Tar Pits

Death from the stars lurks deep underground.

Lieutenant Louise Travers sacrificed her marriage for a chance to continue her work in the National Guard, leaving her bitter ex-wife Bala Garlapati to put her paleontology career on hold as she raised their daughter, Aajadi.

But when a cataclysmic earthquake ejects a spaceship from the murky depths of the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, Bala becomes the mentally-bonded human representative for Ylak, an alien who claims to be the sole survivor of an extraterrestrial genocide.

At the same time, while on a rescue mission in Alaska, Travers confronts Ylaks' enemy, the gelatinous shape-changing Vholu, when it emerges from an exploding volcano. The hideous alien makes physical contact with Travers, creating an unstable mental link that causes her to experience Vholu's memories of interstellar war.

In less than a week, Ylak becomes worshipped as a God-sent savior by millions of terrified Americans who have been forced to accept that humanity is no longer alone in the universe, and now believe that only Ylak can prevent Vholu from enslaving the entire planet.

As Vholu battles its way towards Los Angeles through the American Armed Forces now under Ylak's command, Travers begins to sense that something isn't right... that Bala's proselytizing of Ylak's benevolence is disguising a darker agenda.

It isn't until a mortally-wounded Travers is reunited with Vholu that the truth is revealed, turning downtown Los Angeles into an arena for the final battle between the two estranged women and the their alien partners, the freedom of humanity hanging in the balance.