Fear is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Seven hundred years after the generation ship New Hope launched toward New Terra, the planet was fried lifeless by a pulsar. To avoid panic, researchers swear to keep the event secret, but an alien hiding aboard finds out.
In her miserable thirteenth year, Opal awakes from an epileptic-like seizure with a presence in her head that convinces her it is an alien being. When she tells her community that she has been chosen as "Voice" for the telepathic Semqu, who offer the New Hopians a new planet, her sister is certain she's lost her mind. But there are suddenly alien ships, a massive shift in velocity, and a planet outside the ship's windows. Almost immediately, neighbors from three planets come knocking: egotistical, toothy dinosaurs, grizzly-sized burrowing tardigrades, and a space-faring marine species in robotic spacesuits with emotive bioshields. All seem to lack any real history, yet have faster-than-light travel.
Her Spacer community is bewildered but grateful; her family is angry. Opal takes refuge in a deepening friendship with the telepathic alien as she steps into a busy, service-filled life.
Among the hibernating Earthborn aboard the ship is Danielle, a U.S. army soldier tasked with ensuring the mission succeeds. She wakes to discover a gorgeous new world, predators she understands better than this new naive, anti-military culture, and a snarl of questions nobody can answer, including the one that keeps her awake at night: what do these aliens want?
Danielle doesn't believe Opal's answers. Opal, who trusts the Semqu, tries to befriend Danielle. Suspicion, then a mutually incompatible course of duty, keep the two young women apart. But they'll need to work together soon.
Someone else wants this planet. And a few Spacers will do anything to get off it.
Book One of the Implacable Peace series.
Found family, cooperative communal culture, multi-lingual population, dysfunctional family, trust issues, sister issues, small-town culture, tardigrades, sentient fungi, sentient dinosaurs, cuttlefish in space: for fans of Arkady Martine, Becky Chambers, Martha Wells and C.J. Cherryh and Jane Fancher.
Ellen Saunders lives in the Pacific Northwest and primarily writes speculative fiction, space opera, and fantasy. Her short stories have appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, and ROAR. This is her first published novel. There are two additional completed books in this in this universe; Thwarted is forthcoming in 2026.
