Re:Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes mi...
by willismichael on Wednesday December 18, 2013 @11:15AM
(#6928358)
...and then in the sequel they show up millions of years later when the war is over, only to find that sentient creatures have evolved and have almost entirely used up the oil reserves :)
Re:Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes mi...
by charlieflowers on Wednesday December 18, 2013 @11:13PM
(#6932828)
BRILLIANT!
Re:Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes mi...
by readlarryniven on Wednesday December 18, 2013 @02:53PM
(#6930156)
In Larry Niven's "Known Space" stories, one bit of backstory is that billions of years ago the Slaver empire colonized planets with yeast to feed to their livestock -- giant bioengineered slugs. In his "World of Ptavvs" he describes a survivor coming out of stasis on earth, long after the fall of the Slaver empire, very confused about what happened to his planet...
The story starts with people terraforming a planet and turning it into a giant algae-growing factory, for the purpose of creating oil from it. Whole plots with interesting characters occur. Then, suddenly, towards the end, those people abandon the whole project to go fight a war in their own galaxy. Then, the story ends with the shocking twist ... somehow you find out the abandoned algae factory is Earth. :)