Axis (novel)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Axis

Hardcover, First Edition
Author Robert Charles Wilson
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Science fiction novel
Publisher Tor Books
Publication date 2007
Preceded by Spin

Axis is a science fiction novel by author Robert Charles Wilson. It was published in 2007.

[edit] Plot

In Spin's direct sequel, Robert Charles Wilson takes us to the "world next door": the planet engineered by the mysterious Hypotheticals to support human life, and connected to Earth by way of the Arch that towers hundreds of miles over the Indian Ocean. Humans are colonizing this new world — and, predictably, fiercely exploiting its resources, chiefly large deposits of oil in the western deserts of the continent of Equatoria.

Lise Adams is a young woman attempting to uncover the mystery of her father's disappearance ten years earlier. Turk Findley is an ex-sailor and sometimes-drifter. They come together when an infall of cometary dust seeds the planet with tiny remnant Hypothetical machines. Soon, this seemingly hospitable world will become very alien indeed, as the nature of time is once again twisted, by entities unknown.

A quasi-religious group of Fourths from Earth, led by Dr. Avram Dvali, lives in the desert seeded by falling dust. They've created a child they call Isaac with a Martian upgrade (fatal to adults) that connects him with the Hypotheticals. The Fourth-hunting "Department of Genomic Security" is searching for this group or for a visiting Martian Fourth who disapproves of Isaac's creation.