Humans have discovered the travel network, which was built by a long-dead civilization, and humans have figured out how to use it, but they don't understand how it works. In the short story there's a much more detailed description of Archangel and the method of interstellar travel used by ships like the Blue Goose.

However, I think they made some narrative decisions for Aquila Rift that negatively impact the strength of the story and the end reveal: I really liked L, D + R and I hope they choose more Reynolds stories for season two. Hamilton short story were part of the show. On the contrary, I was thrilled when I read that two Reynolds short stories and a Peter F. I have some, but not all, of those stories.) (Some appeared in difficult-to-find back issues of old SF mags and haven't been included in collections. I am a proud Reynolds fanboy, having devoured every book he's written, all three major short story collections, novellas (Troika, Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days), and every other short story I have been able to get my hands on. However, if you have already read it, I'm curious to hear your thoughts and whether or not you agree with me that the L, D +R version lost some of its emotional impact in translation. If you plan to read the short story (and you should!), and you don't want to be spoiled, please do not read on. There are spoilers here for the short story. Fair warning, I'm going to discuss differences between the original short story by Alastair Reynolds and the Love, Death + Robots episode based on it.

Alastair reynolds aquila rift