technology and the fortune it reaps-and in control of Keith Stoner. What Camerata doesn't know, however, is that someone else has been awake, someone who dwells within Stoner's mind. The alien presence that has kept Stoner alive all this time is now free and intends to explore our world, letting nothing stand in its way.

Astronaut Keith Stoner, member of a joint US-Soviet mission to capture an alien ship that had entered the solar system, was trapped alone aboard the spacecraft. But he didn't die; he lay frozen in deep sleep for fifteen years, kept alive by alien biotechnology. Now Stoner is something more than just a man. While asleep he was inoculated with nanotechnology designed to repair his body, expand his brain, and let him live forever. Stoner also carries the knowledge and memories of the being whose body was enshrined in the alien craft. He now knows of many different intelligent races that destroyed themselves, battering themselves to death on the stony problems of war, famine, runaway population, and ill-planned technological breakthroughs. Stoner fears for mankind, and he will do everything in his power-his extensive, alien-enhanced power-to preserve humanity into the future. However, there are powerful leaders, both corporate and political, who are becoming aware of Stoner, and they want that power for themselves-and will do anything to gain it. Nothing Stoner can say or do will convince these ruthless men and women that what they seek may destroy them utterly.