Firstborn (Clarke and Baxter novel)
 |
|
| Author |
Arthur C. Clarke Stephen Baxter |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | David Stevenson |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | A Time Odyssey |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Del Rey |
|
Publication date
|
26 December 2007 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 359 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 154309385 |
| 823/.914 22 | |
| LC Class | PR6005.L36 F57 2008 |
| Preceded by | Sunstorm |
Firstborn is a 2007 novel by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. It is the third book, billed as the conclusion of the A Time Odyssey series.
The series contains hints about the Firstborn, who, in the early days of the universe, developed as the first intelligent beings. The Firstborn have calculated that to survive until the Big Rip, the Universe has sufficient energy to support only a limited number of civilizations. They take it upon themselves to ensure that the number of civilizations does not exceed this limit, and humanity is now in their sights.
The novel's action switches stage frequently between the Earth of 2069, the 'jigsaw-planet' Mir 31 years after its creation, and various settlements on Mars.
Firstborn opens with Bisesa Dutt waking up after 19 years of suspended animation, only to be informed of the fact that a 'bogey' has entered the Solar System. Further investigation of the object reveals that it is a "cosmological-weapon" (called a Q-bomb by scientists) capable of destroying matter by engulfing it into a small 'pocket universe', which is then quickly destroyed in a Big Rip-like event. Bisesa, her now-divorced daughter Myra, and a young spacer called Alexei Carel quickly leave the Earth via a space elevator, to escape what Alexei views as an inefficient and corrupt government. Meanwhile, on Mir, a young astronomer named Abdikadir (son of one of the main characters of Time's Eye), while making observations on what appears to be planet Mars covered in oceans, is interrupted by Bisesa Dutt's old mobile phone ringing.
Back on Earth, the Space Council is preparing to launch an antimatter-fueled spacecraft to intercept the Q-bomb, while Bisesa arrives at a research station located at Mars' North Pole. The team there had discovered a gravitational "trap" that contained one of the Firstborn's Eyes. This is proof that not only did intelligent Martians exist in the distant past, but that they had been exterminated (probably with another Q-Bomb) by the Firstborn, but not before they had captured one of the Eyes. As she approaches the Eye, Bisesa is promptly sucked into a gateway and finds herself back on Mir, in the Temple of Marduk.
Babylon has been completely changed by Alexander the Great after his victory over the Mongols, becoming the center of his new empire and one of only two large cities on the planet (the other being a nineteenth-century Chicago). After a failed assassination attempt on Alexander, Bisesa is forced to leave Babylon and head for Chicago. On the way, her phone's AI determines that the universe containing Mir and the habitable version of Mars is rapidly decaying, and has only another 500 years left before it ends in a Big Rip.
...
Wikipedia