Manifold: Origin (2001) is a science fiction novel by British author Stephen Baxter, the third instalment in the Manifold Trilogy. As with the other books, the protagonist Reid Malenfant is put through a scenario dealing with the Fermi paradox. Each novel is an alternative scenario rather than a chronological sequel, and does not occur in the same universe. Manifold: Origin explores primate evolution to create an explanation for our lack of contact with other intelligent species. Plot In 2015, the Earth's Moon vanishes to be replaced by a red moon. The new moon is more massive, causing devastating effects on Earth. It is also crawling with life. Meanwhile, a mysterious glowing construct appears in the skies over the African continent. NASA Astronaut, Reid Malenfant, flying over Africa in a T-38 training jet with his wife, Emma, decides to investigate. They collide with what appears to be a large floating wheel out of which people are falling. Ejected from the plane, Emma falls through the wheel. Emma wakes up on a strange Earth-like world that is populated by many species of Hominidae, most of which are long extinct on Earth. Unable to think of a better plan for survival, Emma and a small group of survivors who fell through the wheel join a group of "Runners" (Homo erectus), who, after an initial confrontation resulting in the death of one of the survivors, allow them to tag along. Back on Earth, Malenfant campaigns to get a mission launched to the red moon, feeling in his heart that Emma is up there. He is ultimately successful, and, along with a Japanese scientist named Nemoto, takes off in a hastily put-together rescue mission. Emma and the Runners encounter other species, including a group of violent "Elfs" (Australopithecine), the "Hams" (Neanderthal), as well as an un-named orangutan-like species known as "Nutcracker Men". Malenfant reaches the red moon and encounters a colony of British explorers. Upon staying with them, Malenfant learns that the red moon has been hopping between universes, scooping up the native hominids through the wheel-like constructs Malenfant had encountered over Africa. The British explorers hail from a universe where the British Empire is still going strong and has become a spacefaring nation, albeit one with technologies and cultural values more akin to the early twentieth century in Malenfant's universe. Emma encounters a race of hyper-intelligent hominids that appear gorilla-like to her. They arrived