Starflyer
Names: Starflyerthe alienthe alien monsterStarflyer creatureStarflyer networkitthe monsterour nemesis
First appears in Book 1: Pandora's Star, chapter 3 (TWO)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: Pandora's Star
- Ch 5According to the clans, the Starflyer survived the arkship crash, ignited the flare in Far Away's sun, and now hides among humanity in the Commonwealth.
- Ch 7An alien the Guardians claim influences Commonwealth politicians through puppets and engineered the mission to the Dyson Pair.
- Ch 10Alien believed by Bradley to be corrupting humanity and plotting genocide; it wanted the Second Chance starship built.
- Ch 13The Starflyer is believed by the Guardians to be a monster plotting against humanity; offworlders regard it as a local myth.
- Ch 13The Guardians believe the Starflyer's long-laid plans are maturing with the construction of the human starship, threatening the Commonwealth.
- Ch 13Enemy of the clans that enslaves captured fighters and sends them back to infiltrate and kill clan members, hence the roll call.
- Ch 14The Guardians believe the Starflyer has corrupted Commonwealth authorities and will return to Far Away, where the planet will have its revenge.
- Ch 20Bradley claims the Starflyer, not humans, switched off the barrier, using the Second Chance.
- Ch 23The Starflyer is a supposed malicious alien allegedly influencing human politicians and pushing humanity toward the Dyson Alpha flight; its existence is unproven.
- Ch 24Alleged alien manipulator; Paula suspects it is behind Thompson's murder. The Guardians claim it will return to its ship once the Commonwealth is ruined.
- Ch 24Guardians believe the Starflyer is a secret alien manipulating humans and politicians; Justine rejects its existence.
- Ch 24Adam says the Starflyer works through humans; someone aboard turned off the barrier and rigged Bose and Verbeke's abandonment.
- Ch 24Adam claims the alien is becoming more active, citing strange recent events.
- Ch 26Paula Myo confirms to Justine that the Starflyer is real, proving Kazimir right.
Book 2: Judas Unchained
- Ch 2The Starflyer has previously returned Guardian prisoners presumed dead as its agents.
- Ch 3The Starflyer is believed to have corrupted someone highly placed in CST who arranged Bruce's escape.
- Ch 3Paula tells Hoshe the Starflyer is an alien that Guardians have long warned about, and she now considers it likely it has agents in her old office.
- Ch 5The Starflyer is an alien that Mellanie claims may have triggered the war and has agents who tried to kidnap her.
- Ch 6Paula and Hoshe conclude the Starflyer funded Bose's observation, so it knew what he would find and likely released the Primes deliberately.
- Ch 8According to the Guardians, the Starflyer will return to Far Away once the Commonwealth is destroyed.
- Ch 9The Starflyer apparently has agents in the navy and appears able to communicate with the Primes. It escaped exposure by altering the official record.
- Ch 10Bradley says the Starflyer's goal is a war that wipes out one side and badly damages the other, and it may leave once that is inevitable.
- Ch 10Johansson claims the Starflyer ruined Far Away with a mega flare and is returning there, its slaves preparing the way.
- Ch 10Paula believes the Doi shotgun was Starflyer disinformation meant to discredit the Guardians; the Admiral does not accept the Starflyer is real.
- Ch 10Its agents are weapons wetwired; for over a century the Guardians have been its only opposition.
- Ch 11According to the Guardians, the Starflyer will leave for Far Away once it has arranged humanity's destruction.
- Ch 13Nobody knows who is working for the Starflyer, which breeds distrust among Anna, Wilson and others.
- Ch 13Paula deduces the Starflyer likely travels in its own freight wagon, moving between engines, companies, sidings and warehouses and modernized over decades, making it nearly impossible to trace.
- Ch 13The Starflyer is the survivor of the Marie Celeste arkship on Far Away; its appearance, size and origin are unknown, and it is long-lived and works on centuries-long timescales.
- Ch 13The Starflyer funded Dudley's observation of Dyson Alpha through a bogus charity, had agents aboard the Second Chance, and infiltrated the navy to engineer war between humans and Primes.
- Ch 13The Starflyer is an alienPrime version of MorningLightMountain, a subsidiary cluster (MorningLightMountain17,735) sent on an early starship, trapped between the stars when the barriers went up.
- Ch 13The Starflyer revised its strategy when the Commonwealth announced a starship; it expected flare bombs, not quantumbusters, against the second invasion.
- Ch 14Clans expect the Starflyer may come through the gateway at 3F Plaza.
- Ch 14The Starflyer is revealed to be the same family as the Primes; it is expected to try to reach Boongate and a honey trap is planned.
- Ch 14The Starflyer is expected to fly back to Dyson Beta or another place where it can link up with its own kind.
- Ch 15The Starflyer is racing to Port Evergreen, the last remaining wormhole on Far Away, with a thirty-minute head start, intending to blow its generator and strand the Guardians.
- Ch 15The Starflyer left the aircraft unsabotaged, so Adam suspects it improvises or plans to destroy the Port Evergreen generator and trap pursuers.
- Ch 15The Starflyer's group is stalled at Port Evergreen, apparently by Stig, with forty minutes left in the wormhole cycle.
- Ch 15The Starflyer is believed not to risk itself without an escort on the far side of the gateway.
- Ch 15The Starflyer was seen on grainy sneekbot footage leaving a truck for a life-support capsule, then driven out of Armstrong City in a convoy.
- Ch 16The Starflyer is on its way back to Far Away; its convoy used heavy armor, force fields and mines to escape Guardian attacks from Armstrong City.
- Ch 16The Dynasty now officially believes the Starflyer is behind the war; it used Daniel Alster as an agent and is heading back to Far Away.
- Ch 17The Starflyer has manipulated Commonwealth politics for decades; seventy planets were destroyed and millions killed. The public does not yet know it is real.
- Ch 18Its plans were interrupted by Stig's bomb; the Guardians sensed its arrogance and malice and nearly exterminated it.
- Ch 18The Starflyer wants the Commonwealth intact to strike back at MorningLightMountain, seeing both as battered prizefighters.
- Ch 18The Starflyer is making better progress along Highway One than the Guardians expected.
- Ch 18The Starflyer's convoy razed every town along Highway One and masered every communications node to cut long-range communications.
- Ch 18The Starflyer convoy forded the Anculan upriver using explosives to build ramps, after a bloody fight with Guardian-allied clan riders on Charlemagnes.
- Ch 19The Starflyer's convoy is about a hundred kilometers ahead on Highway One, making better time than expected.
- Ch 19The Starflyer sends every vehicle it has from the Institute carrying hundreds of improved soldier motiles against the Guardians.
- Ch 19A Starflyer agent planted the flare bomb inside the ring structure within the fourth lattice sphere.
- Ch 19The Starflyer is said to have given the Commonwealth force field technology while keeping the best parts for itself.
- Ch 19The Starflyer directs all the alien and human bodies in the valley as one homogenized mind, preparing the starship to leave and escape.
- Ch 19The Starflyer boards the starship via the gantry lift and awakens the whole vessel.
- Ch 19The Starflyer cannot conceive of independence, rebellion or betrayal, and assumes its motiles share its thoughts; this is its fatal flaw.
- Ch 19The Starflyer lives in a thirty-cubic-meter life-support chamber at the center of the Marie Celeste's tanks, receiving information and supervising ship systems.
- Ch 19Its processors are extensions of its mind and obey only orders with an internal heritage, so no human can hack the Institute valley network.
Connections
- enemy ofBradley Johansson
- ally ofAlessandraMellanie believes she works for it
- has memberBruce McFosteragent serving the Starflyer
- ally ofAlessandra Baronalleged by Mellanie to work for it
- has memberAlessandra Baronagent of
- has memberIsabella Helena Halgarthsuspected
- enemy ofPaula Myoinvestigating and hunting it
- has memberTarloPaula Myo says he works for the Starflyer
- ally ofIsabella Helena Halgarthagent of the Starflyer
- ally ofDyson aliensOscar suspects it supplied the flare bomb design
- related toTarlotaken over by the Starflyer
- related toMorningLightMountainalienPrime version derived from MorningLightMountain's subsidiary cluster
- related toIsabella Helena Halgarthcompelled agent controlled by the Starflyer
- family ofDyson alienssame family
- has memberVictorbelieved to be a Starflyer agent
- enemy ofAlic Hogan
- ally ofDaniel AlsterJudas agent
- ally ofStarflyer agents
- has memberDaniel Alsteragent of
- enemy ofIsabella Helena Halgarthcorrupted her mind in childhood
- has memberAnnaagent of the Starflyer
- related toAnnaagent of the Starflyer
- has membermotilecontrolled by the Starflyer's hive-like mind
- inMarie Celeste
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 7Guardians of Selfhood shotgun the unisphere
A message with Halgarth's certificate is shotgunned to billions of e-butlers, claiming the Starflyer engineered the Dyson Pair mission and urging citizens to demand it be stopped.
- Book 1 · Ch 17Guardians of Selfhood broadcast
The Guardians' spokesman blames the Starflyer for freeing the Dyson aliens and urges citizens to demand an armada and vigilance against Starflyer agents.
- Book 1 · Ch 23Paula consults Leonard
Paula visits Leonard, tells him about the case, and weighs pursuing Johansson versus the Starflyer. Talking it through, she decides to go to Far Away and approach the Guardians.
- Book 1 · Ch 26Mellanie flees Alessandra
Mellanie deduces that Alessandra warned the Starflyer's cover-up, flees the penthouse, and heads to Dudley, intending to find Paula Myo.
- Book 1 · Ch 26Justine mourns Kazimir
Justine kneels by Kazimir's dead body. Paula Myo tells her the navy did not do it, that it has leaks, and that the Starflyer is real.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Mellanie confronts Paula Myo
Mellanie visits Paula in Paris and tells her about the Starflyer, the fraudulent Cox charity and Baron. Paula is noncommittal, says she'll investigate, and asks Mellanie to come to her, not the media, with proof.
- Book 2 · Ch 5Mellanie recruits Morton as a source
In a private simulated space within Morton's inserts, Mellanie tells him about the Starflyer and asks him to smuggle classified Prime information from Elan in his reports; he agrees, and she gives him encryptionware.
- Book 2 · Ch 6Hoshe uncovers Cox charity fraud
Hoshe shows Paula that the Cox's records were faked and Directorate data suppressed; they conclude the Starflyer funded Bose's discovery and the war was deliberate.
- Book 2 · Ch 9Tampered navy records discovered
Wilson and Oscar show Paula Oscar's copy of the shuttle recording, but the official record has been altered to remove the dish deployment. Paula rules the copy inadmissible and says the Starflyer is likely behind it.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Bradley's grim assessment of the war
Bradley tells Adam the navy attack on Hell's Gateway seems to be in trouble and the war may continue regardless of exposing the Starflyer.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Johansson convinces Adam to continue
Adam, shaken, nearly refuses to go on. Johansson says Institute mercenaries are raiding Guardian villages and the Starflyer is returning to Far Away. Adam agrees to prepare the train to break the blockade, then leaves for the CST station.
- Book 2 · Ch 14Chase through the Boongate gateway
The GH7 chases Alic's carriage; the carriage crosses the gateway to Boongate, the team jumps, and the escorts destroy it while the GH7 passes through safely.
- Book 2 · Ch 15Wormhole lost and race to Port Evergreen
The Guardians find the Half Way wormhole gone, trapping them. Adam decides to fly Carbon Geese to Port Evergreen before the Starflyer blows the last wormhole.
- Book 2 · Ch 15Institute breaks through 3F Plaza
Institute Cruisers and bulldozers cross the rubble of Market Wall, drive trucks through the gateway, and bring the Starflyer out and away. Guardians cannot stop them, leaving an ambush at the gateway to trap Adam.
- Book 2 · Ch 18Chase along Highway One
Adam's party follows radio news of Bradley's pursuit of the Starflyer; Guardians destroyed the bridges, ambushes occur, and Institute reinforcements slow Bradley.
- Book 2 · Ch 18Scorched towns along Highway One
Bradley's convoy passes Haville and other towns razed by the Starflyer, with every comms node masered to sever communications.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Clans confront the Starflyer convoy
The clans block Highway One, mine it and encircle the Starflyer convoy; Barsoomians arrive on king eagles, and the Institute sends out hundreds of soldier motiles.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Bradley infiltrates the valley
Bradley hides in a ditch while soldier motiles pass, then stealthily approaches the starship and senses the Starflyer's unified mind as it boards.
- 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.