identity-subterfuge

Sax Russell, eager to return to terraforming work on Mars, arranges a new identity and altered appearance to infiltrate the biotech company Biotique in Burroughs, supported covertly by Swiss authorities. He reflects on his complex relationship with fellow scientist Ann Clayborne, engaging in a philosophical debate about the nature of science, values, and the ethics of terraforming Mars, highlighting their fundamental disagreement over the planet's transformation.

The chapter includes the front matter of 'The Eternity Artifact,' featuring praise, copyright information, dedications, thematic epigraphs on love, and a detailed table of contents. The preface introduces the mysterious celestial object Chronos, a perfect sphere with unusual properties that sparked scientific and political controversy but was ultimately abandoned due to cost and difficulty. The prologue follows an assassination attempt on Tyang Ku Wong, First Advocate of the Middle Kingdom, during a political speech advocating secularism and humanism, highlighting tensions between ideological factions and the use of covert violence.