Alan Zendell

Element 42 Alan Zendell

What if Earth possessed a critical element not found on any other planet in the known universe? And what if older, more advanced civilizations on other planets circling other stars had spent millennia searching for it, only to discover it on Earth? What if they were willing to fight over it, even if they turned Earth into a battleground? That's what computer engineer and committed agnostic Steve Kowalski learns when he seeks solace from his personal problems on a remote mountaintop in Colorado. He discovers a badly injured alien who claims he is there to defend Earth against other, unscrupulous aliens who would not hesitate to kill humans or damage the planet to get what they want. No one else on Earth suspects any of this, and in the heat of the moment Steve decides to help his new alien friend defeat those who would harm our planet. Thus begins an adventure that takes Steve hundreds of light years and introduces him to three different alien societies. His immediate priority is to return home to his son and alert Earth to both the jeopardy it faces and the potential wealth and power represented by what only it possesses. But he also finds himself caught up in a search for universal truths that humans have thought and fought over throughout their history. In an orderly universe, why would Earth be the only location where something essential to the existence of life exists in abundance? And what would that imply about Steve's agnosticism? If Earth's great bounty wasn't the result of divine intervention, what else would explain it? Has Steve, in fact, discovered real proof that God exists and humans are His special creation, put here to be the caretakers of life in the galaxy?