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path. These last humans return to the Ring, in an era in which it was not destroyed; the Xeelee allow them through, and they briefly attempt to pick universes and find sanctuary in another younger universe, after passing through the Ring, and get to work on starting a new world.
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at its centre, which creates a portal to other universes. Whenever humans have met up with the Xeelee and pursued war, this was merely an annoyance since the Xeelee were thinking on a larger scale about more potent enemies. The crew of the
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Upon their arrival, their end of the wormhole is destroyed leaving them trapped in the future. They observe that the entire universe is full of red stars, so the stars have aged far faster than expected. The
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makes contact with
Lieserl, who explains her observations of the photino birds. The birds do not just exist in the Sun but every star, helioforming them to an amenable habitat. The
195:. The novel tells the story of the end of the universe and the saving of mankind from its destruction. Two parallel plots are followed throughout the novel: that of Lieserl, an
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286:, have known about the photino birds and have been striving to thwart them. The baryonic universe is doomed, but the Xeelee create a 'Ring', an escape hatch. A
342:—the final victory of the dark matter lifeforms over the baryonic Xeelee and lesser races. Eventually, his consciousness disperses, and history ends.
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to explore the future and investigate the whereabouts of
Michael Poole. It will be a round-trip journey, returning to the
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project for Garry Uvarov who hopes to lengthen the lives of humanity without the use of Anti-Senescence (anagathic or
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The AI Lieserl is abandoned for five million years, leaving her to observe the Sun's interior. She discovers
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which refuses to acknowledge the existence of other decks on the ship; the virtuals remain aloof.
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Michael Poole remains in the universe and witnesses the deaths of the last stars, and the
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effects. The crew is broken into three factions—the primitives, the virtuals, and a
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after five million years, though only a thousand years will elapse on board, due to
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314:(referenced in the later story "Reality Dust"), rigged to piggyback the
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to the Great
Attractor. Fifty days later, they discover that the
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faction, Superet. Among the factions, the primitives are a
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is made into a loop and creates the phenomenon of the
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191:is a 1994 science fiction novel by British author
303:and Lieserl discover the folly of their species.
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360:"Ring (Xeelee Sequence #4) by Stephen Baxter"
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416:New England Science Fiction Association, Inc
242:A generation ship is sent with one end of a
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294:. The function of the Ring is to create a
231:and causing premature aging into a stable
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1137:Novels about the end of the universe
326:and travel into the past, using a
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387:Luciani, Massimo (9 July 2012).
211:on a five-million-year journey.
1122:Fiction about generation ships
1107:British science fiction novels
223:-based life, which she names "
199:exploring the interior of the
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16:1994 novel by Stephen Baxter
1102:1994 science fiction novels
418:. nesfa.org. Archived from
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252:relativistic time dilation
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1112:Novels by Stephen Baxter
412:"Ring by Stephen Baxter"
391:. english.netmassimo.com
389:"Ring by Stephen Baxter"
1050:The Massacre of Mankind
1015:The Light of Other Days
268:totalitarian government
1075:The Hunters of Pangaea
1060:Unrelated collections
1043:The Medusa Chronicles
239:and destroying them.
1132:Hard science fiction
1127:HarperCollins books
1097:1994 British novels
308:Xeelee nightfighter
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585:Destiny's Children
203:, and that of the
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994:The Twelfth Album
578:Xeelee: Endurance
515:Timelike Infinity
310:is discovered in
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120:Print (Paperback)
109:Publication place
49:Cover artist
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1036:The Wheel of Ice
627:Manifold Trilogy
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1117:Xeelee Sequence
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942:The Long Utopia
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301:Great Northern
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928:The Long War
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885:Stone Spring
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813:NASA Trilogy
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751:Gulliverzone
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606:Transcendent
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557:Mayflower II
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543:Reality Dust
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424:. Retrieved
420:the original
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393:. Retrieved
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370:. Retrieved
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338:of the last
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275:
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248:Solar System
241:
218:
215:Plot summary
204:
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185:
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162:
18:
899:Iron Winter
658:Phase Space
613:Resplendent
296:Kerr metric
256:survivalist
233:white dwarf
221:dark matter
104:4 July 1994
53:Chris Moore
1091:Categories
715:Time's Eye
679:Silverhair
592:Coalescent
346:References
1022:Evolution
875:Northland
848:Flood/Ark
794:Navigator
787:Conqueror
729:Firstborn
365:Goodreads
237:supernova
88:Publisher
1001:Anti-Ice
837:Moonseed
758:Webcrash
722:Sunstorm
693:Icebones
686:Longtusk
599:Exultant
564:Starfall
312:Callisto
260:eugenics
244:wormhole
153:30814041
59:Language
969:Proxima
960:Proxima
877:trilogy
780:Emperor
741:The Web
671:trilogy
669:Mammoth
426:27 June
395:27 June
372:27 June
340:protons
320:Xeelees
62:English
1068:Traces
986:Others
976:Ultima
823:Voyage
801:Weaver
651:Origin
280:Xeelee
229:fusion
179:
166:
67:Series
39:Author
857:Flood
830:Titan
644:Space
485:Works
336:decay
125:Pages
83:novel
77:Genre
22:Ring
637:Time
529:Ring
522:Flux
508:Raft
428:2017
397:2017
374:2017
207:, a
188:Ring
164:Flux
147:OCLC
134:ISBN
94:(UK)
864:Ark
487:by
201:Sun
128:443
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414:.
362:.
306:A
197:AI
996:"
992:"
477:e
470:t
463:v
430:.
399:.
376:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.