Out of the Night

Deep within the shadows of our groping minds, we reach for some sense of understanding as we stare out with keener vision into the vast, indifferent, and sometimes terrifying sea of unknowing that we call the Cosmos. To look deeply kindles an existential sensation of fear and dread within us, but yet, we are driven to go and see, to know, to learn and discover. The James Webb Infrared Telescope has seen the farthest objects ever observed, capturing light that has taken over 13 billion years to reach Earth. Now we seek answers: where is God? Are we alone in the Cosmos? The ancient cultures of Earth thought God was everywhere, in the skies, the oceans, the mountains; in the depths of the Earth. There was Odin, Thor, Loki, and there was Zeus, Poseidon, and Athena. The list goes on, Anubis, Horus, Osirus, Isis, Apollo, Mars. There are at least 78 named Sky Gods throughout Human cultures, all imagined, but none ever seen in any tangible form beyond the roiling sky itself. Today Humans look into the Cosmos and still ask the same questions as their ancestors-where is God? In some ways the question Enrico Fermi asked was the same. With billions of stars and planets out there, where is everyone? Some say the aliens we expect to see are already here, perhaps hiding in our oceans. Other Science Fiction Writers, like Cixin Liu, warn that we search for them at our own peril. He spoke of the Cosmos as a dark and dangerous forest, wherein other intelligent species hide themselves so as not to be discovered by predators. Of the four alien races we have already met in the saga, three have considered us as prey, while only one was benign. So when you ask where the aliens are, be careful what you wish for. Anton Fedorov comes to learn that curiosity and exploration eventually satisfy, but at a costly price. All these impulses throb at the heart of the Earthforce Saga, which has become a voyage of discovery, a confrontation with the alien and unknown, both a military science fiction and Cosmic horror blended together. Because it's dangerous out there, where the universe heaves and contorts with unimaginable power; where Spacetime itself is so twisted and convulsed that it creates deep gaping holes from which nothing falling in can ever escape. But here we explore. Ideas discussed in the Ready Room become missions of discovery, and yet often lead to grave jeopardy. We are taken out into the Cosmos by familiar characters we have sailed with through volume after volume on the seven seas of Earth, from one adventure to another. Now they point their bows at distant stars. I write this as a new age of astronomy dawns where we have looked so far back in time that we now have seen things that completely challenge, discredit, and befuddle our previous understanding of how this universe came to be, and how it grew and developed over billions of years to end up producing us all on this "pale blue dot," mere flotsam adrift in an endless sea of stars. Such discovery can shock as much as it enlightens. Letting go of our old models of the universe comes at a cost, for we reach now into the grey boundary zone between the known and the unknown, and we do so with an inherent mix of anticipation, dread, and wonder. While our heroes continue to push frontiers outward from the Homeworld, there is danger there in equal measure with the awe, hope, and new understanding. This volume begins and also ends in the abyss of a cosmic void, and it will be replete with all these emotions, some coming at great personal cost for core cast members on this journey. Yet few ever learned to ride a bike without falling once or twice. This time, Fedorov learns the cost, and curiosity garners the attention of something that would have been better left undisturbed. There is nothing more disconcerting to an explorer to learn, with sudden dread, that something is following them....