Seveneves

Abstract

Seveneves imagines Earth in a near future, when the moon shatters due to an unknown cause. Dubois Harris, a science popularizer and astronomer, is able to predict the phenomenon and its impact, which will render the Earth uninhabitable due to the fallen debris. As a result, many people are evacuated to the Cloud Ark, a group of habitats that are in orbit around the planet along with the International Space Station, and are protected from the debris. Life of Earth, though, ceases to exist almost entirely. Following a conflict between the Arklets – those in the habitats – and the International Space Station (during which many people die), the latter is able to reach the Cleft, a crevasse on the now-exposed core of the moon. On board, there are only eight women, and only seven of them (the “Seven Eves” who give the novel its title) can bear children: Dinah, Ivy, Aïda, Tekla, Camila, Moira and Julia. Almost all of these women are specialised in distinct fields of knowledge within science, including genetics, robotics, astronautics, or physics. Moira ultimately uses her scientific knowledge and a genetics laboratory to make parthenogenetic reproduction possible, while also modifying human genes, with each “Eve” choosing modifications which they want to implement on their children. Thousands of years later, the descendants from each of these “Eves” live in a ring of habitats that circle the Earth, and come to bear significant differences from each other. Plans to terraform the Earth are proven to be reliable and possible, but the planet is still largely uninhabitable, though it is discovered that an underwater ark was built concomitantly with the Cloud Ark, and some humans survived the falling of the moon’s debris while remaining on the planet.