Humans have tried to enhance their intelligence from the beginning and whether they succeeded or not they have carried on the good work. Some thought that going beyond the limits was not a good idea because it was not needed. Thus giving so much time to a useless thing was not worth it. Then something started happening in outer space, something which was not easy to comprehend.
The alien species present around the solar system started dying all of a sudden and the cause was unknown. It seems that some unknown dark power has started invading the galaxy and it has a far bigger purpose than any human soul could imagine. The human race could be next on the list because earth is a good place for any race if it is trying to establish a colony in the solar system.
Humans are quite lucky that they are not totally defenseless against the enemy as they have been able to enhance their intelligence to the next level and the enemy is not going to eat them up very easily. Alastair Reynolds has written this first short story in tremendous fashion.
John Lee has also left no stone unturned in narrating this first one on the list. Revelation Space and Pushing Ice to have breathtaking stuff in them all the way. Such short stories are a real joy to listen and they develop a crazy feeling in you that forces you to listen to more such things. On the way, there is no comic scene that can make you laugh because it is serious action packed literature we are dealing with.