She was born and brought up in the colony on the moon, where her parents were killed in a laboratory explosion. When she applies for a job at the South Kent Special Care Facility, her background is held against her, for everyone knows that moonchildren are "weaklings".After she gets the job, she discovers that a mysterious unknown enemy has set her up to be blamed for thefts that are taking place at the Facility. Whenever he decides to spring the trap, she will be disgraced and her...

Irene was born and brought up in the colony on the moon, where her parents were killed in a laboratory explosion. She's built a reputation for leadership and problem solving around the solar system. She's the right person for the job when the new modulated integral soliton stream opens up the opportunity for her to command a survey mission to the Alpha Centauri star system.One planet, designated AC4, looks particularly promising.The survey is going well for the team, and se...

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous provides a spiritual program dramatically distinct from religion. Twelve Step spirituality is based on experience, not doctrine; it is pragmatic, focusing on what works and not on theory; it is centered in a community that is inclusive, welcoming all who desire to stop drinking; it seeks rigorous honesty even when that honesty involves painful questioning; and it centers upon service to the still suffering alcoholic. The power found in working the S...

Due to a funding hiatus for the low-gravity project, Irene finds herself on Venus as medical lab assistant and biomedical researcher. Deep in the murky yellow depths of the hot and heavy Venusian atmosphere, they find some rather aggressive native life, and Irene is forced to fight for her life and her colleagues.

Alpha Centauri and the planet AC4, now mysteriously known as Klandor, has particular meaning for her. Her aunt was part of the survey team there. In a sense she is still there.When Lorraine applies to join the proposed colony, she is completely honest and factual in her responses to every question. But she doesn't make a point of highlighting the connection. She wants to be accepted on her own merits, and she doesn't like being labeled. And she really hates that the selection commi...

Two weeks after Irene's marriage to Commander Roger Slade, he is called on a mission to Mars. She watches his shuttle come in on the arrivals video, but he never shows up. But then all evidence of marriage is gone, nobody believes she is Mrs Roger Slade, and then the Commander Roger Slade that turns up isn't her Roger.

She's the younger sister, always in the shadow of her older sister, on an alien planet, where her best friends are not even human.They're always 'the girls', the two only unattached 'maidens' on the planet. And they are expected to just sit there and look pretty, look after the youngsters, and look on as the men make the significant decisions and do the real work.Her sister's brashness hasn't really helped either. Now she's labeled 'the quiet one', while her sister has 'a v...

Irene is sent to investigate a mysterious illness on Moonbase, but the Earth-appointed administrator doesn't want her there. So once again she must deal with clashes, find allies, fight to save patients, and face the trauma of collapsing tunnels in a meteorite strike.

They're always there in the background. They say very little, but listen a great deal. There's one in a quiet corner at every meeting. There's one in every home - they like to cook and knit and master new skills. We don't know what sex they are, if they have sexes, although it seems they have children...It's not that they refuse to answer so much as that we can't understand the answer. They say things like 'the offspring are not yet ripe for the sun'. Or, 'they are in the place of ...

Irene is called back to Venus to solve some mysterious problems: another mystery illness - this time affecting people she knew from her last term on Venus. What it is, they don't know - they can't identify any pathogen. But it causes extreme pain - and three out of four people to contract it committed suicide.

Across the world, most people are religious or spiritual, and many have a strong relational-emotional bond (attachment relationship) with God(s). This Element summarizes social-scientific theory and research on these relationships. Part I outlines basic principles of attachment and religion/spirituality. Part II describes normative (human-universal) processes and patterns. It explains how God and other supernatural beings often serve as irreplaceable relational caregivers (attachment figur...

On the first day of spring, Zak and his dog Ziggy are waiting at the river to meet Ivy for a day of fishing when a tree branch falls and hits Zak on the head. When he comes to, Ivy has arrived, and shows him a bottle her grandmother has given her. She tells him it contains magic bubbles. The two children begin blowing bubbles, and a giant bubble appears, carrying an unusual creature inside. He introduces himself as Professor Aquius Botanicus Angelicus of the planet Quantia, on a search for...