When John Bandicut falls into a cavern on Triton, his life changes irrevocably-and for an alien quarx, a million years of solitude abruptly comes to an end. Bandicut is hardly ready for the storm of chaos that's about to blow through his life. He has just made humanity's first contact with alien life-an intelligence that takes up residence in his mind and will be revealed to no one else. The quarx, part of an ancient galactic civilization that manipulates chaos theory to predict catastrophic events, seeks to prevent an event that could destroy the Earth. But it must have help. If Bandicut chooses to trust the quarx, he must break all the rules-indeed, sacrifice his life as he knows it-to prevent humanity's greatest cataclysm. Leaving friends and lover behind, hurtling across the solar system in a stolen spaceship, Bandicut can only pray that his actions will save the Earth. Even if he doesn't live to see it again. Neptune Crossing is the opening volume of the acclaimed hard science fiction series, The Chaos Chronicles, from the Nebula-nominated author of Eternity's End. "Masterfully captures the joy of exploration." -Publishers Weekly "One of the very best things Carver has written, a traditional adventure filled with mystery and wonder and featuring a likable and believable protagonist thrust onto a stage for which he is ill prepared." - Science Fiction Chronicle "Reveals an alien encounter brushing hard against a soul, and takes us from there to the far reaches of the cosmos, all with the sure touch of a writer who knows his science. Jeff Carver has done it again!" -David Brin