The Orphan from Space

Once there was a race of people that had ranged throughout the star ways of our galaxy, they were called the Predecessors. Occasionally space explorers would find one of their abandoned ships; little more than a rusted out hulk, the centuries of disuse leaving little evidence of its former grandeur. But where had they gone?Jasom Kingston is a fifteen-year-old boy on the Kings' Quest, a small exploring ship sent out to explore a star system further out on the galactic arm from their home world of Evenset. Arial, the nineteen-year-old daughter of the ship's captain is Jasom's competition when it comes to explorations, but also the girl he secretly has a crush on. During a training mission Jasom discovers something mysterious hidden amongst the jagged rocks that comprise a belt of cosmic debris between the orbits of the fourth and fifth planets of this yellow star, so far from home. How had it come to be there?As the crew decides to return to Evenset to enlist help, Jasom is allowed to use the ship's small flyer to retrieve a satellite they had placed in orbit around the third planet. Things escalate when the Queryl, a mysterious and inimical race of beings from an unknown part of the galaxy, attack the King's Quest. Will Jasom make it back to the ship in time? How will the ship deal with the dangerous Queryl? Beep...beep, Jasom receives a message, it's not what he expected. He reads... Queryl onslaught imminent. Invoking emergency protocol Q-stat. Your orders are to proceed using protocol R-stat. Love mom. All he could remember about the R-stat protocol were a few words that are new to him: Nashua, Montana, 1952...