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February 12, 2010 5:17 PM Subscribe
Help me brainstorm the most epic outer space duel ever, between two immortals. Difficulty: neither can die, only be incapacitated somehow.
For a very soft sci fi story I'm working on, that doesn't really adhere much to hard science, obviously.
So: two immortals, fighting it out in space. They can have whatever crazy weapons they need, and be anywhere in space that they need to be. But it's a one-on-one duel in space (and don't worry about how they breathe, propel themselves, keep from imploding in a vacuum, etc.) I've got it covered.
I'm considering having one of them trap the other inside a gas giant like Jupiter, where the intense pressure as they approach the core turns hydrogen to metal. But I'm trying to think of other ideas.
Since neither can be killed, the trick is to capture or trap the other in something that can resist their immense strength.
I've already discarded the idea of tossing them into a black hole/wormhole or throwing them into the sun, etc. What other elements that already exist in the universe might serve as a way for one immortal to defeat the other?
For a very soft sci fi story I'm working on, that doesn't really adhere much to hard science, obviously.
So: two immortals, fighting it out in space. They can have whatever crazy weapons they need, and be anywhere in space that they need to be. But it's a one-on-one duel in space (and don't worry about how they breathe, propel themselves, keep from imploding in a vacuum, etc.) I've got it covered.
I'm considering having one of them trap the other inside a gas giant like Jupiter, where the intense pressure as they approach the core turns hydrogen to metal. But I'm trying to think of other ideas.
Since neither can be killed, the trick is to capture or trap the other in something that can resist their immense strength.
I've already discarded the idea of tossing them into a black hole/wormhole or throwing them into the sun, etc. What other elements that already exist in the universe might serve as a way for one immortal to defeat the other?
Other then a black hole or star, I'm not sure exactly what you could use. Maybe cause a star to go supernova near them?
posted by delmoi at 5:20 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by delmoi at 5:20 PM on February 12, 2010
Gamma ray bursts are among the most energetic events in the universe.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:22 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:22 PM on February 12, 2010
I would think you would want some weapon/element that alters consciousness as the coup de grâce, something that would make the stricken immortal lose all sense of itself (and hence, stop fighting).
You should really read William Blake's "The Book of Urizen", which is all about a schism between immortals that results in one being entombed within a new world of his own creation.
posted by hermitosis at 5:25 PM on February 12, 2010 [3 favorites]
You should really read William Blake's "The Book of Urizen", which is all about a schism between immortals that results in one being entombed within a new world of his own creation.
posted by hermitosis at 5:25 PM on February 12, 2010 [3 favorites]
If it were me, I would spend however many millions of years it may take me to build a Jupiter brain (see here), and set it to work on the problem (immortal hardly equates that kind of brain power, or so I guess) while I hide in some good place (which is another interesting problem by itself).
posted by Iosephus at 5:27 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by Iosephus at 5:27 PM on February 12, 2010
As we have all learned from Kung Fu Academy, every immortal has an Achilles heel. Maybe your immortal's weakness is being hit by a mace with a quark star at the end, or a nunchaku made from strangelets. Or you could trip up your immortal with rope made from superstring theory. Sounds good, though, doesn't it?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:29 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:29 PM on February 12, 2010
Well, immortal and strong wouldn't keep one of them getting hit by a comet and then unable to resist the amazing momentum created by moving between 1 and 54 kilmeters per second enough to pry themselves away from it. So they could simply be stuck to the front of a high speed comet for eternity, circling the universe and miserable. That has a certain nice mythic quality to it, too, doesn't it?
posted by visual mechanic at 5:38 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by visual mechanic at 5:38 PM on February 12, 2010
wouldn't keep one of them from getting hit by a comet....
posted by visual mechanic at 5:39 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by visual mechanic at 5:39 PM on February 12, 2010
I'd assume the universe is Smolin-esque: subject to cosmological natural selection, and reproducing via budding at black holes. Get the universe "pregnant" (by whatever means) and banish the opponent to the newly-forming baby universe just before the connection severs and it breaks free from its mother. Maybe even make sure it's like a retarded universe. Done and done.
posted by rlk at 5:48 PM on February 12, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by rlk at 5:48 PM on February 12, 2010 [2 favorites]
Leave one of them adrift in the vacuum of space forever, after his ability to propel himself is somehow taken/broken/prevented/incapacitated by the other.
posted by madmethods at 5:49 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by madmethods at 5:49 PM on February 12, 2010
Throw a planet full of sentient life. If you can't assail them physically, do so morally.
posted by filmgeek at 6:14 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by filmgeek at 6:14 PM on February 12, 2010
They're immortals, yes? If they have been immortals a long time, they have probably done/seen/experienced bad things? Perhaps one of them can talk the other into being paralyzed/suicidal with self doubt/grief/regret ennui etc.?
posted by juv3nal at 6:16 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by juv3nal at 6:16 PM on February 12, 2010
Seconding neutron star. If one character gets stuck on it's surface he/she won't be able to move a muscle, let alone escape the immense gravitational pull (for mere mortals, the atoms would be stripped from the bodies like confetti). You could even go the pseudo-comedic ending and have both characters stuck on the surface together, each unable to move for eternity.
posted by kisch mokusch at 6:18 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by kisch mokusch at 6:18 PM on February 12, 2010
The discarded crystalline shell of a lifeform that lives in the vacuum of space. One of the immortals is tricked into entering, and by reflex the shell closes. The organism bonds with the immortal and s/he loses consciousness and becomes a strange hybrid form of life.
posted by Not Supplied at 6:46 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by Not Supplied at 6:46 PM on February 12, 2010
If our universe is a holographic projection from the boundary of space/time, maybe one of them could go "change the pixels" to gain advantage?
posted by Max Power at 7:17 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by Max Power at 7:17 PM on February 12, 2010
> results in one being entombed within a new world of his own creation.
> If they have been immortals a long time, they have probably done/seen/experienced bad things?
When you're using a character based around an absolute, I think the standard trope is for him/her to be undone by redirection of that absolute, such that strength becomes weakness, ability becomes addiction, armor becomes tomb. Basically, we're talking character flaw.
So, though not specifying an answer, here's perhaps a way of narrowing the question:
If one lives forever and has immense strength, how can one be forced to use exactly that strength forever, in a way that traps him?
posted by darth_tedious at 7:21 PM on February 12, 2010 [2 favorites]
> If they have been immortals a long time, they have probably done/seen/experienced bad things?
When you're using a character based around an absolute, I think the standard trope is for him/her to be undone by redirection of that absolute, such that strength becomes weakness, ability becomes addiction, armor becomes tomb. Basically, we're talking character flaw.
So, though not specifying an answer, here's perhaps a way of narrowing the question:
If one lives forever and has immense strength, how can one be forced to use exactly that strength forever, in a way that traps him?
posted by darth_tedious at 7:21 PM on February 12, 2010 [2 favorites]
What if our hero discovers a way to force our villain into another dimension in The Bulk? Thus trapping him forever in a membrane just out of the reach of our hero.
posted by quadog at 7:56 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by quadog at 7:56 PM on February 12, 2010
What if one flings the other at the speed of light so that time slows down for the flung-ee to the point where he is effectively incapacitated?
Keep in mind, I was a history major. I don't remember much from "Physics for Poets" except that time changed for things moving at near light-speed.
Or perhaps one freezes the other to near-zero Kelvin, so all molecular motion slows down?
I was going to suggest time travel to begin with, but that may be too easy or un-real for your somewhat-real universe, but maybe a time-travel-LIKE effect would work?
posted by woot at 7:57 PM on February 12, 2010
Keep in mind, I was a history major. I don't remember much from "Physics for Poets" except that time changed for things moving at near light-speed.
Or perhaps one freezes the other to near-zero Kelvin, so all molecular motion slows down?
I was going to suggest time travel to begin with, but that may be too easy or un-real for your somewhat-real universe, but maybe a time-travel-LIKE effect would work?
posted by woot at 7:57 PM on February 12, 2010
After all the above brute force attempts fail, our hero can introduce his enemy to World of Warcraft where he spends the rest of eternity getting one. more. level.
posted by Osmanthus at 8:24 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by Osmanthus at 8:24 PM on February 12, 2010
You can pick how he gets there- whether it be hacked to pieces or burned or turned to jelly, they can fight at a frantic pace each racing to leave the other body-less. This is their real goal. This losing immortal is forced to spend eternity as nothing more than a brain. A brain living only seconds and dying as the his mortal body regenerates but dies over and over again in the vacuum of space... until
posted by bkeene12 at 8:38 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by bkeene12 at 8:38 PM on February 12, 2010
I might be more interested in a stalemate.
Something where they end up having to repeatedly save each other in a loop.
posted by CarlRossi at 9:41 PM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]
Something where they end up having to repeatedly save each other in a loop.
posted by CarlRossi at 9:41 PM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]
I really like the idea that is going on in lost right now with jacob and the other guy (we don't know his name yet ?!)
Over and over, the other guy looking for some loophole, but there is really a philosophical/metaphysical bent to it as well.
As happened a couple of episodes ago, the other guy kills jacob through a loophole using a proxy. Achilles heel that they couldn't kill each other.
posted by TheBones at 12:46 AM on February 13, 2010
Over and over, the other guy looking for some loophole, but there is really a philosophical/metaphysical bent to it as well.
As happened a couple of episodes ago, the other guy kills jacob through a loophole using a proxy. Achilles heel that they couldn't kill each other.
posted by TheBones at 12:46 AM on February 13, 2010
I recommend reading the beginning of Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show. It actually kinda-sorta describes that sort of a battle. Two opposing forces battling over years and years, neither able to win, only able to influence.
If it's immortals in space, I highly recommend the battle taking place over centuries of time and lightyears of distance. Another book I've read the name of which I can't remember dealt with humans witnessing two omnipresent alien species essentially flinging stars and black holes at each other over the course of millennial, thus literally destroying the universe.
posted by carlh at 6:08 AM on February 13, 2010
If it's immortals in space, I highly recommend the battle taking place over centuries of time and lightyears of distance. Another book I've read the name of which I can't remember dealt with humans witnessing two omnipresent alien species essentially flinging stars and black holes at each other over the course of millennial, thus literally destroying the universe.
posted by carlh at 6:08 AM on February 13, 2010
Thirding neutron star and having both of them stuck on it.
Otherwise, what if you could trick/force the other immortal to continue to accelerate, and via relativity, time exponentially speeds up for them such that they are then eventually confronted with the heat-death/implosion (and perhaps re-big bang) of the universe?
posted by porpoise at 9:51 AM on February 13, 2010
Otherwise, what if you could trick/force the other immortal to continue to accelerate, and via relativity, time exponentially speeds up for them such that they are then eventually confronted with the heat-death/implosion (and perhaps re-big bang) of the universe?
posted by porpoise at 9:51 AM on February 13, 2010
Response by poster: These are all really interesting... Please keep them coming!
posted by egeanin at 11:59 AM on February 13, 2010
posted by egeanin at 11:59 AM on February 13, 2010
One of them does die, but at the same time.... he doesn't.
posted by water bear at 3:10 PM on February 13, 2010
posted by water bear at 3:10 PM on February 13, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by radiosilents at 5:19 PM on February 12, 2010