Thanks must also go out to audiobook narrator extraordinaire, Jeffrey Kafer, the voice behind the free podcast novel edition of BENEATH as well as the (not free) audiobooks for PULSE and INSTINCT. You make my text come to life.

Last, and always, I need to thank my infinitely supportive wife, Hilaree and my three adorable and creative children, Aquila, Solomon and Norah.

"If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run - and often in the short one - the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative."

-- Arthur C. Clarke, The Exploration of Space

"It is easy to go down into Hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; but to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air - there's the rub, the task."

-- Virgil, Aeneid

"Spaceships and time machines are no escape from the human condition. Let Othello subject Desdemona to a lie-detector test; his jealousy will still blind him to the evidence. Let Oedipus triumph over gravity; he won't triumph over his fate."

-- Arthur Koestler, Writer

"The search for new life, exploration of the world around us, accumulation of global knowledge for the betterment of mankind; no one questions these ideas. They are the fundamentals of world-wide human society and the very basic principles of science. New life forms are discovered every year in the most remote regions of our world, providing unique glimpses of the evolutionary process and delivering incredible advances in medical science, saving countless lives. Seeking out new life should be a tantamount concern to every living soul on Earth..."

-- Dr. Kathy Connelly, Biologist and Oceanographer

"Maybe this world is another planet's hell."

-- Aldous Huxley

PROLOGUE -- COLLISIONS

Glowing dully in the light cast from the distant sun, a spinning chunk of interwoven nickel and iron the size of Khufu's Pyramid, cruised past the outer fringes of our solar system, missing Pluto by a miniscule six hundred thousand miles.

Moving at 75,000 miles per hour, the asteroid sped past the orbits of Uranus, Neptune and Saturn, bringing it deeper into the solar system and on a direct collision course with Earth. But, as often happens with solar intruders, a slight tug, a nagging pull of gravity began to exert its force on the interplanetary projectile. The course of the asteroid was modified and redirected towards the solar system's vacuum cleaner, mighty Jupiter.

Just as the ancient god Jupiter protected the Roman Empire by reaching out and smiting enemies with lightning bolts, so too did the solar system's guardian. Reaching out with its gravity, Jupiter pulled the asteroid toward its surface, threatening to crush it within a high pressure atmosphere of hydrogen, nitrogen, helium and other gases. The asteroid, now on a collision course with the outer atmosphere of Jupiter, began building speed, pulled in faster by Jupiter's influence.