Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins was just a spaceship pilot on a routine run from Earth. Her days of glamour as a planetary explorer and archeologist of ancient alien artifacts were in the past. Then came the call. Priscilla is the only even remotely qualified professional within lightyears of Deepsix---a life-supporting planet. With less than three weeks left before a rogue moon demolishes Deepsix, she and her colleagues must descend to the surface, and glean whatever they can about the doomed planet's lifeforms and lost civilizations. The deeper Hutch and her team delve, the more puzzles are revealed within puzzles, and startling discoveries only lead to greater and more perplexing questions. But then the unthinkable occurs. An earthquake destroys the explorers' only means of escape. As scientists and sightseers who have come to witness the spectacular end watch helplessly from miles above, Hutch and her people must survive on a hostile planet going rapidly mad. And with the clock ticking relentlessly toward an unavoidable apocalypse, they must find some way, any way, to get off before a rampaging moon violently reduces Deepsix to space dust.

?[It] unfolds as precisely as an origami flower and will hold readers in thrall.?(--Publishers Weekly (x Starred Review x))

?A well-crafted, hard-to-put-down story?.a fast-moving, intelligent and clever science fiction adventure-mystery that is well worth reading.?(--Orlando Sentinel)

Praise for JACK McDEVITTand his previous novelINFINITY BEACH:

?Jack McDevitt is that splendid rarity, a writer who is a storyteller first and a science fiction writer second?.I simply could not put it down. You're going to love it even if you think you don't like science fiction.?(--Stephen King)

In the year 2204, tragedy and terror forced a scientificteam to prematurely evacuate Maleiva III. Nineteen years later, a rogue moon hurtling through space is about to obliterate the last opportunity to study this rare, life-supporting planet. With less than three weeks left before the disaster, superluminal pilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins — the only even remotely qualified professional within lightyears of the ill-fated planet — must lead a small scientific team to the surface to glean whatever they can about its lifeforms and lost civilizations before time runs out. But catastrophe awaits when they are stranded on this strange and complex world of puzzles and impossibilities. And now Hutch and her people must somehow survive on a hostile world going rapidly mad — as the clock ticks toward apocalypse for a doomed enigma now called...

Jack McDevitt is the author of A  Moonfall, A  Eternity Road, A  Ancient Shores and numerous prize-winning short stories. He has served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, taught English and literature, and worked for the U.S. Customs Service in North Dakota and Georgia. He lives in Georgia.