Marie Celeste
Names: Marie Celestethe arkshipalien arkshipthe starshipthe crashed arkship
First appears in Book 1: Pandora's Star, chapter 5 (FOUR)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: Pandora's Star
- Ch 8Alien arkship that flew about 520 years at 0.72 lightspeed, so it did not come from the Dyson Pair but somewhere closer.
- Ch 8Its life-support tanks held water and algae; theories are an aquatic species or an automated seedship meant to sterilize and seed worlds.
- Ch 8On arrival it triggered a mega-flare at Far Away's star that sterilized the world and powered a radio message, still undecoded.
- Ch 8Launched around AD 1300, it made a heavy landing, not a crash, on Far Away; its core control array was removed afterward.
- Ch 8The Institute's official history says its flare called a rescue ship that picked up survivors; the flare device was not found aboard.
- Ch 12Paula asks whether the Marie Celeste came from the Dyson Pair; Wilson says that is unlikely, per the Far Away Institute director.
- Ch 13An alien arkship eight hundred meters long, crash-landed in a valley; the Institute has surrounded it with scaffolding and arc lights, with activity reported for over a year.
Book 2: Judas Unchained
- Ch 14Nigel suspects the Starflyer has made the Marie Celeste FTL, probably using the original continuous wormhole generator rather than the new hyperdrive.
- Ch 15The Marie Celeste has superb force fields, is nearly impervious to weapons, and its flare bomb nearly destroyed Far Away's biosphere.
- Ch 19The starship is an eight-hundred-meter cylinder with eight fusion nozzles, shielded by a force field; Morton estimates it masses over a quarter million tons.
- Ch 19The Marie Celeste is an alien starship of fusion rockets, fuel tanks, water tanks with amoeba-like cells and force field generators; it has no crew quarters.
- Ch 19The ship was damaged on landing, and was lifted out of its scar onto a concrete pad and cradles by motiles.
- Ch 19As it prepared to launch, a megastorm wave of sand and stone struck it, overloading its force field generator.
Connections
- inFar Away
- related toMarie Celeste Research Institutestudied by
- containsStarflyer
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 8Director rules out Marie Celeste link
The Institute Director tells Wilson and Oscar the Marie Celeste's builders could not have made the Dyson barrier, which predates the arkship, so it is not connected to the Dyson Pair.
- Book 2 · Ch 15Bradley explains the planet's revenge
On the Carbon Goose, Bradley tells Paula the smuggled force field equipment will steer a superstorm to smash the Marie Celeste on Far Away.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Bradley infiltrates the Marie Celeste
Using the Starflyer's neural language, Bradley passes the force field, guards and alarms, enters the ship and taunts the Starflyer with claims of sabotage while launch is prepared.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Megastorm destroys the Marie Celeste
A megastorm overwhelms the starship's force field and buries the ship under a huge wave of sand and stone, killing Bradley and the Starflyer.