The station is in a security lockdown and the sole apparent occupant, a Union captain, offers Kieran an entire ship if he can disable the lockdown. Kieran realizes that he’s probably dealing with a criminal, rather than an actual captain, but he’s just desperate enough to accept. He flies out to the nearest station and returns with a slicer and some dangerous-looking backup. As he’s making his approach to the station, Kieran hears a garbled cry for help over the comm. He hopes it’s just his imagination.But it’s not. Half the station’s crew is being held hostage, while the other half appear to be masquerading as Union officers. Kieran and his team disable the lockdown, and to Kieran’s amazement, they are given a ship as promised. As they are leaving the station, they see an entire fleet of Union cruisers pouring out of the newly-reactivated space gate. Kieran is confused. What are so many warships doing on the frontier? The Union isn’t at war.Kieran sets out to investigate, but along the way strange things start happening to him and his crew. At first there seem to be logical explanations, but before long the answers are not so clear. As time goes by, Kieran realizes the horrible truth:He wasn’t the only one trying to escape. . . .

    Epic battles. Artificial Intelligence's longing for meaning. Life as we know it, ending... Sci-Fi Bridge is thrilled to present its second collection from bestselling authors and newly emerging writers. These stories span the near and far future. They transport you to worlds unknown. They examine today's fears amid tomorrow's technologies. From the far corners of the galaxy to the inner reaches of the human heart, the exciting stories in At the Helm will thrill, inspire, and make you wonder--do humans have what it takes to build a better future? Or are we doomed by our own failings? Foreword by Jay Allan. "Scout" by Will McIntosh. "Gelassenheit" by Chris Pourteau. "Rubbish with Names" by Felix R. Savage. "Galaxy's Edge" by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole “A God Among Us” by Rhett C. Bruno "Just An Old Fashioned Lust Story" by Christopher J. Valin "The Quarium Wars" by E. E. Giorgi "Death-Life on Kepler 452b" by Hall & Beaulieu "The Tunnel" by Andreas Christensen "Caterpillar" by Isaac Hooke "The Null" by Vincent Trigili "The Machine" by Mark R. Healy "Bottled Lightning" by Philip Harris "The Gambit" by Rysa Walker "Control" by Will Swardstrom "The Greatest Serial Killer in the Universe" by Robert Jeschonek "Magnet" by David Adams "Stasis Dream" by Josi Russell

    But one of the galaxy's richest and most brilliant lunatics has designs on the universe - and has created something terrible to make his dastardly dreams a reality.It's high noon on a backrocket desert planet called Roget - and the Stellar Ranger is finally about to meet his match. Only this time, it's not human.

    Captain Dak Smith saw in her something special, an opportunity to burn for the far horizon as an independent, free from the gloms that hold known space in thrall – but he had to get her running first.Armed with a standard-issue captain's eyebrow and an infectious grin, Captain Smith and his hand-picked crew embark on an adventure through deep space filled with scoundrels, pirates, and some incredibly unfortunate peace-loving rocks that happened to be at the wrong place, at the worst time.

    Afraid of being thrown into an isolation chamber, Michael goes home, but quickly falls violently ill. By the time he recovers and returns to work scary things are happening. Everyone who has come into contact with that patient is being systematically killed. On the run, he accidentally infects a woman living in the shadows of the underworld. She becomes ill as well, but survives. Then they begin feeling younger-and younger. Why would the government want to suppress something like this? After barely escaping federal gunmen, the two of them set out to discover what kind of infection they are harboring even though it might mean the end of their freedom.

    A brutal war was won through the blood and sacrifice of patriots. Soon the vambraces faded to legend. A secret task force. A wormhole portal discovered... Now, Frank and Marine Space Corps-1 find themselves across the galaxy where an ancient evil is growing. From exploratory crew to the front lines, Frank will have to decide whether to play the part of a hero or to be the Marine needed to win the war. Because the victor takes the universe. The vambraces will be found. A new order of Knights will be chosen. And once again Light will do battle with Darkness. Start reading today and find out why readers are calling the Gateway to the Galaxy series “extremely fun” and their "new obsession" with characters that “actually come to life on the pages.”

    Ward, a tier-one operator turned mercenary, has just flung himself off the cargo deck of a doomed C-130. Now he’s out of the Drop Zone and evading the undead as a terrible new breed of hunter enters the Wyrd. But these new, faster predators might not be the only thing to fear in an apocalypse beset by zombies, nukes and killer A.I.’s. One of the last warriors of a collapsed government is planning on putting up some big numbers in this final, ultimate game of Survivor, until he finds a mysterious new companion... a stranger dressed in black.

    One grand prize. The Race is on.Arlo Lewis was resigned to his station in life as a supply hauler for one of the Primary Corporations ruling Earth, until an acquisition forces him to re-evaluate his situation.When he’s hand selected to lead SeaTech’s Race team, he struggles to return to the competitive field he abandoned as a teenager.With an eager team, and the promise of a better future, Arlo takes on the challenge, only to find more at stake than the rights to Proxima.Under the threat of a revolution brewing at the finish line, things don’t go as expected.The galaxy will never be the same. But that may be exactly what Arlo needs.Join Space Race today!From the author of The Survivors and Baldwin's Legacy comes a thrilling new series.

    There is no trace of their young son, Alex Manez, or of the asteroid itself. On the outer edge of the solar system, the first manned mission to Pluto, led by the youngest female astronaut in NASA history, has led to an historic discovery: there is a marker left there by an alien race for humankind to find. We are not alone! While studying the alien marker, it begins to react. Four hours later, the missing asteroid appears in a Plutonian orbit, along with young Alex Manez, who has developed some alarming side-effects from his exposure to the kinetic element they call Kinemet. From the depths of a criminal empire based on Luna, an expatriate seizes the opportunity to wrest control of outer space, and takes swift action. The secret to faster-than-light speed is up for grabs, and the race for interstellar space begins! Music of the Spheres The technology for interstellar flight exists through the power of Kinemet, but the key to unlocking its code lies in a thousand-year-old scroll left on Earth by an alien species. When the ancient manual is stolen before a full translation is completed, Alex, Michael and Justine scramble to recover it. Along the way, they stumble on an interplanetary conspiracy and uncover a secret that shatters their view of life and shakes the very foundations of our existence. Worlds Away For a thousand years the Kulsat Armada has ravaged the galaxy searching for the lost legacy of an extinct race of technologically advanced beings. They destroy anyone who gets in their way. Now they have turned their attention to Earth and are gathering their forces for an invasion. Justine, Michael and Alex each hold a key to stopping the enemy, but they are worlds away from each other, and they are running out of time...

    Hank Murphy discovers an alien artifact on the Moon, corporate interests are quick to get involved.A discovery like this could change everything, but more importantly, someone stands to make a fortune.But Murphy just wants to understand what this thing is and how it works. After months of research, he finally manages to locate the power source.The gate is soon activated...And Murphy is pulled through.Moments later, he finds himself in a war-torn corner of the galaxy where strangers like him are called Orphans...and they are considered extremely dangerous.Somehow altered by the experience, the archeologist now has enhanced strength, speed, and agility. He is more than human. He is an Orphan. And he must survive a deadly new reality unlike anything he can imagine.Worse still, Murphy is not the only so-called Orphan in this region of the galaxy. There are many others.And not all of them are created equal.

    He couldn’t have been more wrong.Frontierza’s work on advanced hibernation technology for sleeper colony ships wasn’t sexy, but what mattered to Reggie was that he would have an extremely visible role leading the first team to test the technology in a month-long cryogenic sleep. The proposition was simple. Succeed and humanity had a real chance of finding a new home before Earth’s ecosystem completely collapsed. Fail and … you don’t wake up. For someone who lived on the edge, the upside outweighed the risk.But the world Reggie wakes to is nothing like he expected.

    He leads an uncertain life, until one day, the Zenzani Protectorate invades his home and destroys everything he has ever known. Aiben soon learns that the molecule-sized machines, which augment his body and mind, have a centuries-old plan for him involving nanotechnology, genetic manipulation, and hyperspatial thought. Now, along with his companions, an old soldier and a sentient mechanoid, he takes his journey to a world of fabricated prophecies. There he navigates the treacheries of war and espionage to find an ancient weapon and a long-forgotten people that will bring his past crashing into his future and seal his destiny forever.

    When an independent prospector on Saturn’s moon Titan discovers an alien artifact, assumptions that we are alone in the universe are called into question. Knowing that news of such a discovery could prompt chaos on Earth, a small team is sent to investigate and hopefully manage the situation. What they find is that there's more to human history, and human abilities, than any of them ever imagined. And that they will need all those insights, and all those abilities, to face the greatest threat yet to human survival.

    Looks like something for everyone...There's even an alien puppy.Contents: * Introduction (The Newcomer) (2016) • essay by Alasdair Shaw * Tithe (2016) / short story by Griffin Carmichael * Exodus (2016) / short story by Alec Hutson * First Bonding (2016) / short story by Tom Germann * Ice Dreamer (2015) / short story by J. J. Green * The Nanny (2016) / short story by Cindy Carroll * Right Hand (2016) / short story by Jonathan C. Gillespie * What Make Is Your Cat? (2016) / short story by Richard Crawford * Kaxian Duty (2014) / short story by Cherise Kelley * Lessons Learned (2016) / short story by J. Naomi Ay * The Humra (2016) / short story by Laura Greenwood * The Hawk of Destiny's Fist (2016) / short story by James S. Aaron * Repulse [Two Democracies: Revolution] (2016) / short story by Alasdair Shaw .

    New frontiers discovered. What it means to be human reimagined.Dreams of tomorrow become reality in this third collection of bestselling authors and newly emerging writers from Sci-Fi Bridge. From the inner worlds of unforgettable characters to alien planets at the farthest reaches of our galaxy and beyond, our writers examine the human experience from within and without. They hold up a mirror to the human experience. Who are we as a species? Who do we want to be? How do we achieve that greatest vision of ourselves for us and our children?You'll wonder at the possibilities of what we can accomplish together. You might even come to believe that a better tomorrow can be more than a dream....Foreword by Chris Fox"Centurion" by M.G. Herron"Geospermia" by Patty Jansen"Storming the Norse Wind" by M.D. Cooper"The Far Side of Psyche" by Rhett C. Bruno"Sparkle Ship Shine" by Hall & Beaulieu"Latecomers" by Chris Ward"Fool's Gold" by Zen DiPietro"The Tribe" by Andreas Christensen"The Theta Patient" by Chris Dietzel"The Last Ship" by Chris Pourteau"Taken For a Walk" by Justin Sloan"Playing Doctor" by Robert Jeschonek"Awaken Me, Paper Robot!" by A.K. Meek"Refurbished" by Artie Cabrera"Steel's First Temper" by David VanDyke"Siren Song" by Jon Frater"Digital Commander" by J.S. Morin"Little Blue" by Chris ReherWant to know more about Sci-Fi Bridge? Visit our site at scifibridge.com and subscribe to receive giveaways and great Sci-Fi deals straight to your inbox.