← Back to Concept Indexspace-weaponization
The strategic threat posed by the Russian plan to plant nuclear charges on an asteroid and launch it at Earth.
Written by the Tronix Library
2 chapters across 1 book
CHAPTER 5 June 1, 2002 Hermann Oberg rested his vested, jacketed paunch on the… (pages 185–193)The chapter interweaves three distinct but thematically connected narratives: a staged interview with President Wren addressing the geopolitical threat posed by a Russian plan to weaponize an asteroid, highlighting U.S. resolve and historical parallels to the Cuban Missile Crisis; the psychological and interpersonal dynamics aboard the Soviet spacecraft Molotochek as the crew adapts to microgravity near asteroid Sinuhe, reflecting on personal and collective tensions; and the intimate coming-of-age experience of Volodya and Shutka in Leningrad, exploring themes of youth, societal expectations, and the onset of adult intimacy within Soviet culture.
CHAPTER 7 January 30, 2003 Moe Schlossberg sat in his vast, empty office at CTN Headquarters, New York, lost in dreams of the past. The art deco flatscreen TV on his wall showed the flapping lips and meaningless head jerks of Lyle Marlowe, voiceless, the sound canceled. In any case, he was slowly becoming deaf and blind to the output of his own long labors. Insensate, he thought bitterly. I grow insensate. He re- membered his grandfather, wizened and silent, unsmiling, toward the end. Old men do that. The soft inner voice said, You're not old yet, only fifty-three. He rubbed his big hands over a softening paunch and sighed, letting his chin sink down to a resting place on the uppermost of its many Dop- pelgdngers. But fat men grow old fast. I'll be dead in a decade, or maybe a little more. He recalled a lifetime of failed diets and felt a little fuse of anger light somewhere, far down inside, with a hiss. Even now, with all the biochemical knowledge in the world, thin men look at you with curling lips. Tired of being fat? Stop eating so much! But I eat less than you do. Fuck, you must have done something to get like that! The scornful implication of sin made him want to step on the little bastards . . . and sometimes he had. He watched Marlowe's face working. Little bastard. Studio AI had placed a tiny clock in the corner of his screen, with a script memo tag beneath it. Suddenly the words "Sinuhe Segment" popped up. Time. He called forth the sound. The buttery, shit -wouldn't -melt -in -my -mouth voice rolled up, lugubrious. ". . . for tonight's special segment we have a further update on the progress of the Soviet 239The chapter centers on the Soviet mission to asteroid Sinuhe, detailing the technical and political complexities of using nuclear devices to alter the asteroid's trajectory and the high-stakes geopolitical tensions this provokes. Key characters including Moe Schlossberg, Volodya, Anton Serebryakov, and U.S. officials grapple with personal struggles, aging, and the emotional toll of their roles amid the unfolding space crisis. The narrative intertwines scientific dedication, media challenges, and the looming threat of space militarization, culminating in Anton's launch aboard the aging Buran shuttle toward a historic and uncertain mission.