An alien gives you the chance of lifetime. Be taught extraordinary powers, see the stars, and win rewards beyond your dreams. If you ask Sam, it all sounds too good to be true. Yet the alien offers him, of all people, just that opportunity. Down on his luck, desperate to pay for his mother’s medical care, about to fail college? Yep, that Sam. All he’d have to do is join a small, select group of humans undergoing rigorous training on how to use a powerful energy force called aether. Not to mention voyage to exotic space locales, live on a space station, camp overnight on a moon and engage in other mind-blowing endeavors Sam never thought possible. Enticing. Thrilling. A little dangerous even. Sam takes the offer. Of course, if your instincts say an enigmatic alien emissary might hold a secretive, malicious agenda, well, you’re probably right. And so Sam finds himself dealing with a master of manipulation, who cares little if their actions put Earth in the crosshairs of greedy galactic forces. Samer must grow powerful quickly and find a way to outwit his duplicitous alien benefactor or … Earth will lose its freedom. Forever.