History Literature / Prey

Not to be confused with the [[Videogame/Prey2006 video]] [[Videogame/Prey2017 games]] of the same name.

** What the human hosts look like when the swarms are removed. They are described as looking like they are dying from cancer, cadaverous, with brittle white hair, emaciated bodies, and translucent skin.

* XanatosGambit: Jack and Mae manage to place the swarm killing virus into the main assembly line of the facility, which will flood the air of the facility with the virus, but only if the safety system is turned off. While doing this, they also fill the emergency fire sprinkler tank with the virus as well, and light a fire. This places the antagonistic swarm in a brilliant MortonsFork. If the hosts leave the safety systems on, the infected water will flood the facility and kill the swarm, but if they turn the safeties off, the infected air will flood the facility and kill the swarm. Jack aptly sums it up as "Damned if you do, damned if you don't."
* YouAreTooLate: Jack discovers a way to both temporarily and permanently remove the swarms from their human hosts, but while using the temporary solution, both he and Julia realize that all the hosts are too far gone to save, as the swarms have "eaten" so much of them as to make even moving them next to impossible. He chooses to MercyKill them all instead.

Not to be confused with the [[Main/{{Prey}} video game]] of the same name.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: The swarm intends to murder Jack and Maehey because they have successfully infected themselves with a virus that renders them immune to the swarms' possession, and fully intend the warn the world of the swarm's world domination plot.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Averted. The nanoswarms are simply trying to protect and propagate themselves ([[GoneHorriblyRight exactly what they were programmed to do]]). However, they are also not smart enough to be reasoned with: not true AI.

* CrazyEnoughToWork: This is how Jack survives his first two encounters with the swarm, by performing actions so unpredictable that the swarms have trouble reacting to them. In the first case, when faced with the swarm alone, he removes his shirt and becomes a ScreamingWarrior while attacking the swarm with the whipping shirt, and runs straight through it. In the second instance while with a group, he has them 'flock' together to keep them from being picked off one by one.
* DyingAsYourself: Jack is ultimately unable to save Julia, Vince, and Ricky from the swarms, but does manage to remove them long enough destroy the research facility. Considering the state of the hosts when they are removed, it was most certainly a MercyKill.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: The reason the swarm intends to murder Jack and Mae. They have successfully infected themselves with a virus that renders them immune to the swarms' possession, and fully intend the warn the world of the swarm's world domination plot.

* GreyGoo: Discussed, lampshaded, and [[spoiler:played straight in the first climax. The nanites begin targeting organic material (read: flesh of any sort, living or dead), as they need it to make more swarms.]] Played with in [[spoiler:the second climax: the nanites are now smart enough to ''want world domination.'']]
* GoneHorriblyRight: The "wild" nanoswarms. They are doing exactly what they were programmed to do: solve problems about how to survive on their own. [[spoiler:In an attempt to jumpstart their learning process, the corporation released them into the wild, specifically so that they can adapt to high wind. It worked... and then it began eating people.]]
* GoneHorriblyWrong: [[spoiler:The "infector" nanoswarms, which are parasitically controlling humans in order to survive, something they were never intended to do.]]

* HiveMind: The nanoswarms work using distributed intelligence, which isn't ''quite'' this trope, but it is used as a [[LaymansTerms layman's metaphor]] in the book at one point.
* HollywoodScience: The thermite charges used by the protagonists explode violently when ignited, much like a grenade. In RealLife, however, thermite actually burns relatively calmly—though it should be noted that the thermite explosion that destroyed the lab in the desert had been fed a generous helping of methane as well.

* MechanicalLifeForm: Or as close to one as you can get in hard Sci-fi.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Julia has the reaction when Jack is able to (temporarily) expel the swarm from her body. She realizes the full horror of what she has done, including infecting her children and murdering her colleagues. All she can do is beg Jack to save them.
* {{Nanomachines}}: The focus of the book.

* ScienceIsBad: Averted. The book mentions numerous useful, revolutionary technologies that could come about with nanotech. It also stresses that the technology is incredibly dangerous, and should be handled cautiously. The company in the novel just did some incredibly ''stupid'' things, which is what kickstarts the plot.

* SurveillanceDrone: This was the task the nanotech was commissioned for. By arranging themselves in certain formations, the swarms can turn themselves into "eyes" in order to record images.
* TheSwarm: The nanobots are organized in such units in order to accomplish tasks. [[spoiler:They can kill things by clogging air passageways and letting the ''E. coli'' cause severe allergic reactions.]]

* WeaksauceWeakness: Wind. The nanoswarms have to stick very close to the ground whenever wind comes up, or the swarm will disperse and the bots will deactivate.
* XanatosGambit: An unusual version, as it is pulled by the heroes. Jack and Mae manage to place the swarm killing virus into the main assembly line of the facility, which will flood the air of the facility with the virus, but only if the safety system is turned off. While doing this, they also fill the emergency fire sprinkler tank with the virus as well, and light a fire. This places the antagonistic swarm in a brilliant MortonsFork. If the hosts leave the safety systems on, the infected water will flood the facility and kill the swarm, but if they turn the safeties off, the infected air will flood the facility and kill the swarm. Jack aptly sums it up as "Damned if you do, damned if you don't."
* YouAreTooLate: Two examples:
** Jack discovers a way to both temporarily and permanently remove the swarms from their human hosts, but while using the temporary solution, both he and Julia realize that all the hosts are too far gone to save, as the swarms have "eaten" so much of them as to make even moving them next to impossible. He chooses to MercyKill them all instead.
** Jack sets up his and Mae's XanatosGambit to go like this, creating enough of a distraction for the hosts that they don't realize the full extent of the plan.

''Prey'' is a 2002 sci-fi thriller novel by Creator/MichaelCrichton, this time centering around {{Nanomachines}} that have gone wildly out of control and threaten lives, and the main characters must prevent them from getting any more out-of-hand. As is typical for Crichton, [[ShownTheirWork he goes into]] great detail on the technical aspects of the nanotech; mostly, in this case, computer programmming and evolutionary theory.

** Jack sets up his and Mae's XanatosGambit to go like this, creating enough of a distraction for the hosts that they don't realize the full extent of the plan.