Fall of the Core

Fall of the Core weaves together four strangers as the 25th century opens badly for humanity: a freelance reporter, a rookie public-safety officer, a cargo captain racing a terminal diagnosis, and a bounty hunter escorting a long-sought fugitive home to Earth — all of it overtaken by a plague that starts spreading just as their paths cross. A standalone entry in Ryk Brown's Frontiers Saga universe, it trades the series' usual space opera for a tighter, character-driven look at ordinary people caught in the same unraveling world.