The novel “Stargazer: The Ultimate Artefact” (“Stargazer: Das letzte Artefakt”) by Ivan Ertlov was published for the first time in 2021 and translated from German by Marly Gram. It’s the first book in the After Terra series.

Frank Gazer is a prospector who has worked hard to get command of a spaceship. For a human, it’s not easy to get high positions, even among prospectors, because his species’ reputation is still negative two thousand years after the war in which an interstellar alliance almost wiped out humanity. A mission that targets a comet takes Frank and his crew in an unexpected direction.

The relationship between the Plachtharr Alliance and the Protectorate are decidedly tense and the situation worsens due to the possibility of finding technologically advanced remains of an ancient civilization that could change the balance of power between the two coalitions. A war could be inevitable.