"Otherwise, this is only the beginning, colonies like Zagreus, they’re not prepared to defend themselves against things like this. I don’t think anyone is prepared to defend themselves against things like this.
We have to live, or a whole lot more people are going to die."
Alien: Echo, Olivia Shipp on Planet Zagreus, page 270.
This book is a great read. The character elements in Alien: Echo pull from so many aspects of the Alien universe and the story fits perfectly within it. Olivia and her twin sister Viola have a bit of an "Army brat" youth in the care of their famous xenobiologist parents (Dr. John and Dr. Katherine Shipp) when traveling from planet to planet for their studies.
"There are wonders in the cosmos beyond all imagination, creatures we may never understand and biological processes we may never unravel. What a miracle to live in a time when such things are ready to be discovered."
Alien: Echo, Dr. Katherine Shipp
"The one constant in the universe is that Life wants to continue living, whatever the consequences. Whatever the cost. Life endures."
Alien: Echo, Dr. John Shipp
In an attempt to make friends with the local "cool" crowd, Olivia Shipp decides to have a house party for her teenage friends while her parents are away. Oliva and Viola Shipp live outside of a town on the planet Zagreus. Androids are forbidden there. And the party goes south.
“That thing, it was like a mixture of the creatures from the shuttle and the lion-worms. I think of the lion-worm we saw outside the cave, the one that looked like it had bursted from the inside out. It is possible that there are eggs or embryos or whatever they can somehow take on attributes from the non-creature parent?”
Alien: Echo, Olivia Shipp, page 265.
Excellent work Mira Grant. I finished your book in just over a day.