Ken Lozito’s Star Shroud is the opening installment in what is at least a trilogy concerning alien contact. A thankless and fearless hacker (in 2049), sticking it to greedy corporations, stumbles upon evidence of alien contact, known to a select few for the past 60 years. As a result of public disclosure, a NASA mission is re-tasked to head to Pluto to explore the alien artifact.

The sci-fi elements are a bit crude, with a made for a broadcast TV series quality, than a sophisticated and realistic science fiction audience. All the cliche elements are present: a shadowy corporation getting rich off alien technology, a super hacker who everyone immediately acknowledges is most competent computer genius on the planet, a young female astronaut who just happens to be the granddaughter of the guy who made initial discovery 60 years earlier, and an assorted cast of double agents with unknown agendas. At the same time, there is considerable license with plausible science fiction in that NASA can re-task a mission and move up the launch as well as just happening to have probes in the vicinity already. Regardless of nearly everything going south from the start, everyone just keeps motoring forward. The one saving element is the mysterious nature of the alien presence and their ultimate motives as well as references to another, more powerful foe.

The narration is respectable, although the female roles are a bit overdone in an attempt to convey distinction.