The world watches in awe as the Roebling Clipper is launched into space. Using state-of-the-art scalar engines to fly around the Moon and back in just hours, the maiden voyage of the first-ever trans-lunar passenger ship is about to make history. Among those on board: First Lady Simone Mathany, space-exploration entrepreneur Steve Roebling, Dr. Denise Balaban, pilot Fiona Henslaw, and a very lucky lottery winner. But while en route, a massive solar flare sparks a cosmic-ray burst that accelerates Aurora's engine and blows the ship away from Earth's orbit. Now out of control, it's hurtling straight for the sun. At Mission Control, along with the desperate President Thomas Mathany, an increasingly anxious team of experts puts a plan into motion - an interception by a shuttle attached to the International Space Station. When that ends in disaster, the Aurora only picks up speed. Now being pulled toward the sun at three percent of the speed of light, it's only a matter of hours before it ...

Teen girl Taylor Hillridge gets a a laptop for her birthday and signs up on a social networking site. She starts to feel alone as her friends ostracize her and she falls victim to cyberbullying.

In Boston, there is an unknown epidemic and the population is consuming the Hydropure water and vegetables from Whitefield Corporation. The City Hall Secretary, Taylor Lambert, contacts a newspaper journalist, Lisa Wallace, expecting to give evidence of a conspiracy that his partner Connie is collecting. However, Glenda is captured and murdered by the guards, and Lambert shoots the Mayor and takes a sample of his blood to give to Lisa. Lambert is hunted and wounded by the police. He meets the journalist, Ben Mosher, who writes for the sensationalist column 'Mystery Science' in the same newspaper. Lambert gives Ben a vial with the Major's blood before he dies and Ben gives the sample to his friend Knutt Jourgensen for analysis.

Suddenly the US east coast is hit by a type of natural disaster formerly reserved, except after a major earthquake, for the Pacific and Indian ocean rims: tidal waves of the destructive tsunami type. Scientist and fiction author John McAdams attends a national emergency conference which concludes the phenomenon must be man-made, quite possibly abusing the findings of John's secret former Sea Lion project, but who wants to and has the means? Indeed John soon finds himself set-up for a murder and chased. Major destructions mean major contracts for construction and coastal defenses, so building tycoons like Victor Bannister certainly have a considerable interest...