He sores through the atmosphere of Jupiter and the frozen tundra's of Eruopa. "The image of Jupiter, with its ribbons of white cloud, its mottled bands of salmon pink, and the Great Red Spot staring out like a baleful eye, hung steadily on the flight deck projection screen.".
If the endless twists and turns that the universe are the backbone of this novel, then the characters are the heart and soul. Clarke's extensive characterizations of every man, woman and machine made them all seem as deep as the Mariana Trench. To fully bring a character to life, the writer must prove to the reader that the particular character is human. Deep, down, under everything that singular entity is just like everyone else. This can be achieved through the relationships that occur between every person they encounter. One of the greatest relationships that this story brings forth is within the short amount of time that Dr. Floyd and Zenia had spent together while careening through part of Jupiter's atmosphere. Zenia has absolutely terrified at the upcoming event and went to Dr. Floyd for comfort. Even thought the two knew nothing about each other Dr. Floyd invited her into his cabin for the reason of kindness and compassion to his fellow human being. Zenia entered his presence for a way to escape her fear and, because she was one of the Russians, avoid the embarrassment of her fellow countrymen. This truly shows how the human race can set aside such trivial differences. Especially when it comes down to two lonely space cadets along way from home. "They would never again be so close together, but they would always know a special tenderness toward each other, which no one else could ever share.".
"But your friend in Washington asked us to wake you up ahead of time. Something very unexpected has happened. We"re in a race to reach Discovery- and I"m afraid we"re going to lose." This novel is cram packed full of adventure, excitement and suspense.
