Prometheus 1.2

Well, Prometheus 1.2 is up on youtube.

The basic idea for this segment is to show that the colonists have more to deal with than just finding food, water and shelter.

Space Colony: Ships

Possibly used as cargo-transport ships.

Prometheus - Chapter 1.1

Prometheus

Prometheus is a project that I've been working with for a while. It's only now that I have access to the new Window Movie Maker in Vista that I can more easily put the ideas and images together into a coherent form.

Ideally, I'll find the time and direction to create small, video serials that will help explain the story of along. I find and splice segments of video from various movies together and tie in some music to help convey the basic idea of the plot; very similar to a story board.

In this first chapter, I am using footage from the movies: Serenity and Pitch Black. I already have started work on Chapter 1.1 but even three minutes takes a while to compile.

I'm not sure where the story is going but it should be an interesting trip.

Chapter 1.0

The colonists and crew aboard the Prometheus sleep away the 14 month voyage to their new home on Syan; a remote and newly established colony world. A collision with a micro-meteor storm sends the ship off course and they crash land on an unknown planet.

Nutri-Bars

Space Colony

Any new Colony would need to keep its members healthy and well-fed. As securing protein and food materials from local flora and fauna would be difficult if not impossible for the first few years, an easily transported source of food would be needed.

As this need would contribute to the ever-widening colonization market, several earth-based companies produced nutritional supplement bars. These meal bars were full of immunization medication, vitamins, protein and calories.

The basic formula for the bars was that each one could keep one adult alive for one day.

The flavorings were not the best. Some companies experimented with beef and chicken additives but none were able to truly capture enough flavoring to make them a hot commodity.

Nutri-bars became the food stores of the moderately poor colonists. Flavor wasn't the largest priority.

Some colonists were known to add a Nutri-bar to a soup or stew and cover the bland taste with other seasonings that were available.

INSPIRATION: Firefly (Serenity), Lost In Space (movie)

MutEx Scouts / Pirates

Mut-Ex (MU-TEX)

Mutant Exploration

Mutant Exploration of space.

Humans were considered poorly suited for deep space exploration so the scientific community decided to make some improvements. The scientists borrowed DNA from various animals to increase stamina, agility and muscle density. A few of the MutEx Scouts were given above normal intellects so be able to handle the multitude of navigation calculations more efficiently.

Most scouts were never heard from again; considered a lost cause and never searched for if lost. Hundreds of MutEx scout ships were sent out to find new homes for the citizens of Earth. Only 9 found anything close to a habitable world. Eight were deemed appropriate for colonization and were put on the fast track to be converted to a habitable atmosphere or for the construction of surface domes.

The ninth world, a medium-sized moon, was considered to be too hazardous for navigation and left alone. There were several rumors that one of the more intelligent MutEx scouts was able to overcome the psychological conditioning to obey his orders and found a world for himself and others like him. MutEx scout ships were not designed for inter-atmosphere travel; primarily to search out worlds with breathable or near-breathable atmospheres from orbit. If all of the MutEx scout ships crashed into their hidden world, there would be no threat. If any of them survived, they would be bound to the planet.

The problem is that they did survive and the Scouts, with their genetic enhancements, flourished. While the new eight colony worlds were being established and the settlers pushed their way out from Earth to their new homes, the Scouts turned themselves into pirates; attacking colony ships for provisions and materials.

It was because of the MutEx pirates that the Colonization Council established an armed patrol to escort the ships.

MutEx Pirates are the stuff of legend. Some say that they eat the people they catch on board the ships and others believe that they eject them to space. Either way, MutEx "MU-tex" has become a synonym for danger; a space-faring bogey man.

Two or three generations of being exposed to a number of different types of radiation has warped their appearance and that of their children giving them an almost monstrous appearance.

INSPIRATION: Reavers (Firefly), Morloc (Time Machine)

Xeno-Species

This would be a huge herbivore that wanders the grass lands

Raptors would also be a perfect species for the grasslands.

This Paras is an herbivore and would be a food supply for the Raptors

This was an experiment.
Perhaps genetically engineered to adapt to the new planet?

This is the equivalent of a Deer on the new planet,
they're everywhere on the grass lands.

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) .

Scale Backs

First off: Doesn't this look like the coolest head for a young Dragon? When I found the image I immediately thought of this creature being a dragonette or a hatchling.

Anyway...

SCALE BACK
aka Spike-Lizard

The scale back lizard is native to a planet that is featured in the 'Space Colony' storyline that I've been working on. The Scale-backs are adorned with spiked protrusions from their body in an effort to protect them from predators. Shown here, the Scale-back is young as the horns haven't grown to full size on its head and around its' neck. As they mature, the color variation will intensify and the will have longer and more numerous spikes along their body.

Once the scale-back reaches one full year of life, the coloring shifts from the browns and tans to take on dark streaks along the head, shoulders and back. This allows the creature to blend in with the scrub foliage of the plains where it hunts. As a hatchling, the creature remains near the burrow and must be camouflaged to the dusty brown dirt. As a grown predator, the horns and generally spiked skin creates a defensive perimeter that would make it difficult for any creature to seize it within their jaws.

Notice their small, black eyes. The scale-back is low-light hunter, preferring the hours of dusk and dawn to catch its prey; using motion and other cues to find them in the dim light.

Scale-backs are pack hunters, mimicking the actions of wolves or dingos with an alpha female as the leader of their group. Females go into their cycle twice each year and can produce a clutch of up to eight eggs per rotation with hatching following only ten weeks from conception. Other females will often brood in the same territory and within the same general vicinity as the alpha female, maintaining a vigil over their burrows during the day and trading out with the males off and on to find food.
On the colony planet, the Scale-backs are about the size of an average German Shepherd; between two and a half and three feet at the shoulder. They have a similar life-span and are strict carnivores.

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