Session 002: “All knowledge is local”
Prof. Bertold Menblion (MBD, DFB, MdleB etc.) was, in almost every way, a perfect avatar of his profession. Tall, lean, with antique spectacles perched on a thin, arched nose, his posture had just the right droop, his spine just the right curves, to tell you that this man perched and peered, reclined and reasoned, sat and scratched his hairless chin. This was not a man of action, oh no. Very much the other kind.
So when the discussion began, Ceilmis Galb-ern knew that the questions would have to be precise and directed. Too much space in a question gave the more spineless types so much wiggle room they were liable to um and ah and well-actually the weeks away.
“Professor, would you please begin with a discussion of the natural resources of the recolonised planet?”
With an entirely unsubtle adjustment of his robes, flashing a sizzling ray of reflected sunlight off the medals garishly adorning his right breast pocket, the scientist began. “As a matter of fact, and may it please the court. I am, in fact, Vice Dean in Standing and Honorary Dual Trigolis alongside my professorship. I would, therefore, if it please the court and the delegates herein, be refereed to fully as my title and honours demand.”
After a tired sigh, the Arbiter pressed a key on his desk, bringing up the table of TNE deposits. “Please give your expert opinion on this distribution,” he said, adding another complaint to the mental list would present to the trial organisers at close of play. Find more charismatic scientists – we oversee literally hundreds of worlds, there must be one!
Bertold was not the kind of man for whom a ‘battle of wills’ was a familiar concept. His eyes scrambled over the tally, confident and in his element
“Yes, well… the mineral densities are both abnormally high and astoundingly rich, particularly for a planet of this size,” he said, eager words streaming for the exit, jostling around his uncoordinated tongue. “We believe this was the result of a number of asteroid impacts and planetoid collisions during the molten phase of the planet’s formation, developing an ultra-dense gravity well which drew in an exceptional concentration of Aether elements."
“So the new colonists had plenty of resources?” Ceilmis nudged, trying to keep the scientist on track. “There weren’t meaningful shortages or reasons for conflict in the first years?”
The scientist shook his head emphatically. “Quite the opposite Arbiter! Every student starting his first studies of eco-history knows quote “prosperity is not a fact of nature, but of man!” unqote”. After displaying that he was, in fact, the kind of man who said “Quote…Unquote” with an absolute smugness that only the most talented social outcasts could pull off, he noticed the awkward, puzzled silence and filled it, desperately, with his own translation “you can’t use what you can’t get!”
“The colonists would have found a burnt out world with antiquated sweatshops, data centres, railway terminals, banks…the effort taken to turn this into the semblance of a global economic unit, coordinating the work productively…” he shakes his head again, causing a minor snowstorm to shower his shoulders “…with the research facilities on the science vessel, they make make some progress but it will be a slow and grinding march out of ignorance.”
“The vessel.” Ceilmis now, bringing up another slide. The hull in cross section, cargo holds and fuel compression alongside advanced scientific machinery, all driven by those cutting edge drives. He nods as he says “surely, this would have given them the edge in their development?”
??? class Unknown 95,025 tons 380 Crew 2,545.5 BP TCS 1,900 TH 2,400 EM 0
2525 km/s Armour 1-185 Shields 0-0 HTK 96 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 16 Max Repair 180 MSP
Cargo 50,000 Cryogenic Berths 10,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 3 Tractor Beam
Earth Lord Control Rating 2 BRG SCI
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
??? Drive EP480.0 (10) Power 4800 Fuel Use 3.61% Signature 240.0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres Range 26.2 billion km (120 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Colony Ship for auto-assignment purposes
“The vessel,” Bertold echoed, with a regretful sigh, “no, Arbirter, I’m afraid not. More often than not, primitive societies like this,” there’s that twitch again at the word primitive, unnoticed by the rambling expert “a prize like this ship is so often a cause of conflict than the solution. By the time the fighting is done, often the victors have neither the knowledge or ability to work the device, let alone access all the locked and hidden features.”
“Fighting? Conflict? Is that what your records show?”
As men of science are wont to do, Bertold confidently cowered behind ambiguity and specifics. “I cannot know what was in their minds Arbiter, only what the data shows. Our long range telescopes detected the following sequence of events.”
“Within the first year of landing, the vessel transported a significant number of colonists to multiple suitable locations within the system. None of them perfect, by any means, but habitable, with support.
Within months of these landings, we detected multiple launches from the lower orbits of the main planet – emission signatures matching the ancient nuclear torpedoes that had annihilated the previous rounds of inhabitants.”
Over the surprised gasps and confused mutterings, Bertold continued in his matter-of-fact tone.
“The vessel continued to make several jaunts between the colonies – which did not develop meaningful EM signatures over this time, indicating minimal habitation and industrialisation”
As men of science are wont to do, Bertold did not elaborate or explain what he thought were self evident conclusions. His comfortable, contented expression was totally at odds with the bewildered, concerned, outraged and downright perplexed faces that surrounded him.
“Well? What happened?” Ceilmis said in bewildered horror. “These people, this civilisation, annihilated itself within one year of landfall?”
As men of science are wont to do, Bertold took the limited evidence before him and ran with it, filling the gaps with whatever he could grasp. “There was a rebellion.” he said with the same tone of voice one might say “there was a cloud”. “When the colonists landed, and found how hard life was, a sub-faction grabbed as many resources as they could carry, commandeered the vessel, flew it to the nearest bodies within arm’s reach and set up camp away from the rapidly growing tyranny beneath. As all tyrants do, they responded with force, annihilating their compatriots with the stockpiles of previous generations as a warning to the others, keeping some of their dwindling stock in reserve to keep the others in line.”
“Well…” the Arbiter said, “I suppose that’s that! Defendant, do you have any follow up questions?”
“Just one,” Mebalksin Croyalon said.
Some people would make that sound like a question, or a request. Others a threat. She just said it, like she was telling a waiter that she didn’t like shellfish
“Dual Trigolis Bertold Menblion, esteemed one,” she said, pressing three fingers to her forehead in the universal gesture of respect. “Have you ever been wrong?”
“My dear!” Bertold replied, “You don’t get to the rank of Dual Trigolis by being wrong!” His chuckle barked out of him in sharp, tight staccato. Several stanzas later, echoes doubling back on echoes, his laughter sounded distorted and strained to breaking point.
After a long pause, and a glance around the audience, she nodded and sat.
– Translator’s Note –
The following extract comes from the year of founding (Local year 001). It is important to note that, at the time of the trial, this data had not yet reached the archives, transmitted as it was in all directional sub-light pulses with extensive compression and distortion artifacts.
Even when it had arrived, terminology, cultural expressions and scientific measurements had not fully been translated and harmonized between the two cultures, leading to a great deal of confusion and speculation.
The following is not intended to refute or undermine the testimony of any or all participants in the trial. Rather, it is our best guess at those first, tentative years on the old, new world.
—
Landfall on “Wounded Garden”. It feels a fitting name – a place of verdant growth interrupted by the scars of the Earthlings who came before us.
It is not difficult to see why the people chose me to oversee our new homeland – they understand the drive that can push a young man to follow in the footsteps of his elders, and lead us into a productive and industrious future.
I was lucky to be in the cohort first unfrozen, and therefore best prepared for the elections. As time passes, however, I expect the diversity of our cultures to shine through in our leaders.
We must diversify our industry away from these ancient modes of production. No matter my reverence for the dead, the old must make way for the new just as a thousands flowers surge to fill the gap left by a collapsing redwood canopy.
As for research and development, I have a plan.
First, I assigned my trusted friend to lead the academy. Many people find him difficult to work with, but his ability to take the road less travelled, and see it through to the end, makes him an invaluable college. He’s the one who came up with the brilliant idea to bind us together.
He was the first to pose the question that was eating away at me across all those miles of space. Why would somebody work in this new Eden, in this land of plenty? How easy it would be to become a complacent and dependant race, waiting for handouts from the masters who brought us our first ship?
Virtue requires sacrifice. It requires a stimulus to make the future possible. That’s why, on the 1st Feb 001, noble colonists left the embrace of Wounded Garden to set sail for its shining moon.
The colonists took several children’s books with them to educate and settle the new generation. While the ship was loading up, they found the same phrase repeated in some of the best – something about how humans are the point between “the falling angel and the rising ape”. Soon they were all hooting and hollering, jumping about like monkeys, clambering within the infrastructure. I guess the name stuck, and now Wounded Garden is orbited by Rising Ape.
The ingenious governor of “Rising Ape” also told the new inhabitants that children concieved under an eclipse are particularly likely to survive and thrive. Given how often Wounded Garden lies between it and Sol… well, we shouldn’t be surprised that the birth rate is so high.
This demand drives the engines of progress down on Wounded Garden – people aren’t working for themselves, they’re working for their colleagues in the sky. If we don’t deliver the next batch of infrastructure, people will stop breathing; and that’s exactly the sort of driver that causes people to find the solution to previously unsolved problems.
Taking advantage of an almost perfect launch window, we also sent our first colonists to the red planet. Something in the motion of the spheres demanded we take advantage and settle. It will force more planning, more organisation, onto our system before the year’s end.
Cacamacihuatzin was one of those rare polymaths – at home in every discipline, and at every party. He never arrived at a party with somebody, and never left alone. Despite his flaws, something shone through that drew the best and brightest to him. There was a man to watch, and, for many, to follow.
Speaking of risk-taking arrogance - thanks to the efforts of our scientists, we can remove a risk while solving a problem. Meet the first StarBorn craft entering mainstream production
Thorn class Observer 441 tons 4 Crew 20.2 BP TCS 9 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 1 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0-0 PPV 2.25
Maint Life 7.22 Years MSP 5 AFR 8% IFR 0.1% 1YR 0 5YR 3 Max Repair 3 MSP
Magazine 15 / 0
Elemental Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Morale Check Required
Avarice Launcher (3) Missile Size: 5 Hangar Reload 111 minutes MF Reload 18 hours
Thorn Control Alpha (1) Range 16.6m km RES 100
Farsight Alpha (3) Speed 200 km/s Range 37,740.1m km WH 0 Size 5 TH: 20 / 40 / 80
Missile to hit values are target speeds in km/s for 100% / 50% / 25% chance to hit
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
This design is classed as a Fighter for auto-assignment purposes
Little more than an orbiting missile launcher, the Thorn will circle Wounded Garden, launching dangerous ICBMs into the void, fending off asteroids and out of control craft. With such high speed, high resilience spaceships becoming increasingly common, there must be some kind of defence to protect us from catastrophic impacts
Further, with one minor alteration:
Missile Size: 5.00 MSP (12.500 Tons) Warhead: 0 Radiation Damage: 0
Speed: 200 km/s Fuel: 4,500 1st Stage Flight Time: 52,417 hours 1st Stage Range: 37,740.1m km
2nd Stage Flight Time: 1 seconds 2nd Stage Range: 0k km
Cost Per Missile: 0.0285 Development Cost: 6
Second Stage: Geo Buoy Alpha x1
Second Stage Separation Range: 0 km
100% Chance to Hit: 20 km/s 50% Chance: 40 km/s 25% Chance: 80 km/s
the nuclear payload has been replaced with a geo-survey device, cobbled together and barely functional. But with enough of these fired at any body in the system, we will know what minerals are there.
Moreover, every one we shoot is another nuclear launch avoided. Win win.
Although hardly an auspicious first launch (with a poorly timed detonation destroying the first salvo), the missiles are away to their targets. Several rounds followed, to ensure full coverage of the solar bodies.
In this way, in the first season of landfall, without shipyards, industry or research, we were already making our first, clumsy grasps into the universe.
The question was, what would our next steps look like? That would be up to the people.
– AUDIENCE INPUT –
If you’ve made it this far, then thanks! I’ve got a few ideas in mind but I’d like you to pick between:
TALL or WIDE
LOCAL or GLOBAL
DEVELOPMENT or AMBITION
And, most importantly: A NAME FOR OUR COLONIES (e.g. MARS)
Please cast your votes and post your ideas and give any and all feedback you want or can!