Born in London, England and raised in Canada, Alastair Mayer apparently inherited the gene for science fiction from his father, who published Arthur C. Clarke's first stories. Alastair has always had a sense of adventure, and served in the armed forces, scuba dived, parachuted, became a pilot, an astronaut candidate, space activist, as well as more mundane things like farm hand, map maker, and software developer. In 1989 he moved to Colorado, ultimately working for a satellite network company.

A SFWA and IASFA member, he has written for Analog, Byte, High Frontier and Final Frontier magazines. His T-Space (terraformed space) series, now up to ten published novels, grew out of the short story "Stone Age" first published in Analog. T-Space short stories have also appeared in anthologies, including Gunfight On Europa Station from Baen Books.

Alpha Centauri: Vol. 1 - First Landing by Alastair Mayer

What else could go wrong?

Franklin Drake's six-ship expedition to Alpha Centauri is down to five ships. His injured lead exobiologist has been replaced by the backup . . . who is his second-in-command's ex. And they haven't even left the Solar system.

The real headaches start when they reach their destination and lose another ship. Pushing on, they discover that their two target planets are far more Earth-like than they have any right to be. Almost as if they had been deliberately terraformed . . . millions of years ago. If they survive the hazards of the planet, what they find will lead Drake to a decision that could get him court-martialed when — or if — they return.

This is the first book in the Alpha Centauri trilogy, the prequel to the T-Space series.

 

REVIEWS

  • "A fine read with pure science fiction. Believable characters, decent plot and storyline, fluent writing makes this a fine read."

    – Sabby

  • "Excellent read. I really enjoyed the book and immediately purchased book 2. Can't put it down."

    – McCabet

  • "Outstanding. Great book, great read, solid science but not heavy handed."

    – Steve Cole
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

Interstellar Quarantine Facility, on the Moon

Franklin Drake finished suiting up for the walk from the lander to the base itself. At any other base on the Moon, there would be a docking tunnel or some other convenient way of getting from the ship to the buildings without going outside. Here, though, the short trip outside was part of the quarantine protocol. If something got loose in the lab, it would be that much harder for it to get back to Earth.

It was also a pain in the ass.

[Drake was here to see the director of the facility, George Darwin. He made his way to Darwin's office.]

"You've gained weight since Mars, George." Drake said.

Darwin looked up from his desk, scowling. Then he recognized the unexpected visitor at his door and smiled. "Captain Drake! I didn't know you'd arrived, I'll have to talk to someone about that. Come in. What brings you here?"

Drake seated himself in the chair across the desk from Darwin. "It's Commodore Drake now, actually. Commanding a fleet and all that, if a small one." He paused a moment, glancing around the high-ceilinged office, taking in the spider plants hanging in the corner, the pictures on the wall. Most were scenes from Earth, of Darwin in unusual environments. Hot springs, a glacier. He recognized one, a bleak rocky landscape in shades of red with a pinkish sky. Mars. Two space-suited figures posed for the picture; Darwin and himself. "You have that picture on your wall? I get tired of seeing it."

Darwin glanced over his shoulder at it. "That's why it's behind me. It's to impress visitors, my glory days."

"Don't say that, it makes you sound like an old man, and where does that leave me?"

"In my office trying to avoid telling me why you're here when I thought you had a starship to make ready."

"You're right," Drake said. "Neither of us was ever much for small talk. How would you like to go to Alpha Centauri?"

The look on Darwin's face was almost worth the trip in itself. It managed to combine deer-in-the-headlights with complete disbelief with a kid seeing the presents under the tree on Christmas morning.

"What? In what capacity? You've got an exobiologist."

Drake shook his head. "Actually we don't. Grainger managed to fall off the descent ladder in a rehearsal exercise. He broke some bones and punctured his spleen. He's not going."

"Is he all right? No, stupid question."

"He's fixable, but waiting for him would push back the schedule, and our international partners don't want to wait. China and the European Union have already offered replacement exobiologists."

"Hah, no way that's going to happen." The first ship to land would be the Indian vessel Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, but the privilege of first footstep would go to the mission's lead exobiologist. "But what about Grainger's backup?"

"Wallace? Last month the Enceladus exploration team found signs of life under the ice. Since it looked like he wouldn't be needed on the Centauri mission he lit out for Saturn as soon as he could get authorization. We could get him back—Saturn is at least on the same side of the Sun as we're going, although we're headed out of the ecliptic—but I decided to offer the slot to you first. I know it's a bit of a demotion, but—"

"No, no. I mean, sure, I'd have to give up the glamour and excitement of running the Interstellar Quarantine Lab, but I'm willing to sacrifice to help out an old friend."

Drake snorted. "Right. The opportunity to investigate two planets' worth of alien lifeforms first hand has nothing to do with it."

Darwin smiled. "Well, maybe a little." He sat forward on his seat, sobering. "Okay, how long do I have to transfer operation of this lab, and what's my training schedule going to be?"

Drake wasn't surprised at how quickly Darwin had gotten down to business. It was one of the things he liked about him. He pulled a data chip from his pocket and placed it on the desk in front of Darwin. "The details are all in there. You already have plenty of space experience, and you're one of the best exobiologists in the business, so your focus will be the detailed mission plan—"

"Okay, I know some of that from how it ties into the LQL requirements for when you, or we, get back. And I developed the mission biology protocols."

"I know. The only other thing is general starship systems, although aside from the warp drive it's not much different from what we went to Mars in."

"Oh, and about that," Darwin said.

"Yes?"

"The gravity is lower here. I've lost weight since Mars."

Drake laughed and shook his head. "All right. Read through the briefing on the chip and contact me later today." He turned to leave, then stopped and turned back. "There is one other thing."

"What's that?"

"Elizabeth Sawyer is on the mission team. Will that be a problem?"

The deer-in-the-headlights look came back, this time without being combined with the kid on Christmas morning. So much for being happy to see her again, Drake thought.

"In what capacity?"

"My second in command, and geologist. Look, I know you two can get along in public. And for all the screaming matches, it never got physical, right?"

A wry grin crept onto Darwin's face, like he was remembering something. "Well, not in that sense. She'd have broken my arm."

Drake remembered something he'd once heard about makeup sex being the best kind. Fortunately his dark skin didn't show a blush. "I don't need to know any other details. So, no problem?"

Darwin's expression sobered. He looked a little like he'd swallowed a bug, but said: "No, no problem at all."