"Astronaut Boston Low was once NASA's best shuttle pilot. Now he's left the politicking of the space program behind, preferring to spend his time thinking, dreaming and feeding seagulls in the mist of San Francisco Bay. That is, until a mile-wide asteroid suddenly appears in orbit around Earth. Scientists know that a collision - and vast destruction - is imminent. They call on Low to return to space and nudge the menacing new moon into stable orbit, out of harm's way." "It's a mission that leads to an incredible adventure. When Low, prizewinning journalist Maggie Robbins and scientific genius Ludger Brink investigate the asteroid's surface, they turn a key to an anomaly - and are hurtled into a time and place of revelation, mystery and danger: the planet Cocytus."--BOOK JACKET.