Few writers have successful blended hard science and speculation with
fully realized characters as Gregory Benford has in his critically
acclaimed novels. Now he draws us into a vortex of mystery and danger at
the heart of the galaxy in his dazzling epic drama, Furious Gulf.
Containing the remnants of humanity from the planet Snowglade, the
spaceship Argo hurtles toward its uncertain destiny, the bold and
brilliant Captain Killeen at its helm. But he has grown increasingly
isolated and anguished in command. The ship's gardens are failing, its
voyagers face starvation, and there are dark whispers within, talk of
mutiny. Killeen's will, however, remains as strong as ever, his
determination to reach the True Center of the galaxy bordering on
obsession.
Amid a mad swirl of incandescent suns and ghostly blue clouds of
galactic dust, beset by hostile worlds controlled by the mechs - a vast
and violent artificial intelligence whose only meaning, only mission, is
the complete extermination of the human race--Killeen pursues his
desperate search, convinced his people's one hope of survival lies in
the True Center. The crew has followed him this far on faith, a faith
now being tested to the limit. Even his own son Toby, groomed for
leadership, is beginning to question his father's command.
As the Argo undertakes a perilous quest into the unknown, Toby faces his
own journey into the mysteries of adulthood. Like the others in this
Family of voyagers, Toby's spine contains microchip implants holding the
memories - the legacy - of his race. But just as the technology designed
to save his people may tear Toby himself apart, so his father's
desperate gamble to save the Argo may plunge the ship and its
inhabitants into a cosmic pit of all-consuming fire.
In this extraordinary novel, part of an interconnected series of novels
that began with In the Ocean of Night and continued in Across the Sea
of Suns, Great Sky River, and Tides of Light, Gregory Benford explores
the fundamental nature of human development and discovery. Across the
gulf that stretches between fear and faith, past and future, we watch in
wonder as an age-old question continues...the quest for the fulfillment
of an individual, for the evolution of a species, for the immortality of
the soul.
