Zalor

Zalor is a world filled with secrets.

Trapped in the high-tech world of broadcast journalism, news writer Jason McSwain dreams of the good old days when reporters worked on real newspapers. Then his dream comes true. Banentine Inc., the company that owns the twenty-second-century broadcast station, transfers Jason to the recently purchased Zalor Observer—a news publication on the Earth colony of planet Zalor.

Due to communication restrictions and a lack of support from Earth, Zalor has evolved into a ranching frontier culture. There, the colonists have learned to domesticate indigenous species as livestock, and to farm edible plants. They also have developed their own folklore; such as the four Strangers—hooded figures who appear as specters and visit only a select few of the colonists. And then there is the Zalor secret, which the locals do not discuss.

On Earth, a growing demand for Zalorian solar crystals has created an upswing in the off-world mining industry and a financial boom is expected to follow. But after Jason arrives and begins to adjust to a lifestyle much different than urban Los Angeles, he learns that one mining company is working to establish an illegal cartel. The colonists, divided over property rights issues and the promise of wealth, split into factions.

Faced with the threat of civil war on Zalor, and military intervention from Earth, Jason launches an investigation that reveals dangers far more insidious than anything he could have imagined. He needs to get the information to Earth, but the mining interests have blocked his passage. As his fact finding mission continues, Jason discovers that Zalor is a world that hosts many secrets. But will this revelation stop a pending war? Time is running out for Jason McSwain and the colonists on planet Zalor.