An alien who has lived on Earth more than 1,300 years deals with dangerous forces looking to make money off of his advanced knowledge. Since young engineering student Rip Cantrell discovered the first alien saucer, it only makes sense that he would be involved in the discovery of the second. A year after Cantrell and his partner, ex-Air Force test pilot Charlotte Pine discovered a mysterious alien saucer buried in the Sahara desert, they find themselves involved in a new mystery. The first saucer crashed into the depths of the Atlantic and the owner of a large pharmaceutical company has funded its recovery. He believes the ship contains valuable medical secrets, including the secret to living forever. He's hired technician Adam Solo to raise the saucer, but when he does, he steals the saucer before anyone else can examine it.
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Cantrell, Pine and Rip's Uncle Egg now live on the family farm in Missouri and are confused when word of the saucer's reappearance hits the media. Rip has recently found a second, smaller saucer and it doesn't take long for word of why the first saucer was raised to become public. Before long, the news media and the public begin showing up at the farm asking for the cure to long life they're convinced is on the smaller saucer's computers. As the media arrives, so does Adam Solo. It turns out that he is the last surviving member of the first saucer's crew and he's been on Earth for at least 1,300 years.
Solo tells them that his civilization has been visiting Earth on a regular basis for at least 100,000 years. The saucer that crashed at Roswell, N.M. in the late 50s was also from his world. although he doesn't know what happened to its crew. The saucer's computer does contain the secret to long life, but the four of them decide that it's too dangerous a secret to be shared at this point in Earth's development. So when the President arrives at the farm demanding the computer, Egg gives it to him. But not before wiping the drive.
The quartet then go on the run from the government, the media and the pharmaceutical companies. A journey that takes them to the forests of Canada and an abandoned Anasazi Indian home overlooking the Grand Canyon. It's there that the group have a life-and-death shootout with mercenaries hired by the medical corporations. Adam is fatally injured, but not before he makes telepathic contact with a rescue ship from his world that is headed to Earth.
The rescue ship also contacts the President and lets him now they are on the way. The ship lands on the lawn of the White House and after a lot of discussing, the aliens agree to provide medical info - including a cure for cancer. But they're also looking for help from Earth, since they have developed a problem conceiving. They obtain voluntary DNA samples from Earth parents and Rip and Pine volunteer to go back with the aliens. It turns out to be a near-storybook ending for the Earth's first contact with Aliens.
Best part of story, including ending:
It's not quite a book written for young adults, the style reminds me of the classic Robert Heinlein science fiction books. It's a simple, entertaining and straight-forward story that makes for a quick read.
Best scene in story:
The scene between the President and the alien visitors, as they struggled to find common ground.
Opinion about the main character:
While I like the simple approach of the book, the character of Rip Cantrell comes off a bit two-dimensional. While he is the hero of the story, in some ways he is also the book's least interesting character.
