In limbo

In limbo

In der Schwebe (English: Gravity ) is a 2001 in Germany novel from the scientific thriller genre by the American writer Tess Gerritsen .

In the novel, published in the US in 1999, Gerritsen leaves the familiar terrain of public health and forensic medicine. The main venue is the International Space Station (ISS) . Extensive research was necessary to ensure an accurate representation of the events in orbit and during a space shuttle flight.

action

During a biological experiment on the ISS space station , an astronaut is bitten by a mouse infected with an unknown pathogen. After a few days he fell ill and died a little later under dramatic circumstances. The station doctor, Dr. Emma Watson, together with NASA scientists from the control center , tries to identify the pathogen.

Meanwhile, a shuttle is launched from Earth to bring the sick astronaut back to Earth, but already dead by the time the shuttle arrives. All occupants of the shuttle die on the way back to Earth, as they were also infected with the pathogen.

The circumstances surrounding the failed experiment indicate a military client, especially since the US Army is conducting the investigation on instructions from the highest government circles. It is possible to identify parts of the DNA of the pathogen, which in the book is called chimera because it takes over parts of the DNA of its hosts, and it turns out that the pathogen is obviously of extraterrestrial origin.

Other members of the ISS crew die painfully at short intervals. A desperate battle for the lives of the remaining astronauts begins. The penultimate astronaut, who Emma Watson believes is not yet infected, flies back to Earth on the emergency shuttle, but is shot down during the flight as there is a risk of causing an epidemic on Earth. Only after an autopsy of the bodies of the first shuttle succeeded in determining the origin of the constantly mutating pathogen, a therapeutic approach was found.

literature

• Tess Gerritsen: Suspended . Banvalet, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-442-35337-8 (original title: Gravity . Translated by Andreas Jäger).