The Orion Plan
A Thriller
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3.8 • 13 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Scientists thought that Earth was safe from invasion. The distance between stars is so great that it seemed impossible for even the most advanced civilizations to send a large spaceship from one star system to another.
But now an alien species—from a planet hundreds of light-years from Earth—has found a way.
A small spherical probe lands in an empty corner of New York City. It soon drills into the ground underneath, drawing electricity from the power lines to jump-start its automated expansion and prepare for alien colonization.
When the government proves slow to react, NASA scientist Dr. Sarah Pooley realizes she must lead the effort to stop the probe before it becomes too powerful. Meanwhile, the first people who encounter the alien device are discovering just how insidious this interstellar intruder can be.
In The Orion Plan, Mark Alpert presents a fascinating story of first contact with an alien intelligence far beyond what we can imagine.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Astronomer Sarah Pooley, the heroine of this so-so near-future story of alien invasion from Alpert (Extinction), has gradually rebuilt her career with NASA after prematurely proclaiming that life has been found on Mars, a misjudgment that ended her engagement to her fianc and sent her to a psychiatric facility. Meanwhile, Sarah spots what appears to an asteroid on a collision course with Earth, but it's in fact an alien probe. When it lands in upper Manhattan, it drains electricity on a massive scale from the city's power grid and injects nanodevices into those who come into contact with it, starting with a gangbanger, an alcoholic homeless man, and a woman ravaged by cancer. The split focus on these three characters, at the expense of Sarah, doesn't pay off, but a bigger negative is the absence of any real scares or a feeling of genuine menace. Fans can hope that next time Alpert regains the form of his previous, more imaginative work.
