Six-time Hugo Award winner Ben Bova chronicles the saga of humankind's expansion beyond the solar system inThe Aftermath.

In the wake of the Asteroid Wars that tore across the solar system, Victor Zacharius makes his living running the ore-carrierSyracuse. He plies the Asteroid Belt, hauling whatever cargo can be found. When theSyracusestumbles into the middle of a military attack on the habitatChrysalis,Victor flees in a control pod to draw attention away from his family. Now, as his wife and children plunge into the far deeps of space, Victor has been rescued by the seductive Cheena Madagascar and must do her bidding if he hopes to see his family again.

Elverda Apacheta is the solar system's greatest sculptor. The cyborg Dorn was formerly Dorik Harbin, the ruthless military commander responsible for the attack onChrysalis. Their lives and destinies have been linked by their joint discovery of an alien artifact that transforms them. Little do they know, their knowledge of the artifact's mysterious powers puts them in great danger.

Fate inevitably catches up to the pair, setting off a series of events that will affect the Zacharius family, Apacheta, and Dorn, and just might transform the entire human solar system...