Jack learns a secret

Mantu

Jack learns a secret that opens the way to a fantastic Universe.  And because of this, Earth shall change – anti-gravity, interstellar travel, and very long lives . . . if it can handle the shock and not get thrown back to the stone age.  And the key is knowledge, specifically – the Law of Connections, the theory that connects everything.  And it’s the base qualification for membership in the Continuum, a vast interstellar commonwealth of advanced civilizations. 

Implementing the theory, Jack builds a modified saucer in his barn but gets caught stealing Cobalt 60, a powerful isotope from his nurse girlfriend’s hospital.  He still manages to test the device, and it works better than expected; he’s rather rapidly repelled from the Earth.  Behind the Moon, he’s saved at the last possible moment by an ancient artifact, Albert, waiting for just such an event.  Is Jack’s discovery independent of established science?  The answer is yes, though he had help, namely from Janey.  Therefore, the noninterference doctrine comes into play, and a dilemma arises.  Jack meets the local aliens (local being our only neighbors in our Milky Way Galaxy) and forestalls their invasion plans with Albert’s help.

Meanwhile, he has to get back to Earth to somehow spring Janey from prison – stealing a deadly isotope is a terrorist offense.  He succeeds, just not in the preplanned way – I’ll give you the anomaly and the theory, you leave us alone.  The story continues in book 2 – The Emergence and Book 3 – First Contact.