Before breaking his lunar orbit, Snell reviewed his mission instructions: 1. Locate the lost Observer ship and salvage or destroy it. 2. Destroy any Syssphinx attempt to communicate with its home base. If possible, discover details about the Syssphinx race. 3. Find and communicate with the Lorelei. The first directive would be simple. As for the second one, either the Dark ship was destroyed or if not, so he had almost no chance to complete the directive. The Dark ships and their Syssphinx crews were the sworn enemies of all other life forms in the universe. No one really understood their avowed goal to extermination all life. Repeated negotiations had failed miserably. The second part of this directive was interesting. Behind its words, it demonstrated the Observers insatiable curiosity to know and to learn. The third directive was the most exciting, but probably not possible. When seen, descriptions of the Lorelei were always different, fantastic and contradictory. A Lorelei could be gaseous, liquid or solid, at will. It could be huge. Or small. It was intelligent. Or primal. It could communicate. Or it was pure life force. Even the Observers didnt know, and they knew everything. Snell smiled. Observers could not be omniscience and without knowledge at the same time. His elders lack of knowledge about either the Syssphinx or the Lorelei both amused and fascinated him. With determination, he activated his thrusters, broke orbit, and slipped toward the planet below. He did not understand just how difficult fulfilling any the directives would be.

Our knowledge about Stonehenge has changed dramatically as a result of the Stonehenge Riverside Project (2003-2009), led by Mike Parker Pearson, and included not only Stonehenge itself but also the nearby great henge enclosure of Durrington Walls. This book is about the people who built Stonehenge and its relationship to the surrounding landscape. The book explores the theory that the people of Durrington Walls built both Stonehenge and Durrington Walls, and that the choice of stone for constructing Stonehenge has a significance so far undiscovered, namely, that stone was used for monuments to the dead. Through years of thorough and extensive work at the site, Parker Pearson and his team unearthed evidence of the Neolithic inhabitants and builders which connected the settlement at Durrington Walls with the henge, and contextualised Stonehenge within the larger site complex, linked by the River Avon, as well as in terms of its relationship with the rest of the British Isles. Parker Pearson's book changes the way that we think about Stonehenge; correcting previously erroneous chronology and dating; filling in gaps in our knowledge about its people and how they lived; identifying a previously unknown type of Neolithic building; discovering Bluestonehenge, a circle of 25 blue stones from western Wales; and confirming what started as a hypothesis - that Stonehenge was a place of the dead - through more than 64 cremation burials unearthed there, which span the monument's use during the third millennium BC. In lively and engaging prose, Parker Pearson brings to life the imposing ancient monument that continues to hold a fascination for everyone.