Book One of the Union of Worlds​In the twenty-second century, when mortaline wire controls the weather on the settled planets and entire refugee camps drowse in drug-induced slumber, no one―alive or dead, human or alien―is quite what they seem. When terrorists crash Coral, the moon, into its home planet, it's up to Dave Crowell and Alan Brindos, contract detectives for the Network Intelligence Organization, to solve a case of interplanetary consequences. Crowell's and Brindos's investigation plunges them into a conspiracy much more dangerous than anything they could have imagined.The two detectives soon find themselves separated, chasing opposite leads: Brindos has to hunt down the massive Helk alien Terl Plenko, shadow leader of the terrorist Movement of Worlds. Crowell, meanwhile, runs into something far more sinister―an elaborate frame job that puts our heroes on the hook for treason.Crowell and Brindos are forced to fight through the intrigue to discover the depths of an interstellar conspiracy. And to answer the all-important question: Who, and what, is the Ultra Thin Man?