Science fiction book regarding Earth's destruction by aliens
Science fiction book regarding Earth's destruction by aliens
Trying to identify a book where an alien is discovered who describes himself as a 'flea' and advises the world is about to end. I think the book was from the 1980's and I read somewhere around 1985.
The Earth destroyers send robots to Earth as a distraction, promising to provide us with technological advances whilst 2 small black holes are making their way through the planet's crust towards the core.
Good aliens who are aware of the plans have taken over some individuals via von Neumann probes that look like spiders and try to gather as much of our culture as possible.
Possible duplicate of scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/152154/…, though that had no accepted answer.
– jeffronicus
Aug 23 at 17:40
1 Answer
1
The seems pretty close to Greg Bear's novel The Forge of God. See the Wikipedia article for details.
It was published in 1987. Some people do find an alien which says, "I'm sorry, but there is bad news." Later, it says, "I am a parasite, a happen-by voyager. I am a flea, not a soldier of builder."
The spider-like friendly aliens who save part of humanity and as much of our culture as they can are there as described. The Earth is destroyed by neutronium rather than black holes, but this is minor. OTOH, I don't recall the details of the distraction, though it begins with the disappearance of Europa (a moon of Jupiter) and the appearance of a sizeable apparent volcanic cone where none had been.
Still, I'd say that that is a pretty good fit to your story.
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– Xantec
Aug 23 at 16:08
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– SQB
Aug 23 at 15:12