Quantum science fiction

From the back cover Warner paperback February 2004: 2019: NASA astronaut Nigel Walmsley is sent on a mission to intercept a rogue asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Ordered to destroy the comet, he instead discovers that it is actually the shell of a derelict space probe -- a wreck with just enough power to emit a single electronic signal... 2034: Then a reply is heard. Searching for the source of this signal that comes from outside the solar system, Nigel discovers the existence of a sentient ship. When the new vessel begins to communicate directly with him, the astronaut learns of the horrors that await humanity. For the ship was created by an alien race that has spent billions and billions of years searching for intelligent life... to annihilate it.

Earth has been taken over by bizarre beings, and Man has made a new life on other planets, a strange life made possible by information provided by beings from Ophiuchi.

To Chet Kinsman, space held the promise of peace and beauty that Earth denied him - yet it was Kinsman who stained the purity of space with murder. His atonement shaped his life and the destiny of his planet - and drew him inexorably to use, and finally betray, those closest to him.