What you describe is a teeny-tiny bit of a a spoiler. Erring on the side of cation, obfuscating my reply. The book you're talking about was by Alastair Reynold

What you describe is a teeny-tiny bit of a a spoiler. Erring on the side of cation, obfuscating my reply. The book you're talking about was by Alastair Reynolds. It's the third book in the "Other" section here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#Novels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#Novels.