Ralph Ridley in the Hunt for Time

Eternal youth is cosmically overrated.

Ralph Ridley is caught in the shackles of time. Cursed and stunted, he's desperate to solve the mystery behind his fate.

As Earth approaches its next ice age, the population divides and dwindles. Some leave for the Alpha Centauri system. Some go underground. The rest remain dispersed across the planet.

Including Ralph. And it’s on the cusp of this event he exiles himself to the South Australian desert, where he hopes to no longer suffer loss or ridicule.

Here, living in isolation, he begins putting his maths and science knowledge to use, toiling and tinkering, reading and experimenting, building contraptions engineers (and magicians) could only ever dream of.

Little does he know though, the answer to all his suffering may not be found on the pale blue dot he calls home, but in the cosmos beyond…