User:PlantTree219/Cradle of the Sun (James McLellan novel)
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Cover of Cradle of the Sun (e-book)
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| Author | James McLellan |
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| Cover artist | Maciej Rebisz[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Colony series |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
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Publication date
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2018 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback), E-book, and Audiobook |
| Pages | 277 pp |
| ISBN | 978-1-7368439-3-2 |
| Preceded by | Singularity |
| Followed by | First Contact |
Cradle of the Sun is a science fiction novel by James McLellan, first published in 2018. Although some of the story takes place on Earth, in the Oort cloud and in fictional manned solar system settlements on Neptune's moon Triton and dwarf planet Eris, most of the story takes place around a fictional pulsar. In terms of chronology within the Colony series, the story begins slightly before the last chapter of Colony, and 54 years after the events of Singularity, and picks up the story of goodwill ambassadors sent from humankind's first extrasolar colony world of Marin. Cradle of the Sun is the third novel in McLellan's Colony series.
Plot summary
Trans Neptunian
The story begins at an unnamed location in the Oort cloud. Robbie, an artificial general intelligence is restored from backup following a fatal mining accident aboard the comet tug 'The Little Prince'. The crew of 'The Little Prince' is a mixture of artificial general intelligences like Robbie, flesh-and-blood humans like the ship's captain Nicky, and short-lived simulations of humans sent in place of their flesh-and-blood counterparts. Together, they do the dangerous job of comet mining to service a burgeoning antimatter energy industry in a region from the 30 astronomical unit average distance from the Sun occupied by the orbit of the ice giant Neptune to the 100 astronomical unit mean distance of dwarf planet Eris, a region collectively called the trans-Neptunian. Robbie solicits a new robotic body to replace the one shattered in the accident. A friend suggests Robbie take a break from ice mining for a potentially lucrative trade trip to the even more remote Haumea and it's moon Hi'iaka.
Ambassadors
The narrative shifts to a diplomatic group frantically trying to clear the last procedural hurdles before missing their scheduled descent from Earth orbit using one of two space elevators. The diplomats team, it is revealed, have spent most of the last year inexplicably delayed around Mars' moon Phobos_(moon) since the conclusion of their 53-year-long sublight trip from Gliese 832(c) (settled as 'Marin'). A supporter within Earth's rule making bodies has made an opportunity for the diplomats to arrive on the planet and present their case. Atrophied by their long time in microgravity, the human members of the mission are essentially disabled by Earth's gravity. The diplomats' robotic team mates step in as caretakers.
The next day the chief diplomat, an artificial general intelligence named Patricia is called to meet their patron within the Earth government. Chancellor Merkwith, their patron, makes it clear during their meeting that his support has nothing to do with symapthies with the Marin ambitions for self rule and has everything to do with the suppressive effect colony ship tickets are having on Merkwith's Martian real estate portfolio. Merkwith reminds the ambassador that her party is "small and far from home" and warns her that any discussion perceived to suggest allowing Marin to set it's own immigration policy will make powerful enemies.
Without a real friend to their position.
