Description:

Quinta, the fifth planet of the solar system, is pocked by ugly mounds and covered by a spiderweb-like network draped from spindly poles. It is a dream long dreamed, a kingdom of phantoms and of a beauty afflicted by madness. In stark contrast, the crew of the spaceship *Hermes* represents a sensitive, knowledge-seeking earth. There is a supercomputer named DEUS; a troubled monk who is a delegate of the Vatican; a Japanese physicist-philosopher; and a young daredevil pilot thrilled at the prospect of meeting the aliens face to face. They all have the best of intentions toward their “brothers in intelligence” as they approach Quinta. But the Quintans are locked in a “star-wars” escalation gone berserk. They have thrown up a wall of white noise on all wavelengths. They will not answer. They will not show themselves. As the crew is attacked in different and mysterious ways, they find that their responses are determined not by their God-like technology and their self-congratulatory moralizing but by primitive instincts portended in strange images and symbols. A dark poetry takes over and leads them into a nightmare of misunderstanding.