The 24th century: humankind has become a spacefaring civilization,colonizing the solar system and beyond. While no alien forms of life have yet been encountered in this expansion into space,colonists suddenly encounter machines of alien origin - huge robots able to reproduce themselves. Called replicators by the colonists,they seem to have but a single goal: to destroy all organic life they come in contact with.Since the colonial governments have no means to fight this menace directly,they instead promise huge rewards to whoever destroys a replicator. As a result,the frontier attracts a new kind of adventurers,the Hunters,who work to find and destroy the replicators. Mike Edwards,a skilled young maintenance technician and robotics expert at a faraway outpost,will not only become one of them - but be the very first one to unlock the secret behind the replicators'origin and mission. The scientific and technical aspects underlying the plot - in particular space travel,robotics and self-replicating spacecraft - are introduced and discussed by the author in an extensive non-technical appendix.
Publisher: Springer International Publishing AGISBN: 9783319020594Number of pages: 130Weight: 2234 gDimensions: 235 x 155 mmEdition: 2014 ed.
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