Publisher's Synopsis
During the mid-1940s, an anomalous incident occurs in the southwest United States which starts a chain of events that will explode eighty years later.
Clayton Atwood is an academic dilettante, bouncing between college courses, unconcerned with scholastic advancement or degrees. Orphaned by what he assumed was his parents' accidental death, he is raised by his eccentric uncle. His plans for a carefree trip to Europe are interrupted by a note taped to his front door that changes not only his life, but the world's future.
In an unassuming building adjacent to Rice University in Houston, Atwood learns that all he knew of his past is wrong when he becomes the center of an astounding scientific project that will help all mankind. But the project inadvertently places one peaceful alien civilization in jeopardy, and attracts genocidal hatred and retribution from another, while making Atwood the target of a ruthless assassin.
Atwood finds himself to be humanity's secret weapon in the fight for survival. At a secret Nevada military base, the fate of three civilizations hangs in the balance.
