observes the moon's destruction during a fund-raiser at Caltech Athenaeum.

Later (A+0.0.4: zero years, zero days, and four hours after the event) at a meeting in the ISS between Commander Ivy Xiao, Dinah, and the ten other crew members, German astronomer Konrad Barth theorizes that a Primordial Singularity, or small black hole, hit the moon like a bullet through an apple.ĭubois 'Doob' Jerome Xavier Harris, Ph.D. Dinah does this and, along with the rest of humanity, knows the universe is forever changed. Checking for the International Space Station, he lashes to his knee a self-designed telegraph key and taps a message-LOOK AT THE MOON-to his daughter, Dinah, a roboticist on the ISS (known as 'Izzy' to occupants). In northern Alaska, miner Rufus MacQuarie sees the cataclysm from high atop the Brooks Range, and consults an app that displays current positions of both natural and man-made celestial objects. Scientists are confident the Agent will be identified. No one knows, and the conspiracy-minded suspect extraterrestrial forces are responsible, but are not taken seriously. World leaders in science, defense, and politics are mystified, referring to the causal Agent. After that, 7 tumbling boulders still bound by gravity remain. He and millions of others throughout the Americas witness the same chilling sight: a greater-than-moon-sized cloud which, after the dust settles, turns red. Before he can thumb the first key the Moon no longer exists. In present-day Utah, an amateur astronomer notices a dusty blur near the Moon's equator, and is thrilled to blog about it on his phone. The project is designed also to engage those left behind, and prevent worldwide chaos. The brain-trust is tasked by leaders to engineer a self-sustaining environment capable of maneuvering away from larger fragments, and withstanding 5,000 years in near-earth orbit until the planet is stable enough to be terraformed into supporting life.

The International Space Station, fitted with 'arklets,' populated with 1,500 people and the Human Genetic Archive, is the foundation around which the Cloud Ark will be constructed. Astronomers estimate only two years remain before debris enters and burns away Earth's atmosphere, surface, oceans, and all life.

Seveneves is a speculative novel dramatizing humankind's effort to survive following the Moon's explosive fragmentation by some inexplicable agent.

Seven eves book