Chindi

During a routine survey mission to a distant neutron star, an Academy starship picks up a short broadcast in an unknown language. Although a large part of the galaxy has already been explored by humanity, very few other intelligent species have been found. Before leaving the star's orbit, the ship deploys several satellites to search for the source of the signals.

Five years later, one of the satellites identifies the signal's origin as alien, or at least potentially alien. The Contact Society—a group of powerful and wealthy individuals who avidly fund research into the existence of extraterrestrial life—shares this view. The Society provides the Academy with a ship to search for the unidentified alien source of the broadcast. Its members intend to join the expedition themselves, under the command of Captain Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchinson.

Across countless stars, from one alien world to another, Hutch and her crew follow the travelling signal, but they only find riddles and deadly surprises.

Then, in a planetary system far beyond the boundaries of previous exploration, they discover an unknown object. It is huge, ominous, and mysterious. And it may hold the answer not only to the questions of the Contact Society, but to the questions of every person who has ever looked up at the sky and wondered if we are alone in the universe.