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800 years from now, humanity has taken direct control of its evolution and begun to explore the galaxy. Biology and technology drive one another in unpredictable ways. On worlds where all intelligence is somewhat artificial, person and machine minds have intertwined. Semi-biological ships roam the stars with augmented crews, all seeking to express their great drive: to explore. The GPEV Ocypete, freshly resupplied for a new multi-decade mission, initiates the farthest slip transit ever attempted to the far side of the Milky Way.
The slip ends in a catastrophic accident. Trapped in a dying ship 60,000 light years from home, a decade from rescue, Third Officer Lt. Cmdr. Harpei sets out to locate other members of the crew in a desperate attempt to survive while also trying to unravel the mystery of what went wrong, and why.
Selected from billions upon billions of citizens eager to leap from the surface of one of the Sixteen Worlds, the crews of the Expeditionary Fleet are among the very best of us. But even the best of us have limits, and surviving the Ocypete will push everyone left alive to their breaking point... and beyond. The bonds of crew, already strong, only grow stronger, forged by the necessities of survival.
The Ocypete's survivors have to grapple with difficult choices while trying to make sense of the wreckage around them. In the still darkness, a malignant fear waits for any opportunity to enter the minds and hearts of those who would dare to dream of escape. As the full picture of the calamity comes into focus, they're faced with a final dilemma.
How far would you go if it meant a chance to get home?
What would you give?
The Ocypete is B.D. Landis' first book, and the initial entry into a wider set of books, novellas, and short stories exploring the societies and technologies of the future, and more importantly, the people who made them. Fascinated by the interplay between culture and technology, he set out to examine the relationship between machine and human minds as they struggle to survive the unsurvivable. More than a tale of a crippled ship, The Ocypete also tells the story of the survivors as they uncover some unexpected truths, not just about themselves, but their mission and, ultimately, humanity's place in the stars.
