In the 26th century, two groups of humans are awakening. The first are a group of scientists who think they’re on a spaceship headed toward Proxima Centauri, there to begin Earth’s first colony. The second are criminals who were part of a experiment: a la DS9’s “Hard Time”, they’d serve their prison sentences virtually, living decades in their heads while only a short time passed for realsies. Both parties have their bodies frozen and their consciousnesses stored on a Quantum Computer. Only…..something’s gone wrong, for both parties, and instead of finding themselves colonizing space or going home to see their loved ones, both groups wake up in an Earth lab hundreds of years in the future where the only known living humans are Mennonites. Too bad they’re going to die because in addition to the civilization-ending Whatsit that happened, there’s a-coming a planet-busting asteroid known as Brimstone, so the humans’ only hope is to board the hundreds-of-years-old spaceship and get the hell out of Dodge. The result is a mixed bag, an audio drama with a solid ensemble cast and sound effects that is quite enjoyable to listen to when the voice actors aren’t being brought down by the author’s uninteresting political insertions (lecturing people on covid face-diapers? Really?) and the thoroughly depressing storyline. The mix of ‘interesting premise’ and ‘insufferable author’ is consistent with his Hominids trilogy, the first of which I liked well enough, but found just obnoxious enough not to bother continuing with — and that was before I’d completed my transition from ‘increasingly dispirited progressive’ into ‘thoroughly cranky libertarian’. If you’re really into Brendan Fraser and like audiodramas, this will probably be enjoyable, but I can’t imagine trying to finish the book without the strengths added by the cast.

And now, a Fraser-related palate-cleanser: