"Dr. Benjamin Knowlton heads the High Energy Astrophysics Center, a prestigious research facility devoted to the interpretation of astronomical data. He stands at the apex of his profession, respected by his peers and involved in research with the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the universe. But Benjamin has no cause to celebrate. His beloved wife and colleague, Charming, an ex-astronaut turned astronomer, is dying of cancer. She has only a few months to live. Then an anomalous signal from a remote probe alerts Benjamin to the presence of a wandering black hole beyond the orbit of Pluto. Though its trajectory will take it through the solar system, the singularity poses no threat to Earth-on the contrary, it may hold answers to the most fundamental questions of physics. But when an encoded message is received from the block hole, excitement turns to astonishment and apprehension. The thing is alive, intelligent, its mind residing in powerfully fluctuating fields of electromagnetic energies that radiate outward from its infinitely dense core. And it wants a closer look at Earth ... and its inhabitants"--Jacket.