Proof of Concept
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Proof of Concept is an action-adventure science fiction novella from Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Gwyneth Jones.
On a desperately overcrowded future Earth, crippled by climate change, the most unlikely hope is better than none. Governments turn to Big Science to provide them with the dreams that will keep the masses compliant. The Needle is one such dream, an installation where the most abstruse theoretical science is being tested: science that might make human travel to a habitable exoplanet distantly feasible.
When the Needle’s director offers her underground compound as a training base, Kir is thrilled to be invited to join the team, even though she knows it’s only because her brain is host to a quantum artificial intelligence called Altair.
But Altair knows something he can’t tell.
Kir, like all humans, is programmed to ignore future dangers. Between the artificial blocks in his mind, and the blocks evolution has built into his host, how is he going to convince her the sky is falling?
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the 23rd century, the Earth is dying. The dream is of the Great Escape: faster-than-light travel to an exoplanet where humans can rebuild. Kir, a former wasteland scavenger who hosts a quasi-autonomous AI named Altair in her brain, is one of a team of scientists and reality entertainment astronauts who are attempting to move through a dimension called information space, proving that journeys to the far reaches of the galaxy can be safe and successful. Soon, however, Kir's colleagues begin to die, Altair starts breaking through into Kir's thoughts, and it becomes apparent that there are hidden aspects to their mission. With this thorough portrayal of the environmental and social consequences of climate change and overpopulation, British SF author Jones (The Universe of Things) gives a grim warning of the planet's potential future and a tempting theory about its redemption. However, the lengthy explanations to set up the world's history and the science take up too much space, Jones leaves the characters underdeveloped by comparison, and the tangled plot may leave the reader wishing for a longer work in which to untangle it.
