This is another novella set in Baxter's Xeelee sequence. The Qax occupation of the solar system has ended, and the Coalition, the new human government, is intensely oppressive. They are setting about the equivalent of the Nazi hunt of this era, intent on finding anyone who collaborating with the occupying forces and eliminating them completely.

Rusel is a citizen of Port Sol – a human colony living in an artificial dome on an ice world barely 200 kilometres across. The Elders of Port Sol (or Pharaohs as they are known) are such Qax collaborators – although they claim to have done it for the benefit of the people living on Port Sol. The benefit they gained is Qax longevity treatments, so the rulers of Port Sol are elevated away from the regular populace.

The Coalition is not likely to forget or forgive this behaviour whatever the motives. The Pharaohs have initiated a plan to save as many of their citizens as they could and to do everything possible to preserve their way of life. This plan is to send out five generations starships – sub-light ships that will take many generations to reach their destinations.

Rusel is an engineer and gains a place on one of the ships (the Mayflower II) following the discovery that his competitor for the place had a congenital heart defect, which disqualified him from leaving on the ship. This promotion to crew member though caused him to have to leave his partner behind to die.

Once the ship leaves the Pharaoh onboard assembles a group of ten of the crew – from the more important roles assigned in the crew and offers them the Qax treatments so that a group of the first generation will remain to ensure the memory of their lives is not lost over the centuries of their voyage.

The Mayflower II's voyage is the longest of the five, with its eventual destination having been decided as a neighbouring galaxy – with the trip set to take thousands of years.

This book gripped me in a way that no book has now for quite some time. I simply could not put this down, and have to concede I was very fortunate not to have anything pressing when I picked it up as I would have been unable to do anything else whilst the book was unread.

I've read generations starships stories before and I never thought that one of these could grab my attention to this degree. Mind you I suppose if anyone was going to write this kind of story showing this level of skill it would have to be Stephen Baxter>. I've read several of his books now and he's never waivered from an excellent standard – never fallen below what is certainly an impressive par.

In this story the highlight is that the passage of time is exceptionally well represented. By having the story focus on the near immortal Rusel and his gradual withdrawal from the humanity of the regular shipfolk you really get a sense of time.

The glimpses into the evolution (or devolution) of the human society of the Mayflower II are fascinating – this surprised me immensely as I thought in these stories this degeneration of civilisation was a done deal – incapable of surprises. And to be truthful, here there are not all that many surprises in that or any other respect, but Baxter has handled these events brilliantly.

Here we have further proof of Baxter's great skill, and further support for the argumnt that Baxter is the finest British science fiction writer currently writing.

Synopsis
The sixth millennium:

An alien occupation of Earth has been thrown off. Now a ferocious new government called the Coalition is sweeping through the solar system, seeking out those who collaborated with the hated enemy.

A handful of immortals, once collaborators, live on an ice moon called Port Sol, far from the sun. They govern a community of thousands of short-lived adherents. The Coalition's grasp will soon reach this remote place. The immortals must flee the solar system on vast starships - but they can take with them only a few of their followers. A young man called Rusel must choose between his lover, and his life; he chooses to flee.

But Rusel faces a long journey, a journey that will last tens of millennia before the great ships reach their destination. Generations will live out their lives knowing nothing but the journey. Rusel agrees to accept an immortality of his own, to guide the ship and its evanescent crew across this desert of time.

But as the years stretch to centuries and to millennia, the origins of the journey are lost in legend - and then the cruel scalpel of evolution begins to work on the crew. And Rusel lies on and on...

This new story is set in Stephen Baxter's acclaimed future history The Xeelee Sequence, as were RIDING THE ROCK (PS Publishing 2002) and REALITY DUST (PS Publishing 2000), whose events precede this new story.