Jefferson Kopal, the black sheep of a powerful family dynasty, questions why he is suddenly tapped by the navy for an urgent mission to the far reaches of space.

Called "the new Arthur C. Clarke" by The Washington Post Book World and "a scientist with a fine literary sense" by The Denver Post, Charles Sheffield has crafted a an exciting adventure about a frustrated teen who just can't seem to do anything right. Jeff Kopal is heir to a powerful military family. He's got everything going for him. Except one thing: Jeff is a total screw-ups. His family has had it. So when Jeff blows off his naval entrance exams he figures his future is basically kaput. Instead, he is being sent by the navy into deep space to deal with rebellious cyborgs. How did that happen? Jeff will have to find out before it's too late. Otherwise, He may become the pawn in someone else's dangerous-and very deadly-game.

Called "the new Arthur C. Clarke" by "The Washington Post Book World and "a scientist with a fine literary sense" by "The Denver Post, Charles Sheffield has crafted a an exciting adventure about a frustrated teen who just can't seem to do anything right. Jeff Kopal is heir to a powerful military family. He's got everything going for him. Except one thing: Jeff is a total screw-ups. His family has had it. So when Jeff blows off his naval entrance exams he figures his future is basically kaput. Instead, he is being sent by the navy into deep space to deal with rebellious cyborgs. How did that happen? Jeff will have to find out before it's too late. Otherwise, He may become the pawn in someone else's dangerous-and very deadly-game.

A provocative work by medical ethicist James Hughes, Citizen Cyborg argues that technologies pushing the boundaries of humanness can radically improve our quality of life if they are controlled democratically. Hughes challenges both the technophobia of Leon Kass and Francis Fukuyama and the unchecked enthusiasm of others for limitless human enhancement. He argues instead for a third way, "democratic transhumanism," by asking the question destined to become a fundamental issue of the twenty-first century: How can we use new cybernetic and biomedical technologies to make life better for everyone? These technologies hold great promise, but they also pose profound challenges to our health, our culture, and our liberal democratic political system. By allowing humans to become more than human - "posthuman" or "transhuman" - the new technologies will require new answers for the enduring issues of liberty and the common good. What limits should we place on the freedom of people to control their own bodies? Who should own genes and other living things? Which technologies should be mandatory, which voluntary, and which forbidden? For answers to these challenges, Citizen Cyborg proposes a radical return to a faith in the resilience of our democratic institutions.

We live in an alternate universe. My husband sacrificed himself to save me from alien enemies entering our solar system. Saving me left him in a vegetable state. This is my second jump into the alternate universe to pick up another part of his soul. My last mission was successful. He regained some of his strength but not enough for him to open his eyes. No other scientist has traveled to other dimensions, except military volunteers. They told me to expect the unexpected. When I landed on this alternate universe, I was shocked. There was no Earth. Humans became part machines to survive in space colonies. Cyborgs littered the solar system. I was sold to a crew in exchange for food and machine parts. I hope I’m lucky as my first mission and I find my husband in this 6-man crew. Only one way to find out. Once we mate, I will know. This book is a short MMF / dark read full of heat. It deals with mature themes that may be triggering for some. See author’s note in the beginning of the book. Each book ends with HFN (Happy for Now).

The cyborg code-named "Slant" was sent out as an Independent Reconnaissance Unit during an interstellar war between Earth and its colonies. The fighting ended three hundred years ago, but Slant's computer does not admit this - he is compelled to carry on as if the war were still raging. Then he comes across a planet where his sensors register "gravitational anomalies." The computer interprets these as enemy weapons research. The local inhabitants call the anomalies "magic."