I think I missed something in the first book and I’m not sure how I did that. It seems our former crew of several people have now dwindled down to only three. Those three are Sam Carter (pilot), Jason Rodriguez (engineer), and Olivia Ann Reyes, a.k.a. “Liv” (computer nerd). They are on an alien ship that is operated by an AI or something like that they call Gray. They have been interfacing with the ship/Gray by standing on a platform and putting their hands inside some kind of interface device. The ship has completed the interface by putting some of itself inside of each of these people saying that it allows for better communications. Jason was the last one to interface since he didn’t want any of the gray goo inside his body.
But, they have a single 3D printer on the ship and that’s how they make stuff to live on the ship. They had to make beds, chairs, blankets and pillows and even a sink for water. Jason managed to even build a rudimentary toilet which the ship didn’t even have. Currently, they are sailing somewhere in space having just lost a bunch of pursuing Raptor aliens. Those aliens had attacked Earth, destroyed a lot of humanity, but once Sam, Jason, & Liv found this other alien ship, they took off with all the Raptor ships following. The ship, Gray, eventually managed to get the Raptor fleet to dive into a blackhole effectively cutting them off from the galaxy for ever. Now they were headed somewhere and Gray wasn’t forthcoming with information.
Sam had been the one that had interfaced with Gray the most. He showed clear visible signs of having the gray goo going through his body. It didn’t seem to harm them but none of them like this way of existing in the ship. Then they found out where they were going. Gray was returning home. His home was in another galaxy and consisted of a huge Dyson sphere with two rotating rings. This is what this book is about. They learn that this sphere contains the “seeds” that have populated the entire universe. Gray is one seed ship out of billions or trillions sent out by the Coalition, the alien entities that made gray and this Dyson sphere.
Gray arrives back and docks in one of the rings. He then tells Sam, Jason and Liv that the Coalition needs their help. While Gray’s arrival has helped restart the Dyson sphere and the rings, it still isn’t complete until some other things are done. That’s when the group find out that the rings are completely empty. They are allowed to explore the rings only to find out that some of the defensive measures have been activated with their presence. Liv gets shot repeatedly with lasers and is dying unless they find some kind of medical room to treat her wounds. They do find something that sort of works, but it adds more goo to Liv which does restore her health. In the meantime, Gray is busy restoring what seem to be sentient AIs that were controlling the rings and Dyson sphere. This is taking a lot of his energy so the crew find a compartment on the rings so they can rest and breathe without their suits.
By talking to the AI that supports this portion of the ring, they find out that a huge fleet of Raptors are approaching the sphere and rings. The crew try to warn the AI that these are dangerous aliens that need to be dealt with before they access the rings and the sphere and steel advanced technology. But, the AI doesn’t believe the Raptors are a threat. It has defenses which it tries to activate but finds out they are ready yet. Then the AI tells the humans that the Raptors are of little concern since the Rampage is a much greater threat and could destroy this galaxy and the next one to it if it ever finds this Dyson sphere. It also says it has a weapon that can destroy the Rampage, but it is broken.
Sam, Jason and Liv find out that they have to repair this fantastic weapon even though they have no knowledge of how it works or where to find the parts.
So, this book is kind of strange. I don’t remember how the three people got aboard Gray, nor do I remember the part of the Raptors destroying much of Earth. I guess I should re-read the first book, but I won’t do that. I might read book 3, “Vanguard”, now available on Amazon.