A big piece of the jigsaw in my story is the entirety of the UK is killed in an instant, dropping down dead where they stand. Literally the whole country (If you remember the tv show flashforward, something similar, without the flashforward. They simply die). I can't use a bomb or a virus or anything that has been done before, it's too messy or too strung out. This has to be instantaneous. I'm thinking of something like a shockwave that kills anything in its path but I'm clueless, I wouldn't even know where to start with the research. Anyone any idea? Thanks in advance
Who is doing the killing and how advanced is their tech? If something is going to destroy humans, then it will destroy other things as well. There isn't really a known way for a force to target only humans, or even only life, outside viruses. I suppose something could blanket the area in radiation like a Neutron Bomb. That could leave structures intact but would kill the local environment. I guess microwaves, sound waves, things like that would harm humans, but those have side effects too. If the door is open to the supernatural or alien race tech then it could be pretty much anything. Something that attacks consciousness at a higher level. Or if we're talking a future society, then everyone could have brain implants that are instantaneously exploited.
Maybe the killers played the long game and infected everyone with nanobots that attached themselves to the heart, and then, at the same time, they all produced an electrical shock or they all exploded (Each heart would have many, many nanobots on it)? I don't know, man, you're asking a lot for an entire country to insta-die. Even within the realm of Fantasy or Sci-Fi, that's a pretty daunting task.
I've just been told about something HAARP. Googled it and it's alot of science and a little bit baffling. Anyone know much about it? As for who is doing the killing, think Donald trump, mega super kingpin, leader of the world type of guy.
Like, Donald Trump as in massive business tycoon? If that's the case, maybe they created a technology that everyone uses, and then set it to "kill?" Also, HAARP is a weather research center, but there're concerns that it has some pretty dangerous military capabilities.
If it's not being caused by someone, try a radiation burst. A gamma ray burst from a nearby star could wipe out all life on earth pretty quickly, but you can maybe fudge the science to make it just hit the UK. If it is caused by someone intentionally, there has been work into making radiation bombs (I know you said no bombs but it's not the force or heat from such a bomb that would kill, so it might still be different enough for you, but that's your call). I don't know too much about them but you could look it up if you think it sounds interesting (look up neutron bombs, or enhanced radiation weapons).
**************The Happening Spoilers*******************! In the movie The Happening it was the plants that were killing everybody. It wasn't instantaneous but could have been if the writer wanted. It's Sci-Fi, you create it with your imagination.
The problem with a situation where everyone 'dies' at the same time all over the UK is that it needs to be evenly distributed over the area before it is "set off". I also assume that overseas territories & dependancies are not included? Virus, gas or the likes would not result in a simultaneous extermination. Also, anything like a volcano or meteorite would probably also wipe our Ireland and parts of France as well. You could have a kill-switch device. Something like a health monitor is implanted into people arm (not far off our tech levels - already prototypes), however Mr.Big Evil implanted a secret code that release a lethal dose of a fast acting toxin (it would have to be a small amount), something like botulinium, TTX or Ricin. He then flips a switch that activates every single pill to release it's dose directly in the blood stream. All those three poisons should kill a person in a very short period of time (preventing any possible survivors by treatement) and very effectively (the doses for lethality in these are, under my understanding, very small and could fairly easily be introduced in a pill-monitoring device.) This method guarantees to a certain extent that only people on british soil is affected. The problem is that there would naturally be people against this that have removed or denied the implantation of such 'pills'. There are also tourists and other people who would not normally be affected. But at that point, we are talking about a few thousand. This system also does not destroy the land itself or make it unusable and this also can be used to wipe out overseas territories. There could also be smaller. For instance, nano-bots are mass created and released into the atmosphere. They are pre-programmed to go the critical areas and do lethal damage (for example they could bind themselves to the heart tissue and explode at a given time - ripping apart the heart). Everyone or anything that breathes in this infected air with nanobots will die at this pre-programmed time. (note, this would affect anyone who breathes this air (or it can be water for the transmition method) including tourists, foreigns dignitaries etc... It may also spread further by winds currents or the likes and affect foreign countries). The problem with large-scale radiation, meteors, volcanos or the likes is that it destroys the land for years if not permanently. It is a factor you obviously need to consider if it is a desired outcome.
How advanced in the technology in your book? It could be some kind of bomb but I always think there is only one real unstoppable antagonist and that is mother nature because she is merciless. Nature can't be reasoned with and nature is more powerful than us.
This is pretty much what I thought of as soon as I read the OP. A gamma ray burst. Personally, I'd go for some sort of directed energy weapon. Powerful enough to make the burst hit just the UK, but not so much it fries an entire hemisphere of the planet. It would probably have to be space based.
It may be possible to use a multipart system in water that creates a build up or dependency, then a second fatal 'catalyst', then a controlling substance that would suspend human reaction so it's already too late when the controllis removed. Plop. Dead.
Mr. Evil Overlord could have a device on a satellite, aim it at said country and whatever is emitted has the capability of killing everyone in a designated range, which could encompass the entirety of the UK. It's just a matter of figuring out whether you want the device to emit a laser beam, sound waves, oxygen sucking thing, or whatever.
Massive electromagnetic pulse causes all metallic structures in the affected area to release massive bolts of electricity, frying everyone.
Bombs would be tough anyway, here's the Tsara Bomba (largest nuke ever built, 100 megatons) airburst over London: It's big, but... Would take quite a few of them.
This is seemingly the route I want to take, but is there anything even remotely like this in existence, with these capabilities? Clearly it's highly doubtful there is, but even something along these lines I could base it on? It would be quite easy to say Mr bigwig has been working on it in secret since the mid 90s or whatever
Sue says something devastatingly funny during the finale of Great British Baking Show? -Or- An otherwise benign parasite that carries a very accurate molecular countdown clock in the DNA that manufactures a nerve toxin when it gets to its final iteration. -Or- An narrow gamma laser in high orbit that rasters down the country. A fast moving 80m wide beam that will only penetrate a few kilometers into the earth, but will kill everything between its orbit and the ground. Actually, not raster - how about a spiral that comes from a wobble induced in the fast spinning laser?
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union had been working on having orbiting weapons, but before they could, the Outer Space Treaty forbid the use of outer space weaponry. So yes, it's feasible in real life to have orbiting weaponry. However a devise that could instantaneously wipe out an entire country? Not so feasible in real life. As was pointed out in another post, even nuclear weapons can't wipe out an entire country the size of the UK, the Bad Guy would need multiple nuclear weapons deployed simultaneously at strategic points across the UK in order to accomplish that goal. Do you want the weapon to kill only the living things and leave buildings intact? If so, nuclear weapons or any similar weapon will not work. During WWII the German's unsuccessfully tried to create a low-frequency sound wave weapon, maybe your Bad Guy could build a working one. https://crab.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/a-short-history-of-sound-weapons-pt2-infrasound/
Easy. Global warming is a huge problem. We must do something now. And here is this fine new technology. We can release tons and tons and tons of these fine almost organic dust particles somewhere between space and atmosphere. And in near vacuum situations this dust pops. It becomes a baloon -like object. A dust particle becomes about one inch balloon and that superwhite balloon reflects all the heat of the sunlight and most of the light away... We have billions of particles in one kg which is about 12 litres. So a spoonful will cover large area and one kilo will cover huge area and a ton will cover more than UK. Hey.... We get cooler areas under that balloon rain which happens somehere between 120km to 10km where those "balloons" become very small and they absorb water and drop down. And... Between 110km to 10 km those "balloons" are so light that they "rain" down very, very, very slowly. So they cool atmosphere for long time. Or... This is the theory. ESA decides to test them - in co-operation with the company that developed them. But something goes wrong. (I know what but I won't tell it yet.) Somewhere very, very high air starts to cool and cool and cool... It becomes more dense and heavier when it cools. And in some point this very cold air starts to pour down. Think about polar vortex. Now... think about vortex that is -140°C. And it pours down. It starts with a snow rain but snowing stops when all the moist from air run out. And that cold air does not suck any moist from anywhere. The eye of the vortex is only about 30-40. But it brings down so cold air from very high parts of atmosphere. And the cold air spreads. It is heavier and goes down. Air can be ok 2-5 km higher, but you are in the ground level. Ok... We did solve the greenhouse problem and global warming. We really did. Cool. We are supersmart. Ok... Instead of Brexit we got Freezexit. When and how do I get my royalties?
Something that disrupts the electrical signals of the brain, the causes of death would vary but be some sort of organic failure. Or, have it be a mystery.
I originally went for the mystery angle, cos they wouldn't know themselves what had happened, but the story didn't work in general, and the rewrite has lead me down a path where it makes more sense to explain it than not
