The Jupiter Theft
Encyclopedia
The Jupiter Theft is a 1977 novel by science fiction writer Donald Moffitt
, re-printed in 2003 with a new afterword. The initial part of the novel mixes near-future thriller and disaster novel scenarios, focussing on the discovery of a moving gamma-ray source headed towards Earth from the direction of Cygnus X-1
, and the diversion of a Chinese-American Jupiter
mission to investigate the new Solar System intruder. As the Chinese and Americans are mutually antagonistic politically, espionage and suspicion must be overcome for the Jupiter Mission to go ahead.
Once the Mission intercepts the intruder the story shifts into an alien contact
scenario. The "intruder" is actually the silicate core of a Jovian planet, orbited by a moon and five immense alien spacecraft. The Jupiter Mission is intercepted in mid-space by aliens, dubbed Cygnans, riding on matter-annihilation powered "broomsticks". The mission is essentially destroyed, with the surviving crew taken alive as specimens for a Cygnan zoo. Now imprisoned, the Sino-American crew attempt contact with the Cygnans and seek to discover their true purpose in appearing in the Solar System. Using a Moog synthesizer
, via an early example of sampling
in fiction, one of the crew who possesses perfect pitch learns the Cygnan musical language, and is educated by Cygnan didactic films. What he discovers is the Cygnans have travelled for six million years from the progenitor star of Cygnus X-1, now a black hole, and to do so have raided numerous star systems for Jupiter-mass planets to use as fuel.
With help from fluffy pink bird-like humanoids from 61 Cygni
, fellow zoo exhibits from the Cygnans' last port-of-call, some of the humans escape the starships just before the strange convoy leaves our Solar System - after securing a working example of the Cygnan annihilation drive and foiling a last ditch espionage attempt.
Donald Moffitt
Donald Moffitt is an author of a number of science fiction novels. Most famous among these are The Genesis Quest and Second Genesis.-Novels:*The Jupiter Theft *The Genesis Quest...
, re-printed in 2003 with a new afterword. The initial part of the novel mixes near-future thriller and disaster novel scenarios, focussing on the discovery of a moving gamma-ray source headed towards Earth from the direction of Cygnus X-1
Cygnus X-1
Cygnus X-1 is a well-known galactic X-ray source in the constellation Cygnus. It was discovered in 1964 during a rocket flight and is one of the strongest X-ray sources seen from Earth, producing a peak X-ray flux density of 2.3 Wm−2Hz−1...
, and the diversion of a Chinese-American Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
mission to investigate the new Solar System intruder. As the Chinese and Americans are mutually antagonistic politically, espionage and suspicion must be overcome for the Jupiter Mission to go ahead.
Once the Mission intercepts the intruder the story shifts into an alien contact
First contact (science fiction)
First contact is a common science fiction theme about the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrial life, or of any sentient race's first encounter with another one....
scenario. The "intruder" is actually the silicate core of a Jovian planet, orbited by a moon and five immense alien spacecraft. The Jupiter Mission is intercepted in mid-space by aliens, dubbed Cygnans, riding on matter-annihilation powered "broomsticks". The mission is essentially destroyed, with the surviving crew taken alive as specimens for a Cygnan zoo. Now imprisoned, the Sino-American crew attempt contact with the Cygnans and seek to discover their true purpose in appearing in the Solar System. Using a Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
, via an early example of sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
in fiction, one of the crew who possesses perfect pitch learns the Cygnan musical language, and is educated by Cygnan didactic films. What he discovers is the Cygnans have travelled for six million years from the progenitor star of Cygnus X-1, now a black hole, and to do so have raided numerous star systems for Jupiter-mass planets to use as fuel.
With help from fluffy pink bird-like humanoids from 61 Cygni
61 Cygni
61 Cygni,Not to be confused with 16 Cygni, a more distant system containing two G-type stars harboring the gas giant planet 16 Cygni Bb. sometimes called Bessel's Star or Piazzi's Flying Star, is a binary star system in the constellation Cygnus...
, fellow zoo exhibits from the Cygnans' last port-of-call, some of the humans escape the starships just before the strange convoy leaves our Solar System - after securing a working example of the Cygnan annihilation drive and foiling a last ditch espionage attempt.