The Killing Star - Plot Threads

Plot Threads

The following is an overview of the various survival stories listed according to their location.

Sun - A single spacecraft grazes the Sun while playing a game of cat and mouse with an intruder starship. The humans use negative energy bombs to cause a massive solar eruption which destroys the alien pursuers. Several years later, at the book's end, this band makes the Sun go nova, thus cleansing the solar system of the intruders.

Earth - The last people alive on Earth are a man and woman in a submersible. The relativistic missiles hit while they are surveying the RMS Titanic. One of the characters finds respite in a virtual reality program of the Titanic. Eventually the couple goes ashore at New York City where the only evidence they find that humankind ever existed is the plumbing for a swimming pool buried deep beneath the mud. The pair regularly send out distress calls which the aliens home in on. The two survivors are captured as zoo specimens.

Ceres - Colonists living within the dwarf planet Ceres escape the initial attack unnoticed. Unfortunately, the waste heat from normal colony operations, plus the colony's cavern excavations, have produced an unmistakable corona of dust and infrared emissions. The colonists know they will likely draw the aliens' attention sooner or later, but have no choice but to try to hide. They drop power usage to near zero and cut all radio transmissions. The aliens, however, broadcast a virus program which one of the Ceres robots picks up. The virus tells the robot to make self-replicating nanomachines. These "Grey goo" nanobots (the book describes them as self-replicating molecules that raise the melting point of ceramic and metal compounds) disassemble the Ceres habitat, killing all the colonists.

Saturn - Clones of what some believe to be the historical Jesus and Buddha lead their flock away from Saturn's rings. The group plans to hide around the energy rich brown dwarfs in the interstellar medium. There they hope to rebuild human civilization and eventually strike back at the alien murderers.

Neptune - Some humans hiding below the frozen crust of Neptune's moon, Triton take their ship to Neptune to see about establishing a deep ocean base. The captain, however, has a mental breakdown and drives his vessel down until it implodes.

Deep Space - Several interplanetary vessels and a few Valkyries returning from interstellar missions are destroyed early on. A Valkyrie is shot down by another Valkyrie-mounted railgun to prevent it from accidentally betraying the location of the remaining pockets of humanity. There is some speculation that a handful of husband/wife teams in Valkyrie ships in nearby starsystems may still survive.