When a nuclear missile launched by a rogue North Korean faction explodes in space, the resulting shock wave destroys most of the world’s satellites, throwing global communication into chaos. U.S. military satellites, designed to withstand such an assault, show that two more missiles are sitting on launch pads in North Korea, ready to be deployed. Faced with the threat of a thermonuclear attack, the United States has only one possible defense: Able One.

ABL-1, or Able One, is a modified 747 fitted with a high powered laser able to knock out missiles in flight. But both the laser’s technology and the jet’s crew is untested. What was originally a training flight with a skeleton crew turns into a desperate race to destroy the two remaining nukes. Will Able One’s experimental technology be enough to prevent World War III—especially when it becomes clear that a saboteur is on board?

Able One is a timely thrill-ride by one of science fiction’s most respected novelists.

Ben Bova is a six-time winner of the Hugo Award, a former editor of Analog, former editorial director of Omni, and past president of the National Space Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America. He is the author of more than a hundred works of science fact and fiction. He lives in Florida.