The mother, who discovered Nemesis, and her daughter were separated from the Earthbound father when the colony departed. The story also relates the breakup and reunion of a family. Back on Earth superluminal flight is perfected, ending Rotor Colony's isolation and opening the galaxy to human exploration. While the colonists argue over the direction of future colonization-down to Erythro, or up to the asteroid belts of Nemesis system-events catch up with them. It is eventually discovered that the bacterial life on Erythro forms a collective organism that possesses a form of consciousness and telepathy (a concept similar to the Gaia of Asimov's Foundation series). There, it takes up orbit around the semi- habitable moon Erythro, named for the red light that falls on it. Accordingly, the bulk of the novel takes place in or around the year 2236.īefore the novel's opening, 'hyper-assistance', a technology allowing travel at a little slower than the speed of light, is used to move a reclusive space station colony called Rotor from the vicinity of Earth to the newly discovered red dwarf Nemesis. In Chapter 2, the novel states that the year 2220 was 16 years ago. The novel is set in an era in which interstellar travel is in the process of being discovered and perfected. This novel is connected to Asimov's other works by several ideas from earlier and later novels, including non-human intelligence, sentient astronomical bodies (' Hallucination'), and rotor engines ( Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain). The novel is loosely related to the future history of his Robot Series, Empire Series, and Foundation Series, into which Asimov attempted to integrate his science fiction output. One of his later science fiction novels, it was published in 1989, three years before his death. Nemesis is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov.

Second foundation book cover