Species Representative (Alien Rescue Series Book 1) by David Wallen

Species Stimulation: that’s the program the people of Vutwahn started to help other intelligent species in the galaxy grow beyond their original planetary boundaries. They find a species with the technology to get to space but no initiative to get far from home. Instead of landing, introducing themselves, and solving the problems of the species they find, they pick one lucky – or unlucky – individual and take him or her to another planet to explore, return with samples, and convince everyone else that a second home planet is reachable. Gary Weiss, an unassuming deep-water researcher from California, is the human species representative. If he survives the journey of a lifetime, he’ll have quite a story to tell when he returns to Earth. But the galaxy can be a dangerous place, and surviving is harder than it sounds.