Jennifer Foehner Wells

NASA discovered the alien ship lurking in the asteroid belt in the 1960s. They kept the Target under intense surveillance for decades, letting the public believe they were exploring the solar system, while they worked feverishly to refine the technology needed to reach it. The ship itself remained silent, drifting. Dr. Jane Holloway is content documenting nearly-extinct languages and had never contemplated becoming an astronaut. But when NASA recruits her to join a team of military scientists for an expedition to the Target, it’s an adventure she can’t refuse. The ship isn’t vacant, as they presumed. A disembodied voice rumbles inside Jane’s head, "You are home." Jane fights the growing doubts of her colleagues as she attempts to decipher what the alien wants from her. As the derelict ship devolves into chaos and the crew gets cut off from their escape route, Jane must decide if she can trust the alien’s help to survive.

In defiance of NASA, Jane Holloway, the linguist of the Providence expedition, commandeers the alien ship that crew explored. She sets off to return that ship’s marooned navigator to his home world, determined to discover who was behind the genocide that destroyed his original crew. But when she gets there, she finds his world devastated by the same plague. The remaining members of his race, uniquely gifted at navigating the stars, are stranded across the galaxy. And someone, it seems, doesn’t want those lost navigators to be found. As Jane unravels the mystery of the plague and works to ensure the survival of Ei’Brai’s race, she discovers that the life of every sentient being in the galaxy may be in jeopardy…and the clock is ticking.

A short story Allus Jenson is a space pirateer on a layover between jobs. The ship she lives and works in is waylaid on a barren planet for repairs. She’s bored, goes for a stroll, and meets someone who would very much like to spend the rest of their life with her.

Darcy has a ten-thousand-year-old secret buried in her genetic code. As a second year medical student, her life revolves around classes, studying, and her boyfriend Adam-until she treks through the desert and touches some mysterious stacked stones and a network of glowing blue lines radiates under her skin. Then she saw the spaceship. And it was coming for her. She faces impossibly bad choices and a missing boyfriend. Darcy struggles to accept her heritage and master her newfound powers as she navigates devious deception, betrayal, and danger like she's never known in order to prevail in the galaxy's most dangerous game-and survive to save Adam.

Hain, a sentient plant creature, defies instinct and genetic imperative by holding herself separate from the planet-encompassing vegetative super-intelligence known as the Mother. Hain wants to explore the stars but when she finally encounters aliens, her destiny is forever changed. This novelette was previously published in the anthology: The Alien Chronicles. It is longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella. This story is available for free for readers who sign up for Jen's newsletter on her website: www.jenthulhu.com