History Literature / TheKillingStar

--> [[spoiler: Bishop]]. :One other thing. I’m afraid it’s gotten through the material in my suit and into me. From the feel of it, I’d say even the iron and calcium in our bodies is vulnerable. I’ve had it,
-->[[spoiler: Isak]]. Better that you don’t see what will be left of me. Good-bye.

[[spoiler: Isak]]: Enough.

-->[[spoiler: Isak[[.. Better that you don’t see what will be left of me. Good-bye.

--> [[spoiler: Bishop]]. :One other thing. I’m afraid it’s gotten through the material in my suit and into me. From the feel of it, I’d say even the iron and calcium in our bodies is vulnerable. I’ve had it, [[spoiler: Isak[[.. Better that you don’t see what will be left of me. Good-bye.
[[spoiler: Sargenti]].: How much time do you think we have?

--> [[spoiler: Bishop]]. :One other thing. I’m afraid it’s gotten through the material in my suit and into me. From the feel of it, I’d say even the iron and calcium in our bodies is vulnerable. I’ve had it, [[spoiler: Isak[[.. Better that you don’t see what will be left of me. Good-bye.

* LaymansTerm: the narrative notes Sharon of the Neptune group is good at making poetic versions of this.

* LateToTheTragedy: A few human starships were outside of the Solar System when the R-bombing took place. By the time they return and find human civilization in ruins, they begin loudly broadcasting on all channels looking for anyone left. Many of them are quickly picked off by the aliens, but some by their fellow surviving humans. The risk of them accidentally leading the aliens to the remaining pockets of civilization is just too much of a risk.

* FallenStatesOfAmerica: Implied to have happened before the R-bombing, with Mexicans protesting the influx of American refugees across the Rio Grande. The Preservationist society was obsessed with recapturing America's glory days, with Long Beach being preserved as it was back in 1995.

* LateToTheTragedy: A few human starships were outside of the Solar System when the R-bombing took place. By the time they return, the few scattered bands of survivors are hiding and staying quiet. Naturally, many of them are quickly picked off by the aliens, but some by their fellow humans. The risk of them accidentally leading the aliens to their hiding spots is just too much of a risk.

** ''Literature/JurassicPark''-style cloning of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, as well as Jesus and other people from ancient times, is presented as being an ordinary fact of life by 2076. We now know that [=DNA=] has a half-life of around 521 years, which makes no fossils from before human history have any usable genetic material in them.

** {{Discussed}} and {{Deconstructed}} among some of the survivors. When trying to apply logic to the aliens' motives, with all the speculation that [=SETI=] and Carl Sagan had done, they manage to boil it down to three rules concerning alien civilizations. They conclude that their attack may have been an act of self-preservation, fearing that humanity would become a threat to them if left alone and allowed to advance. [[spoiler: Turns out they're right.]]

** {{Discussed}} and {{Deconstructed}} among some of the survivors. When trying to apply logic to the aliens' motives, with all the speculation that [=SETI=] and Carl Sagan had done, they manage to boil it down to three rules concerning alien civilizations: their survival will be more important than those of other species, wimps don't become top dogs, and they will assume the previous points also apply to all other intelligent species. Their attack may have been an act of self-preservation, fearing that humanity would become a threat to them if left alone and allowed to advance. [[spoiler: Turns out they're right.]]
** The survivors then boil down their conclusions to three rules about extraterrestrial civilizations.

* ScienceMarchesOn: Pluto-Charon is mentioned as a set of twin planets and Ceres is said to have never been viewed as anything more than a large asteroid in the eyes of humanity. In the years since the book was written, Pluto has been found to have six moons and both worlds have been reclassified as Dwarf Planets.

* NotUsingTheZWord: {{Subverted.}} While they're called "Intruders" much more frequently, the word "aliens" is still used.

* PopulationControl: Was instituted at some point before the story and not always under humane circumstances. By 2076, humanity's total numbers are around 2 billion across the entire Solar System, and China is mentioned as having a population of only around 400 million.[[

* LastOfTheirKind: [[spoiler: The

* NotUsingTheZWord: {{Subverted.}} While they're "Intruders" much more frequently, the word "aliens" is still used.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: The solar system is completely destroyed after the sun goes nova, leaving just two groups of humanity behind. The Earthbound team is captured by the aliens and will likely remain in a zoo enclosure for the rest of their lives, all while believing they're the last of their species. The Saturnian team lead by the Jesus and Buddha Clones is left debating over whether or not they should simply hide inside a Brown Dwarf in interstellar space, or build their forces back up and declare war on the aliens. A debate that may eventually tear them apart.]]
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: Before the R-Bomb attack humans had cloned dinosaurs and were using miniaturized versions as pets.

* TheFuture: The story takes place in the late 2070's [[spoiler: and skips ahead to the 2090's at the end.]]

** The last two people on Earth, who were in a submarine in the deep ocean at the time of the attack. [[spoiler: They're captured by the aliens and kept in a zoo-like enclosure.]]