Space Adventures #48

Captain Paul Canning serves aboard Earth Ship 109 with Fino IIA, a humanlike robot he's convinced lacks true emotion—until their vessel is crippled by Duga Beta destroyers and a desperate choice forces both of them to confront what friendship really means. When survival comes down to a single escape tube, Canning discovers that his robotic crewmate may have possessed something far more human than either of them realized.

When a robot duplicate of Space Commander Joe Bernard lands on the newly discovered planet Dekka as Earth's ambassador, he finds himself caught between two warring factions: the peaceful natives of the bright side and the hostile Kashmi, self-aware robots created by those same natives. As the duplicate tries to broker peace and gather intelligence for Earth, he discovers that his artificial nature and the escalating conflict force him into an impossible position. This tense Cold War-era tale explores what happens when first contact becomes a matter of life and death, and when the line between diplomat and weapon becomes dangerously thin.

Stranded on a silent alien world after their crash landing, Boone Richards and Chuck Andrews discover a horrifying truth: the planet itself produces no sound whatsoever. When their radio transmission reaches a rescue ship overhead, the crew realizes the horrifying implications of what they've found—a world where even the native creatures have evolved without ears. Richards and Andrews must survive on a planet where communication itself may be impossible, as a rescue attempt unfolds above them.

When mysterious trees sprout overnight near a top-secret space base in Virginia, a retired soldier and a heli-jet pilot become the first to realize these alien growths are far more dangerous than they appear. As General Williams scrambles to understand the Talmusian threat before it can cripple the World Space Force, the true nature of the invasion becomes clear—but stopping it may demand everything the military can muster. "The Lively Forest" reveals a cunning new tactic in humanity's war against the enemies from space.