Search Worlds Without End

When Rick Luban's high school prank to impress his buddies gets him thrown out of school, a long-suffering teacher recommends he apply for a job with a mining company in space. So begins an exciting adventure, the kind that one day will be open to many young men and women.

Shelby Cheever is a spoiled brat. He is also the richest kid in the country. Actually, make that the universe. Bored with his all-the-amusements-money-can-buy life, he decides on a bit of interstellar action, Shelby-style. But it turns out life on a starship is not all fun and games. As part of a crew, Shelby has a few things to learn. Such as how to follow orders instead of simply giving orders. Can Shelby learn how to cooperate with his crewmates?

He may not have a choice. When Shelby becomes the target of a hostage-for-ransom scheme, he'll need all the help he can get.

Scheming to get rid of obstacles, Josh Kerrigan's step-aunt ships him and her autistic step-daughter to Solferino to work for Foodlines. Josh and Dawn join a small training group that is ostensibly doing scientific research and exploration under the watchful eye of the company.

But as the days go by and strange occurrences and mysterious happenings continue, it becomes apparent that something is very wrong and that someone has very different plans for the planet.

Even more importantly, Josh and the other members of the training team realize that they are being lied to about intelligent life existing on the planet and then it becomes a race against time to save those creatures as well as themselves.

Jefferson Kopal, the privileged son of a wealthy family, knows he is a coward and a failure. He dreads appearing for and then barely passes the Space Navy test to qualify for service as an officer--something that has been an integral part of his family's tradition.

He is assigned to the remote Border Command by the Navy and eventually to a ship commanded by Captain Dufferin, who hates everything that the Kopal family stands for.

But when he is abandoned by his Captain and the rest of the crew, left for dead and possibly framed as a traitor, he must find his inner courage and resolve, not only to save himself, but to save his world as well.