The novella An Ancient Enemy is set in the universe of Olan Thorensen's "Destiny's Crucible" series. When an alien spacecraft accidently destroys United Flight 4382, Twenty-seven passengers and crew were saved, but not to return to their previous lives. Five survivors found themselves on the planet Anyar, including Joseph Colsco, Mark Caldwell, and Heather Chen, but others had different destinations.

Cast away on a planet with bizarre physical features unlike anything on Earth, Dan and Liza Oglethorpe would never again set foot on Earth. They would never again talk with family and friends. They would never again see an ocean. They were thrust into a fantastical fate that eventually led them, six years later, after dangers overcome and a measure of peace achieved, to a morning in a dry valley on an alien planet and the uncertainty of living through a battle to see evening.