Die vorliegende Dissertation entstand wahrend meiner Tatigkeit als wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Fraunhofer-Institut fur Produktionstechnik und Auto- matisierung (IPA) in Stuttgart. Herrn Professor Dr.-Ing. H.-J. Warnecke, dem Direktor des IPA und Leiter des Instituts fur Industrielle Fertigung und Fabrikbetrieb (IFF) der Universitat Stuttgart, bin ich fur seine wohlwollende Foerderung und Unterstutzung sowie fur die wertvollen Hinweise zu dieser Arbeit zu grossem Dank verpflichtet. Herrn Professor Dr.-Ing. R. Kammel, Institut fur Metallurgie - Metallhuttenkunde - der Technischen Universitat Berlin, danke ich fur seine Bereitschaft zur kritischen Durchsicht des Manuskripts und die ubernahme des Mitberichts. Herrn Professor Dr. rer. nato J. Osterwald, Institut fur Metallurgie - Metallhuttenkunde - der Technischen Universitat Berlin, habe ich fur seine zahlreichen Ratschlage und Diskussionsbeitrage zu danken. Daruberhinaus moechte ich mich bei allen Mitarbeitern des IPA bedanken, die durch ihre Mitarbeit und anre- gende Kritik zum Gelingen der Arbeit beigetragen haben. Mein besonderer Dank gilt den Herren Dr.-Ing. K. Zerweck, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) T. Bolch und Dipl.-Ing. (FH) J. Fiedler.

Cash McKay not only believes in ghosts, he talks to them. His best friend, Billy, is murdered and comes back to him as a ghost. Billy can't rest until he can discover who murdered him and he needs Cash to help him. "You saw who did it " Billy tells his best friend. Cash tries to deal with the constant chatter of ghosts around him. Cash is befriended by Matt Grant, the new doctor in town who gives him the only stability he's ever known. The Sheriff asks Dr. Grant to help him find the serial killer who is killing local women. Cash can't run from the ghosts or from the serial killer who lives amongst them.

Five escapees from the Beast's camps join Daniel and Samantha Bryant's family of orphans. The leader, Robert, tells Daniel what he already knows: "The Beast is still looking for you and he's getting close again." The family must find a new safe place, but how safe can it be when one of the escapees is a "half-one" who infiltrates the family in order to help capture "breeders" which the Beast desperately needs to survive? As the family sets out on their journey to find another new home, Robert realizes what he must do. "There's no choice, Daniel. The Beast must be destroyed or none of us will survive. I have to make sure the other three embryos don't make it out of the incubator. It would be the end of all of us who are left."

Ethan stands before the Beast, receiving his orders to once again infiltrate Daniel Bryant's family of orphans. All of the remaining "outside humans" have to be located and captured because time is short and food supplies are low. The adult males are needed to impregnate the females of child-bearing age already in captivity. The rest of the "inside humans" can be used as feeders to nourish the Beast, but he must be careful not to drain them of their life source too soon or they could die before he is able to replenish the blood supply. The Beast has only nine searchers and 537 earth days to accomplish his mission or he will perish. Will Ethan's changed appearance fool Daniel and the others long enough to return them to the Beast and avoid a painful, torturous death? The survival of both species -- man and Beast - is at stake. Run and hide, seek and destroy...who will win this life and death struggle for survival?

The night when six strange lights appear in the sky and the moon disappears, the world as they know it ceases to exsist. Most people are gone--reduced to dust and bones. Only small groups of children and a few adults remain, but their lives soon become a living hell as they are forced to run and hide, pursued by a monster and its army of creatures whose very exsistance depends on finds those that are left. Daniel Bryant, a medical doctor is touring America's heartland when all hell breaks loose. An unknown enity and its monsters have invaded the earth leaving distruction in its wake. "They are killing machines" --annihilating, or capturing humans to provide a blood supply to ensure their survival. While searching for a safe place, Daniel encounters several young children--Emma, whose family has been slaughtered and Ethan, who has been grievously wounded. While searching for shelter and food, Daniel Emma, and Ethan encounter other lost children and a young adult, Samantha Spencer. Together they form a family. Soon all of the "family" members begin experiencing nightmares. They see things that seem real, but what seemed real isn't--or is it? It seems that on tragedy after another is walking right beside them. The family finally realizes that there's a traitor among them. A traitor who who appears to be nothing more than a normal boy, but in reality he's a dead entity whose sole purpose is to locate other groups of children and supply much needed food for a monster know as "the Beast." Pretending to be innocent, the boy, Ethan plots to destroy the family, systematically eliminating those who cannot be used. Despite their difficult circumstances, Daniel and Sam fall in love and devote themselves to their makeshift family, and to keeping all of them out of the reach of the Beast. Much to Ethan's delight, Sam becomes pregnant. One of the traitor's missions has been accomplished--the "breeders" (Daniel and Samantha) have fulfiled their purpose--propagtion of the speies. Run and hide, seek and destory--who will win this life and death struggle for survival?