内容简介
The Firstborn-the mysterious race of aliens who first becameknown to science fiction fans as the builders of the iconic blackmonolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey"-"have inhabited legendary masterof science fiction Sir Arthur C. Clarke's writing for decades. WithTime's Eye and Sunstorm, the first two books in their acclaimedTime Odyssey series, Clarke and his brilliant co-author StephenBaxter imagined a near-future in which the Firstborn seek to stopthe advance of human civilization by employing a technologyindistinguishable from magic. Their first act was theDiscontinuity, in which Earth was carved into sections fromdifferent eras of history, restitched into a patchwork world, andrenamed Mir. Mir's inhabitants included such notables as Alexanderthe Great, Genghis Khan, and United Nations peacekeeper BisesaDutt. For reasons unknown to her, Bisesa entered into communicationwith an alien artifact of inscrutable purpose and godlike power-apower that eventually returned her to Earth. There, she played aninstrumental role in humanity's race against time to stop adoomsday event: a massive solar storm triggered by the alienFirstborn designed to eradicate all life from the planet. That fatewas averted at an inconceivable price. Now, twenty-seven yearslater, the Firstborn are back. This time, they are pulling nopunches: They have sent a "quantum bomb." Speeding toward Earth, itis a device that human scientists can barely comprehend, thatcannot be stopped or destroyed-and one that will obliterate Earth.Bisesa's desperate quest for answers sends her first to Mars andthen to Mir, which is itself threatened with extinction. The endseems inevitable. But as shocking new insights emerge into thenature of the Firstborn and their chilling plans for mankind, anunexpected ally appears from light-years away. "From the Hardcoveredition."