Author: Jack McDevitt

ISBN: 0441009387

The following review was contributed by: Paul Lappen: CLICK TO VIEW Paul Lappen's Reviews

A couple of hundred years from now, a routine survey mission to a neutron star
picks up a few seconds of what seems like a transmission of alien origin. The
reception wasn't long enough to determine where it came from or where it was
going. The next step for the neutron star is to turn into a black hole, so there
shouldn't be anyone or anything in the vicinity. After probes again pick up the
signal, a special mission is sent from Earth to investigate.

With pilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchinson, the crew are not the usual scientist
types, but members of the Contact Society, a group of rich people who fund
research into extraterrestrial life. This is important because after 200 years
of diligent searching for other civilizations, the results have been very
disappointing. Following the signal from one star system to another, the humans
find the same type of stealth satellites in orbit around various planets. Even
by the standards of interstellar distances, this is a huge relay system.
Attempts by companion ships to bring one aboard to study end in disaster.

The crew encounters a planet inhabited by humanoids with wings, who bear a
striking resemblance to angels. Hutch is the only one who thinks that landing
and establishing contact with the natives is not such a good idea. The "angels"
show themselves to be uninterested in contact when they attack the humans with
claws and sharp teeth, killing two of them.

Around another planet, the humans find a giant asteroid which is actually an
alien spaceship. After much exploration, they determine that it is some sort of
automated archaeological survey ship, picking up bits of other cultures from
throughout the galaxy. The satellites signal when a culture is sufficiently
advanced to warrant a visit.

This is a gem of a book. It's nice and mind-blowing, the author does a fine job
throughout, and the science is kept to reasonable levels.