Line #3 Literature/Proxima


1	[[quoteright:262:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/proxima_stephen_baxter_6956.jpg]]
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3	''Proxima'' is a ScienceFiction novel by Creator/StephenBaxter.
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5	The book covers the story of a group of former convicts stranded on a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri by the government and forced to start a colony. Followed by the book ''Ultima''.
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7	Not to be confused with the 2019 film ''Film/{{Proxima}}'', which is also about humans going into space but is ''not'' science fiction.
8	----
9	!!This series provides examples of:
10	* AdamAndEvePlot: Deconstructed. The Colonization Unit states that [[spoiler:Yuri and Mardina]] could potentially start a colony on their own, however it would require massive amounts of incest and essentially turning the women into baby factories.
11	* AndIMustScream:
12	** Angelia is made up of millions of nanobots, each one with its own sentient mind. In order to get to Proxima, and to communicate with Earth during the trip, all but a few of them have to be jettisoned to drift in interstellar space forever. Angelia hadn't been warned about this beforehand, so she's understandably furious when she finds out.
13	** Most of the colonists lobotomize their Colonization Units and ditch their still-sentient AIs in the dirt. When Yuri's [=ColU=] finds out about this, he pledges to track down and rescue all of his lost brothers (which he eventually does).
14	* AnyoneCanDie: A lot of it.
15	* ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler:Class 4. The RKKV launched by the Chinese at Mercury detonates the kernels lodged there, blowing up Mercury and frying nearly all life on Earth.]]
16	* AppliedPhlebotinum: The kernals, micro-wormholes discovered beneath the surface of Mercury that constantly release energy from an unknown source.
17	* CasualInterplanetaryTravel: UN ships use the kernals to travel through the solar system within days. Chinese ships are propelled by huge [[SolarSail solar sails]], earning them the nickname "junks".
18	* ColonyDrop: The Chinese [[spoiler:redirect a large asteroid into a collision course with Earth in the hopes of blackmailing the UN into giving them access to kernal technology. It doesn't work, and they end up detonating the asteroid in the upper atmosphere to create an artificial winter.]]
19	** A few months later, they [[spoiler:ram a captured hulk ship into Mercury to destroy the kernals.]]
20	* CoolStarship: The ''Ad Astra''[[note]]"To the stars."[[/note]] is a UN hulk ship powered by two [[AppliedPhlebotinum kernal drives]], capable of traveling from the solar system to Proxima Centauri within a few years.
21	** The ''Tatania'' apparently has interstellar capabilities as well.
22	* EarthShatteringKaboom: [[spoiler:Mercury, as noted above.]]
23	* FasterThanLightTravel: Averted. Even the [[spoiler:[[PortalNetwork Hatches]]]] transport passengers at just below light speed.
24	* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Yuri was [[HumanPopsicle cryogenically frozen]] by his parents at some point in the 21st century and awakened on Mars in the mid-2100s.
25	* GainaxEnding: The book ends with [[spoiler:Yuri, Steph, and the [=ColU=] traveling to an unknown location via Hatch. And then, SpaceRomans.]]
26	** Though with the release of ''Ultima'' this became a SequelHook.
27	* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler: John Synge gets the first three words out before being shot by a genre savvy robot.]]
28	* INeedAFreakingDrink: King, after [[spoiler:Earth is wiped out by the kernal detonation.]]
29	* NoMacGuffinNoWinner: Attempted by China after the UN repeatedly refused to grant them access to the kernals. [[spoiler:[[GoneHorriblyRight It works a]] [[EarthShatteringKaboom little too well]].]]
30	* RobotGirl: Angelia, before she got converted into a starship.
31	* ShownTheirWork: A lot of it, as expected of Baxter.
32	* SpaceColdWar: Between [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China]] and the [[UnitedNationsIsASuperpower United Nations]]. [[spoiler:Goes hot toward the end of the book.]]
33	* StarfishAliens: The builders are tripedal creatures made almost entirely of Arduan plant stems.
34	* StockStarSystems: Proxima Centauri. Justified as it's the closest star to our sun, making it a logical destination for humanity's first interstellar missions.
35	* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The creators of the Kernels and the Hatch qualify as this.
36	* TidallyLockedPlanet: Per Ardua is tidally locked to Proxima Centauri.
37	* TimeSkip: Tons of them. The book slowly advances from to 2155 to 2217.
38	* {{Yandere}}: Onizuka and John Synge are rare male examples.
39	* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: [[spoiler:The SpaceRomans at the end have one.]]

Context Literature / Proxima