Zaia — Pauline A. Harris

Earth's galaxy is opened up for space exploration with the successful creation and stabilization of wormholes through space and the development of new cold sleep techniques. The Mother Earth Network controls all licenses and collects all revenues from the exploration and settlement of suitable planets. Legal genetic tinkering produces humans who are physically adapted to survive on certain planets, but a rogue billionaire geneticist conducts his own experiments. His breeding program has a personal agenda, and the resulting failures are sent away from Earth to work on planets where they are often regarded a-typical freaks. Merry is a permanently altered human being who receives dubious orders from the Mother Earth Network which could change her life forever, or bring it to a swift end. Everything depends on her bravery and will to survive. Can a planet on the other side of the galaxy provide the answers to her questions and give her hope and the safe haven which she so desperately seeks? One thing is certain; Zaia is different!