End of Days [Paperback]

Another riveting page-turner from Canada's favourite teen author--and this time, the adventure takes place in outer space.

It's 2012 and the world's most renowned astrophysicists, astronomers, and theoretical mathematicians have all died within the same 12-month period. But as these scientists discover, none of them are really dead after all. They have been taken hostage by alien forces. And while their family and friends are mourning their passing, and with the help of a 16-year-old with rare gifts, they face the ultimate struggle of prevailing over evil and returning themselves--and the earth--to safety.ERIC WALTERS' young adult novels have won numerous awards, including the Silver Birch, Blue Heron, Red Maple, Snow Willow, and Ruth Schwartz Awards, and have received honours from UNESCO's international award for Literature in the Service of Tolerance. He lives in Mississauga, Ontario.It looked like a giant butterfly fl uttering through space, the wings of its solar panels extended to gather in the power from the sun’s rays. Different instruments attached at strange angles gave it an awkward and fragile look. But it was strong—strong enough to survive as it sailed silently across the frigid, bleak, black expanse of open space.
 
With each second it left Earth farther and farther behind. But attached to the satellite was a small part of its planet of origin, a gold disc showing a diagram of our solar system and an illustration of a man and a woman with their hands open in a gesture of friendship. No one could hope to predict, but maybe, just maybe, this wanderer might someday meet somebody in its travels.
 
First it travelled toward the giant of the solar system, the planet Jupiter. The journey of 759 million kilometres took nearly three years. Arcing into a perfect elliptical orbit above the poisonous atmosphere, it began its task. The lifeless satellite bristled with activity as it observed, recorded, analyzed, and transmitlóT