The Unknown Spaceman: Departure: 1

He built the ship himself, in secret, from salvaged parts and stolen time. No crew. No funding. No permission. Just a man, an AI he programmed with his own hands, and a dream of reaching the nearest star.The Unknown Spaceman: Departure follows the first steps of a solitary voyage - a test flight past Jupiter that almost sends him home for good, the black hole that nearly doesn't let him leave at all, and the long, silent crossing to Alpha Centauri, where he meets the first beings who are not human, and answers a distress call that changes the shape of his journey. By the time this volume ends, Earth is a memory, the Galactic Federation knows his name, and there is no turning back.For readers of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and Solaris - quiet, character-driven science fiction about what it costs to leave everything behind.10 interconnected stories. Book 1 of 3 in The Unknown Spaceman series.