Sequel to The Comet’s Curse (2009), this is the continuing story of the spaceship Galahad and her crew of teens, sent on a last-ditch effort to save civilization from the virus that seems to be killing all adults on Earth. Having already overcome threats from a terrorist stowaway, the crew is settling down into a less stressful routine as they approach Saturn. But they can’t take anything for granted in space, as they quickly discover when they pick up a metallic pod awaiting their arrival near Saturn’s moon, Titan. Innocuous as the pod and its contents are, things begin to go wrong shortly thereafter. Some of the crew are seriously affected—or is that infected? The scientists who manned Titan’s space station are no longer transmitting messages, but something (or someone) is sending transmissions up from the planet’s surface. Is this from a friend or a foe? Testa manages his large cast well, shifting the third-person perspective from character to character, allowing relationships to grow and change while always moving the plot forward. The adventure continues apace in this second of a planned six-installment series. (Science fiction. 12 & up)
