A Deepness in the Sky

A Deepness in the Sky is a science fiction novel by the American author Vernor Vinge, published in 1999. It is set thirty thousand years before the events of A Fire upon the Deep, and its principal viewpoint figure is Pham Nuwen, who is living in anonymity among the Qeng Ho interstellar trading fleet.

The fleet is in high orbit above Arachna, waiting for the world's dormant population to wake. The Spiders have burrowed deep into their planet and are waiting for the On/Off star they orbit to relight, after which Arachna is expected to blossom into a golden age of technology and commerce, and the traders intend to be there when it does. The Qeng Ho have crossed between the stars for centuries and treat a world like Arachna as a market of future customers rather than as a resource to be seized.

The Qeng Ho are not alone. The Emergents, a second band of traders, have plans for Arachna that are far more sinister, and rather than share the opportunity they attack the Qeng Ho fleet. The novel is about a trade expedition that becomes a contest of control over a planet's first contact with the wider galaxy, and about what the traders are willing to do to each other while the Spiders sleep.