The Claiming Worlds

THE CLAIMING WORLDS

The Familiar Stars - Book Two
By Tyler Slezak

The universe agreed that no world could claim another. Then a dying planet claimed Earth's elephants.

Following humanity's first contact with alien civilizations, a fragile agreement promises a new era of cooperation among the stars. Forty-three worlds are connected by an ancient network of gateways, and the first seven have agreed on one principle: no civilization has the right to decide another's fate without consent.

But that promise is about to be tested.

On the drought-stricken world of Damar, entire herds are dying. Desperate for water, its people reach across the stars for help. When they encounter Earth's elephants, however, they make an astonishing discovery: these creatures are their kin.

And they intend to protect them.

What begins as a humanitarian mission becomes an interstellar dispute over who has the right to speak for another living being.

As Dr. Mara Venn navigates increasingly dangerous negotiations, an inspection of Damar exposes disturbing truths about the creatures its people have kept in captivity for generations.

Meanwhile, Tava, newly freed from a life of protection without choice, recognizes a struggle painfully similar to her own.

Across the connected worlds, desperate civilizations bargain for water, food, technology, and survival. Every agreement creates new obligations. Every rescue carries hidden consequences. And every claim of protection raises the same terrifying question:

When everyone believes they are doing what is right, who gets to decide what freedom means?

As political tensions escalate and the ancient gateways reveal unexpected secrets, the difference between saving a civilization and controlling it begins to disappear.

The Claiming Worlds is the gripping second installment of The Familiar Stars, a thought-provoking science fiction trilogy filled with extraordinary alien civilizations, interstellar diplomacy, ancient mysteries, moral conflicts, and the struggle for freedom across the stars.

The stars are connected. But connection does not mean ownership.