When a disgraced scientist, Wilker, discovers the stars are disappearing, he sets out to find an explanation. An answer comes in form of Jahum, an alien who tells him that Earth will be destroyed by invaders. But when Wilker learns that Jahum is only going to save his wife, it's up to Wilker to fight to save himself and the rest who are left behind. An novella based In A Universe Without Stars and from the novel Skyeater.

Crippled by a car accident, Los Angeles exercise-fanatic Cole loses his will to live. He tries to end it all with a bottle of pills, but instead wakes up healed, inhumanly strong, and able to create energy in the palm of his hand. Mystified, he experiments with his new abilities and seeks an explanation. An answer that defies all logic comes when towering humanoid aliens descend from space. When the aliens go on a massacre, Cole employs his newfound powers to thwart the enemy. Convenient. Too convenient. Someone is using him as a pawn in an alien war amongst gods: one with Earth as the prize and humanity's extinction as a consequence. The invaders plan to destroy the universe to create a new one. Cole is determined to win the war, escape his dark past and regain control before the fate of the world is sealed forever.