SOJALS rating:

Mediocre (2/5)

I first read this on the 2nd April 2002.

In less than fifty years from now, mankind will embark on a massive wave of space exploration. A thousand spacecraft will to distant stars to search for habitable planets. These craft will be populated by not by people but by engrams - electronic representations of human personalities.

A hundred years later, a few problems have developed. Communications with Earth have been lost for an inordinately long time. Also they're having their own personal problems - the engrams are not exact copies of people. Even though they were made with the best available technology, the technology was not perfect and they are, perhaps, not entirely stable.

One of the craft, the Frank Tipler, has reached its destination: Upsilon Aquarius. The crew work on their examination and exploration of the planet that they've named Adrasteia.

With no warning, a massive alien construction begins to develop around Adrasteia.

Peter Alander, unfortunately the most mentally damaged of the crew, investigates and discovers that this alien race, the Spinners, have left them the most magnificent gifts.

Of course, the gifts may not be quite what they seem, and there may be serious consequences to accepting them.

This is quite an exhilarating story. I found Peter's mental problems convincing and enjoyed the personalities of Caryl Hatzis and Cleo Samson. The introduction of the aliens was great, as was the description of the various events that happen back in the Solar System.

What's it got? FTL communications and travel, nanotechnology, aliens, space exploration and artificial intelligence. Pretty cool. No sex though.