Mankind’s ascendancy is being decided on Jupiter In the 22nd century, mankind has assimilated the Solar System within the orbits of the inner planets, and is gradually moving further out, beyond the asteroid belt, towards the outer planets. The recently discovered technology of remote manipulation has given people the capability of altering the orbit of planetary-size celestial bodies, laying the foundation of a new era for the human race: the terraforming age. The colonisation of space beyond the limits of the Solar System has become only a matter of time. Soon after the first successful test, changing Mercury’s orbit, a strange object moving from the depths of space towards the centre of the Solar System enters the field of vision of a telescope at an observatory in Chile...