Usurper of the sun

Usurper of the sun / Housuke Nojiri ; translated by John Wunderley.-- San Francisco : Haikasoru/VIZ Media, 2009.
276 p. ; 21 cm.
"Originally published in Japan by Hayakawa Publishing, Inc., c2002"
ISBN: 9781421527710

1. Earth – Effect of solar activity on—Fiction. 2. Human-alien encounters—Fiction. 3. Science fiction. 4. Space flight to Mercury—Fiction. 5. Sun—Fiction.

895.636

Peering through the astronomy club’s telescope, a Japanese schoolgirl is the first to observe a giant tower on the planet Mercury. When other observatories confirm its existence Aki Shiraishi becomes the most interviewed person on Earth. It propels her into a career in astronomy. When the tower begins to construct a ring around Mercury that blocks sunlight from reaching earth, climactic disaster shakes the planet and civilization is in chaos. Eight years after her initial discovery and as the most prominent scientist in the new field of ringology, Aki arrives at Johnson Space Center in Houston to train for the Vulcan Mission, a mission to send a spacecraft to Mercury to destroy the ring.