Spindrift

**A standalone Coyote Universe story from the Hugo Award-winning author that's "the best first contact novel in a long time" (*Rocky Mountain News*).** **"*Spindrift* is classic SF in the best sense." -Nebula Award-winning author Jack McDevitt** The year is 2288. Earth scientists have picked up a transmission originating from outside the solar system. Eager to confirm that the signal may have been sent by an alien civilization, Europe dispatches its first starship, the EASS *Galileo*, to investigate. Its nine-person crew discovers an unidentified object, code-named Spindrift, and begins to unravel its mysteries . . . In the year 2344, more than five decades have passed since the *Galileo* vanished on its secret mission. Now, three of the crew's survivors-Ted Harker, Emily Collins, and Jared Ramirez-have returned to Earth. They have not aged in the interim. Each of them claims that they made first contact with an alien species-and that they have been introduced to a larger universe with danger and conflict beyond human experience. Director General John Shillinglaw must sift through the three very different testimonies of *Galileo*'s surviving crew to uncover the truth of their alien encounter-and what that truth means for humanity's future. **"Fascinating . . . Steele delivers a gripping saga of humanity on the verge of exploring the larger universe." -*Publishers Weekly* (starred review)**