The Ghost of Sphinx

Ghost: /ɡoʊst/
1) The spirit or soul of a person.
2) A faint semblance or trace.
3) (sci. abbr.) Galactic HalO subSTructures: Filaments or clusters within the dark matter haloes of the cosmic web.

Jaqueline Binti Abdullah is only 12 years old when molten shards of Sphinx-896 slice through Earth’s atmosphere, altering the course of her life. Five years later, she is recruited for a mission to explain the fall of Sphinx. She is a gifted pilot, the best in the program, but when information comes to light that could threaten the mission, Jacqueline is asked to make an impossible choice.

A former game designer turned mission architect, Dr. Colleen Pastor has a plan to map out the invisible forces that have begun to trigger orbital decays in the main asteroid belt. The program calls for the construction of twin space stations and a fleet of lightsail spacecraft, but the greatest challenge of all is finding pilots and crew capable of surviving the mission.

Liam Fourtouna is an aerospace engineer and a test pilot. He is the military’s pick to take command of the Outpost, a space station to be deployed deep in the galactic halo. Sequestered with his crew for years on end, Liam must hold the station together in a place where family, military rule, and civilized society are little more than a memory.

Edward Kaiser’s graduate research is funded by the GhostMap program, but his results are not what Colleen or anyone else is expecting. When he discovers a fatal flaw in the mission, the future of billions of lives depends on the obsessive young scientist, if he can just convince someone to listen.