WARWilliam Mandela is a reluctant hero, drafter to fight in a distant interstellar war against unknowable and unconquerable aliens. But his greatest test will be returning to Earth. A few months of his tour of duty equate to centuries on his homeworld, during which he becomes increasingly isolated from the world he has been fighting to protectFREEMandela returns home for the last time - to find humanity has evolved into a group conciousness which excludes him. Alone, alieneated and missing the certainties of combat, he and his fellow verterans search for an escape - and finally look towards space.PEACEA war is raging, fought by indestructible machines operated remotely by soldiers miles away - and for soldiers like Julian Class, war is truly hell. So when he anc his companion, Dr Amelia Harding, uncover something which could take the universe back to square one, the prospect isn't so much terrifying, as terrifyingly tempting . . .