Helen Vectorvich just botched first contact. And she did it in both virtual reality and outer space.
Only the most elite Far Reaches deep-space pilots get to run waldos: robots controlled from thousands of light-years away via neural integration and quantum entanglement. Helen and her navigator were heading the construction of a wormhole gate that would connect Earth to the stars . . . until a routine system check turned deadly.
As nasty rumours swarm around her, and overeager junior pilots jockey to take her place, Helen makes a startling discovery: microscopic alien life is devouring their corporate equipment. Is the Scale just mindless, extra-terrestrial bacteria? Or is it working-and killing-with a purpose?
While Helen struggles to get back into the pilot's chair, and to communicate with the Scale, someone-or something-is trying to sabotage the Far Reaches project once and for all. They'll have to get through Helen first.
***
THE GOLFBALL was reaching the end of its line drive - the hole in one an orbit around the orphan star. CHAPTER ONE
***
(@TachyonPub, 13 November 2020, 288 pages, ebook, #ARC from the publisher via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)
***
***
I have a strange relationship with sci-fi. Sometimes I really like it and sometimes it leaves me cold. This book straddles both for me, some of it work and some of it left me cold. The quality of the writing is very good at times it's the sci-fi elements that didn't quite tick all of the boxes for me. The book is much slower paced than I was expecting. The blurb makes it sounds like the book would have a lot of action. It doesn't. It's very slow at times. When it gets going I enjoyed it but there are a lot of lulls. I really enjoyed the sections of the book involving the characters controlling remote robots using quantum entanglement. Some aspects of these moments didn't make a lot of sense but I found them entertaining nevertheless. I enjoyed the mystery aspects of the book, who the bad guys really are and who the main characters meets in space in chapter one. I actually enjoyed these more than the sci-fi elements. I'm a huge fan of mysteries and these aspects worked more for me. I enjoyed this for the most part.
