Sunstorm (novel)
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| Sunstorm | |
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| Author | Arthur C. Clarke Stephen Baxter |
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| Country | Great Britain |
| Language | English |
| Series | A Time Odyssey |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Del Rey |
| Publication date | 29 March 2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 336 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-345-45250-X |
| Preceded by | Time's Eye |
| Followed by | Firstborn |
Sunstorm is a 2005 science fiction novel co-written by Arthur C. Clarke (author of 2001: A Space Odyssey) and Stephen Baxter. It is the second book in the series "A Time Odyssey". The books in this series are sometimes seen as a parallel to the Space Odyssey series, as they seem to deal with time in a manner similar to how the Space Odyssey books dealt with space. The first book in the series was Time's Eye.
[edit] Plot summary
Sunstorm opens with the last chapter of Time's Eye as its initial chapter, and Bisesa Dutt is in London, reunited with her daughter. It is June 9, 2037, the day after her helicopter was shot down in the Northwest Frontier region of Pakistan. The five years that she spent on Mir are now only memories (though the fact that her body has aged five years since June 8, 2037, will eventually serve as some confirmation of her story).
In the meantime, a major solar event occurs on June 9, disrupting virtually all of the earth's electronic hardware. Dramatic as it is, this phenomenon is only a minor precursor of a far more massive solar eruption about five years off. Scientific models of the projected 2042 event make clear that the Earth will be sterilized completely by the upcoming solar burst. The effects will be so powerful as to even endanger astronauts on Mars.
Rather than sit by and allow the sun to just destroy all of earth's life, political leaders (most notably the President of the Eurasian Union, Miriam Grec), and scientific leaders (led by Siobhan McGorran, the Astronomer Royal) decide to embark upon an ambitious plan to literally shield Earth from the worst effects of the storm. The plot is further complicated when information from Bisesa's odyssey makes it clear that what is happening to the sun is not simply a random happening in nature, but is rather the result of events set in motion by an alien intelligence, known as the Firstborn, since they were the first alien race to reach sentience, and thus the most advanced civilization in existence in the universe. They are determined to stop mankind from infiltrating the stars, since they believe mankind to be a disorderly and wasteful life form, increasing entropy with its energy usage and eventual wars, thus hastening the Universe's eventual heat death.
Sunstorm, despite being placed in the Time Odyssey series, almost stands alone as a novel. The limited information from Book I of the series, Time's Eye, that one needs to know in order to follow the events in Sunstorm, is provided for the reader as needed.
[edit] Connections to other Clarke works
Just as in Time's Eye, Baxter and Clarke pay small homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey with lines lifted from the earlier book.
- The first words of Athena, a sentient artificial intelligence in Sunstorm, are “Good morning, Colonel Tooke. This is Athena. I am ready for my first lesson.”. This is similar to the statement spoken by HAL and addressed to Dr Chandra during his regression in 2001: A Space Odyssey, implied to also be HAL’s first words.
- Additionally, in Sunstorm, Athena is talking to her partner in space, Colonel Bud Tooke, shortly before she is expected to lose consciousness. Athena says to Bud, "I have always had the greatest enthusiasm for the mission", echoing HAL's words to Dave Bowman on the Discovery.
A lunar base named Clavius appear in both 2001 and Time's Eye.
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