The Reefs of Time: Part One of the "Out of Time" Sequence. The Chaos Chronicles, #5

The starstream is beautiful. But beauty turns deadly when an ancient AI bent on destruction uses it to travel uptime, to humanity's future. The Mindaru are dead. Or so exiled-Earthman John Bandicut and his alien companions believe, after their intervention to save the Orion Nebula and surrounding worlds. But now a part of this ancient and malicious AI colony is swarming toward the present from its birthplace deep in the past.
Their opening: a temporal disturbance in the starstream, a hyperspatial thoroughfare used by myriad civilizations. The disturbance emanates from the planetary defenses of nearby Karellia, whose people know nothing of the starstream or the galaxy-threatening Mindaru. Only Bandicut and his friends have the knowledge and experience to act. But when several of the company go missing, he and Li-Jared must team with the pandimensional Ruall and her gokat-the oddest aliens Bandicut has met since the shadow-people-and journey to Karellia to find a way to cut off the timestream.
Meanwhile, on Shipworld, the "missing" Ik meets another human of Earth-a former lover of Bandicut's-and embarks with her on a perilous mission far back into deep time, seeking a way to stop the Mindaru at their source. The Chaos Chronicles returns at last in The Reefs of Time, part one of a heartstopping, two-part adventure. Concluded in Crucible of Time-available now from Nebula-nominated Jeffrey A.
Carver!PRAISE FOR THE REEFS OF TIME / CRUCIBLE OF TIME:"Classic science fiction with engaging characters and richly imagined worlds!" -Greg Bear; author of The Unfinished Land and The War Dogs Trilogy"Jeffrey A. Carver's remarkable long-awaited duology The Reefs of Time / Crucible of Time is a welcome addition to The Chaos Chronicles, certifying his continuing mastery of action and adventure at the boundaries of space opera and hard SF." -Steve Miller, co-author of The Liaden Universe"Rich, dignified prose wedded to excellent and imaginative storytelling on the grandest scale.
If you've grown weary of the hasty, hyperkinetic stories and styles that typify so many other independently-published novels, come home to Jeffrey Carver's timeless and triumphant The Reefs of Time." -Charles E. Gannon, author of the Caine Riordan world"Mind-blowing in its complexity... I settled in to enjoy a wild ride." -Ann Tonsor Zeddies, author of Riders of Leviathan and Steel HelixPRAISE FOR THE CHAOS CHRONICLES:"Remarkably expansive vision." -Analog"Masterfully captures the joy of exploration." - Publishers Weekly"Master craftsman of compelling hard science fiction." - BooklistOne of the best SF novels of the year - Science Fiction Chronicle"A dazzling, thrilling, innovative space opera." -Kirkus