The Web of Tita-Dom Testa

The Web of Titan
Dom Testa
Tor, Jun 29 2010, $8.99
ISBN: 9780765360786

The tail of the comet Bhaktul flew inside the Earth's atmosphere. This quickly proved not a close miss though contact did not occur; the tail left a virus behind that killed anyone over eighteen and killed anyone who turned eighteen in the future. The human species is heading to extinction. To save the human species, a ship was constructed to take two hundred and fifty-one of the planet’s top teens less than sixteen to colonize a planet in a distant solar system. Two years later the Galahad leaves with a sabotaging stowaway on board (see The Comet’s Curse).

When the Galahad reaches the Saturn moon of Titan, they pick up a metal pod. The teen crew has no idea what it is or why it was so important that they pick it up. They retrieve the pod, which contains two chambers; the adult compartment is empty while the smaller one holds a cat. At the same they pick up the object, several crew members become extremely ill and the ion drive suddenly accelerates to a point that if it does not stop, the Galahad will explode. Desperate ship commander Triana directs the crew to focus on the two emergencies.

The second Galahad young adult science fiction thriller is action-packed but also contains a strong cast, who make the voyage and the current crises seem genuine. Readers will relish the frantic efforts to survive that are mindful of Scotty’s save the Enterprise of original Star Trek. Triana is the charismatic leader who encourages the crew not to quit though solutions are not working in spite of incredible efforts to save themselves as they are humanity’s last hope.

Harriet Klausner