Book excerpt: May 30, 1978 starts out as a normal night at Hill AFB in Ogden, Utah--until a UFO requests permission to land. Its pilot changes its mind, but by then F-16s escort the rogue vehicle to the ground. A human girl in her early teens and a robot exit the craft, a strange botanical lifeform found onboard by a landing party. The vehicle, robot, and suspicious plant are impounded and transported to Area 51 where NASA astrobiologist, Gabriel Greenley, PhD, is called in to study the lifeform. Greenley's attempt to take a leaf sample results in a vehement telepathic objection from the specimen, indicating it's intelligent and potentially dangerous. He eventually gets his sample and makes a ground-breaking discovery he can never publish, due to his security oaths and research agreement. Eventually, he's confronted by an even worse ethical dilemma that forces him to make a treasonous and potentially deadly decision.