A 22nd century space expedition finds an artificial planet in a faraway solar system with mysterious connections to the origins of life on Earth. (Or, more simply ... Astronauts vs. Dinosaurs.)

SYNOPSIS:

Think of a story that combines all the stuff we loved as kids -- all the stuff in the imagination of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes — and combines it in a smart, scientifically plausible, humorous action romp that ponders serious questions. The future. The ISA Spacecraft Michael Collins takes flight, along with its crew: ANGELA OKONKWO, the composed and dedicated Mission Commander; MAAZIN BARLAS, the cool-handed and quick-thinking Flight Engineer; JACK O’BRIEN, the daredevil Pilot fleeing his own demons; DOMINIC VANCE, collected Mission Specialist and Jack’s (usually) close friend; and KIM CHANG, the intelligent and resourceful second Mission Specialist. The mission starts with tension, as Jack and Dominic are on bad terms over their ties to ANNA, Jack’s neglected girlfriend and Dominic’s love. But once the Michael Collins takes off, Angela reveals their true mission. Fifty-three years ago, a mission to Saturn’s moon Enceladus found an obelisk carved with pictographs, providing the coordinates for a wormhole gate on the edge of the solar system. They’re going to crack the gate, follow it through, and learn more about the aliens who’ve been visiting our system since time immemorial. Kim manages to crack the gate, but the Michael Collins runs into debris at relativistic speeds and is badly damaged. The ship arrives at a seemingly impossible planet, only to find a mystery – biomes that shouldn’t be anywhere near one another are stitched together like a patchwork, and one of them has pyramids. Kim, Dominic, and Jack fly one of the landers down, but it hits an energy field and crashes. As the three explore the strange biosphere, they find signs of life – human life. On top of that, said humans sealed themselves in the pyramids willingly, as if trying to avoid something. But something’s wrong – there are dinosaurs alongside humans, and the climates and floras are trying to overlap in harmful ways. The astronauts surmised that this planet may be the source of all life on Earth. After a harrowing flight from dinosaurs, Kim and Dominic have a conversation about the connections between religion, philosophy, and even the nature of sacred story as they explore their own journeys. The party quickly encounters some of the planet’s native humans, led by SKYE, a warrior woman from a Celtic/Mayan culture. But they’ve also drawn the attention of the Neoraptors –highly-evolved dinosaurs engaged in a genocidal campaign, led by GENERAL SKARNARAK. The Neoraptors have harrowed the humans of Eden already, but now they’ve found the wreckage of the lander – and turned one of the crashed lander’s rockets into a battlefield-clearing weapon. As Angela and Maazin try to swing the ship around for a last-ditch effort to retrieve the others, the landing crew follows Skye through a ruined London environment – meeting her grandfather, BARTLEBY, one of the last of the planet’s British – to the site of a last stand against the Neoraptors. Along the way, Kim realizes the opening of the sealed biomes triggered the planet’s dissolution, and that the last battle will be at the hub of the system. Jack and Dominic join Skye on the front lines and, with a last minute save from Angela and Maazin, manage to take out Skarnarak and destroy the retrorocket. Kim, meanwhile, makes contact with the ALIENS who created Eden, and convinces them to restore the biomes just as the humans get to safety. With stability restored to the planet and hours left to leave the system, the crew of the Michael Collins takes off – but Kim stays behind to work with the Aliens and Jack stays behind to work with Skye, leaving the others to share the grand story of the Planet Called Eden.

A PLANET CALLED EDEN