Skip to main content

story identification - What science fiction saga has species at war over different kinds of stars?



I'm having a hard time finding the name of a science fiction saga (I think the work spanned several books) that I read about a year ago on Wikipedia. Despite furious googling I have not been able to hit the correct story. I remember some plot points from a synopsis, and they are listed below. The following may contain spoilers.



  • There are several intelligent civilizations, one of them human.

  • There are at least two civilizations scoring really high on the Kardashev scale. Both of these species inhabit stars and are at war because one species needs red dwarfs and the other black holes or something similar.

  • One of these mega-species is also at war with the humans, and their battles and tactics include time travel.

  • The economy of the human civilization relies largely on the war effort, and at some point the ending of the war bankrupts Earth.

  • EDIT: Additional fact came to mind: One of the mega-species might have evolved only moments after the big bang, making it ancient.


Do any of these plot points ring a bell?



Answer




I'm pretty sure it's the the Xeelee Sequence, by Stephen Baxter (see also here).



There are several intelligent civilizations, one of them human



There are three: Humans, the Xeelee, and the Photino Birds.



There are at least two civilizations scoring really high on the Kardashev scale. Both of these species inhabit stars and are at war because one species needs red dwarfs and the other black holes or something similar.



All three species are pretty advanced, and the Xeelee are at least a Type III civilization. They prefer to live on black holes, while the Photino Birds like to live off stars (is that where the red dwarfs come in?).




One of these mega-species is also at war with the humans, and their battles and tactics include time travel.



Humans are at war with the Xeelee, and the second novel, Timelike Infinity, uses time travel, where humans far in the future have developed the ability to travel through time.



The economy of the human civilization relies largely on the war effort, and at some point the ending of the war bankrupts Earth.



I haven't found evidence of this yet.



EDIT: Additional fact came to mind: One of the mega-species might have evolved only moments after the big bang, making it ancient.




The Xeelee were formed soon after the Big Bang.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more