failed to appear; a new novelisation by Gregory L. Norris was published in 2017. Plot In the future, human survival is threatened by rising pollution, environmental damage and depletion of the Earth's natural resources. A narrator (Ed Bishop) introduces the science vessel Altares as the first spacecraft to "harness the limitless power of the photon". This allows it to move at the speed of light, potentially causing "effects predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity – effects that could shrink the very fabric of space, distort time, and perhaps alter the structure of the universe as we understand it." Altares and a crew of five are due to depart Space Station Delta for Alpha Centauri to seek out Earth-like planets for colonisation. As astronauts travelling at light speed age more slowly than their families on Earth, the crew is made up of two whole "family units": Captain Harry Masters and his daughter Jane, and Doctors Tom and Anna Bowen and their son David. Docking at Delta in a United Nations shuttle, Tom, Anna and David board Altares and Jane leaves her dog Spring in the care of station commander Jim Forbes prior to departure. Captain Masters engages Altares photon drive and the ship begins its 4.3-light-year journey to Alpha Centauri. As Altares leaves the Solar System, Jane and David observe how Pluto turns blue, then red, due to the shortening and lengthening of light waves caused by the Doppler effect. Arriving at Alpha Centauri, the crew launch a series of satellites to transmit data back to Earth. Having completed their primary objective, they agree to push deeper into space. When Altares encounters a star cluster, Anna tells Jane of Einstein's discoveries in special relativity and unified field theory. Shortly after, the ship is hit by a meteor shower that damages key systems and causes the photon drive to re-activate, hurling the ship through space at incredible speed and knocking the travellers unconscious. A fail-safe halts the ship within the gravitational field of a red giant on the brink of supernova. Captain Masters dons a heat suit and enters the reactor core in a dangerous bid to repair the photon drive by hand. He succeeds, and Anna and Jane pilot the ship away from the star before it explodes. After detecting a signal from Delta, the travellers are able to calculate their position and set a course for Earth. However, disaster strikes