0
$\begingroup$

In an alternate future, the cold war has never fully ended, as the soviet union never collapsed, but the two super powers have decided to work together in space, resulting in the construction of a space station the size of a city, filled with adventurers wanting to get away from earth and live amongst the stars. This station serves as the gateway to the stars, and freight is being routed through the city station to colonies around the solar system.

The grand architect of this space station is an intelligent man, backed by both U.S. and Soviet interest groups, and he is very proud of his creation. However, something happens where he comes to the conclusion that the earth must be destroyed. He sends signals to nuclear warning satellites around the globe, and the United States and Soviet Union are tricked into thinking that the other side fired first, causing a nuclear war that wipes out almost all human life on earth, while the city station is left unharmed (at least during the initial nuclear conflict, the fallout of these decisions will absolutely harm the station later on).

What would cause the designer of a joint American-Soviet space station to come to the conclusion that earth must be destroyed? His actions must be deliberate, they can't be an accident, nor can he be tricked or persuaded into doing them.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
8
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Eating the wrong sort of mushrooms in their packed lunch, a sour love affair, a stroke, severe mental illness, poisoning by a foreign power.... the list is potentially endless and would be about writing your story for you not building a world - questions about personal motivation are off-topic as opinion based anyhow (they are about "character" or story, not rules of a fictional world). Please take the tour and read-up in our help center about how we work, welcome to WB.se. $\endgroup$
    – Escaped dental patient.
    Aug 12, 2020 at 7:05
  • $\begingroup$ Alright, thank you! $\endgroup$
    – Saldor010
    Aug 12, 2020 at 7:09
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ If you'd like to explore questions relating to plot and character development, you could have a look at our sister-site, Writing. $\endgroup$
    – Escaped dental patient.
    Aug 12, 2020 at 7:11
  • $\begingroup$ That sounds like the better place to ask. Thank you for your time, I really do appreciate it :) $\endgroup$
    – Saldor010
    Aug 12, 2020 at 7:12
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Saldor010 I'm afraid I must inform you that questions about how your storyline should progress are equally off-topic on Writing, which is about the technical aspect of Writing. I hate seeing people getting wrongly redirected. $\endgroup$
    – F1Krazy
    Aug 12, 2020 at 7:15

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3
$\begingroup$

Even although the question has very little to do with the topic, here is my answer.

Firstly, the scenario makes not that much sense. If the USSR and USA decide to work on a Space Station together, you kind of assume tensions are not at an all time high.

Furthermore, if the relations are so good beweteen the USSR and USA, you would think someone in the chain of command would stop and ask why exactly the Soviets / Americans decide NOW is the perfect time to strike. Just as it happened in real life. More often then i am ok with, a Nuclear war was stopped because someone took a sec to think about what is going on.

Nukes are not just launched. First, the President or or General Secretary will be informed that hey, all of or Sats report in nukes. And then they will also report that exactly nobody has seen any ICBM´s leaving there home. Then the President or General Secretary will probably just sort of call DC or Moskau and be like "Yo, you happend to launch some nukes today ?". And they will be like "Nah, i was about to ask you the same". And then it will take a total of like 5min to figure out that SOMEONE may have send a signal to the sats.

I higly doubt a War would be so easy to achive if the to nations have such good relationships. It would be like if someone decided to launch a War between the USA and Canada today. Like, everyone would stop and be like "What?".

So the core of your scenario dosnt really work.

When it comes to Motivations, really there are non. Even the most dedicated person will know that not everyone down there is resposable for what they think is wrong with the world. Nuking everyone makes zero sense because again, almost nobody down there has done anything wrong.

You can draw a parallel to an AI takeover scenario that isnt made by Hollywood TM. In 99.999999999999999999999% of all cases, and AI Takeover would be something without a major war. Same here, if this one person really wants to change stuff, nuking everyone dosnt seem like a good plan.

I mean the fact alone that YOU dont know the reason shows that the core concept has a big problem. So maybe rewrite it.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ This will probably be the answer I mark as correct. I was hoping there might be some way to salvage the concept, but you're right, this just doesn't seem to fit together well. $\endgroup$
    – Saldor010
    Aug 12, 2020 at 15:27
1
$\begingroup$

What would cause the designer of a joint American-Soviet space station to come to the conclusion that earth must be destroyed?

To Avoid Something Worse

Could be the designer is aware of an approaching alien fleet. By some mechanism the designer has reliable intelligence that the number of people on the planet and the infrastructure is what's attracting them to our world - the infrastructure makes looting much easier. The designer has done enough simulations that he or she is convinced fighting is not an option; so he/she decides to scorch the Earth hoping that the invaders will lose interest.

A super-virus (or a zombie virus) could be raging across the planet. No obvious means of stopping it appears probable, and the devastation caused by destroying the Earth is still less than what projections indicate the super-virus will do.

Health Issues

The designer could be sick. Could be a brain tumor, or a mind-degenerative illness. This effects your personality, memory, and perception. The designer could be living in an unreal fantasy world at the time the decision is undertaken.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .