author : Jack McDevitt

The year is 2202. Earth has interstellar capability, and has discovered a few dead civilisations, one 'early 20th Century' one, and the signs of the highly advanced mysterious 'Monument Makers'. Global warming has the upper hand, and Earth itself seems to be entering a decline. Some see the only hope for humanity to be a fresh start on a newly terraformed planet.

Interstellar pilot Priscilla Hutchins, 'Hutch', is assigned to evacuate a team of xeno-archaeologists from Quraqua, before the terraformers start their job by melting its icecaps with nuclear explosions.

The archaeologists have just discovered that the Qurauqan civilisation had contact with the Monument Makers, and there is the possibility of at last deciphering their language. The race against time to recover enough language examples to enable a translation before they have to leave makes up the first half of the book. In the second half Hutch and some of the archaeologists use the information they have deciphered to attempt to track down the Monument Makers, and to work out why they built large right-angled monuments near now-destroyed civilisations.

So, who were the aliens? Why did they build all those great square monuments? Why did they disappear? Why is there an 8000 year cycle to alien civilisations? Finding the answers to these questions is reasonably fun. But of necessity, the ending doesn't manage to live up to its build-up, and some of the answers are telegraphed too early on. And it screams for a sequel.

The story revolves around the characters more than the technology, but even so, none of the characters feel very 'real' to me. Even when described as acting passionately -- some of them are willing to sacrifice their lives in order to discover The Truth -- they seem very dispassionate.

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