Mankind has always struggled to balance exploration and exploitation when stepping into new lands. In the era of the colonization of space, the discovery of new wonders is countered by the awful realities when species once separated by light years of airless void are suddenly thrown together, and the heady intoxication of discovery becomes the

Living with the Alien has become a fact of life--and death--as mankind expands throughout the galaxy. And no matter how each encounter with the deadly Xenomorphs inevitably leads to disaster, man's hubris and greed just as inevitably fuel the desire to try to unlock the secrets of the demonic beasts' biology or bring the creatures under control as

Like sports, the victor is he who wants it more. Unlike sports, the loser earns extinction. Mankind has fought for survival over countless millennia, but nothing has threatened humanity's existence like the murderous Alien scourge. While some have tried to use the creatures' deadly abilities to serve their own selfish ends, no one can dance with

The old saying "You can't unbreak an egg" holds true, especially when that egg unleashes an interstellar scourge, the dreaded Alien. But as dangerous and lethal as this species has proven itself time and time again, some men cannot resist the awful gravity of the creatures' potential when merged with human science . . . and arrogance . . . and

Many humans have died horribly at the claws of the Alien. The surface of Earth has been devastated to cleanse the beasts from our world. But the commercial value of this scourge has never been in doubt, especially when the special properties of the Alien Queen's royal jelly are discovered. Will Mankind once again risk its very survival as a