Thriller/Science Fiction

A grief-stricken astrobiologist aboard a spaceship sees his dead wife within a mysterious energy source in the deep ocean of Europa.  With the space mission immersed in a life and death crisis, there emerge amazing revelations that could provide humanity with the answers to perpetual energy, the origin of emotion and life, and the key to immortality…

Astrobiologist Gilbert Fornia lost his wife to ovarian cancer twenty years ago.  In his heart he is unable to get beyond his grief, choosing to love her in limbo, in a place between life and death.  A marriage that they had hoped would produce children was barren, leaving him with an ache in his soul that time cannot heal. 

For twenty lonely years, his love for her somehow grows stronger.

Then… in 2036, from distant space… an energy source is detected on Europa… 

The world assembles and commissions the most courageous planet chasers in the history of mankind to journey to the Jovian moon and investigate the amazing energy source.  Gilbert is one of the astronauts aboard the ISS Galilei, an international spaceship designed for the specific purpose of studying the energy source.        

Before orbit is established, astonishing and dangerous events take place, immersing the mission in a deadly crisis.  At the critical point, it is learned that the events taking place are being caused by the energy source deep in Europa’s planetary sea. 

Determining that the energy source possesses emotional patterns, Gilbert modifies a scientific instrument that might allow communication to take place.  Believing it is the only way to save the mission, Gilbert volunteers to attempt communication with the energy source.  

While in direct communication with the energy source, he learns that it is the energy that is the spark of life, a force powerful enough to impregnate the ocean moon.  From the deepness of the ancient tide a tormented ache is felt.  Out of the depths of the ache, there is conception and birth in the Jovian moon’s ocean.

Gilbert feels the spark of life giving and taking energy as it unleashes emotions that are profoundly fresh, full of the pureness of a new creation.  In the cycle of the tides, the emotions are potent and lethal, weakening the life energy of all who feel and sense.  He discovers that across the forsaken moon there rages a war between life and death that threatens all who come near its vicinity.  Consequently, the spaceship and fleet begin to lose power and die.             

A specialized research vessel—the Potentate—is jettisoned to Europa’s surface to explore the ocean moon for possible life.  Before it can accomplish its objective, the ship is gripped in the depths of Europa by the killing emotions of the energy source.  Unable to escape, the Potentate calls for help.  With the fleet weakened and dying, there is not enough power left to save the Potentate and launch out of Jupiter’s mighty gravitational influence.  A decision is forced—by plebiscitum, a vote is caste: attempt a rescue or leave the Potentate to perish in the ocean? 

As suspense grips the space fleet, Gilbert discovers an amazing truth and a life-giving reward…

The energy source is able to recover all things.

Troubled by overwhelming emotions, Gilbert is astonished to make contact with his dead wife.   

At the pinnacle of his emotional limit, Gilbert must decide if what he is seeing and hearing is real or not, and is faced with evidence that forces him to reconsider his scientific understanding of the beginning and end of life.    

The Ululant Ache is a character driven story that resounds in the human soul.  With a message as close to the spirit as it is to the heart, the story takes the reader to a special place where lost love and the dead can be resuscitated and happiness reborn.  Thrilling and electrifying, the story is a timeless romance that challenges heartache and unbelief, comforting and uplifting the heart of the child in all of us.