The release date for the English version of 'Pandora's Star' by
Peter F. Hamilton is Mar 2005. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
It is 2380 A.D. Over six hundred planets make up the Intersolar Commonwealth, a sphere of stars with a diameter of about four hundred light-years, which is linked via a network of transit "tunnels" called wormholes. Astronomer Dudley Bose makes the following implausible observation at the Commonwealth's farthest point: A star that is more than a thousand light-years distant... disappears. It stays away from supernovas. It doesn't fall into a void in space. It just vanishes. The Second Chance, a spaceship that travels faster than light, is sent to investigate the incident and determine if it poses a hazard since the site is too far away to be reached via wormhole. Wilson Kime, an ex-NASA pilot who has been regenerated five times and whose heyday is eons ago, is in charge.
The Guardians of Selfhood are a cult that opposes the mission because they think an extraterrestrial force known as the Starflyer is manipulating humanity. The Guardians' commander, Bradley Johansson, issues a sabotage warning because he believes Starflyer intends to use the starship's mission for personal gain.
Johansson runs away from a Commonwealth special agent who believes the Guardians are scary but insane. However, the threat remains unabated. Kime questions if anybody on board the Second Chance has been spied on. He will have other concerns in due course. Something very amazing is lying in wait a thousand light-years away: a lethal discovery whose release might wipe out the Commonwealth and mankind as a whole. Is it possible Johansson was correct?