THE MESSENGER

“Where are you from?” Killeen asked on the sensorium. With effort he made his voice a blend of acoustics and electrospeech. He constricted his throat like a man trying to imitate a frog. The effect, transduced and filtered by buried chips, sent electromagnetic ringings into the fine, thin air.

There was a long moment of wind-stirred silence. Then,

I am slow. Stretched this far, I tire.

I wanted to reach a being called Killeen.

Killeen blinked with such startlement that his eyes flipped into the gaudy infrared. “Wha—? That’s me!”

I have a message for you.

ACCLAIM FOR GREGORY BENFORD’S CLASSIC NOVELS OF THE GALACTIC CENTER

ACROSS THE SEA OF SUNS

“So good it hurts. Benford puts it all together in this one— adult characters, rich writing, innovative science, a grand philosophical theme—it’s all here.”

—Washington Post Book World

“Confirms again Benford’s unsurpassed ability to simultaneously sustain literary values and exciting speculative science.”

—Publishers Weekly

TIDES OF LIGHT

“Mr. Benford is a rarity: a scientist who writes with verve and insight not only about black holes and cosmic strings but about human desires and fears.”

—New York Times Book Review

“Benford’s most adventurous, most philosophical, and most scientifically creative novel. The best sf novel so far this year.”

—Houston Post