Tor 2003. Hardback with dust jacket, 300 pp
Hugo and Nebula award winner Anderson incorporates two stories he wrote
for the Asimov's Universe series into this absorbing posthumous novel, a
fast-paced space opera that never lets the reader forget that aliens
are alien. At a time when nearly immortal humans have colonized the
galaxy, various space-faring species commingle freely and the residents
of Earth have become as alien to other humans as true ETs, an
astronomical event that may affect all existence is about to take place.
Unfortunately, only one set of aliens knows what that event is and
their ruling dictatorship is hell-bent on keeping it that way. Lissa
Windholm, an Earth woman with a spirit of adventure men find attractive,
is determined to uncover the mystery and share the knowledge with
everyone. Lissa and her partner Karl, a tyrannosaurus-like scientist,
make some startling archaeological discoveries on the planet Jonna about
beings known as the Forerunners, but a psychologically scarred starship
captain and an impressively ancient and profit-minded human rogue have
other plans for the relics.