Sunstorm (novel)

In the meantime, a major solar event occurs on 9 June, disrupting virtually all of the Earth's electronic hardware. Dramatic as it is, this phenomenon is only a minor precursor of a far more massive solar eruption about five years off. Scientific models of the projected 2042 event make clear that the Earth will be sterilised completely by the upcoming solar burst. The effects will be so powerful as to even endanger astronauts on Mars.

Rather than sit by and allow the sun to just destroy all of Earth's life, political leaders (most notably the President of the Eurasian Union, Miriam Grec), and scientific leaders (led by Siobhan McGorran, the

Connections to other Clarke works

Just as in Time's Eye, Baxter and Clarke pay small homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey with lines lifted from the earlier book.

• The first words of Athena, a sentient artificial intelligence in Sunstorm, are "Good morning, Colonel Tooke. This is Athena. I am ready for my first lesson."^[1] This is similar to the statement spoken by HAL and addressed to Dr. Chandra during his regression in 2001: A Space Odyssey, implied to also be HAL's first words.
• Additionally, in Sunstorm, Athena is talking to her partner in space, Colonel Bud Tooke, shortly before she is expected to lose consciousness. Athena says to Bud, "I have always had the greatest enthusiasm for the mission",
  Dave Bowman on the Discovery
  .
• A character mentions that her daughter is working as a member of a team investigating a proposed space elevator. Space elevators play a major part in an earlier Clarke work The Fountains Of Paradise.
• A lunar base named Clavius (possibly in the crater of the same name) appears in both 2001 and Time's Eye.^{[citation needed]}

Cast

References