History Literature / JourneyToTheMorningStar

** For an added bonus, Fler mentions ancient Etherian history when their own society was just as divided and warlike as that of the Sinots. The warring rulers were called Tories. In RealLife, Tories were British traditionalists, yet another jab at the West.

* HotScientist: The [[http://www.e-reading.ws/illustrations/17/17314-g4.png illustrations]] show that Fler is ''very'' attractive, especially in her FutureSpandex.

* StockDinosaurs: Despite the events taking place on an alien planet, the humans encounter two dinosaurs straight out of Earth's past. One of these, a brontosaurus, is well-known to most readers, while the predatory dinocephalus is significantly less so. Also, on Earth, the two species lived during completely different geological periods with over 100 million years between them.

* {{Robot}}: The paranoia of the Sinot ruling caste has grown to such an extent that they no longer trust their own underlings. As such, besides commanders, the only crew members of Sinot rockets are robots. They appear humanoid but have earth-colored skin and glassy eyes. They follow all orders of their masters (unless countermanded by orders from the Technical Centers back on Sino Tau). A single robot is stated to be able to emit deadly radiation, capable of killing hundreds of thousands of people.

A teenage PowerTrio (Ilya, Nikita, Aleksey), whose names mysteriously match three famous [[Myth/RussianMythologyAndTales bogatyrs]], meet a girl named Zabava, who mentions that her grandfather is a Wizard. After they boys sneak into her yard, the Wizard invites them in and reveals that he has invented a new mode of transportation called a "thoughtplane", which is, basically, a starship capable of moving "at the speed of thought" (i.e. instantaneously) to any point in the universe. He offers the boys to join him and his granddaughter on a trip to a planet in the Coma Berenices constellation. After pressing the BigRedButton, they exit the craft to find themselves on an [[AllPlanetsAreEarthlike Earth-like alien world]]. They explore for a bit, but two of them are nearly killed by carnivorous walking flowers emitting knockout gases, and they discover dinosaurs on this world. They witness a dinocephalus attacking and killing a brontosaurus, before the predator turns on them, only to be shot out in mid-leap by an unseen weapon. They meet a group of HumanAliens. After the Wizard brings out his [[TranslatorMicrobes magical translation box]], they find out that the aliens are a scout group from another planet in the same system called Etheri Tau ("Cold Star" in their language). Etheri Tau is a dying world, whose people have long ago moved underground but now are attempting to move their population to the virgin world of Aeo Tau ("Morning Star"), where our heroes are currently located. The Etherians originally mistook the humans for the denizens of Sino Tau ("Thunder Star"), a warlike race of HumanAliens from the second planet in the Lado system. The Sinots are split into two constantly-warring factions, whom the Etherians call the Circulars and the Angulars based on their symbols. The militant Sinots are opposed to the Etherians relocating to Aeo Tau, claiming that the young planet belongs to them, invoking TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies and killing the original 40,000 Etherian settlers as well as the diplomatic mission sent to Sino Tau. They have ships capable of traveling at the speed of light, but they refuse to share the secret.

* FrickinLaserBeams: The weapon used by the Angulars to destroy the Circular ship is described as an energy beam of some kind.