Seveneves is a science fiction text that follows events in the near future when an unknown disaster occurs causing the moon to shatter into seven pieces. Scientists are tasked with building an ark that could sustain human life in space for more than five thousand years as they fear things will get worse. World leaders are tasked with choosing a small group of people as a means of preserving human life. 1,500 of the Earth’s youngest and healthiest are chosen.
Two years after the moon is destroyed, smaller pieces start falling into the earth’s atmosphere. The ark takes off in the form of smaller vessels to avoid debris from the falling fragments. Some people hide in secret bankers underground and others beneath the sea. Life above ground is wiped out and the earth becomes uninhabitable.
Life in space becomes difficult as people disagree on the best way to organize their new society. The survivors break into different groups that end up betraying each other and resulting in cannibalism after the food supply runs out. The human population is reduced to eight women who make it back after the five thousand years at which time the earth has revitalized and become habitable.
One woman is past her menopause which leaves the other seven to repopulate the earth using human genetic archives stored in the ship before its departure into space. These seven women form seven tribes that live in hostility. Those who hid underground and below the sea also appear and form their own tribes. The leaders of these tribes unite and discuss how to coexist peacefully with each other.
