false 100680 5 Stephen Baxter's highly acclaimed first novel and the beginning of his stunning Xeelee Sequence. A spaceship from Earth accidentally crossed through a hole in space-time to a universe where the force of gravity is one billion times as strong as the gravity we know. Somehow the crew survived, aided by the fact that they emerged into a cloud of gas surrounding a black hole, which provided a breathable atmosphere. Five hundred years later, their descendants still struggle for existence, divided into two main groups. The Miners live on the Belt, a ramshackle ring of dwellings orbiting the core of a dead star, which they excavate for raw materials. These can be traded for food from the Raft, a structure built from the wreckage of the ship, on which a small group of scientists preserve the ancient knowledge which makes survival possible. Rees is a Miner whose curiosity about his world makes him stow away on a flying tree -- just one of the many strange local lifeforms -- carrying trade between the Belt and the Raft. 829085 1991 Raft total:92|5:13|4:37|3:31|2:9|1:2| 92 326 146 6 4 0 false false Thu Jul 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 08:58:34 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 09:03:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Feb 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 16 04:34:03 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 13:24:48 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Mar 30 17:36:21 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 17:37:20 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 29 00:06:45 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 29 00:06:45 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Sep 04 15:01:45 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 15:02:36 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Mon Sep 22 10:35:36 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 22 10:41:18 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Tue Nov 10 06:37:43 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 06:37:43 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 09 21:17:57 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 09 21:17:57 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 28 11:22:46 -0700 2009 Wed Nov 11 08:20:12 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Tue Oct 27 17:22:33 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 17:22:33 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 27 14:30:26 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 14:30:26 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Oct 17 14:42:29 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 14:42:29 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Sep 24 13:25:29 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 13:25:29 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Sep 15 15:16:32 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 15 15:16:32 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Sep 14 13:43:48 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 13:43:48 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Fri Sep 11 04:08:34 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 11 04:08:34 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 09 14:06:08 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 14:06:08 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 02 08:06:51 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 08:06:53 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Sep 01 15:21:41 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 15:21:41 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Aug 23 21:10:16 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 21:10:16 -0700 2009