Vega in fiction

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Vega (Alpha Lyrae), one of the brightest stars in the night sky, has appeared in many science fiction stories.

1 Literature
2 Film and television
3 Comics and anime
4 Games

[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 (and the film adaptation), 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 6 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 "Topsid". In the process they discover artifacts left by a very advanced race from whom they get the secret of immortality.

[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 1985 novel and 1997 film Contact, a transmission is received from the vicinity of Vega and the protagonist Ellie Arroway is transported there via wormhole.

[edit] Comics and anime

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.

[edit] Games

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 I, 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, the Terran government is moved to Vega, after all contact with Sol has been lost.

See also Star names in popular culture.

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