First published 1975
Captain Lorq Von Ray pilots his starship toward the heart of an exploding star. He needs the rare element Illyrion that forms only in stellar collapse. His crew includes Mouse, a gypsy musician whose sensory syrynx translates experience into song, and Katin, a scholar studying the cultural implications of their mission. The dangerous journey to harvest nova fire puts them against impossible physics and deadly radiation. Von Ray drives his ship closer to destruction while his rival Prince Red pursues them through space. The captain's obsession with capturing stellar energy threatens everyone aboard. As Vega prepares to explode, the crew must survive forces that can tear apart matter itself. Their success could transform human civilization by providing unlimited power. The mission becomes a test of whether ambition or survival will triumph when faced with the raw violence of a dying star.
Genres: science-fiction, adventure, space-opera, hard-science-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: dangerous-mission, obsession, survival
Setting: Vega
Period: Stellar Collapse
216 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Bantam
Content warnings: violence