First contact was never supposed to be like this.A sudden rift appears in near-earth space, causing electronic components to permanently fail and cause total chaos. As Earth's fragile technological society disintegrates, no one can answer the obvious question — what is the rift, and who or what has created it?A new generation comes of age attempting to answer these questions. Taria Spears, an anthropologist, is selected as part of the crew on the exploratory ship Lightbringer. Lightbringer's mission is to investigate the wormhole-like Rift and, if possible, to pass through it to find out what lies on the other side, and to seek some answers.(Originally published as Thunder Rift under the pseudonym "Matthew Farrell")