Salvation or Annihilation? A strange artifact has been discovered on a distant planet, an artifact that may be the key to humanity's salvation. For we at war with the Fallers, an alien race bent on nothing short of genocide, and this is a war we are losing. The artifact is not only a powerful weapon, but possibly the rosetta stone to a lost superscience . . . a superscience that the Fallers may have already decoded. Or it may be a doomsday machine that could destroy the very fabric of space.

A group of scientists is sent to a distant planet to study an artifact that may hold the key to victory against the alien Fallers.

"The human race is losing an interstellar war against the mysterious alien Fallers. A shipload of scientists from Earth is sent to study the enigmatic artifact discovered on a distant planet, while the military crew of their ship is secretly holding prisoner, for study, the only live Faller ever captured. The artifact is not only a powerful weapon, but possibly the key to a lost superscience that the Fallers may have decoded. Or it may be a doomsday machine for everyone, human and alien."--BOOK JACKET.