Catch the Lightning is a novel by Catherine Asaro in the Saga of the Skolian Empire, also known as Tales of the Ruby Dynasty. The novel won the 1998 Sapphire Award for Best Science Fiction Romance and the UTC Readers Choice Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Plot overview The first half of Catch the Lightning takes place in an alternate Los Angeles on Earth in a time similar to the late 20th century. The main character is Tina Pulivok, a seventeen-year-old Maya girl living in East L.A. She has relocated to Los Angeles and is living on her own while she works as a waitress. The hero, Althor Selei, a cybernetically enhanced Jag fighter pilot, is thrown into the alternate universe when his star fighter malfunctions. Tina meets Althor late at night when she is returning home from work, and he is trying to figure out why he ended up on a planet that bears little resemblance to the Earth he expected. After Althor helps Tina escape an incident of gang violence, the two become fugitives. Tina is an empath. She is aware she is different but has no name for her abilities and is afraid to tell anyone about what she experiences. Althor is a member of the Ruby Dynasty, and as such he is heir to the throne of an interstellar empire called the Skolian Imperialate. He is also a Rhon psion and can read moods, sometimes even thoughts, from other people. He and Tina share an immediate attraction, in part based on their abilities. During the night, while Althor stays with Tina, the Air Force discovers his Jag star ship and takes it to a military installation. Specialists there examine it, unaware that a technology-induced telepathic link ties the ship to the Jagernaut mind of its unknown (to them) pilot. As a result, they have no idea their tests are killing Althor. With the aid of several Caltech students Tina knows, she and Althor infiltrate the military complex and regain the ship. As soon as Althor repairs its damaged systems, he and Tina return to his spacetime. They are almost immediately captured by the group that sabotaged Althor's ship, after which they are sold as slaves to his enemies, in particular an Aristo named Kryx Iquar. Althor is stunned to learn that the person who betrayed him was his close personal friend, Ragnar Bloodmark, an influential