New Releases by Alastair Reynolds

This is volume 1 of the complete collection of tales set in the Revelation Space universe, by British Science Fiction Award-winner Alastair Reynolds. The ''mastersinger of Space Opera'' (The Times) created the astonishing Revelation Space universe - one of the most vivid and original SF universes ever written. Alongside the award-winning novels is a galaxy of superb short fiction, collected and published here, in two volumes, in chronological order. This volume includes: Dilation Sleep A Spy in Europa Galactic North Great Wall of Mars Glacial Diamond Dogs

VENDETTA Il prefetto Ingvar Tench di Panoplia, nel sistema di Yellowston, è una degli agenti più esperti e affidabili. Eppure resta uccisa in una missione apparentemente avventata e non autorizzata. Mentre i suoi colleghi raccolgono le prove e cercano piste da seguire per scoprire come sia potuto succedere, il prefetto Tom Dreyfus deve fare i conti con la propria coscienza. Quattro anni prima, quando l''indagine legata a uno dei suoi avversari più pericolosi era diventata troppo personale, Dreyfus aveva incaricato Tench di continuare al posto suo. Ma in questo modo l''ha anche messa sulla linea di tiro di un nemico che lui sperava ormai sopito?

« Nous allons ici entreprendre un voyage au-delà des frontières propre à faire voler en éclat bon nombre d’idées préconçues sur le réel et la fiction, sur la politique et la littérature, sur le jeu et le sérieux, et ce en compagnie de l’esprit génial et excentrique d’Iain M. Banks. Un des rares auteurs contemporains à s’être frotté non seulement à l’utopie positive, mais également à ce genre conservateur qu’est le space opera. Il a fait le pari de créer une utopie qui en reste une, une utopie profondément utopique, et de la placer dans le milieu le plus conflictuel et ambitieux qui soit, celui des guerres des étoiles et des technologies magistrales. Nous allons ici voir comment l’utopie de Banks apporte un peu de ferveur politique dans un monde où l’on se sent démuni et impuissant face à la logique globalisante en marche, avec la volonté de rendre hommage, le plus délicatement et le plus joyeusement possible, à l’imagination libératrice de l’auteur... »

Ils sont la lignée Gentiane, la maison des fleurs. Ils sont mille. Mille clones âgés de six millions d’années, tous issus d’Abigail Gentian et d’une époque où l’humanité n’était encore qu’à l’orée de l’ère stellaire. Depuis tout ce temps, ces fragments éparpillés parcourent la galaxie, spectateurs de l’aventure humaine à travers l’espace, là où empires et conquêtes fabuleuses se fracassent sur la noria du temps. Tous les deux cent mille ans, après un tour complet de la galaxie, les membres de la Lignée se réunissent pour échanger souvenirs et expériences. C’est la Millième Nuit, une fête sans pareille. Or, pour cette trente-deuxième réunion, Campion et Purslane sont en retard. Un détail ? Pas vraiment. Car dudit retard pourrait bien dépendre le devenir de l’ensemble de la Voie lactée, et peut-être même bien au-delà...

From the king of modern space opera comes a new adventure in the Prefect Dreyfus series—Machine Vendetta is a thrilling tale of deadly conspiracies and old enemies that refuse to die. Panoply is a small, efficient police force, dedicated to maintaining the rule of democracy among the ten thousand disparate city-states orbiting the planet Yellowstone. Ingvar Tench was one of Panoply''s most experienced operatives. So why did she walk alone and unarmed into a habitat with a vicious grudge against her organization? As his colleagues pick up the pieces following her death, Prefect Tom Dreyfus must face his conscience. Four years ago, when an investigation linked to one of his most dangerous adversaries got a little too personal, Dreyfus arranged for Tench to continue the inquiry by proxy. In using her, did Dreyfus also put her in the line of fire? And what does Tench''s attack tell him about an enemy he had hoped was dormant? The Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies Aurora Rising Elysium Fire Machine Vendetta

A mind-blowing anthology of 18 stories bringing you the infinite Earths of the multiverse. Featuring Alastair Reynolds, Ian McDonald, Lavie Tidhar, Eugen Bacon and more. INFINITY. HERE. NOW. What if every decision you’ve ever made created a new reality. A new life, a new world of possibilities for what you could become? What if the best of all possible worlds is just around the corner? Or the worst? This anthology brings together an international cast of luminaries to explore the infinite worlds of what could be. The smashed together chaos of multiple Londons piled on top of each other; a world where a tunnel turns Japan and the United States into close neighbours; catastrophic accidents on multidimensional spacecraft; shadowy organisations and the merciless assassins they control; the unstoppable force of your infinite grandmothers. Explore the infinite beauties and terrors of the multiverse with the finest minds writing in science fiction today, and see what could have been… Featuring stories from: Alvaro Zinos-Amaro Charlie Jane Anders Eugen Bacon Clive Barker Paul Di Filippo Alix E. Harrow Rumi Kaneko (translated by Preston Grassmann) Ken Liu Ian McDonald Annalee Newitz Yukimi Ogawa Chana Porter Alastair Reynolds Jayaprakash Satyamurthy D. R. G. Sugawara Jeffrey Thomas Lavie Tidhar

From the master of the space opera comes a dark, mind-bending adventure spread across time and space, where Doctor Silas Coade is tasked with keeping his crew safe as they adventure across the galaxy in search of a mysterious artifact. In the 1800s, a sailing ship crashes off the coast of Norway. In the 1900s, a Zepellin explores an icy canyon in Antarctica. In the far future, a spaceship sets out for an alien artifact. Each excursion goes horribly wrong. And on every journey, Dr. Silas Coade is the physician, but only Silas seems to realize that these events keep repeating themselves. And it''s up to him to figure out why and how. And how to stop it all from happening again.

In the last surviving human city, an ex-spy gets sucked into a dangerous quest that will take him beyond the city walls when a winged man turns up dead in his morgue in this innovative and original dystopian space adventure. Spearpoint, the last human city, is an enormous atmosphere-piercing spire. Clinging to its skin are the zones, a series of semi-autonomous city-states, each of which enjoys a different—and rigidly enforced—level of technology. Following an infiltration mission that went tragically wrong, Quillon has been living incognito, working as a pathologist in the district morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissecting table, Quillon''s world is wrenched apart one more time, for the angel is a winged posthuman from Spearpoint''s Celestial Levels—and with the dying body comes bad news. If Quillon is to save his life, he must leave his home and journey into the cold and hostile lands beyond Spearpoint''s base, starting an exile that will take him further than he could ever imagine. But there is far more at stake than just Quillon''s own survival, for the limiting technologies of the zones are determined not by governments or police, but by the very nature of reality—and reality itself is showing worrying signs of instability . . .

A stellar new science fiction adventure from the author who redefined space opera, set in his bestselling Revelation Space universe. For thirty years a tiny band of humans has been sheltering in the caverns of an airless, crater-pocked world called Michaelmas. Beyond their solar system lie the ruins of human interstellar civilization, stalked by a ruthless, infinitely patient cybernetic entity determined to root out the last few bands of survivors. One man has guided the people of Michaelmas through the hardest of times, and given them hope against the wolves: Miguel de Ruyter. When a lone human ship blunders into their system, and threatens to lead the wolves to Michaelmas, de Ruyter embarks on a desperate, near-suicide mission to prevent catastrophe. But an encounter with a refugee from the ship—the enigmatic woman who calls herself only Glass—leads to de Ruyter''s world being turned upside down.

An "engaging and awe-inspiring"(SF Signal) space opera from the critically-acclaimed author of the Revelation Space series. Six million years ago, at the dawn of the star-faring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones, which she called shatterlings. She sent them out into the galaxy to observe and document the rise and fall of countless human empires. Since then, every two hundred thousand years, they gather to exchange news and memories of their travels. Only there is no Gathering. Someone is eliminating the Gentian line. And now Campion and Purslane -- two shatterlings who have fallen in love and shared forbidden experiences -- must determine exactly who, or what, their enemy is, before they are wiped out of existence . . .

A collection of eight short stories and novellas in the dark and turbulent world of Alastair Reynolds'' Revelation Space universe.Centuries from now, solidarity stretches thin as humanity spreads past the solar system and to the nearest stars. Technology has produced powerful new tools-but lethal risk will always accompany great advancement.And without foresight, opposing groups may fracture multiple worlds. Between the Demarchists and the Conjoiners, the basic right to expand human intelligence-beyond its natural limits-has become a war-worthy cause. Only vast lighthugger starships bind these squabbling colonies together, manned by the panicky and paranoid Ultras. And the hyperpigs just try to keep their heads down.The rich get richer. And everyone tries not to think about the worrying number of extinct alien civilizations turning up on the outer reaches of settled space...because who''s to say that humanity won''t be next?

Pushing Ice is the brilliant tale of extraordinary aliens, glittering technologies, and sweeping space opera from award-winning science fiction author Alastair Reynolds. 2057. Humanity has raised exploiting the solar system to an art form. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. And they''re good at it. The Rockhopper is nearing the end of its current mission cycle, and everyone is desperate for some much-needed R & R, when startling news arrives from Saturn: Janus, one of Saturn''s ice moons, has inexplicably left its natural orbit and is now heading out of the solar system at high speed. As layers of camouflage fall away, it becomes clear that Janus was never a moon in the first place. It''s some kind of machine -- and it is now headed toward a fuzzily glimpsed artifact 260 light-years away. The Rockhopper is the only ship anywhere near Janus, and Bella Lind is ordered to shadow it for the few vital days before it falls forever out of reach. In accepting this mission, she sets her ship and her crew on a collision course with destiny -- for Janus has more surprises in store, and not all of them are welcome.

The thrilling finale to the Revenger Trilogy tells a desperate tale of greed, piracy, shadow governments, and ancient secrets that could unravel all of civilization The Ness sisters ran away from home to become the most fearsome pirates in the twenty thousand worlds of the Congregation. They''ve plundered treasures untold, taken command of their own ship, and made plenty of enemies. But now they''re being hunted for crimes they didn''t commit by a fleet whose crimes are worse than their own. To stay one step ahead of their pursuers and answer the questions that have plagued them, they''ll have to employ every dirty, piratical trick in the book.... Read more by Alastair Reynolds! The Revenger Trilogy:RevengerShadow CaptainBone Silence

A 2019 Locus Award finalist A USA Today Bestseller Fix the past. Save the present. Stop the future. Master of science fiction Alastair Reynolds unfolds a time-traveling climate fiction adventure in Permafrost. 2080: at a remote site on the edge of the Arctic Circle, a group of scientists, engineers and physicians gather to gamble humanity’s future on one last-ditch experiment. Their goal: to make a tiny alteration to the past, averting a global catastrophe while at the same time leaving recorded history intact. To make the experiment work, they just need one last recruit: an ageing schoolteacher whose late mother was the foremost expert on the mathematics of paradox. 2028: a young woman goes into surgery for routine brain surgery. In the days following her operation, she begins to hear another voice in her head... an unwanted presence which seems to have a will, and a purpose, all of its own – one that will disrupt her life entirely. The only choice left to her is a simple one. Does she resist ... or become a collaborator? At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The gripping sequel to the Locus award winning science fiction adventure, Revenger, tells a story of obsession and betrayal as two sisters hunt for the greatest treasure in the universe. Adrana and Fura Ness have finally been reunited, but both have changed beyond recognition. Once desperate for adventure, now Adrana is haunted by her enslavement on the feared pirate Bosa Sennen''s ship. And rumors of Bosa Sennen''s hidden cache of treasure have ensnared her sister, Fura, into single-minded obsession. Neither is safe; because the galaxy wants Bosa Sennen dead and they don''t care if she''s already been killed. They''ll happily take whoever is flying her ship. Shadow Captain is a desperate story of cursed ships, vengeful corporations, and alien artifacts, of daring escapes and wealth beyond imagining . . . and of betrayal.

Le système solaire a été témoin de l''ascension et de la chute des grands empires. Les planètes ont volé en éclats avant d''être refaçonnées. Pourtant, parmi les ruines des civilisations extraterrestres, l''humanité a survécu. Et la fortune est à portée de main, si on sait où chercher... C''est le cas du capitaine Rackamore et de son équipage. Leur spécialité consiste à localiser les mondes énigmatiques qui se cachent derrière des champs de force truffés de pièges, et à en extraire les reliques et les technologies oubliées qui y perdurent. Mais tandis qu''ils exercent ces dangereuses activités de façon la plus honnête possible, d''autres ont moins de scrupules. Adrana et Fura Ness sont les dernières recrues de l''équipage de Rackamore, enrôlées pour sauver leur famille de la faillite. Or Rackamore a des ennemis, et, aux confins de l''espace, les deux soeurs doivent s''attendre à tout. En particulier à la légendaire pirate, Bosa Sennen... Des ténèbres d''un avenir lointain et des débris de notre système solaire nous parvient ce récit de pirates de l''espace et de trésors enfouis, de dangers indicibles et d''héroïsme résolu. Et celui d''une redoutable vengeance... « Un ténor du space opera. » The Times « Une vision éblouissante, intelligente de notre système solaire dans un lointain avenir. » The Sun « De loin le roman le plus divertissant que Reynolds ait écrit jusqu''ici. » SFX « L''univers de Vengeresse est indéniablement fascinant. Avec un conteur tel que Reynolds, ce voyage vaut certainement le prix du billet. » SciFiNow « Un thriller flamboyant - Pirates des Caraïbes rencontre Firefly - qui réussit néanmoins à combiner la hard science caractéristique de cet auteur avec de jeunes personnages dans un roman initiatique très efficace. » The Guardian

An unabridged audio collection spotlighting the "best of the best" science fiction stories published in 2017. In "My English Name," by R. S. Benedict, an intelligent alien, who parasitizes an English teacher in China, falls in love. After a victorious space battle, an indentured robot finds a refugee who makes an offer it can''t refuse in "Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance" by Tobias S. Buckell. In "The Moon is Not a Battlefield," by Indrapramit Das, an Indian soldier retires on Earth after spending most of her life on the Moon. A young woman joins the U.S. Army to fight terrorists after aliens arrive on Earth bearing tech gifts unevenly dispersed to humans in "Dear Sarah" by Nancy Kress. In "An Evening with Severyn Grimes," by Rich Larson, a gifted hacker uses cyberspace to extract pay back on the rich businessman who put her in prison. Set in the author''s hexarchate universe, an ex-Kel super soldier is enlisted to retrieve a weapon of mass destruction stolen by a rogue general in "The Chameleon''s Gloves" by Yoon Ha Lee. In "The Martian Obelisk," by Linda Nagata, on a dying Earth, an architect remotely building a monument to mankind on Mars receives a message from an abandoned Mars colony. A petty meat counterfeiter is blackmailed into forging T-bone steaks for an anonymous thug in "A Series of Steaks" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. In "The Residue of Fire," by Robert Reed, a torturer tries to cope with one of his alien victims who witnessed a pivotal moment in the lives of two immortals, in this Great Ship tale. And finally, in this Revelation Space tale, a starship captain wakes from hibernation with her ship stalled next to an alien artifact and a mutiny in progress in "Night Passage" by Alastair Reynolds.

Elysium Fire is a smoldering tale of murderers, secret cultists, tampered memories, and unthinkable power, of bottomless corruption and overpowering idealism from the king of modern space opera. Ten thousand city-state habitats orbit the planet Yellowstone, forming a near-perfect democratic human paradise. But even utopia needs a police force. For the citizens of the Glitter Band that organization is Panoply, and the prefects are its operatives. Prefect Tom Dreyfus has a new emergency on his hands. Across the habitats and their hundred million citizens, people are dying suddenly and randomly, victims of a bizarre and unprecedented malfunction of their neural implants. And these "melters" leave no clues behind as to the cause of their deaths. . . As panic rises in the populace, a charismatic figure is sowing insurrection, convincing a small but growing number of habitats to break away from the Glitter Band and form their own independent colonies.

Previously published as THE PREFECT. A rollercoaster ride through the dark and turbulent universe of REVELATION SPACE: an interstellar thriller where nothing - and no one - is what they seem ... Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a policeman of sorts, and one of the best. His force is Panoply, and his beat is the multi-faceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone. These days, his job is his life. A murderous attack against a Glitter Band habitat is nasty, but it looks to be an open-and-shut case - until Dreyfus starts looking under some stones that some very powerful people would really rather stayed unturned. What he uncovers is far more serious than mere gruesome murder: a covert takeover bid by a shadowy figure, Aurora (who may once have been human but certainly isn''t now), who believes the people of the Glitter Band should no longer be in charge of their own destiny. Dreyfus discovers that to save something precious, you may have to destroy part of it. ''An adroit and fast-paced blend of space opera and police procedural, original and exciting'' George R. R. Martin

Die Sterne halten noch viele Geheimnisse für uns bereit Die Zukunft: Die Menschheit hat die Grenzen unseres Sonnensystems hinter sich gelassen und auf fremden Planeten neue Kolonien gegründet. Eines Tages erreicht die Kolonie Crucible eine Botschaft aus den Tiefen des bisher unerforschten Universums. Man steht vor einem Rätsel: Was hat die Nachricht zu bedeuten? Wer hat sie geschickt? Und warum? Eine Expedition wird ausgesandt, um diese Fragen zu beantworten. Die Wissenschaftler stehen am Beginn des größten Abenteuers der Menschheit – einer Reise in den Dark Space ...

This is an amazing collection of some of the best short fiction ever written in the SF genre, by an author acclaimed as ''the mastersinger of space opera'' THE TIMES. With an introduction by noted SF critic Johnathan Strahan, this collection of twenty short stories, novellettes and novellas includes MINLA''S FLOWERS, SIGNAL TO NOISE, TROIKA, and seven previous uncollected stories, including TRAUMA POD, THE WATER THIEF and IN BABELSBERG. Alastair Reynolds has won the Sidewise Award and been nominated for The Hugo Awards for his short fiction. One of the most thought-provoking and accomplished short-fiction writers of our time, this collection is a delight for all SF readers

Auf der Suche Wir schreiben das Jahr 2365: Eine gewaltige Flotte Holoschiffe macht sich auf den Weg zu einem Planeten, der Dutzende Lichtjahre von der Erde entfernt ist. An Bord eines dieser Schiffe befindet sich Chiku Akinya, die Urenkelin der legendären Raumfahrerin Eunice Akinya. Doch Chiko hofft auf diesem fernen Planeten nicht nur eine neue Heimat zu entdecken, sondern auch ein geheimnisvolles Artefakt – ein Artefakt, das nicht nur ihr künftiges Schicksal bestimmen wird, sondern auch das ihrer beiden Klone ...

A brand new stand-alone deep space adventure featuring the author''s long-running character Merlin (Merlin''s Gun, Hideaway and Minla''s Flowers). When Merlin encounters a derelict swallowship drifting in the middle of nowhere, he can''t resist investigating. He soon finds himself in a situation far more complex than he ever anticipated.

BUILDING TOWARDS TOMORROW Sense of wonder is the lifeblood of science fiction. When we encounter something on a truly staggering scale – metal spheres wrapped around stars, planets rebuilt and repurposed, landscapes re-engineered, starships bigger than worlds – the only response we have is reverence, admiration, and possibly fear at something that is grand, sublime, and extremely powerful. Bridging Infinity puts humanity at the heart of that experience, as builder, as engineer, as adventurer, reimagining and rebuilding the world, the solar system, the galaxy and possibly the entire universe in some of the best science fiction stories you will experience. Bridging Infinity continues the award-winning Infinity Project series of anthologies with new stories from Alastair Reynolds, Pat Cadigan, Stephen Baxter, Charlie Jane Anders, Tobias S. Buckell, Karen Lord, Karin Lowachee, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Gregory Benford, Larry Niven, Robert Reed, Pamela Sargent, Allen Steele, Pat Murphy, Paul Doherty, An Owomoyela, Thoraiya Dyer and Ken Liu.

Revenger is a rocket-fueled tale of space pirates, buried treasure, and phantom weapons, of unspeakable hazards and single-minded heroism. . . and of vengeance. . . Adrana and Fura Ness are the newest crew members of the legendary Captain Rackamore''s ship, using their mysterious powers as Bone Readers to find clues about their next score. But there might be more waiting for them in space than adventure and fortune: the fabled and feared Bosa Sennen, in particular. The galaxy is filled with treasures. . . if you have the courage to find them.

Geheimnisvolles Erbe Zu Beginn des 22. Jahrhunderts sind der Mond und der Mars kolonisiert, und auf der Erde gibt es dank eines engmaschigen Überwachungssystems keine Kriminalität, keinen Krieg und keine Armut mehr – und keine Geheimnisse. So glaubt man zumindest. Doch als Eunice Akinya, eine berühmte Raumfahrerin und die Matriarchin eines mächtigen Familienclans, im Alter von hundertdreißig Jahren stirbt, finden ihre Enkel auf dem Mond einen rätselhaften Safe, dessen Inhalt das Schicksal der gesamten Menschheit für immer verändern wird ...

XXIIe siècle. Le Mécanisme sait tout. Où vous êtes, à quoi vous pensez. Geoffrey et Sunday Akinya savent que garder un secret peut s''avérer dangereux. Leur famille a profité de l''essor économique de l''Afrique. Eux l''ont rejeté en bloc. Geoffrey travaille sur l''intelligence animale au Kilimandjaro et Sunday mène une carrière artistique sur la Lune, hors de portée du Mécanisme. Mais en mourant, leur grand-mère laisse un secret qui va les lancer dans une course désespérée... sous l''œil impassible du Mécanisme.

An unabridged collection spotlighting the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2015 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “My Last Bringback,” by John Barnes, an expert on restoring the memories of Alzheimer''s patients becomes her own patient.A young man living in a bubble habitat on the ocean floor of Venus must deal with terraforming gone awryin “The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss,” by David Brin. In“Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight,” winner of the British Science Fiction Association Award, byAliette de Bodard,the death of a scientist in the Dai Viet interstellar empire is mourned. The shipmind of a cobbled together fighter spacecraft and its pilot press on under dire circumstances in “Damage” by David Levine. An aristocrat’s trip to Venus, in search of her disgraced brother, is memorialized by papercuts of flora native to this planet in “Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Ida Countess Rathangan,” by Ian McDonald. In “The Audience,” by Sean McMullen, a spacecraft’s trek to another planet discovers a malevolent species interested in Earth. An AI is on a mission to the outer reaches of the solar system to found a sanctuary in a posthuman universe in “Empty,” by Robert Reed. In “A Murmuration,” by Alastair Reynolds, a scientist struggles to publish a paper on her exhilarating findings on the flocking behavior of birds. In the dystopian future of “Two-Year Man,” by Kelly Robson, a janitor brings a mutant baby home to his wife hoping to fill their lives with love. And finally, an android medical attendant, capable of mimicking family members, cares for an Alzheimer’s patient in “Today I Am Paul,” by Martin L. Shoemaker.

This is an amazing collection of some of the best short fiction ever written in the SF genre, by an author acclaimed as ''the mastersinger of space opera'' THE TIMES. With an introduction by noted SF critic Johnathan Strahan, this collection of twenty short stories, novellettes and novellas includes MINLA''S FLOWERS, SIGNAL TO NOISE, TROIKA, and seven previous uncollected stories, including TRAUMA POD, THE WATER THIEF and IN BABELSBERG. Alastair Reynolds has won the Sidewise Award and been nominated for The Hugo Awards for his short fiction. One of the most thought-provoking and accomplished short-fiction writers of our time, this collection is a delight for all SF readers

A sequel to Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s Nebula Award–winning novella “A Meeting with Medusa,” this novel continues the thrilling adventure of astronaut Howard Falcon, humanity’s first explorer of Jupiter from two modern science fiction masters. Howard Falcon almost lost his life in an accident as the first human astronaut to explore the atmosphere of Jupiter—and a combination of human ingenuity and technical expertise brought him back. But he is no longer himself. Instead, he has been changed into an augmented human: part man, part machine, and exceptionally capable. With permission from the Clarke Estate, Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds continue this beloved writer’s enduring vision and have created a fresh story for new readers. The Medusa Chronicles charts Falcon’s journey through the centuries granted by his new body, but always back to mysteries of Jupiter and the changing interaction between humanity and the universe. A compelling read full of incredible action right from the beginning, this is a modern classic in the spirit of 2001 and The Martian.