Galactic Center Books in Order

Astronaut Nigel Walmsley discovers that an object threatening Earth contains an abandoned alien probe. His decision to preserve it opens a chain of contact with extraterrestrial machines, bringing scientific opportunity alongside disturbing implications for humanity's future.

Nigel Walmsley joins an interstellar expedition seeking life beyond the solar system. Encounters with alien worlds and evidence of machine hostility reveal a wider galactic conflict, while developments on Earth suggest humanity's own survival may already be threatened.

Killeen and his son Toby belong to a dwindling human clan hunted by machines on the barren planet Snowglade. Contact from a strange cosmic intelligence offers a possible escape, but understanding its intentions may determine their survival.

Fleeing the machines pursuing humanity, Killeen's clan travels aboard the Argo toward a new refuge. On a distant planet they encounter another powerful alien race, forcing the survivors to reassess dangers and alliances in their struggle against extinction.

Killeen leads the Bishop clan toward the black hole at the galaxy's center, fleeing hostile machines. Within a distorted region of space-time they encounter an ancient human civilization, while his son Toby faces challenges that test his emerging independence.

The Bishop clan seeks refuge in a strange region of space-time engineered near the galactic center. Nigel Walmsley helps connect the humans with powerful alien intelligences, but pursuing machines threaten the sanctuary and force another confrontation over organic life's future.

Set within the Galactic Center universe, this novella examines the war between biological life and machines from an earlier period of humanity's decline. An expedition to True Center and the predatory Mantis illuminate the conflict behind the larger saga.

This companion gathers A Hunger for the Infinite with writings about the science and development of the Galactic Center saga. Benford traces connections between his astrophysical research, discoveries near the galactic center, and the fictional universe built around them.