Nucleation

2022 Compton Crook Award Finalist

"Recommended for fans of Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon and Martha Wells' Murderbot series."
--Booklist

In this riveting debut science-fiction technothriller, a top-notch VR pilot encounters a disaster during the highest profile space-faring project of her career. Now she must unearth a critical truth: was her discovery due to a betrayal, a business rival, or a threat to humanity itself?

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 lightyears 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 rumors 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.