Space Colony: Planet Identification

Planet identification and exploration is the first step towards colonization. One has to know that there is someplace to colonize and what kind of planet it is before they can move in.

I have a few different theories as to how these planets would be identified but for the purposes of an story-line that I'm working on now, I'll use what I'm calling a "Scout Theory".

Scouts are genetically enhanced humans that were engineered to for deep-space exploration. Their bodies suffered and became weaker but as they would be dwelling almost in complete zero gravity, but their minds were expanded both in size and in function. Sort of like a living computer, the Scouts were sent deep into space to find habitable worlds to help the people of earth who had over grown the planet's ability to support their numbers.

Over thirty years of exploration in the countless systems, the Scout program identified nearly two-dozen planetoids in twenty systems that would support human life. The Scout List organized the identified planets in terms of ease of access, habitability, and proximity to valuable resources. The first seven on the list were seized by the largest of the world's governments and mega corporations. Four of the planets at the bottom of the list were considered too costly to colonize as there were too many navigation hazards to reach and not enough resources within the system to make it a sound economic investment.

The program dictated that when a planet was identified, the Scouts would launch several marker satellites that would provide a beacon to the fleets of ships that would arrive to take possession of the planet. These satellites also scan the planet for climate and some topography which is sent back towards Earth. A number of auxillery satellites were deployed which would pick up the signals of the planetary beacons and relay them to Earth as no one satellite would be able to send a signal strong enough by itself.

The Scout Program controlled all access to the relay satellites and restricted access to any of the data from the project. Only once they were certain to gain and maintain control over the planets they wished, did they start selling off the locations to the remaining planets. Corporations bought them quickly and then resold the planet's information out to the people of earth. Everyone wanted their own, small square of a new world; a chance to start over.

Most of the people who had the money to afford to leave the Earth weren't the kind of people to grab a patch of dirt and make it their own, however, so many of the new worlds would be colonized in waves. The first to leave would be thousands of workers who would build the first cities.

*Story Element*

One of the last of the four that were identified within a dangerous class of nebula that could not be measured in the short time that the Scouts passed it. Through their genetically enhanced minds, they were able to navigate the hazards of the nebula and find the last planet on the list.

As this planet was considered inaccessible by commercial ships, it was not considered for colonization. In a remarkable display of business ethics, the Scout Project didn't reveal the location of the last planet.

Eventually, the location of the Last planet was stolen from the computers of the Scout Program and a secret colonization was born.

Space Colony: Energy conservation

Energy conservation would be key for any struggling new colony. There are no power plants and no means to produce the power that you might need as quickly as you need it unless you utilize renewable energy forms like solar, wind and water. As wind and water power would take too long to set up for an immediate power source, it is my idea that the Colonists would use solar panels for nearly everything.

Clothing items are equipped with solar panels to charge personal technology

The use of almost any personal technology, from a communicator to a flashlight, would require personal responsibility to keep them charged. Batteries would simply be a waste of storage space and would run out too quickly to keep any supply. However, rechargeable solar cells that could be switched out with whatever would make perfect sense.

Laptops and solar rolls are an automatic match

Laptops are commonly brought with the colonists as they're quite handy and virtually everyone would have one. That also means that everyone would have to have their own solar roll to go along with it to keep it powered.

Field Panels are good for charging multiple objects at once.

In some situations, you might need a bit more umph for a charge or need to get something charged up in a hurry. The benefit to having solar panels hooked into bags and such is that they can charge an extra cell or a communicator while you're just walking around. When you need to charge a few things at once or make sure everything is full, you'll need to unfold a 'field panel'. These panels come in a variety of sizes but more often than not they're about the size of a small blanket.

Large Field Panels are usually carried by scouting parties

Some field panels come from military surplus and are lighter and more compact for the size they are. Panels of this size are often used to power communications stations, several laptops and the like. It's the main power for a team-sized element for when they would go exploring. Often, these panels are slung over a tarp and wires lead down to a central cell for everyone to use.

Space Semi-Truck

When you're dealing with any kind of Space Colony or colonization story one of the logistical problems that your characters will face is 'how to move the cargo'. A colony will live and die by the supplies that they bring with them or can find while in their new home. In an environment such as the space colony, they probably wouldn't be able to afford large luxury ships with all of the latest gadgets but they could probably pull off buying a few cargo haulers; a semi-truck for space.

Cargo Hauler with four cargo pods attached

This is a model of a ship that I'm going to use for my 'Space Colony' storyline. It is a long frame with engines in the rear, landing pods and a cockpit for aiming it in the right direction. Each one of the cargo pods is about the same size as an average Connex box. When you're moving lots of cargo around, a standard size of 'pod' is required to regulate weight and cost and all that.

Cargo pods for space would be made out of a material resistant to impact, but essentially the same concept.

The cargo containers are rigged between the landing thruster pods so this gives us an approximate scale of how long one of these transports would be. If you connect to semi-trucks together and factor in the size of the cab as being the space between the two as shown in the picture above, this would be the distance between the landing thrusters. Not exactly a small ship but when you're hauling everything that you'll ever be able to bring with you - it won't seem like enough.



One of the modifications that the space colony will end up using is a cargo box that has been altered prior to launch. Rather than holding boxes of cargo, it will be built to serve as either a medical facility, command and communications link or something to that effect. Rather than try an make a structure serve as a temporary 'command' center with all of the computers and electronics that you've had to build while on planet, why not pre-build the thing where you can get all the supplies you need?

This means that once you touch down on the planet and the builders have found a place for you to put the box, you can be up and running as a central hub of your colony's activities within a matter of hours rather than a matter of days. Since it's self-contained, you could just plan on adding tents or pre-fab buildings to the front of it to elongate the usable space. Hardware such as computers, servers and the like would be built in to a protected 'shell' that could be picked up and moved (by some other heavy-lifting vehicle or the like) .

Intruder Alert

Part 2 of "Maltharians in Space"

"Intruder Alert."

"Wha?"

"Intruder Alert."

"We've got problems."

"Yeah, no kidding. "

"What's this 'we'?"

"Intruder Alert."

"The WE in this detention cell."

"We're aboard a Tinari cruiser. What in the hell could board usunles it was something very bad?"

"Intruder Alert."

"Yeah, but they're not going to be coming after us."

"You're sure about that?"

"Hey, all I did was fall asleep at my post."

"Intruder Alert."

"Uh huh... and I 'just' missed chapel for the past month."

"What are you in for, Ensign?"

"I don't know."

"Intruder Alert."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Security picked me up coming off shift and told me that I was being detained until the Captain could question me."

"What did the old man want?"

"Intruder Alert."

"That's just it. He didn't ask me anything really. He just read my report from the mission to the ruins on the planet we hit a few days ago."

"That must have been some report."

"Quiet Jar. What -did- he ask?"

"I wish I could see down the hallway."

"Intruder Alert."

"Where're all of the Security Guards?"

"He asked if I saw Commander Ryn collect some artifacts from the ruins. I told him that I did and that it was all in my report."

"Sounds like he didn't want you to see that."

"Intruder Al..."

"What happened?"

"Emergency Power Engaged."

"Shit, now we're on back up power and back-up lights."

"All personnel should go to code beta."

"Oh shit."

'What does that mean?"

"Didn't you ever study your regs?"

"It means that everyone on board should arm themselves and prepare to defend the ship at all costs."

"What the HELL is going on out there."

"Hey, do you hear that?"

"It sounds like weapons fire."

"Yeah, probably on the deck ahead of us."

"Is that... screaming?"

"I'm getting out of here."

"How, the security field..."

"... has been disconnected when we went to emergency power."

"Escaping the brig is considered a capital offense. They shoot you for that."

"Yes, but whatever's invading the ship will probably shoot us before they can get to that."

"Jar, see what you can do."

"What were these ruins, Ensign?"

"I don't know Chief. I was just there to check for any available technology for R&D."

"Those shots are getting closer."

"Well then get your ass in gear, Jar."

"Aye Chief."

"Did you find anything?"

"No, just a high concentration of poly-obsidian compounds and residual nero-genic energy signatures."

"What?"

"Got it."

"Jar, can you hack into a weapons locker?"

"Sure Chief, why?"

"I know who's boarded the ship."

"Who?"

"Malthaians."

Village, Bending

Over the years of Genetic tampering with their human slaves, the Saurian scientists accidentally spawned abilities that would herald their own destruction. Though not possessed of the abilities needed to control their ships or to contact their home world, the human slaves began to show that they could influence the simple elements.

When these abilities would manifest, the subject would be simply taken away to be eaten as a failed experiment. In time, however, some of those who were able to tap into these abilities escaped out into the wilds and hid amongst the many tribes of free humans.

Some were able to use their minds to push and pull the waters of the rivers or find water even in the most arid of land. They became known as the River-Benders as they were able to 'bend' the course of the water to deepen it or even to cause them to drown the Saurians who would attack their villages.

The River-Benders were the first of the Benders in the Tribes. They could lower the waters of a river to allow the People to escape the raids. Those tribes where River-Benders were born more and more frequently began a new religion of worshiping the Goddess of the Moon as many of the Benders were women and their abilities ebbed and flowed with the turning of the moon.

In time, the River-Bending tribes bore those who did not push and pull the waters, but who struck out with a rage-fired hatred to burn the Saurian hunters. These children, almost always male, became known as the Fire Nomads.

The Fire Nomads do not bend the flow of rivers, but rather focus their hatred and their rage on a single point and can ignite fires with a focused thought. Some have learned to harness their emotions and can super-heat the air around them to send out wave after wave of heat which will ignite any material save earth and stone within several yards around them or direct it in a wave. Most Fire Nomads chafe at the emotions of others around them; empathicaly feeling the thirst for freedom and revenge of whole villages. Just as the River-Benders' abilities ebb and flow with the turning of the moon, the Fire Nomads' abilities seem to be linked to the rising and setting of the sun, for as the sun sets behind the hills so too does their fury.

As the nomads wander from village to village, enjoying the solace of a peaceful mind when away from the sway of others, a third variety of Bender was discovered; Earth-Singers.

The Earth-Singer's origins are a bit of a mystery. Few are able to tell how they began, but their importance in the resistance to the Saurian hunting parties is without question. Earth-Singers are, by the power of their powerful shouts, send tremors through the ground and open chasms. As though the earth itself had a voice, the Singers can call up huge boulders from under the ground to create impenetrable walls with which to protect the People or turn the land into a quagmire of quick-sand. Many of the Earth Singers have retreated into the north where the Saurians will not attack. The long winters drive them into a hibernating state where they're vulnerable. Unfortunately, the north is fraught with poor growing seasons and so they were in a continual state of semi-starvation for many years. If it weren't for the green-hearted Wood-Benders they would have never been able to survive.

No tribe has been able to remain in the same location for long. Saurian raiders burn their crops or attack in such numbers that they overwhelm their defenses. It is for this reason they are collectively referred to as "The Tribes". Even the Forest-Folk, who have moved away from the Rivers for the relative security of their thick wooden walls, must move from time to time. However, the northern Earth-Kingdom have carved several cities out of the rock. With the help of the first of the Wood-Benders, they have coaxed life into the poorest soils and given the People new hope.

The Wood-Benders are a recent evolution in the Peoples ability to control the elements. Wood-Benders were found within the Forest-Folk but generally their abilities were slow to develop and generally not effective in defending their villages. Their powers could encourage the growth of plants and therefore they were useful in increasing the bounty of their crops, but when it came to a fight they were ineffectual. Legends in the Forest-Folk say that one of the Wood-Benders used their powers on a field where an injured man had hidden himself. The field was harder to coax into life, but it turned out that the added difficulty was because the man was severely burned. The Bender had no idea that he was healing anyone, but since the man was in contact with the earth, his injuries were thought to be a 'sickness' to be cured by the Wood-Bender's touch.

The news of the healing abilities of the Wood-Benders spread from village to village as fast as a Fire Nomad. Tribes far and wide would barter for the Forest Folk's healers to come and live with them to heal their injured and sick - those who were normally caught by the Saurian raiders as they couldn't keep up with the cycles of annual migration.

Village: Saurian Invasion

The big threat to the people of this world are the Saruaians.

The saurians are a race of sentient, bipedal, reptiles - they have hunted the Peoples for over 200 years.

Some theorize that the Saurians were not from this world but came during the Seven Days of Fire, when the "Time Before" was forgotten.

Now the Saurians stage raids against the many tribes of the Peoples - dragigng them back to be food in their outposts and cities.

The Saurian temple-cities have, at their heart, the remains of their huge ships - now unable to fly.

The hunters are stranded on this planet but they are surrounded by ever-renewing food source - humans.

Their mighty technology has been lost over the decades. Like with Man's early efforts to fight off the invaders, they eventually ran out of fuel and ammo.

The human armies all over the world burned themselves out but they only thinned out the numbers of the Saurians. Humanity escaped from the cities nad fled into the Wilds to avoid the hunting bands of Saurian raiders.

Their hunters come in the hottest times, when the sun keeps them hte most active. They ride upon large lizards similar to Komodo dragons. Human captives, almost always males, are caught and bound so that they can be slung across the backs of their monstrous mounts. Saurians are keep to use barbed darts to drug their targets to slow their movements but preserve them for a fresh kill.

The Saurian ships were eventually burried by armies of captured slaves. The ships have become the hive centers of their outposts, but they were severely damaged in their invasion. The heat that they maintain needed to be kept within the hull (to keep them active at night and to protect their egg chambers) required that the hull be completely insulated with a thick layer of dirt.

This gave their ships the appearance of a large termite mound.

Once the ships were covered, the slaves became food and farm stock. In time, the Saurians had to expand their colonies and move away from the human farms and their ships. These satelite colonies need regular supplies of food so they have to hunt humans; normally once a moon. Smart leaders of these outpost-colonies will try and capture mating pairs of humans to create their own farms.

Lake Island

Maltharians in Space

"Sir, Maltharian Heavy Cruiser decloaking off the starboard bow."

"What? Are they charging weapons?"

"She's launching shadow-fighters."

"Dammit! Hail them!"

"Receiving transmission sir. We're to stand down our weapons and clear out of their way."

"What?!"

"They claim a right of revenge on the Tanari Fleet."

"The whole fleet?"

"Aye Sir."

"Blood Oath...damn."

"They're crazy."

"No Ensign, they're Maltharians. o as they said. Get us out of the fight."

"Yes Sir."

"But not too far. I want to see this."

"Sir, nothing can stand up against the combined firepower of a Tanari fleet."

"You've not seen Maltharians in battle, son. No Tanari ship will survive."

"Sir, incoming transmission from the lead Tanari ship."

"On Screen."

"Captain, stand down your ship and prepare to be boarded. Surrender yourself and I'll spare your mutanous crew."

"I think you have bigger problems, Admiral."

"Blashphemers! Target Margosa's ship and inform the Maltharians not to interfere."

"Shadow-Fighters on approach, Admiral."

"Good bye, Admiral."

"Destroy the Inferno! Captain Margosa must not be allowed to escape!"

"Admiral, our weapons are off line."

"What?!"

"Intruder alert. Intruder alert."

"I'd get to an escape pod if I were you, Admiral."

"Impossible."

"They're coming out of the shadows all over the ship!"

"Security lock-down. Repell borders."

"I'll see you are damned for this, Margosa."

"Watch out for Shadows, Admiral. Sometimes they move."

Psy Ops

What if telepathic were not just real, but reliable?

What if we were at war?

What if telepaths and psy's were integrated into the military?

More later.

Space Colony + Green World

The world's resources were drying up. Colonization of other worlds was no longer just an economic investment but rather a matter of survival.

Unfortunately, even with the best scientists working on the project, no habitable worlds were found by the many "Rover" satelites that were sent out to search the galaxy. While the Rovers were searching for a new home, the governments of the world began building huge orbital stations to house those working towards the salvation of their people. America, Europa, Pacifica were the first to get their stations operational. Thousands of people were brought up from a dying earth to live in the relative comfort of the floating cities.

Ships were created capable of traveling to their new home but word never came from the Rover satelites. The ships eventually became living quarters as well as more and more people bought their way out of the industrial filth of the planet below.

In time, generations were born on the floating cities and the earth was forgotten; left behind like a guilty scar. Three generations had been born and died in the creation of the stations and their ships. No more did shuttles arrive from earth with newly "rescued" families from earth. Nothing new came from the burnt planet.

Materials were recycled almost indefinately to maintain the new human population. Domes of plants, imported from protected gardens, once grown to clean the air and provide a memorial to the fallen world, now became an environment only enjoyed by the extremly wealthy. Real wealth was displayed in the organic. Small planters of real grass could be valued as a whole year's salary. Flowers are now frozen within a protected plastic coating to preserve them for generations and soil is as valued as gold.

As with most things, those who control the wealth are in the minority but control the majority. And, as with most things, wealth can be stolen. Food is no longer fresh vegetables and beef but a poly-protein slurry that is compressed into bars and disks. For those who can afford it, their food has been fashioned to appear very much like it once was. Dye and flavoring additives help people believe that they are eating real apples and real carrots but, in truth, they eat little more than processed soy beans.

Huge domes filled with the only remaining plants adorn the top of the floating cities. Those with wealth are closest to it and one's import is measured by which station level you live upon. Any level lower than thirty is considered dangerous and unpatrolled by on-station security. Those who dwell within those levels are left to their own means for survival - breeding unmonitored and unchecked. Having no wealth to access the food vendors, they steal what they can and hack into water pipes to live. They crawled throughout the station's pipes like rats and so they were named by the wealthy.

Rats skulk in corners and hijack food shipments. They disrupt the natural order of things and prevent the space colony from moving forward to "Launch Day". Set backs and problems a plenty have been attributed to the Rats and they are often rounded up in bunches and summarily disposed of with the public's blessing.

But the Rats have a secret.

Some of the Rats, one in twenty, do not steal food and water, they steal earth and seed. Only the bravest of their tunnel-runners venture so high as to steal an acorn or a handful of rich, black soil. The precious prize may change hands a dozen times to send it deep into the lowest of levels where hyjacked sunlight is piped through fiber-optic cables to grow their Green World.

The Green World is a hollowed cavity within the bowels of the floating city. With torch and flesh, the floors and walls were ripped open to form an 'egg' of salvation. Vines, plants and algae clean the air where most think it unfit for breathing. Water runs not in pipes but in small streams to nourish their new world under an artificial sun.

Thus bore the great conflict upon the stars: The Green versus the Greed.

Security teams, attempting to quell the rash of thefts from the gardens and green houses of the wealthy, delve deep itno the heart of the station to destroy the Rats. This time, above others, the Rats would not be rounded up and destroyed so easily. The Rats, who previously had been picked off one by one, had grown into a community - surrounding the Green World and willing to lay down their lives to protect its secret. The rats worked together to alert each other and although they had no great weapons to fight their hunters, but what they did have was cunning, stealth and above all - faith.

Armed only with a dagger carved from the gigantic thorns grown within their green sanctuary, they plotted ambushes and raids. The sharp point of their thorn-daggers plunging deep within the authority of the station. Where one would fall, they would take five and sometimes six guards with them, the only hint of their identity being a small egg-shaped, green pendant found about their neck.

The struggle between the low and the high continued for near three decades until the station's secret was discovered. The Rover project, to find them a new home, had returned information and the location of at least three planets almost fifty years prior. To leave the station and find a world rich with land, plant and soil would rob the powerful of their wealth.

Best to hold a population in poverty than promote them all from purgatory.

NOTES:

1. The earth-that-was has been beyond their observation for more than one-hundred years.
2. Even if the colony ships wanted to, could they actually launch the ships to the new world?
3. Could the Green World on the station be a bit more technologically savvy - enough to perhaps create a "cure" for the polution problem on the Earth? (Some kind of algae that would eat away at the water and soil polution?)
4. Could the Green World's goal be to return to the Earth