Yeah I get that. And I also understand that, given their predicament, the characters in the story have little time or opportunity to consider the matter for us.

Yeah I get that. And I also understand that, given their predicament, the characters in the story have little time or opportunity to consider the matter for us. What annoyed me was that the "premise" is (a) extraordinarily unlikely and (b) its causation doesn't form any part of the plot. Building a hard SF work on such a foundation is a big ask of the reader - although I'm sure it was entertaining for the writer. Thats my problem with the book.