Synopsis
First published in hardcover by Tor Books and the Science Fiction Book Club.
Synopsis: It's early in the new millennium, and the outer reaches of our solar system have been explored. Vast orbital stations the size of middle-sized countries dot the system, filled with thriving colonies. Mankind has grown to fill the void and is poised to colonize the stars. The universe seems to be a stable, comfortable place - and the only voices to echo through space have been human.
Until now.
A fast-moving entity the size of a small moon has entered our solar system. Is it a ship? A new life form? An alien probe sent to destroy other sentient races?
Lieutenant Commander Alis Mary Nussem is one of the humans who will go forth to discover what this mystery is. Disfigured in a devastating ship accident, more machine than woman, Nussem agrees to the dangerous mission. She is eager to make a difference and somehow reclaim the humanity that she lost.
What she doesn't bargain for is the sudden appearance of Lieutenant Karl Stanton, a man whose life seems to resemble Job's - and who was directly responsible for the accident that nearly killed Nussem. These two very different people will be thrown together on an odyssey that will force them to reevaluate the rules that they have lived by all their lives.
And what they find will change mankind's universe forever....
"[Stith] has always had a real talent for describing bizarre environments...will offer fans of hard SF much to satisfy their sense of wonder." -- Publishers Weekly
"vividly imagined, from the big opening scenes of the shuttle-habitat collision, to the descriptions of the medical procedures used to save Alis's life, to the small details of working (and being injured) in spacesuits." -- Locus
Reviews
Alien-contact yarn from the author of Reunion on Neverend (1994), etc. Ironically, the part-bionic Lieutenant Commander Alis Mary Nussem and the man she blames for the accident in which her original body was damaged, scientist Karl Stanton, end up on the same ship near Pluto when a body the size of a small moon hurtles into the solar system. On the surface of ``Cantaloupe,'' the investigators discover a wrecked spaceship and, nearby, a deep hole drilled into the body by a probe. Though one crew member is killed investigating the wreck, Alis, Karl, and others descend into the hold and discover a bizarre, pulsing tangle of chambers, elevators, and pipes: Clearly Cantaloupe is alive in some fashion. But it's also headed for a collision with a space station near Earth before plunging into the sun. After many adventures, a further death, and injuries, and just as it seems there's no escape for Alis, Karl, and the other survivors, they learn that Cantaloupe is pregnant-- and about to give birth! A taut, solidly developed adventure with well-handled character interactions: Though Stith dodges all the really tough alien-contact question, this is his best outing so far. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Severely injured when a malfunctioning shuttle crashes on her space station, Lt. Commander Alis Nussem blames biologist Karl Stanton for pilot error. Now they must learn to work together as their ship encounters a mysterious moon-sized object hurtling toward Earth. Stith's (Reunion at Neverend, Tor, 1994) well-developed characters and the hard science propel this space-faring story. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Injuries in a shuttle crash at a space station obligate the reconstruction of Alis Nussem's body, to the point where Alis feels she is more a machine than a human being. When she is assigned to a ship containing Karl Stanton, the pilot blamed for the shuttle disaster, only the urgency of the mission compels her to work with him. She is to command a party that will explore an anomalous body entering the solar system. Called Cantaloupe, it could be a moon, an asteroid, a giant spaceship, even an organic body; the party is to ascertain its nature. Through various trials, tribulations, deaths, and narrow escapes, the party members come to a greater understanding of each other and their individual foibles. Stith writes in the best hard-sf manner, dropping characters into a situation that can be solved only by thought and reason, but he also, more modernly, creates real and believable characters. He is becoming one of the most eloquent modern hard-sf practitioners. Dennis Winters
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