Illusion of Chaos — John Stuart Goldenberg

The gripping third volume of the sweeping Oneiro tetralogy. An audacious contingent desperately casts off the miraculous island of Oneiro in the midst of Earth's agonizing worldwide death throes. They set themselves on a bold course for a star seven light years distant, confronting an interstellar voyage approaching decades. Their destination: Kosmas Kentrikos. An incredible planet, home to millions of years of immeasurably advanced study and the titular center of the galaxy. Their vessel: Gauntlet. An interstellar world-ship. The most astonishing space vehicle ever navigated by man. Their Captain: Philip Carr, a human unique to planet Earth, soon to be unique to the galaxy and perhaps all the cosmos themselves. The Kosmains: Tens of millions of advanced beings from throughout the galaxy united by a common calling and all united by a vital interest in Captain Philip Carr. Their prodigious journey enjoys an idyllic beginning. Life is nearly luxurious aboard Gauntlet permitting its crew to develop and create exceptional diversity. Captain Carr is then absented by a mandatory two year geriatric sleep. Upon returning he discovers a disturbing new Gauntlet under his command. Dark changes were wrought throughout the world-ship, some threatening to the success of their mission and the very survival of the few remaining vestiges of mankind. With supreme urgency Phil is called to draw upon his gifts, risking his life to actualize his inherent ordination to evolve into Verteror ... one of the very few of such among the untold trillions of sapient life forms that pass through this universe. Humans were far from the sole envoys within Gauntlet's crew and compliment. A contingent of life forms, known and unbeknownst to Carr pervades Gauntlet at many levels. The Captain commanded the quintessential motley crew, as each entity pursued its own machinations, while Phil's command grew daily more threatening and labyrinthine. Oneiro leads the reader from the beautiful shores of a halcyon Aegean island, under the sea to the interior of an extinct volcano, through deep space to the limits of the galaxy and the veritable edge of space-time itself.