| abstract
| - Three years past Doomsday, a massive asteroid crashes into New York City. It is noted and worried about in the non-destroyed neighbors, but is generally ignored after the cloud of radiation it produced drifts out to sea. It is forgotten entirely. Cut to the modern day. SAC astronomers have detected a massive object, six times the size of the earlier one. IT is headed straight for the remains of Paris. Worried about the radiation that will be thrown up, they consult with the League of Nations, when one of the ambassadors (he isn't named) reveals that something similar happened in New York several years ago. As he says this, however, he collapses of no real cause. His heart simply stopped beating. Worried, a team is dispatched to New York, led by Dr Michael Kelvin, Dr Sarah Godur, and Sgt Price, where, using radiation suits, they reach the asteroid to find it is really a shuttle. There are dead animals (of Earth) inside; like the ambassador, they have died for no apparent reason. worried, they attempt to leave, but a team member, one of Price's men, suddenly collapses. As they try to leave, they receive a message that the other shuttle is now headed towards New York. They look up and it appears in the sky. As it hits, everyone but Kelvin and Price are killed. After he gets over the death of his fiance (Godur), Kelvin enters the shuttle, with Price following. Price reveals that Kelvin was out for almost a day. He saw some of his soldiers entering the shuttle, and Godur might be with them. However, as they do so, the shuttle takes off again. After a short journey they reach a mother ship. As they leave the shuttle, they come across a garden maze. As they try to get through, they meet several of the scientists and soldiers, finding some dead and others insane. They realize that time is different in the maze, after finding one soldier dying of extreme old age despite that they saw him healthy a second ago. At last, they come across what they think is an exit. They see a huge tree, and a scientist lying almost dead beneath it. In his last words he warns them not to trust the people or eat the fruit. One of the two soldiers Price has found and brought ignores this and eats it. He exclaims that he feels rejuvenated, and he keeps on eating them. The other soldier joins, and Kelvin almost does, but Price holds him back, as he notices that they have begun eating them fanatically. When they both reach for the same fruit, one of them rips out the others throat and partially feeds on him before Price shoots him dead. Kelvin suddenly realizes that the scientist who warned them was not from their expedition. Meanwhile, Price, looking at the fruit, notices a snake like imprint where the seeds would be. He pauses as he realizes that the people must have been the insane humans. The book ends as a massive snake comes up to them and speaks in a language they don't understand.
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