Themes

The novel carries common themes of Clarke's science fiction: exploring the place of humans in the universe; learning to extend the life span of an individual human being; using technology to improve the quality of life for society encountering extraterrestrial life forms, both primitive and superior to humans; adapting lifestyles and even evolving into transformed beings with more extensive powers in the context of travel to new environments in the solar system and galaxy.

Human Curiosity and Ambition

Human curiosity and ambition brings the race into the Solar System. From the early exploratory voyages that revealed the existence of the monoliths to the scientific colony on Ganymede, both curiosity and ambition push humans ever outward. Scientists best exemplify the curiosity, and entrepreneurs, such as Sir Lawrence Tsung, best represent the ambition. The end results consist of spaceships that run on water and human entities in an ethereal space...