Thursday, 26 November 2015

story identification - Sci Fi novel with iPad-like computers and a trip to an alien structure

The book you are looking for is Pushing Ice, by Alastair Reynolds.




group of people traveling a great distance from Earth.




The crew of the Rockhopper get tasked with following Saturns moon Janus, after it ditches its disguise and starts heading out of the solar system. The Rockhopper gets caught in its wake and finds it impossible to stop, and so ends up travelling on Janus to its destination.




They had little roll-up iPad type computers that could be stuck up on a wall together to make a large screen




The main computer shown is called a Flexie, and is actually a distributed network - they can be combined in the story as you remember.




When they eventually landed one of the women was banished from the main ship.




There is a major dispute between Bella, the captain of Rockhopper, and its chief mechanic Svetlana - Bella loses the dispute and is banished from all contact with the rest of the crew when the Rockhopper lands on Janus.




At one location / structure on the planet they had to be careful to randomise the path they took when walking, as sometimes people disappeared into holes which were sealed up again and unable to be opened




After finding a very slowly rotating spire and using its incredible torque to generate power, a technician is killed when he repeats a regular inspection several times in repetition - its discovered that Janus punishes repetition, and so the crew take to carrying around methods of introducing randomness into their lives (dice etc).




I think also there was some reference to a cube which was a power source.




A cube of femtotechnology was sent by the descendants of humanity to help Bella and the Rockhopper for the benefits their experience brought to humanity.




Also, they kept playing a small bit of video data which featured a woman from CNN.




Bellas last transmission to Earth while Janus is speeding away is used millions of years later by the descendants of humanity.

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