Trillions

by Nicholas Fisk

Before the military succeeds in destroying the strange, geometric objects from outer space, a thirteen-year-old boy learns to communicate with them and decides what to do with them.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Fantasy

Hardcover

First published March 1, 1971

About the author

(1923–2016), British author of more than forty books and television scripts and a master of science fiction for children. Fisk, whose real name is David Higginbottom, grew up during the Second World War and served in the Royal Air Force. His autobiography, Pig Ignorant (1992), covers the years 1939–1941 and details his life in Soho, a bohemian section of London, where he played jazz in the evenings until he was called to enlist. After the war Fisk worked as a musician, journalist, and publisher. He started writing in the 1960s, and his popularity was at its height in the 1970s and 1980s. His most impressive work, A Rag, a Bone, and a Hank of Hair (1982), is a thrilling futuristic novel set at the end of the 22ndcentury. The government is cloning new people and has manufactured a 1940s wartime family whose members are unaware that nothing they know is real. This moving story is a dark representation of the threat posed by technological advancement but is optimistic in its message about the triumph of the human spirit. Fisk's most enduring books include Grinny (1973), which features a technologized extraterrestrial threat in the form of a great- aunt who glows at night, and Trillions (1971), an eerie story about mysterious hard shiny objects that contain an alien intelligence. Monster Maker (1979) was made into a film.

Reviews

[Mark Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember this book from my childhood, I may have been 9 or thereabouts and it was given to me at school if I recall correctly.

My memories are very positive (I gave the book a 4* on the basis of them) but it turns out that I never actually read past the first 3 chapters.

The first three chapters are pretty good because the idea at the heart of this book - tiny crystals raining down from space and demonstrating the ability to move together and mimic things - is pretty damn cool.

Basically this is alien nano-technology imagined in 1973.

Sadly the rest of the book is deadly dull, written in the very dry style of 60's and 70's sci-fi and all about 'THE IDEA' rather than the characters.

It turns into essentially a desiccated discussion of what the trillions are for/about, set against the background of a cartoon-y / semi-satire imagining of the global response.

For no discernible reason the global response focuses on the small town where the trillions first landed (it's happening everywhere though), and manifests through one cardboard general, with the government wholly absent.

The characters are paper-thin. Four children, introduced at length, are thereafter just talking heads, with three quickly relegated to the sidelines. The focus, a 13 year old boy, repeatedly and inexplicably entertains a 40 year old government advisor/ex-astronaut in his bedroom for remedial level theorising about the trillions.

Nuclear weapons are deployed without the word 'radiation' being used once and any contamination effects are symbolised by the dropping dead of a few birds. Everyone else is fine.

The ending is unexciting and unsatisfying.

Basically I'm giving the second star because the initial idea is great. The 9 year-old me made the right decision by stopping after 3 chapters.



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[Mary JL · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am in the middle of this books so I will review when finished. So f
Progress report: It has not improved. I will probably finish, as it is a short book. One problem about reviewing children's books is I am an adult. The idea is fairly good for this book--strange crystal creature appear everywhere on earth, the characters are only average. But, no doubt, when I was 10 I woul have loved it.

This was written in 1971; does show how much sf for children has improved nowadays.

Finished. I am reluctantly giving it a 2 star rating at the idea was clever and there are good bits here and there. However, there are so much better Sf books out there for children..

[Rhys · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an important book for me for a specific reason. Unlike so many people I know, I wasn't a great reader of fiction before the age of 10. Back then, I tended to only read comics and browse through (simplified) history books and encylopaedias. But I decided at some point to try to read novels. I went to my local library and the first book I picked up off the shelves was (rather bizarrely) Kobo Abe's Inter Ice Age 4 which must have been in the children's section by mistake. I tried to read the first page and failed to understand it. So I looked for something else and found Trillions by Nicholas Fisk. How old was I? I'm not sure. I am guessing that I was eight years old.

I don't think I read it all the way through. I might not even have read much of it at all. But I thought it would be interesting to revisit it all these decades later. And what did I find? Well, I remembered the opening quite well but nothing else. It turns out to be an engaging story that is simply told but has a rather more complex plot than one would expect a children's science fiction novel to have. It raises questions about the destruction of our environment, for example, and deals with such subjects as hive intelligence, exoplanet ecology, military incompetence and counter-offensive tactics. I was pleasantly surprised.

Am I likely to read more Fisk books now? No, I don't think so. This was purely a nostalgia trip, but one I am glad I took.

[flajol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I first read this when I was 10 years old. It was one of the first books I borrowed from my high school library, and the first time I was aware of reading a science fiction story. I liked it enough then to go on to read more of Fisk's books, and to devour the SF sections of the school and public libraries. I came across it yesterday in a charity shop, and at 50c I couldn't refuse! Let's see if I enjoy it as much now as I did then.

***

Hmm. Best left as a fond memory, I think.

[James Lark · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beguiling and sophisticated book this is. I read Nicholas Fisk voraciously as a child and when I saw this in a charity shop (with the evocative 1980s reprint cover, not the unappealing and frankly misleading new one) I snapped it up.

I do remember finding it a bit obtuse when I was younger and no wonder - the substance of the book is all themes and ideas, with characters and story sketched out with a minimum of fuss. That is, on the whole, a strength, and actually the characters are no weaker for it, especially Scott Houghton who comes over as fully formed even though details about his family and day to day life are pretty much ignored (we are told he keeps bees, but we never see him doing it).

Which means we are thrown right into the situation, and again what-it-means is a lot more important than what-happens. In effect that turns into an exploration of how the world responds to the unknown, and for a book that is over 50 years old it is managing to remain remarkably prescient - there are strong resonances with the current European migrant crisis, the power of corporations over communities and the continuing belief that nuclear weapons are a sensible resource. And if the polarity between pacifism and military might seems a little simplistic in the personification of Icarus and The General, then we are left with a far more complex picture in Scott, whose final action rejects both perspectives for something more nuanced. The sinister understatement with which The General leaves the story and the ambiguous ending are more disturbingly unresolved than most children's books would dare to be.

Indeed, although this is a slim volume and written with an efficient style, there is little about it that is childish. The young protagonist is more grown up than the adult characters and the book doesn't dodge weighty concepts. There are so many memorable moments: Scott learning to communicate with the Trillions, his nocturnal visit to their source, the chilling message they eventually leave him... It's no wonder its dreamlike (or occasionally nightmarish) quality left such a big impression on me. A rewarding book to revisit.

[Mark Speed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as a first edition, which I still have somewhere. A cracking read for any child, it's the story of what happens when humans encounter an alien species or life-form that we don't understand.

Sometimes it takes a child's-eye view to make sense* of things. Children trust and explore, where adults want to destroy. I have very fond memories of this novel, and I'm sure it influenced me. It's a timeless story, and I think any child would enjoy it. I wonder if ET owes something to it in terms of an idea?

*And I mean make sense.

[K.C. Shaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad writing, bad science (even for 1971), poor characterizations, and a tedious, nonsensical plot. I had a longer review but it didn't post, but that covers it all. I was disappointed because I've read other books by Fisk and enjoyed them. This is not one of his winners.

[Amanda Ure · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short 1971 work is Fisk’s second published novel and bears some similarities to its predecessor. Mysterious blue grains fall from space onto a seaside town, and then the rest of the planet, where the children play with them and call them “trillions”. Two nerdy boys named Scott and Bem (for Bug-Eyed Monster) discover that they’re microscopic gears and their girl friend Panda finds that they’re able to organise themselves intelligently into patterns. There’s a media frenzy and divers discover that they have formed into a giant “fort” on the nearby sea bed. The military move in while Scott befriends a world-weary astronaut who was badly burned on a space mission and is now a professor. Scott manages to establish communication with the Trillions via writing, getting them to form letter shapes and they tell him they originate from a planet which exploded where their job was to maintain the environment. Their purpose on Earth is to be hated. Meanwhile the world’s military have unified against them after a mysterious death and it becomes clear that they constitute an “enemy” which is in reality no threat but gives the belligerent mindset of humankind something to oppose and unite against. Scott asks the Trillions more questions, then after falling asleep seems to have an out of body experience instigated by them where he visits their planet as it’s disintegrating. When he wakes up two days later, his knees are seriously injured, suggesting that he actually did physically go there somehow. He finds himself capable of controlling their movements all over Earth and defeats the military by piling them up next to installations and headquarters of the powers themselves, before finally commanding them to leave the planet. However, he now has the upper hand because he can bid them return at any time.

Taking the ending first, it occurs to me that power corrupts and therefore that Scott may in fact have too much power by the end of the book, suggesting a sequel, or it may just be that he won’t know what to do with that power. Having said that, he’s portrayed as wise beyond his years and uncorrupted by adult influence.

The story immediately gets the reader onto the children’s side and tells everything from their point of view, mainly Scott’s. The children have named the grains in the first place – “Trillions” – and the writing segues neatly into introducing the children by their nicknames, mainly Bem – Bug-Eyed Monster – Scott’s friend and collaborator in research into the Trillions – Panda – the girl who seems to have named the aliens – and Mina – her real name – an half-Italian girl whose femininity is strongly emphasised at the start via her experience, and which she later uses to help the others. This is mainly a boys’ story, although a British astronaut nicknamed Icarus because of being disfigured in a fire on a space mission, is Scott’s world-weary and cynical adult analogue who works with him. Panda is the first to discover that the Trillions can imitate drawn shapes when she makes a bracelet out of them and draws an S which they copy. Hence her “feminine” playfulness and urge to decorate is key to the discovery. Later, while the military are trying to bomb the Trillions out of existence, Panda says something which is absolutely key to my world view and responsible for planting a seed which eventually led to my interest in Heidegger, a hugely influential figure in my life whose philosophy also keys crucially into my views on gender identity. Nuclear fallout is killing wildlife right, left and centre while the human race, or rather its military faction, is trying to wipe the Trillions off the face of the planet, and Panda finds a dead bird. Scott says “it’s not the end of the world”, and Panda replies, “it’s the end of its world.” In other words, and I admit I took this a long way but the implication is there, the world for us is in a sense only for us, so when one being ceases to be, the world does too. Also in this incident is care for a relatively small animal, and possibly an allusion to Matthew 10:29 – “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.”, and this too chimed with me and my later concern for animal liberation. It’s almost a throwaway line, and also given to a girl to emphasise her empathy for all life as a stereotypically female character trait, but it was nonetheless quite an influence on me.

Speaking of influences, just as I learnt the Morse for the letter H from ‘Space Hostages’, so also I learnt the Russian «да» (“yes”) from ‘Trillions’, when a Soviet general uses it.

Scott is definitely a boy. He’s also a boy genius, having invented various gadgets in a kind of self-effacing way. He’s probably got a Halfbakery account now. One way in which his masculinity is emphasised is that when Icarus offers to give him polarising filters for his microscope he dismisses them as “to make pretty coloured pictures”, which is unfair because considering that it’s used a lot in mineralogy would seem to be entirely appropriate, given that at this point the Trillions are apparently like grains of sand. I actually think this is a brief and mild example of policing masculinity. The pair go on to focus literally on the task in hand, using a microscope, Icarus having just been similarly dismissive of Scott’s father’s advice on focussing, which establishes his irascibility and expertise but is also stereotypically male. Bem and Scott also generally work together quietly, again emphasising the completely false stereotype of girls chattering meaninglessly or trivially compared to the apparently functional and more taciturn use of language between boys.

A depiction I find more sympathetic was the vapidity and sensationalism of the journalists, although again Fisk couldn’t avoid getting in a dig at the “painted” appearance of a woman reporter. This however I can forgive him because he uses it as a way of showing journalism in general as a way of putting a particular spin on things, with the children not being at all taken in by this. He returns to this theme several times, with the creation by the Trillions of a wall in a back garden leading to the death from a heart attack of the elderly gentleman who discovers it in the middle of the night. This the mass media present as sneaky on the part of the aliens. They are clearly trying to present a story of their own with the Trillions as a threat. Later still, the triumphant and stentorian tone of the media as they report the use of tactical nuclear weapons against the Trillions reminded me of the attitude of the BBC during the 1991 Gulf War. This is considerably before the work of the cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard became popular, but much could be made of the Trillions being able to imitate almost any artifact perfectly in form but not in function, including an ICBM at one point.

One thing which wasn’t entirely clear to me was whether a coup was supposed to have taken place. That’s consistent with what the children notice about the behaviour of the army and media, and the point comes at which the soldiers, previously friendly, become a whole lot more serious, which reminds me of the Troubles and Bloody Sunday, where the initially welcome “peace keeping” troops were later many understood as a hostile occupying force. Fisk is, though, quite fair on the General, who incidentally is not given a personal name by contrast with Icarus, who rejects his military and academic titles and accepts his nickname, seeing him and the rest of the international forces as responding as they know how. There is a tendency, of course, for our vocations to lead us to see everything in terms of those professions, such as my tendency to medicalise behaviour by contrast with someone working in law enforcement seeing it more in terms of culpability and in relation to the law. The General sees everything as a potential threat because he’s been trained to do so. Like ‘Space Hostages’, the spectre of the Cold War hangs over this story, this time in the form of neutron bombs.

Scott’s astral travel is like an acid trip, and brings to mind a number of cinematic scenes prevalent at the time, such as the boat journey in ‘Willy Wonka’, the motorbike trip in ‘Charly’ and of course ‘2001”s Ultimate Trip. The world of the Trillions, and in fact that of their “Masters”, is ravaged by destructive winds which have forced most life underground. Scott sees his and Icarus’s hypothesis confirmed, namely that the function of the Trillions is to repair the world, a task which he sees fail as the planet is destroyed. There is no sense of hospitality or comfort on their world, nowhere to settle above ground level and few havens from the devastating power of the atmosphere. This incident is the only non-naturalistic element of the story, and it isn’t clear how Scott is physically injured. It’s not explained, and that’s fine by me. It also serves as a rite of passage, with Scott almost becoming a man through this wounding journey which leads to him taking control of the Trillions, and through them the adult world.

The Trillions have an explicit purpose for humanity here in the form of being a “punch bag”, as Icarus puts it, for our belligerent urges. This doesn’t work entirely, since there is still personal violence, but while they’re with us, the attention of the Powers That Be is directed against them alone as a perceived threat rather than internecine conflict. Unfortunately, whereas they aim to achieve world peace and repair the damage we do as a species, they unintentionally cause the use of nuclear weapons against them, which since they’re almost indestructible is futile but continues to damage the biosphere and human relationships.

Mina manages to infiltrate the international conference by finding a boyfriend who is a private in the British army. This gets Scott into the conference, and is of course an example of women being portrayed as manipulative and femmes fatales although this is deployed to positive ends. This raises the same question in my mind as the behaviour of the female protagonists in ‘Space Hostages’. It may or may not be a realistic depiction of the social situation of the time. If it is, though, maybe it would’ve been better to subvert it a bit more? Or is it already subversive given the attitudes of the time?

As I got further into the book, I began increasingly feel that it could be an episode of ‘Doomwatch’ or ‘Doctor Who’, perhaps with Icarus as the Doctor. On the whole it’s more like the former. The aliens are nanotechnology, and I wondered if they had become a subconscious influence on the second chapter of my novel ‘Unspeakable’ (read it and you might see what I mean!). I can’t bring to mind an earlier example of the use of nanotechnology in science fiction but probably there is one, and ‘Fantastic Voyage’ with its literal miniaturisation is similar to some extent. The Trillions are utterly alien. There is nothing of the BEM about them, though they are socially like ants, bees and wasps to some extent.

I haven’t read it but Fisk’s later novel ‘You Remember Me’ seems to be about a gynoid TV presenter who tries to use her hypnotic powers to subdue the human race before an alien invasion, which brings John Christopher’s Tripods Trilogy to mind with its hypnosis by television used by aliens to cow our planet into placid submission. However, I have yet to read it so I may be wrong. Certainly I would expect the gender roles to be interesting in that novel.

Finally, it’s interesting to uncover the influences of children’s literature on my young mind and this emphasises the importance of children’s authors in the lives of us all as adults. I was surprised how many elements of these two books proved to be seminal for me, particularly the issue of “its world” as uttered by, thank God, a female protagonist, and also such relatively trivial tidbits of information as Morse code and Russian language. Moreover, the possible subconscious influence of the books on my own work suggests that what we read as children can have untold and obscure influences on us throughout our lives.

[Matthew Samuels · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was intrigued to re-read this as part of my ‘revisiting childhood books’ series. The premise is really interesting – a bucketload of semi-sentient space confetti falls from the sky. The book follows a group of children and some adults as they either try to work out what it’s there for, or blow the hell out of it with weapons.

It's an interesting premise, but despite a strong first half, the end kind of crumbles. It doesn’t really progress in the second half, and the ending is so abrupt and ‘macguffin’ that you don’t really know where it came from or what purpose it serves. There are loads of places that this book could have gone, but it doesn’t really explore of any of the more interesting options.
I’m conflicted as to recommend this or not. It’s a bit of a childhood classic, but it’s also bound to disappoint.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought about books I’ve read over my life when I recalled this title I read 40 years ago.
I can’t believe it was that long ago, anyway, I recall it was a fun read. Probably my first scientific adventure. I had to write a book report on it, though never did, I read it from cover to cover, thank you school for giving me a place to do that.
Nice to see I’m not the only reader of the book. Though I remember my book being a blue hardcover with some weird gem on the cover below the title.
I learned you don’t have to be a bipedal humanoid to be extraterrestrial.
A pleasant adventure for the scientific kid. Hope it stays in print.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

She gave him the same sort of feeling you get when you go to pick up a jar of jam and someone has left it sticky.

This feels like classic sci fi, right at home with Space Demons or Day of the Triffids. The sexualisation of the young girl characters was a bit gross, but honestly par for the course for something written in '73. Just as long as it needs to be, a fun short read. I paid $1 in silver change for this from a book sale raising funds for a small town drama society, for that it was absolutely worth it.

[Björn Marl · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old childhood favorite of mine. Rereading it after such a long time is quite a trip down memory lane for me.
The book still holds up, even though i perceive some elements quite different now. It does lack a bit of depth, but i can fogive that.

[Toni Salyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was ten and I loved it. I thought my grandchildren might enjoy hearing me read it to them so I bought the Kindle version. This was the first science fiction novel I read as a child and it has a special place in my heart.

[Cheryl]

Not Found

[Markos · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light piece aimed at 9-12 y.o. Interesting plot for kids, but for an adult reader not very engaging.

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short little book about alien technology falling on earth and how the world reacts to it.

The story is told through the eyes of a group of 8 to 13 years-olds. Given the book's age, it's hard to call it stereotypical because sci-fi troupes didn't exist in the 1970's. Reading it with modern eyes, though, it feels like a standard entry in the genre. Not bad, just not all that memorable. I wouldn't recommend it to adults. If you're looking for short, child-friendly sci-fi, it's a introduction to the genre.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

My dad used to take me to the Library almost every weekend. I remember one weekend at the downtown Los Angeles library. I stopped running around the facility and made my way to the children's book section.

This is the book I picked up. I remember reading it non stop and still remember it fondly.

We have millions, We have billions, We have Trillions!

[Jane Wynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this when I was about 10 and it made such an impression on me. Reading it 40 years on was interesting as when it was written the nuclear age was upon us and nuclear weapons were considered for use. We now know the damage they do so it seems a naive story in retrospect. Glad to read it again though, interesting.

[rachelish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love everything about this book - I hesitate to say the concept's unique, because nothing is, but it's like nothing else I've ever read and I love it for that. Once again Fisk's children are 100% real and flawed and just fab.

[Damian Cummings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like so many others writing a review for this, I read this at school. Will it hold up to my memory of it being a great book? Or should I stop before I ruin another one (Narnia!)...

Hmmm, my memory was combining two books into one- now what was that other book?

[yengyeng · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book I read featuring aliens from outer space! It was fascinating.

[Sophie Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book as a kid and loved it. Thought-provoking.