The engines of God : a Priscilla Hutchins novel

An unknown race called the Monument-Makers creates a stunning array of gorgeous statues, scattering them throughout the galaxy and encoding them with strange inscriptions that hold the key to the survival of humankind. Reprint. AB. K.

two Hundred Years Ago, Humans Made A Stunning Discovery In The Far Reaches Of The Solar System: A Huge Statue Of An Alien Creature, With An Inscription That Defied All Efforts At Translation. Now, As Faster-than-light Drive Opens The Stars To Exploration, Humans Are Finding Other Relics Of The Race They Call The Monument-makers - Each Different, And Each Heartbreakingly Beautiful. But Except For A Set Of Footprints On Jupiter's Moon Iapetus, There Is No Trace Of The Enigmatic Race That Has Left Them Behind. Then A Team Of Scientists Working On A Dead World Discover An Ominous New Image Of The Monument-makers. Somehow It All Fits With Other Lost Civilizations, And Possibly With Earth's Own Future. And Distant Past. But Earth Itself Is On The Brink Of Ecological Disaster - There Is No Time To Search For Answers. Even To A Question That May Hold The Key To Survival For The Entire Human Race...

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by The End Of The Twenty-second Century, Earth's Ravaged Environment Has Become A Time Bomb Ticking Down To Global Self-destruction. Despite The Fortuitous Arrival Of Faster-than-light Space Travel, The Search For A New Home Has So Far Located Only One Candidate--quraqua, A Desolate Planet Scheduled For Terraformation Within A Few Months. For Interstellar Archaeologist Richard Wald And Starship Pilot Priscilla Hutchins, The Looming Renovation Threatens Critical Research On The Enigmatic Alien Ruins On Quraqua And Its Moon, Which Include A Bizarre False City Dubbed Oz. Rousing Little Interest On Earth And Facing An Unyielding Terraformation Committee, Wald And His Team Undertake A Last Round Of Life-threatening Expeditions To Decipher Oz's Secrets Before They Are Swallowed Forever By An Emerging New World. With Plenty Of Startling Plot Twists, A Heavy Dose Of Intrigue, And An Unusual Amount Of Character Development For Science Fiction, Mcdevitt Holds Us Fast Right Through To A Thrilling Finish. The Yarn's Less Pure Sf, Though, Than A Rousing Archaeological Adventure Transplanted To Another Star System.

Jack McDevitt 1 PROLOGUE 1 Drought Worsens Throughout Subcontinent Council to Consider 18 Foxworth Promises Action Propose More Benefits for Childless 18 GUNMAN KILLS SEVEN IN LIBRARY 18 Shoots Self as Police Close In Former Girlfriend Hides in St 18 Second Twister in Eight Days Levels Austin Modpark 23 midwest wheat belt may be gone forever 23 MOONBASE DEFENDERS WARN OF DANGER FROM 24 PART TWO 35 SIX DIE IN BLAST IN MANHATTAN BAR 112 El Corazon Admits Responsibility Demands Repeal of Immigrati 112 Hiao Denies VSE Charge Wul Resist Inspection "by Force of Ar 112 World Council Pledges Aid; Demands Cessation of Hostilities 112 CPI Hits Annual Rate of 11% Sloan: "Foxworth Neglects Econom 112 Decries "Modern Life Styles" 112 Elderly at Risk "Real" Trees, Gift Subscription Funds Lead L 112 Network Near Completion 112 LEGION TRADES BOOM-BOOM FOR 4 PLAYERS, 5 DRAFT CHOICES 112 The first Priscilla Hutchins novel from Jack McDevitt, hailed by Stephen King as “the logical heir to Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.” Humans call them the Monument-Makers. An unknown race, they left stunning alien statues on distant planets in the galaxy. Each relic is different. Each inscription defies translation. Yet all are heartbreakingly beautiful. And for planet Earth, on the brink of disaster, they may hold the only key to survival for the entire human race. PROLOGUE......Page 1 Shoots Self as Police Close In Former Girlfriend Hides in St......Page 18 midwest wheat belt may be gone forever......Page 23 MOONBASE DEFENDERS WARN OF DANGER FROM......Page 24 PART TWO......Page 35 LEGION TRADES BOOM-BOOM FOR 4 PLAYERS, 5 DRAFT CHOICES......Page 112 In the late 2100s, archaeologists journey into outer space to seek the secret meaning of fourteen mysterious statues that had been found among the stars, uncovering ruins and following clues to the builders' identity to the farthest boundaries of the galaxy