Breakthrough

With the help of a powerful computer system, Alison Shaw and her team are preparing to translate the first two-way conversation with the planet's second smartest species. But the team discovers much more from their dolphins than they ever expected when a secret object is revealed on the ocean floor. One that was never supposed to be found.

Along a lonely coast in South America, an experimental Russian submarine, long thought to have been dismantled, has suddenly resurfaced. And the US Navy has taken notice, sending Officers John Clay and Steve Caesare to investigate. The sub has been studying a group of unmarked soldiers. Disappearing into the jungle each night beneath the cover of darkness. Something has been discovered...something big. And it's about to fall into the wrong hands.

In 1984, a doomsday vault was constructed on a remote island in the Arctic Ocean. Its purpose was to preserve Earth's genetic history in the event of a global catastrophe. Now, decades later, a second vault has been uncovered, this one resting where no one ever expected. And the problem is it's not ours. Yet even more curious than the vault itself is what lies inside. Seeds. Millions of seeds. Each with a genetic embryo untouched and perfectly preserved. Waiting.

It began in Ethiopia, hundreds of thousands of years ago, when a handful of genetic mutations caused evolution to split from the primates and mankind was born. Now, eons later, evidence of more splits from the apes is being unearthed. And with them, a disturbing realization. Ours was only one of many.

Political and social infighting threaten to destroy the world. Rancor and hatred only grow stronger, engulfing entire nations. And each day moral and economic strife brings embroiled countries ever closer to war. But hope is not dead. Everywhere, pockets of honor and compassion continue to persevere. Where human lives are cherished and valor endures. And one small, extraordinary group fights to save us all. A team in possession of the mother of all secrets. The one secret - the one discovery - that could bring the world back from the brink.

It began with a breakthrough. In interspecies communication. Leading both John Clay and Alison Shaw through a series of startling discoveries and life-altering revelations. Divulging who we really are as a species. Why we are here...and who is here with us. And the greatest lesson of all, that our brains are not as rare and unique as humans had assumed. But rather just one of three brains between three extraordinary species.