Thinking now on the story as whole, I think the main message here is that although we do have a very strong instinct of survival, we have at least as strong instinct of self-destruction, triggered by our own ego, pride and greed. The Fountainheads are able to rejuvenate humans, healing injuries and making them younger. The only restriction is that they cannot heal brain damage without the patient losing part of his/her personality. Bella and several others undergo rejuvenation to make themselves younger. Those that are rejuvenated still age, but more slowly. Another several decades go by as the Fountainheads and the humans co-exist. The Fountainheads are trading advanced technology with the colony in exchange for drilling rights on Janus, whose core is a vast energy resource.

Various alien species make an appearance, including 'Fountainheads' - who can rejuvenate living creatures and make them younger; 'Whisperers' - invisible creatures who make their presence known by manipulating objects; the 'Uncontained' - malevolent beings who cause chaos and death; and 'Musk Dogs' - creatures that look like assemblages of misshapen canines. They urinate and slobber everywhere they go.

CHASM CITY (2001) BSFA winner in 2002. A hardboiled pursuit/revenge thriller set in the RS universe. Bella and her crew are desperate for some much needed R&R – until Janus, one of Saturn’s ice moons, inexplicably leaves its natural orbit. As it heads out into the solar system at high acceleration, layers of camouflage fall away; it appears that Janus was never a moon in the first place. Now this moon-shaped machine is headed towards the star system Spica, two hundred and sixty light-years away. Pushing Ice gives us a dramatic, though not to my mind entirely convincing, human story of the conflict between the two women

Every reason in the world...We’re here and we’re alive. It’s a beautiful evening, on the last perfect day of summer… Now let’s go down there and make the most of it, while it lasts.” (c) Pushing Ice is a hard Space Opera novel by Alastair Reynolds. In the year 2057 Saturn's moon Janus powers up and begins exiting the solar system in the direction of the Spica system .A far future human civilisation inhabiting a region of space roughly 500ly in diameter. The Congress has advanced femtotechnology granting the citizens fantastic capabilities such as near-instant travel, near-light speed spacecraft, immortality etc. An elected representative from each member planet meets once every few hundred years to discuss governance of the Congress. Nearing their 10,000 year anniversary the representatives meet to discuss what to do to commemorate this occasion. A representative known as Chromis Pasqueflower Bowerbird proposes sending a message to "The Benefactor" rather than performing other suggested feats including the construction of a Dyson Sphere or an ornamental garden. This decision has far reaching implications for the rest of the characters. Pushing Ice captures the epic void on a way I love. Its exciting, I like the characters (not true of all of Reynold's characters). It feels mature. Oh, I loved House of Suns too, though that felt a bit less relatable.

The Fountainheads warn Bella that the Musk Dogs can't be trusted and that some technologies are far too dangerous for a species ill-equipped to handle them, though the Fountainheads do not know the Musk Dogs true intentions. Svetlana (in defiance of Bella's advice) trades with the Musk Dogs for a passkey in return for access to Janus. The attempted construction of the passkey leads to an outbreak of replicating femtotech causing many deaths, at the same time it is revealed that the Musk Dogs are not tapping energy from Janus but priming the moon to explode so as to blow a hole in the wall of the Structure. I received “Pushing Ice” as a Christmas present, it was on a list of books I wanted. I enjoyed Reynolds’ “Revelation Space” as a teen or a young adult, although I can’t remember much about it anymore (I should reread it!). In addition, for some reason, Reynolds’ “Diamond Dogs” short story is one that blew me away and firmly lodged itself in my long-term memory, so I’ve been wanting to read some more Alastair Reynolds for a while now. along: it's a highly dangerous mission, and their corporate bosses do not inspire confidence. One of Bella's key links to Politically, they had very little in common, but by the same token they had very little worth squabbling over. (c)The story starts off in the not too distant future with the crew of a ship that mines comets. When the Saturnian moon, Janus, suddenly pulls out of orbit around Saturn and starts heading for interstellar space it is apparent that it is not a moon at all but a long dormant alien artifact. The mining crew are the only ones in a position to try and intercept the fleeing ship and getting some sort of answers. It isn’t widely discussed outside the medical section. It’s something we hoped never to have to put into practice.”