Sector 73 — Gregory C. Randall

WHAT IS SECTOR 73?In the 25th century, after humans have colonized the moon and Mars and established outposts in the asteroid belt, a particular breed of men and women have evolved the industrial art of asteroid harvesting. Dragging chunks of primordial rock and ice to smelters circling Earth and Mars, these rocks have become the principal source of raw materials for all the old and new world's metals, fuels, water and breathable air.One dragger, Buster Strabo, the captain of the Gypsy King, has for more than twenty years towed these elemental rocks sunward to the colonies. On this last drag, he discovers a rock that is more than he expected; in fact, more than the whole of humanity bargained for. Can this one asteroid answer humankind's greatest questions: Are we alone in this universe?What is in Sector 73 that will forever change civilization's and religion's beliefs? What elemental spark will drive the world to demand: Who are we and where did we come from?Who is Buster Strabo?Buster Strabo - is the captain. He's been dragging rocks from the belt sunward to the colonies and earth for more than twenty years. Twenty years that would make any young man old.Buster Strabo - is the fifth captain of the asteroid tow truck, the Gypsy King. The one hundred and fifty-year-old fusion powered spaceship constructed from titanium, steel, aluminum, and diamond glass - the stuff of the stars.Buster Strabo - is the owner of the cantankerous noid Hank. However, can you truly own a robot?Buster Strabo - was on the rescue ship, twenty years earlier, that saved Tassos Orion, the then captain of the Gypsy King. Orion, self-proclaimed prophet, who was later charged with the loss of his entire crew - some say he murdered them. Buster Strabo - older brother to Sister Anne, a nun of the Revealment order and very close to the Pope. Soon she will become the director of the new colony of immigrants on Mars.Buster Strabo - a non-believing agnostic, who unwillingly becomes an integral part of the discovery of the greatest mystery in human history; some will call it a miracle.Like the Gypsy King, humanity is made from star stuff.