Front Runner - David Shaner

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Résumé :

In a future where humanity has spread across the stars, the galaxy is fractured by the effects of time dilation and the isolation of far-flung worlds. Two individuals, Rosco Vern and Alexandra Durham, embark on separate journeys to find meaning in the chaos.

Rosco Vern once dreamed of advancing humanity's reach through the Front Runner Initiative, a daring project to colonize the inner galaxy using relativistic space vessels. The initiative was meant to push the boundaries of exploration and establish new civilizations, but after dilating tens of thousands of years of time, Rosco is confronted with an unfamiliar and sinister state of affairs in the galaxy. As Rosco ventures into the unknown, he is pulled into a web of events far beyond his control. Forced to confront the consequences of humanity's technological ambition, Rosco's path becomes one of survival, adaptation, and the search for meaning in a universe that seems indifferent to individual lives.

Alexandra Durham, an anthropologist who has dilated tens of thousands of years of time over the course of her career, has spent her life traveling to the furthest reaches of human settlement. Her mission: to catalog the varied fates of humanity's diaspora. Alexandra's journey takes her to forgotten worlds and dying civilizations, where she documents the aftermath of humanity's relentless pursuit of progress. As she faces the stark realities of a universe governed by cold logic and power, Alexandra begins to question whether the endless search for knowledge and perfection can truly save humanity-or if it is merely another form of self-destruction.