Lifeline

Joe Storn, a once disgraced Space Fleet captain has just returned from a mission that should have redeemed his reputation and offered him and his crew some well-deserved downtime. Instead, he’s shanghaied in Luna and plunged into the job of providing a lifeline for humanity. While Joe was away for a century-and-a- half, a stray asteroid swung too close to Earth, knocking it a mere three degrees off-kilter—just enough to bring on an Ice Age. Earth is going to die.

Like it or not, the newly minted "Admiral" Josiah Alexander Storn—and he does not like the rank or the job—is tasked with leading a fleet of seven vast freeze-ships halfway across the Galaxy to the uninhabited Magnus System one thousand years distant. Every ship in his fleet is filled with frozen politicians, wealthy citizens, and way too many academics.

Joe didn't have a say in making the selection but, thanks to a Loonie named Livio, a not very law-abiding citizen of Luna, all is not lost. Aboard Joe’s flagship, Livio has stashed a precious few who might have enough practical smarts to figure out how to survive on Magnus Three. This is a very good thing because when they do make landfall with the seven ships, it’s on Magnus Four and Joe’s problems are only just beginning…

Still, despite a megalomaniac who thinks he should have been named admiral; despite the seemingly incurable sex-virus affecting far too many would-be settlers; despite blood-sucking pink grubs which are, unbelievably, related to a voracious and ferocious species of avian bigger than pterodactyls, Joe is determined to finish what he was sent to do—make a new homeworld for all Earth's lifeforms.

Or die in the attempt.