On July 26, Arthur Gordon learns that Europa, the sixth moon of Jupiter, has disappeared. Not hiding, not turned black, but gone. On September 28th, Edward Shaw finds an error in the geological records of Death Valley. A cinder cone was left off the map. Could it be new? Or, stranger yet, could it be artificial? The answer may be lying beside it-a dying Guest who brings devastating news for Edward and for Planet Earth. As more unexplained phenomena...

"The planet Lusitania is home to three sentient species: the pequeninos, a large colony of humans, and the hive queen, brought there by Ender Wiggin. But now, once again, the human race has grown fearful: the Starways Congress has gathered a fleet to destroy Lusitania. Ender's oldest friend, Jane, an evolved computer intelligence, can save the three sentient races of Lusitania. She has learned how to move ships outside the universe, and then instantly...

The saga of the Skolian Empire continues. In order to keep the people of her impoverished province from starving, young ruler Kamoj Argali agrees to marry Jax Ironbridge, the boorish and brutal ruler of a prosperous region. Before they are wed, a mysterious stranger from a distant planet sweeps in and forces Kamoj into marriage, throwing her world into chaos.

Former government agent Frank Compton had foiled a plot to enslave the galaxy in "Night Train to Rigel." In this sequel, Compton goes up against the Modhri, an ancient telepathically linked intelligence waging a secret war against the galactic civilizations linked by the Quadrail, the only means of intra-galactic transit.

On September 15, 1946, the Wild Card virus was release, spreading a wave of mutations around the globe.