The planet Malevia III is about to be destroyed. There is a gas giant barreling toward it that will cause it to break up and become space dust. Scientists have begun to arrive to watch the once in a millennium event and collect data that they will study for years to come. But when a scan of the planet shows a building with a tower on the planet that was thought to be free of sentient beings, the Academy searches for a ship that can arrive in time to get some pictures and samples from the ground.
Priscilla Hutchins is in charge of a ship that is returning to Earth from Pinnacle - the only other planet found to have a sentient race. She is asked (told) to make a detour. And, as she has on of the few people who survived a brief survey of Malevia III 20 years before, take him to the surface to explore in the few weeks the planet has left. Hutch is not an archeologist but has worked with them for twenty years and has a love of discovery.
Randall Nightingale will never forget his first trip to Malevia III. He lost most of his team when they were attacked by local wildlife. Since then he has become the scapegoat for what went wrong with that expedition and ridiculed in the media by author Gregory MacAllister (who is on a cruise ship headed to watch the destruction). He has been keeping a low profile on Pinnacle and is ready to retire to Scotland.
McDevitt has created a great character in Hutch. His stories are fantastical but plausible. And his worlds are fascinating. The Priscilla Hutchins series is great science fiction - start at the beginning and read them all.
McDevitt, Jack. (2001). Deepsix. New York: EOS.
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