The narrative of Killer Earth is set against a bleak future where humanity has effectively destroyed its original home and is seeking a fresh start on a new world. The core mythology revolves around the concept of a malevolent or corrupting home world.
The story begins in the aftermath of the final war, a cataclysmic conflict on Earth that the surviving characters believe should have “leveled almost everything.” This war was the ultimate motivation for the exodus, a desperate voyage across space to find a pristine world, free from the violence and self destruction of their ancestors.
The survivors, a handful of young people and their adult mentors represent a last ditch effort to preserve the human race. They fled Earth in two small craft, enduring a long journey where they were kept in a state of suspended animated suspension to slow their aging and allow for the absorption of historical learning.
The planet they land on is initially unnamed but is eventually christened Thrae. This name, an approximate spelling of “Earth” backward, signifies both a connection to their past and a fervent hope for a reversal of their fate.
Appearance: Thrae is described as having a deep blue sky with painted clouds, and a terrain ranging from sandy landscape to areas with trees.
The Landing: The story opens with the crash of their two vessels. One lands haphazardly but intact, carrying the male group of young survivors.
The central piece of mythology that defines the universe of the book is Kaplan’s Theory. This theory proposes that the ultimate source of humanity’s self destruction was not simply poor choices, but a fundamental, inherent malice within the planet Earth itself.
The Killer Planet: Kaplan postulated that the physical world of Earth created and perpetuated anger, evil, and greed in its inhabitants, leading inevitably to the Final War.
The Government’s View: This theory was dismissed by the government of the old world, but it serves as the underlying philosophy of the surviving expedition. The group’s primary goal is to escape this corrupting influence and build a pure society on Thrae.
The Looming Question: As the survivors struggle to establish themselves on Thrae, the mythological tension of the book is whether they have truly escaped the “killer” influence of their past, or if the seeds of violence and self destruction were carried with them, suggesting that the “Killer Earth” is not a place, but a condition of the human heart. The later discovery of rusted, seemingly abandoned structures and Collin’s descent into guilt and violence hint that the mythology of an inherently corrupting force may still be at play.
