Newearth Progeny

Clare Smith, a Newearth Human Services Detective and a descendant of an exiled human remnant, wants what her detective partner, Bala, already has - a loving family. With the chance to keep her job, grow a baby in an advanced artificial womb called a biomb, and forgo pregnancy complications, Clare accepts an alien scientist's tempting offer. Now, she can have a child while still focusing her professional energy on the newest alien race on the planet, an ancient Neanderthal relation who sees humans as barbarians.

Concurrently, a desperate race of cyborgs, called Ingots, bent on saving their race from extinction, find hope in the biomb baby-raising technology. When Clare discovers that an inventive scientist, using her DNA, created two sons - one a hybrid Human-Neanderthal, the other a tribrid Human-Neanderthal-Ingot - she accepts the first but rejects the second, setting in motion an identity crisis that will change how society views sentient beings.

While Clare grapples with the long-term meaning of motherhood and the devastating effects of failed relationships, an alien oversight committee ascertains the rights of hybrids. Old traditions are shattered, and a new generation comes of age, carried forward in the sequel Newearth Relevance.