The Creature: Mark and Kim, who have lost the rest of the group, are left with the wounded Ling-Li. Luckily, Alexa quickly meets up with them, and they’re on their way to the sea again. But when the Governor and Father Loomis catch up with them, they take them straight to the mantris. The Betelgeuse Planet: The second cycle takes the theme of the colonisation of space further than most sci-fi comics by looking at its ecological aspect. Leilah Nakad studies the Lums, cute animals living on the planet Betelgeuse. Seven years earlier, she led a 3000-strong group who were to settle on Betelgeuse. But the spaceship is still flying around, lost in space. Driss and Alexa investigate. This two-volume book includes “The Betelgeuse Planet.”

I’M LOST. I’M SCARED. AND THERE’S SOMETHING HORRIBLE IN HERE. My name is Gary Rendell. I’m an astronaut. When they asked me as a kid what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said, “astronaut, please!” I dreamed astronaut, I worked astronaut, I studied astronaut. I got lucky; when a probe exploring the Oort Cloud found a strange alien rock and an international team of scientists was put together to go and look at it, I made the draw. I got even luckier. When disaster hit and our team was split up, scattered through the endless cold tunnels, I somehow survived. Now I’m lost, and alone, and scared, and there’s something horrible in here. Lucky me. Lucky, lucky, lucky. A new standalone novella by the Arthur C Clarke Award-winning author of Children of Time.

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Spirou and Fantasio’s friend, the Count of Champignac, asks them to join him in Australia, where he has heard that an ancient monolith is still standing. When they arrive, Champignac’s colleague Walker Donahue informs them that Champignac has been abducted by local gangster Sam. The monolith they’re after stands in the vicinity of an aboriginal mining village, which is constantly prey to white prospectors trying to steal indigenous resources. Spirou and Fantasio must save Champignac from Sam’s clutches and help him find the legendary monolith while standing by the aboriginal people.

Fantastist Catherynne M. Valente takes on the folklore of artificial intelligence in this brand new, original novella of technology, identity, and an uncertain mechanized future. Neva is dreaming. But she is not alone. A mysterious machine entity called Elefsis haunts her and the members of her family, back through the generations to her great-great grandmother?a gifted computer programmer who changed the world. Together Neva and Elefsis navigate their history and their future, an uneasy, unwilling symbiote. But what they discover in their dreamworld might change them forever . . .

Titus Crow joins with heroes from other worlds to stop Cthuluh from destroying mankind.

In this conclusion to the second cycle, Kim, Inge, Mai Lan and Hector have been camping for weeks in the wilds of Betelgeuse’s canyons, waiting for Hector’s ankle to heal. As they get ready to head back to the settlement, unaware that Alexa and Mark have finally reached the planet and made contact with the colonists, the mantris sends Kim an invitation! What follows is an extraordinary encounter that will decide the future of Betelgeuse and change the course of Kim’s life forever.

From science fiction master Peter F. Hamilton comes a standalone novel that is “a fascinating, compulsively readable clash of hardware and ideals”, political intrigue, and space opera at its best (Kirkus Reviews (starred review)). In the distant future, corporations have become sustainable communities with their own militaries, and corporate goals have essentially replaced political ideology. On a youthful, rebellious impulse, Lawrence joined the military of a corporation that he now recognizes to be ruthless and exploitative. His only hope for escape is to earn enough money to buy his place in a better corporation. When his platoon is sent to a distant colony to quell a local resistance effort, it seems like a stroke of amazing fortune, and Lawrence plans to rob the colony of their fabled gemstone, the Fallen Dragon, to get the money he needs. However, he soon discovers that the Fallen Dragon is not a gemstone at all, but an alien life form that the local colonists have been protecting since it crashed in their area. Now, Lawrence must decide if he will steal the alien to exploit the use of its inherent biotechnical processes — which far exceed anything humans are capable of — or if he will help the Resistance get the alien home. "One of Hamilton's best...undeniably a page-turner." --- Publishers Weekly (starred review) For more from Peter F. Hamilton, check out: The Night’s Dawn Trilogy The Reality Dysfunction The Neutronium Alchemist The Naked God

After the events on Antares, the first official contact between Humans and the Tsalterian civilisation can take place on Aldebaran. Limited in scope, it is to involve only two groups of scientists studying a mysterious structure of unknown origin – all under the aegis of Kim, the only ambassador the aliens are willing to accept. A situation that’s not to everyone’s taste on the Human side ... But as things threaten to take a wrong turn, Marie, one of the survivors brought to Aldebaran by Sven the Tsalterian, suddenly intervenes ......

The Antares mission is underway. Kim, her daughter and her companions are on board the interstellar ship that carries the would-be colonists. Conditions are far from ideal, though. The fanaticism and bigotry of a large number of the passengers, all members of the project leader’s sect, are putting everyone on edge. As well, there are rumours of substandard equipment for the expedition. By the time they reach Antares, Kim and her friends are already disillusioned... and the worst is yet to come.