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Description:

What would you do if you were confronted with a "kill or be-killed" scenario? What if that meant that you had to kill an infant of an alien species to save your own life? And what if the future of the human race depended on your decision?

Space colonists from Earth crash-land on a planet orbiting the star Epsilon Eridani and immediately wrestle with an ethical dilemma. They emerge from their stasis pods 33 years older than when they started and must decide whether or not to harvest stem cells from alien infants to counteract the effects of human aging... even though the process will kill the infants.

As factions develop among the astronauts, the scientists race ahead with experiments to restore their youthful vigor, and must face the unexpected consequences of their choices.
 

Excerpt:

Foster stood and pointed his laser at the stirring leaves. Alethia rose and silently moved beside him, anxious sweat making the laser slippery in her hand. An ape-sized creature burst through the bushes then skidded to a stop. Orange-and-brown mottled fur covered the beast. It rose up on two of its six appendages and stared at them with a pair of multi-faceted eyes.

Startled, Alethia grabbed Foster’s arm.

“Do you think it’s preparing to attack?” he whispered.

“Not yet. The creature’s studying us, like we are studying it,” she whispered back. “Except for the insect-like eyes, it reminds me of an orangutan.”

“Looks more like big hairy tarantula with those extra limbs. Tarantula…orangutan. We’ll call it a taranutan.”

“It’s the first mammal-like animal we’ve seen.” Her chest pounded with excitement now instead of fear because the creature still hadn’t moved toward them and seemed content to just observe them. Alethia’s training as a scientist kicked in and she slowly pulled out the camcorder from behind her back. Holding it close to her body, she pushed the record button.

“It’s big, as big as us.” Foster relaxed his stiff pose, but kept a wary hand on his weapon. “Given our aged bodies, I’m betting it’s a lot stronger, too.”

“It has some intelligence.” Alethia pointed. “Th end of that branch it’s carrying has been shaped into a point, like a spear.”

Foster extracted a communicator from his pocket. “Send Judith out here,” he said into the speaker. “We have a life form that she may be able to communicate with.”

The taranutan shifted the spear from one appendage to another, but stayed at the edge of the clearing. Hearing a noise behind them, Alethia turned and saw Judith step onto the gangplank assisted by Cyril. When they reached Alethia and Foster, Cyril placed a translation computer in Judith’s hand and pointed at the taranutan. “The beast’s over there. Can you see it?”

She peered toward the bushes and nodded. “What do I do now?”

Alethia shared a baffled glance with Foster. Why didn’t Judith know what to do? Cyril activated the computer. “Try the hello function.”

Judith’s hand wavered over the screen, then when Cyril pointed at an icon, she poked it. Greetings in various Earthbased human languages, bird calls, and animal vocalizations issued from the machine.

The creature jumped, dropped to four of its appendages like a bear, and glanced around the clearing. It emitted a short series of woofs from an orifice below its eyes then settled into a wary silence.

“Did you record that?” Alethia asked.

“Oh, no, I forgot.” Judith searched her screen and pressed another icon. “There. I think I can copy its, ah...”

“Speech?” Cyril prompted.

“Yes.” Judith handed the linguistic computer to him, lifted her arms in a gesture of open friendliness, and mouthed a few woofs.

The taranutan lifted its arms, shook the one holding the spear and spoke again—a smattering of barks, clicks, and more woofs. It stepped from side-to-side in an agitated manner.

Foster stepped back. “I don’t like this. So far, all you’ve done is make it mad.”

“Or the beast is as fearful of us as you are of it.” Cyril glared at Foster then turned to Judith. “What next?”

Judith shrugged.

Alethia stared at the older woman. This wasn’t like Judith at all. Normally she was so sure of herself.

Cyril gazed at his wife with concern in his eyes. “Shall I try replaying what the creature said?”

“I guess.” Judith wrung her hands.

He pressed the playback icon, and the taranutan’s barks and woofs replayed from the machine. The taranutan leapt into the air and ran off into the bush.

Foster stood with his hands on his hips. “That didn’t work very well.”

“It’s getting dark,” Cyril said. “Let’s all go back inside. Judith can study the recording.” He put a hand under Judith’s elbow and guided her toward the gangplank.

Alethia stopped him. “Let Foster go with Judith. I need to talk to you.”

After the others went inside, Alethia asked Cyril, “What’s wrong with her?”

He sighed. “Dementia. I noticed the symptoms earlier and scanned her brain while you’ve been out here. Her cortex is full of amyloid plaques.”

“Ohmigosh.” Alethia swallowed the lump in her throat. “Can you do anything?”

He raised his hands then let them fall at his sides in defeat. “If I had stem cells, I could grow neurons and plaquebuster cells for her.”

“Do we have any way to make more stem cells?”

“I need young cells from an aborted embryo or an infant.” He swept his hand in an arc. “We don’t have any of those here. Only us useless old people.”

Customer Reviews:

Like modern Rip Van Winkles, the characters in this scifi novel wake from their space journey to find themselves considerably aged. Now too old to reproduce, and having lost the stem cells they were transporting, they face a terrible dilemma. This is a futuristic, but credible story, and the concepts are almost within reach of present day scientists. A lot to think about, here.