Aster Worthington is whisked away from delivering an astronomy lecture to a secret facility in New Mexico. There she spearheads a select group of scientists investigating First Contact with an alien civilization, in this case a message from an altruistic race called the Lambdons who are offering plans for a reactor giving humanity free energy. Humans build the reactor and, per the instructions from the message, house it in a massive Dome.
Seven years later strange things have been happening inside the Dome and Aster is sent in to investigate. She finds impossibly high buildings filling the interior and weird life forms inhabiting what should a sterile environment. Then the impossible happens: thousands of Lambdons are found inhabiting the Dome and they are not friendly at all. Now two civilizations are on a collision course and humanity is most definitely going to lose. The last hope of humanity? A two-thousand-year old scroll hidden by the church.
The Message
“Maybe it’s just a coincidence,” Stenton suggested.
“No. There won’t be coincidences in this message, Dr. Stenton,” said Demarco in a dismissive voice. He then went to the podium, which Henry ceded, tapped some keys and a moment later, the ones and zeros of the binary message aligned themselves in the form of a perfect square. With a flourish, Demarco pushed the last button. A black square appeared for every zero in the message and a white square for everyone. A black and white array appeared, rendering a clear, unambiguous picture of a planetary system. One with four planets, the second one from the sun circled.
“My God!” someone shouted from the back. “They sent us a picture.”
Henry smiled and yelled to Louis. “Hey, Louis, I told you a picture would be easy.”
Without taking his eyes off the screen, Demarco asked, “Is that the Lambda system, Dr. Worthington?”
Heads swiveled to Aster. She nodded. “Yes. That is the correct spacing for the Lambda star system.”
“Another large number after the last spacer. Different one, but the same number of bits,” Jeremy announced, speaking loud over the din.
Demarco did his magic again, and a humanoid body filled the screen, strikingly similar to a human, except for a slightly larger head. Their hands had three digits, not five.
“It’s them.”
“They’re like us.”
Someone from the back shouted, “The Lambdons.” Now the aliens had a face and a name.
Louis, however, scrunched his face in consternation. He shuffled close to the screen, studying it.
Aster watched the muttering biologist. “Louis, what’s wrong?”
Louis turned around, his face worried. “These Lambdons… they look like us.”
“Not exactly like us. They have three fingers and a larger head.”
“Too close,” mumbled the biologist.
Review
This book has a lot going on—biological warfare, the intersection of religion, science, and aliens. The alien contact is a lot on its own, but then all the uncertainty of whether the aliens are friend or foe. Of course, once they start getting violent, it’s kind of obvious, but the suspense was strong. I’ll just say right now that I’d rather not find myself still alive when the hostile alien takeover happens. Unless, of course, I’m certain to survive on the unscathed Earth. Probably optimistic.
While this book’s concept is a good one, it wasn’t quite my cup of tea. The thriller aspects weren’t ones I often enjoy. Despite my curiosity about what meeting aliens would be like, I’m really not a big fan of alien books. I will say that this seemed like a well thought-out, plotted, and paced story. It just wasn’t for me.
The characters were interesting. Faced with an alien takeover, I’m not sure I would have fared as well as any of them. Okay, I definitely wouldn’t have. I thought they made some poor decisions at points, but given the amount of pressure, it was believable, if frustrating.
The religion aspects were also interesting. I was reminded a little of Dan Brown’s work. Everything came together in a fascinating way that I won’t spoil. I recommend this book for fans of thrillers who like some sci-fi or fans of sci-fi who like a real “time is ticking” plot. Like I said, this one wasn’t for me, but my reading preferences aside, it was a thought-provoking and entertaining book.
Robert Sells has taught physics for over forty years, but he has been a storyteller for over half a century, entertaining children, grandchildren, and students. He has written the award-winning novel, Return of the White Deer, historical fiction about Penda of Mercia. His second fiction book, Reap the Whirlwind, was a thriller about the dawn of artificial intelligence and the subsequent decline of humanity. His third book, The Runner and the Robbery, was a young adult novel about a teenager and his grandfather who had Alzheimer’s disease. Revelations, a science fiction novel, is his fourth book.
He lives with his wife, Dale, in the idyllic village of Geneseo, New York with two attentive dogs who are uncritical sounding boards for his new stories. He is intrigued by poker and history, in love with Disney and writing, and amused by religion and politics.
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All the opinions expressed in this review are my own. Read the full disclosure here.