Precession and Other Stories

Five science fiction mystery-adventures set in the future when there will be hyperspace travel to asteroid mines, giant spinning space stations, and human colonies on distant planets terraformed by specialist engineers into habitable worlds. 'Spin Vector Symmetry' is a story of brave engineers trapped in an asteroid mine in orbit about an exploding star, and the young astrophysical engineer, a woman in her first job after university, who tries to save them. In 'The Constable of Capella Space Station', a policeman is helped by two unlikely deputies to investigate a crime that should not be possible. The heroes of 'Precession', a pair of mischievous youngsters, Hannah and Morty, living on Capella Space Station, discover a possibly catastrophic danger to their home. In 'The Mystery of Eden Homeworld', Hannah and her aunt visit a planet-paradise and become suspects in a seemingly high-tech crime. 'We Are Such Stuff' is an experimental work: a story with dialogue alone and no narrative, not even titles to indicate who is speaking. It is a crime mystery and adventure set in a future when all the computers on Earth, on nearby satellites and on space stations are networked together to make the Earthside Web, which benignly controls almost all human activity. In the midst of her scientific work, the heroine discovers a criminal threat to the Earthside Web and must improvise a solution.