A private company has established the first permanent human settlement on the Moon. But all is not as it seems there. Facing internal conflict and external protest, the company threatens closure—and former astronaut Doug Stavenger must protect the base and its inhabitants from the Moon’s harsh environment and the threat of murder.
In the 21st century, the world is on the brink of a scientific renaissance, about to birth a future where space has become privatized and the moon transforms into a fertile commercial ground. As former astronaut Paul Stavenger works to turn a handful of abandoned government moon shelters into a full-fledged moonbase, powerful corporate lobbies align against him. Against the neo-Luddites is Masterson Aerospace, a company funding and creating major scientific breakthroughs.
But Masterson is nearly crippled when its CEO commits suicide and his wife, Joanna, backs her lover Paul Stavenger, the former astronaut, over her mentally unbalanced son Greg in the board election that follows her husband’s death. So begins a power struggle that leads to murder and the ultimate conflict over Moonbase.
Ben Bova
Ben Bova is the author of more than 120 futuristic novels and nonfiction books about science and technology.Dr. Ben Bova received the Lifetime Achievement Award for the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation in 2005 for "fueling mankind's imagination regarding the wonders of outer space." His 2006 novel, Titan, received the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel of the year.Dr. Bova has worked with filmmakers and television producers such as Woody Allen, George Lucas, and Gene Roddenberry. His nonfiction books such as Immortality and Faint Echoes, Distant Stars have been honored by such organizations as the American Librarian's Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has won six Science Fiction Achievement Awards (Hugos) and many other awards for writing.