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- This page is about references to the star Vega in fiction. For other uses of the name Vega, see Vega (disambiguation).
Vega (Alpha Lyrae), one of the brightest stars in the night sky, has appeared in many science fiction stories.
[edit] Literature
- In Robert A. Heinlein's novel Have Space Suit—Will Travel, Vega hosts the planet of an advanced civilization which is the local representative and overseer of the Three Galaxies federation, and the curator of humanity after its discovery by the Three Galaxies.
- In Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy, Vega, or the Vegan planetary system, is understood to be an important business world, above all exporting Vegan tobacco. When Terminus, the home planet of Foundation, is isolated from the culture and sophistication of the innermost parts of the Galaxy, there is no more "mild Vegan tobacco" available, a fact repeatedly referred to by the characters of the first novel.
- In Carl Sagan's science fiction novel Contact , Earth receives a message from an extraterrestrial transmitter array orbiting Vega.
- In James Blish's Cities in Flight series, the Vega system is home to a civilization called the Vegan Tyranny, which the Earthmen must defeat before expanding out into the galaxy. (Blish also name-checks the Vegan Tyranny in his adaptation of the Star Trek episode "Tomorrow is Yesterday", though it is not mentioned in the script as filmed.)
- In Jack Vance's series, the Demon Princes, Vega is the parent star of the planets Aloysius, Boniface and Cuthbert. Aloysius, in particular, features prominently in the five books.
- In Roger Zelazny's book This Immortal, the Vegans are a species of humanoid aliens who use the Earth as a vacation resort.
- In James H. Schmitz's Agent of Vega, humans settled round Vega are building a new and better empire to replace the original fallen Empire of Earth.
- In Ivan Efremov's book Andromeda Nebula, expedition from Earth has visited Vegan system and found it to be lifeless.
- In the Perry Rhodan series, book 5 The Vega Sector, book 6 The Secrets of the Time Vault, and book 7 Fortress of the Six Moons, Perry Rhodan and his crew fly to Vega and help the inhabitants of the 8th planet defeat the invaders from "Topid". In the process they discover artifacts left by a very advanced race from whom they get the secret of immortality.
- In H. G. Francis's German serial of books and audio plays Commander Perkins the main opponent alien race is located on Vega and called Vegans.
- In L.M Montgomery's book Emily's Quest of the Emily Series, Vega is a symbol of faithfulness which the characters swear by.
[edit] Film and television
- In Star Trek, there are several references to a human colony situated in the Vega system. In his novelisation of the Original Series episode "Tomorrow is Yesterday," James Blish mentions the Vegan Tyranny from his Cities in Flight novels.
- In the 1997 film, Contact, a transmission is received from the vicinity of Vega and the protagonist Ellie Arroway is transported there via wormhole.
- In the film Spaceballs, Eagle 5 crash lands on a moon of Vega.
[edit] Comics
- In the DC Comics series Omega Men, the Vega star system is where a war among alien races takes place. One of its planets, Tamaran is home to Teen Titan member Starfire/Princess Koriand'r, who belonged to the royal family that governed her homeworld until her renegade sister Blackfire/Komand'r abducted and enslaved her.
- In a Commodore 64 computer game named HOMER, part of the story is centred on human migration to Vega.
- In the Traveller role playing game, a planetary system near Vega is inhabited by aliens called Vegans. They govern an autonomous region within the Imperium several parsecs large around Vega.
- In the Chris Roberts Space simulation game Wing Commander, the story takes place in a region of the galaxy known as the Vega Sector (its sector star is Vega), and the campaign of the Kilrathi War taking place there is known as the Vega Campaign.
- In the computer game FreeSpace 2, Vega is a colonized system. The node connecting Vega to Capella was collapsed during the Shivan invasion.
- In the computer games Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, Vega is a tourist trap thanks to the humid jungle planet (named Tracy's Haven) within the system. Tracy's Haven is known for its scenery and for its dangerous wildlife. The system itself is a Federation member. Considering that it is a politically stable system, Vega is remarkably lax in what goods it allows for legal sale. Goods that would normally be banned elsewhere in the Federation (most notably live animals and weapons) can be freely purchased or bought here. Only slaves, narcotics and nerve gas are banned in the Vega system.
- In the computer game Escape Velocity by Ambrosia Software, the Vega System is the site of a major fuel refinery.
- In Escape Velocity Nova, also by Ambrosia, the Vega System features the planet Las Vegas. Unlike its Terran namesake, the planet is quite conservative and austere.
