The Dampier

In the year 2257, Fleet Command issued orders for the TSS Dampier to undertake a decade-long journey to the outermost edges of the solar system to explore and map the dark matter fields lying there. Captain Xoxi Xiang was placed in command of a crew that included a genetically modified navigator, Jean-Paul Fourier, capable of perceiving gravitational gradients. Captain Xiang herself had undergone similar genetic engineering as a very young child, however, in her case, it failed and left her mute but telepathic. For the multilingual crew of the Dampier, this voyage was an opportunity for a glorious adventure taking them farther than any previous mission. And for some, it also provided an escape from the rules and politics of Fleet Command. Soon after leaving Ganymede, they receive new orders to examine an anomaly beyond the Kuiper Belt in the direction of Sirius, and determine whether it represents a threat to Earth. What they find opens a route to stars and planets hundreds of light years from Earth. The question is whether they will ever be able to find their way home again.