Symbiosis: Titans of Cassiopeia

Living inside Saturn's moon, Enceladus, is not everyone's idea of fun.
It's negative 200 C on the surface, but deep inside, the colony of Hershel, biologists, geologists, and botanists thrive. Life, confirmed in the late 21st century, led to a genuine treasure that Jacques Cousteau would covet. Where humans, go, more humans follow, and in short order, an entire community grows.

Starship captains on sabbaticals, however, grow desperately bored, seeking out ever more thrilling ways to entertain their adventurous souls. Captain Thomas Jackson didn't think he would survive the cabin fever, but his daughter's life was more important than his own. He, Rianya, and Zalara had taken refuge in the isolated, underground city to save her life. Rianya found colleagues, Zalara found friends, but Jackson found trouble.

His surface adventure hunting for the rarest of gems, musgravite, almost ended his career, and his life. While recovering, he hears from the Space Administration. Ripping the proverbial cabin door off its hinges, he assembles a new crew of medical professionals to accompany him to the Cassiopeia system. The inhabitants of the fifth planet have been suffering from a strange, deadly plague for three centuries. Humans are only too happy to help, but there's something else.

A discovery on the fourth planet has the Space Administration standing on its head in secrecy. It would rewrite human history if true.

Jackson finds the artifact interesting, but he also finds an old foe visiting the system, and knows as sure as Kepler's Laws that those Pegasi are part of the equation. Not only does his mission involve the secret artifact, and a cure for the mystery plague, he has to confront the profiteering pirate, Dukvita, in a battle of wits and weapons.

When Rianya falls ill with the plague, Zalara is forbidden to cure her. And the artifact ... may have caused the whole catastrophe.

The circle of association in this story encapsulates Quantum Leap meets Star Trek. The paradox continues with a mystery of epic proportions for the human race, the extinction on Planet Four, and the suffering on Planet Five. Here's what others say:

~ I enjoy how the author incorporates science fact with the science fiction. K. James

~ Rarely do books make me laugh out loud or cry for the anguish of a character. T. Crotti