367:. It served both as a taunt to the pathetic survivors and as a carrier for computer viruses. The aliens chose this song partly because on April 5, 1985, it constituted the single strongest radio transmission ever sent from Earth. It also conveyed the disturbing impression that humanity might become a unified force to reckon with.
277:. 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.
334:
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
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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
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The last man and woman on Earth are captured as zoo specimens. In the belly of an alien starship, a squid-like being relates to them the pitiless logic behind humankind's execution: the moment humans learned to travel at relativistic speeds was the moment mankind simply became too dangerous a
385:. He tinkered with the program until, without knowing it, he made it sentient. Since the artificial intelligence was a representation of his mother, the AI convinced him to delete her so that he could get back to the business of living.
27:
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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
296:" 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.
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mop-up fleet. They hide close to the Sun, inside asteroids, beneath the crusts of moons, within ice rings, and in interstellar space. Most are however hunted down and slaughtered.
211:
In the late 21st century Earth is at peace. Humans now command self-replicating machines that create engineering marvels on enormous scales. Artificial habitats dot the
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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.
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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
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to hit with the force of many nuclear arsenals. They are impossible to track and to stop. Humanity is almost wiped out by the bombardment.
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Then, swarms of missiles travelling at close to the speed of light hit Earth. Though they are merely boulder-sized chunks of metal,
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neighbor to have around. The final revelation is that the alien is itself subservient to a powerful artificial intelligence.
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The last people alive on Earth are a man and woman in a submersible. The relativistic missiles hit while they are surveying
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A single spacecraft grazes the Sun while playing a game of cat and mouse with an intruder starship. The humans use
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One of the survivors on Earth spent an inordinate amount of time in a virtual reality simulation of the
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ideas such as sublight interstellar travel, genetic cloning, virtual reality, advanced robotics, etc.
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61:
430:
Feeley, Gregory. "Science fiction and fantasy." Washington Post News Feed 118.202 (25 June 1995): 8
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318:. There they hope to rebuild human civilization and eventually strike back at the alien murderers.
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makes several references to historic and contemporary people, places, and things. These include:
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The following is an overview of the various survival stories listed according to their location.
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lead their flock away from Saturn's rings. The group plans to hide around the energy rich
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handful of husband–wife teams in
Valkyrie ships in nearby starsystems may still survive.
427:
Berry, Adrian. "The younger you are, the safer". Spectator 278.8797 (08 Mar. 1997): 17.
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Jonas, Gerald. "Science
Fiction." New York Times Book Review (14 May 1995): 24.
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Naeye, Robert. "The
Killing Star Scenario". Mercury 32.6 (Nov. 2003): 24-24.
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26:
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Green, Roland. "Adult books: Fiction." Booklist 91.16 (15 Apr. 1995): 1484.
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episodes as examples of a deep-rooted desire to dominate all other species.
273:. One of the characters finds respite in a virtual reality program of the
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The aliens presented to two of the human survivors footage from several
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rockets carry explorers to the stars at nearly the speed of light.
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Some humans hiding below the frozen crust of
Neptune's moon,
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A handful of survivors desperately struggle to escape the
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16:
1995 novel by
Charles R. Pellegrino and George Zebrowski
351:Six alien ships patrolling through the post-attack
260:, thus cleansing the Solar System of the intruders.
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191:, published in April 1995. It chronicles a sudden
302:Clones of what some believe to be the historical
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283:Colonists living within the dwarf planet
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340:Contemporary and historical references
7:
508:Novels set on Ceres (dwarf planet)
503:Novels about extraterrestrial life
14:
404:"Exotic Weapons - Atomic Rockets"
513:American post-apocalyptic novels
355:continually broadcast the song "
199:, while covering several other
373:Star Trek: The Next Generation
1:
493:Fiction set on Triton (moon)
488:Fiction books about genocide
478:Fiction about nanotechnology
463:Novels about alien invasions
422:General and cited references
458:1995 science fiction novels
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518:Rings of Saturn in fiction
183:novel by American writers
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195:in a late 21st century
77:William Morrow & Co
523:RMS Titanic in fiction
483:Fiction about the Sun
473:Fiction about cloning
224:they move fast enough
215:. Anti-matter driven
185:Charles R. Pellegrino
38:Charles R. Pellegrino
498:Hard science fiction
453:1995 American novels
197:technological utopia
181:hard science fiction
168:PS3566.E418 K55 1995
62:Hard science fiction
316:interstellar medium
201:speculative fiction
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468:Apocalyptic novels
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93:Publication place
20:The Killing Star
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406:. Projectrho.com
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357:We Are the World
345:The Killing Star
189:George Zebrowski
176:The Killing Star
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84:Publication date
42:George Zebrowski
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67:Alien invasion
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163:LC Class
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151:Dewey Decimal
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129:0-688-13989-2
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408:. Retrieved
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353:Solar System
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312:brown dwarfs
290:nanomachines
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241:Plot threads
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213:Solar System
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207:Plot summary
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447:Categories
410:2016-07-17
331:Deep space
156:813/.54 20
390:Citations
292:. These "
268:RMS
258:supernova
108:Hardcover
73:Publisher
294:grey goo
217:Valkyrie
143:31045025
48:Language
382:Titanic
321:Neptune
314:in the
275:Titanic
270:Titanic
106:Print (
52:English
326:Triton
308:Buddha
299:Saturn
34:Author
359:" by
304:Jesus
285:Ceres
280:Ceres
263:Earth
231:alien
179:is a
115:Pages
58:Genre
363:and
306:and
187:and
137:OCLC
124:ISBN
88:1995
40:and
249:Sun
118:340
449::
65:∟
413:.
110:)
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