Further Information (CS)

Pandora's Star
Pandora's Star is set in the year 2380, or at least that's when the bulk of the story starts. We first start off in the year 2050 on board the Ulysses, the first starship sent to Mars. Wilson Kime is aboard the Eagle II, the landing craft heading down to the surface. The human race has finally made it to the stars, or at least to the planet in which we've had a fascination with for god knows how long. Not everything works out as it should though. After a successful landing, everything appears to be going fine and on schedule until Nigel Sheldon shows up through his (and Ozzie Isaac's) wormhole in what looks like an adapted 1950's deep sea diving suit, complete with tubes running back through the wormhole to Earth. Wilson isn't best pleased, but now the human race really can make it to the stars...

Fast forward to 2380 and the human race is fulfilling its potential. We have colonized over 600 planets covering around 400 light years, all interlinked by wormholes - the intersolar commonwealth is blossoming. With rejuvenation a part of life, people live for hundreds of years, at least those with the money to pay for the treatment do, but many people take out a rejuvenation pension to help them later in life. Physical death has also almost been completely wiped out. People now back up their memories in storage crystals embedded in the individual which is in turn stored in secure stores in case of any fatal accidents. If a fatal accident does happen a clone body can be grown and old memories inserted into it giving immortality to almost anyone that can afford it.

Dudley Bose, an astronomer for Gralmond University, is studying the 'Dyson Pair' - two stars nearly a thousand light years from Earth that are encapsulated in some sort of barrier. He hopes to record the slow envelopment of the stars - he doesn't expect them to vanish in a blink of an eye. With news of the envelopment released, the curious nature of the human race pushes us towards building the first ever faster-than-light starship and go to investigate.

The story follows the discovery of the barrier, the construction (and attempted terrorist destruction) of the Starship, the arrival at the barrier and then the observations of the aliens found when the barrier disappears. The climax of this book is the battle that ensues with the Dyson aliens that use the Wormhole technology for destructive and aggressive reasons.

Other strands of the story focus on some of the minor characters in this book which are all joined nice and neatly in either the later stages of this book or in the early stages of Judas Unchained. The main sub-story follows the Guardians of Selfhood who believe in an enigmatic alien they call the Starflyer. They believe the Starflyer to be manipulating the human race and that it is behind the mission to the Dyson Pair. Another of the sub-plots is that of Ozzie on his journey to find the adult Silfen, believing that they will be able to answer many questions about the barrier. His journey through the paths is followed, although this thread is featured more in Judas Unchained.

While the above is the basis of the book, it by no means limits the story. The universe that PFH creates is by far his best yet and isn't a re-hash of the Confederation universe.

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