Colony One - Erebus Kenneth King 03/19/’03 HISTORY The history of Colony One began in 2103CE when solar-sail probes were launched to nine of the nearest stars. Solar-sail technology had finally reached a level of efficiency that it became a viable option for an interstellar probe. The transmission from the Tau Ceti probe was received in 2141CE and what was found was astounding. The Probe had found a star system with three planets and a metal-rich asteroid belt between the second and third planets. The first planet was one that resembled mercury, hot, small and devoid of any atmosphere. The third was a small gas giant with an atmosphere composed mainly of hydrogen. What captivated the world though was the second planet. It was a world slightly smaller than Terra, it orbited perfectly within Tau Ceti’s comfort zone of .7AU. The probe sent back data indicating that it had an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere and was 60% covered with liquid water. More intriguing than this was that there appeared to be life on the surface. The first extra-solar life ever discovered. A set of more advanced probes was sent to the Tau Ceti system to confirm this. It was perhaps mankind’s ultimate dream. The first probe’s findings were enough to set in motion man’s greatest work. The development of a colony ship. The construction of a test vehicle, The Dragonfly I (IAA-47XP), was completed as the two probes reached the Tau Ceti system and went into orbit around the second planet and began transmission. The first probe’s data was confirmed, it was a world covered in liquid water with an oxygen-rich atmosphere and from what the probes could discern, life remarkably similar to Terra’s (this gave more credit to the theory of Convergent Evolution). A technician at the receiving facility on the Moon came up with a collection of names for the objects in the Tau Ceti system. The sun would be called “Lucifer”, the inner planet “Morpheus”, the Earth-like second planet “Erebus” (with a small moon “Hades”), the gas giant being named “Nereus”, and the asteroid belt “Lucifer’s Belt”. Most of these being figures and places from Greek mythology. Soon after these names were transferred from nomenclature to the official names for the Tau Ceti objects a disaster occurred. As the Dragonfly I was returning from tests in the outer solar system it passed through the asteroid belt and was struck by a small asteroid completely destroying the ship and killing the five person crew. The flash of the combusting hydrogen fuel could be seen faintly from Terra. It was concluded that the ship had been destroyed through no fault of its systems and the construction of the colony ship would proceed, it being named “Dragonfly II” (IAA-49CS) in memory of the five people lost in the destruction of the first Dragonfly. There was one crucial change made to the design. It was discovered by a Professor Daver at the UBA that there might be an insufficient amount of interstellar hydrogen on the way to Tau Ceti to fuel the Bussard ramjet portion of the ship’s drive system. It was decided to try a newly developed method of increasing fusion drive systems’ efficiency by doping the hydrogen stream with small amounts of anti-hydrogen. The cargo ship, dubbed “Cargo I” was launched and sent ahead to the Tau Ceti system to arrive in orbit two years before the eventual arrival of DragonflyII. CargoI carried many of Colony One’s supplies and equipment for the initial founding of the colony. To help fund the venture space aboard the colony ship was sold to nine of the world’s wealthiest nations and two slots were bought by smaller countries that had banded together (Middle East and Asia). The nine countries were: The United States of America, Russia, Britain, Germany, France, China, Japan, Australia, and the Empire of Alaska. The eleven clients decided what they wished to be aboard CargoI though no outright weapons were allowed to one country. The only weapons on DragonflyII were the two massive communications lasers which could be used as defensive weapons (it is not surprising that something which was constructed for interstellar communication could also be used as a weapon; mankind‘s paranoia); there was also a set of military grade equipment and laser rifles for the crews defense if a “What if?” scenario occurred during the trek. Sent along with each nation was a small arsenal for their own personal defense once they had landed on Erebus. This action was agreed upon by the whole of the United Nations. At the launch of DragonflyII the world’s population had reached a stable 10.6 billion souls. There was no great want amongst the nations of man and no serious conflicts. The monstrosity of a machine that the world had become was well lubricated by oil and powered by nuclear energy. 10.6 billion spectators watched as the massive form of DragonflyII left its orbit under the power of three NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application) booster rockets and deployed its solar-sails just beyond lunar orbit. For the 5 previous years people had been put into coldsleep and stored aboard DragonflyII, they finally watched the launch of the great ship after they had been awakened in the Tau Ceti star system. The journey progressed without any hint of trouble. The crew of seven and the ship’s mainframe, “Joshua”, performed flawlessly throughout and the ship reached Erebus orbit in 2237CE and found CargoI waiting, undamaged, for retrieval. The eleven client nations had chosen landing sites for their colonists similar to their original environments on Terra. The American and Alaskans chose to settle a truly massive volcanic atoll (the Alaskans occupying one large island of the atoll) in the northern, world-spanning, ocean. The British chose a smaller pair of islands not far (in relative distance) from the American colonies. The other nations scattered around Erebus to their chosen sites and began building their nations anew. Each nation kept one or two of the Orbit to Surface (OTS) shuttles in case of future need. The DragonflyII’s systems were shut down, Joshua was put to sleep, and the great solar-sails were furled. The American atoll had once been a massive shield volcano, similar to Olympus Mons on Mars in the Sol system. Millions of years ago the entire center of this super-volcano was destroyed in a cataclysmic eruption which ejected debris into low orbit and around Erebus. What was left was a ring atoll. Over time the volcano in the middle began to rebuild itself into a very steep mountainous island in the center of the atoll. The volcano was reaching into the upper atmosphere when the hotspot that had driven the largest volcano known to man began to cool. When the colonists reached Erebus the volcano was dead and it was only by a chance of fate that among the American and Alaskan colonist there was a strong portion of the population interested in astronomy. Several observatories were built at the upper reaches of breathable atmosphere. These observatories began to chart Erebus’ night sky. In 16FF (2253CE) Lucifer’s first comet (a long term planetoid really) is discovered and its orbit is calculated. It is determined that its path will cross Erebus’ orbit and impact Morpheus. The astronomers were overjoyed by this as they would see one massive object strike another for the first time. Some were not so joyous at the discovery. These few realized that the comet (later known as “Fist of Zeus”) would pass through the asteroid belt and possibly drag debris behind it and into Erebus’ orbit. As the comet went through the asteroid belt telescopes watched as several asteroids struck its surface and others were swept along behind it. Still, no one would believe in the quite real threat of debris from the comet raining down on Erebus’ and causing massive destruction. A small group decided that they would attempt to save the largest piece of the technology the colony owned, the Dragonfly. One of the shuttles was stolen by a man and a woman from this group and flown to the Dragonfly where they docked and activated the fusion engine. They moved the great ship into an orbit on the side of the planet that would not be facing the path of cometary debris. They committed suicide by depressurizing an airlock, they left a message that described their not wishing to see their world destroyed. The message was found nearly 500 years later. The orbit change of the Dragonfly was of no real concern as it was still in a stable orbit and the two that had stolen the shuttle seemed to have disappeared. The American astronomers watched and recorded as Fist of Zeus collided with Morpheus creating a crater that nearly took up an eighth of the planet’s surface. In 17FF (2254CE) Judgment Day arrived for the colonists. The first meteors were seen as a spectacular, but not threatening, meteor shower. By the end of the first day hell was raining down on the colonists. The Main Bombardment lasted eleven years and wiped out almost all technology on the planet. The largest impact occurred on the shore of the central island of the American atoll; it created a shallow crater 13 miles in diameter that filled with water and created a perfect bay. Fifty years later most of Erebus had fallen into something resembling the medieval period on Terra. Four hundred years later the world was a mixing of both advanced and primitive technology. It had gone through one major war with the use of several nuclear weapons(it was decided in 465FF (2702CE) at the first Northern Nations (NoN) accord that nuclear weapons were too devastating to the environment and were banned outright). Due to the violence of Ocean of Storms the oddest aspect of this (and most skewed from Terran history) was the use of airship carriers; these were massive airships which roamed the skies of Erebus dropping aircraft from their bellies and providing commerce across the world. These great airships, which were named after ancient ocean-going warships, stalked the airways it dawned on the day of the Erebian’s first launch of an unmanned satellite into orbit. This was not to be so though. A group of religious zealots stormed the launch compound and though many were shot one managed to detonate a grenade under the great rocket; it incinerated them all. Five months later the Americans were successful in launching Erebus’ first satellite. It was 487FF (2724CE). Six years later the Americans board Dragonfly and discover the bodies of the two heroes that saved it. They are greeted by the slightly mad AI Joshua who had been left on by the two people who had saved the ship. Three years pass and with the assistance of Joshua the Americans learn that there were two solar-sail singleships in storage meant to return reports back to Terra: The Lightning Bug and The Firefly. It is decided that one man should be sent back to learn why no transmissions have been received by the orbiting colony ship. David Fep Jonas was a test pilot for the New American military until he was drafted into the space program. He was chosen for his high intelligence and ingenuity in emergencies. He was average height for someone from Erebus which made him three inches taller than the Terran average. He also had two of the traits that New Americans had begun to evolve, grey hair and eyes. He was given what could be found of the remaining, original military equipment and some of Erebus origin. They deployed the Firefly and placed Jonas within the commandpod and put him into coldsleep. The Firefly is launched in 496FF (2733CE), it reaches Terran orbit in 537FF (2774CE). Once in orbit Jonas finds that the only power source that he can detect is a space station. The hull of the station is labeled “Ark”. He boards it and discovers that civilization has fallen to the wastes. There was a nuclear war which blanketed the Earth in fire and the only civilization left is around old military bunkers and Vaults which were built shortly before the war. The orbiting Ark recorded the last transmissions from Earth and video of the mushroom clouds growing across the landscape. Jonas does discover one ray of hope. A second colony ship, The Clarke (IAA-53CS), was launched 30 years after the DragonflyII. Unfortunately the part of memory which contained the Clarke’s destination was corrupted. Jonas boarded the Firefly again with the newly found knowledge that there was another colony somewhere among the stars and disembarked back to the Tau Ceti system.