498. Jupiter Ascending

Title: Jupiter Ascending

Genre: Adventure, Action, Sci-Fi
Year: 2015

Summary: At the beginning of the story, Earth's residents are unaware that the human species on Earth and countless other planets were established by families of transhuman andalien royalty for the purpose of later "harvesting" the resulting organisms to produce a type of youth serum for the elites on still other planets. After the death of thematriarch of the House of Abrasax, the most powerful of the alien dynasties, her children, Balem, Kalique, and Titus, quarrel over the inheritance, with Balem inheriting an enormous refinery on Jupiter and Titus declaring his intention to dismantle the youth serum trade, of which Earth is the next intended source. Protagonist Jupiter Jones narrates that her father, Maximilian Jones, met her mother, Aleksa, inSaint Petersburg. After Maximilian is killed in a robbery, Aleksa names their daughter Jupiter, after his favorite planet, and they move to Chicago to live with Aleksa's family.

Many years later, Jupiter works with Aleksa and her Aunt Nino to clean the homes of wealthy neighbors. To buy a telescope, Jupiter agrees to sell her eggs with the help of her cousin Vladie, under the name of her friend Katharine Dunlevy. At Katharine's house, Jupiter and Katharine are attacked byextraterrestrial 'Keepers'; and when Jupiter photographs these, they erase her memory of the incident. During the egg donation procedure, the doctors and nurses are revealed to be Balem's agents, sent to kill her, and she is saved by Caine Wise, a former soldier sent by Titus. Stinger Apini, an old comrade of Caine's, agrees to help Jupiter, but a group of hunters takes her to Kalique's palace on a distant planet, where Kalique explains that Jupiter is genetically identical to the dead matriarch, and therefore the Earth's rightful owner. Supported by Captain Diomika Tsing of the Aegis (an intergalactic police force), Caine retrieves her from Kalique, and brings her to the planet Ores (the intergalactic capital planet) to claim her inheritance.

Meanwhile, Balem sends Greeghan to kidnap Jupiter's family. On the way back to Earth, Titus detains Jupiter and Caine, to whom he reveals his plan to marry and then kill Jupiter and claim Earth before throwing Caine into the void; but Caine survives and saves Jupiter at the altar. Jupiter asks to return home, but learns that her family has been taken hostage by Balem. In his refinery in the Great Red Spot, Balem demands Earth in exchange for Jupiter's family. Realizing that Balem can "harvest" Earth only with her permission, Jupiter refuses. Balem tries to kill Jupiter; but she defeats him in a fight, and is rescued by Caine, Stinger, and Tsing while Balem falls to his death. Jupiter's family is returned home with no memory of their disappearance, but a new appreciation for Jupiter, while Jupiter secretly retains ownership of the Earth. Caine's rank with the Aegis is restored, and he and Jupiter begin a relationship.

During the ending credits it is revealed that the planets that make up the universe form endless DNA patterns showing how vast the harvesting industry is.