The human race was expanding through the galaxy... and so, they knew, were the Aliens. When two expanding empires meet... war is inevitable. Or is it...?
How could you explain the sudden disappearance of a vessel beneath a mysterious curtain of foam? The writhings of thousands of maddened fish trapped in a coffin-like area of ocean? An alien intelligence gorged at the bottom of the Luzon Deep and made its plans. Radar expert Terry Holt and the crew of the Experance had to devise a weapon against the horrifying creatures which threatened mankind with extinction.
The Directory-ship Tethys made the first landing on the planet, L21612. It was a goodly world, with an ample atmosphere and many seas, which the nearby sun warmed so lavishly that a perpetual cloud-bank hid them and all the solid ground from view. It had mountains and islands and high plateaus. It had day and night and rain. It had an equable climate, rather on the tropical side. But it possessed no life...
On the Earth of the future, cities are overcrowded and the elite have nothing to do but buy fame from people who really do the work. A faster than light drive is invented and Jed Cochrane, a television producer, seizes the chance to change the course of history and free the people who are willing to work for themselves and not be faceless proles.