Against Infinity

From the flaps of the Timescape first edition: "...Hundreds of years in the future on Ganymede, one of the moons of Jupiter, man has once again reached out to gather in new territory, to shape it to his ends, to make a harsh, frozen, inhospitable ball of chemicals his home. And he has encountered something beyond his grasp. It is alien, a lone functioning artifact ceaselessly moving across the land, propelled by powers beyond comprehension, untouched by man and seemingly indifferent to him. The human settlers call it Aleph because it is unknowable, indescribable, unpredictable, dangerous. And, being men, they hunt it. In over a hundred years of trying they have seen it many times, photographed it, measured it, shot at it and no one has ever managed to damage it, slow it down, affect it in any way. But they continue to hunt and try. Manuel Lopez has a rare privilege. As a young boy he actually sees Aleph from up close and is so awed that he doesn't even try shooting it. Guided by Old Matt Bohles, the most experienced (and oldest) man in the settlement, an independent prospector and hunter, Manuel learns the secrets of the Ganymede wilderness that man has barely scratched, sees the genetically engineered creatures that have been placed there as an aid to the long-term project of terraforming and alien environment and takes parts in the activities that control this development. And also, he learns about Aleph, for each trip into the wilderness, for whatever reason, becomes part of the never-ending learning process that leads back and back again to the one thing that cannot be controlled but that he must hunt with the same compulsion that he must breathe, And learn they do. Once, with a servo-powered animal, they mark it and prove to themselves that it can be touched. Later, with another creature part-man, part machine, they actually manage to seize a fragment of its structure for the first time ever. As their tentative understanding of it increases, so does their conviction that its essential mystery is unresolvable but inextricably linked with their future presence on Ganymede."