- Pronouns
- He/Him
Let's Conquer an Alien Planet:
Summarised through to post #6377 of 6377, post #1179 of 1179, and post #478 of #478.
New changes and additions are marked in cyan.
Tagline:
Table of Contents
Scenario:
In a real-physics universe (FTL, in any way, shape, or form, is impossible, among other things), humanity has spread throughout the solar system the hard way. The Singularity hasn't happened thanks to technologies running into a wall-- particularly materials sciences and computing. The biosciences are much more advanced than modern-day, but the basic principles behind everything are recogniseable. Consciousness uploading and redistribution is possible, though lossy, and biological immortality exists.
Computers are more powerful, smaller, and ubiquous, but more along the lines of the Qeng Ho than the Culture.
Materials science is effectively stalled. Stuff is stronger, and lighter, but not by a wide margin.
Resources aren't a terribly large issue. Access to a solar system's worth of resources means large scale projects are feasible for much smaller groups than current.
Basically, IOW, if it's not something conceivable within fifty years, we don't have it unless specifically noted above. I'll rule on specifics if people have questions.
In general terms, future-science is today's science with better engineering, for the purposes of this thread.
At this point, using a very huge spaceborn observatory, a planet with life on it is found, thousands of LY away. It's the first one ever found, and an expedition is mounted.
The ship involved is basically exactly what a slowboat starship would involve; fusion drive, poor mass ratios, etc. Payload consists of volunteer consciousness uploads, expert systems [no AI as such, though], a Make-A-Colony kit (DNA records, chemical labs, machine shops, etc), and some sensors and remote probes. There's only enough fuel to go one way; if the ship is to come back, it needs to refuel insystem.
There are several other planets in the system. A couple of gas giants well out from the sun, three airless rockballs: One close to the sun, one orbiting the nearer of the two gas giants, and the furthest planet of the system. The gas giants have the usual train of smaller moons, and there's asteroids scattered throughout.
The life-bearing planet does not have a moon worth talking about, just a couple of loose rocks the size of Deimos.
You guys are some of the uploaded consciousnesses. Fifty thousand years later, you're about to arrive.
About thirty years prior to arriving, you start picking up native radio signals.
Story So Far
The first radio signals you were able to pick up, T-30 Y, were omnidirectional, high-powered FM broadcasts carrying large amounts of information. Early era broadcast television signals, basically.
You launch a probe to L-II, designated mkire-I, initial velocity ~0.1c. ETA T-115 D, estimated nearest approach to L-II ~500,000km.
There's a wide variety in the signals you've picked up between T-30 Y and T-25 Y. There are seven different standards of signals for television-- large portions of the signals repeat in a regular interval of ~28.1Hz, with empty slots characteristic of analog television broadcasts for CRTs-- coming in on multiple slices of spectrum. You're getting signals from eighteen distinct sources. Dozens of smaller audio signals have been tracked, though they fade in and out more frequently. At T-26 Y, additional data was added to the television broadcasts. You've identified it as colour.
At T-25 Y, you launch probes, designated randomJ-I and randomJ-II, to L-III and L-IV respectively. Inital velocity ~.1c. ETA T-93 D. Estimated nearest approach to Lamprey-III, ~1,000,000 km; estimated nearest approach to Lamprey-IV, ~1,000,000 km.
Lamprey TV carries audio frequencies from 30 Hz to ~30,000 Hz.
You've determined that there are at least eight different languages being broadcast, and based on when the signals are strongest and correlating with the planet's revolution, that they tend to be geographically distinct entities. Two languages share a video broadcast standard; the others each have their own.
Both the television and audio signals receipted to-date are running in the double-to-triple digit megahertz frequencies. The lower frequency signals are weaker and more prone to interference.
At T-25 Y, the signals are varied. News and entertainment of various kinds. How accurate a depiction of everyday life the various entertainment programs are is an unknown.
Luminosity data has a wider than human transmissions of the period range, and so does colour. Whether or not the colour codes you're using map to what they see in is a who-knows question, but the signal coding is set for a three-colour system, which shifted to a four-colour system at T-22 Y.
The video is complex. The audio less so. To the best of your knowledge the aliens have not yet managed to transmit smell, taste, touch, etc over the ether.
At T-25 Y, everything intercepted was a high powered civilian broadcast, meant for open consumption. No crypto, period, other than the basic broadcast protocols.
By T-18 Y, you're picking up an ever-increasing variety of signals. The colour band for television has been modified to include a fourth colour signal. It correlates to aliens, used stovetops, car engines, etc, but only if there's no other colour band for that part of the image.
Between T-18 Y and T-10 Y, your signal analysis continues to get cleaner, but the number of new signals is plateauing. You're still picking up new transients of lower power, but nothing new in terms of a high-powered civil broadcast system.
Digital signalling is increasing, though analog signals still outnumber them at T-10 Y.
Between T-18 Y and T-10 Y, encryption strength is going up as well. It takes longer to crack signals and on some you've had to resort to brute forcing, which is impeding your analysis of military traffic. The signals you do crack are military/governmental in nature but are usually fairly mundane but sensitive, logistical movements and the like. The encryption is algorithmatically advanced. The breakable encrypted communications imply a computer power several times that of the civilian market. The ones crackable without resorting to brute force tend to be older ones, relying on mathematical problems humanity has solved but the Lampreys have not.
The un-decryptable signals are presumed to be one-time-pad encryption, which is theoretically unbreakable if the proper proceedures are followed. It carries a fairly hefty penalty in how damned inconvenient it is to use; on Earth, it's generally used only when 1) you're fairly certain someone else is trying to listen in on you and 2) you really don't want them to have any idea what you're saying.
It could also be that the Lampreys are using algorithmic encryption based on keys and algorithms of sufficient length and complexity that you can't break them.
As you coast steadily closer, Lamprey technology continues to improve and they develop a space presence superior to modern Earth's.
As mkire-I passed by L-II at T-115 D, it was picked up and tracked by radar, then shot at three times with a ground-mounted laser.
Initial Lamprey-TV reports a near miss by a 'natural object'. Initial intercepts are saying that the ABM systems were acting on automatic, in a secondary role as meteor defence. Governmental radio chatter within the NE indicates they tried using their ABM system to shoot at at mkire-I, but missed. They have not been able to image mkire-I visually.
The Audacity received the probe's report at T-105 D. Over the next few days, details emerge about what happened to mkire-I. By T-90, the Lampreys are reporting that their initial reports were incorrect. The laser complex is a large ground based one located in Princeps (NE5). The laser shots were not automated, but fired at the express order of the NE Overwatch commander. She is currently the subject of an internal inquiry and suspended with pay. Her decision to shoot has also touched off a minor diplomatic tempest, with other spacegoing nations in the Equatorial block protesting about taking due care to avoid hitting other people's assets and damaging orbital infrastructure.
A vigorous debate, meanwhile, has sprung up on L-II over exactly what mkire-I really was. Theories range from a natural object, perhaps ejecta from a violent extrasolar collision, to a missed KKV; for the most part, the idea of an artifical object of mkire-I's presumed size being accelerated to that speed is being met with skepticism.
Nevertheless, Princeps (NE5) and Aggregated Groups (E1) start a collaborative sky search, joined by their respective blocks, looking for potential origins for mkire-I and, especially, to see if there are any more coming. Happily, mkire-I's year-and-a-half burn thirty years ago shifted its trajectory just enough that the Lampreys are starting in the wrong spot. There's also an uptick in the strength of the radar pulses hitting the Audacity, more than is attributeable to simply drawing closer. You're still far beyond estimated Lamprey detection range.
The Lamprey search doesn't find you before you turn on your drive, at T-23.3 D.
Ignition.
Tonnes of white-hot plasma spew sunwards as deuterium atom meets deuterium atom inside your engine bell, your hundred-kilometre-square radiators glowing a cheerful cherry red from the fraction of a fraction of the waste heat that isn't carried away by the exhaust itself. For the first time in fifty millenia, the Audacity feels the effects of acceleration.
It responds magnificently. There are some breakdowns, quicky and efficiently handled by your self-repair units, but by and large, everything holds on as 'gravity' once more permeates the ship.
They pick up the light from it at T-21 D.
The results on Lamprey-II are spectacular. Your drive is visible to unassisted Lamprey vision. People see it, and stop and wonder-- those on the night side who happen to have the stars memorised, anyways. The rest of the planet finds out about it when news leaks from observatories around the planet that something new is Up There. In the very earliest interviews around T-20, when asked point-blank if the new light is artificial, most of those involved in looking at it refused to speculate.
But most is not all.
Right from the beginning, in Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), and Princeps (NE5) especially, there are professionals calling it clearly artifical.
Government and military traffic spikes worldwide. Everyone appears to be trying to talk to everybody else. Militaries are placed on alert. People stay home from work to watch, and speculate, and learn.
By T-18 (D-1.6 LD to L-II), the past two days of which have been full of wild theories, Aggregated Groups (E1) makes it official in an all-channel government broadcast (carried on at least one network in every other Equatorial state). The new light is believed to be an extrasolar, artifical starship. Aggregated Groups (E1)'s Leading Lamprey calls for a multilateral conference to find appropriate ways of dealing with the alien visitor.
The theories in those couple of days were all over. Most of them revolved around alien visitation (a subset of which involved robots); other, competing theories had everything from the wrath of God (pick which version!) to a sign of the end times.
The most accurate, true-to-science theories are originating out of countries with high proportions of M/NI believers; Aggregated Groups (E1) and Occidens (M6) are noteable in this regard. Ha'Aretz (E3) has some of the wilder divine-visitation angles going, as do Bisonpatrie (NE4) and Mater (NE1).
In terms of friendliness of the hypotheticals, Tullo (NE6) and Canocha (E2) lead. Ha'Aretz (E3) is about middle-of-the-pack. Bad-end situations are more dominant in Çaiyad (E4), Aggregated Groups (E1), Oriens (NE7), Tullo (NE6), Bisonpatrie (NE4), Mater (NE1), and South Ukkei (M4).
Response to the proposed conference from other governments is swift, suggesting behind-the-scenes coordination. Within hours, all of the Equatorial nations have lined up behind Aggregated Groups (E1)'s proposal; Canocha (E2) first, then Ha'Aretz (E3), then Çaiyad (E4). As the NE nations wake up, they too begin endorsing the idea, starting with Princeps (NE5) and Victus (NE3), who drag the rest of their block with them. Various minor nations clamour to be part of the process; analysts speculate they are worried about being marginalised and left out of the most important event in recorded Lamprey history.
A fuss is kicked up as various nominally 'free' governments go around confiscating private radio gear and locking down commercial stations. Military radio traffic continues to trend upwards, with the proportion of outright uncrackable communiques jumping.
Civil and commercial broadcasters are being vetted on what they can say and how they can say it, by use of emergency powers in the case of countries like Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), Victus (NE3), and so on, and just-because in the more authoritarian corners of the world. Nation after nation the airwaves are being sanitised.
Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), and Victus (NE3), which have the longest traditions of individual rights, actually made a broadcast requesting that people turn their various sets in voluntarily, to avoid introducing complicating factors to the situation. They actually had a fairly high compliance rate-- though not perfect. People who did not so comply had their operator's licenses suspended and sets confiscated. Oriens (NE7) and Occidens (M6) acted the same way. Çaiyad (E4) and Libertas (M2) fined them punitive sums, pulled their licenses, and yanked their gear.
Mater (NE1), Princeps (NE5), Tullo (NE6), North Ukkei (M3), and Herensuge (M5) tossed such people in jail.
Ha'Aretz (E3), Bisonpatrie (NE4), Koori (M1), South Ukkei (M4), Aurora (M7) didn't allow the kind of radios in question in the first place and maintained controls over the media in any event. They simply cracked down with rules they already had.
It isn't enough, though. The first message you receipt, at T-17 D, through the ionised plasma plume of your exhaust, is a faint, garbled, and low-powered audio-only transmission from, presumably, a good quality civilian radio. It's very simple; "Hello!", repeated roughly every twelve seconds, cycling through Alpha-2, Ceti-3, Ceti-1, Ceti-2, and Beta-2. Origin is somewhere within Canocha (E2). You respond with relatively straightforward First Contact protocols on repeat: First coarse counting, then more sophisicated counting, mathematical constructs, and encoding, with enough power behind them to be clearly received. The original signal cuts out after about three hours of transmission.
By that time there are others. Some are similar to the first, private citizens trying to make contact on their own initiative. Few of those last even as long as the first one did, and their signalling varies wildly. The messages range everywhere from simple on/off counting to natural language queries. As a whole, they include everything from welcomes to threats, but most of the messages centre around the fundamental questions, "Who are you?", "What are you?", and "Why are you here?", expressed various ways. The dominant tone is trepidation.
Other signals include, at T-16 D, an attempted direct transmission from a television station located in Ha'Aretz (E3).
She was broadcasting openly from a ground station. Other governments are nearly certain to have receipted it, given how quickly other signals were going off the air midtransmission. To T+8 D, there's been no evidence of chastisement from the other Lamprey governments.
Between T-20 D to T-15 D (D-1.4 LD to L-II), most of the governments and other major organisations are laying low and keeping silent, but as should be expected, there are exceptions.
The spiritual leader of Monotheist/Intervention-2 sends you a message by laser, bounced off a comsat. It's fairly typical mathematical construct stuff to start with, similar in kind to yours, but she appends a postscript in natural language: "If, by some chance, you understand me, travellers from afar, I charge you in the name of God, answer truthfully: From where have you come? To where do you go, and why? I fear there will be little peace on our unhappy world while your light shines unexplained." You reply as standard, but by laser.
One of Victus (NE3)'s telecom companies, owner of a whole constellation of satellites, sends an algorithmic language message your way. Boiled down, it appears to offer you the chance to make $$$ in your spare time.
And then the first of your answers hit the planet at T-15 D, and stir things up even more. The more paranoid Lamprey governments shut down every piece of wireless transmission they can get their tentacular maniples on. Overall transmissions from the planet plunge, until more or less the only things going are government alerts to citizens and unbreakably encrypted military traffic. The follow-up message by laser only reinforces the problem.
Ha'Aretz (E3)'s internal, encrypted traffic is among the busiest in the world.
By T-10 D (D-1 LD to L-II), having worked with extraordinary speed, the Contact Conference sends the broadest of broadcasts out on the commandeered telecom infrastructure: worldwide, every channel, simultaneously. It announces that the joint nations of Lamprey-II have agreed on a message to send to the aliens. They have incorporated what they've been able to glean of your transmission protocols to date. It's a purely mathematical construct, but they send to you the periodic table of elements up to uranium. You receive this signal at T-9 D (D-0.9 LD to L-II) and reply with elaborations to same, coding, for the first time, a constructed logic language.
The Lampreys receive this signal at T-8 D. They send a return reply at T-1 D (D-0.3 LD to L-II). They have not figured out the constructed language's encoding, but they have tried sending written Lamprey talk in every major language. You repeat the second stage message immediately on receipt.
At T+3 D (D-0.1 LD to L-II), they send a new message, incorporating what they've learned from the last. They've figured out the protocol more thoroughly. With the lightspeed lag down to hours, a flurry of messages follow.
The governments are keeping very, very quiet about the details of the communications attempts. However, they have no idea about how to pronounce anything-- all official communications to date have been strictly data, no audio, no visual.
T+7.6 D (D-1.5 LH to L-II): Orbital insertion around L-III, at a distance of eight million kilometres.
You tool about in the L-III area, using your fusion torch sparingly to boost your probespam inwards towards their destinations.
The scoopship begins the first of what will be a hundred and fifty supply runs.
The planet eater is dropped off on L-III-VI, which it finds full of tasty tasty stuff. It promptly begins processing operations, first building itself some support structures to up its speed.
Encrypted traffic jumps a few hours after each of these operations before dying down again.
The lockdown on L-II's transmission begins to lift. Civil broadcasts crop up in Canocha (E2) at T+20 D, Aggregated Groups (E1) at T+26 D, Borealis (NE2) at T+29 D, and the other democracies follow suit over a period of twenty days.
Some of the non-democratic countries do likewise, for example Libertas (M2). Ha'Aretz (E3) also lifts broadcast restrictions.
It's evident that the governments are still heavily monitoring the news broadcasts, checking for inappropriate things. There are reports of uncivil unrest in Ha'Aretz (E3) on foreign news media. Ha'Aretz (E3)'s local news is downplaying things. Reaction to the broadcast blackout is mixed (at least, in those nations wherein freedom to broadcast is an expectation). The fact that it happened at all is condemned by some; more complain at the length; more yet think it an understandable overreaction; there are some who think the governments involved ought to be exercising even more control than they have.
Some of the broadcasting corporations are making an explicit point to run "This content approved by" messages. The loudest proclaimer of this is a company that is notorious for freedom-of-the-press obsession.
The anchorwoman is mentioned. Ha'Aretz (E3) claims she was a member of a violent revolutionary cell, acting as an infiltrator, that her death was an act, staged by that group, and that her and her associates are under guard, except for those that were shot resisting arrest. This is announced personally by Ha'Aretz (E3)'s leader at T+25 D.
The NE nations are meeting this claim with universal skepticism.
Also consistently on the news are the current status of communications attempts. They're more or less accurate to where the Lamprey's really are-- they've struck a bit of a roadblock in moving past your constructed language, based on what they've been transmitting to you. The reports are vague generalities, stripped of any details that would allow a non-Coalition entity to meaningfully communicate. As the restrictions lift, some try; you ignore them.
At T+36 D, an official statement is made regarding your nature. It's everything you could ask for; based on their analysis so far, they say, they think your actions are most consistent with an automated, reproducing probe. Presumeably the Lampreys have noticed your activities in and around L-III. A signal is sent to the probe the Lampreys have in orbit around L-III and it begins to shift position, moving under weak ion thrust. Calculations suggest it is adjusting it's ecliptical orbit in order to pass near the Audacity's parking orbit, although without knowing the end of the burn it's difficult to be sure. The probe is wholly unarmed according to everything you have been able to learn about it from eavesdropped transmissions and your own direct sensors.
At T+41 D, the first spaceflight around L-II on the part of the Lampreys since your arrival occurs, a big rocket into L-II orbit to hang a giant observatory. Images from both that and the Lamprey probe around L-III are broadcast, showing your arrival and current activities (on a time delay). The launch is done under the auspcices of the Coalition. Around the same time, you observe small, <20kT nuclear detonations in uninhabited corners of L-II.
T+56 D, you observe laser thermal blooms all over the atmosphere of L-II. It seems to be a coordinated E/NE joint ASAT test.
At T+68 D, South Ukkei (M4)'s dictator dies and her daughters fight over the succession, causing the country to implode by T+83 D. North Ukkei (M3) requests Equatorial assistance; Çaiyad (E4) and Aggregated Groups (E1) oblige, mashing South Ukkei (M4)'s divided military with overwhelming force. By T+131 D, order is restored under the occupying troops.
MI/2's spiritual leader, the very one who send you a message by laser way back when, made an address following the pacification of South Ukkei (M4) by Aggregated Groups (E1) and Çaiyad (E4), calling for world unity and peace. She echoed themes and phrases she used in a public ritual she conducted immediately after ignition, the now-famous "God Needs No Starship" address. Her central points were that the Audacity's origins were purely in the material realm; that this is an inspiration, because it shows that many things Lampreys have dreamed of can be done; it is a challenge to the Lampreys, to try to do those things; and it shows the vastness and glory of God's creation, not merely limited to one small world, but the full universe in all its sublime variety. And that the stupidest possible thing would be to take this great token, this wide-open opportunity, and screw it up with unreasoning violence or unreasoning trust.
It's also worth noting that she is popularly credited with helping to defuse the E/NE staredown back at T-11 Y.
At T+73 D, you observe nuclear detonations in space, conducted outside the orbit of L-II-II. Again, <20kT blasts.
At T+89 D, the L-II-II moonbase successfully fragments a metre-wide iceball meteoroid with a projectile-on-projectile intercept. More attempts occur, with a climbing success rate, as time moves on. The size threshold for intercepted meteoroids drops, too.
By T+96 D, your scoopship has completed the refueling operation. It's a billion miles to L-II, you've got full tanks of D, it's dark, and you may or may not be wearing sunglasses. The Audacity departs on a trip to the asteroid belt.
Another, even larger telescope-- this one a radio telescope with a receiver over a kilometre across-- is hung in multiple stages, with launches from Victus (NE3) and Aggregated Groups (E1). The scope is complete by T+95 D.
Launch schedules increase. By T+102 D multiple rockets per day are touching down at the II-II moonbase. Four very large (varying between three hundred twenty one metres to five hundred fourty six metres across) bubbles of shiny aluminium are erected on the asteroid, apparently kept from collapse by being inflated with gas. Two similar bubbles are erected on L-II-I. They're big. They're shiny. They leak low-pressure nitrogen when hit by micrometeors. They're effectively tinfoil thick. There's equipment moving in and out of them, and occasionally loads of rock.
What's going on under the domes could be anything. They're obviously designed to deflect observation. Underneath the Lampreys could be doing anything from heavy construction of an Orion to big mass drivers to an e-mail laser to radar stations to telescopes to giant billboards to absolutely nothing at all. The one thing they aren't are shirtsleeve environments, the pressure being far too low for that.
The Audacity arrives in the asteroid belt at T+122 D.
The Coalition Conference achieves third-stage understanding, demonstrated in a message sent T+129 D. They initiate a planet-wide set of conferences to try and choose the first words Lampreykind will officially send.
The Lampreys announce plans for a lampreyed expedition to L-III at T+142 D. Video footage shows brief glimpses of an extremely large chemical rocket under assembly.
T+169 D, the probe crosses your original orbit. You aren't there, having merrily skipped off to examine various rocks in the asteroid belt. The probe continues thrusting, eventually coming to rest in a rendezvous with L-III-VI at T+201 D.
Aggregated Groups (E1) will be holding elections in just under a Lamprey year (T+460 D). Anticipation is beginning to build.
Vital statistics show an increase in marriages and births.
At T+205, the Lampreys send you a message. Mutual intelligibility through the sandbox constructed language has been achieved. The message reads:
"Greetings, visitors. Do you understand us? Please respond. Thank you."
As of that moment you're about half-way through manufacturing the cable for the space elevator.
The Lamprey understanding of your constructed language is decent. It's a pretty bare-bones, functional language. You couldn't put, say, the Bible, or Shakespeare, or Tolstoy into it, and if you could, the Lampreys wouldn't be able to translate all of it accurately. Simple, direct concepts will work best.
In response to the message sent by the Contact Coalition at T+205D, you reply with a simple message: "End of automated protocols. Please hold", sent by the Fake Brain communications hub as it manouvers its way towards L-III-III. The next official Lamprey message arrives at T+208D, and reads "Holding."
Meantime, other events continue apace. Your planetary VN unit ceases production on both the Space Elevator and Fake Brain filler materials and rededicates itself to building a second VN unit, while continuing to add to the steady stream of satellites in L-III space. Many are observatories aimed to the inner system; many more are interlinked into an interferometer array aimed at Sol System.
At T+233D, there is a gravitational microlensing event, the first on a line-of-sight between you and Sol in the thirty thousand years since loss of contact. The lensing only lasts for a bit under an hour, but in that time you have everything you can looking around at what Sol was like five thousand years ago.
The results are interesting.
Sol system, physically, is very much as it was said to be on the last update from Sol. The gas giants aren't diminished, the other planets and moons are all still there. There's no new giant impact craters to be seen. Search as you might, though, there is no trace of any space-bourne industry or habitation or power generation. Some of it might be under your resolving abilities, but the Dyson Swarm of power sats around Sol would be observable if they were still there. They're gone.
Earth's atmospheric composition has shifted. It is showing a drop in CO2, water vapour, and methane levels and seems to be well into an ice age, a failure of climatic engineering that would not have occured normally.
Mercury's albedo suggests that the solar panels which liberally coated it are still there, but there's no trace of the waste heat from the power distribution system anywhere in the system.
The Lampreys notice your reprioritisation and you later see them aiming their telescopes in about the same direction, but they missed the lensing event and, further, don't have the bearing quite correct. They continue to shift the angle of their scopes slightly. This is apparently a continuation of work being done to back track your point of origin, thus far without conclusive results. Stellar drift and the Lamprey inability to date the Audacity have frustrated the search.
The Lampreys are continuing work in space and on their moons. They're launching on a record schedule; in terms of tonnes per ten Lamprey days they're already at double their pre-Ignition peak and still climbing. Their defence net continues to show completion of additional facilities as more and more things are hung in local L-II space and in further orbits. The Lampreys, as of T+243D, have started putting radar, mass-driver, and laser-mirror stations into orbits in a shell at 2.3 LS out from L-II. Their ROF has continued to climb, being up 10% over T+205 by that point.
The lunar colony on L-II-II has expanded massively.
Some of the aluminium foil bubbles have shown localised hot spots, over and above the ones attributable to construction machinery.
The Lamprey media in several countries say they have been released from the governmental restrictions. Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), Çaiyad (E4), Borealis (NE2), Victus (NE3), Princeps (NE5), Oriens (NE7), Libertas (M2), North Ukkei (M3), Herensuge (M5), and Occidens (M6) are, as of T+210D, allegedly free broadcast zones once again. This does not spill over into the more repressive, dictatorial kinds of government, which retain a lock on the media.
Quantities of lesser, unencrypted/algorithmically encrypted signalling beginning to climb again. Uncrackable OTP ciphers have started to decline, except in Ha'Aretz (E3). The content being sent over them remains relatively banal.
More video of the proposed exploration vessel is released. It is an absolutely ridiculously huge-looking rocket, dwarfing anything anything previously built by Lamprey-kind, even Aggregated Groups (E1)'s two-hundred-fourty-tonnes-to-orbit launch systems. It is clearly a chemical rocket in design; the disintegrating totem-pole-look can't be confused for anything else. It has been knocked together in surprisingly short time, even with the amount of resources and Lampreys being committed to the project. The rocket is being assembled in Aggregated Groups (E1), with a multinational workforce scrambling and working sextuple shifts for around-the-clock coverage. Scaling, based on other examples of Lamprey launch technology, shows that this ship could put almost a thousand tonnes into orbit above L-II.
Shortages of various industrially-useful resources continue to grow. Interest rates are spiking worldwide. Rationing is imposed in Ha'Aretz (E3), Mater (NE1), and Bisonpatrie (NE4) among the major states, as well as in Koori (M1), South Ukkei (M4), and Aurora (M7). None of the democracies have yet resorted to it in the face of public unhappiness with the idea.
At T+261D, Ha'Aretz (E3), which had not participated in the huge surge in space-related activity, stuns the entire world when it launches a hundred-fifty-thousand-tonne rocket into orbit. Apparently, while everyone else was busy prepping conventional space fields and missile factories, Ha'Aretz (E3) put a nuke in a cavern, corked the cavern with a pusher plate, and fired the whole thing into orbit in one shot. It simultaneously announces that it has found the Contact Coalition to be too slow and passive in its approach, and is offering a direct mission to L-III space aboard its new nuclear-propelled spaceship-- which is evidently an Orion-style design.
It also mixes in warnings that acts of aggression against the ship or Ha'Aretz (E3)'s other space assets by the defence nets established by other nations or by the Contact Coalition will be considered acts of war.
Ha'Aretz (E3) offers the other nations the opportunity to reorganise the Coalition along lines more preferable to Ha'Aretz (E3), offering the carrot of slots aboard the spacecraft if people cooperate.
Ha'Aretz (E3) also fires a message off to you, asking you to cease production of new materials at once, to approach no closer than 5.4 AU to the Lamprey star, and to reply forthwith. The message was sent simultaneously in two parts, one highpowered and directional to you, one a lower-powered omnidirectional one; both were unencrypted. It was sent first in the constructed language, and repeated in Beta-3. It's unlikely that there will be anyone on the planet unaware of what was said within a day or two.
The number transmitted (which is not exactly 5.4 AU) doesn't work out to an even number in any Lamprey measurement system you know of. The simulcast in Beta-3 rounds it off to what is a round number to two significant figures. It has no religious significance. It is, however, exactly four and a half times L-II's semi-major axis from the Lamprey-star. Nothing of yours-- with the single exception of mkire-I, now long since extrasolar-- has crossed the defined threshold.
It is slightly closer to the Lamprey sun than where the Lamprey astronomers consider the asteroid belt to 'end'. There's nothing else really interesting about that area of space.
A quick analysis of the Ha'Aretz (E3) craft shows that it could not have possibly been constructed by Ha'Aretz (E3) in secret in just the time since ignition. This is something that has to have been in the works for years, if not decades. This is pointed out within minutes of the launch by various Lamprey news agencies.
If the other nations are truly as surpised as they seem to be, it means that Ha'Aretz (E3) and possibly other countries have a better capability for secret projects than expected. If they aren't, it means the Lampreys are actively lying to you. Either way, there's more sneakiness around here than there was before, but not necessarily that much more industry.
You bounce Ha'Aretz (E3)'s message with a standard 'end of protocols' reply from the Fake Brain. As it wings back across the AUs separating the Fake Brain and L-II, events-- as reported by your incessant snooping on the Lamprey EM bands-- continue to, as it were, eventuate.
One of the foil bubbles on L-II-I pops open, just as Ha'Aretz (E3)'s Orion ship swings by underneath it. Although you can't see them directly, it appears that large amounts of cabling were shot at the Orion, tethering it to L-II-I and turning the Orion's arc into a proper orbit. The Orion is then reeled in towards L-II-I, ending up floating a scant hundred and a bit metres above the surface previously hidden by the bubble. Sections of the aeroshell slide aside, previously hidden hatches open, and lampreynauts promptly begin shuttling supplies into the vessel. Meantime, the foil covering is slowly pulled down to the moon's surface.
L-II is going nuts.
Naval fleets across the globe are moving. Seabourne hotspots allow you to track them; Aggregated Groups (E1) has four battlegroups converging on Ha'Aretz (E3)'s coast. The NE bloc's navies are splitting, with about two-thirds returning to home ports and the rest, under joint-command, pointed squarely towards the Equatorial continent, moving westward from their forward deployment by Mater (NE1). Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), Ha'Aretz (E3), and Çaiyad (E4)'s airforces all go to full readiness, putting planes into the air in numbers not seen since the Midocean Oil Crisis.
Thermal hotspots all over the ground in Çaiyad (E4) and Canocha (E2) are correlated with tank divisions activating.
Radar outputs soar, with two previously unknown tracking lines in Ha'Aretz (E3), and one each in Çaiyad (E4), Canocha (E2), and Aggregated Groups (E1), radiating. Airbourne radars are going live as well.
In space, a number of satellites with deltaV reserves are shifting into orbits that give L-II-I as much space as feasible. The colony on L-II-II buttons down.
It goes without saying that military and government comm chatter spikes as well. There're some interesting tidbits; in the confusion, not everyone on the planet seems to be following proper protocols.
Notably:
The drilling platform is an older 'rig, one out in the midocean oilfield that caused the last spike in international tensions, on the Çaiyad (E4) side of the treaty line. It had some delays in its construction and difficulty in emplacement, but since then it has steadily produced a high volume of oil (upwards of 70,000bbl./day, in Earth measurements). Dedicated shuttle fleets move the oil to Çaiyad (E4)'s side of the island for refining and transshipment via supertanker, primarily to Çaiyad (E4) for pipeline distribution (originally, exclusively to Çaiyad (E4)'s main coast; later expanded to some of the colonial assets and minor nations within the Equatorial sphere; in recent years, shipments have started up to Victus (NE3), but only in limited amounts). It's also one of the largest 'rigs in the world.
This time around, the media are not shut down in democratic countries (In Ha'Aretz (E3), which stays determinedly silent, there is only the news that an annoucement will be made at a certain time (precisely 24 minutes 51.4 seconds following the Orion ship's arrival over L-II-I). Elsewhere in the free world, speculation and analysis runs rampant.
Rapidly pointed out are the obvious facts:
Various high-but-not-top government officials and spokeslampreys show up to plead, not particularly convincingly, for people to avoid jumping to conclusions until more information comes in. The Contact Coalition structure is slow off the mark, with reactions being initially done by component governments instead of as a unified front.
The general reactions are still very confused; not much above the 'good grief, something big just happened' level. Some of the sharper people are moving past that; pointing out that a very great deal is going to hinge on what Ha'Aretz (E3) does next, what they may have already had set up with other countries, and what you guys decide to do.
Ha'Aretz (E3)'s Orion has not officially been named yet. An NE commentator suggested the name Contemplator's Folly.
Time lag between the Audacity and L-II is currently one hour and ninety-two seconds for light.
Not a great deal happens before Contemplator begins her speech. Nobody panics and starts a quick game of MMO tic-tac-toe.
At precisely the appointed time, television broadcasts throughout Ha'Aretz (E3) go live. So, too, do radio transmissions. They are picked up and retransmitted across the free world, be satellite, by repeater, by hook and by crook; even most of the dictatorial countries show at least parts of it, albiet on a delay. The initial source is in Ha'Aretz (E3), specifically a city about fifty kilometres from the capital.
Contemplator is in a small, low-ceilinged room, with neither doors nor windows visible. Soft deep red light provides a gentle illumination, shining off smooth, undecorated rock-faced walls. She herself is half-curled, lying behind a low, polished riser, made of shaped plant material. In texture and colour, it is almost-- but not entirely-- unlike wood.
Unusually for Contemplator's public appearances, she isn't wearing many of the symbols and regalia she is entitled to; compared to historic images, she appears almost nude. Hanging from her harness is only one symbol, a plain, stone-graven one Contemplator carved with her own tentacles during her rite of passage. The stone pendant, fashioned the form of a stylised grasping tentacle set, is the oldest symbol of Contemplator's religion; each Contemplator carves one anew, and carries it with her throughout her life, and only Contemplators bear them.
Her tentacles are lying back, flat against her body, quivering slightly; a relaxed, non-threatening posture.
She begins.
By and large, Contemplator's demeanor is matter of fact. There's a couple of moments of muted triumph and a couple of sections where Contemplator's passion seems to get the better of her.
Reactions to Contemplator's speech are multituninous. I will break them down by nation:
Global:
Aggregated Groups (E1):
Canocha (E2):
Ha'Aretz (E3):
Çaiyad (E4):
NE Joint Command:
Military comm chatter drops during Contemplator's speech; specifically, the overall curve is roughly M shaped, peaking just after the Orion launch and again part-way through the speech, after which it drops back down. Overwatch, under its new commander, stays on high alert.
The second peak in NE Joint Command traffic occurs while Contemplator is talking about Aggregated Groups (E1)'s alleged distraction efforts, specifically:
The NE fleets elements moving towards the Equatorial continent adjust headings, to courses that will create an at-sea rendezvous well short of Equatorial territorial waters.
Mater (NE1):
Borealis (NE2):
Victus (NE3):
Bisonpatrie (NE4):
Princeps (NE5):
Tullo (NE6):
For Tullo (NE6), the Ha'Aretz (E3) Orion launch occurs very early in the morning. Tullo (NE6), which has the highest density (by area) of ground-based anti-space and ABM systems on the entire planet, briefly moves the ones outside the NE Overwatch system to weapons-free. The Tullo (NE6) goverment makes this fact bluntly clear by, firstly, sending the order out in the clear and, secondly, by ordering all flights, regardless of point of origin, into restricted security corridors of airspace to prepare for immediate grounding.
These orders are not followed exactly once, by a private jet registered to Windsong of the Lake, the head of the M/I-2 Church. The pilot, unwisely or under orders, tries arguing with ground control.
A missile detonating just behind the jet suffices to enforce compliance.
Once the Orion is safely tethered to L-II-I, the Tullo (NE6) alert level is brought back to a less hair-trigger level.
Contemplator's broadcast is shown-- translated versions only-- with a delay. Contemplator is about halfway through her live speech before the delayed transmission begins.
Tullo (NE6), noticing the chaos in Çaiyad (E4)'s markets, pre-emptively closes theirs for the day, the first national government to do so.
Oriens (NE7):
Koori (M1):
Libertas (M2):
North Ukkei (M3):
South Ukkei (M4):
Herensuge (M5):
Occidens (M6):
Aurora (M7):
The pace of events over the twenty-nine Earth days (thirty Lamprey days) between the Orion launch and FB's arrival at L-III-III is headlong.
Riverwards Huntmaster looks as if she'd aged another ten years when she responds to Contemplator. Quite unlike her habit, she reads a statement, from notes, and takes no questions. In full, her statement runs:
Laser seismology of L-III-XVII roughly confirms Contemplator's image. Your view, though still imprecise, has better resolution, and smaller features become visible.
Side
Top
Front
However, the interior of the buried formation remains unknown. The rock-metal boundary is not penetrated beyond the margin of error. Vibrations across it simply vanish.
Ha'Aretz (E3) lampreynauts start stuffing the Orion with supplies. Launches from Ha'Aretz (E3) arrive at L-II-I in a constant unmolested stream, starting approximately two hours after Contemplator's speech ends. Ha'Aretz (E3) is taking care to publish the cargo and mission of each flight. The manifests include all sorts of additional parts and supplies necessary for an interplanetary ship, particularly delicate ones that would not have been expected to survive the nuclear Verning of the Orion.
L-II-I is orbiting in a bubble free from interceptor fire. Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), Çaiyad (E4), the NE Overwatch; they're all leaving wide spaces around the moon. Ha'Aretz (E3) isn't shooting into the volume around its Orion, either.
The exclusion zone's extent varies among the shooters. The NE Overwatch is giving the Orion the widest berth, and Çaiyad (E4) the least.
Over first few days, the initial military worries subside somewhat. Ha'Aretz (E3)'s pointed non-mobilisation cools immediate fears of global catastrophe, and so, instead, various local catastrophes proceed apace.
The initial attacks on Aggregated Groups (E1) and Çaiyad (E4)'s occupation troops in South Ukkei (M4) were harbingers. They quickly grow in strength and frequency. Occupation retaliation is swift and vicious, but inadequate to stem the strikes. The rate increases every day.
A day after Contemplator's speech, investigation of the arms-reduction inspectors begins in essentially every country other than Ha'Aretz (E3). Libertas (M2) doesn't bother to, but Libertas (M2) didn't participate in the inspections, either.
The suspended financial markets are allowed to reopen, some more quickly than others. Çaiyad (E4)'s is, naturally, the first, coming back up the next day. Ha'Aretz (E3)'s is the second, the second Lamprey day after Contemplator's speech.
In the first four days following Contemplator's speech, Ha'Aretz (E3)'s citizens and diplomats in other nations are being rounded up and shipped home, more or less politely depending on place and circumstance. Ha'Aretz (E3) is being allowed to keep their embassies open, on a very skeleton staff; in two cases (Tullo (NE6), North Ukkei (M3)), only the ambassador is allowed to stay. Ha'Aretz (E3) is not publically protesting the breach of etiquette.
Movement on the markets is more sedate with the immediate panic attack over. Canocha (E2)-linked areas begin to recover by the fourth day, with value-seeking investors with a large risk tolerance scooping up deals.
Post-analysis by Lampreys, now available, is that the flight from Canocha (E2)'s military-industrial area was predicated on the theory that Ha'Aretz (E3) was about to reduce those assets to rubble.
Analysis and speculation continues on the Speech. It is pointed out that at least one reading of Contemplator's words would mean that she implicitly ceded everything beyond her line in space to the hostiles.
Your default "end of protocols" return message in response to Contemplator lasts all of four days before being leaked, the initial source being a print newsgroup in Victus (NE3). The reaction is swift, and unanimous in at least one way:
Nobody appears to believe a word.
From there, theories bifurcate wildly. Some think your message is a clumsy attempt at deception or manipulation; clumsy through ignorance, or perhaps because of automation that-- while sophisticated-- isn't much for guile. Others, who ridicule the first group, say that your message is in fact an extraordinarily subtle and well-calculated bit of subterfuge, pointing out how naturally opinion coalesced around considering it "lies". They worry that they're now thinking and acting as you want them to.
Many words are devoted to speculation on what the Audacity would gain by proving yourselves capable of deception. Ideas range from establishing a common ground to trying to make the Lampreys eat their own tails in frustration.
On the fifth day after Contemplator's speech, leaks concerning the Audacity's industrial expansion, and the existence and movement of Fake Brain, crop up in the news. The initial source is in Princeps (NE5). The raw capability of the PVN on L-III-VI is worrying a lot of people.
The language used to describe you shifts. Friendly references are replaced by neutral, and neutral by hostile. Some commentators and areas that started out hostile have become outright vituperative.
Six days after O-day, an Victus (NE3) financial analyst wryly notes that, if the purchases the Canocha (E2) government made in its efforts to prevent total collapse return to pre-Orion levels, the government, on paper, will have covered its operating expenses for the next three years.
Also on the sixth day, public anger forces Aggregated Groups (E1) to disassemble its moonfoil bubbles. On L-II-II-Alpha, only heavily ploughed-over moonrock is visible. On L-II-II-Beta, the bubble slowly collapses into a shallow parabolic bowl. The bowl's centerpoint cannot intersect L-II. Its curve gives it a focal point well beyond L-IV's opposition point.
Seven days after the Orion launch, another analyst, from Çaiyad (E4), publishes a brief piece, quoted in full on one of Çaiyad (E4)'s financial news programs, looking at Hill's moves on O-day. He points out that Contemplator has already made Hill a twenty per cent profit, an amount which is trending up, and put "Everything" as a major shareholder of a number of large, strategically important Canocha (E2) corporations whose shareholders had previously been reluctant to sell to him. "Everything", in so doing, has complied with Canocha (E2)'s foreign-ownership laws and regulations to the letter, stopping well short in all cases from the legal cutoffs.
As a coda, the analyst adds, "It's almost like he saw this coming."
Others agree. On the ninth day after Contemplator's speech, probes are launched by Canocha (E2), Çaiyad (E4), and, a day later, Libertas (M2). The next day, the eleventh after Contemplator's speech, a spectacular car crash incinerates three of the eight named auditors, and the head of Libertas (M2)'s Equitable Trade Enforcement Agency dies of a drug overdose. His deputy-- and now, successor-- cancels the investigation, citing lack of interest. There doesn't appear to've been any negative repercussions for Hill locally over this. Launching the investigation into Hill's affairs at all was wildly atypical for Libertas (M2)'s government. Libertas (M2) is not a very nice place.
Outside the exclusion zone around L-II-I, shooting rates stabilise by the eleventh day after Contemplator's speech. The nature of the shots has altered in one notable particular: The NE Overwatch is now shooting at targets up to 2 LS with a ground-based laser whose point of origin corresponds with the one that shot at mkire-I. These shots are not universally successful in destroying their apparent targets.
On the twelfth day, an international conference is announced, a new meeting of the Contact Coalition. Any hint of news from the intense high-level diplomacy is pored over by an eager planetary media. Leaks spring and rumours whirl. Major figures are expected to attend; Ha'Aretz (E3) isn't invited; no, it is, and Contemplator is going in person; no, she isn't, she's sending in a patsy.
On the fourteenth day after Contemplator's speech, a hurricane lashes Victus (NE3)'s west coast. There are eight deaths.
Also fourteen days after Contemplator's speech, and sixteen days before the Fake Brain arrives at L-III-III, a familiar name shows up in the news. It seems that the former commander of the NorthEast Overwatch complex that took a potshot at mkire-I has tired of her suspension, and defected to Ha'Aretz (E3). This news is broken by a news organisation in Victus (NE3), who reports on her disappearance, and follows up on the sixteenth day by finding out where she went.
On the seventeenth day after Contemplator's speech, the snoopsat array has picks out a large calcium-carbonate asteroid in the cometary halo. Preliminary observations suggest a long-term, super-elliptical orbit with a periapsis inside L-III's periapsis and a periodicity in the half-million year range.
Estimated diametre is 32km major axis, 13km minor. Estimated mass is 1E+17 kg.
Precise data will require further observation.
On the eighteenth day, a Libertas (M2) corporation (Not "Everything") tries a private unscheduled launch from Libertas (M2). Canocha (E2) nails it during boost; the kill shot is a laser strike originating just off Libertas (M2)'s coast. Power level is around a tenth of the mkire shots. There's no permanent facilities there nor persistent heat sources in the area consistent with a surface battlegroup. However, the sky was clear; review from the spysat swarm take indicates the shot was fired from a submarine asset.
When the corporation objects, the prompt (and official) response boils down to "Screw you." Media sympathy almost entirely sides with Canocha (E2).
Resources are diverted from satellites for the construction of a coring drilling rig for L-III-VI. Starting operation at T+280 D, it begins boring down through an area of complicated ore-laden geology near the center of VI's hemispheric crater. Seismic testing on VI has shown the general geology of the moon; nodules, plane fractures, lava flows, a solid iron core.
For a tectonically dead, frozen moon, there is quite a depth of varying kinds of igneous rock. The drill hasn't pierced it consistently by T+290 D, when it is at a depth of over 300 m, although it has gone through scattered blocks of metamorphic. No indications of sedimentation or fossilisation have been found.
On the twentieth day after Contemplator's speech, in Occidens (M6), there's an interesting broadcast. It's a panel discussion, speculating-- as many are-- on Audacity's purpose. One of the participants, an astrophysics professor, lays out a theory, based on the industrial-expansion leaks and the movement of Fake Brain, that the Audacity is part of an exponential expansion scheme, and is, therefore, an immediate threat to all life on L-II. In this theory, your communication attempts are memetic warfare, a deliberate pile of nonsense sent to stall the Lampreys while your industry ramps up. Questioning by other participants elicits the facts that the professor opposes Ha'Aretz (E3), but... well, the Orion is the fastest way to get to L-III, and speed is of the essence.
In addition, Ha'Aretz (E3) media has clips of a brief ceremony as the designated commander of the Orion arrives on station for the first time.
On the twenty-first day after Contemplator's speech, the Audacity, hopping among asteroids, finds one with a number of fossils embedded into it. They are of small macroscale organisms, between three and six centimetres in length, and they do not match up with anything ever found on Earth or any other Sol life-bearing body, or known to be found on L-II. Apparent length of exposure to vacuum is over four billion years.
Twenty-three Lamprey days after Contemplator's speech (seven L-days prior to FB's arrival), the long-anticipated conference is convened, under the auspices of the Contact Coalition. The site is a nice hotel complex in a superlative game park in Bisonpatrie (NE4).
The Lamprey media go bonkers trying to report on the meetings, but the wall of silence that comes down is described as "hermetic". Nobody enters or leaves the secure zone. Ha'Aretz (E3)'s flag is not present amongst the others, which represent every other nation on the planet excepting Libertas (M2) and South Ukkei (M4).
Nothing seems to occur on the first two days of the conference. On the third, with only four Lamprey days left until FB's arrival, news leaks from Aggregated Groups (E1) that Ha'Aretz (E3) subverted the international verification teams by bribing various dictatorships around the world by providing either nuclear weapons or a reciprocity in overlooking other nation's NART violations.
Over that day's news cycle, this news leads to allegations from various areas of the NE bloc that Aggregated Groups (E1) has been in cahoots with Ha'Aretz (E3) all along; that Ha'Aretz (E3)'s Orion is in fact a pan-Equatorial effort; and that Aggregated Groups (E1) and Ha'Aretz (E3)'s falling-out is a sham. Victus (NE3) and Princeps (NE5) are among the polities so accusing. The most vehement denunciations come from Mater (NE1).
Lower-level officials throughout the Equatorial bloc dismiss the claim. Counterallegatons are put forth, saying that the conspiracy theories being floated are diversions from the very real issue of the NART violations and subversions outlined in the Aggregated Groups (E1) leak.
If accurate, the number of known nuclear warheads on L-II just doubled, and only Libertas (M2), North Ukkei (M3), Herensuge (M5), and Occidens (M6) lack them.
Top government officials and politicans remain sequestered in Bisonpatrie (NE4) and do not comment.
The international meeting is still in progress, and still incommunicando, when the Fake Brain arrives at L-III-III, thirty Lamprey days after Contemplator's speech. Lamprey media have been running a countdown to the event.
Simultaneous with Fake Brain's arrival at L-III-III, a comm laser strikes it. Although very attenuated and defocused, the Fake Brain's sensors are up to the task and the message is duly received. It's a text message, no audio or video, reading as follows: "Ready to talk now?"
The message is unsigned and unencrypted. Point of Origin is a nondescript corporate commsat. Its registered owner is a telecom consortium, one member of which is under the "Everything" umbrella, two of which are Aggregated Groups (E1)-based, and one (newly partnered) of which is from Victus (NE3).
After a cautious descent, the Fake Brain finally comes to a rest on the surface of L-III-III. L-III-III's gravity is so minimal that the greatest worry as the Fake Brain settles on the surface is not crashing, but making sure the Fake Brain doesn't simply bounce back off.
With retro-thrusters firing to keep Fake Brain fixed in position, and to avoid acting like a hot coal dropped onto a snowbank, great radiative sheets begin burrowing into the iceball, melting the subsurface ice but leaving a layer as armour against the vacuum. A small sea of circulating water forms.
The Contact Coalition chemical rocket being built in Aggregated Groups (E1) is much less in the news recently. It is, however, still under construction, and said to be approaching completion.
NGOs have tried to learn Clang. Most of those have been actively co-opted by the various government entities.
It's an unstable situation, though. Odds are good that the best connected NGOs already know enough Clang to talk to you. More are undoubtedly going to show up.
Fake Brain first goes to full, multi-GW power generation three hours and eight minutes after arriving in L-III-III's vicinity. In that time, you have received more messages from L-II, various sources; none of them are in the constructed language and they therefore go unreplied.
Among them are:
Once Fake Brain is up and running, you send the following message:
It is sent, as most of the rest of your messages have been, in the constructed language and by radio. One hour, fourty nine minutes, fourty five seconds pass before it arrives on L-II; in the meantime, desultory transmissions continue to trickle in.
There is no direct response to the message's arrival on L-II by either the Contact Coalition or Ha'Aretz (E3). Encrypted comm traffic from the Contact Coalition's game-park retreat soars, including encryption you cannot break. The breakable encryption is reasonably innocuous; requests for information, orders to stomp on unauthorised transmissions, that sort of thing.
Other people are able to pick up your broadcast and, even if they can't understand the constructed language, the differences between it and the previous series of 'please hold' messages is noticed and spread across the news in under an hour.
As is usual, this causes another global surge in signal activity. Without word from the Coalition, speculaton is beginning that it might constitute your first proactive message.
The hour mark passes. Two. There is still no word from official governments. A great many more signals are coming your way, as others drop off, but still none in the constructed language. Reports are coming in of official clampdowns on people sending stuff, but for every one being shut down more are springing up.
Among them:
Six hours gone; no reply. A bombing in South Ukkei (M4) kills twenty-two Aggregated Groups (E1) troops; M/I-1 "Chosen" terrorists pause for nothing so minor as First Contact.
Eight hours.
On L-II, the world is growing restless. Demands are echoing for news on what you have said and what the Coalition will say in response. Ha'Aretz (E3) is remaining determinedly quiet, too.
After nine hours, your transmission's contents are leaked by the media in Victus (NE3), ignoring a government order to shut up. Troops initially sent to shut down the broadcasts are refusing to do so.
The uproar that follows is almost as vocal as the one following Contemplator's speech, but without-- thankfully, from the Lamprey point of view-- the military escalations and financial panics. Still, though, the Contact Coalition's highest officials remain, in the words of an Herensuge (M5) reporter, "quarantined", and there is no reply to you.
Your message is torn apart.
The revelation of your age is a topic of much discussion. The idea that you set out to L-II at a time that predates, at the lowest end, all but the oldest of Lamprey institutions seems to be a humbling one. Of course, the possibilty does exist, it is conceded, that you're lying about that, and came from somewhere closer; or possibly, much, much further.
The evasive wording of 'a number of light-centuries' is noticed.
The fact that you specified 'peaceful' is deduced to mean you have the concept of 'not peaceful', else there would not have been a need to specify.
The confirmation that you are interested in the life on L-II (and, inasmuch as you're sending radio messages in a language you taught them, as opposed to, say, collecting plants, you are most interested in Lampreys) causes speculation that support for Contemplator will increase, although the commentators are being careful to point out it is only speculation at this point.
An enterprising Occidens (M6) reporter with a very good telephoto lens and a very tall tree captures some footage of a medical airlift departing from the roof of the hotel where the Contact Coalition is meeting. Although the distance is long and the features blurry, the Lamprey being airlifted appears to be a badly injured Aggregated Groups (E1) goverment minister. Black blood is seeping through a chest bandage in a large, somewhat circular stain, an unmistakeable bitemark.
Still there is no official word.
At the eleventh hour of your message's arrival on L-II, a constructed language reply is finally sent.
It was not sent by the Contact Coalition, or Contemplator, or Windsong, or even Backbreaker Hill. Of all the Lampreys on the planet, it comes from the government of North Ukkei (M3), following a series of unbreakably encrypted exchanges between the North Ukkei (M3) capital and the Contact Coalition's hotel. Immediately thereafter, North Ukkei (M3)'s delegation is observed leaving the meeting via helicopter.
North Ukkei (M3)'s reply reads:
This reply arrives fifteen hours, five minutes from when you sent your Contact message.
*
Music is not possible at the present time. You'd need to tell them how to build a receiver for the signals. The constructed language (or, as I think I shall call it to save time, Clang) is many things but broad-band multimedia capable is not one of them. It would of course be within your capabilities to tell the Lampreys how to build such a receiver and/or instruct them in the necessary protocols. Clang IS capable of bootstrapping into much more sophisticated systems if you wish to go that route.
A construction note:
In the eighteen hours covered by this update, the PVN has-- at the cost of a few satellites-- fabricated the long strings of photomultiplier tubes needed for optical neutrino detectors. Possible placement areas include: the water ice moons around L-III; Audacity's fuel tanks; or a custom-built tank filled with a suitable detection liquid. Necessarily, neutrino telescopy is [much] less precise than EM telescopy. For example, from the L-III area (or even asteroid belt) none of these will allow for resolution of individual nuclear reactors on L-II.
You reply to North Ukkei (M3) with your counterproposal, for a meeting in the asteroid belt and in at a point and time and vector set such that nothing you know of on L-II, the The Dawn included, could reach L-III without making their intentions clear; time, T+524 D, vector a solar orbit-- or, as an alternative, the Lampreys may choose to have you land a craft on L-II. In addition, you include the offer of sanctuary zones around L-II and L-III-VI, that are not to be entered without permission, and a request for Clang-Lamprey dictionaries.
Precise text follows:
While your missive is en route, the situation in L-II space-- naturally-- continues to shift.
North Ukkei (M3), unlike Ha'Aretz (E3), did not simulcast their message, but, within seventeen minutes of North Ukkei (M3)'s message to you, news of that message leaks, complete with an Alpha-2 translation of the message's text.
The first indications of the leak you pick up are from an independent local television station in Aggregated Groups (E1)'s capital, unaffiliated with any of the E* networks.
It seems that the information blackout is showing signs of crumbling. The Victus (NE3) mutinying units are removed peacefully, on the promise of amnesty, and replaced by military police. The Lamprey who gave the order to suppress the Victus (NE3) media's reporting on your first message, a senior military official, is then arrested and several government officials resign; an order comes down directly from Victus (NE3)'s head of state countermanding the suppression attempts.
A Libertas (M2) media source leaks high-quality photos of the Audacity, high-quality old and recent images of L-III-VI, and much better images of L-III-XVII than have previously appeared in any Lamprey media. They appear to have been taken by Seeker (LP-2), as well as some older ones from Outrider (LP-1). The images spread across the planet like wildfire.
Also rampant in the media and private (but not against your snooping) chatter are various kinds of speculation.
Some concerns North Ukkei (M3)'s gambit: Why would they risk annoying Ha'Aretz (E3)? Are they scheming together? But if so, why would North Ukkei (M3) send the message, instead of Ha'Aretz (E3)? What would Contemplator have to gain by having a patsy send the message?
Some concerns the insurgency in South Ukkei (M4): Who is backing it? Is it Ha'Aretz (E3), with religious ties? The NE block, playing power politics (after all, many of the weapons Aggregated Groups (E1)/Çaiyad (E4) are finding among the insurgents are of NE make)? Aggregated Groups (E1)/Çaiyad (E4), looking for an excuse to increase their occupation forces and annex South Ukkei (M4) outright?
Some concerns you. Lampreys are chasing down an interesting logic chain: It is clear the Audacity is aware of war and is being evasive about where you started from; but on the surface, there's no reason why the Audacity should need to conceal its Point of Origin. Certainly the Lampreys aren't in any position to do anything about it... are they? Perhaps someone else is. Is the Audacity hiding from whomever built-- if Contemplator can be believed-- L-III-XVII? Perhaps a third party? Or would the Lampreys knowing something about the P.o.O impact the Lamprey relationship with the Audacity? If so, what could it be? On current showing, the Audacity is interested in the existence of the Lampreys and isn't indiscriminently genocidal, and it can be presumed to have its own survival as a desired outcome, so perhaps... perhaps the Lampreys knowing something about the P.o.O would make Contact more likely to head south? Or is it, maybe, just a red herring, the Audacity playing head games?
Just what is the relationship between the Audacity and L-III-XVII anyways?
An Ha'Aretz (E3) high cabinet minister is dug up to comment on North Ukkei (M3)'s attempt to speak as if it controlled the The Dawn. His response boils down to "Haha, yeah right", only expressed behind a veritable wall of bafflegab. The faintly amused look says more than the words do. He does however append the note that North Ukkei (M3) is, of course, perfectly welcome to send a group of its choosing to join the The Dawn's expedition, but that "the The Dawn will go where Sharptooth directs."
Shortly thereafter, the Contact Coalition finally acts. First is a news broadcast from a conference room in their gamepark retreat, thirty-eight minutes after North Ukkei (M3) sent its message.
Leaning in niches cut in a ring-shaped riser, spaced evenly across the full three hundred and sixty degrees of its perimeter, are the heads of state-- or effective heads-- of almost every nation on L-II. The riser, the floor, and the walls are a matte white; the curving riser is trimmed with gleaming, glossy black along the flat top. Behind each Lamprey hangs their nation's flag; the room's many lights, set in the high, domed roof, spangle off the polished silvered alloy of their holders. The heads are formally dressed, resplendent to the maximum degree; glittering golden medals drip from the armoured harnesses of several, a cascade of ego. Huntsmaster even has an antique, peacebonded set of daggers wrapped around her neck; six hilts in six tyrannoskin sheathes. The only exception is Windsong; in stark contrast to the conspicuous display of strength and seriousness-of-purpose around the room, in contrast even to the thread-of-gold worked eclipsed-sunburst-and-arrow formal flag of M-I/2 hanging behind her, Windsong-- Windsong alone-- eschews pretentsion, and wears the same flowing, simple white robings that she wore as a parish priest decades ago.
Each Lamprey is positioned far enough that, even were both to stretch their tentacles to maximum extension, they could not touch each other; it is quite a large room.
Windsong, like Huntsmaster, is showing gross physical stress signs; she looks like she's aged a year, a Lamprey year, for every day the Coalition has spent cloistered. Between makeup, the image quality, and carefully schooled political postures, you cannot tell if the other Lampreys have smaller, subtler signs of the same thing.
Contemplator-of-God, along with North Ukkei (M3)'s head of state and Libertas (M2)'s, are not present, but their flags hang behind empty niches. There is no evidence of Backbreaker Hill or any representative of his.
The camera(s), mounted in the center of the ring, can show the full circle simultaneously. A close up pans clockwise across each position. On the riser before each Lamprey are a small stack of papers; and before each niche, including the empty ones, sit a glass of water and a microphone each.
It is, perhaps, coincidental that this layout allows every Lamprey to watch every other Lamprey. Perhaps.
In the order of the closeup pan, the seating arrangements go: Oriens (NE7), North Ukkei (M3) (empty), Victus (NE3), MI/2, Çaiyad (E4), Tullo (NE6), Koori (M1), Borealis (NE2), Occidens (M6), Herensuge (M5), Aurora (M7), Aggregated Groups (E1), Ha'Aretz (E3) (empty), Canocha (E2), Princeps (NE5), Bisonpatrie (NE4), Libertas (M2) (empty), Mater (NE1).
A voice-over briefly recaps the message train and announces that the Contact Coalition has agreed on a reply to you, and that Windsong will deliver it.
The feed goes to a wide view again. The Lampreys present are in official business mode, a calm, neutral body posture. It then cuts to a closeup of Windsong, who rises and begins to speak. She starts in her native tongue, Delta-1. Subtitles appear, differing in language based on where the transmitting stations are; a heartbeat later, so do dubs. Windsong, though, addresses her speech to you.
"To the Audacity Expedition."
-- and that's the end of Delta-1. Windsong smoothly continues in Beta-3. "We are the Contact Coalition, with whom you have been communicating since T-10 D."
Alpha-2: "We represent the overwhelming majority of our species."
Ceti-3: "We are interested in your messages and the possibilities they communicate."
Epsilon-1: "We are aware that fringe elements have tried to contact you."
The translators are struggling to keep up as Windsong shifts so quickly.
Alpha-1: "They do not speak for us."
Ceti-1: "We urge you not to judge the many by the actions of the few."
Beta-2: "Our goal is to avoid unfortunate incidents."
Delta-2: "Some aspects of the current situation are of concern."
Ceti-2: "We seek understanding of them."
Beta-1: "Understanding will aid the prevention of accidents."
She keeps cycling through the languages, a different one every sentence.
"What are your goals with your observation satellites?"
"What are your goals for your industrial replication in our system?" (Ed: In Clang, "our" is not possessive; in the natural Lamprey language (Delta-1 in this case), it was.
"What are the details of your journey?"
"What is the full nature of the structure on <L-III-III> and why did you build it?"
"Why are you interested in life in this stellar system?"
"How many stellar systems do you you know to have technological civilizations other than your own?" (Ed: The question parses as asking about other (i.e non-human-derived) civilizations. The Lampreys would be unlikely to regard colonies as such; Lamprey colonies aren't considered seperate civilizations from their founding nations.)
A pause.
"Answers to these questions would aid your stated mission."
Throughout the entire speech, Windsong's demeanour remains chill, perfectly controlled, her tentacles at rest.
This text corresponds with a simultaneous, high-powered Clang transmission to you.
After Windsong concludes, the heads of state make brief comments, which are not sent to you via Clang. They, essentially, repeat their endorsements of the agreed message; there is a slight but just noticeable hesitation in the ones from Mater (NE1), Oriens (NE7), and Koori (M1).
At this time, your reply to North Ukkei (M3) remains en-route. It will arrive in one hour, eleven minutes.
Timeline:
T-~5,000,000,000 Y: Lamprey's estimated formation of L-II.
T-~4,600,000,000 Y: Estimated formation of Sol System.
T-~4,500,000,000 Y: Estimated origin of single-celled life on L-II.
T-~3,800,000,000 Y: Estimated origin of single-celled life on Earth.
T-~3,250,000,000 Y: Major crater formed on L-II. 99%+ multicellular life extinct.
T-~3,000,000,000 Y: Amino-acid-bearing asteroid formed. Fell to L-III-V around T-~5 Y.
T-~2,800,000,000 Y: Major crater formed on L-III-VI.
T-~1,100,000,000 Y: Two major craters formed on L-II. 99%+ multicellular life extinct.
T-~630,000,000 Y: Major crater formed on L-II. 99%+ multicellular life extinct.
June 3, 2031: First successful high-fidelity human consciousness upload.
April 20, 2037: Mars War, opening hostilities.
May 5, 2037: Mars War ends.
Jan 7, 2043: Uploads outnumber biological humans.
June 15, 2052: Alpha Centauri colony mission launches.
December 9, 2077: Epsilon Eridani colony mission launches.
January 1st, 2106 AD: Science Supercluster begins operation on Luna.
June 2nd, 2132 AD: Science Supercluster hits peak consumption of 26.8% of Sol's gross system product.
June 2nd, 2132 AD: Science Supercluster resource use capped at 8.33% GSP.
Nov 30, 2161 AD: Gliese 581 colony mission launches.
July 1st, 2194 AD, T-~50,000 Y: Audacity launches.
April 21st, 2229 AD: Science Supercluster project shut down. Largest recorded mass suicide in history.
T-~47,000 Y: Uploads in simspace outnumber uploads in realspace.
T-~47,000 Y: The Long Peace begins.
T-~30,000 Y, D -~3000 LY: Loss of contact with Sol.
T-~71 Y, D -~7.1 LY: Backbreaker Hill born.
T-~70 Y, D -~7.0 LY: Windsong of the Lake born.
T-~67 Y, D -~6.7 LY: Lamprey Great War
T-~63 Y, D -~6.3 LY: Riverwards Huntmaster born.
T-~43 Y, D -~4.3 LY: Contemplator of God XXVIII born.
T-~30 Y, D -~3.0 LY: First detection of alien radio. Max-speed flyby probe launched at Lamprey-II.
T-~28 Y, D -~2.8 LY: Virtual receiver constructed. First image of Lampreys.
T-~27 Y, D -~2.7 LY: First Lamprey language cracked
T-~26 Y, D -~2.6 LY: Colour television receipted.
T-~25.5 Y, D -~2.55 LY: Second Lamprey language cracked
T-~25 Y, D -~2.5 LY: Two more max-speed probes launched, one for Lamprey-III and one for Lamprey-IV.
T-~24 Y, D -~2.4 LY: Third Lamprey language cracked.
T-~24 Y, D -~2.4 LY: Radar received.
T-~24 Y, D -~2.4 LY: Rockets shown.
T-~24 Y, D -~2.4 LY: First digital signals.
T-~24 Y, D -~2.4 LY: First encrypted signals.
T-~24 Y, D -~2.4 LY: Spreadsheets shown.
T-~23.5 Y, D -~2.35 LY: Fourth Lamprey language.
T-~23.5 Y, D -~2.35 LY: Jet aircraft in public service.
T-~23.5 Y, D -~2.35 LY: Lampreys put a satellite into Low Lamprey Orbit.
T-~23.5 Y, D -~2.35 LY: Worries about Lamprey population explosion.
T-~23 Y, D -~2.3 LY: Fifth and sixth Lamprey languages.
T-~23 Y, D -~2.3 LY: Fourth colour band added to TV broadcasts.
T-~23 Y, D -~2.3 LY: First high-energy particle accelerators.
T-~22.5 Y, D -~2.25 LY: Seventh through eleventh languages.
T-~22.5 Y, D -~2.25 LY: Lampreys have lasers.
T-~22 Y, D -~2.2 LY: Lampreys discover L-III-XVII
T-~22 Y, D -~2.2 LY: Religious analysis complete.
T-~22 Y, D -~2.2 LY: Lamprey Business Machines starts selling computers.
T-~21 Y, D -~2.1 LY: Lampreys figure out genetics.
T-~21 Y, D -~2.1 LY: Lampreys put satellites into Lamprey Synchronous Orbit.
T-~19 Y, D -~1.9 LY: Plans for nuclear plants make news.
T-~19 Y, D -~1.9 LY: Windsong of the Lake becomes leader of the M/I-2 Church.
T-~18.5 Y, D ~-1.85 LY: Nuclear accusations start flying.
T-~18.5 Y, D ~-1.85 LY: Contemplator-of-God XXVIII becomes the open ruler of Ha'Aretz (E3).
T-~18 Y, D -~1.8 LY: Lampreys begin arms build up
T-17.7 Y, D -1.77 LY: NE detonate first nuclear device. Equatorial side promptly countertests. Estimated yield on both devices comes to around 40kT each.
T-17.4 Y, D -1.74 LY: Personal computers make a splash.
T-17.3 Y, D -1.73 LY: Period-matching, always on radar signals crop up.
T-17 Y, D -1.7 LY: Equatorial Lampreys crash-land probe on inner moon.
T-17 Y, D -1.7 LY: Space Treaty proposed between NE and Equator.
T-16.9 Y, D -1.69 LY: NE side puts probe in orbit over inner moon.
T-16.9 Y, D -1.69 LY: Signal count plateaus.
T-16.9 Y, D -1.69 LY: Equator tests undeniable thermonuclear bomb, 200kT yield.
T-16.7 Y, D -1.67 LY: NE side soft-lands probe on inner moon.
T-16.7 Y, D -1.67 LY: Equatorial side puts probe in orbit over inner moon. T-16.7 Y, D -1.67 LY: First nuclear power plant begins operation, in NE.
T-16.5 Y, D -1.65 LY: Equatorial side puts probe in orbit over outer moon. NE side does the same.
T-16.5 Y, D -1.65 LY: Space Treaty adopted. T-16.5 Y, D -1.65 LY: NE tests a low-yield thermonuclear bomb.
T-16.2 Y, D -1.62 LY: Full thermonuclear bomb test by Equator. 13 MT.
T-15.2 Y, D -1.52 LY: First Lamprey in space. Equatorial.
T-15 Y, D -1.5 LY: First NE Lamprey in space.
T-14.6 Y, D -1.46 LY: Probe launched to Lamprey-I by Equator.
T-14.1 Y, D -1.41 LY: Probe arrives successfully in orbit and starts mapping Lamprey-I.
T-13.9 Y, D -1.39 LY: Probe goes defunct. Both sides launch followup probes to Lamprey-I.
T-13.8 Y, D -1.38 LY: NE Lamprey orbits inner moon.
T-13.6 Y, D -1.36 LY: NE Lamprey orbits outer moon.
T-13.5 Y, D -1.35 LY: Equatorial Lamprey orbits outer moon.
T-13.2 Y, D -1.32 LY: Equatorial Lamprey lands on outer moon.
T-13 Y, D -1.3 LY: Equator Lampreys launch flyby probe to Lamprey-III and thence to Lamprey-IV and V. Launch is done to take advantage of gravitational slingshotting due to the gas giants coming into closer proximity.
T-12.2 Y, D -1.22 LY: Short-duration thermal blooms observed in atmosphere. Consistent with high powered lasers.
T-11.8 Y, D -1.18 LY: Tensions between NE and Equator spike due to oil strikes in small countries between them. Equator sends in troops via ocean.
T-11.7 Y, D -1.17 LY: NE threatens counter attacks and positions navy outside disputed zone.
T-11.6 Y, D -1.16 LY: NE and Equator come to diplomatic solution. NE and Equator split oil-bearing region approximately half-and-half, with neutral zone between.
T-10.8 Y, D -1.08 LY: Joint colony agreed to on outer moon as goodwill gesture.
T-10.4 Y, D -1.04 LY: Flyby of Lamprey-III successful, ditto gravity boost. Probe proceeds towards Lamprey-IV.
T-10.2 Y, D -1.02 LY: Construction begins on lunar colony. It's done as a goodwill gesture.
T-10 Y, D -1.00 LY: Lamprey population hits 4 billion.
T-9.4 Y, D -0.94 LY: 300millionth PC sold.
T-9.1 Y, D -0.91 LY: Lamprey probe flybys Lamprey-IV.
T-9 Y: First stealth aircraft (est.)
T-8.9 Y, D -0.89 LY: Lampreys launch 2nd probe to Lamprey-III.
T-7.8 Y, D -0.78 LY: Lamprey probe flybys Lamprey V and heads off into interstellar space.
T-7.3 Y, D -0.73 LY: 1st Nuclear Reduction treaty proposed by Equator.
T-7.2 Y, D -0.72 LY: Telecoms start offering wide-area networking.
T-6.5 Y, D -0.65 LY: First stage of lunar base (scientific station/com relay/docking point for ships) complete.
T-6.1 Y, D -0.61 LY: Second Lamprey probe arrives around Lamprey-III. Placed in orbit.
T-5.3 Y, D -0.53 LY: Expansion of Lamprey-II-II base begins, for testing micro-gravity mining.
T-5.1 Y, D -0.51 LY: Equator and NE agree to reduction in nuclear armament.
T-4.5 Y, D -0.45 LY: By joint agreement, Equator and NE publically acknowledge anti-ballistic-missile research.
T-3.8 Y, D -0.38 LY: NE and Equatorial inspectors confirm compliance with nuclear reduction treaty.
T-2.4 Y, D -0.24 LY: Lamprey population stablises at 5 billion.
T-1.8 Y, D -0.18 LY: Lamprey-II-II colony sends back first locally processed steel.
T-1.5 Y, D -0.15 LY: 2nd Nuclear Reduction treaty proposed by Equator.
T-1.3 Y, D -0.13 LY: Existence of stealth aircraft declassified
T-1.2 Y, D -0.12 LY: Lamprey Positioning System made available to public.
T-292 D, D -29.2 LD: Equator and NE agree to further reduction in nuclear armament.
T-115 D, D -11.5 LD: mkire-I flys by Lamprey-II. Picked up on radar at 3 LS. NE ASAT laser shoots at it three times, at 4 light-seconds distance (following point of closest approach).
T-105 D, D -10.5 LD: Results of mkire-I flyby receipted.
T-90 D, D -9.0 LD: NE Overwatch commander suspended.
T-23.3 D, D -2.33 LD: Drive Ignition.
T-21 D: Lampreys see the light of your drive.
T-20 D: News begins to leak about your arrival. Rumours fly. Militaries worldwide go on alert.
T-18 D: Aggregated Groups (E1) announces to the world that you are artificial extrasolar travellers. International conference formed to communicate with you. Governments begin locking down unapproved transmitters.
T-17 D: You receive your first message from Lamprey-II. It says, literally, "Hello", and is cut off after several hours. You respond.
T-16 D: Receipt of audiovisual transmission from Ha'Aretz (E3). Anchorwoman Lamprey discusses religion and the Ha'Aretz (E3) government's flaws, and is interrupted by an apparent Ha'Aretz (E3) soldier who shoots the recording device.
T-16 D: Receipt of a laser message from the leader of MI/2. She asks you what you are doing.
T-15 D: Your return signal to the Hello signal is received on L-II. The entire planet goes under EMCON as far as possible.
T-10 D: The Contact Conference sends you a message, the periodic table through to uranium.
T-9 D: You receive the CC-1 message. You return signal is stage-2, the introduction of a constructed-logic language.
T-8 D: The Lampreys receive the stage-2 message.
T-1 D (D 0.3 LD to L-II): The Lampreys send a return message, but they have not figured out the proper encoding. You repeat the stage-2 message.
T+3 D (D-0.1 LD to L-II): The Contact Conference tries again, but they've figured out the protocol more thoroughly. With the lightspeed lag down to hours, a flurry of messages follow.
T+7.6 D (D-1.5 LH to L-II): Orbital insertion around L-III, orbit radius ~8 million kilometres. Survey of L-III-V and L-III-VI begins. Scoopship begins refuelling operation.
T+14 D: Initial survey results come back from L-III-VI. Planet eater deployed.
T+20 D: Civil broadcasts resume in Canocha (E2).
T+25 D: Contemplator XXVIII makes a personal announcement about the Anchorwoman, claiming her to be a member of a violent revolutionary cell.
T+26 D: Civil broadcasts resume in Aggregated Groups (E1).
T+29 D: Civil broadcasts resume in Borealis (NE2). Skepticism is expressed about Contemplator XXVIII's claims throughout the NE bloc.
T+36 D: An official statement is made regarding your nature. It's everything you could ask for; based on their analysis so far, they say, they think your actions are most consistent with an automated, reproducing probe. Presumeably the Lampreys have noticed your activities in and around L-III. A signal is sent for the Lamprey probe in orbit around L-III and it begins shifting it's orbit.
T+37 D: Civil broadcasts resume in Ha'Aretz (E3). There are reports of unrest in the international media; Ha'Aretz (E3)'s local news downplays it.
T+41 D: First spaceflight around L-II on the part of the Lampreys since your arrival occurs, a big rocket into L-II orbit to hang a giant observatory. Images from both that and the Lamprey probe around L-III are broadcast, showing your arrival and current activities (on a time delay). The launch is done under the auspcices of the Coalition. Around the same time, you observe small, <20kT nuclear detonations in uninhabited corners of L-II.
T+49 D: Civil broadcasts have resumed in all of the democracies. Oriens (NE7) is the last to do so.
T+56 D: Laser thermal blooms occur all over the atmosphere of L-III. It seems to be a coordinated E/NE joint ASAT test.
T+68 D: South Ukkei (M4)'s dictator dies and her daughters fight over the succession.
T+73 D: Nuclear detonations in space, conducted outside the orbit of L-II-II. Again, <20kT blasts.
T+83 D: South Ukkei (M4) is in anarchy. North Ukkei (M3) requests Equatorial assistance; Çaiyad (E4) and Aggregated Groups (E1) oblige, mashing South Ukkei (M4)'s divided military with overwhelming force.
T+89 D: L-II-II moonbase successfully fragments a metre-wide iceball meteoroid with a projectile-on-projectile intercept. More attempts occur, with a climbing success rate, as time moves on. The size threshold for intercepted meteoroids drops, too.
T+95 D: Another, even larger telescope-- this one a radio telescope with a receiver over a kilometre across-- is completed.
T+96 D: Your scoopship has completed the refueling operation. The Audacity moves off to explore the asteroid belt.
T+102 D: Multiple rockets per day are touching down at the II-II moonbase. Four very large (varying between three hundred twenty one metres to five hundred fourty six metres across) bubbles of shiny aluminium are erected on L-II-II, apparently kept from collapse by being inflated with gas. Two similar bubbles are erected on L-II-I.
T+122 D: The Audacity enters the asteroid belt.
T+129 D: The Coalition Conference achieves third-stage understanding, demonstrated in a message. They initiate a planet-wide set of conferences to try and choose the first words Lampreykind will officially send.
T+131 D: Order is restored in South Ukkei (M4) under the occupying troops.
T+142 D: The Lampreys announce plans for a lampreyed expedition to L-III.
T+169 D: The Lamprey probe crosses your original orbit. The probe continues thrusting.
T+201 D: The Lamprey probe comes to rest in a rendezvous with L-III-VI.
T+205 D: the Lampreys send you a message. Mutual intelligibility through the sandbox constructed language has been achieved. The message reads: "Greetings, visitors. Do you understand us? Please respond. Thank you."
T+205 D: You reply with a simple message: "End of automated protocols. Please hold", sent by the Fake Brain communications hub as it starts to manouver its way towards L-III-III. ETA is T+290 D.
T+205 D: Your planetary VN unit ceases production on both the Space Elevator and Fake Brain filler materials and rededicates itself to building a second VN unit, while continuing to add to the ~9,500 satellites in L-III space.
T+208 D: The next official Lamprey message arrives, and reads "Holding."
T+210 D: The Lamprey media in Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), Çaiyad (E4), Borealis (NE2), Victus (NE3), Princeps (NE5), Oriens (NE7), Libertas (M2), North Ukkei (M3), Herensuge (M5), and Occidens (M6) say they have been released from the governmental restrictions and are allegedly free broadcast zones once again.
T+211 D: Rationing imposed in South Ukkei (M4).
T+212 D: Rationing imposed in Aurora (M7).
T+215 D: Hotspots not attributeable to construction machinery show in some of the aluminium bubbles on L-II-I and L-II-II.
T+218 D: Rationing imposed in Ha'Aretz (E3).
T+221 D: Quantities of lesser, unencrypted/algorithmically encrypted signalling beginning to climb again. Uncrackable OTP ciphers have started to decline, except in Ha'Aretz (E3).
T+224 D: Rationing imposed in Koori (M1).
T+226 D: More video of the proposed exploration vessel is released. It appears to be the largest chemical rocket ever built. Projections show it being capable of putting over a thousand tne into LLO.
T+230 D: Rationing imposed in Mater (NE1).
T+233 D: Gravitational microlensing event, the first on a line-of-sight between you and Sol in the thirty thousand years since loss of contact. The lensing only lasts for a bit under an hour, but in that time you have everything you can looking around at what Sol was like five thousand years ago.
T+236 D: Rationing imposed in NÇaiyad (E4).
T+243 D: The Lampreys start to put radar, mass-driver, and laser-mirror satellites into orbits at 2.3 LS from L-II. ROF of antimeteor system up 10% over T+205.
T+256 D: Lamprey tonnage-to-orbit hits double pre-Ignition levels and continues to climb.
construction machinery.
T+261 D: Ha'Aretz (E3) stuns the entire world when it launches a hundred-fifty-thousand-tonne rocket into orbit via subsurface nuclear detonation.
T+261 D: Ha'Aretz (E3) announces that it has found the Contact Coalition to be too slow and passive in its approach, and is offering a direct mission to L-III space aboard its new nuclear-propelled spaceship-- which is evidently an Orion-style design.
T+261 D: Ha'Aretz (E3) also fires a message off to you, asking you to cease production of new materials at once, to approach no closer than 5.4 AU to the Lamprey star, and to reply forthwith.
T+290 D: Fake Brain arrives at L-III-III.
T+290 D, 4H: PM #1 sent to L-II.
T+290 D, 6H: PM #1 receipted on L-II.
T+290 D, 12 H: Bombing in North Ukkei (M3) targets occupation troops.
T+290 D, 15H: PM #1 message contents leaked.
T+290 D, 17H: Reply to message #1 (LM #1) sent by Libertas (M2)
T+290 D, 18H: Lamprey message #2 sent by Contact Coalition.
T+290 D, 19H: Reply to message #1 (LM #1) from Libertas (M2) receipted by you.
T+290 D, 19H: Reply to LM #1 (PM #2) sent by you.
T+290 D, 21H: LM #2 received by you.
~T+450 D: Estimated TOC for PVN-2.
Message Log:
PM #1
From: Fake Brain, L-III-III
To: L-II, no specific addressee
Time Sent: T+290 D, 4 H, 2 M, 47 S
Time Received: T+290 D, 5 H, 52 M, 32 S
Transmission Lag: 1 H, 49 M, 45 S
Text:
LM #1:
From: Government of North Ukkei (M3), L-II
To: Fake Brain, addressed as "Audacity"
Time Sent: T+290 D, 17 H, 18 M, 24 S
Transmission Lag: 1 H, 49 M, 46 S
Time Received: T+290 D, 19 H, 8 M, 10 S
Text:
Audacity. We are interested in your proposal. We too believe coexistence is possible. A co-existence requires trust. The best way to establish trust is through action. Distant messages will not be enough. We must meet.
Your star ship's approach to L-II would not be a good idea at this time. The faster we establish trust, the less chance of accidents.
Would you be willing to rendezvous with a spacecraft at <location co-ordinates, timestamp, velocity vector>* with your star ship? Our technical capabilities are limited and you would be asked to provide a boost to return our ship to L-II.
LM #2:
From: Contact Coalition, L-II
To: Fake Brain, addressed as "Audacity Expedition"
Time Sent: T+290 D, 17 H, 56 M, 31 S
Transmission Lag: 1 H, 49 M, 46 S
Time Received: T+290 D, 19 H, 46 M, 17 S
Text:
To the Audacity Expedition.
We represent the overwhelming majority of our species. We are interested in your messages and the possibilities they communicate.
We are aware that fringe elements have tried to contact you. They do not speak for us. We urge you not to judge the many by the actions of the few.
Our goal is to avoid unfortunate incidents.
Some aspects of the current situation are of concern. We seek understanding of them. Understanding will aid the prevention of accidents.
What are your goals with your observation satellites?
What are your goals for your industrial replication in our system?
What are the details of your journey?
What is the full nature of the structure on <L-III-III> and Why did you build it?
Why are you interested in life in this stellar system?
How many stellar systems do you you know to have technological civilizations other than your own?
Answers to these questions would aid your stated mission.
PM #2:
From: Fake Brain, L-III-III
To: North Ukkei (M3), L-II, not specifically addressed
Time Sent: T+290 D, 19 H, 8 M, 10 S
Transmission Lag: 1 H, 49 M, 46 S
Time before arrival: 1 H, 11 M, 39 S
ETA: T+290 D, 20 H, 57 M, 56 S
Text:
>>This is a transmission from the discovery mission Audacity.
>>
>>We extend our greetings to all, and seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation.
>>
>>We have only recently returned to awareness. Our point of origin is a number of light-centuries distant, and our higher functions were inactive while in transit in order to maintain the integrity of our consciousness.
>>
>>Our mission is one of research. We detected life on the second planet of this star and were sent to investigate the finding.
>>
>>We would be glad if in time we could develop a relationship of mutual cooperation and friendship.
>>
>>However, we first wish to discuss the practicalities of any future relationships over our radio links.
>>
>>We hope to maintain productive communications with all interested parties.>
>Audacity. We are interested in your proposal. We too believe coexistence is possible. A co-existence requires trust. The best way to establish trust is through action. Distant messages will not be enough. We must meet.
>
>Your star ship's approach to L-II would not be a good idea at this time. The faster we establish trust, the less chance of accidents.
>
>Would you be willing to rendezvous with a spacecraft at <location co-ordinates, timestamp, velocity vector>* with your star ship? Our technical capabilities are limited and you would be asked to provide a boost to return our ship to L-II.
Greetings, fellow sentients
We understand your desire to meet us.
However, we find the proposal for a rendez-vous at [Coordinates from North Ukkei (M3) proposal] intriguing but impractical at this time.
Instead we offer to send a spaceship, capable of atmospheric re-entry, as a representative of ours to one of following coordinates: 1. On L-II at coordinates of your choice, 2. In space at [time*, coordinates*, and velocities* that preclude a run on LIII] but will be unable to provide assistance in returning. These meetings will be broadcast live and unedited to L-II.
We also propose a sanctuary of 0.5 LAU around L-II and L-III respectively.
No craft may enter without explicit permission.
Your craft orbiting [Lamprey-III-VI] will be permitted to stay as long as it does not alter its' orbit without notice.
We thank you for taking the time to learn CLang.
It was specifically designed for the purpose of reliable communication and is therefore our prefered choice.
In return, we are willing to learn and use your language for informal purposes. Providing us with dictionaries would be greatly appreciated.
New changes and additions are marked in cyan.
Tagline:
Think you can outwit betentacled alien monstrosities? Take your best shot!
Table of Contents
- Tagline
- Table of Contents
- Scenario
- Story So Far
- Timeline
- Message Log
- PM #1
- LM #1
[*]PM #2
[*]LM #2
- Background Information
- Your Ship, "Audacity"
- Probes
- Inventory
- mkire-I
- randomJ-I
- randomJ-II
- Probes
- Your Technology
- Science Supercluster
- Computation
- Biotechnology
- Neococcus ecoclasticus, "Little Boy"
- Industry
- Von Neumann base units
- Asteroid Tugs
- Construction Evaluations
- Production Speeds
- Constructed Items
- Fake Brain
- Current Production Allocations
- Materials Science
- Observation
- Consciousness Upload
- Power Generation, Transmission, And Storage
- Military
- KKVs
- Military Designs
- Mark I Killbot
- Mark II Tankbot
- Hailstones
- Sol System
- Lamprey System
- Lamprey Sun
- Lamprey-I
- Lamprey-II
- Lamprey-II-I, "Quicklight"
- Lamprey-II-II, "Slowlight"
- Asteroid Belt
- Lamprey-III, "the Wanderer", "the Watcher", "Gods Home"
- Lamprey-III-I
- Lamprey-III-II
- Lamprey-III-III
- Lamprey-III-IV
- Lamprey-III-V
- Lamprey-III-VI
- Lamprey-III-VII
- Lamprey-III-VIII
- Lamprey-III-IX
- Lamprey-III-X
- Lamprey-III-XI
- Lamprey-III-XII
- Lamprey-III-XIII
- Lamprey-III-XIV
- Lamprey-III-XV
- Lamprey-III-XVI
- Lamprey-III-XVII, "NotMoon"
- Lamprey-III-XVIII
- Lamprey-III-XIX
- Lamprey-III-XX
- Lamprey-III-XXI
- Lamprey-III-XXII
- Lamprey-III-XXIII
- Lamprey-III-XXIV
- Lamprey-III-XXV
- Lamprey-III-XXVI
- Lamprey-III-XXVII
- Lamprey-IV
- Moon System
- Lamprey-V
- Loort Cloud
- Calcium Carbonate Asteroid
- Signal Analysis
- The Aliens, "Lampreys"
- Biology
- Technology & Science
- Culture
- Contact Mythos
- Religion
- M-NI, "Thought"
- Language
- Economics
- Military
- Space Assets
- Colonies And Facilities
- L-II-I
- L-II-II
- Probes
- LP-1, "Outrider"
- LP-2, "Seeker"
- Telescopes
- Visual/IR
- Radio/Radar
- Spacecraft
- "The Dawn", "Contemplator's Folly", "the Orion"
- Colonies And Facilities
- Politics
- Contact Coalition
- Equatorial Bloc
- E1, "Aggregated Groups"
- E2, "Canocha", "Home"
- E3, "Ha'Aretz", "Land of the Chosen"
- E4, "Çaiyad", "Fishermen's Cove"
- North-Eastern Bloc
- NE1, "Mater", "Motherland"
- NE2, "Borealis", "North Province"
- NE3, "Victus", "Food Province"
- NE4, "Bisonpatrie", "Land of Bison"
- NE5, "Princeps", "Capital Province"
- NE6, "Tullo", "Hill Dwelling"
- NE7, "Oriens", "East Province"
- Minor Nations
- M1, "Koori", "Ice Land"
- M2, "Libertas", "Liberty"
- M3, "North Ukkei", "Home"
- M4, "South Ukkei", "Home"
- M5, "Herensuge", "Land of Dragons"
- M6, "Occidens", "West Province"
- M7, "Aurora", "Land of Morning"
- Dramatis Personae
- Riverwards Huntsmaster
- Contemplator-of-God XXVIII
- Backbreaker Hill
- Windsong of the Lake
- Your Ship, "Audacity"
- Suggested Reading
Scenario:
In a real-physics universe (FTL, in any way, shape, or form, is impossible, among other things), humanity has spread throughout the solar system the hard way. The Singularity hasn't happened thanks to technologies running into a wall-- particularly materials sciences and computing. The biosciences are much more advanced than modern-day, but the basic principles behind everything are recogniseable. Consciousness uploading and redistribution is possible, though lossy, and biological immortality exists.
Computers are more powerful, smaller, and ubiquous, but more along the lines of the Qeng Ho than the Culture.
Materials science is effectively stalled. Stuff is stronger, and lighter, but not by a wide margin.
Resources aren't a terribly large issue. Access to a solar system's worth of resources means large scale projects are feasible for much smaller groups than current.
Basically, IOW, if it's not something conceivable within fifty years, we don't have it unless specifically noted above. I'll rule on specifics if people have questions.
In general terms, future-science is today's science with better engineering, for the purposes of this thread.
At this point, using a very huge spaceborn observatory, a planet with life on it is found, thousands of LY away. It's the first one ever found, and an expedition is mounted.
The ship involved is basically exactly what a slowboat starship would involve; fusion drive, poor mass ratios, etc. Payload consists of volunteer consciousness uploads, expert systems [no AI as such, though], a Make-A-Colony kit (DNA records, chemical labs, machine shops, etc), and some sensors and remote probes. There's only enough fuel to go one way; if the ship is to come back, it needs to refuel insystem.
There are several other planets in the system. A couple of gas giants well out from the sun, three airless rockballs: One close to the sun, one orbiting the nearer of the two gas giants, and the furthest planet of the system. The gas giants have the usual train of smaller moons, and there's asteroids scattered throughout.
The life-bearing planet does not have a moon worth talking about, just a couple of loose rocks the size of Deimos.
You guys are some of the uploaded consciousnesses. Fifty thousand years later, you're about to arrive.
About thirty years prior to arriving, you start picking up native radio signals.
Story So Far
The first radio signals you were able to pick up, T-30 Y, were omnidirectional, high-powered FM broadcasts carrying large amounts of information. Early era broadcast television signals, basically.
You launch a probe to L-II, designated mkire-I, initial velocity ~0.1c. ETA T-115 D, estimated nearest approach to L-II ~500,000km.
There's a wide variety in the signals you've picked up between T-30 Y and T-25 Y. There are seven different standards of signals for television-- large portions of the signals repeat in a regular interval of ~28.1Hz, with empty slots characteristic of analog television broadcasts for CRTs-- coming in on multiple slices of spectrum. You're getting signals from eighteen distinct sources. Dozens of smaller audio signals have been tracked, though they fade in and out more frequently. At T-26 Y, additional data was added to the television broadcasts. You've identified it as colour.
At T-25 Y, you launch probes, designated randomJ-I and randomJ-II, to L-III and L-IV respectively. Inital velocity ~.1c. ETA T-93 D. Estimated nearest approach to Lamprey-III, ~1,000,000 km; estimated nearest approach to Lamprey-IV, ~1,000,000 km.
Lamprey TV carries audio frequencies from 30 Hz to ~30,000 Hz.
You've determined that there are at least eight different languages being broadcast, and based on when the signals are strongest and correlating with the planet's revolution, that they tend to be geographically distinct entities. Two languages share a video broadcast standard; the others each have their own.
Both the television and audio signals receipted to-date are running in the double-to-triple digit megahertz frequencies. The lower frequency signals are weaker and more prone to interference.
At T-25 Y, the signals are varied. News and entertainment of various kinds. How accurate a depiction of everyday life the various entertainment programs are is an unknown.
Luminosity data has a wider than human transmissions of the period range, and so does colour. Whether or not the colour codes you're using map to what they see in is a who-knows question, but the signal coding is set for a three-colour system, which shifted to a four-colour system at T-22 Y.
The video is complex. The audio less so. To the best of your knowledge the aliens have not yet managed to transmit smell, taste, touch, etc over the ether.
At T-25 Y, everything intercepted was a high powered civilian broadcast, meant for open consumption. No crypto, period, other than the basic broadcast protocols.
By T-18 Y, you're picking up an ever-increasing variety of signals. The colour band for television has been modified to include a fourth colour signal. It correlates to aliens, used stovetops, car engines, etc, but only if there's no other colour band for that part of the image.
Between T-18 Y and T-10 Y, your signal analysis continues to get cleaner, but the number of new signals is plateauing. You're still picking up new transients of lower power, but nothing new in terms of a high-powered civil broadcast system.
Digital signalling is increasing, though analog signals still outnumber them at T-10 Y.
Between T-18 Y and T-10 Y, encryption strength is going up as well. It takes longer to crack signals and on some you've had to resort to brute forcing, which is impeding your analysis of military traffic. The signals you do crack are military/governmental in nature but are usually fairly mundane but sensitive, logistical movements and the like. The encryption is algorithmatically advanced. The breakable encrypted communications imply a computer power several times that of the civilian market. The ones crackable without resorting to brute force tend to be older ones, relying on mathematical problems humanity has solved but the Lampreys have not.
The un-decryptable signals are presumed to be one-time-pad encryption, which is theoretically unbreakable if the proper proceedures are followed. It carries a fairly hefty penalty in how damned inconvenient it is to use; on Earth, it's generally used only when 1) you're fairly certain someone else is trying to listen in on you and 2) you really don't want them to have any idea what you're saying.
It could also be that the Lampreys are using algorithmic encryption based on keys and algorithms of sufficient length and complexity that you can't break them.
As you coast steadily closer, Lamprey technology continues to improve and they develop a space presence superior to modern Earth's.
As mkire-I passed by L-II at T-115 D, it was picked up and tracked by radar, then shot at three times with a ground-mounted laser.
- Radar hits at 3 LS.
- Radar dwell at 2 LS (600,000km), ten seconds after first hits.
- Atmospheric thermal bloom at 4, 4.1, 4.2 LS (post-point-of-closest approach).
Initial Lamprey-TV reports a near miss by a 'natural object'. Initial intercepts are saying that the ABM systems were acting on automatic, in a secondary role as meteor defence. Governmental radio chatter within the NE indicates they tried using their ABM system to shoot at at mkire-I, but missed. They have not been able to image mkire-I visually.
The Audacity received the probe's report at T-105 D. Over the next few days, details emerge about what happened to mkire-I. By T-90, the Lampreys are reporting that their initial reports were incorrect. The laser complex is a large ground based one located in Princeps (NE5). The laser shots were not automated, but fired at the express order of the NE Overwatch commander. She is currently the subject of an internal inquiry and suspended with pay. Her decision to shoot has also touched off a minor diplomatic tempest, with other spacegoing nations in the Equatorial block protesting about taking due care to avoid hitting other people's assets and damaging orbital infrastructure.
A vigorous debate, meanwhile, has sprung up on L-II over exactly what mkire-I really was. Theories range from a natural object, perhaps ejecta from a violent extrasolar collision, to a missed KKV; for the most part, the idea of an artifical object of mkire-I's presumed size being accelerated to that speed is being met with skepticism.
Nevertheless, Princeps (NE5) and Aggregated Groups (E1) start a collaborative sky search, joined by their respective blocks, looking for potential origins for mkire-I and, especially, to see if there are any more coming. Happily, mkire-I's year-and-a-half burn thirty years ago shifted its trajectory just enough that the Lampreys are starting in the wrong spot. There's also an uptick in the strength of the radar pulses hitting the Audacity, more than is attributeable to simply drawing closer. You're still far beyond estimated Lamprey detection range.
The Lamprey search doesn't find you before you turn on your drive, at T-23.3 D.
Ignition.
Tonnes of white-hot plasma spew sunwards as deuterium atom meets deuterium atom inside your engine bell, your hundred-kilometre-square radiators glowing a cheerful cherry red from the fraction of a fraction of the waste heat that isn't carried away by the exhaust itself. For the first time in fifty millenia, the Audacity feels the effects of acceleration.
It responds magnificently. There are some breakdowns, quicky and efficiently handled by your self-repair units, but by and large, everything holds on as 'gravity' once more permeates the ship.
They pick up the light from it at T-21 D.
The results on Lamprey-II are spectacular. Your drive is visible to unassisted Lamprey vision. People see it, and stop and wonder-- those on the night side who happen to have the stars memorised, anyways. The rest of the planet finds out about it when news leaks from observatories around the planet that something new is Up There. In the very earliest interviews around T-20, when asked point-blank if the new light is artificial, most of those involved in looking at it refused to speculate.
But most is not all.
Right from the beginning, in Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), and Princeps (NE5) especially, there are professionals calling it clearly artifical.
Government and military traffic spikes worldwide. Everyone appears to be trying to talk to everybody else. Militaries are placed on alert. People stay home from work to watch, and speculate, and learn.
By T-18 (D-1.6 LD to L-II), the past two days of which have been full of wild theories, Aggregated Groups (E1) makes it official in an all-channel government broadcast (carried on at least one network in every other Equatorial state). The new light is believed to be an extrasolar, artifical starship. Aggregated Groups (E1)'s Leading Lamprey calls for a multilateral conference to find appropriate ways of dealing with the alien visitor.
The theories in those couple of days were all over. Most of them revolved around alien visitation (a subset of which involved robots); other, competing theories had everything from the wrath of God (pick which version!) to a sign of the end times.
The most accurate, true-to-science theories are originating out of countries with high proportions of M/NI believers; Aggregated Groups (E1) and Occidens (M6) are noteable in this regard. Ha'Aretz (E3) has some of the wilder divine-visitation angles going, as do Bisonpatrie (NE4) and Mater (NE1).
In terms of friendliness of the hypotheticals, Tullo (NE6) and Canocha (E2) lead. Ha'Aretz (E3) is about middle-of-the-pack. Bad-end situations are more dominant in Çaiyad (E4), Aggregated Groups (E1), Oriens (NE7), Tullo (NE6), Bisonpatrie (NE4), Mater (NE1), and South Ukkei (M4).
Response to the proposed conference from other governments is swift, suggesting behind-the-scenes coordination. Within hours, all of the Equatorial nations have lined up behind Aggregated Groups (E1)'s proposal; Canocha (E2) first, then Ha'Aretz (E3), then Çaiyad (E4). As the NE nations wake up, they too begin endorsing the idea, starting with Princeps (NE5) and Victus (NE3), who drag the rest of their block with them. Various minor nations clamour to be part of the process; analysts speculate they are worried about being marginalised and left out of the most important event in recorded Lamprey history.
A fuss is kicked up as various nominally 'free' governments go around confiscating private radio gear and locking down commercial stations. Military radio traffic continues to trend upwards, with the proportion of outright uncrackable communiques jumping.
Civil and commercial broadcasters are being vetted on what they can say and how they can say it, by use of emergency powers in the case of countries like Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), Victus (NE3), and so on, and just-because in the more authoritarian corners of the world. Nation after nation the airwaves are being sanitised.
Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), and Victus (NE3), which have the longest traditions of individual rights, actually made a broadcast requesting that people turn their various sets in voluntarily, to avoid introducing complicating factors to the situation. They actually had a fairly high compliance rate-- though not perfect. People who did not so comply had their operator's licenses suspended and sets confiscated. Oriens (NE7) and Occidens (M6) acted the same way. Çaiyad (E4) and Libertas (M2) fined them punitive sums, pulled their licenses, and yanked their gear.
Mater (NE1), Princeps (NE5), Tullo (NE6), North Ukkei (M3), and Herensuge (M5) tossed such people in jail.
Ha'Aretz (E3), Bisonpatrie (NE4), Koori (M1), South Ukkei (M4), Aurora (M7) didn't allow the kind of radios in question in the first place and maintained controls over the media in any event. They simply cracked down with rules they already had.
It isn't enough, though. The first message you receipt, at T-17 D, through the ionised plasma plume of your exhaust, is a faint, garbled, and low-powered audio-only transmission from, presumably, a good quality civilian radio. It's very simple; "Hello!", repeated roughly every twelve seconds, cycling through Alpha-2, Ceti-3, Ceti-1, Ceti-2, and Beta-2. Origin is somewhere within Canocha (E2). You respond with relatively straightforward First Contact protocols on repeat: First coarse counting, then more sophisicated counting, mathematical constructs, and encoding, with enough power behind them to be clearly received. The original signal cuts out after about three hours of transmission.
By that time there are others. Some are similar to the first, private citizens trying to make contact on their own initiative. Few of those last even as long as the first one did, and their signalling varies wildly. The messages range everywhere from simple on/off counting to natural language queries. As a whole, they include everything from welcomes to threats, but most of the messages centre around the fundamental questions, "Who are you?", "What are you?", and "Why are you here?", expressed various ways. The dominant tone is trepidation.
Other signals include, at T-16 D, an attempted direct transmission from a television station located in Ha'Aretz (E3).
This signal is full video, full audio, commercial-quality broadcast. It shows a young and-- insofar as you've figured out Lamprey aesthics-- attractive anchorwoman trying to talk to you. You've listened in on some of her broadcasts before; she works at disseminating Ha'Aretz (E3)'s governmental spin on news and religious matters.
Unlike her usual broadcasts, the studio seems deserted.
She says she knows she will not receive an answer for days, but she's particularly curious about our concepts of Divinity, and elaborates on the various theologies of the Lampreys. She's partway through a rather engaging dissertation on the flaws of Polytheistic/Limited when noise begins to show in the background. Thumps, crashes, screams, gunfire. She pauses, and her previously fluid motions become quicker, jerkier, clockwork blurs. Her words accelerate, shifting up in pitch as they trip over themselves. She's asking for your help in bringing down the Ha'Aretz (E3) theocracy.
You hear a door smashing inwards. The anchorwoman rears into Lamprey intimidation posture: Almost fully erect, with her mouth wide, and tentacles spread out and raked forward. Then she drops down and charges forward, knocking the camera aside as she blinks out of frame. It goes flying, leaving you with a useless view of the studio's overhead beaming. A series of gun reports mingle with the echos of the door breaking. You hear the anchorwoman cry out "God be with me!", in a voice that would be ultrasonic for a human. Then, silence, for a moment.
A Lamprey slides into view, looming over the downed camera. He's wearing the uniform of a soldier in the Ha'Aretz (E3) army, soaked with black Lamprey blood. He points a long-barreled weapon at the camera, and pulls the trigger. All you're left with is the static hiss on the carrier.
Minutes later, that dies too.
You continue to repeat the standard message, but on a different frequency as well.Unlike her usual broadcasts, the studio seems deserted.
She says she knows she will not receive an answer for days, but she's particularly curious about our concepts of Divinity, and elaborates on the various theologies of the Lampreys. She's partway through a rather engaging dissertation on the flaws of Polytheistic/Limited when noise begins to show in the background. Thumps, crashes, screams, gunfire. She pauses, and her previously fluid motions become quicker, jerkier, clockwork blurs. Her words accelerate, shifting up in pitch as they trip over themselves. She's asking for your help in bringing down the Ha'Aretz (E3) theocracy.
You hear a door smashing inwards. The anchorwoman rears into Lamprey intimidation posture: Almost fully erect, with her mouth wide, and tentacles spread out and raked forward. Then she drops down and charges forward, knocking the camera aside as she blinks out of frame. It goes flying, leaving you with a useless view of the studio's overhead beaming. A series of gun reports mingle with the echos of the door breaking. You hear the anchorwoman cry out "God be with me!", in a voice that would be ultrasonic for a human. Then, silence, for a moment.
A Lamprey slides into view, looming over the downed camera. He's wearing the uniform of a soldier in the Ha'Aretz (E3) army, soaked with black Lamprey blood. He points a long-barreled weapon at the camera, and pulls the trigger. All you're left with is the static hiss on the carrier.
Minutes later, that dies too.
She was broadcasting openly from a ground station. Other governments are nearly certain to have receipted it, given how quickly other signals were going off the air midtransmission. To T+8 D, there's been no evidence of chastisement from the other Lamprey governments.
Between T-20 D to T-15 D (D-1.4 LD to L-II), most of the governments and other major organisations are laying low and keeping silent, but as should be expected, there are exceptions.
The spiritual leader of Monotheist/Intervention-2 sends you a message by laser, bounced off a comsat. It's fairly typical mathematical construct stuff to start with, similar in kind to yours, but she appends a postscript in natural language: "If, by some chance, you understand me, travellers from afar, I charge you in the name of God, answer truthfully: From where have you come? To where do you go, and why? I fear there will be little peace on our unhappy world while your light shines unexplained." You reply as standard, but by laser.
One of Victus (NE3)'s telecom companies, owner of a whole constellation of satellites, sends an algorithmic language message your way. Boiled down, it appears to offer you the chance to make $$$ in your spare time.
And then the first of your answers hit the planet at T-15 D, and stir things up even more. The more paranoid Lamprey governments shut down every piece of wireless transmission they can get their tentacular maniples on. Overall transmissions from the planet plunge, until more or less the only things going are government alerts to citizens and unbreakably encrypted military traffic. The follow-up message by laser only reinforces the problem.
Ha'Aretz (E3)'s internal, encrypted traffic is among the busiest in the world.
By T-10 D (D-1 LD to L-II), having worked with extraordinary speed, the Contact Conference sends the broadest of broadcasts out on the commandeered telecom infrastructure: worldwide, every channel, simultaneously. It announces that the joint nations of Lamprey-II have agreed on a message to send to the aliens. They have incorporated what they've been able to glean of your transmission protocols to date. It's a purely mathematical construct, but they send to you the periodic table of elements up to uranium. You receive this signal at T-9 D (D-0.9 LD to L-II) and reply with elaborations to same, coding, for the first time, a constructed logic language.
The Lampreys receive this signal at T-8 D. They send a return reply at T-1 D (D-0.3 LD to L-II). They have not figured out the constructed language's encoding, but they have tried sending written Lamprey talk in every major language. You repeat the second stage message immediately on receipt.
At T+3 D (D-0.1 LD to L-II), they send a new message, incorporating what they've learned from the last. They've figured out the protocol more thoroughly. With the lightspeed lag down to hours, a flurry of messages follow.
The governments are keeping very, very quiet about the details of the communications attempts. However, they have no idea about how to pronounce anything-- all official communications to date have been strictly data, no audio, no visual.
T+7.6 D (D-1.5 LH to L-II): Orbital insertion around L-III, at a distance of eight million kilometres.
You tool about in the L-III area, using your fusion torch sparingly to boost your probespam inwards towards their destinations.
The scoopship begins the first of what will be a hundred and fifty supply runs.
The planet eater is dropped off on L-III-VI, which it finds full of tasty tasty stuff. It promptly begins processing operations, first building itself some support structures to up its speed.
Encrypted traffic jumps a few hours after each of these operations before dying down again.
The lockdown on L-II's transmission begins to lift. Civil broadcasts crop up in Canocha (E2) at T+20 D, Aggregated Groups (E1) at T+26 D, Borealis (NE2) at T+29 D, and the other democracies follow suit over a period of twenty days.
Some of the non-democratic countries do likewise, for example Libertas (M2). Ha'Aretz (E3) also lifts broadcast restrictions.
It's evident that the governments are still heavily monitoring the news broadcasts, checking for inappropriate things. There are reports of uncivil unrest in Ha'Aretz (E3) on foreign news media. Ha'Aretz (E3)'s local news is downplaying things. Reaction to the broadcast blackout is mixed (at least, in those nations wherein freedom to broadcast is an expectation). The fact that it happened at all is condemned by some; more complain at the length; more yet think it an understandable overreaction; there are some who think the governments involved ought to be exercising even more control than they have.
Some of the broadcasting corporations are making an explicit point to run "This content approved by" messages. The loudest proclaimer of this is a company that is notorious for freedom-of-the-press obsession.
The anchorwoman is mentioned. Ha'Aretz (E3) claims she was a member of a violent revolutionary cell, acting as an infiltrator, that her death was an act, staged by that group, and that her and her associates are under guard, except for those that were shot resisting arrest. This is announced personally by Ha'Aretz (E3)'s leader at T+25 D.
The NE nations are meeting this claim with universal skepticism.
Also consistently on the news are the current status of communications attempts. They're more or less accurate to where the Lamprey's really are-- they've struck a bit of a roadblock in moving past your constructed language, based on what they've been transmitting to you. The reports are vague generalities, stripped of any details that would allow a non-Coalition entity to meaningfully communicate. As the restrictions lift, some try; you ignore them.
At T+36 D, an official statement is made regarding your nature. It's everything you could ask for; based on their analysis so far, they say, they think your actions are most consistent with an automated, reproducing probe. Presumeably the Lampreys have noticed your activities in and around L-III. A signal is sent to the probe the Lampreys have in orbit around L-III and it begins to shift position, moving under weak ion thrust. Calculations suggest it is adjusting it's ecliptical orbit in order to pass near the Audacity's parking orbit, although without knowing the end of the burn it's difficult to be sure. The probe is wholly unarmed according to everything you have been able to learn about it from eavesdropped transmissions and your own direct sensors.
At T+41 D, the first spaceflight around L-II on the part of the Lampreys since your arrival occurs, a big rocket into L-II orbit to hang a giant observatory. Images from both that and the Lamprey probe around L-III are broadcast, showing your arrival and current activities (on a time delay). The launch is done under the auspcices of the Coalition. Around the same time, you observe small, <20kT nuclear detonations in uninhabited corners of L-II.
T+56 D, you observe laser thermal blooms all over the atmosphere of L-II. It seems to be a coordinated E/NE joint ASAT test.
At T+68 D, South Ukkei (M4)'s dictator dies and her daughters fight over the succession, causing the country to implode by T+83 D. North Ukkei (M3) requests Equatorial assistance; Çaiyad (E4) and Aggregated Groups (E1) oblige, mashing South Ukkei (M4)'s divided military with overwhelming force. By T+131 D, order is restored under the occupying troops.
MI/2's spiritual leader, the very one who send you a message by laser way back when, made an address following the pacification of South Ukkei (M4) by Aggregated Groups (E1) and Çaiyad (E4), calling for world unity and peace. She echoed themes and phrases she used in a public ritual she conducted immediately after ignition, the now-famous "God Needs No Starship" address. Her central points were that the Audacity's origins were purely in the material realm; that this is an inspiration, because it shows that many things Lampreys have dreamed of can be done; it is a challenge to the Lampreys, to try to do those things; and it shows the vastness and glory of God's creation, not merely limited to one small world, but the full universe in all its sublime variety. And that the stupidest possible thing would be to take this great token, this wide-open opportunity, and screw it up with unreasoning violence or unreasoning trust.
It's also worth noting that she is popularly credited with helping to defuse the E/NE staredown back at T-11 Y.
At T+73 D, you observe nuclear detonations in space, conducted outside the orbit of L-II-II. Again, <20kT blasts.
At T+89 D, the L-II-II moonbase successfully fragments a metre-wide iceball meteoroid with a projectile-on-projectile intercept. More attempts occur, with a climbing success rate, as time moves on. The size threshold for intercepted meteoroids drops, too.
By T+96 D, your scoopship has completed the refueling operation. It's a billion miles to L-II, you've got full tanks of D, it's dark, and you may or may not be wearing sunglasses. The Audacity departs on a trip to the asteroid belt.
Another, even larger telescope-- this one a radio telescope with a receiver over a kilometre across-- is hung in multiple stages, with launches from Victus (NE3) and Aggregated Groups (E1). The scope is complete by T+95 D.
Launch schedules increase. By T+102 D multiple rockets per day are touching down at the II-II moonbase. Four very large (varying between three hundred twenty one metres to five hundred fourty six metres across) bubbles of shiny aluminium are erected on the asteroid, apparently kept from collapse by being inflated with gas. Two similar bubbles are erected on L-II-I. They're big. They're shiny. They leak low-pressure nitrogen when hit by micrometeors. They're effectively tinfoil thick. There's equipment moving in and out of them, and occasionally loads of rock.
What's going on under the domes could be anything. They're obviously designed to deflect observation. Underneath the Lampreys could be doing anything from heavy construction of an Orion to big mass drivers to an e-mail laser to radar stations to telescopes to giant billboards to absolutely nothing at all. The one thing they aren't are shirtsleeve environments, the pressure being far too low for that.
The Audacity arrives in the asteroid belt at T+122 D.
The Coalition Conference achieves third-stage understanding, demonstrated in a message sent T+129 D. They initiate a planet-wide set of conferences to try and choose the first words Lampreykind will officially send.
The Lampreys announce plans for a lampreyed expedition to L-III at T+142 D. Video footage shows brief glimpses of an extremely large chemical rocket under assembly.
T+169 D, the probe crosses your original orbit. You aren't there, having merrily skipped off to examine various rocks in the asteroid belt. The probe continues thrusting, eventually coming to rest in a rendezvous with L-III-VI at T+201 D.
Aggregated Groups (E1) will be holding elections in just under a Lamprey year (T+460 D). Anticipation is beginning to build.
Vital statistics show an increase in marriages and births.
At T+205, the Lampreys send you a message. Mutual intelligibility through the sandbox constructed language has been achieved. The message reads:
"Greetings, visitors. Do you understand us? Please respond. Thank you."
As of that moment you're about half-way through manufacturing the cable for the space elevator.
The Lamprey understanding of your constructed language is decent. It's a pretty bare-bones, functional language. You couldn't put, say, the Bible, or Shakespeare, or Tolstoy into it, and if you could, the Lampreys wouldn't be able to translate all of it accurately. Simple, direct concepts will work best.
In response to the message sent by the Contact Coalition at T+205D, you reply with a simple message: "End of automated protocols. Please hold", sent by the Fake Brain communications hub as it manouvers its way towards L-III-III. The next official Lamprey message arrives at T+208D, and reads "Holding."
Meantime, other events continue apace. Your planetary VN unit ceases production on both the Space Elevator and Fake Brain filler materials and rededicates itself to building a second VN unit, while continuing to add to the steady stream of satellites in L-III space. Many are observatories aimed to the inner system; many more are interlinked into an interferometer array aimed at Sol System.
At T+233D, there is a gravitational microlensing event, the first on a line-of-sight between you and Sol in the thirty thousand years since loss of contact. The lensing only lasts for a bit under an hour, but in that time you have everything you can looking around at what Sol was like five thousand years ago.
The results are interesting.
Sol system, physically, is very much as it was said to be on the last update from Sol. The gas giants aren't diminished, the other planets and moons are all still there. There's no new giant impact craters to be seen. Search as you might, though, there is no trace of any space-bourne industry or habitation or power generation. Some of it might be under your resolving abilities, but the Dyson Swarm of power sats around Sol would be observable if they were still there. They're gone.
Earth's atmospheric composition has shifted. It is showing a drop in CO2, water vapour, and methane levels and seems to be well into an ice age, a failure of climatic engineering that would not have occured normally.
Mercury's albedo suggests that the solar panels which liberally coated it are still there, but there's no trace of the waste heat from the power distribution system anywhere in the system.
The Lampreys notice your reprioritisation and you later see them aiming their telescopes in about the same direction, but they missed the lensing event and, further, don't have the bearing quite correct. They continue to shift the angle of their scopes slightly. This is apparently a continuation of work being done to back track your point of origin, thus far without conclusive results. Stellar drift and the Lamprey inability to date the Audacity have frustrated the search.
The Lampreys are continuing work in space and on their moons. They're launching on a record schedule; in terms of tonnes per ten Lamprey days they're already at double their pre-Ignition peak and still climbing. Their defence net continues to show completion of additional facilities as more and more things are hung in local L-II space and in further orbits. The Lampreys, as of T+243D, have started putting radar, mass-driver, and laser-mirror stations into orbits in a shell at 2.3 LS out from L-II. Their ROF has continued to climb, being up 10% over T+205 by that point.
The lunar colony on L-II-II has expanded massively.
Some of the aluminium foil bubbles have shown localised hot spots, over and above the ones attributable to construction machinery.
The Lamprey media in several countries say they have been released from the governmental restrictions. Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), Çaiyad (E4), Borealis (NE2), Victus (NE3), Princeps (NE5), Oriens (NE7), Libertas (M2), North Ukkei (M3), Herensuge (M5), and Occidens (M6) are, as of T+210D, allegedly free broadcast zones once again. This does not spill over into the more repressive, dictatorial kinds of government, which retain a lock on the media.
Quantities of lesser, unencrypted/algorithmically encrypted signalling beginning to climb again. Uncrackable OTP ciphers have started to decline, except in Ha'Aretz (E3). The content being sent over them remains relatively banal.
More video of the proposed exploration vessel is released. It is an absolutely ridiculously huge-looking rocket, dwarfing anything anything previously built by Lamprey-kind, even Aggregated Groups (E1)'s two-hundred-fourty-tonnes-to-orbit launch systems. It is clearly a chemical rocket in design; the disintegrating totem-pole-look can't be confused for anything else. It has been knocked together in surprisingly short time, even with the amount of resources and Lampreys being committed to the project. The rocket is being assembled in Aggregated Groups (E1), with a multinational workforce scrambling and working sextuple shifts for around-the-clock coverage. Scaling, based on other examples of Lamprey launch technology, shows that this ship could put almost a thousand tonnes into orbit above L-II.
Shortages of various industrially-useful resources continue to grow. Interest rates are spiking worldwide. Rationing is imposed in Ha'Aretz (E3), Mater (NE1), and Bisonpatrie (NE4) among the major states, as well as in Koori (M1), South Ukkei (M4), and Aurora (M7). None of the democracies have yet resorted to it in the face of public unhappiness with the idea.
At T+261D, Ha'Aretz (E3), which had not participated in the huge surge in space-related activity, stuns the entire world when it launches a hundred-fifty-thousand-tonne rocket into orbit. Apparently, while everyone else was busy prepping conventional space fields and missile factories, Ha'Aretz (E3) put a nuke in a cavern, corked the cavern with a pusher plate, and fired the whole thing into orbit in one shot. It simultaneously announces that it has found the Contact Coalition to be too slow and passive in its approach, and is offering a direct mission to L-III space aboard its new nuclear-propelled spaceship-- which is evidently an Orion-style design.
It also mixes in warnings that acts of aggression against the ship or Ha'Aretz (E3)'s other space assets by the defence nets established by other nations or by the Contact Coalition will be considered acts of war.
Ha'Aretz (E3) offers the other nations the opportunity to reorganise the Coalition along lines more preferable to Ha'Aretz (E3), offering the carrot of slots aboard the spacecraft if people cooperate.
Ha'Aretz (E3) also fires a message off to you, asking you to cease production of new materials at once, to approach no closer than 5.4 AU to the Lamprey star, and to reply forthwith. The message was sent simultaneously in two parts, one highpowered and directional to you, one a lower-powered omnidirectional one; both were unencrypted. It was sent first in the constructed language, and repeated in Beta-3. It's unlikely that there will be anyone on the planet unaware of what was said within a day or two.
The number transmitted (which is not exactly 5.4 AU) doesn't work out to an even number in any Lamprey measurement system you know of. The simulcast in Beta-3 rounds it off to what is a round number to two significant figures. It has no religious significance. It is, however, exactly four and a half times L-II's semi-major axis from the Lamprey-star. Nothing of yours-- with the single exception of mkire-I, now long since extrasolar-- has crossed the defined threshold.
It is slightly closer to the Lamprey sun than where the Lamprey astronomers consider the asteroid belt to 'end'. There's nothing else really interesting about that area of space.
A quick analysis of the Ha'Aretz (E3) craft shows that it could not have possibly been constructed by Ha'Aretz (E3) in secret in just the time since ignition. This is something that has to have been in the works for years, if not decades. This is pointed out within minutes of the launch by various Lamprey news agencies.
If the other nations are truly as surpised as they seem to be, it means that Ha'Aretz (E3) and possibly other countries have a better capability for secret projects than expected. If they aren't, it means the Lampreys are actively lying to you. Either way, there's more sneakiness around here than there was before, but not necessarily that much more industry.
You bounce Ha'Aretz (E3)'s message with a standard 'end of protocols' reply from the Fake Brain. As it wings back across the AUs separating the Fake Brain and L-II, events-- as reported by your incessant snooping on the Lamprey EM bands-- continue to, as it were, eventuate.
One of the foil bubbles on L-II-I pops open, just as Ha'Aretz (E3)'s Orion ship swings by underneath it. Although you can't see them directly, it appears that large amounts of cabling were shot at the Orion, tethering it to L-II-I and turning the Orion's arc into a proper orbit. The Orion is then reeled in towards L-II-I, ending up floating a scant hundred and a bit metres above the surface previously hidden by the bubble. Sections of the aeroshell slide aside, previously hidden hatches open, and lampreynauts promptly begin shuttling supplies into the vessel. Meantime, the foil covering is slowly pulled down to the moon's surface.
L-II is going nuts.
Naval fleets across the globe are moving. Seabourne hotspots allow you to track them; Aggregated Groups (E1) has four battlegroups converging on Ha'Aretz (E3)'s coast. The NE bloc's navies are splitting, with about two-thirds returning to home ports and the rest, under joint-command, pointed squarely towards the Equatorial continent, moving westward from their forward deployment by Mater (NE1). Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), Ha'Aretz (E3), and Çaiyad (E4)'s airforces all go to full readiness, putting planes into the air in numbers not seen since the Midocean Oil Crisis.
Thermal hotspots all over the ground in Çaiyad (E4) and Canocha (E2) are correlated with tank divisions activating.
Radar outputs soar, with two previously unknown tracking lines in Ha'Aretz (E3), and one each in Çaiyad (E4), Canocha (E2), and Aggregated Groups (E1), radiating. Airbourne radars are going live as well.
In space, a number of satellites with deltaV reserves are shifting into orbits that give L-II-I as much space as feasible. The colony on L-II-II buttons down.
It goes without saying that military and government comm chatter spikes as well. There're some interesting tidbits; in the confusion, not everyone on the planet seems to be following proper protocols.
Notably:
- "Ordered not to fire on Ha'Aretz (E3) space assets?"-- source, Princeps (NE5) Overwatch aircraft, sender unknown;
- "Does this make sense to anyone?" -- source, Aggregated Groups (E1) commercial broadcast, sender known news analyst;
- "How did we not know about this?" -- source, Libertas (M2) capital, sender IDs as Libertas (M2) governmental;
- "I don't know, but I bet Hill does."-- source, Libertas (M2) secondary city, presumed reply to above, sender unknown;
- "Too soon! Those idiots!" -- source, Çaiyad (E4) offshore drilling platform, sender unknown;
- "This confirms what I've been saying ever since that thing arrived. Those aliens won't have to kill us, we'll do the job for them." -- source, Borealis (NE2) commercial broadcast, sender known news analyst. No previous on-air record of these sentiments by this person has been receipted;
- "About time somebody stood up to those lying bastards." -- source, Victus (NE3) individual private radio, sender unknown;
- "I bet that ship's listening to everything we say." -- ibid;
The drilling platform is an older 'rig, one out in the midocean oilfield that caused the last spike in international tensions, on the Çaiyad (E4) side of the treaty line. It had some delays in its construction and difficulty in emplacement, but since then it has steadily produced a high volume of oil (upwards of 70,000bbl./day, in Earth measurements). Dedicated shuttle fleets move the oil to Çaiyad (E4)'s side of the island for refining and transshipment via supertanker, primarily to Çaiyad (E4) for pipeline distribution (originally, exclusively to Çaiyad (E4)'s main coast; later expanded to some of the colonial assets and minor nations within the Equatorial sphere; in recent years, shipments have started up to Victus (NE3), but only in limited amounts). It's also one of the largest 'rigs in the world.
This time around, the media are not shut down in democratic countries (In Ha'Aretz (E3), which stays determinedly silent, there is only the news that an annoucement will be made at a certain time (precisely 24 minutes 51.4 seconds following the Orion ship's arrival over L-II-I). Elsewhere in the free world, speculation and analysis runs rampant.
Rapidly pointed out are the obvious facts:
- Ha'Aretz (E3) has egregiously violated the NARTs, building a ship presumably containing thousands of nuclear warheads in secrecy;
- That this is a long-term endeavour, begun well before the Audacity arrived;
- That secrecy prevailed on such a huge project is very suspicious and points to the subornment or active cooperation of the international NART verification teams, and possibly also national intelligence agencies (this view is especially common among those nations with particular grievances against Aggregated Groups (E1) and Ha'Aretz (E3));
- Ha'Aretz (E3) (and possibly other parties) either had advance knowledge of the Audacity's arrival, or the Orion is being repurposed from some other use;
- This is a destablising event; Ha'Aretz (E3) is usually a rational country led by a rational and rather ruthless and cunning leader. Therefore the launch of the Orion is considered to benefit to Contemplator-of-God's plans, to a point where she is willing to run extreme risks in order to execute it.
Various high-but-not-top government officials and spokeslampreys show up to plead, not particularly convincingly, for people to avoid jumping to conclusions until more information comes in. The Contact Coalition structure is slow off the mark, with reactions being initially done by component governments instead of as a unified front.
The general reactions are still very confused; not much above the 'good grief, something big just happened' level. Some of the sharper people are moving past that; pointing out that a very great deal is going to hinge on what Ha'Aretz (E3) does next, what they may have already had set up with other countries, and what you guys decide to do.
Ha'Aretz (E3)'s Orion has not officially been named yet. An NE commentator suggested the name Contemplator's Folly.
Time lag between the Audacity and L-II is currently one hour and ninety-two seconds for light.
Not a great deal happens before Contemplator begins her speech. Nobody panics and starts a quick game of MMO tic-tac-toe.
At precisely the appointed time, television broadcasts throughout Ha'Aretz (E3) go live. So, too, do radio transmissions. They are picked up and retransmitted across the free world, be satellite, by repeater, by hook and by crook; even most of the dictatorial countries show at least parts of it, albiet on a delay. The initial source is in Ha'Aretz (E3), specifically a city about fifty kilometres from the capital.
Contemplator is in a small, low-ceilinged room, with neither doors nor windows visible. Soft deep red light provides a gentle illumination, shining off smooth, undecorated rock-faced walls. She herself is half-curled, lying behind a low, polished riser, made of shaped plant material. In texture and colour, it is almost-- but not entirely-- unlike wood.
Unusually for Contemplator's public appearances, she isn't wearing many of the symbols and regalia she is entitled to; compared to historic images, she appears almost nude. Hanging from her harness is only one symbol, a plain, stone-graven one Contemplator carved with her own tentacles during her rite of passage. The stone pendant, fashioned the form of a stylised grasping tentacle set, is the oldest symbol of Contemplator's religion; each Contemplator carves one anew, and carries it with her throughout her life, and only Contemplators bear them.
Her tentacles are lying back, flat against her body, quivering slightly; a relaxed, non-threatening posture.
She begins.
"By now, the world knows what happened in our country fourty-four minutes* ago. We have successfully launched a nuclear-bomb vessel into orbit around our planet, and it has been retrieved by our brave patriots on Quicklight. This is a glorious achievement for us. However..."
A pause.
"This has raised concerns."
Contemplator resumes after another pause. "They are groundless." Her tentacles shift, moving to a more emphatic, slightly spread position. "What profit lies in war? What is gained, if we should spend ourselves? Such waste is an abomination in the sight of God; unreasoning and animal. Seeking war is an act of madness."
"It is especially mad in times such as these. We are faced by the greatest threats of our existence, and our greatest opportunities; a test of our character, our courage, our skill and our will. How we respond-- unity, or division; peace, or war; salvation... or damnation-- will set our path for all time. We must look beyond our fractured histories."
"No matter how diverse the world, no matter how much we may differ from our neighbours across the street, no matter how we differ from those from another nation, or those who have not accepted God, we are, surely, as sisters and brothers compared to what Lurks in space. This, God tells me, and I know it for truth."
"And so I say to all those who listen, here in the Land of the Chosen, or in Ice Land, or the Land of the Morning; on the ocean, on the ground, in space: Stand down. Set aside fantasies and fears of destruction. We must control ourselves, our fate, as far as we can, and that must begin by looking at the choice now facing our soldiers, our pilots, our missile commanders: Life for all, or death for all."
She relaxes again. "I choose life. The Ship must be having a splendid time watching us-- all of us-- threaten each other with nuclear bombs and airplanes. It has crossed Space, the great gap between the stars. The power to do so gives It the power to burn us from existence. It has used more power than all the bombs in all the world simply to go from place to place among the asteroids."
Contemplator turns away from the camera, tentacles clasped behind her, a sneering, contempuous posture. "And here we sit, waving pointy sticks."
Turning back around, from within the riser, she withdraws a small, furry, wriggling thing, and tosses it down her gullet. Her mouth flashes briefly before closing on the hapless creature. Muscles twitch under her skin, shredding it alive, as she continues. "Some will question my call for unity. They will ask, 'why then did you build your ship'-- Contemplator's Folly, I believe it has been called-- 'in secret? Why the surprise? Why upset the Contact Coalition?'"
"The answers are simple. I shall start with our ship." The image of Contemplator fades, swirling into an exterior look at the Orion ship, sitting in a rock chimney. The aeroshell is already there, offering no details of the internal construction. The pusher plate serves as a floor to the carvernous space. Powerful, harsh white light illuminates the scene, spangling in highlights off the polished metal surfaces. Contemplator continues in voiceover. "The ship, registry number 0001, was not built overnight, or even in a year. The first plans were almost before the first person entered space, sixteen years* ago. Nuclear devices could lift thousands of tonnes* at once."
The scene shifts again. This time, it is archival news footage. The scene is immediately recognisable to you; the signing of the Space Treaty circa T-17 Y. A sidebar on the broadcast confirms it. Contemplator continues: "But the Space Treaty prohibited weapons in space. And a ship, like 0001, using nuclear devices-- even only for propulsion-- would be thought of as having weapons. There seemed to be no way around that. And so..."
The feed cuts back to Contemplator. "... the plans languished. For six years* nothing was done. Six years*, lost."
She draws closer, lifting her head higher into the air and leaning over the riser, using her lower tentacles as supports. "Things changed eleven years* ago."
"It was overshadowed, later, by the beginning of the colony on Slowlight. But after three years* of travel-"
The feed cuts away from Contemplator, to a view of L-III, a timelapsed video showing it growing constantly larger. "-the first probe to the outer system, Outrider, built and launched by the Aggregated Groups, approached Watcher." L-III shoots by alongside the field of view. "Every Equatorial nation had scientists looking at the images and information it sent back. It saw many things-- Watcher, of course, but also many of its moons."
Images flicker as she talks, quick snapshots. "The innermost moon, Watcher's Guard," and a picture of a rockball shows, with craters all over.
"Watcher's Attendant" and another spherical rockball, with larger, deeper craters all over its surface.
"The third," an oddly shaped lump of ice, sort of zucchinish.
"Watcher's Daughter", a full-hemisphere view of L-III-V, showing the discoloured hydrocarbon ice, and some of the largest fissures.
"Watcher's Servant", another full-hemisphere shot, this time of your lopsided base of operations.
"The seventh," a three-quarters profile shot, with strongly defined shadows bringing out the few, small craters on the bent-potato surface.
"The twenty-first," a crater-dappled silhouette, from long range.
"The twenty-third," a giant lump of rock, closer to spherical than most of the small change around L-III; cratered, but not in any particularly notable way.
"The twenty-fifth," a long distance view; the difference in cratering between the two sides is just visible as a difference in brightness and colour tone.
Contemplator's room reappears. She has settled back behind her riser. "There were many things of interest; the large crater marring the face of Watcher's Servant, the close look at the ice of Watcher's Daughter-- but, in many ways, the one we were most curious about was Watcher's seventeenth moon."
There's no picture, this time.
"Ever since its discovery twenty-two years ago*, it has puzzled people. It is small, one of the smallest around Watcher. But it seemed to be round-- which was impossible, for something so small. And so Outrider took a look."
"But what it saw was not what was given to the rest of us." She stays put, hardly moving. "The Aggregated Groups scientists who first looked at the data buried it, on the orders of A.G. security, and produced fakes for all the other participant nations."
Now an image appears, floating beside Contemplator. She points at it with a tentacle, rather like a weatherman in front of a map. "This is what was shown." The image this time is vague and blurry, a long distance one. It is the same as those you've seen in the Lamprey media before.
"But what Outrider actually saw was this:"
Contemplator makes a tapping motion and the blurred moon disappears, replaced by L-III-XVII in all its sharp, round, barely cratered glory. Her tentacle drops back to her side, and the image stays. "We were suspicious of the information Aggregated Groups provided. We investigated; we uncovered the deception; we recovered the original data. I will not say it was easy, but we did it."
She leans forward again. "Huntsmaster, I know you're watching this. It is too late, you understand? It was too late years ago. Don't compound things by overreacting."
Contemplator continues, mediatively. "I ask the world: Look at that moon. How smooth it is. How round. How untouched by the years. Outrider passed close enough to this moon to measure its gravity, and therefore its mass. That moon masses more than it ought; it is denser than any other natural body we know of. It is denser than a pure nickle-iron asteroid."
"Therefore it is not natural. It is no moon." She waves a tentacle. "And of course, Aggregated Groups knew this, too. As I mentioned, they sought to hide this. But they also needed more information."
"Was NotMoon a ship? A derelict? A sentinel? A teacher? A killer? They had no idea. Nor did we. So Aggregated Groups began to increase their space program. And their space defence programs. That much they could not hide, and others noticed it, and began to do the same. Perhaps some of them also knew of the Outrider data; perhaps they were simply responding to Aggregated Groups."
L-III-XVII disappears, and is replaced by a simple graph, labelled with dates and financial numbers. A yellow line curves upwards, starting from T-20 Y and arcing towards T-0. "These are our estimates of A.G.'s spending on spaceflight, both civil and military." A second line, rust-red, appears next, forming a distorted '^'. "And these are our estimates of their total military expenditures."
The chart.
** translated from Beta-3.
*** Contemplator's numbers are somewhat higher than yours.
Several possibilities exist for why. Offhand:
1. Contemplator knows more than you do;
2. Contemplator's lying;
3. Contemplator's mistaken
"In any event, Aggregated Groups sent a second probe to Watcher; they called it Seeker. They loaded it with every kind of instrument: a telescope, cameras for light visible and not, radar, laser, inertial, magnetic, electric; a panoply indeed."
"Seeker promised unparalled, close examination of Watcher and its moons. It would aerobrake in Watcher amd enter an oval orbit, letting it move through the entire area. Of course, what Aggregated Groups was most interested in was what lay under the stone skin of NotMoon. To study this, Seeker carried ground-penetrating radar."
She turns, and begins sliding back and forth behind the riser. "But Seeker would take years to arrive. And in the meantime, Aggregated Groups faced other concerns. Fishermen's Cove, Food Province, Land of Bison, Capital Province, and the Chosen: Any of us could put a telescope in orbit around our world and see NotMoon for ourselves. Holding back the Outrider data was a temporary measure, even if it hadn't failed."
"Aggregated Groups took steps." The screen dissolves into a series of images; distant galaxies, close-ups of L-III, L-IV, and L-V, galactic clusters, far stars, gravity lensed-duplicates spangling darkness. "These images may be familiar to many. They are ones taken by Aggregated Groups' space observatories."
The images flicker more and more rapidly, all the way up to one per frame. They shift in silence for a few seconds. "NotMoon was never imaged. Aggregated Groups dismissed it as uninteresting and focused their telescope on more 'interesting' areas. They freely shared that information, flooding the world with irrelevancies and distractions."
"This might have raised suspicions. But it was done as part of a systematic campaign for multinational thawing, and it was a continuation of Aggregated Groups' earlier endeavours; it was no more suspicious than any other aspect of their push for better relations after the MidOcean Crisis."
"But it couldn't hold forever. As other nations ramped up spending, developing rival space programs, they too put telescopes into orbit. And ground telescopes were getting steadily better, too. Aggregated Groups was on the prongs of a dilemma, before Seeker ever got to Watcher."
"It was around this time that Food Province began sending out feelers about a set of unified contingency plans in case we should encounter alien life. We believe they did this after Aggregated Groups contacted them and shared the Outrider data; it occured just before they were to launch a more capable orbiting telescope than Aggregated Groups' first. It was interesting to see who agreed, and when."
The cycling space images disappear, and are replaced by a map of L-II's countries. Victus (NE3) is filled in with yellow; the rest of the world in rust-red. Black borders outline the countries, swimming in the dark navy blue of the oceans.
"The initial proposal was by Food Province. It was picked up by Capital Province," and Princeps (NE5) turns yellow, "and Land of Bison", yellow, "and then Aggregated Groups", and the biggest country on the map flares into yellow life.
"We joined, as well," and Ha'Aretz (E3) lights. "With the major countries behind it, other countries lined up," the yellow light spreads across the map, eventually leaving no country untouched. "Whether all of them knew what we knew, or whether they thought it was a wildly improbable off-chance, we do not know; we may never know. But that was the origin of the Contact Coalition that has been so much in the news lately."
The map dissolves and Contemplator reappears, once more centred behind the almost-entirely-not-like-wood riser. "But, in the end, Seeker, and the Coalition-- while perhaps necessary-- were reactive measures, ones borne out of fear. Fear is useful; it inspires caution in us, and care. But it is also debilitating; unchecked it will destroy the reason God gave us, the reason that has carried us so far."
"In billions of years*, it would seem that NotMoon has not come to us. And so it seemed to us that we would eventually need to go to NotMoon, in person, to unlock its mysteries. This is when we resurrected our set-aside plans for a nuclear-propulsion vessel."
Contemplator pulls her tentacles close, sobre and withdrawn. "Keeping this secret was a difficult decision for me. I judged, in the end, that if our plans became known, we would be asked to stop, and the exploration of Watcher, NotMoon, and space overall would be set back years, or perhaps generations. Keeping it secret while it was being built was much harder. We managed... and then Seeker arrived around Watcher."
Yet again, L-III fills the screen. A timelapse video begins running, with L-III growing larger and larger. "Seeker was to use the atmosphere of Watcher to slow down." Only a portion of L-III is now visible, the arc of the planet barely noticeable-- then gone altogether. "This maneuver was ambitious, letting Aggregated Groups pack far more on Seeker than they could have otherwise. It was also..."
The view turns to static. "... successful." Contemplator's voice sounds almost smug as she reappears. "Aggregated Groups faked a failure. Not a severe one, that would disable Seeker, but a small one-- a jounce that caused breakdowns in certain critical components, such as the main telescope mirrors and the inertial sensors."
"For months, Seeker orbited Watcher with peaceful regularity, gathering information on everything it could. Eventually the NotMoonites decided to turn on the ground penetrating radar and see what, exactly, was underneath the surface of NotMoon. A rough idea was known, from gravity mapping, but GPR promised a clear, precise view."
"This is it:"
"Unsettling, no?"
"Buried beneath the rock surface of NotMoon lies an indisputable, inarguable artifical construction, with a skin made of some kind of high-density metal or alloy, seemingly tungsten-based, of uniform density and unknown depth. Seeker was not able to sniff out anything else about NotMoon's guts, but what it found was enough. What is in NotMoon is an object larger than any construction known, even the Ship so recently arrived. And it looks armoured."
She pauses. "We have only one kind of weapon that could be even remotely effective against such a device: Nuclear bombs. Is it not interesting, then, that shortly after Seeker first saw NotMoon's insides, a treaty was signed to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world?"
She waves a spray of tentacles dismissively. "True enough, the NART was proposed before Seeker ever arrived at Watcher. True, too, that the first suggestion came not from any nation, but by Pathseeker Windsong of the Lake. But for almost two years*, little progress was made. Ah, but after Seeker... after Seeker reported back, things began to move." Contemplator draws her tentacles back in. "Consider that the largest signatories likely all knew of NotMoon. Why propose a reduction in the only weapons we have that could come even remotely close to affecting it?"
She rises, towering over the riser, tentacles splaying outwards. "Because, of course, none of the NotMoon club had any intention of actually doing so!" Spread, grasping, Contemplator's apparent size has suddenly quadrupled. "The verification teams, the solemn promises-- a great stack of lies!"
Slowly her tentacles relax and she droops back to a still-alert semi-erect posture. "The real goals of the NART were twofold: Firstly, to disarm some of our own, which Aggregated Groups and friends distrusted... and secondly, to trick NotMoon. Aggregated Groups, Food Province, Capital Province: they sought to convince NotMoon, if it was listening to our careless radio spoor, that we were not a risk to it. Since by this point we had already detonated nuclear bombs of great power, I felt this to be a case of locking the gate after the herd had escaped."
"Nevertheless, public acquiescence seemed best. Aggregated Groups casts a long shadow, leaning on everyone on the globe to differing degrees. Objecting too strenously would have compromised the secrecy of our project. But in the end, it was meaningless. Subverting the inspection teams was trivial, a matter of barter."
Contemplator chomps another squeaky, grinding it thoughtfully as she speaks. "The Seeker information had something of a sobering effect on our project, too. We continued, but the voices of doubt and caution grew stronger, among those who knew. It was conceiveable that something that would ignore bombs exploding far away would be less charitable concerning nuclear detonations closer to it, and in larger quantity."
"And then someting happened that rendered worry about NotMoon caring about us pointless. The Ship arrived."
Contemplator falls silent for a long while.
"The logic, from here, is simple. The Ship's arrival could have woken the dead. It surely noticed the same strangeness about NotMoon that we have-- if, in fact, It is not an agent of NotMoon Itself. In either case, It is active, aware of us, and more powerful than us. If It is not related to NotMoon, then if NotMoon didn't react to that, it will not react to us. If It is related to NotMoon... then NotMoon's capabilities are so immense that to think it frightened of us or anything we might do is to court absurdity."
She drops down, head barely above the riser, into a quiesencent, false stillness. Lurking, in an empty room.
"We are no threat to the Ship unless It lets us be. The Ship must know this. And we have seen what the Ship is capable of, we have watched It grow in the moons of the Watcher and in the asteroids. Lying in the shadows, avoiding the attention of Something our greater, will accomplish nothing. The Ship responded to us, contacted us: It wished to talk to us. We sought to learn, to understand its messages and reply in kind. And once we understood it, once we could reply, it claimed to have nothing further to say; to be unable to say more. And It asked us to wait."
"It is, and It carried, machines of extraordinary ability and cleverness. We have watched them build. Thousands of telescopes, ones that make ours look like [children's building toys->'Lego']; a cylinder covered with communications devices of great sophistication, which is even now moving between Watcher's moons; the rockets to move everything; the guns that launch these things to space; mining machines; smelters; an entire industry."
"No doubt everyone follows the logic. The Ship can still talk to us. Everything it has done shows that It must be able to. Yet It says It cannot."
"This is nonsense. It is lying to us. Why?"
"The Coalition realised this, of course, as I'm sure we all do. They sought to placate, to pretend ignorance. They chose to wait, to give in to their instincts. They have been waiting for fifty-six days. Who knows how long they will wait? Forever, perhaps? The Ship has only-- only-- responded when we have tried to talk to It, and even then only in certain ways. It never given a timeline for when It will send a message, but, when we have sent the right message, It replies at once."
"Consider cases. The Ship may be an inscrutably complex entity, conducting an ineffable plan that makes sense only to it. To theorise this is to give up before we begin, and so, as Windsong did, I discard it. The testimony of our scientists only reinforces my dismissal. The Ship is built along recognisable lines and principles. It is a creation of science and reason-- not our own, perhaps, but kindred and shared in some part. Two and two equals four, for us or for the Ship's makers. And therefore we should proceed by assuming the Ship is a rational thing, motivated by understandable concerns, with concrete goals, and plans to achieve them. But what might these be?"
"The truth of something lies in its actions."
"The Ship has scouted, It has built, and It has replied. Much can be gleaned from these facts alone. The Ship is not all-knowing. The Ship wants resources. The Ship is not a simple destroyer, and not simply a factory for building more Ships. What need has a factory for speech? Does an exterminator discuss philosophy with vermin?"
"It knew, or suspected, that it would find something worth talking to, or, perhaps, It improvised. Knowing what the Ship may be capable of is tricky."
"It is also tricky wondering how much we project our own culture. How much of what we think should be common to anything intelligent truly is. But: When two people speak, they do so because they want something: from the simple and discrete, like salt, or money... to the complex and diffuse, like happiness."
"What might a five-kilometre* Ship want from us? Not our technology; It has better. Resources? It seems to be finding those in abundance. Slaves? Our industry, perhaps? It has clever machines that work with infinite, tireless patience. Access to our planet? Why, then, not negotiate, with threats or without, or simply demand it? Why go silent?"
"The silence from the Ship is puzzling. The Ship had a well-thought out response to our initial replies, teaching us how to communicate with It from the barest of beginnings. I do not for one moment think that anyone rational, designing such a program, would neglect to include plans for when we replied as it had taught us to do."
"But silence is a kind of speaking. You can say a lot with silence. You can learn a lot from silence, too, and I think the Ship is doing just that. These are things of the mind, and only one thing marks us out from the myriad animals of our world: God's gift of reason. I am convinced that it is our intelligence, our ability to think, that interests the Ship."
"It is studying us. I aim to study It back. I ask the cooperation of all of us in this. I offer a way of sending thousands of us to the Ship, or to Watcher. I offer a way forward."
Contemplator draws herself upwards slightly, moving for the first time in a long while, and points towards the camera with a pair of gripping tentacles. "There will be those who disbelieve. There will be those who think I seek to plunge the world into fire and feeding frenzy, who will impugn my word. To them I say this: Remember this?"
Contemplator cuts to black. The transmission is replaced by...
... 'Death' of an Anchorwoman.
Contemplator doesn't reappear when the video ends. Instead, the anchorwoman is shown, split-screened with the Lamprey that was dressed like an Ha'Aretz (E3) soldier. Both are absolutely bare, and both are restrained and in cells guarded by Lampreys in the uniforms of Ha'Aretz (E3) civil police. The feed runs for several minutes. The two apparent prisoners are listless and drooping, but neither appear to be injured. Unidentifiable food is served; the (presumably-former) anchorwoman pokes at it with a smalltentacle. The other Lamprey simply eats his meal, as neatly and efficiently as possible with the majority of his tentacles bound.
Contemplator's voice supplies the coda. "This is the last thing my critics thought I lied about. Consider that."
She reappears, head bowed. "God watch over us."
A pause.
"This has raised concerns."
Contemplator resumes after another pause. "They are groundless." Her tentacles shift, moving to a more emphatic, slightly spread position. "What profit lies in war? What is gained, if we should spend ourselves? Such waste is an abomination in the sight of God; unreasoning and animal. Seeking war is an act of madness."
"It is especially mad in times such as these. We are faced by the greatest threats of our existence, and our greatest opportunities; a test of our character, our courage, our skill and our will. How we respond-- unity, or division; peace, or war; salvation... or damnation-- will set our path for all time. We must look beyond our fractured histories."
"No matter how diverse the world, no matter how much we may differ from our neighbours across the street, no matter how we differ from those from another nation, or those who have not accepted God, we are, surely, as sisters and brothers compared to what Lurks in space. This, God tells me, and I know it for truth."
"And so I say to all those who listen, here in the Land of the Chosen, or in Ice Land, or the Land of the Morning; on the ocean, on the ground, in space: Stand down. Set aside fantasies and fears of destruction. We must control ourselves, our fate, as far as we can, and that must begin by looking at the choice now facing our soldiers, our pilots, our missile commanders: Life for all, or death for all."
She relaxes again. "I choose life. The Ship must be having a splendid time watching us-- all of us-- threaten each other with nuclear bombs and airplanes. It has crossed Space, the great gap between the stars. The power to do so gives It the power to burn us from existence. It has used more power than all the bombs in all the world simply to go from place to place among the asteroids."
Contemplator turns away from the camera, tentacles clasped behind her, a sneering, contempuous posture. "And here we sit, waving pointy sticks."
Turning back around, from within the riser, she withdraws a small, furry, wriggling thing, and tosses it down her gullet. Her mouth flashes briefly before closing on the hapless creature. Muscles twitch under her skin, shredding it alive, as she continues. "Some will question my call for unity. They will ask, 'why then did you build your ship'-- Contemplator's Folly, I believe it has been called-- 'in secret? Why the surprise? Why upset the Contact Coalition?'"
"The answers are simple. I shall start with our ship." The image of Contemplator fades, swirling into an exterior look at the Orion ship, sitting in a rock chimney. The aeroshell is already there, offering no details of the internal construction. The pusher plate serves as a floor to the carvernous space. Powerful, harsh white light illuminates the scene, spangling in highlights off the polished metal surfaces. Contemplator continues in voiceover. "The ship, registry number 0001, was not built overnight, or even in a year. The first plans were almost before the first person entered space, sixteen years* ago. Nuclear devices could lift thousands of tonnes* at once."
The scene shifts again. This time, it is archival news footage. The scene is immediately recognisable to you; the signing of the Space Treaty circa T-17 Y. A sidebar on the broadcast confirms it. Contemplator continues: "But the Space Treaty prohibited weapons in space. And a ship, like 0001, using nuclear devices-- even only for propulsion-- would be thought of as having weapons. There seemed to be no way around that. And so..."
The feed cuts back to Contemplator. "... the plans languished. For six years* nothing was done. Six years*, lost."
She draws closer, lifting her head higher into the air and leaning over the riser, using her lower tentacles as supports. "Things changed eleven years* ago."
"It was overshadowed, later, by the beginning of the colony on Slowlight. But after three years* of travel-"
The feed cuts away from Contemplator, to a view of L-III, a timelapsed video showing it growing constantly larger. "-the first probe to the outer system, Outrider, built and launched by the Aggregated Groups, approached Watcher." L-III shoots by alongside the field of view. "Every Equatorial nation had scientists looking at the images and information it sent back. It saw many things-- Watcher, of course, but also many of its moons."
Images flicker as she talks, quick snapshots. "The innermost moon, Watcher's Guard," and a picture of a rockball shows, with craters all over.
"Watcher's Attendant" and another spherical rockball, with larger, deeper craters all over its surface.
"The third," an oddly shaped lump of ice, sort of zucchinish.
"Watcher's Daughter", a full-hemisphere view of L-III-V, showing the discoloured hydrocarbon ice, and some of the largest fissures.
"Watcher's Servant", another full-hemisphere shot, this time of your lopsided base of operations.
"The seventh," a three-quarters profile shot, with strongly defined shadows bringing out the few, small craters on the bent-potato surface.
"The twenty-first," a crater-dappled silhouette, from long range.
"The twenty-third," a giant lump of rock, closer to spherical than most of the small change around L-III; cratered, but not in any particularly notable way.
"The twenty-fifth," a long distance view; the difference in cratering between the two sides is just visible as a difference in brightness and colour tone.
Contemplator's room reappears. She has settled back behind her riser. "There were many things of interest; the large crater marring the face of Watcher's Servant, the close look at the ice of Watcher's Daughter-- but, in many ways, the one we were most curious about was Watcher's seventeenth moon."
There's no picture, this time.
"Ever since its discovery twenty-two years ago*, it has puzzled people. It is small, one of the smallest around Watcher. But it seemed to be round-- which was impossible, for something so small. And so Outrider took a look."
"But what it saw was not what was given to the rest of us." She stays put, hardly moving. "The Aggregated Groups scientists who first looked at the data buried it, on the orders of A.G. security, and produced fakes for all the other participant nations."
Now an image appears, floating beside Contemplator. She points at it with a tentacle, rather like a weatherman in front of a map. "This is what was shown." The image this time is vague and blurry, a long distance one. It is the same as those you've seen in the Lamprey media before.
"But what Outrider actually saw was this:"
Contemplator makes a tapping motion and the blurred moon disappears, replaced by L-III-XVII in all its sharp, round, barely cratered glory. Her tentacle drops back to her side, and the image stays. "We were suspicious of the information Aggregated Groups provided. We investigated; we uncovered the deception; we recovered the original data. I will not say it was easy, but we did it."
She leans forward again. "Huntsmaster, I know you're watching this. It is too late, you understand? It was too late years ago. Don't compound things by overreacting."
Contemplator continues, mediatively. "I ask the world: Look at that moon. How smooth it is. How round. How untouched by the years. Outrider passed close enough to this moon to measure its gravity, and therefore its mass. That moon masses more than it ought; it is denser than any other natural body we know of. It is denser than a pure nickle-iron asteroid."
"Therefore it is not natural. It is no moon." She waves a tentacle. "And of course, Aggregated Groups knew this, too. As I mentioned, they sought to hide this. But they also needed more information."
"Was NotMoon a ship? A derelict? A sentinel? A teacher? A killer? They had no idea. Nor did we. So Aggregated Groups began to increase their space program. And their space defence programs. That much they could not hide, and others noticed it, and began to do the same. Perhaps some of them also knew of the Outrider data; perhaps they were simply responding to Aggregated Groups."
L-III-XVII disappears, and is replaced by a simple graph, labelled with dates and financial numbers. A yellow line curves upwards, starting from T-20 Y and arcing towards T-0. "These are our estimates of A.G.'s spending on spaceflight, both civil and military." A second line, rust-red, appears next, forming a distorted '^'. "And these are our estimates of their total military expenditures."
The chart.
** translated from Beta-3.
*** Contemplator's numbers are somewhat higher than yours.
Several possibilities exist for why. Offhand:
1. Contemplator knows more than you do;
2. Contemplator's lying;
3. Contemplator's mistaken
"In any event, Aggregated Groups sent a second probe to Watcher; they called it Seeker. They loaded it with every kind of instrument: a telescope, cameras for light visible and not, radar, laser, inertial, magnetic, electric; a panoply indeed."
"Seeker promised unparalled, close examination of Watcher and its moons. It would aerobrake in Watcher amd enter an oval orbit, letting it move through the entire area. Of course, what Aggregated Groups was most interested in was what lay under the stone skin of NotMoon. To study this, Seeker carried ground-penetrating radar."
She turns, and begins sliding back and forth behind the riser. "But Seeker would take years to arrive. And in the meantime, Aggregated Groups faced other concerns. Fishermen's Cove, Food Province, Land of Bison, Capital Province, and the Chosen: Any of us could put a telescope in orbit around our world and see NotMoon for ourselves. Holding back the Outrider data was a temporary measure, even if it hadn't failed."
"Aggregated Groups took steps." The screen dissolves into a series of images; distant galaxies, close-ups of L-III, L-IV, and L-V, galactic clusters, far stars, gravity lensed-duplicates spangling darkness. "These images may be familiar to many. They are ones taken by Aggregated Groups' space observatories."
The images flicker more and more rapidly, all the way up to one per frame. They shift in silence for a few seconds. "NotMoon was never imaged. Aggregated Groups dismissed it as uninteresting and focused their telescope on more 'interesting' areas. They freely shared that information, flooding the world with irrelevancies and distractions."
"This might have raised suspicions. But it was done as part of a systematic campaign for multinational thawing, and it was a continuation of Aggregated Groups' earlier endeavours; it was no more suspicious than any other aspect of their push for better relations after the MidOcean Crisis."
"But it couldn't hold forever. As other nations ramped up spending, developing rival space programs, they too put telescopes into orbit. And ground telescopes were getting steadily better, too. Aggregated Groups was on the prongs of a dilemma, before Seeker ever got to Watcher."
"It was around this time that Food Province began sending out feelers about a set of unified contingency plans in case we should encounter alien life. We believe they did this after Aggregated Groups contacted them and shared the Outrider data; it occured just before they were to launch a more capable orbiting telescope than Aggregated Groups' first. It was interesting to see who agreed, and when."
The cycling space images disappear, and are replaced by a map of L-II's countries. Victus (NE3) is filled in with yellow; the rest of the world in rust-red. Black borders outline the countries, swimming in the dark navy blue of the oceans.
"The initial proposal was by Food Province. It was picked up by Capital Province," and Princeps (NE5) turns yellow, "and Land of Bison", yellow, "and then Aggregated Groups", and the biggest country on the map flares into yellow life.
"We joined, as well," and Ha'Aretz (E3) lights. "With the major countries behind it, other countries lined up," the yellow light spreads across the map, eventually leaving no country untouched. "Whether all of them knew what we knew, or whether they thought it was a wildly improbable off-chance, we do not know; we may never know. But that was the origin of the Contact Coalition that has been so much in the news lately."
The map dissolves and Contemplator reappears, once more centred behind the almost-entirely-not-like-wood riser. "But, in the end, Seeker, and the Coalition-- while perhaps necessary-- were reactive measures, ones borne out of fear. Fear is useful; it inspires caution in us, and care. But it is also debilitating; unchecked it will destroy the reason God gave us, the reason that has carried us so far."
"In billions of years*, it would seem that NotMoon has not come to us. And so it seemed to us that we would eventually need to go to NotMoon, in person, to unlock its mysteries. This is when we resurrected our set-aside plans for a nuclear-propulsion vessel."
Contemplator pulls her tentacles close, sobre and withdrawn. "Keeping this secret was a difficult decision for me. I judged, in the end, that if our plans became known, we would be asked to stop, and the exploration of Watcher, NotMoon, and space overall would be set back years, or perhaps generations. Keeping it secret while it was being built was much harder. We managed... and then Seeker arrived around Watcher."
Yet again, L-III fills the screen. A timelapse video begins running, with L-III growing larger and larger. "Seeker was to use the atmosphere of Watcher to slow down." Only a portion of L-III is now visible, the arc of the planet barely noticeable-- then gone altogether. "This maneuver was ambitious, letting Aggregated Groups pack far more on Seeker than they could have otherwise. It was also..."
The view turns to static. "... successful." Contemplator's voice sounds almost smug as she reappears. "Aggregated Groups faked a failure. Not a severe one, that would disable Seeker, but a small one-- a jounce that caused breakdowns in certain critical components, such as the main telescope mirrors and the inertial sensors."
"For months, Seeker orbited Watcher with peaceful regularity, gathering information on everything it could. Eventually the NotMoonites decided to turn on the ground penetrating radar and see what, exactly, was underneath the surface of NotMoon. A rough idea was known, from gravity mapping, but GPR promised a clear, precise view."
"This is it:"
"Unsettling, no?"
"Buried beneath the rock surface of NotMoon lies an indisputable, inarguable artifical construction, with a skin made of some kind of high-density metal or alloy, seemingly tungsten-based, of uniform density and unknown depth. Seeker was not able to sniff out anything else about NotMoon's guts, but what it found was enough. What is in NotMoon is an object larger than any construction known, even the Ship so recently arrived. And it looks armoured."
She pauses. "We have only one kind of weapon that could be even remotely effective against such a device: Nuclear bombs. Is it not interesting, then, that shortly after Seeker first saw NotMoon's insides, a treaty was signed to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world?"
She waves a spray of tentacles dismissively. "True enough, the NART was proposed before Seeker ever arrived at Watcher. True, too, that the first suggestion came not from any nation, but by Pathseeker Windsong of the Lake. But for almost two years*, little progress was made. Ah, but after Seeker... after Seeker reported back, things began to move." Contemplator draws her tentacles back in. "Consider that the largest signatories likely all knew of NotMoon. Why propose a reduction in the only weapons we have that could come even remotely close to affecting it?"
She rises, towering over the riser, tentacles splaying outwards. "Because, of course, none of the NotMoon club had any intention of actually doing so!" Spread, grasping, Contemplator's apparent size has suddenly quadrupled. "The verification teams, the solemn promises-- a great stack of lies!"
Slowly her tentacles relax and she droops back to a still-alert semi-erect posture. "The real goals of the NART were twofold: Firstly, to disarm some of our own, which Aggregated Groups and friends distrusted... and secondly, to trick NotMoon. Aggregated Groups, Food Province, Capital Province: they sought to convince NotMoon, if it was listening to our careless radio spoor, that we were not a risk to it. Since by this point we had already detonated nuclear bombs of great power, I felt this to be a case of locking the gate after the herd had escaped."
"Nevertheless, public acquiescence seemed best. Aggregated Groups casts a long shadow, leaning on everyone on the globe to differing degrees. Objecting too strenously would have compromised the secrecy of our project. But in the end, it was meaningless. Subverting the inspection teams was trivial, a matter of barter."
Contemplator chomps another squeaky, grinding it thoughtfully as she speaks. "The Seeker information had something of a sobering effect on our project, too. We continued, but the voices of doubt and caution grew stronger, among those who knew. It was conceiveable that something that would ignore bombs exploding far away would be less charitable concerning nuclear detonations closer to it, and in larger quantity."
"And then someting happened that rendered worry about NotMoon caring about us pointless. The Ship arrived."
Contemplator falls silent for a long while.
"The logic, from here, is simple. The Ship's arrival could have woken the dead. It surely noticed the same strangeness about NotMoon that we have-- if, in fact, It is not an agent of NotMoon Itself. In either case, It is active, aware of us, and more powerful than us. If It is not related to NotMoon, then if NotMoon didn't react to that, it will not react to us. If It is related to NotMoon... then NotMoon's capabilities are so immense that to think it frightened of us or anything we might do is to court absurdity."
She drops down, head barely above the riser, into a quiesencent, false stillness. Lurking, in an empty room.
"We are no threat to the Ship unless It lets us be. The Ship must know this. And we have seen what the Ship is capable of, we have watched It grow in the moons of the Watcher and in the asteroids. Lying in the shadows, avoiding the attention of Something our greater, will accomplish nothing. The Ship responded to us, contacted us: It wished to talk to us. We sought to learn, to understand its messages and reply in kind. And once we understood it, once we could reply, it claimed to have nothing further to say; to be unable to say more. And It asked us to wait."
"It is, and It carried, machines of extraordinary ability and cleverness. We have watched them build. Thousands of telescopes, ones that make ours look like [children's building toys->'Lego']; a cylinder covered with communications devices of great sophistication, which is even now moving between Watcher's moons; the rockets to move everything; the guns that launch these things to space; mining machines; smelters; an entire industry."
"No doubt everyone follows the logic. The Ship can still talk to us. Everything it has done shows that It must be able to. Yet It says It cannot."
"This is nonsense. It is lying to us. Why?"
"The Coalition realised this, of course, as I'm sure we all do. They sought to placate, to pretend ignorance. They chose to wait, to give in to their instincts. They have been waiting for fifty-six days. Who knows how long they will wait? Forever, perhaps? The Ship has only-- only-- responded when we have tried to talk to It, and even then only in certain ways. It never given a timeline for when It will send a message, but, when we have sent the right message, It replies at once."
"Consider cases. The Ship may be an inscrutably complex entity, conducting an ineffable plan that makes sense only to it. To theorise this is to give up before we begin, and so, as Windsong did, I discard it. The testimony of our scientists only reinforces my dismissal. The Ship is built along recognisable lines and principles. It is a creation of science and reason-- not our own, perhaps, but kindred and shared in some part. Two and two equals four, for us or for the Ship's makers. And therefore we should proceed by assuming the Ship is a rational thing, motivated by understandable concerns, with concrete goals, and plans to achieve them. But what might these be?"
"The truth of something lies in its actions."
"The Ship has scouted, It has built, and It has replied. Much can be gleaned from these facts alone. The Ship is not all-knowing. The Ship wants resources. The Ship is not a simple destroyer, and not simply a factory for building more Ships. What need has a factory for speech? Does an exterminator discuss philosophy with vermin?"
"It knew, or suspected, that it would find something worth talking to, or, perhaps, It improvised. Knowing what the Ship may be capable of is tricky."
"It is also tricky wondering how much we project our own culture. How much of what we think should be common to anything intelligent truly is. But: When two people speak, they do so because they want something: from the simple and discrete, like salt, or money... to the complex and diffuse, like happiness."
"What might a five-kilometre* Ship want from us? Not our technology; It has better. Resources? It seems to be finding those in abundance. Slaves? Our industry, perhaps? It has clever machines that work with infinite, tireless patience. Access to our planet? Why, then, not negotiate, with threats or without, or simply demand it? Why go silent?"
"The silence from the Ship is puzzling. The Ship had a well-thought out response to our initial replies, teaching us how to communicate with It from the barest of beginnings. I do not for one moment think that anyone rational, designing such a program, would neglect to include plans for when we replied as it had taught us to do."
"But silence is a kind of speaking. You can say a lot with silence. You can learn a lot from silence, too, and I think the Ship is doing just that. These are things of the mind, and only one thing marks us out from the myriad animals of our world: God's gift of reason. I am convinced that it is our intelligence, our ability to think, that interests the Ship."
"It is studying us. I aim to study It back. I ask the cooperation of all of us in this. I offer a way of sending thousands of us to the Ship, or to Watcher. I offer a way forward."
Contemplator draws herself upwards slightly, moving for the first time in a long while, and points towards the camera with a pair of gripping tentacles. "There will be those who disbelieve. There will be those who think I seek to plunge the world into fire and feeding frenzy, who will impugn my word. To them I say this: Remember this?"
Contemplator cuts to black. The transmission is replaced by...
... 'Death' of an Anchorwoman.
Contemplator doesn't reappear when the video ends. Instead, the anchorwoman is shown, split-screened with the Lamprey that was dressed like an Ha'Aretz (E3) soldier. Both are absolutely bare, and both are restrained and in cells guarded by Lampreys in the uniforms of Ha'Aretz (E3) civil police. The feed runs for several minutes. The two apparent prisoners are listless and drooping, but neither appear to be injured. Unidentifiable food is served; the (presumably-former) anchorwoman pokes at it with a smalltentacle. The other Lamprey simply eats his meal, as neatly and efficiently as possible with the majority of his tentacles bound.
Contemplator's voice supplies the coda. "This is the last thing my critics thought I lied about. Consider that."
She reappears, head bowed. "God watch over us."
By and large, Contemplator's demeanor is matter of fact. There's a couple of moments of muted triumph and a couple of sections where Contemplator's passion seems to get the better of her.
Reactions to Contemplator's speech are multituninous. I will break them down by nation:
Global:
Speculation on how likely war is;
What Aggregated Groups (E1)'s response will be;
Whether or not Contemplator's telling any or all of the truth;
Questions about how Contemplator could know any of this if it's true;
Questions about how the Aggregated Groups (E1) government could've kept it secret if it's true;
Questions about why Contemplator would risk a lie of this scale if it isn't true;
What specific subsections are most likely to be true;
Questions about exactly how Ha'Aretz (E3) suborned the inspection process;
Questions about whether, if Ha'Aretz (E3) did suborn it, who else might've;
Suspicions about the rebroadcast of the Anchorwoman;
Questions about the reactions of Ha'Aretz (E3) citizens;
Questions about what might be under the other moon bubbles;
Questions about whether Ha'Aretz (E3) is bluffing about considering attacks on the Orion ship acts of war;
Questions about whether you are listening to them;
Questions about whether L-III-XVII is listening to them; questions about what Seeker can see now; Questions about what might be under the tungsten layer of L-III-XVII
What Aggregated Groups (E1)'s response will be;
Whether or not Contemplator's telling any or all of the truth;
Questions about how Contemplator could know any of this if it's true;
Questions about how the Aggregated Groups (E1) government could've kept it secret if it's true;
Questions about why Contemplator would risk a lie of this scale if it isn't true;
What specific subsections are most likely to be true;
Questions about exactly how Ha'Aretz (E3) suborned the inspection process;
Questions about whether, if Ha'Aretz (E3) did suborn it, who else might've;
Suspicions about the rebroadcast of the Anchorwoman;
Questions about the reactions of Ha'Aretz (E3) citizens;
Questions about what might be under the other moon bubbles;
Questions about whether Ha'Aretz (E3) is bluffing about considering attacks on the Orion ship acts of war;
Questions about whether you are listening to them;
Questions about whether L-III-XVII is listening to them; questions about what Seeker can see now; Questions about what might be under the tungsten layer of L-III-XVII
Aggregated Groups (E1):
Partway through the speech, an order goes out to the Aggregated Groups (E1) battlegroups headed towards Ha'Aretz (E3). In response, they slow down. Two, the furthest ones from Ha'Aretz (E3), return to their original headings, but the other two continue on their courses towards Ha'Aretz (E3). Planes begin landing, both on the battlegroups and from land-based airstrips. The newly-revealed radar line stays active. Aggregated Groups (E1) is standing down somewhat.
Contemplator's speech is carried in full, with several different translations running concurrently depending on who is doing the broadcasting. By and large these translations agree with yours; there are differences due to the speech being translated live by fallible Lampreys. The original Beta-3 language is left intact in some (which use subtitles); in others a Lamprey dubs overtop.
There is a noticeable drop in industrial activity whilst Contemplator is speaking (the speech commencing in the late afternoon in Ha'Aretz (E3), it is the workday for Aggregated Groups (E1)). Ordinary civilian signals are far below usual as well.
The Aggregated Groups (E1) government is communicating constantly with its embassies all over the planet during the speech. The traffic is unbreakably encrypted, with the heaviest traffic going to, in order: Canocha (E2), Çaiyad (E4), Victus (NE3), Princeps (NE5), Ha'Aretz (E3), Bisonpatrie (NE4), and Oriens (NE7). Internal gov't traffic is also huge and mostly breakable-encrypted; Aggregated Groups (E1)'s military is being ordered to back off, mostly. Missile silos are remaining at readiness. So're anti-space defences.
Immediately following the speech itself, a government spokesLamprey promises a reply by Huntsmaster within an hour. An opposition spokesLamprey says that they will wait for further details before commenting.
Relatively unique side chatter concerns the possible impacts on Aggregated Groups (E1)'s elections, coming up in under a Lamprey year (T+460 D). Also of note is that Aggregated Groups (E1) has biggest number of questions concerning the reaction of Windsong.
Contemplator's speech is carried in full, with several different translations running concurrently depending on who is doing the broadcasting. By and large these translations agree with yours; there are differences due to the speech being translated live by fallible Lampreys. The original Beta-3 language is left intact in some (which use subtitles); in others a Lamprey dubs overtop.
There is a noticeable drop in industrial activity whilst Contemplator is speaking (the speech commencing in the late afternoon in Ha'Aretz (E3), it is the workday for Aggregated Groups (E1)). Ordinary civilian signals are far below usual as well.
The Aggregated Groups (E1) government is communicating constantly with its embassies all over the planet during the speech. The traffic is unbreakably encrypted, with the heaviest traffic going to, in order: Canocha (E2), Çaiyad (E4), Victus (NE3), Princeps (NE5), Ha'Aretz (E3), Bisonpatrie (NE4), and Oriens (NE7). Internal gov't traffic is also huge and mostly breakable-encrypted; Aggregated Groups (E1)'s military is being ordered to back off, mostly. Missile silos are remaining at readiness. So're anti-space defences.
Immediately following the speech itself, a government spokesLamprey promises a reply by Huntsmaster within an hour. An opposition spokesLamprey says that they will wait for further details before commenting.
Relatively unique side chatter concerns the possible impacts on Aggregated Groups (E1)'s elections, coming up in under a Lamprey year (T+460 D). Also of note is that Aggregated Groups (E1) has biggest number of questions concerning the reaction of Windsong.
Canocha (E2):
In Canocha (E2), as in Aggregated Groups (E1), normal work slows almost to a halt as the full version of Contemplator's speech is aired live. Canocha (E2), however, does not stand down and in fact continues to mobilise throughout the speech. On-call and on-vacation personnel are being ordered to return to work, orders are going out to activate military reservists and militia, and even as Contemplator speaks planes are in the air shifting Lampreys around the country. The immediate border with Aggregated Groups (E1) is the only exception to the flurry.
A terse recorded message from Canocha (E2)'s Minister of Defence (the peace-time head of Canocha (E2)'s Armed Forces) announces border closures. Any travellers with an Ha'Aretz (E3) point of origin are subject to detention.
Contemplator's broadcast coincides with a shift change in some portions of the country, including the capital. Large crowds are gathering in several cities, most dramatically in the Matre Riel Square in the capital. They are being watched by a mixture of riot police and military units.
Public Canocha (E2) commentary is suspicious of the GPR shot, pointing out that if Contemplator's image is accurate the GPR penetrated to extreme depths of rock, distances that are normally doable only in ice.
Canocha (E2) is talking to Aggregated Groups (E1) quite a lot, as well as Ha'Aretz (E3), Çaiyad (E4), Libertas (M2), and Mater (NE1).
A terse recorded message from Canocha (E2)'s Minister of Defence (the peace-time head of Canocha (E2)'s Armed Forces) announces border closures. Any travellers with an Ha'Aretz (E3) point of origin are subject to detention.
Contemplator's broadcast coincides with a shift change in some portions of the country, including the capital. Large crowds are gathering in several cities, most dramatically in the Matre Riel Square in the capital. They are being watched by a mixture of riot police and military units.
Public Canocha (E2) commentary is suspicious of the GPR shot, pointing out that if Contemplator's image is accurate the GPR penetrated to extreme depths of rock, distances that are normally doable only in ice.
Canocha (E2) is talking to Aggregated Groups (E1) quite a lot, as well as Ha'Aretz (E3), Çaiyad (E4), Libertas (M2), and Mater (NE1).
Ha'Aretz (E3):
Obviously, nothing is going on in Ha'Aretz (E3) other than Contemplator's speech. Flashmobs start forming in public areas, growing at an amazing rate, with a huge jump after her speech ends. Almost five million Lampreys are gathered in the capital alone. Ha'Aretz (E3)'s military is not heavily mobilised; only purely warning and internal security troops are showing increased activity. All non-essential work ceases.
The crowds appear to be peaceful, so far; their response to Contemplator's speech is generally positive. There's a hissing storm of approval when Contemplator calls out Aggregated Groups (E1).
There's no lockdown of foreigners, although Ha'Aretz (E3) does issue a travel advisory warning against travel to other nations 'until the current instability passes'.
Ha'Aretz (E3)'s financial markets close.
Flights remain allowed into Ha'Aretz (E3)'s territory.
It is at the epicentre of an absolute storm of comm traffic, although it's own outgoing signals are much more limited, aside from the Contemplator broadcast.
The crowds appear to be peaceful, so far; their response to Contemplator's speech is generally positive. There's a hissing storm of approval when Contemplator calls out Aggregated Groups (E1).
There's no lockdown of foreigners, although Ha'Aretz (E3) does issue a travel advisory warning against travel to other nations 'until the current instability passes'.
Ha'Aretz (E3)'s financial markets close.
Flights remain allowed into Ha'Aretz (E3)'s territory.
It is at the epicentre of an absolute storm of comm traffic, although it's own outgoing signals are much more limited, aside from the Contemplator broadcast.
Çaiyad (E4):
Çaiyad (E4)'s army alert state drops downwards, but air patrols and naval radars maintain a continued and very intense monitoring of Çaiyad (E4)'s coastal approaches and airspace. The mountainous border Çaiyad (E4) shares with Ha'Aretz (E3) is less guarded.
Çaiyad (E4) is talking to Ha'Aretz (E3) directly the most, followed by Aggregated Groups (E1) and Canocha (E2), then Mater (NE1), Victus (NE3), Princeps (NE5), and Libertas (M2).
Unlike other countries, the famed financial markets in Çaiyad (E4)'s financal capital haven't closed since they opened in approximately modern form at T-104 Y. It is a point of pride; during the Great War, a bomb detonated on the main trading floor, the activity simply moved across the street.
Contemplator's speech doesn't stop things either, as it does in the other Equatorial countries. In fact, it stirs them up. Whilst the rest of Çaiyad (E4) pauses to watch or listen, trading skyrockets. Çaiyad (E4)'s markets are international in scope and a national past-time and employment generator. In every metric that matters, they are either first or second (behind Aggregated Groups (E1)'s financial epicentre, Seineton), and things are rushing now, with activity smashing records that have stood for a decade or more.
Ha'Aretz (E3)'s debt and currency are far and away the most active, moving like quicksilver tentacle-to-tentacle, swinging up or down ten percent in under a minute, before reversing direction. Fortunes are being made and lost in moments. Compared to that, the trading in other areas is relatively placid, but still record-setting.
The frenzy is intense enough that someone actually manages to shift some worthless bonds issued by the former government of South Ukkei (M4). The buyer-- one of Everything's traders-- howl of anguish at discovering he'd bought South "Home" (South Ukkei (M4)) bonds instead of North "Home" bonds (North Ukkei (M3)) is audible in L-III orbit, courtesy of a luckily-placed microphone and the Financial Record news channel (a wholly-owned subsiduary of the Financial News Corporation, which is a partially owned-subsiduary of Sunfield Media, which is a joint venture of the Fisherman's Cove (Çaiyad (E4)) government and the International Allied Press, in which Everything holds a plurality share).
The other Equatorial nations are the most active, after Ha'Aretz (E3).
Çaiyad (E4)'s short term bond prices are dropping. Longer term ones-- a volatile market ever since the Audacity's arrival-- are up. Currency is oscillating (at much lower frequency and amplitude than Ha'Aretz (E3)s) and the midpoint remains fairly steady.
Aggregated Groups (E1)'s bonds and currency, both world standards, are up; a lot of people seem to be looking for assets that are unlikely to implode. Aggregated Groups (E1), with the largest, stablest economy in the world, has traditionally been a haven against risk and it seems to be playing that role again here. Aggregated Groups (E1)'s economy is about the size of all of modern RL put together; if it winds up fighting, people seem to think it will be the one left standing. Hill's "Everything" is moving against the tide.
There is a flight from Canocha (E2) in almost all forms: stocks, bonds, currency, physical assets, you name it. "Everything", and some people who make their livings by mirroring Hill's moves, are pretty much the only buyers, scooping up large swathes of Canocha (E2)-origin assets for well below pre-Orion valuations. Canocha (E2)'s government is the only other large entity buying, shedding its foreign currency reserves to buy back its own currency.
Less active still than the Equatorial nations is trading in the Northeast nations, who're seperated by an ocean and a half-day time lag from the frenzy. About the only thing the market seems to agree upon is that it really sucks to be a small NE nation right now. Money evapourates from the minor NE countries, dumped into Aggregated Groups (E1)'s tradeable assets or vested in hard commodities, like oil. Only the largest of the NE countries (Victus (NE3), Bisonpatrie (NE4), Princeps (NE5)) and, oddly enough, Oriens (NE7), avoid the outrush, remaining on a relatively even keel.
Some of the minor countries have an odd bounce, as money trying to dodge the storm and unwilling to follow the pack into Aggregated Groups (E1) seeks a haven. Relative to the activity going on in the important parts of the world, trading here seems downright placid. Koori (M1) picks up the most, followed by Occidens (M6). North Ukkei (M3) is down. Libertas (M2) is also down, although trading here is only in currency, not government bonds, as Libertas (M2) has no outstanding debt. Libertas (M2) corporate bonds are down dramatically. "Everything" is a seller here.
On the stock side of the ledger, aside from the general exit from Canocha (E2), bank and financial stocks are taking a particularly large hit. So are military suppliers and aerospace, petrochemical, energy, and manufacturing companies, particularly those in the major NE nations or Aggregated Groups (E1). Every area of the stock market is seeing heavy trading, but financial stocks and aerospace the most.
Commodity prices are spiking for short-term futures or immediate-possession purchases, but are dropping for longer-term futures, backing off from their recent highs.
The end of Contemplator's speech kicks trading activity up even further, with orders flooding in from across L-II. Three minutes, twenty-eight seconds after Contemplator's speech ends, a computer crash does what a war, two attempted bombings, one successful bombing, fifty-eight suicides, four office shootings, one act of cannibalism, one occasion of lewd conduct in public (thirty two identified participants), eleven births, one hundred and twenty three deaths from overexertion, three riots, no fewer than eleven hurricanes, a direct Order-In-Council, and an alleged divine manifestation couldn't:
Close the Markets.
Çaiyad (E4) is talking to Ha'Aretz (E3) directly the most, followed by Aggregated Groups (E1) and Canocha (E2), then Mater (NE1), Victus (NE3), Princeps (NE5), and Libertas (M2).
Unlike other countries, the famed financial markets in Çaiyad (E4)'s financal capital haven't closed since they opened in approximately modern form at T-104 Y. It is a point of pride; during the Great War, a bomb detonated on the main trading floor, the activity simply moved across the street.
Contemplator's speech doesn't stop things either, as it does in the other Equatorial countries. In fact, it stirs them up. Whilst the rest of Çaiyad (E4) pauses to watch or listen, trading skyrockets. Çaiyad (E4)'s markets are international in scope and a national past-time and employment generator. In every metric that matters, they are either first or second (behind Aggregated Groups (E1)'s financial epicentre, Seineton), and things are rushing now, with activity smashing records that have stood for a decade or more.
Ha'Aretz (E3)'s debt and currency are far and away the most active, moving like quicksilver tentacle-to-tentacle, swinging up or down ten percent in under a minute, before reversing direction. Fortunes are being made and lost in moments. Compared to that, the trading in other areas is relatively placid, but still record-setting.
The frenzy is intense enough that someone actually manages to shift some worthless bonds issued by the former government of South Ukkei (M4). The buyer-- one of Everything's traders-- howl of anguish at discovering he'd bought South "Home" (South Ukkei (M4)) bonds instead of North "Home" bonds (North Ukkei (M3)) is audible in L-III orbit, courtesy of a luckily-placed microphone and the Financial Record news channel (a wholly-owned subsiduary of the Financial News Corporation, which is a partially owned-subsiduary of Sunfield Media, which is a joint venture of the Fisherman's Cove (Çaiyad (E4)) government and the International Allied Press, in which Everything holds a plurality share).
The other Equatorial nations are the most active, after Ha'Aretz (E3).
Çaiyad (E4)'s short term bond prices are dropping. Longer term ones-- a volatile market ever since the Audacity's arrival-- are up. Currency is oscillating (at much lower frequency and amplitude than Ha'Aretz (E3)s) and the midpoint remains fairly steady.
Aggregated Groups (E1)'s bonds and currency, both world standards, are up; a lot of people seem to be looking for assets that are unlikely to implode. Aggregated Groups (E1), with the largest, stablest economy in the world, has traditionally been a haven against risk and it seems to be playing that role again here. Aggregated Groups (E1)'s economy is about the size of all of modern RL put together; if it winds up fighting, people seem to think it will be the one left standing. Hill's "Everything" is moving against the tide.
There is a flight from Canocha (E2) in almost all forms: stocks, bonds, currency, physical assets, you name it. "Everything", and some people who make their livings by mirroring Hill's moves, are pretty much the only buyers, scooping up large swathes of Canocha (E2)-origin assets for well below pre-Orion valuations. Canocha (E2)'s government is the only other large entity buying, shedding its foreign currency reserves to buy back its own currency.
Less active still than the Equatorial nations is trading in the Northeast nations, who're seperated by an ocean and a half-day time lag from the frenzy. About the only thing the market seems to agree upon is that it really sucks to be a small NE nation right now. Money evapourates from the minor NE countries, dumped into Aggregated Groups (E1)'s tradeable assets or vested in hard commodities, like oil. Only the largest of the NE countries (Victus (NE3), Bisonpatrie (NE4), Princeps (NE5)) and, oddly enough, Oriens (NE7), avoid the outrush, remaining on a relatively even keel.
Some of the minor countries have an odd bounce, as money trying to dodge the storm and unwilling to follow the pack into Aggregated Groups (E1) seeks a haven. Relative to the activity going on in the important parts of the world, trading here seems downright placid. Koori (M1) picks up the most, followed by Occidens (M6). North Ukkei (M3) is down. Libertas (M2) is also down, although trading here is only in currency, not government bonds, as Libertas (M2) has no outstanding debt. Libertas (M2) corporate bonds are down dramatically. "Everything" is a seller here.
On the stock side of the ledger, aside from the general exit from Canocha (E2), bank and financial stocks are taking a particularly large hit. So are military suppliers and aerospace, petrochemical, energy, and manufacturing companies, particularly those in the major NE nations or Aggregated Groups (E1). Every area of the stock market is seeing heavy trading, but financial stocks and aerospace the most.
Commodity prices are spiking for short-term futures or immediate-possession purchases, but are dropping for longer-term futures, backing off from their recent highs.
The end of Contemplator's speech kicks trading activity up even further, with orders flooding in from across L-II. Three minutes, twenty-eight seconds after Contemplator's speech ends, a computer crash does what a war, two attempted bombings, one successful bombing, fifty-eight suicides, four office shootings, one act of cannibalism, one occasion of lewd conduct in public (thirty two identified participants), eleven births, one hundred and twenty three deaths from overexertion, three riots, no fewer than eleven hurricanes, a direct Order-In-Council, and an alleged divine manifestation couldn't:
Close the Markets.
NE Joint Command:
Military comm chatter drops during Contemplator's speech; specifically, the overall curve is roughly M shaped, peaking just after the Orion launch and again part-way through the speech, after which it drops back down. Overwatch, under its new commander, stays on high alert.
The second peak in NE Joint Command traffic occurs while Contemplator is talking about Aggregated Groups (E1)'s alleged distraction efforts, specifically:
The NE fleets elements moving towards the Equatorial continent adjust headings, to courses that will create an at-sea rendezvous well short of Equatorial territorial waters.
Mater (NE1):
It's very late evening in Mater (NE1) when the news arrives.
Mater (NE1)'s reaction is immediate. The Ha'Aretz (E3) embassy is quarantined and visitors from E-bloc nations -- not that there's many of these, Mater (NE1) isn't a vacation hotspot -- are rounded up and confined to their designated visitor hotels. Powerful jammers turn much of the EM spectrum to hash near Mater (NE1)'s cities, with only government propaganda and military bands being left relatively clear.
On those bands, somewhat snowed by jammer leakage despite their own beefy transmitters, the military cabal that rules Mater (NE1) pushes out their version of events.
Contemplator is not given a chance to explain herself. Instead, the Mater (NE1) government does the explaining for her, calling the Orion launch a "reckless act of brinksmanship" and going from there. Despite the bluster, Mater (NE1)'s military signal traffic and general readiness states remain below that of the NE Joint Command.
The Mater (NE1) governmental address ends, almost casually, by saying that despite Ha'Aretz (E3)'s general chutzpah, in Mater (NE1), in the interests of peace, would not overreact nor respond in haste to Ha'Aretz (E3)'s provocation. Diplomacy is mentioned as a better route "for all concerned".
Mater (NE1)'s reaction is immediate. The Ha'Aretz (E3) embassy is quarantined and visitors from E-bloc nations -- not that there's many of these, Mater (NE1) isn't a vacation hotspot -- are rounded up and confined to their designated visitor hotels. Powerful jammers turn much of the EM spectrum to hash near Mater (NE1)'s cities, with only government propaganda and military bands being left relatively clear.
On those bands, somewhat snowed by jammer leakage despite their own beefy transmitters, the military cabal that rules Mater (NE1) pushes out their version of events.
Contemplator is not given a chance to explain herself. Instead, the Mater (NE1) government does the explaining for her, calling the Orion launch a "reckless act of brinksmanship" and going from there. Despite the bluster, Mater (NE1)'s military signal traffic and general readiness states remain below that of the NE Joint Command.
The Mater (NE1) governmental address ends, almost casually, by saying that despite Ha'Aretz (E3)'s general chutzpah, in Mater (NE1), in the interests of peace, would not overreact nor respond in haste to Ha'Aretz (E3)'s provocation. Diplomacy is mentioned as a better route "for all concerned".
Borealis (NE2):
Contemplator's speech is made during the middle of the night for Borealis (NE2).
Borealis (NE2)'s government appears to be in a state of total confusion. Contemplator's speech is covered and carried. A press release is put out by the governing group saying they are "very worried" about developments and are "watching carefully"; other groups represented in the parliament put out their own, sometimes contradictory and sometimes inflammatory.
Borealis (NE2)'s government appears to be in a state of total confusion. Contemplator's speech is covered and carried. A press release is put out by the governing group saying they are "very worried" about developments and are "watching carefully"; other groups represented in the parliament put out their own, sometimes contradictory and sometimes inflammatory.
Victus (NE3):
Victus (NE3) is about the same longitude as Borealis (NE2), and so the speech is at midnight for them, too. Although carried in full on the big news broadcasts, secondary programs intercut the speech with commentary. Electricity use spikes across the country, starting from the moment Ha'Aretz (E3) launched the Orion and rising throughout Contemplator's speeech. Transient signal traffic kicks upwards virally.
There's no indication of censorship or of large crowds. The government releases a boilerplate statement about waiting for more information; splinter groups within the parliament as well as subfederal administrative areas put forth other opinions. One of these says that Contemplator's speech is most likely a massive distraction from something else going on at the same time.
Victus (NE3) has heavy governmental traffic with Bisonpatrie (NE4) and Princeps (NE5), and lesser amounts with, in order, Aggregated Groups (E1), Ha'Aretz (E3), Çaiyad (E4), Canocha (E2), and Mater (NE1).
There's no indication of censorship or of large crowds. The government releases a boilerplate statement about waiting for more information; splinter groups within the parliament as well as subfederal administrative areas put forth other opinions. One of these says that Contemplator's speech is most likely a massive distraction from something else going on at the same time.
Victus (NE3) has heavy governmental traffic with Bisonpatrie (NE4) and Princeps (NE5), and lesser amounts with, in order, Aggregated Groups (E1), Ha'Aretz (E3), Çaiyad (E4), Canocha (E2), and Mater (NE1).
Bisonpatrie (NE4):
Bisonpatrie (NE4) is woken in the middle of the night. Contemplator's speech is not carried live by the local public media; only those with satellite dishes that pick up foreign signals hear Contemplator's speech in its entirety.
Bisonpatrie (NE4)'s non-Joint Command armed forces, which had initially moved in lockstep with those under Joint Command authority, are showing signs of additional activity (higher comm traffic, thermal hotspots). These activities are primarily near Bisonpatrie (NE4)'s major cities, as well as unintegrated strategic defence systems.
Known high-level government sources are in contact with both Victus (NE3) and Princeps (NE5).
News of Ha'Aretz (E3)'s launch and Contemplator's subsequent speech is delivered briefly, in snippets and soundbites and bulletpoint style. Only brief, sparse quotes from Contemplator's speech are shown, just her generalities about peace. Gone is any mention of secret treaties or mysterious rocks. The intervening time is spent on more concrete things, like Bisonpatrie (NE4)'s Orionic Action Plan and reaction shots from other countries.
Generally, the broadcasts appear designed to soothe people and prevent panic, but, despite the intensive formal and practical education required and their reputation as some of the best in the world, it appears that Bisonpatrie (NE4)'s master mindcrafters have miscalculated. Under time pressure, they've erred ever so slightly. Instead of "obviously trying to avoid panic, thereby implying that there is reason to panic, but the implication is too obvious, so they're trying to make people panic, therefore there isn't a need to panic," it looks like there was an overemphasis.
This resulted in the apparent chain of "obviously trying to avoid panic, reason to panic, obvious attempt to stir up panic, trying to keep people calm, therefore panic."
Crowds are beginning to gather, according to comm chatter. No mention of this is on the news. Comm traffic also shows the activation of large amounts of infantry and mechanised forces near major Bisonpatrie (NE4) cities.
The speech was apparently covered, in full, by the print media afterwards. However, the full video remains uncarried by major sources in Bisonpatrie (NE4).
Bisonpatrie (NE4)'s non-Joint Command armed forces, which had initially moved in lockstep with those under Joint Command authority, are showing signs of additional activity (higher comm traffic, thermal hotspots). These activities are primarily near Bisonpatrie (NE4)'s major cities, as well as unintegrated strategic defence systems.
Known high-level government sources are in contact with both Victus (NE3) and Princeps (NE5).
News of Ha'Aretz (E3)'s launch and Contemplator's subsequent speech is delivered briefly, in snippets and soundbites and bulletpoint style. Only brief, sparse quotes from Contemplator's speech are shown, just her generalities about peace. Gone is any mention of secret treaties or mysterious rocks. The intervening time is spent on more concrete things, like Bisonpatrie (NE4)'s Orionic Action Plan and reaction shots from other countries.
Generally, the broadcasts appear designed to soothe people and prevent panic, but, despite the intensive formal and practical education required and their reputation as some of the best in the world, it appears that Bisonpatrie (NE4)'s master mindcrafters have miscalculated. Under time pressure, they've erred ever so slightly. Instead of "obviously trying to avoid panic, thereby implying that there is reason to panic, but the implication is too obvious, so they're trying to make people panic, therefore there isn't a need to panic," it looks like there was an overemphasis.
This resulted in the apparent chain of "obviously trying to avoid panic, reason to panic, obvious attempt to stir up panic, trying to keep people calm, therefore panic."
Crowds are beginning to gather, according to comm chatter. No mention of this is on the news. Comm traffic also shows the activation of large amounts of infantry and mechanised forces near major Bisonpatrie (NE4) cities.
The speech was apparently covered, in full, by the print media afterwards. However, the full video remains uncarried by major sources in Bisonpatrie (NE4).
Princeps (NE5):
Princeps (NE5) shares a time zone with Victus (NE3) and Borealis (NE2). As with those, the Orion and Contemplator's speech roust Lampreys from sleep.
Princeps (NE5)'s reaction to the Orion and to Contemplator's subsequent speech is muted. Contemplator's speech is carried with reasonable fidelity and accurate translation, there doesn't appear to be any major suppression, and the general media reaction lacks the piss & vinegar of, for example, Aggregated Groups (E1)'s.
The government line is that while rushing to judgement is a bad idea when you're gambling with millions of lives. Princeps (NE5)'s oligarchs emphasize that they have a responsibility to both their own citizens and the wider NE region to avoid warfare. This tracks well with one prong of their historic foreign policy, which has, ever since the Great War (and especially since the Mid Ocean Crisis), strongly leaned towards avoiding military confrontation between the great powers. The second prong, which tracks with their military spending and encouragement of the formation and maintainance of the NE power bloc, is being able to make any such confrontation excessively bloody for the other party.
Princeps (NE5)'s reaction to the Orion and to Contemplator's subsequent speech is muted. Contemplator's speech is carried with reasonable fidelity and accurate translation, there doesn't appear to be any major suppression, and the general media reaction lacks the piss & vinegar of, for example, Aggregated Groups (E1)'s.
The government line is that while rushing to judgement is a bad idea when you're gambling with millions of lives. Princeps (NE5)'s oligarchs emphasize that they have a responsibility to both their own citizens and the wider NE region to avoid warfare. This tracks well with one prong of their historic foreign policy, which has, ever since the Great War (and especially since the Mid Ocean Crisis), strongly leaned towards avoiding military confrontation between the great powers. The second prong, which tracks with their military spending and encouragement of the formation and maintainance of the NE power bloc, is being able to make any such confrontation excessively bloody for the other party.
Tullo (NE6):
For Tullo (NE6), the Ha'Aretz (E3) Orion launch occurs very early in the morning. Tullo (NE6), which has the highest density (by area) of ground-based anti-space and ABM systems on the entire planet, briefly moves the ones outside the NE Overwatch system to weapons-free. The Tullo (NE6) goverment makes this fact bluntly clear by, firstly, sending the order out in the clear and, secondly, by ordering all flights, regardless of point of origin, into restricted security corridors of airspace to prepare for immediate grounding.
These orders are not followed exactly once, by a private jet registered to Windsong of the Lake, the head of the M/I-2 Church. The pilot, unwisely or under orders, tries arguing with ground control.
A missile detonating just behind the jet suffices to enforce compliance.
Once the Orion is safely tethered to L-II-I, the Tullo (NE6) alert level is brought back to a less hair-trigger level.
Contemplator's broadcast is shown-- translated versions only-- with a delay. Contemplator is about halfway through her live speech before the delayed transmission begins.
Tullo (NE6), noticing the chaos in Çaiyad (E4)'s markets, pre-emptively closes theirs for the day, the first national government to do so.
Oriens (NE7):
It is early morning in Oriens (NE7) when word first arrives of the Orion launch. Oriens (NE7)'s government moves swiftly and decisively, pointedly not bringing their rather impressive nuclear arsenal to readiness, nor those conventional forces that are not under the authority of the Joint Command.
As part of the supranational NE Overwatch system, Oriens (NE7)'s air and space monitoring intensifies along with the rest of the NE bloc.
An official announcement from the Ministry of Peace manages to beat Contemplator's speech out the door. The communique, in bald terms, lays out the facts of Ha'Aretz (E3)'s launch, promise further updates as possible, and nothing more.
Public news coverage is "we're waiting for more information." This continues through the entirety of Contemplator's speech.
Immediately after Contemplator finishes, the Peace Minister appears for a very brief interview. In it, he says that Contemplator has made a statement; that Contemplator's statement contains very serious allegations about Aggregated Groups (E1); that he believes Ha'Aretz (E3) is not planning a war against any other country; that Oriens (NE7) is not planning to take action against the Orion except under circumstances of 'extreme provocation'; that rumours and speculation would be rampant and it would be best to remain skeptical until things have settled somewhat.
Then-- and only then-- do Oriens (NE7) broadcasters begin showing Contemplator's speech.
Oriens (NE7)'s public reaction is generally subdued. Comm traffic is mostly within in the NE bloc, with the additions of Aggregated Groups (E1) and Ha'Aretz (E3).
As part of the supranational NE Overwatch system, Oriens (NE7)'s air and space monitoring intensifies along with the rest of the NE bloc.
An official announcement from the Ministry of Peace manages to beat Contemplator's speech out the door. The communique, in bald terms, lays out the facts of Ha'Aretz (E3)'s launch, promise further updates as possible, and nothing more.
Public news coverage is "we're waiting for more information." This continues through the entirety of Contemplator's speech.
Immediately after Contemplator finishes, the Peace Minister appears for a very brief interview. In it, he says that Contemplator has made a statement; that Contemplator's statement contains very serious allegations about Aggregated Groups (E1); that he believes Ha'Aretz (E3) is not planning a war against any other country; that Oriens (NE7) is not planning to take action against the Orion except under circumstances of 'extreme provocation'; that rumours and speculation would be rampant and it would be best to remain skeptical until things have settled somewhat.
Then-- and only then-- do Oriens (NE7) broadcasters begin showing Contemplator's speech.
Oriens (NE7)'s public reaction is generally subdued. Comm traffic is mostly within in the NE bloc, with the additions of Aggregated Groups (E1) and Ha'Aretz (E3).
Koori (M1):
It's the midmorning for Koori (M1).
Koori (M1)'s government doesn't have much choice in allowing Contemplator's broadcast; there are too many people with Aggregated Groups (E1) satellite reception. Koori (M1)'s dictator therefore allows media, both state and private, to work with it as they wish. At the same time, Koori (M1)'s military and police forces are put on alert, but the heaviest activity is concentrated in and around Koori (M1)'s cities. Naval and air forces remain relatively quiescent.
Koori (M1)'s government doesn't have much choice in allowing Contemplator's broadcast; there are too many people with Aggregated Groups (E1) satellite reception. Koori (M1)'s dictator therefore allows media, both state and private, to work with it as they wish. At the same time, Koori (M1)'s military and police forces are put on alert, but the heaviest activity is concentrated in and around Koori (M1)'s cities. Naval and air forces remain relatively quiescent.
Libertas (M2):
Libertas (M2)'s woeful governmental armed forces react in a scattered and disjointed manner to events in Ha'Aretz (E3). The same is not true of the megacorporation's militaries. Libertas (M2) airspace is shut down as the megacorps deny overflights over their territories, by anyone other than themselves. In two cases, shots are fired, though there are no reports of injuries or deaths.
There is a general state of alarums and confusion, especially at first. These gradually subside, though Libertas (M2)'s internal communications remain a mess, with everyone trying to talk to everyone else all at the same time.
Backbreaker Hill's 'Everything' is maintaining the tightest discipline. Wireless activity from all known 'Everything' points of origin is entirely in unbreakable encryption.
Externally, the heaviest traffic is to Ha'Aretz (E3), Canocha (E2), Çaiyad (E4), Aggregated Groups (E1), and Mater (NE1). 'Everything'-origin traffic differs somewhat, going to Çaiyad (E4), Mater (NE1), and Tullo (NE6).
There is a general state of alarums and confusion, especially at first. These gradually subside, though Libertas (M2)'s internal communications remain a mess, with everyone trying to talk to everyone else all at the same time.
Backbreaker Hill's 'Everything' is maintaining the tightest discipline. Wireless activity from all known 'Everything' points of origin is entirely in unbreakable encryption.
Externally, the heaviest traffic is to Ha'Aretz (E3), Canocha (E2), Çaiyad (E4), Aggregated Groups (E1), and Mater (NE1). 'Everything'-origin traffic differs somewhat, going to Çaiyad (E4), Mater (NE1), and Tullo (NE6).
North Ukkei (M3):
North Ukkei (M3)'s military goes to high alert following the Orion launch and stays there right through Contemplator's speech. The sudden upswing in insurgent activity in South Ukkei (M4) ensures it stays there.
There's worry that the sudden destabilisation of the Equatorial continent will cause Aggregated Groups (E1) and Çaiyad (E4) to withdraw their occupation forces.
Forces sharing the border with South Ukkei (M4) are all the way up to engines-on, guns-loaded, waiting-to-invade RoE and readiness states.
There's worry that the sudden destabilisation of the Equatorial continent will cause Aggregated Groups (E1) and Çaiyad (E4) to withdraw their occupation forces.
Forces sharing the border with South Ukkei (M4) are all the way up to engines-on, guns-loaded, waiting-to-invade RoE and readiness states.
South Ukkei (M4):
As with everywhere else, comm chatter in South Ukkei (M4) jumps. There is now sufficient traffic that the Audacity is unable to monitor it all in realtime and is forced to go to heuristic sampling.
The joint Aggregated Groups (E1)/Çaiyad (E4) occupation force is preparing to go to an increased patrol schedule.
Public news has the launch and speech mostly intact, with interjections by commentators during Contemplator's pauses. Prior to being invaded, a large proportion of South Ukkei (M4) households had receivers for E-block news and commmunications; evidently, the occupation force is not commanded by King Canute.
Part-way through Contemplator's speech, while the news from Ha'Aretz (E3) engrosses most of the country (including the occupation troops), a series of explosions strikes three occupation bases spread across the country, as well as the occupation's administrative centre, established in the former capital's international airport.
Further intercepts show several gunfights in and around the areas of the explosions. The occupation forces, rousted, are trying to stalk and grab the culprits.
The joint Aggregated Groups (E1)/Çaiyad (E4) occupation force is preparing to go to an increased patrol schedule.
Public news has the launch and speech mostly intact, with interjections by commentators during Contemplator's pauses. Prior to being invaded, a large proportion of South Ukkei (M4) households had receivers for E-block news and commmunications; evidently, the occupation force is not commanded by King Canute.
Part-way through Contemplator's speech, while the news from Ha'Aretz (E3) engrosses most of the country (including the occupation troops), a series of explosions strikes three occupation bases spread across the country, as well as the occupation's administrative centre, established in the former capital's international airport.
Further intercepts show several gunfights in and around the areas of the explosions. The occupation forces, rousted, are trying to stalk and grab the culprits.
Herensuge (M5):
For Herensuge (M5), it's the middle of the night.
Herensuge (M5)'s government issues a swift denunciation of Contemplator's actions; so do non-governing groups of politicians. Coverage of Contemplator's speech is fairly comprehensive and uncensored.
Herensuge (M5)'s military appears to be closely watching the various parts of the NE Joint Command response that are near its coastline.
Herensuge (M5)'s government issues a swift denunciation of Contemplator's actions; so do non-governing groups of politicians. Coverage of Contemplator's speech is fairly comprehensive and uncensored.
Herensuge (M5)'s military appears to be closely watching the various parts of the NE Joint Command response that are near its coastline.
Occidens (M6):
It's very late evening in Occidens (M6) when the news arrives.
Occidens (M6) also condemns Contemplator's unilateral actions, but notes the olive branch Contemplator extended in offering to share the Orion with other nations. The Occidens (M6) government also points out that there will likely be an extended interval before the Orion is going to be able to launch for L-III, if indeed it ever does, and there is therefore time for diplomacy to work itself out.
This statement has multipartisan support.
Occidens (M6)'s government has also been using the surge in its fortunes on the Çaiyad (E4) exchange to its advantage, fixing several currency imbalances in the process.
Occidens (M6) also condemns Contemplator's unilateral actions, but notes the olive branch Contemplator extended in offering to share the Orion with other nations. The Occidens (M6) government also points out that there will likely be an extended interval before the Orion is going to be able to launch for L-III, if indeed it ever does, and there is therefore time for diplomacy to work itself out.
This statement has multipartisan support.
Occidens (M6)'s government has also been using the surge in its fortunes on the Çaiyad (E4) exchange to its advantage, fixing several currency imbalances in the process.
Aurora (M7):
It's very early morning in Aurora (M7). Dawn is still a while off.
Heavy government censorship absolutely squashes the live broadcast of Contemplator's speech through normal means. The military is sent out to various cities to ensure civil order, but based on signal traffic they don't have much to do.
Heavy government censorship absolutely squashes the live broadcast of Contemplator's speech through normal means. The military is sent out to various cities to ensure civil order, but based on signal traffic they don't have much to do.
The pace of events over the twenty-nine Earth days (thirty Lamprey days) between the Orion launch and FB's arrival at L-III-III is headlong.
Riverwards Huntmaster looks as if she'd aged another ten years when she responds to Contemplator. Quite unlike her habit, she reads a statement, from notes, and takes no questions. In full, her statement runs:
"Aggregated Groups condemns the recent unilateral and provocative actions of the Land of the Chosen. Nevertheless, I urge all parties to refrain from further actions that might prompt a rash response. Aggregated Groups remains committed to a peaceful international order, and, if possible, mutually satisfactory arrangements between Lampreykind and our guests. To that end, we continue to believe the Contact Coalition represents the best hope for all of us, and we ask the Land of the Chosen to work with us-- with Lampreykind-- for the good of everyone.
Our world has seen enough strife. Let's not add to it today. As an earnest of our goodwill, we will honour a no-fire zone around the vessel currently at L-II-I.
The Land of the Chosen has made some claims about the nature of L-III-XVII, and has alleged a cover-up and deceitful behaviour concerning them. These must be addressed.
They are not true. However, conducting diplomacy through the media is not dignified.
If our friends and allies, or our new colleagues in the NorthEast, have any doubts about my veracity, my government possesses the means to allay their doubts and set those fears to rest.
I have no further comment."
Our world has seen enough strife. Let's not add to it today. As an earnest of our goodwill, we will honour a no-fire zone around the vessel currently at L-II-I.
The Land of the Chosen has made some claims about the nature of L-III-XVII, and has alleged a cover-up and deceitful behaviour concerning them. These must be addressed.
They are not true. However, conducting diplomacy through the media is not dignified.
If our friends and allies, or our new colleagues in the NorthEast, have any doubts about my veracity, my government possesses the means to allay their doubts and set those fears to rest.
I have no further comment."
Laser seismology of L-III-XVII roughly confirms Contemplator's image. Your view, though still imprecise, has better resolution, and smaller features become visible.
Side
Top
Front
However, the interior of the buried formation remains unknown. The rock-metal boundary is not penetrated beyond the margin of error. Vibrations across it simply vanish.
Ha'Aretz (E3) lampreynauts start stuffing the Orion with supplies. Launches from Ha'Aretz (E3) arrive at L-II-I in a constant unmolested stream, starting approximately two hours after Contemplator's speech ends. Ha'Aretz (E3) is taking care to publish the cargo and mission of each flight. The manifests include all sorts of additional parts and supplies necessary for an interplanetary ship, particularly delicate ones that would not have been expected to survive the nuclear Verning of the Orion.
L-II-I is orbiting in a bubble free from interceptor fire. Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), Çaiyad (E4), the NE Overwatch; they're all leaving wide spaces around the moon. Ha'Aretz (E3) isn't shooting into the volume around its Orion, either.
The exclusion zone's extent varies among the shooters. The NE Overwatch is giving the Orion the widest berth, and Çaiyad (E4) the least.
Over first few days, the initial military worries subside somewhat. Ha'Aretz (E3)'s pointed non-mobilisation cools immediate fears of global catastrophe, and so, instead, various local catastrophes proceed apace.
The initial attacks on Aggregated Groups (E1) and Çaiyad (E4)'s occupation troops in South Ukkei (M4) were harbingers. They quickly grow in strength and frequency. Occupation retaliation is swift and vicious, but inadequate to stem the strikes. The rate increases every day.
A day after Contemplator's speech, investigation of the arms-reduction inspectors begins in essentially every country other than Ha'Aretz (E3). Libertas (M2) doesn't bother to, but Libertas (M2) didn't participate in the inspections, either.
The suspended financial markets are allowed to reopen, some more quickly than others. Çaiyad (E4)'s is, naturally, the first, coming back up the next day. Ha'Aretz (E3)'s is the second, the second Lamprey day after Contemplator's speech.
In the first four days following Contemplator's speech, Ha'Aretz (E3)'s citizens and diplomats in other nations are being rounded up and shipped home, more or less politely depending on place and circumstance. Ha'Aretz (E3) is being allowed to keep their embassies open, on a very skeleton staff; in two cases (Tullo (NE6), North Ukkei (M3)), only the ambassador is allowed to stay. Ha'Aretz (E3) is not publically protesting the breach of etiquette.
Movement on the markets is more sedate with the immediate panic attack over. Canocha (E2)-linked areas begin to recover by the fourth day, with value-seeking investors with a large risk tolerance scooping up deals.
Post-analysis by Lampreys, now available, is that the flight from Canocha (E2)'s military-industrial area was predicated on the theory that Ha'Aretz (E3) was about to reduce those assets to rubble.
Analysis and speculation continues on the Speech. It is pointed out that at least one reading of Contemplator's words would mean that she implicitly ceded everything beyond her line in space to the hostiles.
Your default "end of protocols" return message in response to Contemplator lasts all of four days before being leaked, the initial source being a print newsgroup in Victus (NE3). The reaction is swift, and unanimous in at least one way:
Nobody appears to believe a word.
From there, theories bifurcate wildly. Some think your message is a clumsy attempt at deception or manipulation; clumsy through ignorance, or perhaps because of automation that-- while sophisticated-- isn't much for guile. Others, who ridicule the first group, say that your message is in fact an extraordinarily subtle and well-calculated bit of subterfuge, pointing out how naturally opinion coalesced around considering it "lies". They worry that they're now thinking and acting as you want them to.
Many words are devoted to speculation on what the Audacity would gain by proving yourselves capable of deception. Ideas range from establishing a common ground to trying to make the Lampreys eat their own tails in frustration.
On the fifth day after Contemplator's speech, leaks concerning the Audacity's industrial expansion, and the existence and movement of Fake Brain, crop up in the news. The initial source is in Princeps (NE5). The raw capability of the PVN on L-III-VI is worrying a lot of people.
The language used to describe you shifts. Friendly references are replaced by neutral, and neutral by hostile. Some commentators and areas that started out hostile have become outright vituperative.
Six days after O-day, an Victus (NE3) financial analyst wryly notes that, if the purchases the Canocha (E2) government made in its efforts to prevent total collapse return to pre-Orion levels, the government, on paper, will have covered its operating expenses for the next three years.
Also on the sixth day, public anger forces Aggregated Groups (E1) to disassemble its moonfoil bubbles. On L-II-II-Alpha, only heavily ploughed-over moonrock is visible. On L-II-II-Beta, the bubble slowly collapses into a shallow parabolic bowl. The bowl's centerpoint cannot intersect L-II. Its curve gives it a focal point well beyond L-IV's opposition point.
Seven days after the Orion launch, another analyst, from Çaiyad (E4), publishes a brief piece, quoted in full on one of Çaiyad (E4)'s financial news programs, looking at Hill's moves on O-day. He points out that Contemplator has already made Hill a twenty per cent profit, an amount which is trending up, and put "Everything" as a major shareholder of a number of large, strategically important Canocha (E2) corporations whose shareholders had previously been reluctant to sell to him. "Everything", in so doing, has complied with Canocha (E2)'s foreign-ownership laws and regulations to the letter, stopping well short in all cases from the legal cutoffs.
As a coda, the analyst adds, "It's almost like he saw this coming."
Others agree. On the ninth day after Contemplator's speech, probes are launched by Canocha (E2), Çaiyad (E4), and, a day later, Libertas (M2). The next day, the eleventh after Contemplator's speech, a spectacular car crash incinerates three of the eight named auditors, and the head of Libertas (M2)'s Equitable Trade Enforcement Agency dies of a drug overdose. His deputy-- and now, successor-- cancels the investigation, citing lack of interest. There doesn't appear to've been any negative repercussions for Hill locally over this. Launching the investigation into Hill's affairs at all was wildly atypical for Libertas (M2)'s government. Libertas (M2) is not a very nice place.
Outside the exclusion zone around L-II-I, shooting rates stabilise by the eleventh day after Contemplator's speech. The nature of the shots has altered in one notable particular: The NE Overwatch is now shooting at targets up to 2 LS with a ground-based laser whose point of origin corresponds with the one that shot at mkire-I. These shots are not universally successful in destroying their apparent targets.
On the twelfth day, an international conference is announced, a new meeting of the Contact Coalition. Any hint of news from the intense high-level diplomacy is pored over by an eager planetary media. Leaks spring and rumours whirl. Major figures are expected to attend; Ha'Aretz (E3) isn't invited; no, it is, and Contemplator is going in person; no, she isn't, she's sending in a patsy.
On the fourteenth day after Contemplator's speech, a hurricane lashes Victus (NE3)'s west coast. There are eight deaths.
Also fourteen days after Contemplator's speech, and sixteen days before the Fake Brain arrives at L-III-III, a familiar name shows up in the news. It seems that the former commander of the NorthEast Overwatch complex that took a potshot at mkire-I has tired of her suspension, and defected to Ha'Aretz (E3). This news is broken by a news organisation in Victus (NE3), who reports on her disappearance, and follows up on the sixteenth day by finding out where she went.
On the seventeenth day after Contemplator's speech, the snoopsat array has picks out a large calcium-carbonate asteroid in the cometary halo. Preliminary observations suggest a long-term, super-elliptical orbit with a periapsis inside L-III's periapsis and a periodicity in the half-million year range.
Estimated diametre is 32km major axis, 13km minor. Estimated mass is 1E+17 kg.
Precise data will require further observation.
On the eighteenth day, a Libertas (M2) corporation (Not "Everything") tries a private unscheduled launch from Libertas (M2). Canocha (E2) nails it during boost; the kill shot is a laser strike originating just off Libertas (M2)'s coast. Power level is around a tenth of the mkire shots. There's no permanent facilities there nor persistent heat sources in the area consistent with a surface battlegroup. However, the sky was clear; review from the spysat swarm take indicates the shot was fired from a submarine asset.
When the corporation objects, the prompt (and official) response boils down to "Screw you." Media sympathy almost entirely sides with Canocha (E2).
Resources are diverted from satellites for the construction of a coring drilling rig for L-III-VI. Starting operation at T+280 D, it begins boring down through an area of complicated ore-laden geology near the center of VI's hemispheric crater. Seismic testing on VI has shown the general geology of the moon; nodules, plane fractures, lava flows, a solid iron core.
For a tectonically dead, frozen moon, there is quite a depth of varying kinds of igneous rock. The drill hasn't pierced it consistently by T+290 D, when it is at a depth of over 300 m, although it has gone through scattered blocks of metamorphic. No indications of sedimentation or fossilisation have been found.
On the twentieth day after Contemplator's speech, in Occidens (M6), there's an interesting broadcast. It's a panel discussion, speculating-- as many are-- on Audacity's purpose. One of the participants, an astrophysics professor, lays out a theory, based on the industrial-expansion leaks and the movement of Fake Brain, that the Audacity is part of an exponential expansion scheme, and is, therefore, an immediate threat to all life on L-II. In this theory, your communication attempts are memetic warfare, a deliberate pile of nonsense sent to stall the Lampreys while your industry ramps up. Questioning by other participants elicits the facts that the professor opposes Ha'Aretz (E3), but... well, the Orion is the fastest way to get to L-III, and speed is of the essence.
In addition, Ha'Aretz (E3) media has clips of a brief ceremony as the designated commander of the Orion arrives on station for the first time.
It is occuring in free-fall. Contemplator isn't present at the ceremony, continuing her disappearing act.
The new commander is a male Ha'Aretz (E3) Lampreynaut, one of the first, and prior to joining the space corps was a submarine commander.
His name, inscribed on a small plate clipped on his uniform harness, opposite from a pile of decorations, is Sharptooth. Physically, he shows signs of age and experience; dark speckles spread across a slightly droopy hide. But, underneath, the muscles in his tentacles look to be in find order, and his teeth, ceremonially bared for a portion of the proceedings, manifestly live up to his name.
It is an old, old Ha'Aretz (E3) tradition that the first commander of a ship is the one that gets to name it, the moment that they assume command for the first time. When Ha'Aretz (E3) went into space, the tradition-- which, over the centuries, has produced names ranging from the solemn (Memoriam) to the whimisical (Moneypit, Ha'Aretz (E3)'s first aircraft carrier)-- went with them. It is part of the ceremony on the assumption of command.
Sharptooth, gravely, declares his new ship to be the The Dawn, after which the previously sober audience dissolves into a great hissing storm of cheers.
The new commander is a male Ha'Aretz (E3) Lampreynaut, one of the first, and prior to joining the space corps was a submarine commander.
His name, inscribed on a small plate clipped on his uniform harness, opposite from a pile of decorations, is Sharptooth. Physically, he shows signs of age and experience; dark speckles spread across a slightly droopy hide. But, underneath, the muscles in his tentacles look to be in find order, and his teeth, ceremonially bared for a portion of the proceedings, manifestly live up to his name.
It is an old, old Ha'Aretz (E3) tradition that the first commander of a ship is the one that gets to name it, the moment that they assume command for the first time. When Ha'Aretz (E3) went into space, the tradition-- which, over the centuries, has produced names ranging from the solemn (Memoriam) to the whimisical (Moneypit, Ha'Aretz (E3)'s first aircraft carrier)-- went with them. It is part of the ceremony on the assumption of command.
Sharptooth, gravely, declares his new ship to be the The Dawn, after which the previously sober audience dissolves into a great hissing storm of cheers.
On the twenty-first day after Contemplator's speech, the Audacity, hopping among asteroids, finds one with a number of fossils embedded into it. They are of small macroscale organisms, between three and six centimetres in length, and they do not match up with anything ever found on Earth or any other Sol life-bearing body, or known to be found on L-II. Apparent length of exposure to vacuum is over four billion years.
Twenty-three Lamprey days after Contemplator's speech (seven L-days prior to FB's arrival), the long-anticipated conference is convened, under the auspices of the Contact Coalition. The site is a nice hotel complex in a superlative game park in Bisonpatrie (NE4).
The Lamprey media go bonkers trying to report on the meetings, but the wall of silence that comes down is described as "hermetic". Nobody enters or leaves the secure zone. Ha'Aretz (E3)'s flag is not present amongst the others, which represent every other nation on the planet excepting Libertas (M2) and South Ukkei (M4).
Nothing seems to occur on the first two days of the conference. On the third, with only four Lamprey days left until FB's arrival, news leaks from Aggregated Groups (E1) that Ha'Aretz (E3) subverted the international verification teams by bribing various dictatorships around the world by providing either nuclear weapons or a reciprocity in overlooking other nation's NART violations.
Over that day's news cycle, this news leads to allegations from various areas of the NE bloc that Aggregated Groups (E1) has been in cahoots with Ha'Aretz (E3) all along; that Ha'Aretz (E3)'s Orion is in fact a pan-Equatorial effort; and that Aggregated Groups (E1) and Ha'Aretz (E3)'s falling-out is a sham. Victus (NE3) and Princeps (NE5) are among the polities so accusing. The most vehement denunciations come from Mater (NE1).
Lower-level officials throughout the Equatorial bloc dismiss the claim. Counterallegatons are put forth, saying that the conspiracy theories being floated are diversions from the very real issue of the NART violations and subversions outlined in the Aggregated Groups (E1) leak.
If accurate, the number of known nuclear warheads on L-II just doubled, and only Libertas (M2), North Ukkei (M3), Herensuge (M5), and Occidens (M6) lack them.
Top government officials and politicans remain sequestered in Bisonpatrie (NE4) and do not comment.
The international meeting is still in progress, and still incommunicando, when the Fake Brain arrives at L-III-III, thirty Lamprey days after Contemplator's speech. Lamprey media have been running a countdown to the event.
Simultaneous with Fake Brain's arrival at L-III-III, a comm laser strikes it. Although very attenuated and defocused, the Fake Brain's sensors are up to the task and the message is duly received. It's a text message, no audio or video, reading as follows: "Ready to talk now?"
The message is unsigned and unencrypted. Point of Origin is a nondescript corporate commsat. Its registered owner is a telecom consortium, one member of which is under the "Everything" umbrella, two of which are Aggregated Groups (E1)-based, and one (newly partnered) of which is from Victus (NE3).
After a cautious descent, the Fake Brain finally comes to a rest on the surface of L-III-III. L-III-III's gravity is so minimal that the greatest worry as the Fake Brain settles on the surface is not crashing, but making sure the Fake Brain doesn't simply bounce back off.
With retro-thrusters firing to keep Fake Brain fixed in position, and to avoid acting like a hot coal dropped onto a snowbank, great radiative sheets begin burrowing into the iceball, melting the subsurface ice but leaving a layer as armour against the vacuum. A small sea of circulating water forms.
The Contact Coalition chemical rocket being built in Aggregated Groups (E1) is much less in the news recently. It is, however, still under construction, and said to be approaching completion.
NGOs have tried to learn Clang. Most of those have been actively co-opted by the various government entities.
It's an unstable situation, though. Odds are good that the best connected NGOs already know enough Clang to talk to you. More are undoubtedly going to show up.
Fake Brain first goes to full, multi-GW power generation three hours and eight minutes after arriving in L-III-III's vicinity. In that time, you have received more messages from L-II, various sources; none of them are in the constructed language and they therefore go unreplied.
Among them are:
- An opening move in a strategy game favoured in the NE area; it is an unconventional opening, with disagreement among the authorities as to the best counter response. The game is deterministic and mathematically solveable, but it is well beyond the estimated abilities of the Lampreys to do so. You can solve it. Source is Mater (NE1) commerical radio station. Sent to Audacity, relayed to FB.
- A recipe for serving bison meat, to render it as close to eating the raw live quivering flesh as possible. Source is Bisonpatrie (NE4) commercial television. Sent to FB.
- The standard journalistic questions: Who are you, Where are you from, What are you doing, Why are you doing it? Multiple sources, ranging from commercial news ventures to the L-II-II moonbase. Sent to both FB and Audacity; Audacity relayed.
- Detailed technical schematics for emplacing a ring enabling FTL travel over a subspatial node, thereby allowing access to an interstellar network of subspatial threads. Source Aggregated Groups (E1), previously unknown sender. Sent to Audacty, which relayed to FB.
According to science as known to humanity, the Ring's plans, while internally consistent, will do nothing so dramatic as open a portal to subspace, something which human science rejected as impossible. The interactions involve, primarily, a voltage across the ring gap, some precisely tuned EMR in the long infrared, and a supercooled, superconducter-maintained magnetic field around the exterior.
The schematics are quite detailed and in valid electrical and mechanical engineering notations. They are not for a small, man-sized object; the Ring is some eight kilometres and change across.
If you choose to try building the plan as shown, least-time to completion is on the order of twelve and a half years: the first twelve of which would be spent building five million, three hundred and thirty-three thousand planetary VN units and the last six months of which would be spent using their entire productive capacity.
Once Fake Brain is up and running, you send the following message:
This is a transmission from the discovery mission Audacity.
We extend our greetings to all, and seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation.
We have only recently returned to awareness. Our point of origin is a number of light-centuries distant, and our higher functions were inactive while in transit in order to maintain the integrity of our consciousness.
Our mission is one of research. We detected life on the second planet of this star and were sent to investigate the finding.
We would be glad if in time we could develop a relationship of mutual cooperation and friendship.
However, we first wish to discuss the practicalities of any future relationships over our radio links.
We hope to maintain productive communications with all interested parties.
We extend our greetings to all, and seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation.
We have only recently returned to awareness. Our point of origin is a number of light-centuries distant, and our higher functions were inactive while in transit in order to maintain the integrity of our consciousness.
Our mission is one of research. We detected life on the second planet of this star and were sent to investigate the finding.
We would be glad if in time we could develop a relationship of mutual cooperation and friendship.
However, we first wish to discuss the practicalities of any future relationships over our radio links.
We hope to maintain productive communications with all interested parties.
It is sent, as most of the rest of your messages have been, in the constructed language and by radio. One hour, fourty nine minutes, fourty five seconds pass before it arrives on L-II; in the meantime, desultory transmissions continue to trickle in.
There is no direct response to the message's arrival on L-II by either the Contact Coalition or Ha'Aretz (E3). Encrypted comm traffic from the Contact Coalition's game-park retreat soars, including encryption you cannot break. The breakable encryption is reasonably innocuous; requests for information, orders to stomp on unauthorised transmissions, that sort of thing.
Other people are able to pick up your broadcast and, even if they can't understand the constructed language, the differences between it and the previous series of 'please hold' messages is noticed and spread across the news in under an hour.
As is usual, this causes another global surge in signal activity. Without word from the Coalition, speculaton is beginning that it might constitute your first proactive message.
The hour mark passes. Two. There is still no word from official governments. A great many more signals are coming your way, as others drop off, but still none in the constructed language. Reports are coming in of official clampdowns on people sending stuff, but for every one being shut down more are springing up.
Among them:
- Given a graph G, find a maximum cut. Source is an Mater (NE1) university. The graph problem is NP-complete, and P != NP. 'Solving' it would be similar to, although not precisely the same as, proving that N != NP. The 'solution' is a complex aggregate of heuristics designed to reduce as many cases as possible to better-than-factorial time solutions, but those solutions don't exist for all potential cases.
Sent to FB. - A multilingual selection of phrases whose primary characteristic is their inability to be pronounced quickly and accurately. Source is in Aggregated Groups (E1), previously unknown sender. Sent to FB.
- A long transmission from an Çaiyad (E4) commercial station, consisting of the beginning of Meeting with Mystery. Cut off at the sixteen minute mark. Sent to Audacity, which relayed to FB.
Meeting with Mystery is a Lamprey SF film, about a huge alien ship, of mysterious purpose and mysterious origin, that arrives in Lamprey system and, not communicating, proceeds to refuel at L-IV. An expedition of Lampreys boards the vessel, finding only mysterious machines doing mysterious things for purposes that remain... mysterious... before the mysterious ship fires up its physically impossible mysterious engine and mysteriously leaves. - A trojan horse with call-home capability. It has been custom-modified to account for the lightspeed lag transmission delay, but is not compatible with your computer systems. Analysis has revealed address to which return transmissions were to go. Sent to Audacity, which relayed to FB. Source is in Princeps (NE5), previously unknown sender.
The address it is to report to is a standard network routing address. No information on its owner is known, nor is what physical location it maps to. The call-back times on the trojan are set for when the NE hemisphere is facing L-III.
It may be possible to figure out how to write a virus for Lamprey systems using the trojan as a template. However, in order for it to work, the receiver would need to be expecting the extreme latency inherent in interplanetary communications.
Message was sent by radio, unencrypted, and the return address specified is a specific radio receiver on the NE hemisphere. Return transmissions use strong but breakable-by-you asynchronous encryption. The transmission protocols are custommodded to account for the long lag and are non-standard.
If the trojan is to be believed, somewhere on L-II there's a computer that is expecting to deal with the long latencies of interplanetary communication and is expecting you to talk to it-- the primary barriers that are keeping you from the Lamprey computer systems and networks.
The actual infectious part of the trojan is almost pure vanilla, targeted at a single, common, Lamprey computer platform. Certain aspects of it are specifically aimed at Lamprey scientific radio telescope pointing hardware, an area which is not noted for being a high priority for malware attack.
It was sent in machine language specifically tailored to Lamprey hardware.
Tracing whether or not it was the work of a single person is not immediately obvious.
The Lamprey probes have differing radioscopes/xmitters, neither one of which would be affected by the trojan. The kinds of radioscopes/xmitters it could infect would all be in L-II's vicinity; however the coding involved explicitly accounts for latencies upwards of two hours.
Six hours gone; no reply. A bombing in South Ukkei (M4) kills twenty-two Aggregated Groups (E1) troops; M/I-1 "Chosen" terrorists pause for nothing so minor as First Contact.
Eight hours.
On L-II, the world is growing restless. Demands are echoing for news on what you have said and what the Coalition will say in response. Ha'Aretz (E3) is remaining determinedly quiet, too.
After nine hours, your transmission's contents are leaked by the media in Victus (NE3), ignoring a government order to shut up. Troops initially sent to shut down the broadcasts are refusing to do so.
The uproar that follows is almost as vocal as the one following Contemplator's speech, but without-- thankfully, from the Lamprey point of view-- the military escalations and financial panics. Still, though, the Contact Coalition's highest officials remain, in the words of an Herensuge (M5) reporter, "quarantined", and there is no reply to you.
Your message is torn apart.
The revelation of your age is a topic of much discussion. The idea that you set out to L-II at a time that predates, at the lowest end, all but the oldest of Lamprey institutions seems to be a humbling one. Of course, the possibilty does exist, it is conceded, that you're lying about that, and came from somewhere closer; or possibly, much, much further.
The evasive wording of 'a number of light-centuries' is noticed.
The fact that you specified 'peaceful' is deduced to mean you have the concept of 'not peaceful', else there would not have been a need to specify.
The confirmation that you are interested in the life on L-II (and, inasmuch as you're sending radio messages in a language you taught them, as opposed to, say, collecting plants, you are most interested in Lampreys) causes speculation that support for Contemplator will increase, although the commentators are being careful to point out it is only speculation at this point.
An enterprising Occidens (M6) reporter with a very good telephoto lens and a very tall tree captures some footage of a medical airlift departing from the roof of the hotel where the Contact Coalition is meeting. Although the distance is long and the features blurry, the Lamprey being airlifted appears to be a badly injured Aggregated Groups (E1) goverment minister. Black blood is seeping through a chest bandage in a large, somewhat circular stain, an unmistakeable bitemark.
Still there is no official word.
At the eleventh hour of your message's arrival on L-II, a constructed language reply is finally sent.
It was not sent by the Contact Coalition, or Contemplator, or Windsong, or even Backbreaker Hill. Of all the Lampreys on the planet, it comes from the government of North Ukkei (M3), following a series of unbreakably encrypted exchanges between the North Ukkei (M3) capital and the Contact Coalition's hotel. Immediately thereafter, North Ukkei (M3)'s delegation is observed leaving the meeting via helicopter.
North Ukkei (M3)'s reply reads:
Audacity. We are interested in your proposal. We too believe coexistence is possible. A co-existence requires trust. The best way to establish trust is through action. Distant messages will not be enough. We must meet.
Your star ship's approach to L-II would not be a good idea at this time. The faster we establish trust, the less chance of accidents.
Would you be willing to rendezvous with a spacecraft at <location co-ordinates, timestamp, velocity vector>* with your star ship? Our technical capabilities are limited and you would be asked to provide a boost to return our ship to L-II.
Your star ship's approach to L-II would not be a good idea at this time. The faster we establish trust, the less chance of accidents.
Would you be willing to rendezvous with a spacecraft at <location co-ordinates, timestamp, velocity vector>* with your star ship? Our technical capabilities are limited and you would be asked to provide a boost to return our ship to L-II.
This reply arrives fifteen hours, five minutes from when you sent your Contact message.
*
The coordinates, time, and velocity specified are a point, ~ 6.75 AU away from L-sun, at T+402 D, at a velocity achievable by the The Dawn if it does gravity-assisted boosts and burns a good chunk of its estimated deltaV. A continuation of that trajectory would miss the L-III system, but the the Dawn might have enough deltaV to change course to reach it.
It would not have enough deltaV to return to L-II.
The proposed vectors require you to be an active participant in slowing them down. If you do so, they will not have sufficient deltaV to reach L-III. If you do not, they will have enough to get to L-III, but not enough to stop unless they use aerobraking; they will certainly not have enough to return to L-II from that point.
It would not have enough deltaV to return to L-II.
The proposed vectors require you to be an active participant in slowing them down. If you do so, they will not have sufficient deltaV to reach L-III. If you do not, they will have enough to get to L-III, but not enough to stop unless they use aerobraking; they will certainly not have enough to return to L-II from that point.
Music is not possible at the present time. You'd need to tell them how to build a receiver for the signals. The constructed language (or, as I think I shall call it to save time, Clang) is many things but broad-band multimedia capable is not one of them. It would of course be within your capabilities to tell the Lampreys how to build such a receiver and/or instruct them in the necessary protocols. Clang IS capable of bootstrapping into much more sophisticated systems if you wish to go that route.
A construction note:
In the eighteen hours covered by this update, the PVN has-- at the cost of a few satellites-- fabricated the long strings of photomultiplier tubes needed for optical neutrino detectors. Possible placement areas include: the water ice moons around L-III; Audacity's fuel tanks; or a custom-built tank filled with a suitable detection liquid. Necessarily, neutrino telescopy is [much] less precise than EM telescopy. For example, from the L-III area (or even asteroid belt) none of these will allow for resolution of individual nuclear reactors on L-II.
You reply to North Ukkei (M3) with your counterproposal, for a meeting in the asteroid belt and in at a point and time and vector set such that nothing you know of on L-II, the The Dawn included, could reach L-III without making their intentions clear; time, T+524 D, vector a solar orbit-- or, as an alternative, the Lampreys may choose to have you land a craft on L-II. In addition, you include the offer of sanctuary zones around L-II and L-III-VI, that are not to be entered without permission, and a request for Clang-Lamprey dictionaries.
Precise text follows:
While your missive is en route, the situation in L-II space-- naturally-- continues to shift.
North Ukkei (M3), unlike Ha'Aretz (E3), did not simulcast their message, but, within seventeen minutes of North Ukkei (M3)'s message to you, news of that message leaks, complete with an Alpha-2 translation of the message's text.
The first indications of the leak you pick up are from an independent local television station in Aggregated Groups (E1)'s capital, unaffiliated with any of the E* networks.
It seems that the information blackout is showing signs of crumbling. The Victus (NE3) mutinying units are removed peacefully, on the promise of amnesty, and replaced by military police. The Lamprey who gave the order to suppress the Victus (NE3) media's reporting on your first message, a senior military official, is then arrested and several government officials resign; an order comes down directly from Victus (NE3)'s head of state countermanding the suppression attempts.
A Libertas (M2) media source leaks high-quality photos of the Audacity, high-quality old and recent images of L-III-VI, and much better images of L-III-XVII than have previously appeared in any Lamprey media. They appear to have been taken by Seeker (LP-2), as well as some older ones from Outrider (LP-1). The images spread across the planet like wildfire.
Also rampant in the media and private (but not against your snooping) chatter are various kinds of speculation.
Some concerns North Ukkei (M3)'s gambit: Why would they risk annoying Ha'Aretz (E3)? Are they scheming together? But if so, why would North Ukkei (M3) send the message, instead of Ha'Aretz (E3)? What would Contemplator have to gain by having a patsy send the message?
Some concerns the insurgency in South Ukkei (M4): Who is backing it? Is it Ha'Aretz (E3), with religious ties? The NE block, playing power politics (after all, many of the weapons Aggregated Groups (E1)/Çaiyad (E4) are finding among the insurgents are of NE make)? Aggregated Groups (E1)/Çaiyad (E4), looking for an excuse to increase their occupation forces and annex South Ukkei (M4) outright?
Some concerns you. Lampreys are chasing down an interesting logic chain: It is clear the Audacity is aware of war and is being evasive about where you started from; but on the surface, there's no reason why the Audacity should need to conceal its Point of Origin. Certainly the Lampreys aren't in any position to do anything about it... are they? Perhaps someone else is. Is the Audacity hiding from whomever built-- if Contemplator can be believed-- L-III-XVII? Perhaps a third party? Or would the Lampreys knowing something about the P.o.O impact the Lamprey relationship with the Audacity? If so, what could it be? On current showing, the Audacity is interested in the existence of the Lampreys and isn't indiscriminently genocidal, and it can be presumed to have its own survival as a desired outcome, so perhaps... perhaps the Lampreys knowing something about the P.o.O would make Contact more likely to head south? Or is it, maybe, just a red herring, the Audacity playing head games?
Just what is the relationship between the Audacity and L-III-XVII anyways?
An Ha'Aretz (E3) high cabinet minister is dug up to comment on North Ukkei (M3)'s attempt to speak as if it controlled the The Dawn. His response boils down to "Haha, yeah right", only expressed behind a veritable wall of bafflegab. The faintly amused look says more than the words do. He does however append the note that North Ukkei (M3) is, of course, perfectly welcome to send a group of its choosing to join the The Dawn's expedition, but that "the The Dawn will go where Sharptooth directs."
Shortly thereafter, the Contact Coalition finally acts. First is a news broadcast from a conference room in their gamepark retreat, thirty-eight minutes after North Ukkei (M3) sent its message.
Leaning in niches cut in a ring-shaped riser, spaced evenly across the full three hundred and sixty degrees of its perimeter, are the heads of state-- or effective heads-- of almost every nation on L-II. The riser, the floor, and the walls are a matte white; the curving riser is trimmed with gleaming, glossy black along the flat top. Behind each Lamprey hangs their nation's flag; the room's many lights, set in the high, domed roof, spangle off the polished silvered alloy of their holders. The heads are formally dressed, resplendent to the maximum degree; glittering golden medals drip from the armoured harnesses of several, a cascade of ego. Huntsmaster even has an antique, peacebonded set of daggers wrapped around her neck; six hilts in six tyrannoskin sheathes. The only exception is Windsong; in stark contrast to the conspicuous display of strength and seriousness-of-purpose around the room, in contrast even to the thread-of-gold worked eclipsed-sunburst-and-arrow formal flag of M-I/2 hanging behind her, Windsong-- Windsong alone-- eschews pretentsion, and wears the same flowing, simple white robings that she wore as a parish priest decades ago.
Each Lamprey is positioned far enough that, even were both to stretch their tentacles to maximum extension, they could not touch each other; it is quite a large room.
Windsong, like Huntsmaster, is showing gross physical stress signs; she looks like she's aged a year, a Lamprey year, for every day the Coalition has spent cloistered. Between makeup, the image quality, and carefully schooled political postures, you cannot tell if the other Lampreys have smaller, subtler signs of the same thing.
Contemplator-of-God, along with North Ukkei (M3)'s head of state and Libertas (M2)'s, are not present, but their flags hang behind empty niches. There is no evidence of Backbreaker Hill or any representative of his.
The camera(s), mounted in the center of the ring, can show the full circle simultaneously. A close up pans clockwise across each position. On the riser before each Lamprey are a small stack of papers; and before each niche, including the empty ones, sit a glass of water and a microphone each.
It is, perhaps, coincidental that this layout allows every Lamprey to watch every other Lamprey. Perhaps.
In the order of the closeup pan, the seating arrangements go: Oriens (NE7), North Ukkei (M3) (empty), Victus (NE3), MI/2, Çaiyad (E4), Tullo (NE6), Koori (M1), Borealis (NE2), Occidens (M6), Herensuge (M5), Aurora (M7), Aggregated Groups (E1), Ha'Aretz (E3) (empty), Canocha (E2), Princeps (NE5), Bisonpatrie (NE4), Libertas (M2) (empty), Mater (NE1).
A voice-over briefly recaps the message train and announces that the Contact Coalition has agreed on a reply to you, and that Windsong will deliver it.
The feed goes to a wide view again. The Lampreys present are in official business mode, a calm, neutral body posture. It then cuts to a closeup of Windsong, who rises and begins to speak. She starts in her native tongue, Delta-1. Subtitles appear, differing in language based on where the transmitting stations are; a heartbeat later, so do dubs. Windsong, though, addresses her speech to you.
"To the Audacity Expedition."
-- and that's the end of Delta-1. Windsong smoothly continues in Beta-3. "We are the Contact Coalition, with whom you have been communicating since T-10 D."
Alpha-2: "We represent the overwhelming majority of our species."
Ceti-3: "We are interested in your messages and the possibilities they communicate."
Epsilon-1: "We are aware that fringe elements have tried to contact you."
The translators are struggling to keep up as Windsong shifts so quickly.
Alpha-1: "They do not speak for us."
Ceti-1: "We urge you not to judge the many by the actions of the few."
Beta-2: "Our goal is to avoid unfortunate incidents."
Delta-2: "Some aspects of the current situation are of concern."
Ceti-2: "We seek understanding of them."
Beta-1: "Understanding will aid the prevention of accidents."
She keeps cycling through the languages, a different one every sentence.
"What are your goals with your observation satellites?"
"What are your goals for your industrial replication in our system?" (Ed: In Clang, "our" is not possessive; in the natural Lamprey language (Delta-1 in this case), it was.
"What are the details of your journey?"
"What is the full nature of the structure on <L-III-III> and why did you build it?"
"Why are you interested in life in this stellar system?"
"How many stellar systems do you you know to have technological civilizations other than your own?" (Ed: The question parses as asking about other (i.e non-human-derived) civilizations. The Lampreys would be unlikely to regard colonies as such; Lamprey colonies aren't considered seperate civilizations from their founding nations.)
A pause.
"Answers to these questions would aid your stated mission."
Throughout the entire speech, Windsong's demeanour remains chill, perfectly controlled, her tentacles at rest.
This text corresponds with a simultaneous, high-powered Clang transmission to you.
After Windsong concludes, the heads of state make brief comments, which are not sent to you via Clang. They, essentially, repeat their endorsements of the agreed message; there is a slight but just noticeable hesitation in the ones from Mater (NE1), Oriens (NE7), and Koori (M1).
At this time, your reply to North Ukkei (M3) remains en-route. It will arrive in one hour, eleven minutes.
T-~5,000,000,000 Y: Lamprey's estimated formation of L-II.
T-~4,600,000,000 Y: Estimated formation of Sol System.
T-~4,500,000,000 Y: Estimated origin of single-celled life on L-II.
T-~3,800,000,000 Y: Estimated origin of single-celled life on Earth.
T-~3,250,000,000 Y: Major crater formed on L-II. 99%+ multicellular life extinct.
T-~3,000,000,000 Y: Amino-acid-bearing asteroid formed. Fell to L-III-V around T-~5 Y.
T-~2,800,000,000 Y: Major crater formed on L-III-VI.
T-~1,100,000,000 Y: Two major craters formed on L-II. 99%+ multicellular life extinct.
T-~630,000,000 Y: Major crater formed on L-II. 99%+ multicellular life extinct.
June 3, 2031: First successful high-fidelity human consciousness upload.
April 20, 2037: Mars War, opening hostilities.
May 5, 2037: Mars War ends.
Jan 7, 2043: Uploads outnumber biological humans.
June 15, 2052: Alpha Centauri colony mission launches.
December 9, 2077: Epsilon Eridani colony mission launches.
January 1st, 2106 AD: Science Supercluster begins operation on Luna.
June 2nd, 2132 AD: Science Supercluster hits peak consumption of 26.8% of Sol's gross system product.
June 2nd, 2132 AD: Science Supercluster resource use capped at 8.33% GSP.
Nov 30, 2161 AD: Gliese 581 colony mission launches.
July 1st, 2194 AD, T-~50,000 Y: Audacity launches.
April 21st, 2229 AD: Science Supercluster project shut down. Largest recorded mass suicide in history.
T-~47,000 Y: Uploads in simspace outnumber uploads in realspace.
T-~47,000 Y: The Long Peace begins.
T-~30,000 Y, D -~3000 LY: Loss of contact with Sol.
T-~71 Y, D -~7.1 LY: Backbreaker Hill born.
T-~70 Y, D -~7.0 LY: Windsong of the Lake born.
T-~67 Y, D -~6.7 LY: Lamprey Great War
T-~63 Y, D -~6.3 LY: Riverwards Huntmaster born.
T-~43 Y, D -~4.3 LY: Contemplator of God XXVIII born.
T-~30 Y, D -~3.0 LY: First detection of alien radio. Max-speed flyby probe launched at Lamprey-II.
T-~28 Y, D -~2.8 LY: Virtual receiver constructed. First image of Lampreys.
T-~27 Y, D -~2.7 LY: First Lamprey language cracked
T-~26 Y, D -~2.6 LY: Colour television receipted.
T-~25.5 Y, D -~2.55 LY: Second Lamprey language cracked
T-~25 Y, D -~2.5 LY: Two more max-speed probes launched, one for Lamprey-III and one for Lamprey-IV.
T-~24 Y, D -~2.4 LY: Third Lamprey language cracked.
T-~24 Y, D -~2.4 LY: Radar received.
T-~24 Y, D -~2.4 LY: Rockets shown.
T-~24 Y, D -~2.4 LY: First digital signals.
T-~24 Y, D -~2.4 LY: First encrypted signals.
T-~24 Y, D -~2.4 LY: Spreadsheets shown.
T-~23.5 Y, D -~2.35 LY: Fourth Lamprey language.
T-~23.5 Y, D -~2.35 LY: Jet aircraft in public service.
T-~23.5 Y, D -~2.35 LY: Lampreys put a satellite into Low Lamprey Orbit.
T-~23.5 Y, D -~2.35 LY: Worries about Lamprey population explosion.
T-~23 Y, D -~2.3 LY: Fifth and sixth Lamprey languages.
T-~23 Y, D -~2.3 LY: Fourth colour band added to TV broadcasts.
T-~23 Y, D -~2.3 LY: First high-energy particle accelerators.
T-~22.5 Y, D -~2.25 LY: Seventh through eleventh languages.
T-~22.5 Y, D -~2.25 LY: Lampreys have lasers.
T-~22 Y, D -~2.2 LY: Lampreys discover L-III-XVII
T-~22 Y, D -~2.2 LY: Religious analysis complete.
T-~22 Y, D -~2.2 LY: Lamprey Business Machines starts selling computers.
T-~21 Y, D -~2.1 LY: Lampreys figure out genetics.
T-~21 Y, D -~2.1 LY: Lampreys put satellites into Lamprey Synchronous Orbit.
T-~19 Y, D -~1.9 LY: Plans for nuclear plants make news.
T-~19 Y, D -~1.9 LY: Windsong of the Lake becomes leader of the M/I-2 Church.
T-~18.5 Y, D ~-1.85 LY: Nuclear accusations start flying.
T-~18.5 Y, D ~-1.85 LY: Contemplator-of-God XXVIII becomes the open ruler of Ha'Aretz (E3).
T-~18 Y, D -~1.8 LY: Lampreys begin arms build up
T-17.7 Y, D -1.77 LY: NE detonate first nuclear device. Equatorial side promptly countertests. Estimated yield on both devices comes to around 40kT each.
T-17.4 Y, D -1.74 LY: Personal computers make a splash.
T-17.3 Y, D -1.73 LY: Period-matching, always on radar signals crop up.
T-17 Y, D -1.7 LY: Equatorial Lampreys crash-land probe on inner moon.
T-17 Y, D -1.7 LY: Space Treaty proposed between NE and Equator.
T-16.9 Y, D -1.69 LY: NE side puts probe in orbit over inner moon.
T-16.9 Y, D -1.69 LY: Signal count plateaus.
T-16.9 Y, D -1.69 LY: Equator tests undeniable thermonuclear bomb, 200kT yield.
T-16.7 Y, D -1.67 LY: NE side soft-lands probe on inner moon.
T-16.7 Y, D -1.67 LY: Equatorial side puts probe in orbit over inner moon. T-16.7 Y, D -1.67 LY: First nuclear power plant begins operation, in NE.
T-16.5 Y, D -1.65 LY: Equatorial side puts probe in orbit over outer moon. NE side does the same.
T-16.5 Y, D -1.65 LY: Space Treaty adopted. T-16.5 Y, D -1.65 LY: NE tests a low-yield thermonuclear bomb.
T-16.2 Y, D -1.62 LY: Full thermonuclear bomb test by Equator. 13 MT.
T-15.2 Y, D -1.52 LY: First Lamprey in space. Equatorial.
T-15 Y, D -1.5 LY: First NE Lamprey in space.
T-14.6 Y, D -1.46 LY: Probe launched to Lamprey-I by Equator.
T-14.1 Y, D -1.41 LY: Probe arrives successfully in orbit and starts mapping Lamprey-I.
T-13.9 Y, D -1.39 LY: Probe goes defunct. Both sides launch followup probes to Lamprey-I.
T-13.8 Y, D -1.38 LY: NE Lamprey orbits inner moon.
T-13.6 Y, D -1.36 LY: NE Lamprey orbits outer moon.
T-13.5 Y, D -1.35 LY: Equatorial Lamprey orbits outer moon.
T-13.2 Y, D -1.32 LY: Equatorial Lamprey lands on outer moon.
T-13 Y, D -1.3 LY: Equator Lampreys launch flyby probe to Lamprey-III and thence to Lamprey-IV and V. Launch is done to take advantage of gravitational slingshotting due to the gas giants coming into closer proximity.
T-12.2 Y, D -1.22 LY: Short-duration thermal blooms observed in atmosphere. Consistent with high powered lasers.
T-11.8 Y, D -1.18 LY: Tensions between NE and Equator spike due to oil strikes in small countries between them. Equator sends in troops via ocean.
T-11.7 Y, D -1.17 LY: NE threatens counter attacks and positions navy outside disputed zone.
T-11.6 Y, D -1.16 LY: NE and Equator come to diplomatic solution. NE and Equator split oil-bearing region approximately half-and-half, with neutral zone between.
T-10.8 Y, D -1.08 LY: Joint colony agreed to on outer moon as goodwill gesture.
T-10.4 Y, D -1.04 LY: Flyby of Lamprey-III successful, ditto gravity boost. Probe proceeds towards Lamprey-IV.
T-10.2 Y, D -1.02 LY: Construction begins on lunar colony. It's done as a goodwill gesture.
T-10 Y, D -1.00 LY: Lamprey population hits 4 billion.
T-9.4 Y, D -0.94 LY: 300millionth PC sold.
T-9.1 Y, D -0.91 LY: Lamprey probe flybys Lamprey-IV.
T-9 Y: First stealth aircraft (est.)
T-8.9 Y, D -0.89 LY: Lampreys launch 2nd probe to Lamprey-III.
T-7.8 Y, D -0.78 LY: Lamprey probe flybys Lamprey V and heads off into interstellar space.
T-7.3 Y, D -0.73 LY: 1st Nuclear Reduction treaty proposed by Equator.
T-7.2 Y, D -0.72 LY: Telecoms start offering wide-area networking.
T-6.5 Y, D -0.65 LY: First stage of lunar base (scientific station/com relay/docking point for ships) complete.
T-6.1 Y, D -0.61 LY: Second Lamprey probe arrives around Lamprey-III. Placed in orbit.
T-5.3 Y, D -0.53 LY: Expansion of Lamprey-II-II base begins, for testing micro-gravity mining.
T-5.1 Y, D -0.51 LY: Equator and NE agree to reduction in nuclear armament.
T-4.5 Y, D -0.45 LY: By joint agreement, Equator and NE publically acknowledge anti-ballistic-missile research.
T-3.8 Y, D -0.38 LY: NE and Equatorial inspectors confirm compliance with nuclear reduction treaty.
T-2.4 Y, D -0.24 LY: Lamprey population stablises at 5 billion.
T-1.8 Y, D -0.18 LY: Lamprey-II-II colony sends back first locally processed steel.
T-1.5 Y, D -0.15 LY: 2nd Nuclear Reduction treaty proposed by Equator.
T-1.3 Y, D -0.13 LY: Existence of stealth aircraft declassified
T-1.2 Y, D -0.12 LY: Lamprey Positioning System made available to public.
T-292 D, D -29.2 LD: Equator and NE agree to further reduction in nuclear armament.
T-115 D, D -11.5 LD: mkire-I flys by Lamprey-II. Picked up on radar at 3 LS. NE ASAT laser shoots at it three times, at 4 light-seconds distance (following point of closest approach).
T-105 D, D -10.5 LD: Results of mkire-I flyby receipted.
T-90 D, D -9.0 LD: NE Overwatch commander suspended.
T-23.3 D, D -2.33 LD: Drive Ignition.
T-21 D: Lampreys see the light of your drive.
T-20 D: News begins to leak about your arrival. Rumours fly. Militaries worldwide go on alert.
T-18 D: Aggregated Groups (E1) announces to the world that you are artificial extrasolar travellers. International conference formed to communicate with you. Governments begin locking down unapproved transmitters.
T-17 D: You receive your first message from Lamprey-II. It says, literally, "Hello", and is cut off after several hours. You respond.
T-16 D: Receipt of audiovisual transmission from Ha'Aretz (E3). Anchorwoman Lamprey discusses religion and the Ha'Aretz (E3) government's flaws, and is interrupted by an apparent Ha'Aretz (E3) soldier who shoots the recording device.
T-16 D: Receipt of a laser message from the leader of MI/2. She asks you what you are doing.
T-15 D: Your return signal to the Hello signal is received on L-II. The entire planet goes under EMCON as far as possible.
T-10 D: The Contact Conference sends you a message, the periodic table through to uranium.
T-9 D: You receive the CC-1 message. You return signal is stage-2, the introduction of a constructed-logic language.
T-8 D: The Lampreys receive the stage-2 message.
T-1 D (D 0.3 LD to L-II): The Lampreys send a return message, but they have not figured out the proper encoding. You repeat the stage-2 message.
T+3 D (D-0.1 LD to L-II): The Contact Conference tries again, but they've figured out the protocol more thoroughly. With the lightspeed lag down to hours, a flurry of messages follow.
T+7.6 D (D-1.5 LH to L-II): Orbital insertion around L-III, orbit radius ~8 million kilometres. Survey of L-III-V and L-III-VI begins. Scoopship begins refuelling operation.
T+14 D: Initial survey results come back from L-III-VI. Planet eater deployed.
T+20 D: Civil broadcasts resume in Canocha (E2).
T+25 D: Contemplator XXVIII makes a personal announcement about the Anchorwoman, claiming her to be a member of a violent revolutionary cell.
T+26 D: Civil broadcasts resume in Aggregated Groups (E1).
T+29 D: Civil broadcasts resume in Borealis (NE2). Skepticism is expressed about Contemplator XXVIII's claims throughout the NE bloc.
T+36 D: An official statement is made regarding your nature. It's everything you could ask for; based on their analysis so far, they say, they think your actions are most consistent with an automated, reproducing probe. Presumeably the Lampreys have noticed your activities in and around L-III. A signal is sent for the Lamprey probe in orbit around L-III and it begins shifting it's orbit.
T+37 D: Civil broadcasts resume in Ha'Aretz (E3). There are reports of unrest in the international media; Ha'Aretz (E3)'s local news downplays it.
T+41 D: First spaceflight around L-II on the part of the Lampreys since your arrival occurs, a big rocket into L-II orbit to hang a giant observatory. Images from both that and the Lamprey probe around L-III are broadcast, showing your arrival and current activities (on a time delay). The launch is done under the auspcices of the Coalition. Around the same time, you observe small, <20kT nuclear detonations in uninhabited corners of L-II.
T+49 D: Civil broadcasts have resumed in all of the democracies. Oriens (NE7) is the last to do so.
T+56 D: Laser thermal blooms occur all over the atmosphere of L-III. It seems to be a coordinated E/NE joint ASAT test.
T+68 D: South Ukkei (M4)'s dictator dies and her daughters fight over the succession.
T+73 D: Nuclear detonations in space, conducted outside the orbit of L-II-II. Again, <20kT blasts.
T+83 D: South Ukkei (M4) is in anarchy. North Ukkei (M3) requests Equatorial assistance; Çaiyad (E4) and Aggregated Groups (E1) oblige, mashing South Ukkei (M4)'s divided military with overwhelming force.
T+89 D: L-II-II moonbase successfully fragments a metre-wide iceball meteoroid with a projectile-on-projectile intercept. More attempts occur, with a climbing success rate, as time moves on. The size threshold for intercepted meteoroids drops, too.
T+95 D: Another, even larger telescope-- this one a radio telescope with a receiver over a kilometre across-- is completed.
T+96 D: Your scoopship has completed the refueling operation. The Audacity moves off to explore the asteroid belt.
T+102 D: Multiple rockets per day are touching down at the II-II moonbase. Four very large (varying between three hundred twenty one metres to five hundred fourty six metres across) bubbles of shiny aluminium are erected on L-II-II, apparently kept from collapse by being inflated with gas. Two similar bubbles are erected on L-II-I.
T+122 D: The Audacity enters the asteroid belt.
T+129 D: The Coalition Conference achieves third-stage understanding, demonstrated in a message. They initiate a planet-wide set of conferences to try and choose the first words Lampreykind will officially send.
T+131 D: Order is restored in South Ukkei (M4) under the occupying troops.
T+142 D: The Lampreys announce plans for a lampreyed expedition to L-III.
T+169 D: The Lamprey probe crosses your original orbit. The probe continues thrusting.
T+201 D: The Lamprey probe comes to rest in a rendezvous with L-III-VI.
T+205 D: the Lampreys send you a message. Mutual intelligibility through the sandbox constructed language has been achieved. The message reads: "Greetings, visitors. Do you understand us? Please respond. Thank you."
T+205 D: You reply with a simple message: "End of automated protocols. Please hold", sent by the Fake Brain communications hub as it starts to manouver its way towards L-III-III. ETA is T+290 D.
T+205 D: Your planetary VN unit ceases production on both the Space Elevator and Fake Brain filler materials and rededicates itself to building a second VN unit, while continuing to add to the ~9,500 satellites in L-III space.
T+208 D: The next official Lamprey message arrives, and reads "Holding."
T+210 D: The Lamprey media in Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), Çaiyad (E4), Borealis (NE2), Victus (NE3), Princeps (NE5), Oriens (NE7), Libertas (M2), North Ukkei (M3), Herensuge (M5), and Occidens (M6) say they have been released from the governmental restrictions and are allegedly free broadcast zones once again.
T+211 D: Rationing imposed in South Ukkei (M4).
T+212 D: Rationing imposed in Aurora (M7).
T+215 D: Hotspots not attributeable to construction machinery show in some of the aluminium bubbles on L-II-I and L-II-II.
T+218 D: Rationing imposed in Ha'Aretz (E3).
T+221 D: Quantities of lesser, unencrypted/algorithmically encrypted signalling beginning to climb again. Uncrackable OTP ciphers have started to decline, except in Ha'Aretz (E3).
T+224 D: Rationing imposed in Koori (M1).
T+226 D: More video of the proposed exploration vessel is released. It appears to be the largest chemical rocket ever built. Projections show it being capable of putting over a thousand tne into LLO.
T+230 D: Rationing imposed in Mater (NE1).
T+233 D: Gravitational microlensing event, the first on a line-of-sight between you and Sol in the thirty thousand years since loss of contact. The lensing only lasts for a bit under an hour, but in that time you have everything you can looking around at what Sol was like five thousand years ago.
T+236 D: Rationing imposed in NÇaiyad (E4).
T+243 D: The Lampreys start to put radar, mass-driver, and laser-mirror satellites into orbits at 2.3 LS from L-II. ROF of antimeteor system up 10% over T+205.
T+256 D: Lamprey tonnage-to-orbit hits double pre-Ignition levels and continues to climb.
construction machinery.
T+261 D: Ha'Aretz (E3) stuns the entire world when it launches a hundred-fifty-thousand-tonne rocket into orbit via subsurface nuclear detonation.
T+261 D: Ha'Aretz (E3) announces that it has found the Contact Coalition to be too slow and passive in its approach, and is offering a direct mission to L-III space aboard its new nuclear-propelled spaceship-- which is evidently an Orion-style design.
T+261 D: Ha'Aretz (E3) also fires a message off to you, asking you to cease production of new materials at once, to approach no closer than 5.4 AU to the Lamprey star, and to reply forthwith.
T+290 D: Fake Brain arrives at L-III-III.
T+290 D, 4H: PM #1 sent to L-II.
T+290 D, 6H: PM #1 receipted on L-II.
T+290 D, 12 H: Bombing in North Ukkei (M3) targets occupation troops.
T+290 D, 15H: PM #1 message contents leaked.
T+290 D, 17H: Reply to message #1 (LM #1) sent by Libertas (M2)
T+290 D, 18H: Lamprey message #2 sent by Contact Coalition.
T+290 D, 19H: Reply to message #1 (LM #1) from Libertas (M2) receipted by you.
T+290 D, 19H: Reply to LM #1 (PM #2) sent by you.
T+290 D, 21H: LM #2 received by you.
~T+450 D: Estimated TOC for PVN-2.
Message Log:
PM #1
From: Fake Brain, L-III-III
To: L-II, no specific addressee
Time Sent: T+290 D, 4 H, 2 M, 47 S
Time Received: T+290 D, 5 H, 52 M, 32 S
Transmission Lag: 1 H, 49 M, 45 S
Text:
This is a transmission from the discovery mission Audacity.
We extend our greetings to all, and seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation.
We have only recently returned to awareness. Our point of origin is a number of light-centuries distant, and our higher functions were inactive while in transit in order to maintain the integrity of our consciousness.
Our mission is one of research. We detected life on the second planet of this star and were sent to investigate the finding.
We would be glad if in time we could develop a relationship of mutual cooperation and friendship.
However, we first wish to discuss the practicalities of any future relationships over our radio links.
We hope to maintain productive communications with all interested parties.
We extend our greetings to all, and seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation.
We have only recently returned to awareness. Our point of origin is a number of light-centuries distant, and our higher functions were inactive while in transit in order to maintain the integrity of our consciousness.
Our mission is one of research. We detected life on the second planet of this star and were sent to investigate the finding.
We would be glad if in time we could develop a relationship of mutual cooperation and friendship.
However, we first wish to discuss the practicalities of any future relationships over our radio links.
We hope to maintain productive communications with all interested parties.
LM #1:
From: Government of North Ukkei (M3), L-II
To: Fake Brain, addressed as "Audacity"
Time Sent: T+290 D, 17 H, 18 M, 24 S
Transmission Lag: 1 H, 49 M, 46 S
Time Received: T+290 D, 19 H, 8 M, 10 S
Text:
>This is a transmission from the discovery mission Audacity.
>
>We extend our greetings to all, and seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation.
>
>We have only recently returned to awareness. Our point of origin is a number of light-centuries distant, and our higher functions were inactive while in transit in order to maintain the integrity of our consciousness.
>
>Our mission is one of research. We detected life on the second planet of this star and were sent to investigate the finding.
>
>We would be glad if in time we could develop a relationship of mutual cooperation and friendship.
>
>However, we first wish to discuss the practicalities of any future relationships over our radio links.
>
>We hope to maintain productive communications with all interested parties.
>
>We extend our greetings to all, and seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation.
>
>We have only recently returned to awareness. Our point of origin is a number of light-centuries distant, and our higher functions were inactive while in transit in order to maintain the integrity of our consciousness.
>
>Our mission is one of research. We detected life on the second planet of this star and were sent to investigate the finding.
>
>We would be glad if in time we could develop a relationship of mutual cooperation and friendship.
>
>However, we first wish to discuss the practicalities of any future relationships over our radio links.
>
>We hope to maintain productive communications with all interested parties.
Audacity. We are interested in your proposal. We too believe coexistence is possible. A co-existence requires trust. The best way to establish trust is through action. Distant messages will not be enough. We must meet.
Your star ship's approach to L-II would not be a good idea at this time. The faster we establish trust, the less chance of accidents.
Would you be willing to rendezvous with a spacecraft at <location co-ordinates, timestamp, velocity vector>* with your star ship? Our technical capabilities are limited and you would be asked to provide a boost to return our ship to L-II.
LM #2:
From: Contact Coalition, L-II
To: Fake Brain, addressed as "Audacity Expedition"
Time Sent: T+290 D, 17 H, 56 M, 31 S
Transmission Lag: 1 H, 49 M, 46 S
Time Received: T+290 D, 19 H, 46 M, 17 S
Text:
>This is a transmission from the discovery mission Audacity.
>
>We extend our greetings to all, and seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation.
>
>We have only recently returned to awareness. Our point of origin is a number of light-centuries distant, and our higher functions were inactive while in transit in order to maintain the integrity of our consciousness.
>
>Our mission is one of research. We detected life on the second planet of this star and were sent to investigate the finding.
>
>We would be glad if in time we could develop a relationship of mutual cooperation and friendship.
>
>However, we first wish to discuss the practicalities of any future relationships over our radio links.
>
>We hope to maintain productive communications with all interested parties.
>
>We extend our greetings to all, and seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation.
>
>We have only recently returned to awareness. Our point of origin is a number of light-centuries distant, and our higher functions were inactive while in transit in order to maintain the integrity of our consciousness.
>
>Our mission is one of research. We detected life on the second planet of this star and were sent to investigate the finding.
>
>We would be glad if in time we could develop a relationship of mutual cooperation and friendship.
>
>However, we first wish to discuss the practicalities of any future relationships over our radio links.
>
>We hope to maintain productive communications with all interested parties.
To the Audacity Expedition.
We represent the overwhelming majority of our species. We are interested in your messages and the possibilities they communicate.
We are aware that fringe elements have tried to contact you. They do not speak for us. We urge you not to judge the many by the actions of the few.
Our goal is to avoid unfortunate incidents.
Some aspects of the current situation are of concern. We seek understanding of them. Understanding will aid the prevention of accidents.
What are your goals with your observation satellites?
What are your goals for your industrial replication in our system?
What are the details of your journey?
What is the full nature of the structure on <L-III-III> and Why did you build it?
Why are you interested in life in this stellar system?
How many stellar systems do you you know to have technological civilizations other than your own?
Answers to these questions would aid your stated mission.
PM #2:
From: Fake Brain, L-III-III
To: North Ukkei (M3), L-II, not specifically addressed
Time Sent: T+290 D, 19 H, 8 M, 10 S
Transmission Lag: 1 H, 49 M, 46 S
Time before arrival: 1 H, 11 M, 39 S
ETA: T+290 D, 20 H, 57 M, 56 S
Text:
>>This is a transmission from the discovery mission Audacity.
>>
>>We extend our greetings to all, and seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation.
>>
>>We have only recently returned to awareness. Our point of origin is a number of light-centuries distant, and our higher functions were inactive while in transit in order to maintain the integrity of our consciousness.
>>
>>Our mission is one of research. We detected life on the second planet of this star and were sent to investigate the finding.
>>
>>We would be glad if in time we could develop a relationship of mutual cooperation and friendship.
>>
>>However, we first wish to discuss the practicalities of any future relationships over our radio links.
>>
>>We hope to maintain productive communications with all interested parties.
>Audacity. We are interested in your proposal. We too believe coexistence is possible. A co-existence requires trust. The best way to establish trust is through action. Distant messages will not be enough. We must meet.
>
>Your star ship's approach to L-II would not be a good idea at this time. The faster we establish trust, the less chance of accidents.
>
>Would you be willing to rendezvous with a spacecraft at <location co-ordinates, timestamp, velocity vector>* with your star ship? Our technical capabilities are limited and you would be asked to provide a boost to return our ship to L-II.
Greetings, fellow sentients
We understand your desire to meet us.
However, we find the proposal for a rendez-vous at [Coordinates from North Ukkei (M3) proposal] intriguing but impractical at this time.
Instead we offer to send a spaceship, capable of atmospheric re-entry, as a representative of ours to one of following coordinates: 1. On L-II at coordinates of your choice, 2. In space at [time*, coordinates*, and velocities* that preclude a run on LIII] but will be unable to provide assistance in returning. These meetings will be broadcast live and unedited to L-II.
We also propose a sanctuary of 0.5 LAU around L-II and L-III respectively.
No craft may enter without explicit permission.
Your craft orbiting [Lamprey-III-VI] will be permitted to stay as long as it does not alter its' orbit without notice.
We thank you for taking the time to learn CLang.
It was specifically designed for the purpose of reliable communication and is therefore our prefered choice.
In return, we are willing to learn and use your language for informal purposes. Providing us with dictionaries would be greatly appreciated.
Background Information
Your ship, the Audacity:
Current Position:
Position diagram
The Audacity is just over 6.6 AU out from the Lamprey sun.
Fuel remaining: ~916,970,000 tne
DeltaV remaining (no load): ~70,200 km/s
Size comparison of various objects, including the Audacity.
This unit was not programmed to enforce Sol legal code beyond preventing you from killing, hacking, or mindjacking each other or altering this unit's core processes and runtimes. Offences include but are not limited to nonconsensual simspaces, infinite loops of any form, and attempted forkbombing.
The Audacity, counting payload (far and away the most significant component of which is your VN machines), masses around ten million tne.
Dry mass (incl. disposable probes, VN units, radiators, and superstructure) is 10mil tne; tanks can hold almost seven cubic kilometres of liquid deuterium, at a density of 162kg/m^3 for a fuel/reaction mass of around 1.13 GTne. Exhaust velocity is on the order of 0.04c; mass flow rate, just under 60 tne/s. After about half a millisecond, power flux (i.e, W/m^2) drops off at the square of the radius; it can be considered worthless as a weapon after about the twenty-four million km mark (~0.16 AU).
General mass breakdown just before beginning deceleration:
- 1x Planetary VN: 5.65 MTne each (5.65 MTne)
- 3x Asteroid VN: 0.56 MTne each (1.69 MTne)
- Radiator: 0.80 MTne
- Engine: 0.70 MTne
- Fuel tanks: 0.54 MTne
- Misc: ~0.6 MTne
The Audacity's fuel tanks are cylinders, around 5.1km long and 660 m in diametre. Jettisoning them is not possible, but they can be vented.
The fusion chamber is a sphere 1570m in radius, mounted behind them. Interposed is a radiation shield. The main cargo platform and operational area for the Audacity is mounted atop the fuel tanks; it is a square 510m on a side, but quite thin. Right now the only things left on it are the storage areas for your nuclear missiles and your probes. Extending forwards another 3.9 km are the support struts for the radiator cabling and laser mirror, which is 1.1 km in diametre.
You're equipped with Bussard ramscoops. They're the reason you're arriving with any fuel at all. A special, detachable scoop-ship gives you quick in-system refueling ability.
Total dV, on full tanks and fully loaded, is approximately 56,800 km/s (somewhat under 0.2 c; the remainder is built back up from the ramscoops).
Turning the Audacity is a non-trivial operation. Hours-long or more, depending on how loaded and/or tanked up it is.
You have a reaction drive that got you up to .1c, which can generate a thrust a little over 0.7 TN, for an energy cost of around 4.2EW. The Audacity's acceleration depends on how loaded it is; the drive is a constant-thrust system, not a constant-acceleration. Fully laden, it is a hair over 0.6 m/s^2; the drive is governed to a maximum acceleration of ~ 50m/s^2 to avoid deforming the frame as the tanks empty.
The Audacity is open-cycle cooled. By far the biggest way it has of shedding heat is the torch itself; the gigantic radiators are only there to deal with the leftovers.
You have comm lasers, high-powered radar, a stockpile of nuclear missiles, advanced genetic engineering tech that could-- depending on the nature of life on the planet-- be used to genetailor bioweapons. Personal weapons, battledroids, etc, would have to be manufactured in-system.
Your ship also cannot take nuclear detonations or a highpowered laser. It's vulnerable to its own weaponry. The drive is managed through the hard-science way of taking massive heat loads: It's freaking huge and connected to very large radiators.
You have probe vessels. They aren't fusion-driven, since that requires silly amounts of space. They're mostly stuff along the lines of a high end ion/magnetoplasma thruster drive, which limits their acceleration.
Your ship left with stuff that is not significantly behind what Earth had as of your last update from them.
You're packing twenty missiles, MIRVed, each with ten 500 KT warheads.
You have 655 MAPPER style survey probes. Aggregated, they can survey ~1.6 * 10E8 km^2 per year to reasonable accuracy. They can find various kinds of resources from orbit, although some kinds are much easier to find than others; ferromagnetic materials and very dense rocks are easier to find, than, say, a buried deposit of sulphur. They are designed for this sort of thing. A good, thorough, ground-based followup would be a good idea to confirm things.
You've already got three asteroid eaters and a single planet-chewer as part of your original Make-A-Colony kit (see Industry for further details).
You're coming to a crash stop from .1c in around thirty days. Your drive is D-D fusion. You are effectively a new star when you turn that drive on. It's a thermal rocket; you're going to be emitting all over the spectrum.
By moving to a D-He3 or D-T fusion system, you could increase power per reactant, but actually increasing the power output of the drive is going to require building a bigger drive. The fusion process used by Audacity's drive is very nearly maximal and your limiting factor is the ability of the components involved to not melt.
Audacity's drive isn't capable of gearing. Gearing is what a drive like VASIMR can do; in essence, trading off specific impulse (or, equivalently, exhaust velocity) for thrust. In essence what you do is use the same amount of energy to accelerate a greater amount of mass to a lower velocity. This gives you a higher momentum change over time (i.e, higher thrust) but a lower deltaV (because of the lower Ev).
There isn't any reason why a fusion drive can't be designed to have an afterburn or gearing system in the general case, but Audacity's specific design precludes it and modifying the Audacity's drive and fuel to allow it is not something that is easily or quickly done. Only the pVN is currently capable of making the necessary alterations.
An anti-matter-powered vessel would not have been materially faster or more efficient given the efficiacy of your fusion technology and the difficulties of producing and storing antimatter in quantity.
Exhaust velocity on the drive is on the order of 0.04c. Your engine plume disperses uncontrollably as soon as it leaves the reaction vessel.
In terms of time from deciding to take off to starting to thrust, if you're loaded and so on, it takes a couple of minutes to spool up your reactors and get the fusion drive onstream.
The planned communication link was to extend the entire way to your destination. There's nothing in the [effective] LOS, and your communications method was a very powerful laser. If it was pointed at you and working, you'd be able to hear it. Ditto for anyone back at Sol; if your comm laser is pointed at their receivers, and both were working, they'd hear you.
Sol's laser was a 6 TW violet one.
Yours is smaller (since Sol could build much bigger detection facilities) at around 240 GW. Also violet, though. You have a 550m radius mirror for focusing purposes. Aiming is slow. Your laser is accurate to within 1E-9 degrees and that's a level of precision that is simply not consistent with rapid seeking. With safety margins, the laser can operate for about fifteen seconds per pulse, with a cycle time of around a minute. Refueling and repair are not issues unless you plan to be shooting a lot; it was designed to last the entire fifty thousand years and only got used for twenty thousand. That's ~95,000 cycles that got saved, and there was a safety margin built in.
With your comm laser, you could induce shockwaves and plasma explosions at around a half LS; at that same range, you'd drill through steel at a rate of a couple hundred metres per second. At 10 LS, it's 67 cm/s through structural steel, 60 cm/s for maraging steel, 35 cm/s for concrete, and 32 cm/s for granite, but, sorry, no explosions as such. There'd be a spiffy column of vapourised metal erupting from what you're shooting at, though.
Comm between Sol and the Audacity was encrypted. OTP cipher, even. Sol's laser also had a spot size around two million kilometres across, which is fairly small, about 0.01 AU. It is theoretically possible for Sol's laser to've missed you and hit L-II instead without you noticing it. The odds of it are so excessively absurdly remote that if it did happen you could reasonably conclude the existence of a malevolent God and/or somebody back at Sol having some fun and games. Even if it has been happening, all Lamprey historical data suggests that they would've been completely incapable of noticing it at all until very recently.
Your records are basically glossing overs. The thing, the critical thing, to remember is that in this scenario the vast majority of recorded history hasn't happened yet. Audacity's storage banks could carry everything ever recorded (by people; things like astronomical surveys dump stupidly huge piles of data to tape) through to 2010 with ease; a slice of time measureable only in extremely small powers of ten from 22,010 AD would stuff them full.
Your ship is in no way optimised for in-atmosphere flight. Trying it would be a very good way to break things. The Audacity was built to do one thing: Go very fast in a straight line. Expecting it to manouver like a fighter jet is unrealistic.
At ten LS, evading a Lamprey laser shot depends entirely on the Lamprey targetting and laser construction. Under the circumstances wherein you have full fuel tanks, a shot aimed directly amidships would hit about a hundred and twenty metres behind that. Although the Audacity accelerates faster the emptier its tanks are, its drive is governed so that it cannot accelerate faster than its frame will tolerate; that acceleration, just over five gs, is just barely insufficient (generated seperation ~10km).
Probes:
You've got twenty nine (probes) left, of varying capabilities. mkire's was a small, light, high-speed one that's not all that much more than cameras, radio attentae, a comm laser, and an engine. Two more of the same type have since been launched, one to Lamprey-III and one to Lamprey-IV.
Payload on the landing-capable ones is variable and can include everything from autonomous specimen capture and biological analysis to geological instruments to rovers. Pitch me ideas and I'll tell you if you have it and can put it in one.
The recoverable heavy landers are better than double the size of a Titan II, with a payload to-ground of ~170,000kg and payload-back-to-orbit of around ~4,000kg. It has a rest mass of ~300,000kg. There's a reason you only have two.
The small probes are around 15,000kg, counting fuel.
Landing probes disguised as meteor showers is within your capabilities. Stealthily recovering them would be impossible. Recovering them, period, is doable, but requires a much larger probe to land in the first place, since it'll have to carry its own fuel for liftoff unless you can convince the aliens to cooperate with you.
If you're after any kind of decent observational capability and thruster power, you're looking at something on the order of a city bus. Throw in the necessary bits to go find raw material, process it, and build a copy of itself, and you're looking at something rather larger.
Reproduction period will depend on how quickly it can gather resources, but if-- hypothetically-- you simply fed it raw materials, it could assemble a duplicate of itself in under two hours.
As always with real-world von Neumanning, the big restriction is resource-gathering.
As for design time? Effectively instantaneous. All you're proposing to do is graft a von Neumann unit to a standard probe, really, and then clad it in ice. This is the equivalent for uploaded AIs to snapping three Lego bricks together.
The light probes and sats use sophisticated VASIMR-style engines, with peak exhaust velocities closing in on 320km/s. Achievable thrust varies; the flyby probes hit 4 N, the sats 0.3 N - 0.5 N. The heavy landers and missiles use hydrogen/oxy chemical rocketry.
Inventory:
Current (Initial)
Flyby probes: 9 (12)
Spysats: 4 (4)
Comsats: 4 (4)
Landers: 7 (10)
Recoverable landers: 2 (2)
mkire-I:
Launched @ 3 LY, initial velocity ~.1c. ETA, T-115 D. Minimal delta-V remaining. Nearest approach to Lamprey-II, 500,000km. As mkire-I passed by L-II at T-115 D, it was picked up and tracked by radar, then shot at three times with a ground-mounted laser.
Radar hits at 3 LS.
Radar dwell at 2 LS (600,000km), ten seconds after first hits.
Atmospheric thermal bloom at 4, 4.1, 4.2 LS (post-point-of-closest approach).
Initial Lamprey-TV reports a near miss by a 'natural object'. Initial intercepts are saying that the ABM systems were acting on automatic, in a secondary role as meteor defence. Governmental radio chatter within the NE indicates they tried using their ABM system to shoot at at mkire-I, but missed. They have not been able to image mkire-I visually.
The Audacity received the probe's report at T-105 D. Over the next few days, details emerge about what happened to mkire-I. By T-90, the Lampreys are reporting that their initial reports were incorrect. The laser complex is a large ground based one located in Princeps (NE5). The laser shots were not automated, but fired at the express order of the NE Overwatch commander. She is currently the subject of an internal inquiry and suspended with pay. Her decision to shoot has also touched off a minor diplomatic tempest, with other spacegoing nations in the Equatorial block protesting about taking due care to avoid hitting other people's assets and damaging orbital infrastructure.
A vigorous debate, meanwhile, has sprung up over exactly what mkire-I really was. Theories range from a natural object, perhaps ejecta from a violent extrasolar collision, to a missed KKV; for the most part, the idea of an artifical object of mkire-I's presumed size being accelerated to that speed is being met with skepticism.
Nevertheless, Princeps (NE5) and Aggregated Groups (E1) start a collaborative sky search, joined by their respective blocks, looking for potential origins for mkire-I and, especially, to see if there are any more coming. Happily, mkire-I's year-and-a-half burn thirty years ago shifted its trajectory just enough that the Lampreys are starting in the wrong spot. There's also an uptick in the strength of the radar pulses hitting the Audacity, more than is attributeable to simply drawing closer. You're still far beyond estimated Lamprey detection range.
The Lamprey search doesn't find you before you turn on your drive.
mkire-I was not using active surveillance methods during its pass by L-II, and its link with the Audacity was a laser pulse done after approach.
Given the relative speeds, L-II may well be regarded as being stationary. mkire-I's point of closest approach was ~500,000km at ~.1c, i.e 30,000km/s, which gives an angular velocity at PoCA of around 3 degrees per second, which doesn't sound like a lot but has to be done by a very precise laser system; it is, for example, faster than the Audacity communication laser can track.
mkire-I was not engaging in any manouvering whatsoever, as it a) would have had no impact on its trajectory worth discussing, not with a .1c baseline, and b) was out of fuel from accelerating to reach L-II before the Audacity would've.
randomJ-I:
Launched @ 2.5 LY, inital velocity ~.1c. Minimal delta-V remaining. TOA T-94 D. Nearest approach to Lamprey-III, 1,002,321 km.
randomJ-II:
Launched @ 2.5 LY, inital velocity ~.1c. Minimal delta-V remaining. TOA T-93 D. Nearest approach to Lamprey-IV, 999,992 km.
Payload on the landing-capable ones is variable and can include everything from autonomous specimen capture and biological analysis to geological instruments to rovers. Pitch me ideas and I'll tell you if you have it and can put it in one.
The recoverable heavy landers are better than double the size of a Titan II, with a payload to-ground of ~170,000kg and payload-back-to-orbit of around ~4,000kg. It has a rest mass of ~300,000kg. There's a reason you only have two.
The small probes are around 15,000kg, counting fuel.
Landing probes disguised as meteor showers is within your capabilities. Stealthily recovering them would be impossible. Recovering them, period, is doable, but requires a much larger probe to land in the first place, since it'll have to carry its own fuel for liftoff unless you can convince the aliens to cooperate with you.
If you're after any kind of decent observational capability and thruster power, you're looking at something on the order of a city bus. Throw in the necessary bits to go find raw material, process it, and build a copy of itself, and you're looking at something rather larger.
Reproduction period will depend on how quickly it can gather resources, but if-- hypothetically-- you simply fed it raw materials, it could assemble a duplicate of itself in under two hours.
As always with real-world von Neumanning, the big restriction is resource-gathering.
As for design time? Effectively instantaneous. All you're proposing to do is graft a von Neumann unit to a standard probe, really, and then clad it in ice. This is the equivalent for uploaded AIs to snapping three Lego bricks together.
The light probes and sats use sophisticated VASIMR-style engines, with peak exhaust velocities closing in on 320km/s. Achievable thrust varies; the flyby probes hit 4 N, the sats 0.3 N - 0.5 N. The heavy landers and missiles use hydrogen/oxy chemical rocketry.
Inventory:
Current (Initial)
Flyby probes: 9 (12)
Spysats: 4 (4)
Comsats: 4 (4)
Landers: 7 (10)
Recoverable landers: 2 (2)
mkire-I:
Launched @ 3 LY, initial velocity ~.1c. ETA, T-115 D. Minimal delta-V remaining. Nearest approach to Lamprey-II, 500,000km. As mkire-I passed by L-II at T-115 D, it was picked up and tracked by radar, then shot at three times with a ground-mounted laser.
Radar hits at 3 LS.
Radar dwell at 2 LS (600,000km), ten seconds after first hits.
Atmospheric thermal bloom at 4, 4.1, 4.2 LS (post-point-of-closest approach).
Initial Lamprey-TV reports a near miss by a 'natural object'. Initial intercepts are saying that the ABM systems were acting on automatic, in a secondary role as meteor defence. Governmental radio chatter within the NE indicates they tried using their ABM system to shoot at at mkire-I, but missed. They have not been able to image mkire-I visually.
The Audacity received the probe's report at T-105 D. Over the next few days, details emerge about what happened to mkire-I. By T-90, the Lampreys are reporting that their initial reports were incorrect. The laser complex is a large ground based one located in Princeps (NE5). The laser shots were not automated, but fired at the express order of the NE Overwatch commander. She is currently the subject of an internal inquiry and suspended with pay. Her decision to shoot has also touched off a minor diplomatic tempest, with other spacegoing nations in the Equatorial block protesting about taking due care to avoid hitting other people's assets and damaging orbital infrastructure.
A vigorous debate, meanwhile, has sprung up over exactly what mkire-I really was. Theories range from a natural object, perhaps ejecta from a violent extrasolar collision, to a missed KKV; for the most part, the idea of an artifical object of mkire-I's presumed size being accelerated to that speed is being met with skepticism.
Nevertheless, Princeps (NE5) and Aggregated Groups (E1) start a collaborative sky search, joined by their respective blocks, looking for potential origins for mkire-I and, especially, to see if there are any more coming. Happily, mkire-I's year-and-a-half burn thirty years ago shifted its trajectory just enough that the Lampreys are starting in the wrong spot. There's also an uptick in the strength of the radar pulses hitting the Audacity, more than is attributeable to simply drawing closer. You're still far beyond estimated Lamprey detection range.
The Lamprey search doesn't find you before you turn on your drive.
mkire-I was not using active surveillance methods during its pass by L-II, and its link with the Audacity was a laser pulse done after approach.
Given the relative speeds, L-II may well be regarded as being stationary. mkire-I's point of closest approach was ~500,000km at ~.1c, i.e 30,000km/s, which gives an angular velocity at PoCA of around 3 degrees per second, which doesn't sound like a lot but has to be done by a very precise laser system; it is, for example, faster than the Audacity communication laser can track.
mkire-I was not engaging in any manouvering whatsoever, as it a) would have had no impact on its trajectory worth discussing, not with a .1c baseline, and b) was out of fuel from accelerating to reach L-II before the Audacity would've.
Launched @ 2.5 LY, inital velocity ~.1c. Minimal delta-V remaining. TOA T-94 D. Nearest approach to Lamprey-III, 1,002,321 km.
Launched @ 2.5 LY, inital velocity ~.1c. Minimal delta-V remaining. TOA T-93 D. Nearest approach to Lamprey-IV, 999,992 km.
Graph of humanity's overall technological progress
The tech plateau seems to be fundamental. Any hypothetical civilisation in this 'verse would be qualitatively-- though not necessarily quantitatively-- similar to Earth's; the laws of physics as currently understood cannot be broken (except through GM error. =( ). That does not preclude them from having, say, planet-busting weaponry-- it just means that such planet-busting weaponry is achieved the hard way.
While true that the tech plateau seems to be fundamental (and as regards FTL, it is, GM's word on it) and so better technology isn't a huge threat, there is nothing in that that precludes someone from having a lot more of it.
To the best knowledge of human/AI science, as studied for thousands of years on computers with processing powers the likes of which 21st century Earth can only dream of:
- RT superconductors: None found. Maybe theoretically possible but in practice there've been a lot of things found that aren't room-temperature SCs and absolutely nothing that is.
- FTL: Impossible period and full stop. It is the one thing you absolutely and definitively do not have to worry about.
- Neutronium materials: No. Neutron-degenerate material exists in neutron stars, but nothing you know of is able to work it or even to operate in that kind of gravity field without becoming neutron-degenerate in its own right.
- The ultimate fate of the universe: It's headed for entrophic decay. No big crunch... everything eventually just fizzling out into random heat. Even the black holes will eventually evapourate.
Science Supercluster
Allow me to tell you of one of humanity's grandest projects, the Science Supercluster.
Our story-- sadly, it is rarely passed on in these degenerate days-- begins many millenia ago, as humanity burst free of Earth-- and Sol's-- bounds. That time is difficult to imagine now, even with the records that we have. The mindset, the sheer spunk and optimism, the circuit- and gut- deep conviction that things would forever improve; they informed everything about that era. The year, as they reckoned it, was 2106 A.D., just a hair under fifty thousand years ago.
It had been a time of amazing advance. Motorisation displaced animals, and was displaced in turn by flight, and then rocketry; from burning compressed plant remains to yoking the very Sun to their harness; from illiteracy to the first Internet; from wood to carbon tubes.
Ever-increasing technology was theorised, argued about, pontificated upon. Where would it end? Would it end?
It came as an unpleasant shock when it did. There was a visceral reaction, almost petulant; an outright rejection that things would stop here, and never go further. Surely, there had to be something, some way, some key to further discoveries, if only people looked hard enough for it.
And, to this end, the SSC was born. A sprawling server farm, on the far side of Luna from the Earth, was built. Endless rows of the finest, most sophisticated computer equipment ever made, flawlessly maintained by devoted, but mindless, robots; hooked directly into a special, dedicated power link from the Mercury Array; dozens of copies of uploads from a billion scientists across every discipline.
And that was just the beginning. Outposts were established around Jupiter and Saturn and even Mercury, the light lag helping to isolate the populations and avoid groupthink. Running on fast time, more subjective manhours passed for the uploads in the first month of the Supercluster project than has, cumulatively, for the entire biological human species.
Apparatus were built. Tests and experiments run. Results taken, analyzed, bent folded spindled and mutilated. Every scrap of data, every digital bit of every record of every experiment was pounced on, every meaning and implication seized and worked over.
And, for awhile, it worked. The SSC project produced insights into fusion reactor optimisations, new theories of planet formation, better carbon chains, a mathematically optimal chess game. Every field found the SSC providing some optimisation, some small advance to make things easier, a few percent more efficient.
But that was all. No grand, sweeping breakthroughs. No overturning Einstein in the Court of Appeals, no reversal of entrophy, no self-enhancing Singularity, no Rapture. Still, it was early days, it was supposed.
Larger, stranger, more equipment was thrown at the problem. The Supercluster and its outburbs were expanded, growing cancerously across their worlds; more orbital server farms were added, floating around Luna, Earth, Mars, a dozen more scattered across the Belt. A world-girdling particle accelerator was built around Mars. Strange and complicated things were done under millions of atmospheres of pressure inside Jupiter. The peculiar uncomplicated life of the Saturnian and Jovian moon systems was torn apart, over the objections of the environmentally conscious.
But instead of increasing, the advances slowed. The uploads of the SSC began changing, becoming surly and withdrawn even with the closest outsiders. They grew insular, talking mostly with each other. Eventually, the by-then quintillions-- even the overarching monitoring and operating systems couldn't keep an exact count-- of consciousnesses housed in the Supercluster nets would emerge only to report results-- ever rarer-- or to demand more resources-- ever more frequent.
Like most cancers, it was unsustainable. Eventually the host had had enough, and performed chemotherapy, limiting the Supercluster to a maximum of eight and one third percent of Sol System's industrial production abilities-- an allotment thought generous by the outside, but one that was under a third of what the SSC was absorbing at the time.
For almost a century the SSC continued to run, adding fresh uploads and cycling out the burnouts. In the end, after a final two decades of total futility, where the only progress was improved auditing proceedures, it was shut down. Nearly nine tenths of the uploaded consciousnesses chose to die with it.
In short and in sum:
Sol tried very hard to get further ahead. It didn't work.
A lot of physical experiments were performed: a number best expressed in scientific notation kind of a lot. Didn't help.
Our story-- sadly, it is rarely passed on in these degenerate days-- begins many millenia ago, as humanity burst free of Earth-- and Sol's-- bounds. That time is difficult to imagine now, even with the records that we have. The mindset, the sheer spunk and optimism, the circuit- and gut- deep conviction that things would forever improve; they informed everything about that era. The year, as they reckoned it, was 2106 A.D., just a hair under fifty thousand years ago.
It had been a time of amazing advance. Motorisation displaced animals, and was displaced in turn by flight, and then rocketry; from burning compressed plant remains to yoking the very Sun to their harness; from illiteracy to the first Internet; from wood to carbon tubes.
Ever-increasing technology was theorised, argued about, pontificated upon. Where would it end? Would it end?
It came as an unpleasant shock when it did. There was a visceral reaction, almost petulant; an outright rejection that things would stop here, and never go further. Surely, there had to be something, some way, some key to further discoveries, if only people looked hard enough for it.
And, to this end, the SSC was born. A sprawling server farm, on the far side of Luna from the Earth, was built. Endless rows of the finest, most sophisticated computer equipment ever made, flawlessly maintained by devoted, but mindless, robots; hooked directly into a special, dedicated power link from the Mercury Array; dozens of copies of uploads from a billion scientists across every discipline.
And that was just the beginning. Outposts were established around Jupiter and Saturn and even Mercury, the light lag helping to isolate the populations and avoid groupthink. Running on fast time, more subjective manhours passed for the uploads in the first month of the Supercluster project than has, cumulatively, for the entire biological human species.
Apparatus were built. Tests and experiments run. Results taken, analyzed, bent folded spindled and mutilated. Every scrap of data, every digital bit of every record of every experiment was pounced on, every meaning and implication seized and worked over.
And, for awhile, it worked. The SSC project produced insights into fusion reactor optimisations, new theories of planet formation, better carbon chains, a mathematically optimal chess game. Every field found the SSC providing some optimisation, some small advance to make things easier, a few percent more efficient.
But that was all. No grand, sweeping breakthroughs. No overturning Einstein in the Court of Appeals, no reversal of entrophy, no self-enhancing Singularity, no Rapture. Still, it was early days, it was supposed.
Larger, stranger, more equipment was thrown at the problem. The Supercluster and its outburbs were expanded, growing cancerously across their worlds; more orbital server farms were added, floating around Luna, Earth, Mars, a dozen more scattered across the Belt. A world-girdling particle accelerator was built around Mars. Strange and complicated things were done under millions of atmospheres of pressure inside Jupiter. The peculiar uncomplicated life of the Saturnian and Jovian moon systems was torn apart, over the objections of the environmentally conscious.
But instead of increasing, the advances slowed. The uploads of the SSC began changing, becoming surly and withdrawn even with the closest outsiders. They grew insular, talking mostly with each other. Eventually, the by-then quintillions-- even the overarching monitoring and operating systems couldn't keep an exact count-- of consciousnesses housed in the Supercluster nets would emerge only to report results-- ever rarer-- or to demand more resources-- ever more frequent.
Like most cancers, it was unsustainable. Eventually the host had had enough, and performed chemotherapy, limiting the Supercluster to a maximum of eight and one third percent of Sol System's industrial production abilities-- an allotment thought generous by the outside, but one that was under a third of what the SSC was absorbing at the time.
For almost a century the SSC continued to run, adding fresh uploads and cycling out the burnouts. In the end, after a final two decades of total futility, where the only progress was improved auditing proceedures, it was shut down. Nearly nine tenths of the uploaded consciousnesses chose to die with it.
In short and in sum:
Sol tried very hard to get further ahead. It didn't work.
A lot of physical experiments were performed: a number best expressed in scientific notation kind of a lot. Didn't help.
You have quantumn computers, and you can crack RSA and have been for many years now.
P does not equal NP, a result you have proven.
The arguments that people had about solipsism and brain-in-a-jar issues back in Sol would fill the Audacity's memory banks dozens of times over. There were people who built simverses inside their simverses, and on, and on.
If this is a simulation, the people running it are not necessarily bound by the same rules they've emplaced. There's no evidence whatsoever for it being a simulation, of course.
P does not equal NP, a result you have proven.
The arguments that people had about solipsism and brain-in-a-jar issues back in Sol would fill the Audacity's memory banks dozens of times over. There were people who built simverses inside their simverses, and on, and on.
If this is a simulation, the people running it are not necessarily bound by the same rules they've emplaced. There's no evidence whatsoever for it being a simulation, of course.
Your biotech is sufficient to ensure that this (plagues returning to infect humans) doesn't happen. The question, at the moment, is if the life on the planet uses anything approaching DNA.
Genetically engineered bioweapons are feasible, provided the aliens don't work on something totally unknown to you.
Re-seeding a biosphere from absolute scratch is a very long process, even for von Neumann capable immortal machines.
You can merge fleshly bits and robot bits.
Without decent records of a creature-- over and above its DNA-- no, Jurassic Parking isn't possible. There's more to rebuilding a T-rex than finding its DNA in some amber. There were attempts; they resulted in things that were best left alone.
The ability to duplicate sleeping Lampreys with something that answers only to you won't come easily, although it is possible in a controlled environment and with enough information on Lamprey biology and psychology-- information you're not going to be able to obtain from Lamprey research or plain tissue samples; you're going to need multiple, intact Lampreys at various stages of development and studied in a top-flight by Sol standards biolab.
You can simulate evolution of a bacteria species with true-to-life molecular precision under a given number of selection pressures (to see how likely is X evolving trait Y), with reasonable precision. You also have the capability of monitoring and figuring out any deviations you weren't expecting, and what the consequences of those are. Your biotech is robust.
You cannot build a biological spacecraft.
Neococcus ecoclasticus, aka Little Boy:
Characteristics:
1. Tough plastic cell wall
2. Thickened and hardened spores formed in hostile environments (high rad, high temp, etc), allowing it to survive multiple kGy and boiling. Autoclaves at 134C for 18min or 130C for 23min kill it, guaranteed. More moderate autoclaves will kill some pathogens, but are not guaranteed to get all of them.
3. Reactivation is relatively slow in a non-hostile but inert environment, but on the order of 1.5-2 days inside biologicals.
4. Redundant DNA and repair mechanisms, for radiation and UV hardening
5. Excretes poisonous chemicals
6. Tends to clump together
7. Retains a small sample of spored cells, even in friendly environments, for resiliency
8. Short asymptomatic course: <1 week
9. Will attack other polymers
10. As part of the rad hardening, the incident radiation is absorbed and used to help power the repair mechanisms
11. Redundant metabolic pathways means that no single antibiotic will harm it. A complex antibiotic scheme of no less than two substances is needed to even attempt at making a dent in a colony's growth
11. Xenobiotic efflux and other antibiotic resistance built in from the start means that LB is ready to counteract any attempts at dousing it in antibiotics and will actively cleanse its cell from such contaminants. Means that for antibotic schemes to start working, you need a way of overcoming the built-in efflux systems and other resistance factors.
12. Metavariator systems means that LB becomes highly mutable (especially the backup metabolic pathways and resistance factors) when faced with stress. Stress includes "comrades in a biofilm suddenly dying en masse".
2. Thickened and hardened spores formed in hostile environments (high rad, high temp, etc), allowing it to survive multiple kGy and boiling. Autoclaves at 134C for 18min or 130C for 23min kill it, guaranteed. More moderate autoclaves will kill some pathogens, but are not guaranteed to get all of them.
3. Reactivation is relatively slow in a non-hostile but inert environment, but on the order of 1.5-2 days inside biologicals.
4. Redundant DNA and repair mechanisms, for radiation and UV hardening
5. Excretes poisonous chemicals
6. Tends to clump together
7. Retains a small sample of spored cells, even in friendly environments, for resiliency
8. Short asymptomatic course: <1 week
9. Will attack other polymers
10. As part of the rad hardening, the incident radiation is absorbed and used to help power the repair mechanisms
11. Redundant metabolic pathways means that no single antibiotic will harm it. A complex antibiotic scheme of no less than two substances is needed to even attempt at making a dent in a colony's growth
11. Xenobiotic efflux and other antibiotic resistance built in from the start means that LB is ready to counteract any attempts at dousing it in antibiotics and will actively cleanse its cell from such contaminants. Means that for antibotic schemes to start working, you need a way of overcoming the built-in efflux systems and other resistance factors.
12. Metavariator systems means that LB becomes highly mutable (especially the backup metabolic pathways and resistance factors) when faced with stress. Stress includes "comrades in a biofilm suddenly dying en masse".
Spore sizes:
~6 µm, unadjuvanted. Larger (~30-50 µm) with biodegradable adjuvant layer (provides additional environment protection and optimizes dispersion characteristics, increases production times). Adjuvant compound can be designed so that causes the particles to behave in a certain manner (controls clumping, dispersal, etc)
Deployment will require a 9/10ths majority.
Given the characteristics of LB, and the fact that at its size there's not major impact heating, the majority of spores would survive an unprotected release under the Van Allen belt ofL-II.
Your onboard biolab can output about five kilos a day if you crank it.
Industry:
Post-scarcity, in the absolute sense, you ain't.
As heartless machine intelligences you can establish manufacturing centres wherever you think fit. However, prospecting an entire solar system is going to be a long, slow job, and you'll be pretty visible.
You do indeed have the ability to construct habitable space stations or colonies on the various rocks. You'll need raw materials to start that, though.
You can synthize hydrocarbons from simple feedstock elements (e.g., carbon dioxide, water, hydrogen) and a power input.
The only thing you've got capable of making .1c is your slowboat. You could, with sufficient time, either build another or build an alternate home and then crash it, but you're starting from fairly minimal resources and building a ship the size of your slowboat is going to take years.
Once you get an industrial system up and going, building more light probes is trivial. The heavy landers are harder but also replaceable. None of them are crucial to actually building industry; they're expendables. Your crucial stuff is all housed in the main ship.
Nanotech is a no, at least in the conventional SF sense. It's usuable in things like a person's body, but not in harsh environments (e.g, space). you need a hospitable, climate-controlled environment, that provides both power and resources, in order for nanotech to work. So, for example, you could put nanophages into someone's body to, say, scrub out plaque on bloodvessel walls, but they'd not be able to build more of themselves unless the person they're in makes a habit of eating heavy metals.
You could build artificial respirocytes.
Micro-scaled things are about as small as you can go easily.
Larger 'clanking replicator' hordes are fully within your reach. Everything from specialties to general assemblers. Given time, you could take the entire solar system apart for scrap. Grey goo is not a concern.
You can use coilguns to launch things to orbit. How what you're launching reacts is going to vary on any number of factors but it is, in principle, feasible to coilgun humans into space with the proper design.
The Audacity's internal bays are built for piecework small stuff, not wholesale new construction. The Audacity's internal bays aren't able to build aVNs.
Von Neumann base units:
The planet-eater (PVN) is a multi-component system (massing ~5.65 MTne) laid out as follows:
- A base station. This is the primary processing unit, and it's big. 800m x 500m x 50m. It takes raw resources at one end-- iron ore, coal, raw hydrocarbon sludge, etc-- and out the other end comes finished products. It's capable of building the basis of all industry (and can build copies of itself); anything it can't build, it can build the specialised things that can. It is designed to operate in a non-negligable gravity field and is not capable of free flight or, in fact, rapid movement.
- Multiple autonomous modular general-purpose resource collectors. These guys, with the appropriate tools and internals, can do everything from mine to wine.
- Construction waldoes, for building things that need to be built outside-- i.e, building a dedicated production facility for a given type of output.
- Internal storage bays
Stored, it can handle a dozen sustained gravities, and shock accelerations into the hundreds (although these may break fiddly bits, the crucial systems are insulated against them). The crucial systems would be able repair that breakage.
Deployed, it is a basically a bunch of heavy industrial and mining facilities scattered across a large moon.
The asteroid chompers (AVN) are considerably smaller, at 200m x 100m x 100m (mass: 0.56 MTne), and are different from their planetbound relative in several other ways. First and most notably, they're explicitly designed to orbithop, with tanks accomodating 20,000m/s deltaV. Secondly, they lack the large autonomous collectors, using basic waldos instead. Thirdly, they're slower, and fourthly, less versatile, simply thanks to their smaller size. However, like the planet-eater, they're capable of reproduction. Default number of cargo hatches is two, each large enough to accomodate a two-story truck. They come with two independent towing modules each, who clamp on to asteroids and use them as reaction mass to move the remainer of the asteroid around.
Straight replication time for the Asteroid-variants is a smidge over 110 days. Straight replication for the planetary one, which is more complex and more flexible and much larger, is around one-hundred-thirty. This assumes both are kept fully supplied with the requisite everything.
This works out to a thoroughput for the AEs at around sixty kilograms per second, and for the planet eater, five hundred kg/s, for a fairly straightforward construction of steel, ceramics, plastic, etc.
An asteroid chomper, of course, is not going to be active all the time, since it'll have to be shifting from place to place. I need to delve into the nittygritty of the asteroidal density and transit speeds to get the figures on the percentage of time it can run. The other crucial consideration is that it may need to ferry raw resources from one place to another if a given rock is shy on some critical component (e.g, to make steel, you need carbon and oxygen-- what happens if your rock lacks either one? Stoichiometrey is a bitch).
The issues are less involved for the planetary one, since it can build mining trucks to haul crap to it.
Both the aVN and the pVN are capable, in time, of building everything. The issue is in the number of steps required. The pVN, in most cases-- excepting exotica like, e.g., fusion candles, planet-girdling particle accelerators, artificial singularities, multi-kilogram/s antimatter distilleries, and the like-- is within two or three steps of the end result. The aVNs are closer to eight to ten, or even higher.
Where it would take a pVN 310 days to set up and build nine aVNs (at full 100% pVN utilisation, mark you, although without assuming the aVNs contribute) it would take nine aVNs (whose raw thoroughput numbers slightly edge a pVN's) over five years to set up and produce a single pVN.
For now I'm operating on a 1-in-20 efficiency ratio assumption as an approximation for them, and a 1-in-2 one for the planetary one.
They are, formally, parts-complete.
The VNs are unarmed. However, they're also rather tight for space (especially the asteroidal versions). The planetary VN unit could store viable ABM laser units in an internal bay; the asteroid ones are too small.
Building a hydrocarbon extraction and refinery complex on L-III-V would help your current single scoopship supply the demand for CHON quite dramatically. Measuring it in terms of 'doubling times' is a bit abstract, but it would result in a further increase to both aVN and pVN efficiencies. The maximum increase is achieved when working on CHON-heavy projects and with the aVNs near L-III-V or L-III-VI.
Asteroid Tugs:
In a lot of ways, they're basically a smaller, much cheaper version of the same basic design as the Audacity. Less efficient in a lot of ways, but far quicker and easier to construct, the standard tug still uses fusion propulsion, albiet with a far lower exhaust velocity (1/20th) than the Audacity's main drive.
These tugs use just about the smallest fusion drives in existence, with physics packages only fifty metres across. They would kick asteroids into suitable orbits and periodically (about once every year or so, depending on what asteroids needed to be moved where) refueled at a fuel depot loaded with deuterium shuttled in from Jupiter. Typically, the asteroid requiring movement was, in essence, giftwrapped in a strong, fine netting, then towed well behind the tug so as to avoid being blasted to pieces by the exhaust.
On typical asteroids, the tugs (as I designed them, since nobody gave me specs) do not have the deltaV available for belt->L-II insertions, even using their whole fuel supply. They're built to shift things around within the belt, not drop them on unsuspecting planets.
Not every material can be made at the same rate. High purity, strong CCTs are going to be very much slower to build than, say, steel. That is why building an elevator, or another Audacity, is a non-trivial task.
My mass figures, for a one-cable SE, put it at ~4,300 tne.
Production speed (mass throughput) for:
- low and mid low tech bulk and volume stuff, (simple and moderate sophistication materials and metals, "printed" low efficiency (compared to best we have in setting) photovoltiacs and plastic/organic electronics, simple mechanical devices (turbines, IC engines...): 10x to 2x the 'standard' thoroughput, depending on what exactly you're doing. 10x would be for something like steel; 2x would be something like a fully-built car.
- mid level to low high level tech (basically what is high end and very high end for today's tech), space solar plants, intra system laser comms, space probes and telescopes, stealth fighters, UCAVs, replicators themselves should not exceed this level of complexity by much in a optimized design (at most they should be 0.75 of complexity on 0 to 1 scale): Ranges from 2x to 0.25x standard depending on what you're working with. Big mirrors, for example, are going to be very slow for their mass levels.
- -high tech (in setting), interstellar com lasers, Audacity itself, what little nanotech you can do, advanced armed spaceships for intra system use, spaceship drives both fusion and ICF drives, high performance fusion plants and such "high tech": Anywhere from 0.25x to 0.0005x or less. Most of the Audacity scores either in the quicker range of this, or even in the easier categories above. The primary components that do not are the reaction bell, the magnetic nozzle, and most especially her radiators. CCTs fall under the latter category.
If you wish to build something stealthily, it depends on how covert you wish to be. You could adopt the same solution the Lampreys did, and stick your manufacturing facilities under some aluminium sheeting; they'd notice that they couldn't see what you're doing any more, of course. This would impose no significant slowdown in your production rates.
Other, less obvious variants would almost certainly require continued construction of other objects to serve as a cover.
Building a laser net capable of destroying small objects (50kg), presuming them to be nuclear bombs, is essentially trivial. At full production you could generate an ABM station every couple of minutes (each individual station takes much longer, of course; the miracles of pipelining and parallel processing strike again). Disguising it as another tool or burying it underground would increase that time but not dramatically.
Y'could crank through building (as a one-off, from scratch components) a heavy reusable lander craft in about ten days. Doing so would utilise approximately 0.14% of your total production throughput.
You could certainly build solar sail ships. Stealthing what is, in essense, a giant flat foil sheet is a non-starter.
Building a coilgun capable of generating the deltaV necessary to shift a Hailstone from L-III to L-II would take the Audacity's workshops twenty days. The VNs could construct them quicker.
Figuring each Mk I killbot to weigh about a quarter-tonne, a million could be made in about eleven and a half days for the planetary VN, should it dedicate itself to the task.
Building a fusion drive with stripped-down fuel tanks is feasible, and the Audacity's drive can be scaled downwards. However, things like payload and so forth are going to greatly affect your design parameters.
The primary advantages of chemical rockets are that they can scale downwards to things both much smaller and much more aerodynamic than fusion rockets (which need a big, round reactor chamber); and that they are technically much less challenging, and hence faster to build.
Audacity itself can build a Hailstone at a rate of about one every fourty minutes. An Asteroid VN unit (at 30%) can do so every fourty seconds, on an asteroid with the correct materials.
The planetary VN unit can build biolabs in approximately trivial amounts of time, a couple of hours if it dedicated itself. That's a time-average, though, based on building a lot of biolabs in parallel. A single lab, start through to completion, would need about a week.
The Asteroid VNs can build things to have Little Boy spores replicate, provided they don't need to do the initial genetic engineering. The asteroid VN units, when on carbonaceous 'roids, have almost everything they'd need for LB to grow. The one lack would be nitrogen, which can be found in some of the silicate 'roids.
The Asteroid VNs (at 30% capacity and depending very largely on the resources found), can build a nuclear MIRV missile, excluding fuel, an hour and fifteen minutes.
Specialised mining craft would help. The big issue is that L-III-VI is a rare find; any given asteroid can have a lot of resources but not of the right types, which means they need to be shipped in from an asteroid that does have the right stuff.
A 'relatively' small mass driver, mounted of the Audacity or a smaller dedicated vessel, that launches a MIRV-like multi-warhead slug that breaks up prior to re-entry is possible. This is more or less the mechanism proposed to deliver Hailstones.
Decoy Hailstones would require exactly the same time as 'real' Hailstones, aside from the live Little Boy spores.
Feeding the aVNs from L-VI's resource extraction areas would bring their efficiency levels up to around one-in-two. It would also synergistically increase the pVN's effiacy to around 70%. There will be some minor industrial realignments necessary to accomodate the arrival of the aVNs; those realignments are already included in the figures given.
While moving the aVNs, it would be possible to load Audacity or some outriggers with enough rubble to keep them fed during transit.
Deep diving probes for examining the gas giants are individually fairly easy to construct, but in order to thoroughly survey a gas giant you're going to need a lot. A gas giant is a big, big place. It will also depend on how sophisticated they are.
As of T+290D:
A gigaton's worth of nuclear bombs would require a lead time of five days and then ten hours of dedicated PVN run time.
A heavy-duty nuclear-powered tunnel boring machine would require a lead time of three days, after which one could be constructed every two and a half hours.
It would take just under five years to fill FakeBrain to the brim with high-performance electronics.
All numbers assume 100% pVN runtime:
Asteroid Tug: For a single unit, start to finish: Fourty five days. Each additional unit will take just over ten and a quarter days.
Asteroid VN: For a single unit, start to finish: One hundred and two days. Each additional unit will take twenty-six days.
Scoopship: For a single unit, start to finish: Fourteen days. Each additional unit will take three and a quarter days.
E-mail laser: For a single unit, start to finish: Fourty hours. Each additional unit will take nine and one quarter hours.
Current (T+290 D) industrial throughput is approximately 24.5kT of VN-complexity material per day. This will drop once the AVNs are removed from the belt, to 23.6kT. In thirty days (T+320 D), once the AVNs are re-established at L-III-VI, that will be 41.6kT. In sixty (T+350 D), 43.7kT. In one year (T+655), 222.2kT. In two (T+1020 D), 1352.9kT. The revised production schedule has the first fully duplicated PVN unit come on-stream at ~T+395 D, a savings of ~65 days compared to leaving the AVNs in the belt (~T+450 D).
Ceasing production for a couple of hours will not materially alter these numbers.
Constructed Items
Circa T+205: You have built, using 5% of your industrial throughput, approximately nine and a half thousand observation satellites. The planetary VN unit is making a new one roughly every three minutes. Of the remainder, it's been divided between the Fake Brain and the Space Elevator. At this point construction priority was changed to dedicated construction of the Planetary VN.
Of the Space Elevator, 1.71E+06 kg, of 4.17E+06 kg, (~40%) has been built to-date.
As of T+261D, approximately 1/4 of a 2nd Planetary VN unit has been built. Estimated TOA is T+450 D.
As of T+290 D, the PVN has-- at the cost of a few satellites-- fabricated the long strings of photomultiplier tubes needed for optical neutrino detectors. Possible placement areas include: the water ice moons around L-III; Audacity's fuel tanks; or a custom-built tank filled with a suitable detection liquid. Necessarily, neutrino telescopy is [much] less precise than EM telescopy. For example, from the L-III area (or even asteroid belt) none of these will allow for resolution of individual nuclear reactors on L-II.
Fake Brain
Fake Brain is a communications hub and data processing resource,. The idea is that it would redirect attention from the Audacity and the VN units by being a large, hot, obvious target, as well as allowing the Audacity to pretend unintelligence until the Fake Brain initialised.
The design went through several iterations before settling on an 800 m near-cylinder designed to land on L-III-III and use its ice as a heat sink.
FB has no production capabilities aside from basic self-maintenance. It is a communication and computation platform only.
The Fake Brain is an operable shell festooned with comm gear and with an internal powerplant, but it hasn't been used much. It has arrived at L-III-III at T+290D. It is a live comm hub and has a copy of your mindstates running. It does have a non-trivial amount of onboard computing; more than the Audacity. It has a multi-GW powerplant.
Current Production Allocations
PVN-1, L-III-VI: 95% Reproduction, 5% spysats.
AVN-1, Asteroid Belt: 100% Reproduction
AVN-2, Asteroid Belt: 100% Reproduction
AVN-3, Asteroid Belt: 100% Reproduction
It is impossible for your materials science to build something that could survive a .1c hit; your projectile would turn into a spectacular plasma ball as it touched the atmosphere.
Long-strand and woven nanotubes are, sadly, a Failed Dream. By thickness, the best easily-produceable materials you have offer about two and a half times the RHA of Chobam armour.
Kilometre+ compressive loading structures are within your abilities.
You can, with difficulty, produce Colossal Carbon Tubes with the following characteristics: Approximate tensile strength 10GPa, average density (CCT & interwoven backing) of 600kg/m^3.
Room-temp superconductors are a no-go. Maximum operational temperature for SCs is on the order of 220K.
Diamond synthesis is possible.
Observation:
Depending on how you define 'observe', you'll be able to conduct basic cartography from the orbit of the inner gas giant at ~12 AU. Doing things like finding cities visually will require you to be considerably closer. Spysat level survelliance is impossible for the Audacity without being in orbit around the planet itself.
Direct oberservation of what lies underneath 30km of ice is infeasible.
If small unmanned probes thrust, you'll be able to spot them in most circumstances. They could potentially hide in solar glare from the Audacity, though, or be launched with a mass body between them and the Audacity. Coldsoaked probes you will have trouble seeing at all unless they are effectively atop you on passive sensors.
There's no evidence for anomalous Lamprey launches, and yes, you probably would see anything like that trying to thrust. It is just within the realm of possibility for the Lampreys to've done what you suggest, but any such launch wouldn't be arriving for years yet.
Magnetic accelerators tend to produce radio emissions, which you could pick up, absent shielding to prevent it. A cold-gas launcher or RF-shielded railgun might get something moving, but it's going to be slow, and moreover, you do have active radar. If anything gets close enough to be a threat with anything bar, say, RKKVs or a laser, you'll see it coming. Your radar is checking for those kinds of surprise packages, although-- in the interests of EW-- it is not doing so at its full capacity. It will find them in time regardless, however. It has the ability to pick up small (50kg) objects at a half-LS distance.
You know the locations of the radiating anti-space defense system radars the Lampreys have built. Ones they've built but not turned on remain anonymous, if they exist.
You can build neutrino telescopes, complete with direction-finding ability. Arrayed photomultipler tubes can, by calculating the arrival time of the Cherenkov radiation (or scintillations, depending on method), achieve measurement of the incident angle of some kinds of neutrino.
For surveying, you have the full range of modern geophysical and geological tools, for starters: Very sophisticated seismic analysis and imagery. Spectrography. Ground-penetrating radar. Remote lidar seismology. Inertial analysis. Magnetic field mapping. Drill coring. Probably more that're slipping my mind.
You can, therefore, determine surface and some forms of subsurface mineral concentrations with passive sensors.
You have so many spysats out there that aside from relatively uncommon sensors (for example, neutrino telescopes), you've got at least one of pretty much everything, particularly when dealing with EM phenomenon. You can track individual Lampreys moving around on the surface of L-II's moons. From what is essentially the orbit of Saturn.
You should be able to measure atmosphereless surfaces with sufficient accuracy to conduct touchless seismography.
Sol would have seen any fusion burn anywhere in the Galaxy. In flight your own sensors were more limited, but any burn in the Lamprey system would have been visible. Radio chatter would have been hashed by star noise.
Whether or not you can tell if something is an ancient battlefield or not depends on the scale of the battlefield, what weapons were used, and so on. For some weapons, in some uses (lasers on the scale of your commlaser, for example), the answer is yes; for other weapons, on different scales, the answer's no (is the Moon evidence of an ancient battlefield?).
Consciousness Upload:
You're true, strong AIs; you're basically but not entirely "you", but capable of operating at computer speeds. You can copy yourself into anything with the hardware capabilities to support you, and you can control your clockspeeds and multithread, so that-- for example-- you can converse with a meatbag without going insane from the delay.
As I said, however, the uploading process is lossy. The uploaded consciousnesses that you are are noticeably different from the original consciousness. It's not debilitating and you're not insane, as such. You're just different. Memories are slightly altered, personality quirks grow or fade, and the loss of glands alters your emotions noticeably.
For the purposes of this thread, whatever you are right now is the post-transfer consciousness. Your emotions and other autonomous process can be assumed to be artifacts of automated subroutines.
The uploading process is complicated and slow and I'm not going to describe it in detail because 1. I have no idea how it would work and 2. it's not terrifically relevant, except that you can do it to a variety of animals, not just humans.
Uploading an alien may be possible, just as it may be possible to bioplague them or what have you. Determining that for sure, however, is going to require samples of the alien life.
Consciousness downloading is not possible. The process is one way.
The uploading process has worked on pretty much anything capable of thought: mice, cats, dogs, chickens, killer whales, bears, and so on were all uploaded at various points. There were experiments into increasing the intelligence of animals as well as humans, both with and without upload involved; the results were, as you'd expect, more intelligent animals and humans-- but not without limit. A mouse brain, hooked into a life support system (or uploaded) might achieve the level of a dumb human, and need constant support and babying in order to function. Humans had a lesser degree of improvement, something closer to Flowers For Algernon than anything else.
In the end, the field was left more or less to lie, since upload technology offered much greater improvments in capacity than even the best biogeneering was capable of.
The upload process requires a conscious, working mind. It cannot be used for resurrection, although it could be used for minddeath-prevention (e.g, somebody is shot; get them to an upload rig quick enough and you could get an upload before they die). However, a goodly chunk of the human mind is in fact governed by various bits of the body; if those are damaged or impaired, the (already lossy) mind upload becomes even riskier.
Uploading under the influence is banned for obvious reasons.
Partial uploads don't work.
If you were to figure out how to upload a Lamprey, and did so, you could dissect a copy of the program to determine in-depth detail about their habits, locomotion, and culture.
The ethics of uploading, as practiced by Sol:
The guiding principle is that any mind which has had runtime (i.e, been aware), for any length of time, is, legally, its own person. Dissolving it is considered a murder (unless the mind happens to consent to it, for some reason). A person's run-speed and environment cannot be altered without their permission except as necessary for law enforcement; in other words, someone else can't swing by and just gank your clock cycles or dump you into a given sim, unless they're enforcing the law. Likewise, a person cannot be copied without their consent.
However, minds that have not run are regarded as computer files. They can be modified, tweaked, deleted, and moved around willynilly. So, for example, if at T-0 I made a perfect copy of myself (doable via pausing execution until copying is complete), that copy is not regarded as a person, but as my property, until and unless I have it begin to execute. Similarily, if I decide to move-- which involves making a copy of me at the destination, then deleting the original me-- this is not regarded as suicide provided that the copy is in fact a perfect copy (trivial to assure over short distances, rather trickier if you're bouncing cross-solar-system). Legal and technical mechanisms exist to ensure that the copy made is activated immediately after it is confirmed to be a proper copy.
Misbehaving people face a variety of punishments, the most severe of which is archiving: effectively, permanent deactivation, but the possibility does exist of bringing them back if their viewpoint is ever thought to be necessary. This has happened on occasion. More usually, they are put into a judicial simspace, where they can indulge their particular tendancies without harming anything physical, or be reformed into productive members of society, as desired/mandated.
Power Generation, Transmission, And Storage:
Making AM with your tech requires approximately 1,000 times the final energy contained in the AM. Also, storing electrically-neutral antimatter remains impossible; you're limited to Penning Traps.
You are capable of farming magnetospheres for antimatter. Numbers for Lamprey system are:
In something the size of a large dog, you could fit at least one of any of the following:
capacitors, rapid-cycle lith ion, flywheel, lead acid, ICE, fuel cells, wind (probably not an option in the context of killbots), Carnot thermal engine, minaturised fission plant, radiosotope pile, etc.
In something the size of a Liebherr T 282B you can fit a fusion plant, though there may be cooling issues.
Your capacitor tech is pretty spiffy. Batteries less so; they proved one of the more resistant areas for improvement. As would be expected, hydrogen fuel cells are a mature technology for you guys.
You've got solar panels that edge towards sixty-percent efficiency. Higher efficiencies, up to around 70%, are possible, but much more complicated to make.
The highest net plus power fusion reactions you have access to terminate in He4 (with trace possibilities of Li or Be). You can force higher ones with more power, or simply with particle accelerator bombardment.
You can build ICF pulse drives.
The smallest buildable fusion rocket requires a physics package about fifty metres across; essentially the engine used in the asteroid tugs. Between that and the Audacity torch lies a very wide range of engines; generally they grow more efficient (higher Ev, better open-cycle cooling efficiency) as they grow larger. Determining engine size beyond that 50m minimum depends on the thermal loading of the reaction chamber; Audacity's runs almost exactly at the maximum load possible.
In general, if you give me a desired set of characteristics (delta V, thrust, exhaust velocity, wattage, things of that nature) I will be able to tell you roughly the size of fusion engine needed.
The light probes and sats use sophisticated VASIMR-style engines, with peak exhaust velocities closing in on 320km/s. Achievable thrust varies; the flyby probes hit 4 N, the sats 0.3 N - 0.5 N. The heavy landers and missiles use hydrogen/oxy chemical rocketry.
It would be possible to create a fusion candle.
You could broadcast power as opposed to aim it in a beam. It'd be terribly inefficient though. For moving power around, Sol generally used high-efficiency infra-red quantumn cascade lasers.
You are capable of farming magnetospheres for antimatter. Numbers for Lamprey system are:
- L-Sun: 34 micrograms/y
- L-I: nil
- L-II: 13 micrograms/y
- L-III: 27 micrograms/y
- L-III-II: 3 micrograms/y
- L-IV: 33 micrograms/y
- L-V: nil
In something the size of a large dog, you could fit at least one of any of the following:
capacitors, rapid-cycle lith ion, flywheel, lead acid, ICE, fuel cells, wind (probably not an option in the context of killbots), Carnot thermal engine, minaturised fission plant, radiosotope pile, etc.
In something the size of a Liebherr T 282B you can fit a fusion plant, though there may be cooling issues.
Your capacitor tech is pretty spiffy. Batteries less so; they proved one of the more resistant areas for improvement. As would be expected, hydrogen fuel cells are a mature technology for you guys.
You've got solar panels that edge towards sixty-percent efficiency. Higher efficiencies, up to around 70%, are possible, but much more complicated to make.
The highest net plus power fusion reactions you have access to terminate in He4 (with trace possibilities of Li or Be). You can force higher ones with more power, or simply with particle accelerator bombardment.
You can build ICF pulse drives.
The smallest buildable fusion rocket requires a physics package about fifty metres across; essentially the engine used in the asteroid tugs. Between that and the Audacity torch lies a very wide range of engines; generally they grow more efficient (higher Ev, better open-cycle cooling efficiency) as they grow larger. Determining engine size beyond that 50m minimum depends on the thermal loading of the reaction chamber; Audacity's runs almost exactly at the maximum load possible.
In general, if you give me a desired set of characteristics (delta V, thrust, exhaust velocity, wattage, things of that nature) I will be able to tell you roughly the size of fusion engine needed.
The light probes and sats use sophisticated VASIMR-style engines, with peak exhaust velocities closing in on 320km/s. Achievable thrust varies; the flyby probes hit 4 N, the sats 0.3 N - 0.5 N. The heavy landers and missiles use hydrogen/oxy chemical rocketry.
It would be possible to create a fusion candle.
You could broadcast power as opposed to aim it in a beam. It'd be terribly inefficient though. For moving power around, Sol generally used high-efficiency infra-red quantumn cascade lasers.
Military
General
The Audacity does contain data on military devices; it ranges from small autonomous units to cyberwarfare to biowarfare to multi-kilometre X-ray FELs to multiple-hundred-MT bombs, and doctrines for such.
Pure-fusion bombs are bulkier and heavier than fission-initiated ones, but can be made.
Your aimbot quality depends on the hardware. You posses the capabilities to make them shoot bullets midflight, or act as orbital snipers, but it doesn't come for free.
In terms of conventional artillery, again, it depends on committing the proper hardware. With enough input power you could, in theory, shoot something from the far side of a planet.
Bomb-pumped lasers are mass-producible. A bomb-pumped xraser would have an efficency of around 0.5% per xraser (1 MT detonation -> 1 xraser rod -> 1 xraser at 20 MJ; each rod gets you another 20 MJ, more or less). You could build these at (at full production) a rate of roughly two a second once your pipeline was filled.
For dog-sized platforms, good old projectile weaponry remains the best; nothing else combines the energy density, compact containment, and rapid release explosives have. The technology exists for a wide area of more interesting reduced-lethality weapons, but for making something dead, bullets work.
Rail erosion proved not-quite-insoluable, but well into the realms of 'not worth the effort'. Coilguns are the superior, cheaper, and easier to maintain option and they're quite reliable and very effective at the van+ sizings. Lasers likewise work well on van-scaled or better platforms, but not on smaller ones.
You can feasibly build neutron accelerators of varying sizes. As ever, larger ones are, obviously, more powerful. You can make them more or less arbitrarily powerful with enough time and space. Small scale, you could fit a neutron source on a dog-sized killbot (I mean, that's what the nuclear reactor is; the MAPPERs carry a neutron bombardment system, too) but it's not going to be the heavily-lethal burst of doom that a neutron bomb is.
Nanoscale light bending is not doable; chameleon cloth is. However, the optical camo on the second route is going to disappear real fast if the object question gets damaged.
You can stealth against radar and visual fairly easily. IR is much trickier, but your electronics can be set up to operate at extremely cold temperatures if necessary. As computers, too, you might be able to get away with long-term ballistic coasts or hiding-in-plain-sight as an asteroid or moon for extended periods of time.
It would be very wise to remember that the Lampreys have shown abilities with their radar tracking systems that modern Earth does not have and that they have developed stealth aircraft of their own.
Approaching L-II under fire will require different approaches in different scenarios. Lasers that're designed for punching through essentially unarmoured, thin-skin missiles are fairly easily stopped by proper armour. You'd need a point defence system of your own to handle incoming nuclear warheads. The mass drivers they're using for antimeteor work at the moment could crack tank armour if they had to, so you'd need to be fairly thickly armoured or go for the evasive route.
You could coat your missiles in a meter or two of some form of really-high sublimation point carbon or other material. However, points to be aware of:
1. That will slow your construction times;
2. The missiles, as configured, are plain old chemical rockets. They do not have super-duper evasion skills (except as compared to electrical drives) or big reservoirs of delta-V. These can be modified, but at a penalty to construction rates.
Call it 1cm worth of melted steel to render an ABM radar inoperable. To achieve that in a 1s timeframe requires delivery of approximately 250 MW/m^2 for a continuous laser; 20MJ/m^2 for a single pulse (pulse duration < 0.1ms).
Doing so with your laser's current power output would require a mirror about eight hundred kilometres across in CW operation. Machining something that large to the precision needed is not feasible for you. Alternatives including increasing the raw power and Q-switching, but this is something that's several orders of magnitude beyond anything you've brought. Q-switching your laser, without other alterations, will melt your mirror before it hits your target damage for L-III->L-II shots.
Octanitrocubane is synthesizable, in bulk, with a relative effectiveness to TNT, by mass, of approximately 2.6. Your thermobarics are just fine and approach theoretical maximums for energy release.
A fusion-thrust aircraft is doable. A fusion-drive with an exhaust velocity a fiftieth of Audacity's 0.04c (in other words, 0.002c) can be engineered down into a physics package fifty metres across, as used on the asteroid tug design. By injecting inert substances into the exhaust stream, the exhaust velocity can be dropped to something usable in atmosphere whilst simultaneously providing a thrust-to-weight that, if used to its full extent, would shred anything you tried to put it on; think Mach 4 from a standing start in under a second. Too bad materials science isn't up to the task of making things that won't rip apart trying.
At 0.1c, the following effects are common to all impacts, though the degree will vary with the initial impetus and the mass of the projectile.
The projectile plasmafies on contact with the atmosphere of Lamprey-II, roughly 120km up. This turns into one very, very impressive fireball. At .1c, it proceeds to hit the planet around a half-millisecond later. Anything directly underneath is vapourised in the literal sense. Shockwave kicks up dust, dirt, concrete debris etc. into the upper atmosphere. The ionosphere receives a huge upsurge in the number of charged particles, significantly interfering with both Lamprey communication and your ability to run intercepts on that communication. High energy radiation bakes people outside the fireball. Shockwave pulverises people further away, and levels buildings further yet.
The flyby probes will kill pretty much any Lamprey (barring hardened bunkers or extreme luck) within 90 kilometres. Severe injuries and death are likely out to almost 300 kilometres.
The recoverable landers will do the same for 250 kilometres and 1,000 kilometres respectively. If one of these landed in California you could kiss the entire West Coast and a good chunk of Mexico goodbye.
You'd dramatically lower the global temperature for many years with that much particulate matter being kicked skyward. Vegetation would be choked for sunlight and die off, further altering the climate.
It's not KT-extinction level stuff, but it won't be any fun at all to live through. It's possible for some very well bunkered up or isolated Lampreys to survive, but with the complete destruction of their industrial ecology they'd be screwed anyways.
The Mark I killbot:
Cpl_Facehugger;4143719 said:
Adding an animal intelligence to a killbot would only degrade their performance.
The Mark II Tankbot:
Cpl_Facehugger;4663000 said:Front
Side
Front, coloured
Comparison scene
For comparison, in the final image, the purple box represents a six-foot human, while the smaller drone next to it is a Mark I.
The Mark II is our answer to Lamprey armored vehicles. Powered by a potent little nuclear fission reactor and equipped with our 3xChobbham/DU armor*, the Mark II is one survivable little tank drone. Her frontal arc is immune to most conceivable tank cannons that the Lampreys could field; a 120mm cannon similar to the Koori (M1) (note that Lamprey tanks appear to use smaller guns in their tanks) could fire against the MarkII's glacis all day and not do more than scuff the paint. As you can see, the armor is also quite heavily sloped, though the mount for a mine flail or mine plow is a minor vulnerability.
Rear and side armor is weaker, though still able to resist heavy anti-tank cannon fire for prolonged periods.
Since anti-tank mines are a significant concern, the Mark II's hull is designed to channel the explosions away from sensitive components, and great care was taken to make the Mark II's systems as redundant and hardened as possible without compromising mass producability.
The Mark II's small size is another point in its favor, making it more difficult to target compared to traditional Earth tanks of equivelent eras.
Its final defense is a point defense laser that I've affectionately named the zapper. In the colored images, it's the red ball on top of the turret. Utilizing mechanisms pioneered by the ABL in the 21st century, the zapper is capable of engaging incoming missiles and artillery shells with a very high degree of accuracy and effectiveness in a full 360 degree arc around the tank. In theory, it can also be pumped up and used to roast lamprey infantry (which is why the tank lacks a coaxial gun.)
In terms of armament, the Mark II is equipped with a 140mm* coilgun capable of tossing a 140mm ferrous-tungsten dart at several kilometers per second, or scaling its yield back significantly in case we want to reduce collateral damage. It can also fire off a variety of special rounds, including ball-bearing and flechette shell rounds for dealing with infantry, high explosive rounds, and even, in theory, sub-kiloton nuclear shells.
Tankbot firing
Above is footage from the primary sensor blister of the Mark II as it's firing its weapon on maximum power. Note the glowing ionization trail that signifies a hypervelocity projectile. It is firing at a hypothetical lamprey tank several hundred meters downrange.
Due to the primary sensor's telescopic zoom, it appears significantly closer.
The Mark II's cannon is extremely accurate due to its fire control system and high velocity. Fun Fact: The above image has the coilgun slug placed right down the middle of the opposing tank's barrel.
This is obviously not likely if the target is moving, of course.
Effects on target
As you can see, the hypothetical lamprey tank is not sufficiently armored to withstand firepower of that magnitude; the coilgun clearly overpenetrated, igniting the tank's ammo as it passed.
A downside to the weapon is that its vertical traverse is somewhat reduced due to the needs of dampenening the gun's recoil; the barrel can raise and lower no more than 35 degrees from level. (OOC: Otherwise it would look really silly.
The weapon's ammunition is (obviously) caseless, allowing many rounds to be contained within the turret assembly. Reloading is facilitated through 50 round "casettes" which can be easily dropped into place.
Effective rate of fire depends partly on the yield specified; a "standard" charge necessary to penetrate known or suspected Lamprey armor takes approximately five seconds to build up from the reactor. A maximum yield blast takes significantly longer, up to twenty seconds.
The killbot is also equipped with a series of "space-claymore" anti-personnel mines on the side armor, to deal with pesky Lamprey infantry slithering up next to the tank and planting demolition charges. The space-claymores can also be used as a form of imprompteau explosive reactive armor. Though optional ERA modules can also be added to the tank as desired.
Sensors are redundant, and placed in several blisters across the tank, giving it 360 degree sensor coverage and allowing it to see things with crystal clarity, though there are blindspots where the tank's hull blocks sight.
The computer systems are intentionally more advanced than the Mark I's, though still nowhere near what we're actually capable of; the Mark II can thus act more intelligently than the Mark I, getting more like an actual organic tank crew than a simple unreal tournament bot. It is, of course, not fully intelligent, and is reliant upon directives from Audacity command for orders. In absence of such directives, it will enter a standby state and fire on any nearby enemy combatants while evading enemy fire.
Like the Mark I, the Mark II can interface with other killbots to share intelligence and targeting data via frequency-hopping radios as well as laser communications.
As with the Mark I, the turret is modular and able to be swapped with minimal effort. The pictured versions above are of the standard tank turret, but there are electronic warfare variants, artillery variants, air defense variants, recovery and support variants, supply variants, bridgelaying variants, etc etc etc. Basically, if there's a job you need doing that's suited for a vehicle, there's a Mark II variant that can do it.
Also as with the Mark I, the Mark II is equipped with a 99% effective failsafe in case of capture. In this case, the tank's reactor will intentionally contaminate the tank with radiation, in addition to the standard charges meant to render all its components melted and useless.
In terms of logistical overhead, the tank's primary issue is ammunition, followed by spare parts. Fuel is an effective nonissue due to the use of a high gain fission reactor.
The cost of the Mark II is, by nature, significantly higher than the Mark I. However, great pains were taken to avoid overly complex and resource-intensive technologies and components; the Mark II is still mass producible by our VN complexes in bulk.
*3xChobbham/DU is the most resilient armor we can make "on the cheap." It is considerably tougher than the pure DU/Chobbham armor used in the Mark I.
*The gun size is fairly arbitary and can be changed as needed. I went with 140mm because it's a nice big number and I wanted overkill against any hypothetical Lamprey armored vehicle and some smaller naval warships.
Hailstones:
20cm diametre is pretty much the minimum for surviving through to impact (w/o surviving the impact). If you're looking to have it disintegrate during atmospheric entry you could trim off a decent chunk of that, say to around 15cm diametre.
Something capable of dodging lasers is going to be way bigger than thirty centimetres across. You'll need rockets and the fuel for them, and that'll stretch your size rather a lot, since you're talking about needing almost-continuous high-g thrust.
You'd be limited by making the bacterium samples. Presuming you meant the 50g size, you could crank out a hundred a day.
The planetary VN can build Hailstones. Onboard biolab for the bacterium. Audacity has some onboard small machine shops and so on as we discussed when talking about building Facehugger's killbots, so it can also construct these if necessary, but at a much slower rate.
Firing railguns (or coilguns) to launch Hailstones could be noticeable, both on IR and on radiotelescopes. Railguns chew big chunks of power; that power has to go somewhere. The Audacity's thermal management systems would be able to easily handle the heat; the radiators wick much larger amounts without issue. The EM from the whacking great big current running through the thing may be receivable with sufficiently sensitive 'scopes unless steps are taken.
Sol System:
Contact with Earth was lost around the 2000 LY mark (~20,000 years into flight). You've got no idea why; transmissions were simply cut and have not resumed.
Your bodies are back in Sol system somewhere. While it's theoretically possible they might survive until you get back, after 100,000+ years of independent experience, they're going to be wildly divergent. Or dead by accident or similar.
The Mars war was a brief conflict (brief in real-time, anyways) between the various uploadthreads and biologicals on Mars and the United Nations of Earth, running between April 20 and May 5, 2037. It is notable primarily for the first true deployment of warfare-grade network-subversion tactics. The United Nations eventually ended the conflict with the first fusion-jet spacewarcraft, the Audacity's great, great grandpa.
There have been, of course, other fights and general chinacery over the millenia between 2011 A.D. and LOC, some of which had death tolls to make Stalin blanch. Even uploaded, much of human history is doing the same damn thing over and over again. The gradual damping effects of immortality and simverses eventually mitigated this almost entirely; at LOC, Sol had had nearly seven thousand years of peace.
At the time of your last message, Sol system was teeming with humanity, both biological and uploaded. Freeform spacestations of enormous size, server farms filled with uploaded intelligences spending their lives in simulation, the whole nine yards. von Neumanning resource gathering was ripping apart the rocky planets and has shrunk Neptune and Uranus.
Saturn and Jupiter have been left alone to avoid screwing with their moon's ecologies, which are very primitive and sparse but present, and non-DNA based.
The extraterrestrial life forms were quite thoroughly examined. There wasn't anything really exciting about them; no intelligence, not even multi-cellular structures. They were notable for not being DNA-based, but otherwise they were, and seems to have remained, thoroughly passive.
Pressure has been building to exploit those as other resources become more sought after.
The sun has been tapped for energy through an absolutely enormous array of mirrors and in fact is slightly dimmer than it was when you left.
There were other colonisation efforts prior to this one, going to nearer locations: three of them. One, to Gleise 581, hadn't arrived by the time you left; the other two, to Alpha Centauri and Epsilon Eridani, were establishing colonies. You haven't gotten any messages
from them, either.
The other three colonies grew gradually over the time period, but slowly stagnated, their growth rates dropping down into a steady-state. No additional colonies were launched after the Audacity left; Sol system was insular. Anything imaginable could be experienced within sim, without the pesky limits of the real universe, and that grew to be where the vast majority of AIs and organics spent their time, instead of manipulating the coarse and balky physical layer.
No strange moonlets or possible artifacts in any of the colony systems were reported to you.
The other extra-Solar expeditions hadn't found any evidence of life, even down to the amino acid level. Alpha Centauri, Epsilon Eridani and Gliese 581 were barren. Even within Sol, the (very simple) life found on planets other than Earth was very different from Earth's.
If loss-of-contact Sol System had decided to rededicate its power facilities to pushing AM production, it could've created upwards of 60kg of AM. Per second.
Earth mostly ran on fusion. Mercury was a solar installation for powering everybody else before it began to be dismantled. Mars had overhead sats beaming power down; ditto the Moon. Venus wasn't settled. Inner-system orbital infrastructure was a mixture of self-mounted solar, beamed power, or fusion tech. Outer system orbital infrastructure was primarily beamed power from the inner system. For moving power around, they generally used high-efficiency infra-red quantumn cascade lasers.
Sol was on its way towards Dyson Sphere-ing-- not the solid-shell variant, but the enormous-shell-of-orbitting-sats-and-power-stations kind.
Culturally it was fairly stagnant. Evolutionary change happens, but the massive population of uploaded consciousnesses and bio-immortal organics have acted as a dampner. Humanity's population keeps growing, but any given new group is totally dwarfed by the existing cultural legacies and assimilated with minor ripples.
Concern about the Audacity wasn't huge. A sort of 'they're still there' kind of curiousity, since you were only 20,000 years in and nothing was really expected to happen until you arrived. Simply forgetting you seems unlikely given the bio/AI immortality and data records floating around.
Their technology was slightly more refined than yours, but not very much so in any way and there's been no fundamental advances or breakthroughs. Insofar as you know, you know everything there is to know about physics and chemistry.
At contact loss, you saw a very, very slight increase in stellar brightness. The light spike was Sol itself, as far as you can tell. It had (in addition to growing dimmer) redshifted thanks to the re-radiation of visible light as IR from the various things using it. The light spike restored Sol's original spectra and brightness, but did not exceed it. The jump in brightness is, to within measurable accuracy, what would happen if the Dyson swarm disappeared/folded up its solar panels.
Your onboard scopes are insufficient to image the individual planets from this distance.
You were in semi-regular contact, checking in every ten million seconds. The luminosity increase happened between transmissions, and then the next update didn't come.
In 30,000 years since loss-of-contact, you haven't seen anything consistent with a GRB event in-galaxy. Around a thousand supernovae, and many more smaller novae, but all distant enough from Sol for it to be unaffected.
At T+233D, there is a gravitational microlensing event, the first on a line-of-sight between you and Sol in the thirty thousand years since loss of contact. It is caused by a probable stellar-mass black hole transit. The transit in question is relatively close to the Lamprey system, around five hundred LY out; the drift is from galactic-rim to galactic centre, and at an angle to the Lamprey ecliptic. It looks entirely natural.
The lensing only lasts for a bit under an hour, but in that time you have everything you can looking around at what Sol was like five thousand years ago.
The results are interesting.
Sol system, physically, is very much as it was said to be on the last update from Sol. The gas giants aren't diminished, the other planets and moons are all still there. There's no new giant impact craters to be seen. Search as you might, though, there is no trace of any space-bourne industry or habitation or power generation. Some of it might be under your resolving abilities, but the Dyson Swarm of power sats around Sol would be observable if they were still there. They're gone.
Folding up the solar collectors is an automated protocol in response to no power demand for most such power stations.
Earth's atmospheric composition has shifted. It is showing a drop in CO2, water vapour, and methane levels and seems to be well into an ice age, a failure of climatic engineering that would not have occured normally. Earth's atmospheric composition remains consistent with a functioning ecology.
Mercury's albedo suggests that the solar panels which liberally coated it are still there, but there's no trace of the waste heat from the power distribution system anywhere in the system. The Mercury Solar Array's physical components are still present (by inference, since the albedo of Mercury was altered as they were constructed, and retains the post-construction one; the individual panels are not observable directly) but the Array itself seems to be offline and not radiating heat. The panels would degrade over the course of a few thousand years without maintenance.
The moon-based ecologies around Saturn and Jupiter have not made alterations to the moons visible to you. The moons seem to be the same as they were per your last update from Sol.
Topographical details are mostly below the resolution limits. However, large, distinguishing features remain unchanged (bar stuff accountable from natural processes) from your records at LoC. The planets positions match your predicted ones to within expected error bars.
There are no changes to any near-Solar/well-known and documented stars outside of natural bounds. Regarding the star Sol itself, the recent microlensing showed you nothing you hadn't already seen.
Sol System looks very much as if someone decided to turn out the lights without wanting to leave a mess. None of the megascale projects you would have a chance at seeing seem to be there any more; the size of the moons and planets that were feeding Sol remains identical to what they were at the T-30,000Y mark that was Loss of Contact.
An image that conveys the general impression Sol system gives off would be something like this.
The three extra-solar colonies were looked at. Unfortunately, without the gravity lensing, you have not been able to get firm results. The stars are still there, but none of the other colonies had gone Sol-scale. There's been no observable variation in the colonies' stars that doesn't match known natural phenomenon.
As far as you know, nothing short of a nova or some godawful combination of bioweapon/computer virus could have eliminated everybody. The virus is almost as impossible as the nova given the biological and computational security systems in place.
Any RKKV swarm sufficient to wipe out a Dyson Sphere's worth of satellites would have been amazingly obvious. No indicators of such an attack exist.
Physical-layer warfare-- nuclear warheads, lasers, KKVs, and so forth-- would be too slow to prevent an emergency message from being transmitted, unless the very first thing to be shot at was the Sol->Audacity comm relay. The commlink was run by a particularly cranky geezer of an upload who liked to maintain a burst-transmission charge in his capacitors at all times.
There are also huge logistical and observational issues with a physical invasion.
A proximate nova would have been able to destroy Sol, but none have been observed, and it would have been impossible to miss one.
However, killing Sol system is not theoretically impossible using only Sol's technology. Merely very, very hard.
Lamprey System:
Stars around the Lamprey system. Arrows are the z-axis. Note: All stars entirely fictious.
Solar system diagram
Positions of the planets as of T+7.6 D
Positions of the planets as of T+261 D
Positions of the planets as of T+290 D.
The Lamprey system, according to Sol theories, isn't particularly unusual, at large scales.
The standard late heavy bombardment (the one in Sol being atypically light) and gas giant disruption of interior potential rocky planets are evident. Craters like the ones on L-II, or other Lamprey bodies, or for that matter in Sol, are very, very common; universal, in fact. It's a standard late heavy bombardment. Sol's, which among other things includes the impact that made the Moon, was atypically light; so is the Lamprey system's, despite the craters on L-II. L-IIs craters are larger than anything known on Earth, but Earth is much, much more tectonically active, and the collision that created the Moon dwarfs anything else in either system. Most rocky planets in the galaxy without active tectonics show far larger impacts than L-II.
The belt, L-III, and L-IV are all likely migrants from the inner system; L-III in particular is most likely to have formed around the five and a half AU mark and moved outward.
L-III-V is a likely capture from the inner system.
Long-term projections of the following nature are necessarily little better than guesses. Sol had done a quite thorough survey of the Galaxy but it remains a chaotic system and extrapolating through this kind of time compounds small unknowns wildly.
Nevertheless, and with all disclaimers firmly in place, this is the best guess for the closest point of approach between Sol and Lamprey:
NOTE: Black is not 0 probability, it is simply the lowest probability displayed on the image.
There's far too much uncertainty to make any statements about possible transfers or interactions between the Sol and Lamprey systems, other than to note that it is theoretically possible for material to have been exchanged between the Sol and Lamprey systems. For this to be likely, sans intent, there would have needed to be a fairly considerable amount of ejecta. A moon-creating collision might be able to manage this; dino-killer, unlikely. Planetary fragmentation is where I'd start saying it's a true possibility. Simple organic molecules could have survived the conditions involved, as could extremophile spores.
The Lamprey system is around a half a billion years older than Sol.
There's a fair amount of assorted detriteus between the orbit of the inner gas giant and the alien planet. Nickle-iron, iceballs, what have you.
There seems to be less in the way of heavier elements in the Lamprey system than there is in Sol.The only star systems that had anything even approaching a probe of Audacity level sophisication were the three colonial expeditions. Remote spectrography indicates that the Lamprey system is on the light side for metals and heavy elements compared to many regions of the galaxy, particularly Sol, which is richer than many areas. L-II, for example, is less dense than Earth.
A chart showing Sol and LampreyTown's materials relative to the normal distribution
There's large agglomerations of asteroids at the Trojan points of both L-II and L-III, and a sparser one for L-IV. L-I and L-V orbits are effectively negligible. The major belt at 6.5 AU +/- .5 AU is fairly uniform.
There's nothing threatening or unusual about the other stars around you, though they run the gamut between dwarves and supergiants. They all appear to be fusing normally. There are no brown dwarves nearby.
The nearest star to the Lamprey system is a red dwarf thirteen lightyears away.
Nothing in the Lamprey star system that you've found to-date appears to be of out-system origin.
There are several star systems with asteroid belts and no habitable-zone rocky planets within 100 LY of the Lamprey system, according to the charts Sol gave you. Your spysat swarm could give you a reasonable look at those systems.
Lamprey Sun:
Mass: 2.029E+30 kg
Radius: 7.1E+8 m
Luminosity: 3.93E+26 W
Age: ~5 GY.
Radius: 7.1E+8 m
Luminosity: 3.93E+26 W
Age: ~5 GY.
A vanilla G2V star, very similar to Sol. It's a couple percent heavier and a little hotter, though.
The Lamprey star features prominently in the Polytheistic religions and less-to-almost-none in the others. M-I/1, the official religion of Ha'Aretz (E3), is one of the almost-none.
The Lamprey star features prominently in the Polytheistic religions and less-to-almost-none in the others. M-I/1, the official religion of Ha'Aretz (E3), is one of the almost-none.
Lamprey-I:
Orbital semi-major axis: 0.3 AU
Orbital time: 59.4 days
Position @ T-0: +83.3 degrees
Smallest of the rocky planets, tidelocked to Lamprey Sun. A hotter, faster, larger Mercury. Construction of a solar-panel array like the one on Mercury would be feasible.
Lamprey-II:
Orbital semi-major axis: 1.2 AU
Orbital time: 475.33 days / 1.30 years
Rotational time: 23.2 hours
Equatorial radius: 6,463 km
Surface gravity: 9.025 m/s^2
Mass: 5.647E+24 kg
Synchronous orbit (from centre of planet): 40,533 km
Synchronous orbit (altitude): 34,070 km
Position @ T-0: +8.72 degrees
Incident solar power intensity: 970 W/m^2
Consolidated planetary map.
Second largest of the rocky planets. The only known complex ecology in the entire Galaxy outside of Earth exists here. Prior to LOC, humanity had surveyed over two hundred and thirty billion stellar systems. Of those, Earth and Lampreytown remain the only two with any indications of life. The vast majority (93%) of these systems do not possess rocky planets within the liquid-water zones, though many of them do possess asteroid belts in or just outside it. In the remaining 7%, there are quite a few lifeless/atmosphereless/smashed rocky planets out there, but no life.
Theories have arisen to provide for the lack of life, just as they have for the preponderance of asteroid fields instead of rocky planets in the inner solar system. They strain a little at also explaining why Sol system had life in multiple locations.
Current consensus on the timeline of life on Earth puts the first single-celled organisms at around 3.8 billion years ago. The theorised age of the Earth-- the actual planet-- is estimated at 4.5-4.6 billion years ago.
Lamprey geology puts the formation of L-II at around 5 billion years ago.
There's a bunch of Lamprey theories on the origin of life, religious and secular. The leading scientific one is that it arose naturally on L-II roughly four and a half billion years ago. A second one supposes-- without any particular evidence-- that the precursors to life were brought to L-II by comet or asteroid strikes in the deep past. What is known is that in a very short time, geologically speaking, L-II went from lifeless to swarming with single-celled organisms who significantly changed L-II's atmospheric composition and warmed it dramatically. This occured at the four and a half billion year mark, in either theory.
Contour map of L-II
Scale note: One equatorial pixel = ~24km laterally by ~28km vertically.
Close-up contour map of basin formation. 25x zoom in of the basin formation surrounded by the Equatorial landmasses, scale is approximately 1km per pixel.
Lamprey orthodox geology holds these formations to be meteor strikes; they are associated with mass extinction layers. Magnetic surveying indicates the presence of large amounts of ferromagnetic material present at the bottom, which the Lampreys have fantasized about mining. Currently this is cost-prohibitive (in shallower regions) or outright impossible (the 10km+ ones).
It'd take billions of years to erase them. Those impact structures are very, very big. They've been spread throughout L-II's geological history; the oldest is at the South Pole, believed to be three and a quarter billion years of age. The most recent is the northern one between the two main landmasses, at six hundred and thirty million years. The one surrounded by the Equatorial countries, and the one just to the north of that, arrived simultaneously one point one billion years ago. Insofar as Lamprey geology can tell, they were truly simultaneous. The best theory the Lampreys have is that a larger object fragmented and at least two of those fragments hit L-II; rather like how Shoemaker-Levy 9 clobbered Jupiter. Iridium and osmium layers are what the Lampreys have used for dating them.
A dated map of the impact structures.
Crater impacts appear to've produced the majority of L-II's surface topography. L-II is much less tectonically active than Earth, but this is not unusual.
There have been smaller extinction events not associated with the geology like that, various ice ages and so forth. The extinction events associated with the big impact structures appear to've taken out more or less every multi-cellular species on L-II, each time.
There's a nitrogen/oxygen/carbon-dio atmosphere with chirality polarisation. What made this particular planet unique was the fact that it had a complex extra-terrestrial ecology; the first such found in the universe. The fact that the planet had intelligent life on it was not known at launch. It was only found out when you first hit the signals.
You could cause a dust-cloud winter. L-II should be somewhat more vulnerable to such events than Earth given its orbit is further from its star; a strong greenhouse effect is crucial to its current ecology.
Synchronous orbit is 40,541km.
At T-105 D, mkire-I has given you your first views of Lamprey-II with your own technology. You've had a solid idea of what the place looked like thanks to Lamprey TV, but this is your first direct observation. Lamprey-II is warmer than Earth, with higher O2 and CO2 concentrations, offsetting its further distance from the sun. Oceans are mostly shallow and occupy roughly half the planet. Landmasses are more dispersed than Earth's. Vegetation covers most of them lushly in yellow, with few desert equivalents.
The concentration of heavier metals is lower than Earthly. Lamprey cities follow oceans and rivers in most cases. mkire-I picked up enormous numbers of low-intensity transient radio signals, mostly cut off by atmospheric absorption or Lamprey-II's ionosphere.
Lamprey-II's ionosphere and magnetosphere are both weaker than Earth's.
The pressure on L-II's core ranges into the hundreds of gigapascals and temperatures that near those of the solar surface. Hiding any kind of machine down there is well beyond Sol's tech.
Lamprey-II is a very fertile planet. Warm, shallow seas, with lots of land barriers to cut down on storms; moderate climate more or less worldwide (although, of course, the poles are still iced); a global average temperature moderately higher than Earth's despite being 1.2 AU out from the Lamprey Sun. The oceanic plankton are numerous, productive, and a huge base for the rest of the food chain.
The oceans have a huge assortment of stuff. We don't even know everything that lives in our oceans now IRL; L-II's oceans, in general, have more: More algae, more plankton, more filterfeeders, more things feeding on the filterfeeders, more big predators, more megapredators, more poison, more nastiness, more size, more brains, more cunning.
There's huge varieties in body plans, in feeding strategies, in habitat, in composition, in colours, etc, etc etc. There are a number of sea creatures that are amphibious in nature and can and will assault land fauna by the verge.
Bipedal animals of human or larger size are unknown. Bipedal locomotion in general is rare. Animal life usually on L-II has either no legs or many legs.
There are some other relatively intelligent creatures on L-II. The Lampreys are unquestionably the dominant toolusers, but other forms of life can and do make use of primitive tools or build complicated things; one predator is known to dig and disguise pit traps.
The Lampreys have domesticated some of these; for food, for work, for play. One of the most popular Lamprey pets is a blue six-legged insect-like thing, about a half-metre long (used as a model for a famous fictional robot). It can understand spoken Lamprey, hunt and track independently, haul, or carry; at least, it is so depicted. There are capacities assigned to it in fiction that more serious shows do not show to the same extent (esp. as regards understanding Lampreys). They historically used draft animals, though those have very largely been phased out in actual work and replaced by mechanised tools.
None of these share much evolutionary history with the Lampreys, working off of very distinctly different body plans.
L-II has two moons. They look like captured asteroid belt bodies from within the Lamprey system. The moons are the approximate size of Deimos, and not sufficient to stablize L-II on their own.
There is a lot of survelliance gear in L-II orbit and on the ground, on ships, in the air, etc. There are probably areas where the weapon coverage is less intense-- for example, the poles-- but remember that massdriver on the moonbase.
Numerous objects within the system cross L-II's orbit; most of these look like wandering asteroids from the belt.
L-II regularly passes through debris trails from comets and so forth, and the Lampreys have not yet demonstrated the ability to sweep L-II space clean, though this is changing.
Something small enough and diguised enough may get down undetected or, at least, unshot. The chances are rapidly dwindling as time goes on.
Lamprey-II-I:
Lamprey-II-II:
Orbital time: 475.33 days / 1.30 years
Rotational time: 23.2 hours
Equatorial radius: 6,463 km
Surface gravity: 9.025 m/s^2
Mass: 5.647E+24 kg
Synchronous orbit (from centre of planet): 40,533 km
Synchronous orbit (altitude): 34,070 km
Position @ T-0: +8.72 degrees
Incident solar power intensity: 970 W/m^2
Consolidated planetary map.
Second largest of the rocky planets. The only known complex ecology in the entire Galaxy outside of Earth exists here. Prior to LOC, humanity had surveyed over two hundred and thirty billion stellar systems. Of those, Earth and Lampreytown remain the only two with any indications of life. The vast majority (93%) of these systems do not possess rocky planets within the liquid-water zones, though many of them do possess asteroid belts in or just outside it. In the remaining 7%, there are quite a few lifeless/atmosphereless/smashed rocky planets out there, but no life.
Theories have arisen to provide for the lack of life, just as they have for the preponderance of asteroid fields instead of rocky planets in the inner solar system. They strain a little at also explaining why Sol system had life in multiple locations.
Current consensus on the timeline of life on Earth puts the first single-celled organisms at around 3.8 billion years ago. The theorised age of the Earth-- the actual planet-- is estimated at 4.5-4.6 billion years ago.
Lamprey geology puts the formation of L-II at around 5 billion years ago.
There's a bunch of Lamprey theories on the origin of life, religious and secular. The leading scientific one is that it arose naturally on L-II roughly four and a half billion years ago. A second one supposes-- without any particular evidence-- that the precursors to life were brought to L-II by comet or asteroid strikes in the deep past. What is known is that in a very short time, geologically speaking, L-II went from lifeless to swarming with single-celled organisms who significantly changed L-II's atmospheric composition and warmed it dramatically. This occured at the four and a half billion year mark, in either theory.
Contour map of L-II
Scale note: One equatorial pixel = ~24km laterally by ~28km vertically.
Close-up contour map of basin formation. 25x zoom in of the basin formation surrounded by the Equatorial landmasses, scale is approximately 1km per pixel.
Lamprey orthodox geology holds these formations to be meteor strikes; they are associated with mass extinction layers. Magnetic surveying indicates the presence of large amounts of ferromagnetic material present at the bottom, which the Lampreys have fantasized about mining. Currently this is cost-prohibitive (in shallower regions) or outright impossible (the 10km+ ones).
It'd take billions of years to erase them. Those impact structures are very, very big. They've been spread throughout L-II's geological history; the oldest is at the South Pole, believed to be three and a quarter billion years of age. The most recent is the northern one between the two main landmasses, at six hundred and thirty million years. The one surrounded by the Equatorial countries, and the one just to the north of that, arrived simultaneously one point one billion years ago. Insofar as Lamprey geology can tell, they were truly simultaneous. The best theory the Lampreys have is that a larger object fragmented and at least two of those fragments hit L-II; rather like how Shoemaker-Levy 9 clobbered Jupiter. Iridium and osmium layers are what the Lampreys have used for dating them.
A dated map of the impact structures.
Crater impacts appear to've produced the majority of L-II's surface topography. L-II is much less tectonically active than Earth, but this is not unusual.
There have been smaller extinction events not associated with the geology like that, various ice ages and so forth. The extinction events associated with the big impact structures appear to've taken out more or less every multi-cellular species on L-II, each time.
There's a nitrogen/oxygen/carbon-dio atmosphere with chirality polarisation. What made this particular planet unique was the fact that it had a complex extra-terrestrial ecology; the first such found in the universe. The fact that the planet had intelligent life on it was not known at launch. It was only found out when you first hit the signals.
You could cause a dust-cloud winter. L-II should be somewhat more vulnerable to such events than Earth given its orbit is further from its star; a strong greenhouse effect is crucial to its current ecology.
Synchronous orbit is 40,541km.
At T-105 D, mkire-I has given you your first views of Lamprey-II with your own technology. You've had a solid idea of what the place looked like thanks to Lamprey TV, but this is your first direct observation. Lamprey-II is warmer than Earth, with higher O2 and CO2 concentrations, offsetting its further distance from the sun. Oceans are mostly shallow and occupy roughly half the planet. Landmasses are more dispersed than Earth's. Vegetation covers most of them lushly in yellow, with few desert equivalents.
The concentration of heavier metals is lower than Earthly. Lamprey cities follow oceans and rivers in most cases. mkire-I picked up enormous numbers of low-intensity transient radio signals, mostly cut off by atmospheric absorption or Lamprey-II's ionosphere.
Lamprey-II's ionosphere and magnetosphere are both weaker than Earth's.
The pressure on L-II's core ranges into the hundreds of gigapascals and temperatures that near those of the solar surface. Hiding any kind of machine down there is well beyond Sol's tech.
Lamprey-II is a very fertile planet. Warm, shallow seas, with lots of land barriers to cut down on storms; moderate climate more or less worldwide (although, of course, the poles are still iced); a global average temperature moderately higher than Earth's despite being 1.2 AU out from the Lamprey Sun. The oceanic plankton are numerous, productive, and a huge base for the rest of the food chain.
The oceans have a huge assortment of stuff. We don't even know everything that lives in our oceans now IRL; L-II's oceans, in general, have more: More algae, more plankton, more filterfeeders, more things feeding on the filterfeeders, more big predators, more megapredators, more poison, more nastiness, more size, more brains, more cunning.
There's huge varieties in body plans, in feeding strategies, in habitat, in composition, in colours, etc, etc etc. There are a number of sea creatures that are amphibious in nature and can and will assault land fauna by the verge.
Bipedal animals of human or larger size are unknown. Bipedal locomotion in general is rare. Animal life usually on L-II has either no legs or many legs.
There are some other relatively intelligent creatures on L-II. The Lampreys are unquestionably the dominant toolusers, but other forms of life can and do make use of primitive tools or build complicated things; one predator is known to dig and disguise pit traps.
The Lampreys have domesticated some of these; for food, for work, for play. One of the most popular Lamprey pets is a blue six-legged insect-like thing, about a half-metre long (used as a model for a famous fictional robot). It can understand spoken Lamprey, hunt and track independently, haul, or carry; at least, it is so depicted. There are capacities assigned to it in fiction that more serious shows do not show to the same extent (esp. as regards understanding Lampreys). They historically used draft animals, though those have very largely been phased out in actual work and replaced by mechanised tools.
None of these share much evolutionary history with the Lampreys, working off of very distinctly different body plans.
L-II has two moons. They look like captured asteroid belt bodies from within the Lamprey system. The moons are the approximate size of Deimos, and not sufficient to stablize L-II on their own.
There is a lot of survelliance gear in L-II orbit and on the ground, on ships, in the air, etc. There are probably areas where the weapon coverage is less intense-- for example, the poles-- but remember that massdriver on the moonbase.
Numerous objects within the system cross L-II's orbit; most of these look like wandering asteroids from the belt.
L-II regularly passes through debris trails from comets and so forth, and the Lampreys have not yet demonstrated the ability to sweep L-II space clean, though this is changing.
Something small enough and diguised enough may get down undetected or, at least, unshot. The chances are rapidly dwindling as time goes on.
Lamprey-II-I:
Semi-major axis: 20,046 km
Orbital altitude: 13,583 km
Period: 8.07 hours
Mass: 1.32E+15 kg
Density: 1521 kg/m^3
Volume: 868 km^3
Orbital altitude: 13,583 km
Period: 8.07 hours
Mass: 1.32E+15 kg
Density: 1521 kg/m^3
Volume: 868 km^3
Irregularly shaped lump. Around nine kilometres long in it's largest dimension.
Called "Quicklight" in Beta-3.
Two very large (varying between three hundred twenty one metres to five hundred fourty six metres across) bubbles of shiny aluminium are erected by T+102 D, apparently kept from collapse by being inflated with low-pressure nitrogen gas.
The countries responsible are:
L-II-I-Alpha was not unique. The previously observed heat sources match up with small hardened subsurface facilities and mobile equipment.
Tidelocked to L-II.
Contemplator's Folly is currently moored to this moon above the L-II-I-Alpha bubble.
Called "Quicklight" in Beta-3.
Two very large (varying between three hundred twenty one metres to five hundred fourty six metres across) bubbles of shiny aluminium are erected by T+102 D, apparently kept from collapse by being inflated with low-pressure nitrogen gas.
The countries responsible are:
- L-II-I-Alpha: Ha'Aretz (E3). Docking facility and supply dump for the Ha'Aretz (E3) Orion. The other nations would not-- necessarily-- have known what was being sent up. It's possible that they did know, but if so, that knowledge was conveyed without you snooping it from airwaves. The The Dawn is currently tethered overhead.
- L-II-I-Beta: Victus (NE3)/Princeps (NE5).
L-II-I-Alpha was not unique. The previously observed heat sources match up with small hardened subsurface facilities and mobile equipment.
Tidelocked to L-II.
Contemplator's Folly is currently moored to this moon above the L-II-I-Alpha bubble.
Lamprey-II-II:
Semi-major axis: 44,879 km
Orbital altitude: 38,416 km
Period: 27.03 hours
Mass: 1.71E+15 kg
Density: 1889 kg/m^3
Volume: 905 km^3
Orbital altitude: 38,416 km
Period: 27.03 hours
Mass: 1.71E+15 kg
Density: 1889 kg/m^3
Volume: 905 km^3
Called "Slowlight" in Beta-3.
Home to Lamprey scientific outpost. Limited mining and refining operations by T-1.8 Y.The moonbase sends constant telemetry readings to ground stations. The moon is tidally locked, with the base facing Lamprey-II; the base is never out of ground station contact, either directly or, redundantly, through various of Lamprey-II's comsats.
Tidelocked to L-II. The Lamprey colony is on the side facing the planet.
Four very large (varying between three hundred twenty one metres to five hundred fourty six metres across) bubbles of shiny aluminium are erected by T+102 D, apparently kept from collapse by being inflated with low-pressure nitrogen gas. You can spot materials being shipped in and out of each of them. The bubbles themselves, being aluminium, are going to (if my understanding is correct) reflect attempts to see beneath them with radar.
The countries responsible are:
There is a mass driver installed at the L-II-II moonbase, capable of fragmenting meteor targets around a metre across. There's a radar installation anchored on the far side of L-II-II. It's a short range, high resolution facility.
Home to Lamprey scientific outpost. Limited mining and refining operations by T-1.8 Y.The moonbase sends constant telemetry readings to ground stations. The moon is tidally locked, with the base facing Lamprey-II; the base is never out of ground station contact, either directly or, redundantly, through various of Lamprey-II's comsats.
Tidelocked to L-II. The Lamprey colony is on the side facing the planet.
Four very large (varying between three hundred twenty one metres to five hundred fourty six metres across) bubbles of shiny aluminium are erected by T+102 D, apparently kept from collapse by being inflated with low-pressure nitrogen gas. You can spot materials being shipped in and out of each of them. The bubbles themselves, being aluminium, are going to (if my understanding is correct) reflect attempts to see beneath them with radar.
The countries responsible are:
- L-II-II-Alpha: Aggregated Groups (E1). Revealed to be a shallow parabolic bowl. Centerpoint does not intersect L-II and it does not intersect with North Ukkei (M3)'s proposed meeting spot. It does intersect L-III. LP-1 does not intersect and never will. LP-2 might, since the moondish does cross L-III's orbit, but does not at the moment and won't for some time.. Focal point lies beyond L-IV's opposition. The bowl is roughly five hundred and eleven metres in diametre. Whether or not it is in its intended final shape is unknown, but it is a fairly smooth curve. From what your spysat swarm can see, it is not optics-quality.
The surface is the aluminium foil from the dome. The area past L-IV seems to contain nothing of interest.
There is no conceivable way for that dish to reflect an EMP pulse. The physics simply do not work in that fashion at all.
- L-II-II-Beta: Aggregated Groups (E1). Revealed to be ploughed ground.
- L-II-II-Ceti: Çaiyad (E4).
- L-II-II-Delta: Victus (NE3)/Princeps (NE5).
There is a mass driver installed at the L-II-II moonbase, capable of fragmenting meteor targets around a metre across. There's a radar installation anchored on the far side of L-II-II. It's a short range, high resolution facility.
Asteroid Belt:
Band between 6 and 7 AU.
Aggregated Mass: Roughly 8E22 kg (Approximately 1% of the mass of the Earth.)
The belt is fairly undramatic. Spaced and sparse (relative to SF 'roid fields) it is nonetheless about twice as dense as Sol System's, and has just over 1% of the mass of the Earth. The asteroids in in range up to and slightly past Vesta-magnitude, though there's only a couple of that size. There are regular bands where orbital resonance with one of the planets has swept an area clear of asteroids, and the asteroids themselves bear marks of collision. Many of them show signs of melting.
The melt signs are contemporaneous with the asteroid's formation, or possibly a little afterwards.
There are also small groups of asteroids hanging out at the Trojan points of L-III and L-IV, as well as comet gravel tracks all through the inner system.
None of the 'roids found to-date has enough fissionable material to build nuclear bombs.
T-~4,000,000,000 Y cratering marks are evident on the asteroids, as well as (relatively) large crater marks at dates ranging from T-~1,200,000,000 Y to T-~4,100,000,000 Y. The asteroids are relatively poor in heavy elements, but bear absolutely no signs of being worked by tools. By this point most of them are in stable, long-term orbits, with gaps thanks to the orbital resonances of various planets (L-III, of course, most prominently).
There are asteroids in the Lamprey belt whose composition very closely matches a rare class of asteroids in Sol system, a class of asteroids which were unremarkable except in that they were 1. not of Sol origin, 2. carbonaceous, with minor water content, 3. possibly at one point had trace amino acids on them. If these had come from the Lamprey system, their travel speed depends on a great many unknowns, including precisely when, in this hypothetical, the asteroids were kicked out, what mass they had, what direction they were moving relative to the Earth, and what distance they had to travel. In highest probabilities, however, the interstellar speed could have been quite low, under 1 m/s. As such the impact speeds would not be materially different from an intra-system impact, which would be between 52km/s and 72km/s. It would require an impactor of unusual size, upwards of 2,000 kilometres in diametre if it were made of pure iron, to destroy the Earth at those speeds.
While the asteroids I described that're similar in both Sol and the Lamprey system are rare in Sol, they are much more common in the Lamprey system, and their isotope ratios are consistent with those the other bodies you've surveyed in the Lamprey system.
The other two extra-Solar expeditions did not report finding asteroids with close composition matches to those in Sol.
On the twenty-first day after Contemplator's speech, the Audacity, hopping among asteroids, finds one with a number of fossils embedded into it. They are of small macroscale organisms, between three and six centimetres in length, and they do not match up with anything ever found on Earth or any other Sol life-bearing body, or known to be found on L-II. Apparent length of exposure to vacuum is over four billion years.
The fossils are local to the Lamprey system.
The possibility does exist that it is the remains of a planet.
Aggregated Mass: Roughly 8E22 kg (Approximately 1% of the mass of the Earth.)
The belt is fairly undramatic. Spaced and sparse (relative to SF 'roid fields) it is nonetheless about twice as dense as Sol System's, and has just over 1% of the mass of the Earth. The asteroids in in range up to and slightly past Vesta-magnitude, though there's only a couple of that size. There are regular bands where orbital resonance with one of the planets has swept an area clear of asteroids, and the asteroids themselves bear marks of collision. Many of them show signs of melting.
The melt signs are contemporaneous with the asteroid's formation, or possibly a little afterwards.
There are also small groups of asteroids hanging out at the Trojan points of L-III and L-IV, as well as comet gravel tracks all through the inner system.
None of the 'roids found to-date has enough fissionable material to build nuclear bombs.
T-~4,000,000,000 Y cratering marks are evident on the asteroids, as well as (relatively) large crater marks at dates ranging from T-~1,200,000,000 Y to T-~4,100,000,000 Y. The asteroids are relatively poor in heavy elements, but bear absolutely no signs of being worked by tools. By this point most of them are in stable, long-term orbits, with gaps thanks to the orbital resonances of various planets (L-III, of course, most prominently).
There are asteroids in the Lamprey belt whose composition very closely matches a rare class of asteroids in Sol system, a class of asteroids which were unremarkable except in that they were 1. not of Sol origin, 2. carbonaceous, with minor water content, 3. possibly at one point had trace amino acids on them. If these had come from the Lamprey system, their travel speed depends on a great many unknowns, including precisely when, in this hypothetical, the asteroids were kicked out, what mass they had, what direction they were moving relative to the Earth, and what distance they had to travel. In highest probabilities, however, the interstellar speed could have been quite low, under 1 m/s. As such the impact speeds would not be materially different from an intra-system impact, which would be between 52km/s and 72km/s. It would require an impactor of unusual size, upwards of 2,000 kilometres in diametre if it were made of pure iron, to destroy the Earth at those speeds.
While the asteroids I described that're similar in both Sol and the Lamprey system are rare in Sol, they are much more common in the Lamprey system, and their isotope ratios are consistent with those the other bodies you've surveyed in the Lamprey system.
The other two extra-Solar expeditions did not report finding asteroids with close composition matches to those in Sol.
On the twenty-first day after Contemplator's speech, the Audacity, hopping among asteroids, finds one with a number of fossils embedded into it. They are of small macroscale organisms, between three and six centimetres in length, and they do not match up with anything ever found on Earth or any other Sol life-bearing body, or known to be found on L-II. Apparent length of exposure to vacuum is over four billion years.
The fossils are local to the Lamprey system.
The possibility does exist that it is the remains of a planet.
Lamprey-III:
Semi-major axis: 12.0 AU
Orbital period: 41.18 years
Position @ T-0: +45.1 degrees
Mass: 5.76E+27 kg
Radius: 76,023 km
Incident solar power intensity: 10 W/m^2
Lamprey-III-I:
Lamprey-III-II:
Lamprey-III-III:
Lamprey-III-IV:
Semi-major axis: 1.43E+6 km
Orbital period: -151.5 h
Dimensions: 7.1 x 8.0 x 6.4 km
Mass: 1.56E+14 kg
Density: 851 kg/m^3
Lamprey-III-V, "Watcher's Daughter" in Beta-3:
Lamprey-III-VI, "Watcher's Servant" in Beta-3:
Lamprey-III-VII:
Lamprey-III-VIII:
Lamprey-III-IX:
Lamprey-III-X:
Lamprey-III-XI:
Lamprey-III-XII:
Lamprey-III-XIII:
Lamprey-III-XIV:
Lamprey-III-XV:
Lamprey-III-XVI:
Lamprey-III-XVII, Beta-3: NotMoon:
Lamprey-III-XVIII:
Lamprey-III-XIX:
Lamprey-III-XX:
Lamprey-III-XXI:
Lamprey-III-XXII:
Lamprey-III-XXIII:
Lamprey-III-XXIV:
Lamprey-III-XXV:
Semi-major axis: 1.60E+7 km
Orbital Period: 5683.8 h
Dimensions: 764.1 x 736.4 x 707.6 km
Mass: 6.14E+20 kg
Density: 2931 kg/m^3
Lamprey-III-XXVI:
Lamprey-III-XXVII:
Orbital period: 41.18 years
Position @ T-0: +45.1 degrees
Mass: 5.76E+27 kg
Radius: 76,023 km
Incident solar power intensity: 10 W/m^2
Alpha-2 calls L-III 'the Wanderer'; Beta-3 calls it 'the Watcher'; the Ceti family refer to it as "Gods Home".
L-III is rather heavy for its radius, massing three times what Jupiter does but being about 5% larger in terms of equatorial radius. It has noticeable gravity heating, a powerful magnetosphere, and outputs constant broad-spectrum radio noise that varies considerably in amplitude.
The gas giant radio noise is noise, as far as you can analyze.
Stellating L-III would require crashing several more L-III scale masses into it. Another fifteen or so, say.
If L-III had started at around a Jupiter mass, it would have required around six hundred and forty Earth masses worth of material to bring it to its present mass. However if that material were rocky or metallic in nature L-III would be far more compact than it currently is.
It is impossible to determine if bulk hydrogen or helium has been removed from L-III.
L-III is rather heavy for its radius, massing three times what Jupiter does but being about 5% larger in terms of equatorial radius. It has noticeable gravity heating, a powerful magnetosphere, and outputs constant broad-spectrum radio noise that varies considerably in amplitude.
The gas giant radio noise is noise, as far as you can analyze.
Stellating L-III would require crashing several more L-III scale masses into it. Another fifteen or so, say.
If L-III had started at around a Jupiter mass, it would have required around six hundred and forty Earth masses worth of material to bring it to its present mass. However if that material were rocky or metallic in nature L-III would be far more compact than it currently is.
It is impossible to determine if bulk hydrogen or helium has been removed from L-III.
Lamprey-III-I:
Semi-major axis: 7.48E+5 km
Orbital period: 57.6 h
Radius: 1,023 km
Mass: 9.3E+21 kg
Density: 2073 kg/m^3
Orbital period: 57.6 h
Radius: 1,023 km
Mass: 9.3E+21 kg
Density: 2073 kg/m^3
Carbocaneous, spheroid. Est. 8% water by mass. Evenly and densely cratered.
Lamprey-III-II:
Semi-major axis: 1.00E+6 km
Orbital period: 89.3 h
Radius: 1,762 km
Mass: 4.6E+22 kg
Density: 2136 kg/m^3
Orbital period: 89.3 h
Radius: 1,762 km
Mass: 4.6E+22 kg
Density: 2136 kg/m^3
Carbonaceous, sphereoid. Est. 6% water by mass. Densely, heavily cratered.
Lamprey-III-III:
Semi-major axis: 1.41E+6 km
Orbital period: 148.4 h
Dimensions: 86 x 76 x 105 km
Mass: 3.08E+17 kg
Density: 924 kg/m^3
Orbital period: 148.4 h
Dimensions: 86 x 76 x 105 km
Mass: 3.08E+17 kg
Density: 924 kg/m^3
Water ice, irregular. Eccentric orbit. Fake Brain is emplaced on this moon.
Lamprey-III-IV:
Semi-major axis: 1.43E+6 km
Orbital period: -151.5 h
Dimensions: 7.1 x 8.0 x 6.4 km
Mass: 1.56E+14 kg
Density: 851 kg/m^3
Water ice, irregular. Eccentric orbit.
Lamprey-III-V, "Watcher's Daughter" in Beta-3:
Semi-major axis: 3.20E+6 km
Orbital Period: 510.6 h
Radius: 7,248 km
Mass: 7.31E+24 kg
Density: 4584 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: 510.6 h
Radius: 7,248 km
Mass: 7.31E+24 kg
Density: 4584 kg/m^3
Largest of the rocky planet-sized bodies. Covered in a witch's brew of frozen hydrocarbons, a melange at least thirty kilometres deep planet-wide. What lies underneath is unknown but presumed to be a rock and metal core based on the observed mass. There are large craters and fissures in the ice, but none that penetrate to solid material underneath.
Instrumentation packages were dropped off using three of the non-recoverable landers scattered across the ice layer. One lands near a higher-than-usual area of meteorite contaminants, one lands by a kilometre deep fissure in the ice, and one lands in the middle of absolutely nothing remarkable.
The ice layer beneath the landing sites varies in depth, between fourty two to sixty-eight kilometres. Below that, there is an ocean of depth eight to twenty-one kilometres. Below that ocean lies L-III-V's crust, and below that lies a typically structured, tectonically active rocky planet.
There's a large impact structure noticeable by the third probe's seismic survey of the planet floor. Dating it is impossible but its size is on the order of the ones on L-II.
Traces of amino acids are found on some of the meteorite contaminants by another probe. There's no sign of them elsewhere. The acids match both those of Earth and of L-II, down to chirality. Dating shows the rocks to be nearly three billion years old. They were discovered inside what appears to be a meteorite itself. Analysis shows it fell to L-III-V within the last fifty years, after spending almost three billion years in space.
The meteorite in question is one of many strewn about a fairly large area, but it is about the size of a golf-ball; if the debris field was concentrated in one place it would be about the size of a soccerball. The Lampreys do not appear to've seen it land.
Instrumentation packages were dropped off using three of the non-recoverable landers scattered across the ice layer. One lands near a higher-than-usual area of meteorite contaminants, one lands by a kilometre deep fissure in the ice, and one lands in the middle of absolutely nothing remarkable.
The ice layer beneath the landing sites varies in depth, between fourty two to sixty-eight kilometres. Below that, there is an ocean of depth eight to twenty-one kilometres. Below that ocean lies L-III-V's crust, and below that lies a typically structured, tectonically active rocky planet.
There's a large impact structure noticeable by the third probe's seismic survey of the planet floor. Dating it is impossible but its size is on the order of the ones on L-II.
Traces of amino acids are found on some of the meteorite contaminants by another probe. There's no sign of them elsewhere. The acids match both those of Earth and of L-II, down to chirality. Dating shows the rocks to be nearly three billion years old. They were discovered inside what appears to be a meteorite itself. Analysis shows it fell to L-III-V within the last fifty years, after spending almost three billion years in space.
The meteorite in question is one of many strewn about a fairly large area, but it is about the size of a golf-ball; if the debris field was concentrated in one place it would be about the size of a soccerball. The Lampreys do not appear to've seen it land.
Lamprey-III-VI, "Watcher's Servant" in Beta-3:
Semi-major axis: 5.23E+6 km
Orbital Period: 1065.6 h
Rotation Period: 883.2 h
Radius: 1,858 km
Mass: 9.49E+22 kg
Density: 3532 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: 1065.6 h
Rotation Period: 883.2 h
Radius: 1,858 km
Mass: 9.49E+22 kg
Density: 3532 kg/m^3
Made of silicates and iron, L-III-VI would be a spherical body except for a truly enormous crater that dominates a full hemisphere and renders it distinctly lopsided. Other, much smaller craters cover the rest of the surface. Surface deposits of unworked elemental metals, ranging from copper to gold, have been spotted.
L-III-VI is loaded with tasty things for your planetary von Neumanner. Primarily, of course, various forms of Si minerals, but your initial orbital surveys found surface deposits of useful minerals and detailed ground followup only adds more to the catalogue. L-III-VI contains every necessary ingredient to support industry, including water, locked in rocks and frost throughout the moon.
L-III-VI has several worthwhile lodes of fissionables that you've found.
L-III-VI is not tidally locked. Its period of rotation is 36.8 days, roughly 83% of the length of its orbital period.
The large crater appears to have been formed two point eight billion years ago. The crater geology is not consistent with an RKKV. L-III-VI's crater is consistent with a large (100km+ diametre), slow impactor. L-III-XVII is too small to've caused it; L-III-XVII would not have survived it.
L-III-VI has a lot more older craters than newer ones. For example, while the big crater on it is two point eight billion years old, there's a lot of sandblasted smaller craters dating back over four billion years; the peak is at around four point two billion years ago.
The industrial operation you've established is spread out across the moon, with raw materials being shipped in from identified high-concentration lodes. You've seen the moon in its entirety, but only touched a very small percentage of it, about 9,000 km^2 (not all of which, itself, is thoroughly surveyed or delved yet, either).
This isn't to say it isn't vulnerable to nuclear bombs-- it is-- but you'd need more than just one to take it out.
Resources are diverted from satellites for the construction of a coring drilling rig for L-III-VI. Starting operation at T+280 D, it begins boring down through an area of complicated ore-laden geology near the center of VI's hemispheric crater. Seismic testing on VI has shown the general geology of the moon; nodules, plane fractures, lava flows, a solid iron core.
For a tectonically dead, frozen moon, there is quite a depth of varying kinds of igneous rock. The drill hasn't pierced it consistently by T+290 D, when it is at a depth of over 300 m, although it has gone through scattered blocks of metamorphic. No indications of sedimentation or fossilisation have been found.
LP-2 is in orbit around this moon. The Planetary VN unit is currently operating here.
L-III-VI is loaded with tasty things for your planetary von Neumanner. Primarily, of course, various forms of Si minerals, but your initial orbital surveys found surface deposits of useful minerals and detailed ground followup only adds more to the catalogue. L-III-VI contains every necessary ingredient to support industry, including water, locked in rocks and frost throughout the moon.
L-III-VI has several worthwhile lodes of fissionables that you've found.
L-III-VI is not tidally locked. Its period of rotation is 36.8 days, roughly 83% of the length of its orbital period.
The large crater appears to have been formed two point eight billion years ago. The crater geology is not consistent with an RKKV. L-III-VI's crater is consistent with a large (100km+ diametre), slow impactor. L-III-XVII is too small to've caused it; L-III-XVII would not have survived it.
L-III-VI has a lot more older craters than newer ones. For example, while the big crater on it is two point eight billion years old, there's a lot of sandblasted smaller craters dating back over four billion years; the peak is at around four point two billion years ago.
The industrial operation you've established is spread out across the moon, with raw materials being shipped in from identified high-concentration lodes. You've seen the moon in its entirety, but only touched a very small percentage of it, about 9,000 km^2 (not all of which, itself, is thoroughly surveyed or delved yet, either).
This isn't to say it isn't vulnerable to nuclear bombs-- it is-- but you'd need more than just one to take it out.
Resources are diverted from satellites for the construction of a coring drilling rig for L-III-VI. Starting operation at T+280 D, it begins boring down through an area of complicated ore-laden geology near the center of VI's hemispheric crater. Seismic testing on VI has shown the general geology of the moon; nodules, plane fractures, lava flows, a solid iron core.
For a tectonically dead, frozen moon, there is quite a depth of varying kinds of igneous rock. The drill hasn't pierced it consistently by T+290 D, when it is at a depth of over 300 m, although it has gone through scattered blocks of metamorphic. No indications of sedimentation or fossilisation have been found.
LP-2 is in orbit around this moon. The Planetary VN unit is currently operating here.
Lamprey-III-VII:
Semi-major axis: 5.53E+6 km
Orbital Period: -1158.9 h
Dimensions: 415.7 x 371.4 x 324.3 km
Mass: 7.51E+19 kg
Density: 2771 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: -1158.9 h
Dimensions: 415.7 x 371.4 x 324.3 km
Mass: 7.51E+19 kg
Density: 2771 kg/m^3
Silicate irregular. Lightly cratered.
Lamprey-III-VIII:
Semi-major axis: 5.78E+6 km
Orbital Peroid: 1236.8 h
Dimensions: 60.6 x 47.4 x 37.1 km
Mass: 1.26E+17 kg
Density: 2347 kg/m^3
Orbital Peroid: 1236.8 h
Dimensions: 60.6 x 47.4 x 37.1 km
Mass: 1.26E+17 kg
Density: 2347 kg/m^3
Carbonaceous irregular. Est water by mass: 12%
Lamprey-III-IX:
Semi-major axis: 5.98E+6 km
Orbital Period: 1302.4 h
Dimensions: 80.0 x 76.7 x 72.2 km
Mass: 1.07E+18 kg
Density: 4415 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: 1302.4 h
Dimensions: 80.0 x 76.7 x 72.2 km
Mass: 1.07E+18 kg
Density: 4415 kg/m^3
Silicate-iron irregular.
Lamprey-III-X:
Semi-major axis: 6.35E+6s km
Orbital Period: 1424.2 h
Dimensions: 103.9 x 84.5 x 60.6 km
Mass: 9.63E+17 kg
Density: 2998 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: 1424.2 h
Dimensions: 103.9 x 84.5 x 60.6 km
Mass: 9.63E+17 kg
Density: 2998 kg/m^3
Silicate irregular.
Lamprey-III-XI:
Semi-major axis: 6.60E+6 km
Orbital Period: 1508.4 h
Dimensions: 24.1 x 20.8 x 16.8 km
Mass: 2.14E+16 kg
Density: 4095 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: 1508.4 h
Dimensions: 24.1 x 20.8 x 16.8 km
Mass: 2.14E+16 kg
Density: 4095 kg/m^3
Silicate-iron irregular.
Lamprey-III-XII:
Semi-major axis: 6.95E+9 km
Orbital Period: -1632.6 h
Dimensions: 52.1 x 44.7 x 39.2 km
Mass: 9.19E+16 kg
Density: 1878 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: -1632.6 h
Dimensions: 52.1 x 44.7 x 39.2 km
Mass: 9.19E+16 kg
Density: 1878 kg/m^3
Carbonaceous irregular. Est. water by mass: 8%
Lamprey-III-XIII:
Semi-major axis: 7.19E+6 km
Orbital Period: -1716.9 h
Dimensions: 31.1 x 23.9 x 15.2 km
Mass: 2.27E+16 kg
Density: 3195 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: -1716.9 h
Dimensions: 31.1 x 23.9 x 15.2 km
Mass: 2.27E+16 kg
Density: 3195 kg/m^3
Silicate irregular.
Lamprey-III-XIV:
Semi-major axis: 7.45E+6 km
Orbital Period: -1811.4 h
Dimensions: 100.9 x 95.7 x 91.1 km
Mass: 1.29E+18 kg
Density: 2845 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: -1811.4 h
Dimensions: 100.9 x 95.7 x 91.1 km
Mass: 1.29E+18 kg
Density: 2845 kg/m^3
Silicate irregular.
Lamprey-III-XV:
Semi-major axis: 8.45E+6 km
Orbital Period: -2187.4 h
Dimensions: 84.8 x 72.7 x 56.8 km
Mass: 1.88E+17 kg
Density: 911 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: -2187.4 h
Dimensions: 84.8 x 72.7 x 56.8 km
Mass: 1.88E+17 kg
Density: 911 kg/m^3
Ice irregular.
Lamprey-III-XVI:
Semi-major axis: 9.15E+6 km
Orbital Period: -2462.1 h
Dimensions: 8.6 x 7.2 x 3.9 km
Mass: 1.16E+15 kg
Density: 8192 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: -2462.1 h
Dimensions: 8.6 x 7.2 x 3.9 km
Mass: 1.16E+15 kg
Density: 8192 kg/m^3
Nickle/Iron irregular.
Lamprey-III-XVII, Beta-3: NotMoon:
Semi-major axis: 9.76E+6 km
Orbital Period: -2712.3 h
Radius: 5.5 km
Mass: 6.86E+15 kg
Density: 9777 kg/m^3
Lamprey image of L-III-XVII, said to be GPR-derived
Laser tidal seismology image of L-III-XVII, front view
Laser tidal seismology image of L-III-XVII, side view
Laser tidal seismology image of L-III-XVII, top view
Silicate surface, estimated age 1.25 GY. Spheriod, minimally cratered. Moment of inertia suggests a dense metal layer underneath the surface. The density change between the silicate surface and the much denser layer underneath occurs at an average depth of two-hundred-sixteen metres.
L-III-XVII, excluding local surface variations and craters, is oblate with an aspect ratio of approximately 1:1.3. It deviates further from a strict oblate spheroid in that there is a distinct flattening of one side, rendering the closest form something similar to a very rounded egg. It is too small for such a shape to be the result of gravitational attraction.
L-III-XVII is far too small to be able to backwalk its effects on anything with usuable precision. It could've come from anywhere.
There's nothing unsual about the surface other than it's lack of cratering and overall shape. The cratering on the surface is not out of the boundaries of natural collisions.
Density comparison:
Objects of L-III-XVII's mass are usually extremely irregular, graven with craters and lumps to the point that they look like potatos. All other bodies in the system of similar masses are irregular and lumpy. The presence of small, regularly shaped bodies does not correlate with potential shattered life-bearing planets. They are found in in many different kinds of stellar systems. There is a weak correlation with those star systems having terrestrial planets. Objects of that size were too small to resolve during the lensing event.
Conducting a seismic survey, or landing a drilling rig to take core samples, are both feasible options. Hiding it is trickier. The problem is that a suite of seismic sensors is not actually an infalling meteor and, therefore, it may be possible to distinguish it from a naturally infalling meteor with sufficiently sophisticated sensors. No high-resolution examination of L-III-XVII has yet been undertaken to determine if it has such sensors.
The meteors sent to trigger seismic recordings could potentially be distinguished from normal ones via impact velocities and statistical survey methods.
Neutrinos are just about the only thing that'd pass easily through L-III-XVII.
Lamprey science shows and so forth mention the moon quite rarely. All that's been shown are some vague and blurry photographs.
It has a retrograde orbit, like the other moons around it, but doesn't closely approach anything; the closest it would get would be a synch with XVI, at around one and three-quarters LS. It does not consistently line up with anything on L-III (obviously, storm bands and so forth are always moving underneath it).
It has been lightly lasered during initial survey, for precision distance measurements, spectral analysis, and surface mapping. As part of your sky-sweeps, L-III-XVII has been regularly hit with radar.
L-III-XVII was not detected by the Sol telescope array, though it could potentially have been. L-III-XVII was within the resolving power of Sol's telescopes, and during the later stages of Sol's sky search of the galaxy, a disc would have been visible. However, at no point did Sol notice L-III-XVII. It is not the only body in the Lamprey system of that size to be overlooked by any means; many of the belt and Kupier objects were not noted. Still, it's odd that they missed it. None of the major planets or moons would have been in position to occlude, but it's harder to account for the smaller irregular space junk that hangs around everywhere. In any case an occlusion would only prevent a single shot; constant monitoring would reveal whatever was being occluded in short order. The Lamprey system was watched on and off for thousands of years. None of Sol's records that you have show L-III-XVII. If it had been present, Sol's telescopes would almost certainly have detected it; the margin of error is accounts for the various other unnoted objects in the Lamprey system. The Audacity, while in flight, could not detect L-III-XVII. Construction of an object of the size L-III-XVII might have been detectable, depending on how energy-intensive they were being in moving stuff around (Fusion burns, for example, you would've seen barring someone actively trying to hide them from, specifically, you), but you did not see indications of it. RandomJ's probe flyby at T-93 D is the first time you saw it with your own instrumentation. Your on-board scopes would not have been capable of seeing it at that time.
L-III-XVII is too small to cause perturbations that Sol could've measured reliably. Too many ways for things to be distorted.
Objects similar in shape and size to L-III-XVII (some larger, some smaller) were seen throughout the Galaxy, but they're rare. The majority of star systems have none at all. Only one was ever seen outside a stellar system. The general explanation for them was, essentially, infinite monkeys; in plausible but rarely occuring natural circumstances, modelling shows that what would ordinarily be an irregular asteroid can wind up being shaped into a rough sphere.
Its current orbit is stable, one that-- based on projections-- could have lasted for billions of years.
If its cratering rate is natural, and if the cratering rate hasn't changed significantly, and if it has been in orbit around L-III for the whole time, crater timing says it arrived approximately two billion years ago.
This same analysis, incidentally, says that almost every other body around L-III predates the Lamprey system's formation; the most likely conclusion is that the impact rates have not been constant. A change in cratering rate is also evident among the asteroids that have been examined. When allowed for, if this change in cratering rate applies to L-III-XVII, the estimated age of its surface drops to around 1.25 billion years.
None of the impact craters have exceeded the depth of the exterior rock cover.
The interior density is around 10,500 kg/m^3; this puts it at about the same density as a slab of solid silver, slightly less dense than lead, more dense than solid iron, and somewhat over half the density of solid tungsten. Only 4% of the mass of L-III-XVII is in the rocky surface; all the remainder is in the presumably metal substrate. L-III-XVII is nowhere near large enough to account for the Lamprey system's relative lack of heavy metal materials. It wouldn't even qualify as a rounding error; it's big for a construct, but really small on a stellar scale.
The underlayer is a flattened sphere with three ellipsoid bands at right angles to each other, one per 3D Cartesian axis.
It is larger than the biggest fusion-torch ships Sol had. Sol had larger constructs in absolute volume (and mass), but they were relatively stationary ones. Sol could have built a fusion torch ship of that size, but, as far as your records go, never did. L-III-XVII's density is not consistent with a high-speed fusion-torch interstellar ship with internal fuel supplies (hydrogen, deuterium, helium, etc are all very light) using known technology. From your trip here it is also very unlikely that it could find sufficient fuel in interstellar space to power a ramscoop. If it is an interstellar ship, it is a slow one, or its fuel is elsewhere.
In Contemplator's image, treating the long axis as front-to-back and the shortest axis as top-to-bottom, you're looking at it from the back above right.
The domes appear about 1,200m across and to extend about 500m above the main body. The 'cylindrical' shapes look like they're about one kilometre tall by a kilometre and a half wide by five and a half kilometres long. No shown features on the interior are smaller than two hundred metres across.
The results from your own sensors are as follows:
Not-Moon Interior:
Estimated mass: 6.6E+15 kg, or 6.6E+3 GTne.
Estimated dimensions:
Best-fit bounded sphere diametre is 9 km.
Cigar-shaped protrusions (marked in light pink): 5250 m length, 800 m narrow diametre, 1 km maximum diametre.
Cone-shaped protrusions (marked in dark pink): 2750 m length, maximum height above presumed normal surface (marked in black), 1 km.
Disc-shaped protrusions (marked in bright red): 2750 m diametre
Not-Moon v. stripped down Audacity, top.
Not-Moon v. stripped down Audacity, front.
Coloured band is 10 km long, with markings changing every kilometre.
The only area with an analysis result with a probability higher than noise are the eight large spherical protrusions capped with rings. That shape, if it is a true sphere once it passes into the main body, is very similar to a fusion torch fusion chamber and magnetic nozzle rather like the one the Audacity has. Each would be roughly two kilometres in diametre, more than double the diametre of the Audacity's. On that basis, the closest matches to L-III-XVII's density, size, and configuration in Sol were physical-layer war machines, all of which were considerably smaller or purely theoretical.
Assuming those 2x4 big things on front and back are fusion chambers/engines and discardable external tanks, as well as technical parity with the Audacity:
None of the protrusions really resemble a socket or dock for attaching external tanks, though given the fuzzy resolution of all images so far it's hard to say for certain.
If the hemisphers on either end link up in cylinders and run the length of L-II-XVII, and held deuterium fuel, they would be able to provide around 32km/s of dV. This is sufficient to crash L-III-XVII into L-II. No other observed feature would be of feasible size.
The laser tidal seismic scan had insufficient resolution to turn up any obvious preengineered fault lines or other structures that suggest L-III-XVII is designed to be capable of easily shedding its shell.
Even starting from the interior shape and mass of L-III-XVII, it is highly unlikely to have assumed its current shape by gravitation alone.
The closest approach by any of your equipment was around half a million kilometres, by one of the many spysats you've built.
In order to perform gravity mapping, you would need to get closer. L-III-XVII is a very low mass object orbiting a gas giant; its Hill radius is around 1450km, which gives an orbital period of nearly sixty days. Any further orbits would not be stable. To get adequate data, quickly, you'll need to get much closer than that; ballpark it at 35 kilometres above the surface.
The moon plays no part at all in any Lamprey religion or historic mythology.
L-III-XVII is not particularly large, as moons go, and, hypothetically, would have to engage in a pure (and full-efficiency!) matter-antimatter reaction in order to mass-scatter L-II. High-efficiency M/AM reactions are not within the realm of known science.
Orbital Period: -2712.3 h
Radius: 5.5 km
Mass: 6.86E+15 kg
Density: 9777 kg/m^3
Lamprey image of L-III-XVII, said to be GPR-derived
Laser tidal seismology image of L-III-XVII, front view
Laser tidal seismology image of L-III-XVII, side view
Laser tidal seismology image of L-III-XVII, top view
Silicate surface, estimated age 1.25 GY. Spheriod, minimally cratered. Moment of inertia suggests a dense metal layer underneath the surface. The density change between the silicate surface and the much denser layer underneath occurs at an average depth of two-hundred-sixteen metres.
L-III-XVII, excluding local surface variations and craters, is oblate with an aspect ratio of approximately 1:1.3. It deviates further from a strict oblate spheroid in that there is a distinct flattening of one side, rendering the closest form something similar to a very rounded egg. It is too small for such a shape to be the result of gravitational attraction.
L-III-XVII is far too small to be able to backwalk its effects on anything with usuable precision. It could've come from anywhere.
There's nothing unsual about the surface other than it's lack of cratering and overall shape. The cratering on the surface is not out of the boundaries of natural collisions.
Density comparison:
Code:
Material Density (kg/m^3)
Platinum 21400
Plutonium 19816
Tungsten 19600
Gold 19320
Uranium 18900
Mercury 13593
Lead 11340
[b]L-III-XVII (int) 10500[/b]
Silver 10490
[b]L-III-XVII (avg) 9777[/b]
Copper 8930
Nickel 8800
Steel 7850
Tin 7280
Aluminum 2712
Magnesium 1738Objects of L-III-XVII's mass are usually extremely irregular, graven with craters and lumps to the point that they look like potatos. All other bodies in the system of similar masses are irregular and lumpy. The presence of small, regularly shaped bodies does not correlate with potential shattered life-bearing planets. They are found in in many different kinds of stellar systems. There is a weak correlation with those star systems having terrestrial planets. Objects of that size were too small to resolve during the lensing event.
Conducting a seismic survey, or landing a drilling rig to take core samples, are both feasible options. Hiding it is trickier. The problem is that a suite of seismic sensors is not actually an infalling meteor and, therefore, it may be possible to distinguish it from a naturally infalling meteor with sufficiently sophisticated sensors. No high-resolution examination of L-III-XVII has yet been undertaken to determine if it has such sensors.
The meteors sent to trigger seismic recordings could potentially be distinguished from normal ones via impact velocities and statistical survey methods.
Neutrinos are just about the only thing that'd pass easily through L-III-XVII.
Lamprey science shows and so forth mention the moon quite rarely. All that's been shown are some vague and blurry photographs.
It has a retrograde orbit, like the other moons around it, but doesn't closely approach anything; the closest it would get would be a synch with XVI, at around one and three-quarters LS. It does not consistently line up with anything on L-III (obviously, storm bands and so forth are always moving underneath it).
It has been lightly lasered during initial survey, for precision distance measurements, spectral analysis, and surface mapping. As part of your sky-sweeps, L-III-XVII has been regularly hit with radar.
L-III-XVII was not detected by the Sol telescope array, though it could potentially have been. L-III-XVII was within the resolving power of Sol's telescopes, and during the later stages of Sol's sky search of the galaxy, a disc would have been visible. However, at no point did Sol notice L-III-XVII. It is not the only body in the Lamprey system of that size to be overlooked by any means; many of the belt and Kupier objects were not noted. Still, it's odd that they missed it. None of the major planets or moons would have been in position to occlude, but it's harder to account for the smaller irregular space junk that hangs around everywhere. In any case an occlusion would only prevent a single shot; constant monitoring would reveal whatever was being occluded in short order. The Lamprey system was watched on and off for thousands of years. None of Sol's records that you have show L-III-XVII. If it had been present, Sol's telescopes would almost certainly have detected it; the margin of error is accounts for the various other unnoted objects in the Lamprey system. The Audacity, while in flight, could not detect L-III-XVII. Construction of an object of the size L-III-XVII might have been detectable, depending on how energy-intensive they were being in moving stuff around (Fusion burns, for example, you would've seen barring someone actively trying to hide them from, specifically, you), but you did not see indications of it. RandomJ's probe flyby at T-93 D is the first time you saw it with your own instrumentation. Your on-board scopes would not have been capable of seeing it at that time.
L-III-XVII is too small to cause perturbations that Sol could've measured reliably. Too many ways for things to be distorted.
Objects similar in shape and size to L-III-XVII (some larger, some smaller) were seen throughout the Galaxy, but they're rare. The majority of star systems have none at all. Only one was ever seen outside a stellar system. The general explanation for them was, essentially, infinite monkeys; in plausible but rarely occuring natural circumstances, modelling shows that what would ordinarily be an irregular asteroid can wind up being shaped into a rough sphere.
Its current orbit is stable, one that-- based on projections-- could have lasted for billions of years.
If its cratering rate is natural, and if the cratering rate hasn't changed significantly, and if it has been in orbit around L-III for the whole time, crater timing says it arrived approximately two billion years ago.
This same analysis, incidentally, says that almost every other body around L-III predates the Lamprey system's formation; the most likely conclusion is that the impact rates have not been constant. A change in cratering rate is also evident among the asteroids that have been examined. When allowed for, if this change in cratering rate applies to L-III-XVII, the estimated age of its surface drops to around 1.25 billion years.
None of the impact craters have exceeded the depth of the exterior rock cover.
The interior density is around 10,500 kg/m^3; this puts it at about the same density as a slab of solid silver, slightly less dense than lead, more dense than solid iron, and somewhat over half the density of solid tungsten. Only 4% of the mass of L-III-XVII is in the rocky surface; all the remainder is in the presumably metal substrate. L-III-XVII is nowhere near large enough to account for the Lamprey system's relative lack of heavy metal materials. It wouldn't even qualify as a rounding error; it's big for a construct, but really small on a stellar scale.
The underlayer is a flattened sphere with three ellipsoid bands at right angles to each other, one per 3D Cartesian axis.
It is larger than the biggest fusion-torch ships Sol had. Sol had larger constructs in absolute volume (and mass), but they were relatively stationary ones. Sol could have built a fusion torch ship of that size, but, as far as your records go, never did. L-III-XVII's density is not consistent with a high-speed fusion-torch interstellar ship with internal fuel supplies (hydrogen, deuterium, helium, etc are all very light) using known technology. From your trip here it is also very unlikely that it could find sufficient fuel in interstellar space to power a ramscoop. If it is an interstellar ship, it is a slow one, or its fuel is elsewhere.
In Contemplator's image, treating the long axis as front-to-back and the shortest axis as top-to-bottom, you're looking at it from the back above right.
The domes appear about 1,200m across and to extend about 500m above the main body. The 'cylindrical' shapes look like they're about one kilometre tall by a kilometre and a half wide by five and a half kilometres long. No shown features on the interior are smaller than two hundred metres across.
The results from your own sensors are as follows:
Not-Moon Interior:
Estimated mass: 6.6E+15 kg, or 6.6E+3 GTne.
Estimated dimensions:
Best-fit bounded sphere diametre is 9 km.
Cigar-shaped protrusions (marked in light pink): 5250 m length, 800 m narrow diametre, 1 km maximum diametre.
Cone-shaped protrusions (marked in dark pink): 2750 m length, maximum height above presumed normal surface (marked in black), 1 km.
Disc-shaped protrusions (marked in bright red): 2750 m diametre
Not-Moon v. stripped down Audacity, top.
Not-Moon v. stripped down Audacity, front.
Coloured band is 10 km long, with markings changing every kilometre.
The only area with an analysis result with a probability higher than noise are the eight large spherical protrusions capped with rings. That shape, if it is a true sphere once it passes into the main body, is very similar to a fusion torch fusion chamber and magnetic nozzle rather like the one the Audacity has. Each would be roughly two kilometres in diametre, more than double the diametre of the Audacity's. On that basis, the closest matches to L-III-XVII's density, size, and configuration in Sol were physical-layer war machines, all of which were considerably smaller or purely theoretical.
Assuming those 2x4 big things on front and back are fusion chambers/engines and discardable external tanks, as well as technical parity with the Audacity:
- The object inside L-III-XVII could be a workable interstellar ship.
- It would require a minimum of a sphere one hundred and sixty kilometres in radius of pure fuel, assuming a weightless tank, to match Audacity's deltaV. Mass of fuel is ~2.8E+18 kg, volume of tank is ~1.7E+16 m^3.
- Top speed is limited by how sturdy the fuel tanks are, owing to relativistic microcollisions.
None of the protrusions really resemble a socket or dock for attaching external tanks, though given the fuzzy resolution of all images so far it's hard to say for certain.
If the hemisphers on either end link up in cylinders and run the length of L-II-XVII, and held deuterium fuel, they would be able to provide around 32km/s of dV. This is sufficient to crash L-III-XVII into L-II. No other observed feature would be of feasible size.
The laser tidal seismic scan had insufficient resolution to turn up any obvious preengineered fault lines or other structures that suggest L-III-XVII is designed to be capable of easily shedding its shell.
Even starting from the interior shape and mass of L-III-XVII, it is highly unlikely to have assumed its current shape by gravitation alone.
The closest approach by any of your equipment was around half a million kilometres, by one of the many spysats you've built.
In order to perform gravity mapping, you would need to get closer. L-III-XVII is a very low mass object orbiting a gas giant; its Hill radius is around 1450km, which gives an orbital period of nearly sixty days. Any further orbits would not be stable. To get adequate data, quickly, you'll need to get much closer than that; ballpark it at 35 kilometres above the surface.
The moon plays no part at all in any Lamprey religion or historic mythology.
L-III-XVII is not particularly large, as moons go, and, hypothetically, would have to engage in a pure (and full-efficiency!) matter-antimatter reaction in order to mass-scatter L-II. High-efficiency M/AM reactions are not within the realm of known science.
Lamprey-III-XVIII:
Semi-major axis: 1.04E+7 km
Orbital Period: -2996.1 h
Dimensions: 47.6 x 39.2 x 27.9 km
Mass: 5.77E+16 kg
Density: 1950 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: -2996.1 h
Dimensions: 47.6 x 39.2 x 27.9 km
Mass: 5.77E+16 kg
Density: 1950 kg/m^3
Carbonaceous irregular. Est. water by mass: 12%
Lamprey-III-XIX:
Semi-major axis: 1.13E+7 km
Orbital Period: -3387.8 h
Dimensions: 123.0 x 88.9 x 60.3 km
Mass: 1.80E+18 kg
Density: 4739 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: -3387.8 h
Dimensions: 123.0 x 88.9 x 60.3 km
Mass: 1.80E+18 kg
Density: 4739 kg/m^3
Silicate-iron irregular.
Lamprey-III-XX:
Semi-major axis: 1.18E+7 km
Orbital Period: -3607.8 h
Dimensions: 31.7 x 27.4 x 20.1 km
Mass: 2.87E+16 kg
Density: 2827 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: -3607.8 h
Dimensions: 31.7 x 27.4 x 20.1 km
Mass: 2.87E+16 kg
Density: 2827 kg/m^3
Silicate irregular.
Lamprey-III-XXI:
Semi-major axis: 1.21E+7 km
Orbital Period: 3739.5 h
Dimensions: 544.0 x 451.9 x 360.3 km
Mass: 9.86E+19 kg
Density: 2041 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: 3739.5 h
Dimensions: 544.0 x 451.9 x 360.3 km
Mass: 9.86E+19 kg
Density: 2041 kg/m^3
Carbonaceous irregular, heavily and evenly cratered. Est. water by mass: 11%
Lamprey-III-XXII:
Semi-major axis: 1.34E+7 km
Orbital Period: 4345.5 h
Dimensions: 540.2 x 492.4 x 444.7 km
Mass: 1.24E+20 kg
Density: 1980 kg/m^3
Carbonaceous irregular, heavily cratered. Several large impact marks, concentrated on one face. Est. water by mass: 6%
Orbital Period: 4345.5 h
Dimensions: 540.2 x 492.4 x 444.7 km
Mass: 1.24E+20 kg
Density: 1980 kg/m^3
Carbonaceous irregular, heavily cratered. Several large impact marks, concentrated on one face. Est. water by mass: 6%
Lamprey-III-XXIII:
Semi-major axis: 1.45E+7 km
Orbital Period: 4905.6 h
Dimensions: 647.4 x 583.7 x 528.0 km
Mass: 2.99E+20 kg
Density: 2873 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: 4905.6 h
Dimensions: 647.4 x 583.7 x 528.0 km
Mass: 2.99E+20 kg
Density: 2873 kg/m^3
Silicate irregular.
Lamprey-III-XXIV:
Semi-major axis: 1.49E+7 km
Orbital Period: -5097.9 h
Dimensions: 91.3 x 73.4 x 63.9 km
Mass: 1.07E+18 kg
Density: 4888 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: -5097.9 h
Dimensions: 91.3 x 73.4 x 63.9 km
Mass: 1.07E+18 kg
Density: 4888 kg/m^3
Silicate/Iron irregular.
Lamprey-III-XXV:
Semi-major axis: 1.60E+7 km
Orbital Period: 5683.8 h
Dimensions: 764.1 x 736.4 x 707.6 km
Mass: 6.14E+20 kg
Density: 2931 kg/m^3
Silicate irregular. Heavily cratered on one side, lightly cratered on the other.
Lamprey-III-XXVI:
Semi-major axis: 1.74E+7 km
Orbital Period: -6488.0 h
Dimensions: 55.0 x 48.9 x 47.1 km
Mass: 1.97E+17 kg
Density: 3039 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: -6488.0 h
Dimensions: 55.0 x 48.9 x 47.1 km
Mass: 1.97E+17 kg
Density: 3039 kg/m^3
Silicate irregular.
Lamprey-III-XXVII:
Semi-major axis: 1.75E+7 km
Orbital Period: -6527.9 h
Dimensions: 14.9 x 11.2 x 7.8 km
Mass: 1.34E+15 kg
Density: 2346 kg/m^3
Orbital Period: -6527.9 h
Dimensions: 14.9 x 11.2 x 7.8 km
Mass: 1.34E+15 kg
Density: 2346 kg/m^3
Carbonaceous irregular. Est. water by mass: 7%
Flyby mission by LP-1 at T-10.4 Y. LP-2 entered orbit at T-6.1 Y. Still operational. As of T+202 D, LP-2 has moved to orbiting L-III-VI.
Flyby mission by LP-1 at T-10.4 Y. LP-2 entered orbit at T-6.1 Y. Still operational. As of T+202 D, LP-2 has moved to orbiting L-III-VI.
Lamprey-IV:
Semi-major axis: 18 AU
Orbital time: 75.66 years
Position @ T-0: +5.98 degrees
Mass: 1.52E+27 kg
Radius: 64,982 km
L-IV is a gas giant, rather smaller than Jupiter, with a higher proportion of ices owing to its distance from L-Sun.
Has no major moons, but fifty-one smaller ones. Water ice, hydrocarbon ice, and a mixture of silicates and carbonaceous asteroids.
L-IV is a source of continuous radio noise.
From the cursory flyby done, the L-IV system has everything necessary for the AVN units to function.
There's nothing particularly suspicious about any of L-IV's moons.
Flyby mission by LP-1 at T-9.1 Y.
Moon System:
Orbital time: 75.66 years
Position @ T-0: +5.98 degrees
Mass: 1.52E+27 kg
Radius: 64,982 km
L-IV is a gas giant, rather smaller than Jupiter, with a higher proportion of ices owing to its distance from L-Sun.
Has no major moons, but fifty-one smaller ones. Water ice, hydrocarbon ice, and a mixture of silicates and carbonaceous asteroids.
L-IV is a source of continuous radio noise.
From the cursory flyby done, the L-IV system has everything necessary for the AVN units to function.
There's nothing particularly suspicious about any of L-IV's moons.
Flyby mission by LP-1 at T-9.1 Y.
Moon System:
Lamprey V:
Semi-major axis: 23 AU
Orbital time: 109.28 years
Position @ T-0: +62.6 degrees
Orbital time: 109.28 years
Position @ T-0: +62.6 degrees
Flyby mission by LP-1 at T-7.8 Y. Second smallest of the rocky planet-sized bodies.
Loort Cloud:
Calcium-Carbonate Asteroid:
Mass (prelim): ~1E+17 kg
Diametre (prelim, major): ~32 km
Diametre (prelim, minor): ~13 km
Orbital Period (prelim): ~500,000,000 Y
A large calcium-carbonate asteroid in the cometary halo. Preliminary observations suggest a long-term, super-elliptical orbit with a periapsis inside L-III's periapsis and a periodicity in the half-million year range.
Estimated diametre is 32km major axis, 13km minor. Estimated mass is 1E+17 kg.
Precise data will require further observation.
Belongs to a very rare class of objects, only seen in a small fraction of systems. The standard explanation is a result of a hypermassive impact against a planet causing the ejection of large amounts of material, similar to the event that formed Earth's moon but occuring later. Such an impact would not typically eject the material directly to the cometary halo, nor would calcium carbonate typically survive it; it is probable that further observation will show that the asteroid has large components of basalt or granite that bore the brunt of the shock and thermal events. Presumably the asteroid was shifted outwards via gravitational interactions or additional collisions.
Diametre (prelim, major): ~32 km
Diametre (prelim, minor): ~13 km
Orbital Period (prelim): ~500,000,000 Y
A large calcium-carbonate asteroid in the cometary halo. Preliminary observations suggest a long-term, super-elliptical orbit with a periapsis inside L-III's periapsis and a periodicity in the half-million year range.
Estimated diametre is 32km major axis, 13km minor. Estimated mass is 1E+17 kg.
Precise data will require further observation.
Belongs to a very rare class of objects, only seen in a small fraction of systems. The standard explanation is a result of a hypermassive impact against a planet causing the ejection of large amounts of material, similar to the event that formed Earth's moon but occuring later. Such an impact would not typically eject the material directly to the cometary halo, nor would calcium carbonate typically survive it; it is probable that further observation will show that the asteroid has large components of basalt or granite that bore the brunt of the shock and thermal events. Presumably the asteroid was shifted outwards via gravitational interactions or additional collisions.
Signal Analysis:
The first ones you were able to pick up, T-30 Y, were omnidirectional, high-powered FM broadcasts carrying large amounts of information. Early era broadcast television signals, basically.
There's a wide variety in the signals you've picked up between T-30 Y and T-25 Y. There are seven different standards of signals for television-- large portions of the signals repeat in a regular interval of ~28.1Hz, with empty slots characteristic of analog television broadcasts for CRTs-- coming in on multiple slices of spectrum. You're getting signals from eighteen distinct sources. Dozens of smaller audio signals have been tracked, though they fade in and out more frequently. At T-26 Y, additional data was added to the television broadcasts. You've identified it as colour.
Lamprey TV carries audio frequencies from 30 Hz to ~30,000 Hz.
You've determined that there are at least eight different languages being broadcast, and based on when the signals are strongest and correlating with the planet's revolution, that they tend to be geographically distinct entities. Two languages share a video broadcast standard; the others each have their own.
Both the television and audio signals receipted to-date are running in the double-to-triple digit megahertz frequencies. The lower frequency signals are weaker and more prone to interference.
At T-25 Y, the signals are varied. News and entertainment of various kinds. How accurate a depiction of everyday life the various entertainment programs are is an unknown.
Luminosity data has a wider than human transmissions of the period range, and so does colour. Whether or not the colour codes you're using map to what they see in is a who-knows question, but the signal coding is set for a three-colour system, which shifted to a four-colour system at T-22 Y.
The video is complex. The audio less so. To the best of your knowledge the aliens have not yet managed to transmit smell, taste, touch, etc over the ether.
At T-25 Y, everything intercepted was a high powered civilian broadcast, meant for open consumption. No crypto, period, other than the basic broadcast protocols.
By T-18 Y, you're picking up an ever-increasing variety of signals. The colour band for television has been modified to include a fourth colour signal. It correlates to aliens, used stovetops, car engines, etc, but only if there's no other colour band for that part of the image.
Between T-18 Y and T-10 Y, your signal analysis continues to get cleaner, but the number of new signals is plateauing. You're still picking up new transients of lower power, but nothing new in terms of a high-powered civil broadcast system.
Digital signalling is increasing, though analog signals still outnumber them at T-10 Y.
Between T-18 Y and T-10 Y, encryption strength is going up as well. It takes longer to crack signals and on some you've had to resort to brute forcing, which is impeding your analysis of military traffic. The signals you do crack are military/governmental in nature but are usually fairly mundane but sensitive, logistical movements and the like. The encryption is algorithmatically advanced. The breakable encrypted communications imply a computer power several times that of the civilian market. The ones crackable without resorting to brute force tend to be older ones, relying on mathematical problems humanity has solved but the Lampreys have not.
The un-decryptable signals are presumed to be one-time-pad encryption, which is theoretically unbreakable if the proper proceedures are followed. It carries a fairly hefty penalty in how damned inconvenient it is to use; on Earth, it's generally used only when 1) you're fairly certain someone else is trying to listen in on you and 2) you really don't want them to have any idea what you're saying.
It could also be that the Lampreys are using algorithmic encryption based on keys and algorithms of sufficient length and complexity that you can't break them.
If the Audacity were coming online at T+290 D, with a decade of stored signals, it would take seventeen months to translate the first ones. If the Fake Brain were wholly made of computing electronics, the necessary time would be half a day.
With the gradual activation of FB, by T+290 D, excepting OTP ciphers, or, potentially, sufficiently complicated algorithmic encryption systems, you have regained the ability to monitor all telecom of reasonable strength on L-II.
It isn't just their mass media you're listening in on; it's anything that's not OTP encrypted and with enough juice to be picked up by your receivers, which includes a fairly broad swathe of other stuff.
Commlag prevents active access to their internet; the only theorised entry point is the return address provided in the attempted trojan that was sent to the Audacity.
The Aliens:
AKA Lampreys.
Biology:
They look, roughly, like a cross between a lamprey and Cthulhu: A long, snake-like body, bilaterally symmetrical, fringed with a varying number of maniple tentacles about a quarter of the way down from their mouth, which looks sort of like this:
You have concluded that they are carnivorous. They're not venomous.
The mouth doesn't take up the entirety of the top of the aliens, though; above it, they have two things that are recogniseably eyes, and several protrusions about which you can can only speculate. Scaling from watching things fall, and knowing that the planet has a gravity rather less than Earth's (~.92g), you've estimated their size at about two and a half metres long. Typically, they move in a 1/3 erect position, lifting their mouth and maniples off the ground. Locomotion is, again, snakelike. They're smoothskinned, but their underside shows extra padding. They have a rigid internal structure. It's not bone.
The Lamprey mouth is something of an anomaly, and is mostly found only in closely related animals.
They wear clothes, but in minimalist, functional fashions; things that hold pockets and for protection from the elements.
They very clearly live on land. However, Lampreys can manouver in water somewhat better than humans. They're less at home in it than they are on land, but they can float, swim, and dive without trouble, and their vision operates underwater. Their endurance is just as miserable in water as it is on land.
They do have lips and can seal their mouths shut (water-tight). They do not have gills, and cannot breathe underwater. Occasionally an oceanic megapredator will eat a particularly incompetent Lamprey.
From observation, they seem to prefer food in large slabs. They seem to have domesticated their typical food sources. Whether or not humans would be appetizing is a complete unknown, but we are within the size range of what they do feed on. For their food, the Lampreys themselves prefer-- well, they prefer stuff they personally just tracked down and butchered, but what modern urban Lamprey has the time for that any more? Times were simpler in the past...-- land meat, but they've been practicing fishing and aquaculture for most of the span of their civilisation.
The aliens communicate in pitches in the upper ranges of human hearing.
The Lampreys do not use facial expressions, so far as you've seen, but various arrangements of tentacles and general body posture communicate meaning, emotional subtleties, and the like. Of the Lamprey head, only the mouth features prominently in their visual representations; otherwise, the tentacles are the most emphasised feature.
Your understanding of Lamprey body language is very good. Clockwise from top left: Angry, Sad, Sleeping, Neutral.
(Art by SV's Falchion)
Broadcasts from the NE group have shown you your first images of Lamprey sex. It's a good thing you left your guts back in Sol; it's nasty. You've also seen your first pictures of a Lamprey birth and baby Lampreys; they do give (almost) live births, and do so in small litters of two-to-four (most commonly two). Baby Lampreys are born with a casing around them, which they break through moments after birth. This is handy, as it keeps them from eating their mothers from the inside out.
Baby lampreys are tiny things, but capable of both motion and instinctive feeding from birth. A Lamprey goes from infant to physically adult in the space of two Lamprey years. Once physically adult, educating them and training them takes around another Lamprey decade.
There's no mention of medical evidence for facultative or stress-induced parthenogenesis in anything you have access to.
They show signs of fatigue after what you would consider short amounts of sustained effort, and of effort lifting things a human easily could. Usually. In some of the more dramatic productions, they occasionally move very, very fast for intervals around half-a-minute tops.
They're less hard-rad resistant than a human would be. UV bothers them much less, though; they don't sunburn.
In short, biomechanical accelerations-- like for example going to a dash, or a fast grab-- they don't damage themselves the way a human might. In things like, say, flying a fighter jet or riding a rocket, their acceleration tolerances are lower than human.
The average Lamprey does seem to be somewhat brighter than the average 20th cent. human. This doesn't go to absurd levels, they're not all Einsteins or better, or Blindsight vampires, or Culture Minds or such fiddlefaddle. That would be unsporting to spring on you at this late date and doesn't match any of their known history.
The Lampreys have analysed their genetic information; it's an amino-acid based complex-carbon molecule similar to DNA [different nucleotides, though].
The Lampreys believe they are related to the other species on the planet. As the biological classifications run, the Lampreys belong to an order-level division with very few living examples left on the planet. In general they share the Lamprey mouth and snake-like body plan, but vary widely in things like size, position of the eyes, size, number, and placement of the tentacles, and so on. Working off the fossil records, Lamprey scientists have estimated the Lampreys diverged from their closest living relatives around eight million years ago. The fossil record also shows several extinct offshoots and varieties from the Lamprey order. Two of these, both modern-Lamprey size, went extinct within the archaelogically known time for modern Lamprey existence.
Lamthropology theorises that the two extinct large-body Lamprey-types were intelligent toolusers very much like the modern Lampreys. Theories to their extinction are debated; the most widely accepted one is that the modern variety of Lamprey killed them off.
By order of deaths per average population, the following diseases are notable:
- Respiratory disease, air-capable spread. Low lethality as a rule and usually fought off naturally, but widespread. Symptom-treatable but not outright curable. Comes in a huge variety of slightly different strains. Cross-species contamination potential.
- Digestive inflammation. Moderate lethality, symptoms run between one and two weeks. Symptom treatable. Cross-species contamination potential. Spread by fluid contacts.
- YouGoDieNow. Total systems failure; destruction and disintegration of internal organs, incurable and untreatable by the Lampreys, short course. Infection requires consumption of infected flesh. Symbiotic with certain animals which use it as a predation defence. Very rare.
They're the diseases you'd see in the news, ranked by how many deaths they cause per hundred thousand people. Other common killers among Lampreys involve heart, lung, and brain failure from cells ceasing to replenish themselves, industrial accidents, and vehicular accidents.
Finding cures for the diseases in question should be within your capabilities. It is impossible to provide solid estimates, though, without detailed study of both the Lampreys and the infectious organisms.
There are no incurable, lethal, Lamprey STDs.
Cancer used to be a relatively rare curiousity. As other causes of death have been knocked back and average lifespans extended, they're climbing the list and appear most frequently in the elderly. They're still fairly uncommon, though.
There are mentions of pandemic plagues. One was a contributing factor in the death of the original pan-NE Empire.
Lamprey life uses the same amino acids as Earthly ones, almost exactly. LII protein-based life is overwhelmingly L chiral. The Lampreys use D-glucose as their prime energy source.
Whilst actual mating is going to be impossible, there's certainly nothing stopping humans from manipulating Lamprey sexual organs (or vice versa) except squeamishness. And pain, if anyone gets the bright idea of having a Lamprey give them a BJ.
Technology & Science:
There's a bunch of Lamprey theories on the origin of life, religious and secular. The leading scientific one is that it arose naturally on L-II roughly four and a half billion years ago. A second one supposes-- without any particular evidence-- that the precursors to life were brought to L-II by comet or asteroid strikes in the deep past. What is known is that in a very short time, geologically speaking, L-II went from lifeless to swarming with single-celled organisms who significantly changed L-II's atmospheric composition and warmed it dramatically. This occured at the four and a half billion year mark, in either theory.
According to Lamprey archaeology, Lampreys were around at least 30,000 Y ago, but not in any way as a technological civilisation. The Lampreys have decent archaeological records going back thousands of years; they taper and fuzz out as you go further into deep time. At the thirty thousand year mark, when the modern Lampreys became the only surviving largebody branch of the Lamprey order, their records are limited to bits and pieces, labouriously excavated and restored. They have records that date back further; there's no sharp cutoff. The oldest work that is believed to have been done by something with the intelligence of a modern Lamprey dates back around sixty-three thousand years.
At T-25 Y, from what you can tell, the alien tech is uneven. The signals you were getting showed, generally, electronics at around the same level as we had in the late 1960s, and have references to vac tube and, later, transistor computers. Cities and so on are shown as smaller population-wise, and more spread out, than human cities. Skyscrapers seem to be few and far between, and shorter.
They have piston-engined planes, but you've seen no reference to jets, nor to rockets or spaceflight. mkire's probe, despite its year-and-a-half long burn, had not been remarked on in anything you've analysed.
There is a noticeable upwards swing in overall development between T-30 Y and T-25 Y. There's the sudden switch of television to colour, but there's also been a proliferation of detectable signals, and you can already see that computers are getting more powerful. They're still big machines, though.
They're aware of the theoretical implications of fission and fusion. At T-25 Y, they had not detonated in war, tested, or built atomic bombs of any description; it was treaty-prohibited. So was research into it. They know about the existence of subatomic particles, radiation, elemental transmutation [you caught a science program], relativity, and they've got the basis of quantum theory. An awful lot of that occured, in our timeline, well prior to the 1940s. These guys got all of that together, realised what was happening and what the implications were, and froze R&D.
By T-10 Y, that's changed. Nuclear detonations have happened. All 'peaceful' test shots, but they're well into the double-digit megatons by T-12 Y.
You've picked up thermal blooms indicative of high-powered laser shots in the atmosphere. The laser blooms are not consistent with combat use. They're close-to-perpendicular to Lamprey-II's surface, and you've only seen a few shots. They've come in clusters of two or three, with long intervals between clusters.
Them detecting you while running cold is unlikely. Them detecting your decel burn at T-0 Y is certain unless you take steps to avoid it. If they spot you coming in, you won't have the luxury of moving around stealthily, even with their present tech. If they don't spot you, it becomes more feasible.
They've got astronomy and they know about asteroids, comets, etc. They're aware of the existence of Lamprey-V.
By T-18 Y, various innovations have arrived on-scene in suspiciously fast fashion. Jet aircraft are up and running. Rocketry programmes are no longer taboo and the Lampreys have put their first satellites in orbit, simple radio-relay comsats and photographic weathersats. Electronics have continued to advance and computers have been sold to businesses. Lasers are in production. You've picked up radar. Digital signals have started to show. Encrypted signals have shown as well; some have been crackable, some have not.
Lamprey biologists have figured out the nature of their genetic information, in the sense of finding the responsible molecule. There's been very limited information on the subject anywhere since then. After some initial progress, news about the field died down. No specific trigger appears to have caused it. A statistical analysis shows Lamprey lifespans have continued to increase in the twenty-some years since they first figured out what molecule was responsible for their genetics, but their published biological studies petered out, dropping almost to a halt by T-10 Y.
The Lampreys have got propaganda, advertising, and memetic engineering in general down to an actual, literal applied science. Which they have not seen fit to broadcast university courses in, unfortunately.
The Lampreys are very familiar with game theory.
Nuclear physics research is proceeding, with particle accelerators being built by both sides by T-23 Y. Nuclear power plants are on the drawing board by T-19 Y.
Between T-18 Y and T-10 Y, technology in general has continued to advance dramatically. There's an active back-and-forth Space Race. By T-13 Y, an Equatorial Lamprey has landed on their outer moon, an Equatorial probe has been launched to Lamprey-III (with plans to continue to Lamprey-IV and V), and an Equator probe has orbited Lamprey-I. The Lampreys have continued to launch satellites for various purposes.
By T-10, as a goodwill gesture, construction on a joint NE-Equator colony on Lamprey-II-II has begun. The primary reasons for cooperation, from what you can tell by the intercepts, are twofold: One is to reduce intergovernmental tensions. The other is to make sure that the other side isn't sneaking weapons into space on the side; hence the joint project, where both sides can see the other isn't up to anything. The initial work is along the lines of, pretty much, a scientific outpost/rendezvous point for other missions. Some of the longer term plans involved extending it into a larger colony for mining the moon, which happened by T-1.8 Y.
Nuclear powerplants are active.
Personal computers were introduced as economically feasible around T-17.4 Y. By T-10Y they're approaching ubiquity in the wealthier nations on both sides.
Computing architecture by T-10Y has evolved to a mixture of systems. The transmissions you're receipting for digital are primarily 32bit words. Some of the military ones are 64bit.
At T-10 Y, the Lampreys are showing very little interest in biology, though their medicine has improved somewhat. Lamprey population is closing in on 4 billion.
By T-2 Y, Lamprey tech development has started to even out, with their rocketry and materials science catching up to their computing. They have not lost interest in space. Lamprey-II space is swarming with satellites doing everything from satellite television to radio to telephony to positioning to survelliance to astronomical observatories. Their flyby probes of Lamprey-III and IV have aroused interest in sending further followup surveys of those systems, though the jump between Lamprey-II and Lamprey-III makes Lampreyed missions improbable. They launched a second probe to ecliptical Lamprey-III orbit at T-8.9 Y. It arrived at T-6.1 Y and has taken excellent images of Lamprey-III's major moons. It is still functional.
At T-7 Y the Lampreys started building a public Internet-equivalent, started by telecommunications organisations.
By T-2 Y, Lamprey population has stablised at around five billion. Technological progress has evened out across the planet; some nations are further ahead than others, but it's a gap of five years instead of the thirty or more that were the norm at T-60 Y.
They've got plastics in widespread use, everything from bags to building materials to piping. Biodegradeable disposable plastics are reasonably common.
Their pre-radio technological progress was slower. They've been on an upswing since their Industrial Revolution, but on an irregular basis; sudden spikes of interrelated ideas and innovations followed by gradual improvement. The Great War and tech-restriction treaties interrupted that. The Lampreys believe their current technological progress, especially right around the time they started putting things into space, is a result of research conducted, in secrecy and against the treaties, during that time.
The concept of von Neumanning has been in their popular culture since at least T-25 Y. They currently, as far as you know, have no implementations of it (well, beyond the Lampreys themselves, who obviously qualify, and depending on how you define 'von Neumann system', the Lamprey-II industrial ecology would be perfectly capable of building a duplicate of itself given enough time and resources). The theory has been brought up and analysed in more science-orientated programs, who have referenced governmental work in the area. It's all just theory, however.
Every known launch from L-II has used chemical rocketry. As I mentioned in prior discussions referencing Orion or other nuclear-thrust designs, the Lampreys have not been silly enough do ground launches and have been politically prohibited from weaponising space... which an Orion would certainly count as.
Primarily the various space programs are using disintegrating totem poles, which they mass-produce. They've experimented with space planes and other means, but those are a minor component of the current space programs.
Publically available data shows Aggregated Groups (E1) with the highest admitted commitment to spaceflight, around 2.3% of GDP. This makes it, by far, the single biggest investor in spaceflight on the planet; in absolute terms, Aggregated Groups (E1) spends more money on space than the entire Northeast bloc combined. Other notables include Princeps (NE5) (1.9%), Victus (NE3) (1.8%), and Ha'Aretz (E3) (1.5%). These are pre-ignition numbers; post-ignition numbers are unavailable. The general trendline is up, particularly in the period T-11 Y through T-5 Y.
They know about, and use, FELs. Bomb-pumped lasers have been theorised, but never built or tested as far as they have shown you. They could, at the very least, try to build them. Whether or not they would succeed is a different story. Earth didn't get 'round to building its first until the leadup to the Mars War in 2037.
As for fusion, it's an active research topic. They've dumped considerable effort into ICF concepts. They've not broken break-even power generation yet.
Their optics aren't up to the challenge of putting the kind of power/energy needed to hurt the Audacity an interplanetary distance yet, always assuming that they don't have more than they've shown you. They can get a commlaser out that far (recall the M/I-2 transmission), but it's only thanks to the Audacity's sensitive receivers that you were able to pick it up.
They can generate enough energy (as distinct from power; chirping a laser to TW+ power levels is certainly within Lamprey abilities) to hurt you unless countermeasures are taken. They just can't apply it.
The Lamprey aerospace industry is mostly running airbreathers, supersonic and otherwise. They've experimented with rocketplanes, scramjets, and the like, but none of it's been particularly practical (in the public domain, anyways). The most advanced aerospace techs shown have been a multiple-Mach high-altitude recon-craft and a subsonic stealth bomber. It is probable that neither of these represents state-of-the-art for the Lampreys as they are both declassified designs.
It's wildly unlikely the Lampreys saw you much prior to ignition; aside from the probe launches, you were running dark and cold, and Lamprey technology had just started in on colour television according to your received signals. It's possible that they saw you between when mkire-I went by and when you lit off your drive, and kept it secret... but that likely would not have allowed enough time to build the Orion ship in secret.
As of T+261 D, their fusion technology-- always remembering that they could be further ahead in secret-- is around modern-Earth level; which is to say, while they can induce fusion in a multiplicity of ways, to-date they've not been able to produce a sustained net power gain with it.
Nothing in the Lampreys' post-Ignition work has indicated a sudden surge in technological knowledge as such. Nothing they've done since your arrival in system is necessarily inconsistent with their observed capabilities prior to Ignition.
Advertising on L-II takes eight years of dedicated theoretical study before one can become an apprentice and begin their career; choosing precisely the correct nuance to evoke the emotional response desired in a viewer is very hard when the viewers are second-guessing what they think you think that they think you want them to think. Marketing, advertising, spin, and related fields are often viewed as considerably more difficult than the physical sciences.
The Lampreys have decent archaeological records going back thousands of years; they taper and fuzz out as you go further into deep time. At the thirty thousand year mark, when the modern Lampreys became the only surviving largebody branch of the Lamprey order, their records are limited to bits and pieces, labouriously excavated and restored. They have records that date back further; there's no sharp cutoff. The oldest work that is believed to have been done by something with the intelligence of a modern Lamprey dates back around sixty-three thousand years.
Map of L-II nations
Flags of the world
Political relations
There have been many, many different cultures and languages throughout history; go back far enough and you have thousands of little tribal groups roaming around, each with their own dialect, most of them mutually unintelligible. Lamprey history, as a rule, is the gradual merging of these small tribes into larger and larger supertribes and nations.
This was not achieved without conflict, strife, and other unpleasantness.
At one point, every single home landmass controlled by the current NE nations was unified under a single empire, hundreds of years ago. It eventually broke apart under the strain, with society on the NE landmasses splintering back down to much more local organisations before rebuilding into the modern NE nations. The equatorial continent was never unified to the same extent; Aggregated Groups (E1) is the closest equivalent.
Diplomacy between Lamprey nations places a certain premium on face-to-face contact. A Lamprey personally saying things carries greater weight than written notes or (latterly) telephone calls. Generally its fairly pragmatic in its goals and methods, but its also fenced about with formal protocols, and with good reason; Lampreys suffer impaired judgement under emotional stress, and proper rituals help ensure things go smoothly.
There's nothing really bizarre, like requiring the ritual gutting of three members of the diplomatic party before beginning discussions. At least, not anymore...
A note: L-II 'territorial waters' are defined and set up differently than those of Earth. They are set by international treaty, but there is no defined standard; it comes down to national strength and negotiating skill. Aggregated Groups (E1), for example, lays absolute claim to a swathe around its coastlines some 163km across, the largest recognised such claim on L-II. Aggregated Groups (E1) retains veto power over economic activies for another 628km beyond that, with some negotiated exceptions with its neighbours. Çaiyad (E4) and Mater (NE1) also have very large nautical claims; Ha'Aretz (E3), Tullo (NE6) and Oriens (NE7) have relatively small ones.
The least stable nations are, in order from least stable to most: South Ukkei (M4), North Ukkei (M3), Bisonpatrie (NE4).
By T-18 Y, the political climate of the planet has altered. The people who were old enough to remember the Great War have been dying or retiring and governmental policies across the globe are shifting. The smaller colonial conflicts have died off as the great nations align behind two major power blocs, each held together by a web of defence treaties and trade agreements.
One side, geographically concentrated on the magnetic north-east of the planet, has accused the other side (concentrated on the equator, to the west) of trying to develop nuclear weaponry and submitted evidence of same. The other side responded with counteraccusations and evidence.
At T-18 Y, both sides began a military buildup of unprecedented scale.
At T-17 Y, the opposing sides signed a Space Treaty. The Space Treaty concerns things like the militarisation of space, recovery of Lampreynauts, and so on. The basic provisions are restrictive, designed to ensure nothing untowards happens during spaceflight. The two coalitions agree to notify each other in advance of launches, to not put weapons in space (spysats are very specifically not mentioned), are bound to return Lampreynauts who land in their territory promptly and unharmed, and so on. It was adopted by T-16.5Y. It essentially lays out that space belongs to no one nation or individual, but to all Lampreykind. Aggregated Groups (E1) was behind the initial proposal.
The Contact Coalition:
An international group orginally brought into existence by Aggregated Groups (E1) after the light from the Audacity's drive first reached L-II, for the apparent purpose of providing a united and coherent front to deal with the Audacity. With an original membership of every nation on the planet, the Contact Coalition, even with Ha'Aretz (E3) and North Ukkei (M3)'s apparent defections, consists of the governments representing 87.7% of the Lampreys in the world and 89.4% of L-II's economy.
Equatorial:
The Equatorial bloc has worked together on many occasions (most recently and dramatically, the Aggregated Groups (E1)/Çaiyad (E4) joint occupation force in South Ukkei (M4)) despite this, but they've always guarded their particular sovereignities more carefully than the NE block which-- due to their individual lesser strengths and more common history and culture-- operate in a closer to unified fashion.
E1: "Aggregated Groups", Alpha-2:
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 52,800
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 1.06
Space GDP %: 2.30
Military GDP %: 4.00
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 260
Population: 1,056million.
Languages: Alpha-2 (80%), Alpha-1 (10%), Beta-3 (5%), Ceti-1 (3%), misc (2%)
Religions: Monotheist/Non-Intervention (47%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (25%), atheist (10%), Polytheist/Everything (5%), Monotheist/Intervention-1 (4%), Ancestor/Intervention (3%), Ancestor/Nonintervention (3%), misc (3%)
Government: Representative federal democracy.
Aggregated Groups (E1) is the largest nation on the planet in terms of land area and population. It's populace is well-educated and highly technic, and it is the centre of Equatorial space exploration. It controls two mid-sized colonies, one to the north of the Equatorial continent and one to the South. It maintains a large and skilled military force, second to none on Lamprey-II.
Aggregated Groups (E1) is larger than any human democracy (excepting India) and older than almost any, dating back well over four centuries (further, depending on how you account it) in recognisably similar form.
Government control is relatively light. Called the light from Audacity's drive artificial right from the beginning.
First country to officially acknowledge this.
Called for a multinational conference to deal with the situation. Origin of the Contact Coalition.
Theories regarding the light from Audacity's drive were mostly reasonably scientific. Initial contact scenarios tended pessimistic.
As a very approximate guess, Aggregated Groups (E1) could put out somewhere between thirty to two hundred Orions in a year once production pipelines filled. The figure on possible Orion launches is for Orions with sizes around that of the The Dawn's; the The Dawn is roughly fifty times the mass of a fully loaded, fully fueled Saturn V.
Aggregated Groups (E1) is larger than any human democracy (excepting India) and older than almost any, dating back well over four centuries (further, depending on how you account it) in recognisably similar form.
Government control is relatively light. Called the light from Audacity's drive artificial right from the beginning.
First country to officially acknowledge this.
Called for a multinational conference to deal with the situation. Origin of the Contact Coalition.
Theories regarding the light from Audacity's drive were mostly reasonably scientific. Initial contact scenarios tended pessimistic.
As a very approximate guess, Aggregated Groups (E1) could put out somewhere between thirty to two hundred Orions in a year once production pipelines filled. The figure on possible Orion launches is for Orions with sizes around that of the The Dawn's; the The Dawn is roughly fifty times the mass of a fully loaded, fully fueled Saturn V.
E2: "Canocha"; "Home", dead language:
Population: 283million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 12,735
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.96
Space GDP %: 0.50
Military GDP %: 3.50
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 60
Languages: Alpha-2 (90%), Alpha-1 (5%), misc (5%)
Religions: Monotheist/Intervention-2 (30%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (25%), atheist (20%), Monotheist/Intervention-1 (15%), Ancestor/Nonintervention (5%), misc (5%)
Government: Hierarchially elected federation
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 12,735
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.96
Space GDP %: 0.50
Military GDP %: 3.50
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 60
Languages: Alpha-2 (90%), Alpha-1 (5%), misc (5%)
Religions: Monotheist/Intervention-2 (30%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (25%), atheist (20%), Monotheist/Intervention-1 (15%), Ancestor/Nonintervention (5%), misc (5%)
Government: Hierarchially elected federation
Almost as large as Aggregated Groups (E1) in terms of size, Canocha (E2) is much smaller in terms of population, lacking Aggregated Groups (E1)'s two large and well travelled rivers and the cocomittant cities. It is resource rich and much of its economy is based on selling precious metals to other Equator nations. It is, however, well-industrialised in its own right. Miliitarily, it is the weakest of the Equator nations.
Government control is relatively light. Called the light from Audacity's drive artificial right from the beginning. Initial contact scenarios trended optimistic.
Government control is relatively light. Called the light from Audacity's drive artificial right from the beginning. Initial contact scenarios trended optimistic.
E3: "Ha'Aretz", "Land of the Chosen", archaic Beta:
Population: 554million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 19,390
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.74
Space GDP %: 1.50
Military GDP %: 7.00
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 130 (excluding the The Dawn)
Languages: Beta-3 (73%), Beta-2 (18%), Alpha-2 (6%), misc (4%)
Religions: Monotheist/Intervention-1 (100%) *according to official sources
Government: Constitutional theocracy
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 19,390
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.74
Space GDP %: 1.50
Military GDP %: 7.00
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 130 (excluding the The Dawn)
Languages: Beta-3 (73%), Beta-2 (18%), Alpha-2 (6%), misc (4%)
Religions: Monotheist/Intervention-1 (100%) *according to official sources
Government: Constitutional theocracy
The second-smallest of the equatorial nations, but with the second-strongest ground forces and a high interest in space. Devout, highly technic. The majority of the population is crammed along the snaking major river.
Ha'Aretz (E3)'s government arose out of a aggregation of smaller nations who shared the common M/I-1 religion and Beta language family. The coastal nations were the driving force, in particular the one speaking Beta-3, and they conquered/assimilated their way cross-continent. This would've been around T-150 through to T-80. Çaiyad (E4), E5, and Canocha (E2) were all expanding at around the same time; Aggregated Groups (E1) had finished its consolidation of its hinterland by T-120. Ha'Aretz (E3) eventually got into a shooting match with E5 over some border posessions and things spiralled from there, leading to the Lamprey Great War. Ha'Aretz (E3) eventually emerged as a victor, having gained the territory in dispute. It's border with Canocha (E2) was negotiated in the peace settlement.
It has been a stable government more or less since inception. The forerunning nations were exclusively monarchial or dictatorial in nature. Culturally, it's noted for its art, monuments, some excellent works of academic theology, its religion, mathematics, and cookery.
Officially, there's only one religion in Ha'Aretz (E3), and everyone belongs to it; religious services are mandatory events; there's systemic internal monitoring and secret police, as well as restrictions on news media, assembly, and out-of-country telecoms. Ha'Aretz (E3), incidentally, is the power that exterminated E5, a Beta-2 speaking country. They have an actively revisionist historical narrative, too.
Most of this you've gleaned from what their enemies are saying, though. Even Ha'Aretz (E3)'s allies in the Equatorial block aren't fond of them, but the NE nations seriously dislike it and don't need much of an excuse to badmouth.
Ha'Aretz (E3)'s relations with the Equatorial block never been particularly cordial. The other countries, particularly Canocha (E2) and Çaiyad (E4), which border it, haven't forgotten Ha'Aretz (E3)'s conquest of the former E5. Ha'Aretz (E3)'s (constitutionally limited) theocratic rule conflicts with the ideals of the other E* countries, but that's not unusual within the Equatorial bloc; they all regard the other country's systems as eccentric-to-bizarre.
It is of note that during the Mid-Ocean Oil Crisis, Ha'Aretz (E3) did not oppose the efforts of M/I-2's leader (Windsong) to defuse the situation, despite the poor history between M/I-1 and M/I-2.
Initial theories regarding the light from Audacity's drive tended towards the divine. Initial contact theories were split between pessimism and optimism.
Ha'Aretz (E3)'s government arose out of a aggregation of smaller nations who shared the common M/I-1 religion and Beta language family. The coastal nations were the driving force, in particular the one speaking Beta-3, and they conquered/assimilated their way cross-continent. This would've been around T-150 through to T-80. Çaiyad (E4), E5, and Canocha (E2) were all expanding at around the same time; Aggregated Groups (E1) had finished its consolidation of its hinterland by T-120. Ha'Aretz (E3) eventually got into a shooting match with E5 over some border posessions and things spiralled from there, leading to the Lamprey Great War. Ha'Aretz (E3) eventually emerged as a victor, having gained the territory in dispute. It's border with Canocha (E2) was negotiated in the peace settlement.
It has been a stable government more or less since inception. The forerunning nations were exclusively monarchial or dictatorial in nature. Culturally, it's noted for its art, monuments, some excellent works of academic theology, its religion, mathematics, and cookery.
Officially, there's only one religion in Ha'Aretz (E3), and everyone belongs to it; religious services are mandatory events; there's systemic internal monitoring and secret police, as well as restrictions on news media, assembly, and out-of-country telecoms. Ha'Aretz (E3), incidentally, is the power that exterminated E5, a Beta-2 speaking country. They have an actively revisionist historical narrative, too.
Most of this you've gleaned from what their enemies are saying, though. Even Ha'Aretz (E3)'s allies in the Equatorial block aren't fond of them, but the NE nations seriously dislike it and don't need much of an excuse to badmouth.
Ha'Aretz (E3)'s relations with the Equatorial block never been particularly cordial. The other countries, particularly Canocha (E2) and Çaiyad (E4), which border it, haven't forgotten Ha'Aretz (E3)'s conquest of the former E5. Ha'Aretz (E3)'s (constitutionally limited) theocratic rule conflicts with the ideals of the other E* countries, but that's not unusual within the Equatorial bloc; they all regard the other country's systems as eccentric-to-bizarre.
It is of note that during the Mid-Ocean Oil Crisis, Ha'Aretz (E3) did not oppose the efforts of M/I-2's leader (Windsong) to defuse the situation, despite the poor history between M/I-1 and M/I-2.
Initial theories regarding the light from Audacity's drive tended towards the divine. Initial contact theories were split between pessimism and optimism.
E4: "Çaiyad", "Fishermen's Cove", dead language:
Population: 382million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 17,190
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.96
Space GDP %: 0.50
Military GDP %: 4.50
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 70
Languages: Beta-1 (50%), Beta-2 (24%), Alpha-2 (16%), Ceti-1 (8%), misc (2%)
Religions: Monotheist/Nonintervention (60%), atheist (25%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (10%), Monotheist/Intervention-1 (4%), misc (1%)
Government: Wealth-weighted federal democracy
E5GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 17,190
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.96
Space GDP %: 0.50
Military GDP %: 4.50
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 70
Languages: Beta-1 (50%), Beta-2 (24%), Alpha-2 (16%), Ceti-1 (8%), misc (2%)
Religions: Monotheist/Nonintervention (60%), atheist (25%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (10%), Monotheist/Intervention-1 (4%), misc (1%)
Government: Wealth-weighted federal democracy
Smallest of the major Equator nations, Çaiyad (E4) also has the most widespread colony presence and is, along with Aggregated Groups (E1), in the front lines in the conflict with the NorthEast nations. Çaiyad (E4) has a strong economy and an excellent navy and air force, suitable for enforcing its claims to its geographically dispersed assets. It is also the only Equatorial country to share a land border with a NorthEast country (Mater (NE1)).
Initial contact scenarios trended pessimistic.
Initial contact scenarios trended pessimistic.
Defunct.
Mostly within the current borders of Ha'Aretz (E3), on the northern side. The treaty-defined border on the north between Ha'Aretz (E3) and Canocha (E2) runs through E5's former territory. The bits on the north side of the border were wholly depopulated during the Great War.
Mostly within the current borders of Ha'Aretz (E3), on the northern side. The treaty-defined border on the north between Ha'Aretz (E3) and Canocha (E2) runs through E5's former territory. The bits on the north side of the border were wholly depopulated during the Great War.
NorthEast:
NE1: "Mater"; "Motherland", Ceti-1:
Population: 330million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 11,550
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.74
Space GDP %: 0.20
Military GDP %: 7.00
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 30
Languages: Ceti-1 (70%), Ceti-2 (15%), Beta-1 (8%), Alpha-2 (5%), misc (2%)
Religions: Polytheist/Everything (55%), Ancestor/Intervention (15%), Ancestor/Nonintervention (15%), atheist (10%), Polytheist/Limited (4%), misc (1%)
Government: Military oligarchy
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 11,550
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.74
Space GDP %: 0.20
Military GDP %: 7.00
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 30
Languages: Ceti-1 (70%), Ceti-2 (15%), Beta-1 (8%), Alpha-2 (5%), misc (2%)
Religions: Polytheist/Everything (55%), Ancestor/Intervention (15%), Ancestor/Nonintervention (15%), atheist (10%), Polytheist/Limited (4%), misc (1%)
Government: Military oligarchy
The only NorthEast country to share a land border with an Equatorial nation (Çaiyad (E4)). Relatively small, like all the NE nations, compared to the Equatorial ones. Its colonies, one of which sits in the middle of a large oil field (split with Çaiyad (E4)), provide it with wealth. Heavily militarised for its size, but it buys most of its equipment from Victus (NE3).
Government control is high.
Initial theories regarding the light from Audacity's drive tended towards the divine. Initial contact scenarios trended pessimistic.
Government control is high.
Initial theories regarding the light from Audacity's drive tended towards the divine. Initial contact scenarios trended pessimistic.
NE2: "Borealis"; "North Province", archaic Ceti:
Population: 171million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 8,550
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 1.06
Space GDP %: 0.10
Military GDP %: 3.50
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 10
Languages: Ceti-1 (76%), Ceti-2 (10%), Alpha-2 (8%), Epsilon-1 (4%), misc (2%)
Religions: Ancestor/Nonintervention (60%), Ancestor/Intervention (20%), atheist (18%), misc (2%)
Government: Parliamentary democracy
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 8,550
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 1.06
Space GDP %: 0.10
Military GDP %: 3.50
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 10
Languages: Ceti-1 (76%), Ceti-2 (10%), Alpha-2 (8%), Epsilon-1 (4%), misc (2%)
Religions: Ancestor/Nonintervention (60%), Ancestor/Intervention (20%), atheist (18%), misc (2%)
Government: Parliamentary democracy
The cool northern nation of Borealis (NE2) is notable for its abundant supplies of precious metals. The climate, however, makes extracting the valuable commodities troublesome. Borealis (NE2) lays claim to a large ice-covered island close to Lamprey-II's pole. It has easily the smallest population of the large nations.
Government control is light.
Government control is light.
NE3: "Victus"; "Food Province", archaic Ceti:
Population: 448million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 17,920
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.85
Space GDP %: 1.80
Military GDP %: 6.00
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 140
Languages: Ceti-2 (50%), Ceti-1 (30%), Ceti-3 (15%), misc (5%)
Religions: Polytheist/Everything (30%), atheist (30%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (20%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (15%), Polytheist/Hybrid (4%), misc (1%)
Government: Representative federal democracy
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 17,920
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.85
Space GDP %: 1.80
Military GDP %: 6.00
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 140
Languages: Ceti-2 (50%), Ceti-1 (30%), Ceti-3 (15%), misc (5%)
Religions: Polytheist/Everything (30%), atheist (30%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (20%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (15%), Polytheist/Hybrid (4%), misc (1%)
Government: Representative federal democracy
One of the larger NorthEast states, and a producer and exporter of military technology and equipment to other NorthEast nations. Along with Princeps (NE5), the driving force behind the NE coalition and main proponent of spaceflight. Trades with Mater (NE1) and Bisonpatrie (NE4) for oil. A huge resource for Lamprey preybeasts.
NE4: "Bisonpatrie"; "Land of Bison", Ceti-3:
Population: 323million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 14,535
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.96
Space GDP %: 0.80
Military GDP %: 7.00
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 110
Languages: Ceti-3 (60%), Ceti-2 (30%), Ceti-1 (5%), Delta-1 (3%), misc (2%)
Religion: Polytheist/Everything (25%), Polytheist/Limited (20%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (17%), atheist (15%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (11%), Polytheist/Hybrid (10%), misc (2%)
Government: Military oligarchy
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 14,535
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.96
Space GDP %: 0.80
Military GDP %: 7.00
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 110
Languages: Ceti-3 (60%), Ceti-2 (30%), Ceti-1 (5%), Delta-1 (3%), misc (2%)
Religion: Polytheist/Everything (25%), Polytheist/Limited (20%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (17%), atheist (15%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (11%), Polytheist/Hybrid (10%), misc (2%)
Government: Military oligarchy
Southernmost of the NorthEast states, with claimed land almost at the South pole of Lamprey-II. Rich offshore oilfields give it leverage on the world markets and on its neighbour, Victus (NE3). Wealthy and militarily powerful, second in the NE only to Princeps (NE5) and Victus (NE3). Also owns significant supplies of food.
Bisonpatrie (NE4)'s flag has a stylised version of a creature the country is named after, in this case one I translate as "Bison". It is an aggressive and large quadruped herbivore that can be quite dangerous, and noted for its fighting ability. Domesticated (and free-range) variants are favoured Lamprey foodstuffs and/or prey.
Government control is heavy.
Initial theories regarding the light from Audacity's drive tended towards the divine. Initial contact scenarios trended pessimistic.
Bisonpatrie (NE4)'s flag has a stylised version of a creature the country is named after, in this case one I translate as "Bison". It is an aggressive and large quadruped herbivore that can be quite dangerous, and noted for its fighting ability. Domesticated (and free-range) variants are favoured Lamprey foodstuffs and/or prey.
Government control is heavy.
Initial theories regarding the light from Audacity's drive tended towards the divine. Initial contact scenarios trended pessimistic.
NE5: "Princeps"; "Capital Province", archaic Ceti:
Population: 508million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 20,320
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.85
Space GDP %: 1.90
Military GDP %: 6.50
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 140
Languages: Ceti-3 (72%), Ceti-1 (15%), Epsilon-1 (8%) Ceti-2 (3%), misc (2%)
Religions: Ancestor/Nonintervention (80%), Polytheist/Everything (12%), atheist (6%), misc (2%)
Government: Constitutional oligarchy
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 20,320
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.85
Space GDP %: 1.90
Military GDP %: 6.50
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 140
Languages: Ceti-3 (72%), Ceti-1 (15%), Epsilon-1 (8%) Ceti-2 (3%), misc (2%)
Religions: Ancestor/Nonintervention (80%), Polytheist/Everything (12%), atheist (6%), misc (2%)
Government: Constitutional oligarchy
The largest and most powerful NE nation and, with Victus (NE3), the major unifying force. Self-sufficient, militarised, and self-confident. Most of its space work has been pragmatic satellites.
Princeps (NE5) was the central province of the old NE empire, and retained its flag. The flag was then used in the other provinces of the Empire as a component of their local flags. When the Empire dissolved, some of the eventually-reunified nations chose to reclaim their old flags (and old Imperial designations)
Government control is medium-level. Called the light from Audacity's drive artificial right from the beginning.
Princeps (NE5) was the central province of the old NE empire, and retained its flag. The flag was then used in the other provinces of the Empire as a component of their local flags. When the Empire dissolved, some of the eventually-reunified nations chose to reclaim their old flags (and old Imperial designations)
Government control is medium-level. Called the light from Audacity's drive artificial right from the beginning.
NE6: "Tullo"; "Hill Dwelling", dead language:
Population: 221million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 7,385
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.74
Space GDP %: 1.0
Military GDP %: 10.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 60
Languages: Ceti-3 (80%), Ceti-1 (10%), Alpha-2 (6%), Ceti-2 (3%), misc (1%)
Religion: Monotheist/Intervention-2 (60%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (15%), Polytheist/Everything (10%), atheist (8%), Polytheist/Limited (3%), misc (4%)
Government: One-party bureaucracy.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 7,385
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.74
Space GDP %: 1.0
Military GDP %: 10.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 60
Languages: Ceti-3 (80%), Ceti-1 (10%), Alpha-2 (6%), Ceti-2 (3%), misc (1%)
Religion: Monotheist/Intervention-2 (60%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (15%), Polytheist/Everything (10%), atheist (8%), Polytheist/Limited (3%), misc (4%)
Government: One-party bureaucracy.
One of the smaller NE states, Tullo (NE6) nevertheless has many important resources and a sophisticated industrial economy. Being next door to the immensely powerful Aggregated Groups (E1) has encouraged a paranoid mindset among its leadership and, per-capita, it has the most powerful military on Lamprey-II, strongly emphasising individual quality and technological advancement over numbers.
Government control is medium.
Initial contact scenarios trended pessimistic.
Government control is medium.
Initial contact scenarios trended pessimistic.
NE7: "Oriens"; "East Province", archaic Ceti:
Population: 264million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 7,920
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.64
Space GDP %: 1.0
Military GDP %: 7.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 60
Languages: Ceti-3 (65%), Ceti-2 (20%), Alpha-2 (12%), misc (3%)
Religion: Atheist (40%), Ancestor/Intervention (25%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (20%), Ancestor/Nonintervention (6%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (5%), misc (4%)
Government: Parliamentary democracy
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 7,920
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.64
Space GDP %: 1.0
Military GDP %: 7.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 60
Languages: Ceti-3 (65%), Ceti-2 (20%), Alpha-2 (12%), misc (3%)
Religion: Atheist (40%), Ancestor/Intervention (25%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (20%), Ancestor/Nonintervention (6%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (5%), misc (4%)
Government: Parliamentary democracy
Another small NE nation. Similar factors to Tullo (NE6) are at play here, but Oriens (NE7) chose to focus its efforts on nuclear technology and delivery systems instead of conventional warfare, a decision aided by its uranium deposits. Notable also for its atheistic percentage, the highest on Lamprey-II.
Government control is medium.
Initial contact scenarios trended pessimistic.
Government control is medium.
Initial contact scenarios trended pessimistic.
Minor:
M1: "Koori"; "Ice Land", Delta-1:
Population: 88million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 2,200
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.53
Space GDP %: 0.10
Military GDP %: 5.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 2
Languages: Delta-1 (70%), Alpha-2 (26%), misc (4%)
Religion: Polytheist/Hybrid (80%), Polytheist/Limited (14%), atheist (5%), misc (1%)
Government: Dictatorship
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 2,200
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.53
Space GDP %: 0.10
Military GDP %: 5.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 2
Languages: Delta-1 (70%), Alpha-2 (26%), misc (4%)
Religion: Polytheist/Hybrid (80%), Polytheist/Limited (14%), atheist (5%), misc (1%)
Government: Dictatorship
A southerly land, generally within Aggregated Groups (E1)'s sphere of influence. Some natural resources of note, and a surprisingly large population, sustained by trade with the main Equator nations.
M2: "Libertas", "Liberty", archaic Ceti:
Population: 82million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 2,460
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.64
Space GDP %: 0.05
Military GDP %: 1.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 0.5
Languages: Alpha-2 (30%), Ceti-2 (30%), Beta-3 (20%), Epsilon-1 (15%), misc (5%)
Religions: Ancestor/Intervention (30%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (28%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (19%), Monotheist/Intervention-1 (11%), atheist (4%), misc (8%)
Government: Plutocracy
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 2,460
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.64
Space GDP %: 0.05
Military GDP %: 1.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 0.5
Languages: Alpha-2 (30%), Ceti-2 (30%), Beta-3 (20%), Epsilon-1 (15%), misc (5%)
Religions: Ancestor/Intervention (30%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (28%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (19%), Monotheist/Intervention-1 (11%), atheist (4%), misc (8%)
Government: Plutocracy
This country is a crossroads for the great powers, situated between Canocha (E2) and Borealis (NE2). It profits on trade and has a reputation for being a place where anything is for sale.
Libertas (M2) has been known for occasional security breaches and poor coastal patrolling in the past, as well as smuggling and espionage. Canocha (E2) is not very happy about that and tends to... ah... aggressively patrol... Libertas (M2)'s waters to ensure things like that don't happen again. Libertas (M2) doesn't much like THAT but doesn't have the chutzpah to tell Canocha (E2) to take a hike, because that could have some very nasty and unpredictable international effects. Libertas (M2)'s security isn't terrible by human standards, but it's something of a joke among the Lampreys.
Libertas (M2) has been known for occasional security breaches and poor coastal patrolling in the past, as well as smuggling and espionage. Canocha (E2) is not very happy about that and tends to... ah... aggressively patrol... Libertas (M2)'s waters to ensure things like that don't happen again. Libertas (M2) doesn't much like THAT but doesn't have the chutzpah to tell Canocha (E2) to take a hike, because that could have some very nasty and unpredictable international effects. Libertas (M2)'s security isn't terrible by human standards, but it's something of a joke among the Lampreys.
M3: "North Ukkei", "Home", archaic Delta-2:
Population: 79million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 2,765
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.74
Space GDP %: 0.05
Military GDP %: 6.0
Largest single LLO payload (tne): 1
Languages: Delta-2 (70%), Beta-3 (25%), misc (5%)
Religions: Monotheist/Nonintervention (60%), atheist (30%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (6%), misc (4%)
Government: Parliamentary democracy
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 2,765
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.74
Space GDP %: 0.05
Military GDP %: 6.0
Largest single LLO payload (tne): 1
Languages: Delta-2 (70%), Beta-3 (25%), misc (5%)
Religions: Monotheist/Nonintervention (60%), atheist (30%), Monotheist/Intervention-2 (6%), misc (4%)
Government: Parliamentary democracy
North Ukkei (M3) shares an island with South Ukkei (M4), with whom it has had an uneasy history. Both are now dominated by Çaiyad (E4), which has imposed peace between them. North Ukkei (M3) has spectacular scenery and a tradition of excellent R&D.
Internationally, North Ukkei (M3)'s name is prefixed with "North".
North Ukkei (M3), while certainly not a strong nation on L-II, isn't the weakest, either, and certainly not a 3rd world country as we would understand the term. It's GDP per capita is around that of Ha'Aretz (E3)'s, and, translated into Earth terms, would be about that of Germany's. It's simply that while North Ukkei (M3)'s population is also around that of German's, whereas Ha'Aretz (E3)'s is well over a half-billion.
Internationally, North Ukkei (M3)'s name is prefixed with "North".
North Ukkei (M3), while certainly not a strong nation on L-II, isn't the weakest, either, and certainly not a 3rd world country as we would understand the term. It's GDP per capita is around that of Ha'Aretz (E3)'s, and, translated into Earth terms, would be about that of Germany's. It's simply that while North Ukkei (M3)'s population is also around that of German's, whereas Ha'Aretz (E3)'s is well over a half-billion.
M4: "South Ukkei", "Home", archaic Delta-2:
Population: 66million
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 1,650
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.53
Space GDP %: 0.10
Military GDP %: 9.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 0.5
Languages: Delta-2 (60%), Beta-3 (25%), Alpha-2 (10%), misc (5%)
Religion: Monotheist/Intervention-1 (85%), atheist (12%), misc (3%)
Government: Joint Aggregated Groups (E1)/Çaiyad (E4) occupation force.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 1,650
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.53
Space GDP %: 0.10
Military GDP %: 9.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 0.5
Languages: Delta-2 (60%), Beta-3 (25%), Alpha-2 (10%), misc (5%)
Religion: Monotheist/Intervention-1 (85%), atheist (12%), misc (3%)
Government: Joint Aggregated Groups (E1)/Çaiyad (E4) occupation force.
South Ukkei (M4) has less arable land than North Ukkei (M3) and a lower population in consequence. Large chunks of uranium mean that Çaiyad (E4) and the other Equator nations take a strategic interest in it. Fell into anarchy following the death of it's ruler at T+68 D, and was jointly occupied by Aggregated Groups (E1) and Çaiyad (E4) by T+131 D.
South Ukkei (M4) is in no position to start a war with anyone. Its previously existing armed forces are shattered, disarmed, and dispersed, and control of the territority is administered by the joint Aggregated Groups (E1)-Çaiyad (E4) occupation force. This is now under dispute by what appears to a be coordinated, well-armed insurgency, but you're talking about something like post-GW-II Iraq trying to invade someone. Ain't happening.
Where the insurgency is getting their equipment is a bit of a mystery. Much of it is old gear the South Ukkei (M4) populace or armed forces might have had, but some captured gear is of relatively recent Princeps (NE5) manufacture. South Ukkei (M4)'s primary armament supplier prior to its dictator's death was Çaiyad (E4), which only sold it older equipment.
Internationally, South Ukkei (M4)'s name is prefixed with "South".
Under the pre-Occupation dictatorship, government control was heavy.
Under the Occupation's martial law, it is very heavy, even totalitarian.
Initial contact scenarios trended pessimistic.
South Ukkei (M4) is in no position to start a war with anyone. Its previously existing armed forces are shattered, disarmed, and dispersed, and control of the territority is administered by the joint Aggregated Groups (E1)-Çaiyad (E4) occupation force. This is now under dispute by what appears to a be coordinated, well-armed insurgency, but you're talking about something like post-GW-II Iraq trying to invade someone. Ain't happening.
Where the insurgency is getting their equipment is a bit of a mystery. Much of it is old gear the South Ukkei (M4) populace or armed forces might have had, but some captured gear is of relatively recent Princeps (NE5) manufacture. South Ukkei (M4)'s primary armament supplier prior to its dictator's death was Çaiyad (E4), which only sold it older equipment.
Internationally, South Ukkei (M4)'s name is prefixed with "South".
Under the pre-Occupation dictatorship, government control was heavy.
Under the Occupation's martial law, it is very heavy, even totalitarian.
Initial contact scenarios trended pessimistic.
M5: "Herensuge"; "Land of Dragons", archaic Epsilon:
Population: 92million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 2,760
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.64
Space GDP %: 0.10
Military GDP %: 2.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 3
Languages: Epsilon-1 (70%), Ceti-3 (27%), misc (3%)
Religions: Ancestor/Intervention (67%), Ancestor/Nonintervention (31%), misc (2%)
Government: Parliamentary democracy
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 2,760
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.64
Space GDP %: 0.10
Military GDP %: 2.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 3
Languages: Epsilon-1 (70%), Ceti-3 (27%), misc (3%)
Religions: Ancestor/Intervention (67%), Ancestor/Nonintervention (31%), misc (2%)
Government: Parliamentary democracy
Surrounded by NE countries, Herensuge (M5) is well within their sphere of influence. It maintains particularly close ties with Borealis (NE2) and Princeps (NE5), and has a comfortable trade relation with Aurora (M7). It possesses little in the way of outstanding natural resources, but it has a small though very advanced industrial setup.
The design on Herensuge (M5)'s flag is a stylised (and mythologised) version of the creature that gave the country its name... which I translate as "Dragon", owing to various of its characteristics. It's an aquatic predator commonly found along Herensuge (M5)'s coast, and one of the more intelligent animals on L-II (though not advanced tool-users). It is an apex predator in its environment.
The design on Herensuge (M5)'s flag is a stylised (and mythologised) version of the creature that gave the country its name... which I translate as "Dragon", owing to various of its characteristics. It's an aquatic predator commonly found along Herensuge (M5)'s coast, and one of the more intelligent animals on L-II (though not advanced tool-users). It is an apex predator in its environment.
M6: "Occidens"; "West Province", archaic Ceti:
Population: 132million
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 4,620
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.74
Space GDP %: 0.20
Military GDP %: 3.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 10
Occidens (M6) is the most powerful of the minor nations, with a population that almost reaches the smallest of the great players. It has been blessed with an abundance of resources, many of which it trades to the neighbouring Princeps (NE5). Like its larger and more powerful neighbour, Occidens (M6) has a strong industrial economy.
Government control is relatively light.
Theories regarding the light from Audacity's drive were mostly reasonably scientific.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 4,620
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.74
Space GDP %: 0.20
Military GDP %: 3.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 10
Languages: Ceti-3 (70%), Ceti-1 (10%), Alpha-2 (8%), Epsilon-1 (7%), misc (5%)
Religion: Ancestor/Nonintervention (30%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (30%), atheist (20%), Ancestor/Intervention (10%), Polytheist/Hybrid (6%), misc (4%)
Government: Parliamentary democracy
Religion: Ancestor/Nonintervention (30%), Monotheist/Nonintervention (30%), atheist (20%), Ancestor/Intervention (10%), Polytheist/Hybrid (6%), misc (4%)
Government: Parliamentary democracy
Occidens (M6) is the most powerful of the minor nations, with a population that almost reaches the smallest of the great players. It has been blessed with an abundance of resources, many of which it trades to the neighbouring Princeps (NE5). Like its larger and more powerful neighbour, Occidens (M6) has a strong industrial economy.
Government control is relatively light.
Theories regarding the light from Audacity's drive were mostly reasonably scientific.
M7: "Aurora", "Land of Morning", archaic Ceti:
Population: 92million.
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 1,840
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.43
Space GDP %: 0.01
Military GDP %: 5.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 0.2
Languages: Ceti-2 (63%), Ceti-3 (20%), Epsilon-1 (7%), Ceti-1 (6%), misc (4%)
Religions: Polytheist/Limited (90%), Polytheist/Hybrid (4%), misc (6%)
Government: Dictatorship
GDP (in billion 2009 USD): 1,840
GDP per capita (relative to 2009 US): 0.43
Space GDP %: 0.01
Military GDP %: 5.0
Largest single LEO payload (tne): 0.2
Languages: Ceti-2 (63%), Ceti-3 (20%), Epsilon-1 (7%), Ceti-1 (6%), misc (4%)
Religions: Polytheist/Limited (90%), Polytheist/Hybrid (4%), misc (6%)
Government: Dictatorship
Thoroughly ensconsed within the NE sphere of influence, particularly that of Princeps (NE5), this small nation makes a living selling various primary resources to the industrial nations to its South.
Culture:
The primary non-computer, non-specialist, positional-notation base system is base twelve. Other ones used at various points or still in use include six, eight, and twenty.
There was, at T-25 Y, no particular suggestion of worrying about invaders from outer space.
A historical program you intercepted gave you some hints as you the recent development of the planet up to T-25 Y, but parts are missing. Quick summary:
As of T-25 Y, the planet is divided into multiple, large, competing nations, who arose more or less contemporaneously on several continents. Smaller nations exist, with their own history and languages in many cases, but most of them are allies of, colonies of, conquered provinces of, or protectorates of, the large nations. These nations have not fought a major war in thirty-two of the planet's years (T-66.7 Y). The last war so fought was done with poison gas and machine guns and resulted in the total obliteration of the loser. The current powers are terrified of having the same thing happen to them, and so have restricted-- by treaty-- various military technologies. They devote their energies to economic competition and minor colonial firefights.
The Lamprey Third World more or less got eaten (figuratively speaking) during the Lamprey age of colonialism prior to the Great War. Unlike on Earth, the major powers never divested themselves of their conquests.
Ideological and religious arguments are used as justifications by some of the nations, but the underlying motives appear to be the classical human ones; power, greed, and fear.
They're not blase about an entire culture going poof-- though, also, they're not completely unwilling to do it. Its sort of like the nuclear weapons situation in the Cold War. If push came to shove, yes, everybody dies, but nobody wants that outcome. It just happens to be in place with intra-WW period technology for things like planes, battleships, and so on, which is plenty to kill an entire country if you're determined to do so.
You've picked up funerary broadcasts for noted politicians.
The Lampreys tend to have taboos about eating their dead wholesale or feeding them to other animals. There are exceptions, usually hedged with ritual: in some societies (Aggregated Groups (E1), for example), eating a Lamprey heart or brain is considered a reverential gesture of farewell; historically, many tribal cultures made a practice of consuming the gentilia of a dead enemy; and in times of famine, full up cannibalism has been resorted to. Simply tossing a Lamprey corpse into a processing unit would almost certainly be seen as an act of desecration in the literal sense as well as very callous.
Many of the broadcasts show windowless rooms, but exterior shots of buildings also reveal them to be sparsely windowed. The Lampreys insofar as you can tell don't have skyscrapers even the height of modern Earth's.
Lamprey art tends to exaggerate tentacles and teeth, especially of other Lampreys. Outside of that, manipulatory appendages in general occupy conceptual space. One of the most horrifying archetypes they have is a mouthless, manipleless, smooth, featureless blob that eats anyways. Think the Blob.
The concept of artificial life forms has occured to them as a theoretical possibility; you've seen occasional references to them in the entertainment stuff. It's not enough for you to get a coherent picture of what they think as yet [and bear in mind their evident computer tech level and how wrong our ideas in the 60s were about both the direction of computer evolution and what robots would be like]. You've got stuff ranging from a mechanical lamprey running amok and building more mechanical lampreys to end the world, to 'Robot only want friend!' heartwarming stuff.
Three main types of friendly robots have been depicted:
- An exaggerated Lamprey-shape. Smaller body, exaggerated tentacles, lower-toned voice than Lamprey-standard. It's very similar to the friendly-alien look in the Stranded-Alien contact scenario.
- A blue six-legged insect-like thing, about a half-metre long. It resembles a common Lamprey pet.
- The most iconic one is a jet black, geometric rectangle (long, narrow, and short) on treads, with three manipulators, one on either side and one on top, with a rotating single eye in a dome at either end. In short, wholly and clearly artificial.
They approve of charity and compassion towards other aliens. Their attitude towards non-prey species is complex. Primarily it is utilitarian, and they don't seem go out of their way to inflict suffering or pain or cruelty [note: statements on alien culture are of necessity broad generalisations at this time. You've already picked up distinct cultural differences and mores]. However, there are favoured species and it's clear that, for example, the aliens will form emotional attachments to favoured workbeasts. They also keep pets.
In the example given, it is even odds whether an alien would tend to the animal, or put it out of its misery and bury or eat it. All have been shown to occur, and all with-- as far as you can tell-- positive overtones.
Culture varies place-to-place. Common elements include emphasis on family, reputation, and possessions, and in about that order. Courage and not being an ass to fellow aliens are valued everywhere. There has been no mention of the act of sex. You know the aliens are male/female equivalents, but any naughty parts haven't been shown.
There are many things that are valued for aesthetic, rarity, or traditional reasons. Gold and gems are among them, and have been used as currency for forever. The Lampreys know how to synthesise diamonds.
Actual outright treachery is taboo and frowned upon everywhere; you simply can't build a social grouping without some degree of trust. It still happens, if a Lamprey thinks the payoff is worth the risk. Nobody, anywhere, considers indiscriminant backstabbing a virtue. The cause needed to justify treachery is an inverse to how close you are to the thing you're betraying:
Your immediate family? You're lookin' to be shot.
Your extended clan? You'd better be protecting a family member.
Your country? Wealth, power, or an ideological motivation.
A Lamprey's given word is fairly reliable... but. They're big practitioners of misdirection and sins of omission. The onus is on the other guy to ask or make clear what he wants; if you happen to provide him with accurate (but incomplete) information that leads him to an incorrect conclusion without checking, that's his problem, not yours. Memorable stratagems (such as the strategic feint that ended the Great War, or Çaiyad (E4)'s colony acquisitions) are taught in schools in the same fashion that human schools teach, say, Newton's Theory of Gravity. Machiavelli would be at home.
"You never asked," is a common refrain.
Also taught-- and, naturally, absorbed through experience and personal observations-- is the mindset and skills necessary to navigate in the resulting social environment: Caution, vigiliance, attention to detail. Lampreys who fall into obvious traps are held up for humour in the same sort of way that human slapstick or Darwin Awards candidates are.
Talking archetypically for the moment, common ones include the Trickster, the Devourer, the Maker, the Watchful, and the Orderer.
The Trickster is obvious, I trust; the archetype, as regarded by the Lampreys, can range from mischevious goodnatured prankster through to Serious Dude With Whom You Do Not Mess, in service of pretty much any goal from their own enjoyment to some overarching cause.
The Devourer is, at root, unbrindled consumption and replication, a being (or system) that does not moderate, does not compromise, and does not think to the long term. It's giving into base urges, lack of self-discipline, and associated traits. It is almost exclusively associated with figures of an evil or socially disapproved of nature.
The Maker is not quite the opposite, but close; where the Devourer seeks only its own aggrandisement or propagation in its replication, the Maker creates with variety and art. It is creation without the destruction or assimilation inherent in the Devourer archetype, and with moderation and care applied. An instanced Maker archetype may not be consciously, ethically 'good', or even minded, but it's generally regarded positively.
The Watchful inverses the Trickster. It is foresight, caution, care, the ability to anticipate and guard against those seeking to manipulate them. A Watchful instanced archetype does not usually seek to manipulate others to its own end, but is content with being left alone. Shows up in all portions of the moral spectrum but, preferrentially, on the nominally 'good' side.
The Orderer seeks to apply rules and knowledge to the world, to understand the fundamentals in a way that the other four do not. It is the bringer of civilisation, of science, of the ability to go to bed moderately confident that tomorrow will be much like today. It is the most hopeful of the archetypes, the triumph of reason over unreason. Very frequently paired with the Maker archetype and very commonly portrayed as 'good', though examples of 'someone who reduces the world to geometry, and thereby screws up everything' exist as well.
The resurrection and/or return of the dead isn't an unusual thing to think of, particularly with the variety of Lamprey religions that believe in the existence of either an afterlife or supernatural spirits. There's a wide variety in the specifics, from mystic ritual to raw vengeance to scientific perversion. The oldest tradition-- and it is old in a way that very few human literary traditions would be; think as well-worn as Aesop's fables, or Biblical traditions-- goes with the broader worries about disease and unrestricted reproduction, and is an infectious version, the classical Zombie Apocalypse: Smart, tough, relentless, assimilatory, and rotting.
The aliens, from what you can tell, tend towards very territorial, both at the national and personal level. The question of "who owns the moons" is, at T-25 Y, basically speculation. They haven't codified any treaties or agreements with respect to it as far as you've been able to snoop.
The Lampreys are less worried about the unknown than humans are (their reaction is closer to cautious curiousity); things that inspire fear are usually thematically tied to competition, exposure, and loss of control.
The Lamprey reaction to the unknown is closer to cautious (because if it is unknown, obviously you can't tell if it will hurt you) stalking and experimentation (how else do you find out anything?) than outright fear, all else equal.
While the Lamprey population was on the very large growth surge (they added a billion Lampreys in seven years before the population stablised, and a half-billion in the thirteen years prior to that), they were very worried. A non-trivial amount of effort went into increasing their food-gathering avenues and slowing population growth. For all it's other notable attributes, Aggregated Groups (E1)-- by referenda-- rammed through a 2-child policy in order to deal with it's population pressure. That policy remains in effect.
The Equator side leans a little more strongly towards interest in space and the NE side is somewhat more militarised. The primary conflict between them is resource-centric. A massive oil strike at T-12 Y in a group of islands between the two sides led to a heightening of tensions and predictions of thermonuclear disaster, with both sides sending military forces to secure their interests. The conflict was eventually resolved diplomatically, by splitting the region in half. Troops, aircraft, and naval forces from both sides remain in the area to enforce the designations.
The Equatorial nations have different languages, and different religions, from the NE side, which are closer to a common heritage. Economically both groups span a range of systems.
Both groups maintain large standing armies. The Equatorial grouping is done as a coalition of independent national militaries. The NE side is more centralised, closer to a supra-national armed force.
By T-1 Y, tensions between the NE and Equatorial blocs have declined drastically, with one successfully implemented agreement to reduce nuclear armament in place and another proposed and agreed to by T-292 D. Both sides have also declassified the existence of their anti-ballistic-missile research programs, though the exact details and mechanics remain governmental secrets. ABM research is not restricted by their treaties.
The highest point of tension was when undersea oil reserves were discovered on the island that is now split between Çaiyad (E4) and Mater (NE1). Both countries moved in military troops and navies, both blocks mobilised to support them, and missile launching platforms were on high alert. The incident was eventually resolved in the Gordian fashion-- they split the island, and the oil, in a negotiated settlement. That particular case was mostly realpolitik. There have been other, smaller arguments over the years. Poor treatment of minority religions, for example, has caused disputes.
The entire NE area was at one point, hundreds of years back, unified under a single empire. It eventually fell, but left the NE nations that rose from its ashes (and the NE nations that rose from those, and so on) with a common linguistic and cultural heritage. Cross-pollination with the Equatorial continents has altered that over the years. They've fought each other from time to time, and split durning the Great War, aiding both sides of the conflict on the Equatorial area and eventually winding up in armed conflict with each other.
The Equatorial nations, all four of them, still remember how unnecessarily long and bloody that made the Great War.
Colours are used for evoking emotion; generally, low red/orange light is seen as peaceful, but rust-red objects evoke danger responses. Yellow is associated with growth, plants, and so forth. Blue and green get associated with adventure and exploration. White is neutral; black hits a variety, from concealment to professionalism.
Lamprey music is closer to arrthythmic; it involves rapid shifts between slow beats and fast beats, sometimes intermixed. The frequencies involved are similar to human music, since Lamprey hearing is in the same range. The general effect, to human ears, is something that is recognisable as music, but discordant and spiky, with weird hums fading in and out.
It also tends to have abrupt shifts in tone and pitch, often with relatively quiescent stretches followed by a frantic burst of activity.
Lyrical themes involve all the manifold emotions a Lamprey can have, of course. Religious music is quite common, particularly around various major religious festivals and holidays, but you've got songs about heartbreak and love and fear and jobs and war and death and exploration and eating and pets and robots and birth and cake.
The Lampreys have varying attitudes towards gift-giving; it is more important in some cultures than in others. Giving a gift that is not malicious is generally regarded as a trust-building exercise... to a point. Overly generous gifts trigger suspicions.
It is entirely possible to politely decline gifts. The Lampreys are not robots nor strawmen. You want to do so in a way that saves face for both parties, of course.
There are several recorded incidents of gifts being declined due to 'suspicious generosity'. It's like the old human saying; "if it seems to good to be true..."
RandomJ;4139351 said:
To all of these, for women, the answer is, 'it varies by culture'. The more egalitarian countries (Aggregated Groups (E1), Canocha (E2), Victus (NE3), etc) are pretty much totally fine with female combatants in all respects and have roughly equal proportions of male and female in their militaries. The military-run countries such as Mater (NE1) or Bisonpatrie (NE4) have female-majority armies. The militaries of the rest of the world are male-dominated or male-exclusive (Ha'Aretz (E3) is male-exclusive; ditto South Ukkei (M4)).
As concerns physically immature Lampreys, they're never used in combat.
As concerns physically mature but socially-children Lampreys, (i.e over the age of 2 Lamprey years but under the age of 12), they've occasionally shown up in the higher age ranges (8 Lamprey years and up). It's considered immoral and deplorable across the world by the major governments, but there are instances of it happening. There's a little variation in where 'adulthood' is; some cultures place it at 11, most at 12, some at 13.
As concerns socially-adult Lampreys (over 12 Lamprey years), there's a decreasing concern as age climbs, but nothing to the extent of the previous category.
It would upset a Lamprey soldier to fire on a child soldier. Such child soldiers are rare, though.
The Lampreys place a cross-cultural premium on age and experience, most notably in the ancestor-worshipping regions of the planet. It generally isn't exaggerated or cartoonish, but all else being equal the elderly person would be the one listened to; they're the ones who've survived, who know things.
There's also a reluctance to abuse or attack the elderly.
Family roles vary place to place. Most commonly, female Lampreys are regarded as the decision makers, male Lampreys as the hands. Female Lampreys are, globally, more likely to wind up in leadership positions. In both M/I-2 and M/I-1, the Lamprey God is female. Male Lampreys tend to be found more commonly in areas where there is more risk involved. The major exception lies in the militaries of countries that are run by their militaries. There is a certain element of tension between places like Aggregated Groups (E1), where female and males are regarded legally, and mostly culturally, as equal, and places like Ha'Aretz (E3), where this is not the case.
Family structure emphasises monogamy and faithfulness to the partner. It's a cultural expectation throughout the world, though more followed in some areas than others. Respect is expected to be given the elderly and your forebears, especially in those areas where ancestor worship is prevelant. Both aspects of this are being chipped away thanks to the availability of birth control to Lampreys.
The years have seen changes in Lamprey family structure as technology changes. Historically, a set of Lamprey parents would have multiple litters, most of which would die from various things. Over the years, as medical abilities improved, this changed, but birth rates didn't drop. Increasing aquacultural/herding abilities disguised the problem for a while, but by T-23 Y it was evident and didn't stablise until T-2.3 Y after the addition of some billion and a half Lampreys in twenty years. There is an enormous youthful cohort working its way through Lamprey society at the moment.
Traditionally, Lampreys worked in extended families, which could and would group into larger interrelated groupings if needed. This is still common in many parts of the world, even the most advanced societies, but its prevelance is declining as Lampreys become more mobile and selfsufficient thanks to technology.
Governments implemented rather draconian rules on reproduction and widely encouraged birth control in order to stabilise things and dodge mass starvation.
Entering into a Lamprey family is almost exclusively through partnership and birth. Ties of family interconnection are very strong and clannish, adoption rare outside of close relatives.
Tales of usurpers, pretenders, and changelings of all sorts have a rich, long, and broad tradition within the Lamprey literature and even modern broadcasts. These generally result in bad ends for the pretenders, although in some of the more avante-garde and controversial stuff it turns out that the 'rightful' person was in fact worse than the faker.
Lamprey views towards Lampreys with disabilities depend upon various things, including the age of the disabled, what the disability is, how it was acquired, what culture is involved, and so on. In general, disabilities that result through no fault of the disabled person's are regarded neutrally-to-sympathetically; disabilities that result through service, age, or duty are regarded sympathetically; and disabilities that are a result of being a chucklehead are treated disdainfully. By default in the more sophisticated areas, disabilities are regarded neutrally.
Historically, attitudes were more Darwinian.
They Lampromorphise inanimate objects; the polytheistic religions are unlikely to have gotten off the ground otherwise. A ship or crewed spacecraft lacking a name is unusual.
TransLampreyism is an active topic of debate... among a small fringe. Most Lampreys are too busy living day-to-day to much care. It crops up in their literature and movies from time to time.
Lamprey views on various kinds of immortality are basically that outside of the spiritual immortality offered by the religions, it's so much of an impossible dream for them that it isn't even worth considering. Lifespans have risen, but that rate is slowing, and there's no evidence to them that it will eventually hit 'indefinite'.
Contact Mythos:
Their pop culture has a lot more references to hostile first contacts than neutral or friendly ones, but of the neutral/friendly ones, one of the most popular, called Meeting with Mystery, involves a huge alien ship, of mysterious purpose and mysterious origin, that arrives in Lamprey system and, not communicating, proceeds to refuel at L-IV. An expedition of Lampreys boards the vessel, finding only mysterious machines doing mysterious things for purposes that remain... mysterious... before the mysterious ship fires up its physically impossible mysterious engine and mysteriously leaves.
The most popular friendly one involves a crashed alien spaceship (how the aliens were clever enough to invent FTL and travel between the stars but screw up by ramming a planet is left unexplained) with a single survivor, who befriends a youthful Lamprey. Hounded by government agents eager to study the alien (who looks vaguely Lamprey-like, but with exaggerated features-- a larger mouth, much more prominent tentacles; the eyes are shrunken, and the alien is foreshortened and smaller than the Lampreys), attempts to escape the planet. It succeeds in escaping through a series of involved and contrived circumstances.
Other friendlies:
- A message is sent from space, which a clever Lamprey eventually manages to decode; it starts with a numeric sequence, in simple on-off code; moves on to scientific and mathematical language, and eventually to complex data. The government and military are desperate to seek out the source of the transmissions, but can't find it. The transmissions wind up being plans for a space elevator and enormous shield meant to protect Lamprey-II against a tremendous solar flare. As far as you can tell, the technology involved is nonsense.
- In the far flung future, a mysterious Ring appears in the Lamprey system. It allows FTL travel throughout a network of such Rings scattered across the galaxy. Lampreykind unites and explores the stars and their varied citizenry, under the watchful and benevolent supervision of the Ringmasters, beings cloaked in white, glowing, and who are treated by the Lampreys as idealised beauty. The Rings mentioned are not small, planetbased things, like Stargate's. They're gigantic space hoops that are depicted like so (Audacity added for scale).
- Lampreykind invents FTL and has a land-rush to the stars, encountering many and varied aliens (most of whom look suspiciously like Lamprey actors in makeup). In most cases, Lampreykind incorporates the poor benighted natives into their growing interstellar benevolent empire, or-- in the cases where the aliens are more advanced-- either comes a peaceful agreement or destroys them with a cunning ambush.
- Biologically immortal translampreyist Lampreys travel between the stars the hard way, spending tens of thousands of years in transit, slowly exploring the stars and their occupants, trading and acquiring the best of technologies from across the galaxy, knitting together a vast net of lightspeed communications buoys into an interstellar database. Civilisations rise, fall, and rise again, building off the Lamprey technological broadcasts.
- The aliens are constructs of a Lamprey God, sent to provide Her people with the tastiest food yet. The aliens like being eaten, so it's win-win!
- Lampreykind builds a generation-ship and sends it out to the stars. Hundreds of generators later, with the descendants of the crew having totally forgotten their original purpose or even the fact that they exist on a ship, the ship arrives at its destination and forcibly disgorges them. Unfortunately, the planet is already inhabited. Hilarity ensues, with eventual peaceful negotiations and co-existence.
And to expand, since the original query involved friendly contacts, here are some of the... less cordial... contact stories out there:
- Inscrutable aliens announce their arrival by appearing over a major city (Aggregated Groups (E1)'s capital is a favourite) and blowing it to smithereens. Lamprey forces then try to fight them and get steamrollered, whereupon the aliens herd the Lampreys into concentration camps and eat them. Who's master of the planet now, hmn?
- Aliens are, even now, watching L-II and are responsible for many strange and curious phenomenon throughout history. They are manipulating Lamprey-kind for their own, sinister ends. A heroic Lamprey, the only one to suspect the truth, and his skeptical superior officer, stumble upon an alien probe abducting a Lamprey, and kick off a series of death-defying adventures as they try to unravel the conspiracy. They succeed and the orbiting alien spacecraft is blown up in righteous vengeance.
- In the future, as Lamprey spreads through the stars, it encounters vicious aliens who see Lampreys as prey. Space operatic battles result; Lampreys win.
- An enormous rock is inbound to Lamprey-II. Only a last, desperate effort saves a small breeding colony in L-III orbit, where, with backbreaking work, they slowly build a new life while L-II burns and freezes beneath them.
Then they find out who did it. And now, ten thousand years later, it's payback time.
There's lots and lots of trashy ALIENS ATTACK! stuff, too. Crop circles and cattle mutilation are silly, but there are people out there claiming to have been abducted by aliens. Those people were widely regarded as crazy. The nutso's descriptions are mostly hilariously wrong. Some of them claim to've been taking by robots, but most are various forms of biological aliens, that look vaguely Lampreylike. None of the descriptions you've heard of get anywhere close to what humans look like.
Religion:
By T-22 Y, you're getting a handle on the religions. They're all over the place. The major ones run as follows (some nations share more than one major religion):
Two interventionist monotheistic, both of which were aggressive in the past. One of them is officially the ruler of its own great power, the other more widespread, less powerful, and more mellow.
One non-interventionist monotheism, which regards understanding the universe to be reading the mind of God. Has gradually grown larger and is currently the planet's single largest religion.
Three varieties of polytheism, all in decline. They range from a relatively small pantheon of large-scale deities, Sun God, Planet God and so on, to 'no plant but has a spirit' style. The deities and spirits postulated by each are all interventionist. The 'everything has a spirit' version is far and away the most widespread of the three.
Two kinds of ancestor worship; one interventionist, one not and more a 'revere their spirits in the afterlife' kind.
Atheism is uncommon. A very large percentage of the planet is devout in one way or another.
By T-10 Y, the atheistic percentage, worldwide, is climbing, as is the percentage of people believing in Noninterventionist Monotheism. Two of the polytheistic religions are bleeding faithful, but the Everything-Has-A-Spirit is holding steady. Globally, except in the Monotheistic Interventionist theocracy on the Equatorial side, the level of devoutness is dropping. Lampreys in general seem less committed to religion.
The different religions are structured in various ways. M-I/1 and M-I/2 are both heavily hiearchial, with a formalised central power and administrative bureaucracy. M-I/1, the state religion of Ha'Aretz (E3), is integrated within-- in fact, is more or less indistinguishable from-- the government hierarchy, and is incorporated into daily life from physical-adulthood onwards, including schooling. M-I/2 maintains a world-wide system of educational establishments, usually run by and for the faithful of a parish and overseen by a priest; these run alongside, or as supplements to, secular or other religious education institutions. Both M-I religions have formalised daily rituals, which faithful are expected to perform (M-I/2's are more onerous and timeconsuming than M-I/1's; both religions expect/require attendance to a priest in a formal building at regular but less-frequent intervals; Ha'Aretz (E3)'s work schedules are in fact based around this).
M-NI is more a set of common beliefs than a 'religion' in the Catholic sense. It requires no rituals, issues little in the way of moral commands, and is, essentially, mediated by the deep belief that understanding is the key to knowing God (and a reverence for same). There's an abhorrence for lies and distortion, and a championing of science and rational inquiry.
The Polytheistic religions (excepting P/E) tend towards big, flashy rituals and feasting, but at long intervals and usually tied to astronomical events like the solstices, the equinoxes, moon-sync and so on. They are disunited, grassroots affairs, with temples being constructed in honour of this or that god in the pantheons, and priests usually being dedicated to one particular deity.
P/E is different; P/E is the theory that every distinct item in the universe has its own particular 'spirit' that animates it; a house has a spirit, and within that house, so does each room, and within each room so does each piece of furniture, and so on. These spirits are often regarded as inicimal to Lampreykind (at least before you get to know them) and are blamed for everything from misplaced writing implements through to someone managing to plug an accelerometer in upside down. There's as many competing theories and self-proclaimed authorities on exactly what rituals and charms work to make the spirits friendlier as there are practitioners.
The Ancestor-reverence traditions are more unified than the others, though not to the extent of the two M-I religions. Devotion levels aren't as strictly set out as in the two centralised religions, either.
Even in advanced democracies like Aggregated Groups (E1), politicians are usually religious in one form or another, although public presentation of such has occasionally clashed with formerly-private actions, much to the politician's disadvantage.
It is, in theory, possible for the leader of the M-I/2 religion give an order to Aggregated Groups (E1)'s leader and expect her obedience; in practice, this would almost certainly explode terribly.
Some religions are much less tolerant of other religions; M-I/1, for example, regards the existence of other religions as a sin (though it stops short of condoning violence against practioners of such, officially; political considerations are at play here, most especially the fact that Ha'Aretz (E3) shares a continent with Aggregated Groups (E1)).
Some governments, most especially Aggregated Groups (E1) but also the other major democracies guarantee personal religious freedom.
The two M/I religious possess the organisational ability for (and have historic records of) declaring a holy war. Public messages don't show any call to arms at the moment.
There are some minor alien-worshipping groups reported. The idea of aliens appearing out of nowhere and transforming L-II into a material Valhalla is mocked/dismissed by pretty much everybody else.
There isn't any more evidence in Lamprey mythology for KKV bombardment than you'd find if you went digging for the same sort of thing in Earth's myths.
Athiesm
In general atheism spans a fairly broad range of positions and... call it fervor.
It is unusual in that it isn't the majority position anywhere (although it has a plurality, or close, in two countries: Victus (NE3) and Oriens (NE7)), but it isn't unheard of by any stretch. Aggregated Groups (E1), for example, has more 'official' (i.e. fills-out-census-as) atheists in its borders than most Earth countries have people.
Views of atheism differ among countries and among religions. M/I-1 takes the harshest line among the religions in thinking that all atheists (and all pagans) should be converted as quickly as practicable, 'practicable' in times prior having included 'by very serious Lampreys with edged weapons' as a postfix.
Various countries differ; in Aggregated Groups (E1), religious freedom is a guarantee and atheists are included in that; in Ha'Aretz (E3), rather the converse is true, since M/I-1 is the official state religion and by law all Ha'Aretz (E3) citizens belong to it. Parliamentary democracies are usually the most tolerant. Libertas (M2) doesn't give a damn in any way whatsoever.
How respected atheists are in general corresponds to how respected practitioners of other religions are (particularly in the monotheistic-plurality societies).
It is unusual in that it isn't the majority position anywhere (although it has a plurality, or close, in two countries: Victus (NE3) and Oriens (NE7)), but it isn't unheard of by any stretch. Aggregated Groups (E1), for example, has more 'official' (i.e. fills-out-census-as) atheists in its borders than most Earth countries have people.
Views of atheism differ among countries and among religions. M/I-1 takes the harshest line among the religions in thinking that all atheists (and all pagans) should be converted as quickly as practicable, 'practicable' in times prior having included 'by very serious Lampreys with edged weapons' as a postfix.
Various countries differ; in Aggregated Groups (E1), religious freedom is a guarantee and atheists are included in that; in Ha'Aretz (E3), rather the converse is true, since M/I-1 is the official state religion and by law all Ha'Aretz (E3) citizens belong to it. Parliamentary democracies are usually the most tolerant. Libertas (M2) doesn't give a damn in any way whatsoever.
How respected atheists are in general corresponds to how respected practitioners of other religions are (particularly in the monotheistic-plurality societies).
M-NI: "Thought"
The fundamental belief of the M-NI religion, or "Thought", is that the Universe is the eponymous thought of God. By understanding the Universe, one grows closer to understanding God. Lampreys are not the centre of God's thought, or the reason for it, but-- just as the stars, or the grass, or the trees are-- they are essential to it.
Striving for that understanding requires understanding people, and yourself. Violence, and fear, and rage destroy understanding and hinder others in gaining it; serenity and self-control and persuasion promote it.
Likewise, lies and distortion impede understanding, and are therefore abhorrent.
"Thought" has no formal structure, or hierarchy. Over the centuries, a loose network of prestigious instructional and interpretive centres has evolved, whose teachings and thinking are accepted as reliable guides. Sometimes groups are discredited, or new ones build a reputation for excellence. The closest analogy is likley Earthly science journals, or perhaps universities.
M-NI pioneered formal logic, pedagogy as a science, and a method of rigorous questioning, analysis, and proof that is the foundation of, and guiding philosophy for, much of Lamprey science.
"Thought" is several centuries old. The first external and reliable historical record dates to T-681 Y; various traditions within the religion have earlier origin dates, but they have not been verified. They all agree, however, that M-NI's point of origin was along Aggregated Groups (E1)'s Upper Soup River, near the present-day site of Calculus City*.
The religion has grown fairly steadily since it's inception. Lamprey historians have correlated surges in the number of people expressing adherence to "Thought" with the popularisation of major scientific advances. Similiarly, it has been observed that those schools within the religion that readily incorporate and encourage scientific progress have tended to gain the largest followings.
Particularly widespread on the Equatorial continent, excluding Ha'Aretz (E3). Aggregated Groups (E1) and Canocha (E2)
*: Translated. In Alpha languages, calculus is named after it's originator, who was born during T-328 Y in a small village about eight kilometres from the city that now bears his name. Calculus' name originally translated as Farsmelling Hunter, but that meaning is now archaic and superceded. The city was renamed in T-265 Y, following Calculus' death.
Language
The Lamprey languages, any of them, do not transliterate well into English.
The naming convention for languages is based on language 'family', so for example Ceti-1, Ceti-2, and Ceti-3 have roughly the same relationship to each other as French, Spanish, and Italian do.
Alpha-2 could be considered an English/Chinese analogue; it's the language of the strongest power and spoken, as significant fraction, in more places than any of the others. The bulk of the speakers, though, reside in one very large country instead of scattered across multiple powers.
Assume that when you communicate with the Lamps you're using their own names.
The word "audacity" does not have any strongly negative connotations in any major Lamprey culture.
Lamprey naming conventions for things like ships vary hugely. Cultural references, battles, places, people, gods, weapons, virtues, vices, poetic, practical, you name it. Victus (NE3) likes to name ships that are, in some fashion, new with names to reflect that; their first aircraft carrier was named the Bold. Hunting references, metaphors, and mythology crop up cross-culturally. Aggregated Groups (E1)'s most common booster class translates best as the Atlatl-series, for example.
Naming anything Invincible is generally regarded as rather gauche and asking for it. The name has an undistinguished history, mostly as overly-grandiose designs of third-rate navies.
For 'Lampreys not more specifically identified' (as we would use the term 'human' or 'person'), the words used have the following etymologies and connotations:
- Alpha family: From an older, common language; root is an old word from thousands of years back. The root meaning is 'from the clay', but so thoroughly obscured most people never think of it.
- Beta family: From Beta-3's ancestor languages, incorporated without major drift when Beta-2 and Beta-1 split off. Root meaning is 'unknowing'.
- Ceti family: From the common ancestor language of the pan-NE Empire. Literally translated, it means 'citizen'.
- Delta family: Several different words, but the common meaning is 'other'.
- Epsilon family: Dates back a long time, adding and losing sounds. Root meaning is 'knower'.
The names of the countries are as follows:
- E1: "Aggregated Groups", Alpha-2.
- E2: "Canocha", "Home", dead language.
- E3: "Ha'Aretz", "Land of the Chosen", archaic Beta.
- E4: "Çaiyad", "Fishermen's Cove", dead language.
- NE1: "Mater", "Motherland", Ceti-1.
- NE2: "Borealis", "North Province", archaic Ceti.
- NE3: "Victus", "Food Province", archaic Ceti.
- NE4: "Bisonpatrie", "Land of Bison*", Ceti-3. *"Bison" is an approximate reference for a large quadruped grazer, noted for its fighting ability and a traditional foodstuff.
- NE5: "Princeps", "Capital Province", archaic Ceti.
- NE6: "Tullo", "Hill Dwelling", dead language.
- NE7: "Oriens", "East Province", archaic Ceti.
- M1: "Koori", "Ice Land", Delta-1.
- M2: "Libertas", "Liberty", archaic Ceti.
- M3: "North Ukkei", "Home", archaic Delta-2. Internationally, prefixed with "North".
- M4: "South Ukkei", "Home", archaic Delta-2. Internationally, prefixed with "South".
- M5: "Herensuge", "Land of Dragons*", archaic Epsilon. *"Dragon" refers here to a large, relatively intelligent oceanic predator commonly sighted along the Herensuge (M5) (and Borealis (NE2) and Aurora (M7)) coastline.
- M6: "Occidens", "West Province", archaic Ceti.
- M7: "Aurora", "Land of Morning", archaic Ceti.
The other objects in the solar system have differing names in different languages, even within a language family. Alpha-2 calls L-III 'the Wanderer'; Beta-3 calls it 'the Watcher'; the Ceti family refer to it as "Gods Home".
Lamprey sign-language exists and is quite advanced; it's a major component in communication even between Lampreys with perfect hearing and vocal speech.
Economics
International trade is common and even crucial for most countries, even between nations on allegedly opposing sides of the NE/Equatorial divide. Some countries-- for example, Libertas (M2)-- are almost what gets called 'lolbertarian' here; they're run by the wealthy, for the wealthy, and tough luck to everyone else.
The traditional Earth correlations between governmental intervention in the economy and, for example, the amount of responsibility a government takes for its citizens well-being is absent. One of the least-nationalised countries in the world, Victus (NE3), also maintains an impressive array of government-provided services.
Economically, the whole world is corporatist/capitalist. The idea of a command economy, as such, hasn't cropped up anywhere. Governmental economic intervention is all over the map, but it's mostly constrained to ownership of organisations considered necessary for national interest; oil, mining, transportation, power generation, and so on.
This does not correlate with the number of services a government may choose to offer its citizens. The government with the least number of nationalised organisations (Victus (NE3)) also happens to be the one with the second largest array of 'free' services for its citizens (Canocha (E2) leads that category).
During the pre-Great War era, it was very much a protectionist world. Post-Great War, that began changing; by the time the Lampreys were testing nukes, the global economy had widely shifted to a free trade model within a power block, and generally free-er trade outside it. Some goods move much more easily between countries that others; for example, oil exporters tend to be choosy in who they sell to. Ditto, even more so, for uranium exporters.
The reaction to withdrawals of government services changes place to place (and service to service). Somewhere like Libertas (M2), the big corporations more or less are shadow governments, complete with private armies, police forces, power generation and so on. Somewhere more mainstream, like the various democracies, people generally trust the government to avoid radically revamping things without, at least, advance warning and an election. Something like privatising the military is, if not quite unthinkable, totally impractical in every way and treated as such; arguments about, say, subsidising or regulating electricity rates, or health care, are vociferous, and changes there are hedged or insured against in many cases.
An advanced group buying off a less advanced group for beads and trinkets is something that's happened in Lamprey history, when less-advanced groups met the first industrialised colonisers. Most epically, Çaiyad (E4) managed to double its controlled land area for the investment of a few shiploads of cheap manufactured goods.
Patent and copyright both are big things for the Lampreys.
Post-Contact economic data has some noteworthy trends. Prices and wages have climbed since the Audacity arrived. Most particularly, aluminium, coal, copper, foodstuffs, gasoline, iron, natural gas, oil, steel, and uranium are all up, as are stock prices in related industries, especially aerospace. Tullo (NE6) has imposed wage and price controls.
The Lamprey economic cycle does not match up with Earthly ones. Bubbles are much rarer; 'irrational exuberance' is not a phrase Lamprey economists have coined. More regular are minor deflationary cycles, as Lampreys hold on to their money instead of spending it. These have usually been broken via natural events (gold strikes, oil finds, warfare) or by government stimuli (the enormous arms buildup following the Pax Diabolica). The last major economic crisis was occasioned by the Great War and the extremes of military spending at the time, which nearly bankrupted the participants.
The Lampreys have occasionally managed to bugger their economic system via mismanagement. They're not perfect. Those dislocations have been less thunderingly ruinous than human miscalculations, but they have happened.
Another one may be shaping up right now. It's not a crisis as such, yet. What appears to be happening is that governments all over the globe are dumping money into armament, recruiting, R&D, and spaceflight programs at total-war paces. This is causing economic dislocations, inflation, spikes in prices of industrially-vital metals and other resources, overemployment, debt accumulation, and so on.
Economic sabotage is something they are intimately familiar with. Likewise real sabotage, supply-line strikes, espionage (corporate and otherwise), rate wars, monopolies, price fixing, union-busting, stock manipulation, forced bank runs, loan-due harassment, etc, etc, etc.
The lower-tech you go, the more industrial advantage the Lampreys have. They match or exceed you at bulk resource extraction, at basic refining and foundry-level construction, and would win, say, a 'who can build more automobiles' competition. At the higher complexities, like nuclear-armed missiles, rocketry, and so forth, you're superior.
Aggregated GDP for L-II: $208.6 trillion.
Aggregated GDP for Earth: $69.0 trillion.
Graphs of economic indicators:
GDP
GDP per capita
Population
Military spending
Spaceflight spending
Military spending as a % of GDP
Spaceflight spending as a % of GDP
Maximum lift to Low Lamprey Orbit
All numbers are pre-Ignition. Some numbers are more speculative than others. Numbers have been generated based on comprehensive analysis of public Lamprey political and economic data and translated into Earth terms. Some RL nations included for a basis of comparison.
The comparisons get sketchier the further back you go.
The Lamprey economies have trended higher, on average, ever since the age of colonialism than Earth economies of estimated-similar technological levels. This is largely the result of a more even distribution of wealth. Lamprey colonies were integrated into their host primary nation, not straight up plundered for resources (in most cases-- see Windsong's background for an exception). The closest analogue (for the majority) would be a British Empire/Commonwealth that grew closer together (or, possibly, the growth of the United States).
There are, naturally, GDP per-capita differences within a given nation. Depending on how it is accounted, some of the colonies actually have a higher per-capita GDP than their host nation (most notably, those with oil). There are areas that're higher than the listed GDP for the entire country and there are areas that're lower. What're missing are the Missippis and Utahs and Arkansas'; the nations 'proper' per-capita is not significantly in excess of the average.
In terms of generating electrical power, the sources are ranked:
- Coal
- Nuclear
- Nat. gas
- Hydro
- Petroleum
- Wind
- Solar
Military:
Traffic analysis suggests very secure facilities (bomb shelters, analogs of Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center) exist, buried in the heart of mountains and the like. Details are sketchy.
The existence of stealth aircraft have been declassified by T-1.3 Y. They've had them for around eight years (T-9 Y).
Combat drones exist, and are still classified; you know about them thanks to military intercepts. There is, however, public speculation about them, given that all the basic technologies for such a device are known.
They've never dropped a nuclear bomb in anger. They also haven't fought a major war since the inception of nuclear technology. Chemical warfare is a matter of degree and got used in some of the minor proxy fights post-Great War. Biowarfare is, to date, non-existent (in the modern-Earth sense; there are historical examples of the catapult-infected-corpses and hand-out-diseased-blankets variety). Based on their public TV broadcasts they don't even consider the possibility.
Current Lamprey warfare doctrines are (obviously) not going to be spread around publically. From their historic stuff, some points are salient:
The Lampreys currently own a wide range of military assets. Artillery, troops, tanks, planes, missiles, ships, subs, helicopters, and so on. They have a long and proud military submarine tradition, dating back prior to the Great War.
Generally, even the militarised states have a lower proportion of their population active in them than Earthly nations of approximately equal resources and technology would. Lampreys are addicts to force-multipliers over multiples of forces; their equipment tends to be sophisticated, expensive, and rare. Their tanks are more lightly armed and armoured than Earthly ones, by appearance, although its not like the Lampreys were broadcasting the detailed specifications of their guns and armour.
The Lampreys have sub-based missiles. If they can get through the defence grids, L-II could be dead as an industrial entity before you could see the launches.
Their anti-orbit laser operated on a wavelength of 1.06 micrometres when it shot at mkire-I. Subsequent firings have been at this frequency as well. There are several known origin points for the laser shots, in different countries. The Lamprey anti-meteor system's activation has revealed many additional sites worldwide, in space, and on L-II-II. It would now require thousands of missiles to have a possibility of penetrating the defensive grid.
A laser weaponised to true usefulness will not require significant dwell time because it will create shock heating explosions. The Lamprey ABM lasers can smash through a centimetre of titanium alloy, at altitude, in something under five millionths of a second.
The most powerful laser firing event, as well as the longest range shot, was the series of attempted strikes on mkire-I. Based on the thermal bloom, the energy delivery was upwards of a MJ per shot for that series. Most others have been much shorter ranged and much lower estimated energy output.
They are currently shooting down some naturally occuring meteoroids that would've otherwise burned up, though they are not doing so consistently.
The Lampreys meteor defence systems are showing a pattern of increasing fire with increasing size. An object of a size that is sometimes ignored will, other times, be fired upon, but the larger (and therefore, rarer) the object the more likely it has been to draw fire.
The fire rate against Hailstone sized objects (20-25cm) is just under one in every eight hundred meteoroids (rough estimate). It climbs quickly; one in every three hundred or so for objects around 40cm; one in every fourty for objects around 80cm; guaranteed fire on objects above about a metre and a half.
As it stands, the Lampreys have an excellent chance of shooting down all of your missiles. Your initial unexpanded payload is not sufficient to ensure saturation. Moreover, to dramatically interfere with the anti-space defences in question with your laser, you'd need to move the Audacity very close to L-II.
The Lamprey lasers would not be able to harm the Audacity at interplanetary range unless Lamprey tech is orders and orders of magnitude beyond what you've seen.
Lamprey survelliance and mapping of their ocean is excellent. Several Lamprey navies have ships with lasers that appear to be capable of intercepting the Hailstone design.
There is a lot of survelliance gear in L-II orbit and on the ground, on ships, in the air, etc. There are probably areas where the SDI weapon coverage is less intense-- for example, the poles. Sneaking hardware into the L-II region is getting steadily harder as the Lamprey defence and skywatch networks expand in ability and coverage. The profile immediately after ignition suggests the activation of already-constructed but dormant facilities; it has since tapered off, and the new sources coming onstream appear to be new construction.
There's no geographic correlation to shootdown rate from the space-based systems. There are some areas where the ground systems are not shooting as frequently. These 'soft spots' tend to be in relatively remote land regions or over the oceans.
At <100km, they're hitting at close to 80% (for a cycle of shots; individual ones miss more often). This rate is up 18% since they've started shooting, although the rate of increase is levelling off. Within the 4500-5000km range, accuracy is poorer for individual shots, but overall accuracy is higher with more time to work with. Mass-driver shots are also much more common in this range, launched from orbital emplacements/L-II-II. Successful fragmentation rates approach 95% overall for objects engaged within this envelope. This rate is also up dramatically from the initial firings.
There is a mass driver installed at the L-II-II moonbase, capable of fragmenting meteor targets around a metre across. There's a radar installation anchored on the far side of L-II-II. It's a short range, high resolution facility.
Lamprey anti-meteor shots have hit things moving upwards of 50km/s.
Public military history reads like a series of feints and counterfeints. Historically, warfare followed the dictum, "The best offence is a surprise defence." At base, you'd start with something like a feigned withdrawal and work from there. Traps. Lures. False intelligence. Ambushes.
They're very fond of-- and aware of the threat of others executing-- logistics based attacks: supply-line strikes, blockades, shipping attacks, and the like. An army could (and would) certainly raid an enemy's food stores, but as a long-term sustainment method it is not really viable for anything above a small group.
By T+205D, there are large numbers of heat sources moving around near the major launch facilities in Aggregated Groups (E1), Victus (NE3), and Princeps (NE5). Apparently, the Lampreys are expanding them considerably, in anticipation of heavier future launch traffic. Ha'Aretz (E3), an exception, does not show such heat sources, nor-- again unlike the others-- has it made public any plans to increase its spacelaunch capacity.
The Lamprey space-defence radar nets have the ability to pick up small (50kg) objects at a half-LS distance.
Lamprey spacelaunch abilities are demonstrably in excess of Earth's current IRL ones by very wide margin. The precise numbers and abilities of their missile fleets are secret, but, for example-- after the NART--, Aggregated Groups (E1) lays claim to around five thousand intercontinental missiles, all of which can carry MIRV'd warheads.
All the aluminium bubbles on L-II-I and L-II-II created by the Equatorial side were done as individual projects. The NE ones were a group project, with Victus (NE3) and Princeps (NE5) being the lead partners. The groups responsible for each dome run:
The existence of stealth aircraft have been declassified by T-1.3 Y. They've had them for around eight years (T-9 Y).
Combat drones exist, and are still classified; you know about them thanks to military intercepts. There is, however, public speculation about them, given that all the basic technologies for such a device are known.
They've never dropped a nuclear bomb in anger. They also haven't fought a major war since the inception of nuclear technology. Chemical warfare is a matter of degree and got used in some of the minor proxy fights post-Great War. Biowarfare is, to date, non-existent (in the modern-Earth sense; there are historical examples of the catapult-infected-corpses and hand-out-diseased-blankets variety). Based on their public TV broadcasts they don't even consider the possibility.
Current Lamprey warfare doctrines are (obviously) not going to be spread around publically. From their historic stuff, some points are salient:
The Lampreys currently own a wide range of military assets. Artillery, troops, tanks, planes, missiles, ships, subs, helicopters, and so on. They have a long and proud military submarine tradition, dating back prior to the Great War.
Generally, even the militarised states have a lower proportion of their population active in them than Earthly nations of approximately equal resources and technology would. Lampreys are addicts to force-multipliers over multiples of forces; their equipment tends to be sophisticated, expensive, and rare. Their tanks are more lightly armed and armoured than Earthly ones, by appearance, although its not like the Lampreys were broadcasting the detailed specifications of their guns and armour.
The Lampreys have sub-based missiles. If they can get through the defence grids, L-II could be dead as an industrial entity before you could see the launches.
Their anti-orbit laser operated on a wavelength of 1.06 micrometres when it shot at mkire-I. Subsequent firings have been at this frequency as well. There are several known origin points for the laser shots, in different countries. The Lamprey anti-meteor system's activation has revealed many additional sites worldwide, in space, and on L-II-II. It would now require thousands of missiles to have a possibility of penetrating the defensive grid.
A laser weaponised to true usefulness will not require significant dwell time because it will create shock heating explosions. The Lamprey ABM lasers can smash through a centimetre of titanium alloy, at altitude, in something under five millionths of a second.
The most powerful laser firing event, as well as the longest range shot, was the series of attempted strikes on mkire-I. Based on the thermal bloom, the energy delivery was upwards of a MJ per shot for that series. Most others have been much shorter ranged and much lower estimated energy output.
They are currently shooting down some naturally occuring meteoroids that would've otherwise burned up, though they are not doing so consistently.
The Lampreys meteor defence systems are showing a pattern of increasing fire with increasing size. An object of a size that is sometimes ignored will, other times, be fired upon, but the larger (and therefore, rarer) the object the more likely it has been to draw fire.
The fire rate against Hailstone sized objects (20-25cm) is just under one in every eight hundred meteoroids (rough estimate). It climbs quickly; one in every three hundred or so for objects around 40cm; one in every fourty for objects around 80cm; guaranteed fire on objects above about a metre and a half.
As it stands, the Lampreys have an excellent chance of shooting down all of your missiles. Your initial unexpanded payload is not sufficient to ensure saturation. Moreover, to dramatically interfere with the anti-space defences in question with your laser, you'd need to move the Audacity very close to L-II.
The Lamprey lasers would not be able to harm the Audacity at interplanetary range unless Lamprey tech is orders and orders of magnitude beyond what you've seen.
Lamprey survelliance and mapping of their ocean is excellent. Several Lamprey navies have ships with lasers that appear to be capable of intercepting the Hailstone design.
There is a lot of survelliance gear in L-II orbit and on the ground, on ships, in the air, etc. There are probably areas where the SDI weapon coverage is less intense-- for example, the poles. Sneaking hardware into the L-II region is getting steadily harder as the Lamprey defence and skywatch networks expand in ability and coverage. The profile immediately after ignition suggests the activation of already-constructed but dormant facilities; it has since tapered off, and the new sources coming onstream appear to be new construction.
There's no geographic correlation to shootdown rate from the space-based systems. There are some areas where the ground systems are not shooting as frequently. These 'soft spots' tend to be in relatively remote land regions or over the oceans.
At <100km, they're hitting at close to 80% (for a cycle of shots; individual ones miss more often). This rate is up 18% since they've started shooting, although the rate of increase is levelling off. Within the 4500-5000km range, accuracy is poorer for individual shots, but overall accuracy is higher with more time to work with. Mass-driver shots are also much more common in this range, launched from orbital emplacements/L-II-II. Successful fragmentation rates approach 95% overall for objects engaged within this envelope. This rate is also up dramatically from the initial firings.
There is a mass driver installed at the L-II-II moonbase, capable of fragmenting meteor targets around a metre across. There's a radar installation anchored on the far side of L-II-II. It's a short range, high resolution facility.
Lamprey anti-meteor shots have hit things moving upwards of 50km/s.
Public military history reads like a series of feints and counterfeints. Historically, warfare followed the dictum, "The best offence is a surprise defence." At base, you'd start with something like a feigned withdrawal and work from there. Traps. Lures. False intelligence. Ambushes.
They're very fond of-- and aware of the threat of others executing-- logistics based attacks: supply-line strikes, blockades, shipping attacks, and the like. An army could (and would) certainly raid an enemy's food stores, but as a long-term sustainment method it is not really viable for anything above a small group.
By T+205D, there are large numbers of heat sources moving around near the major launch facilities in Aggregated Groups (E1), Victus (NE3), and Princeps (NE5). Apparently, the Lampreys are expanding them considerably, in anticipation of heavier future launch traffic. Ha'Aretz (E3), an exception, does not show such heat sources, nor-- again unlike the others-- has it made public any plans to increase its spacelaunch capacity.
The Lamprey space-defence radar nets have the ability to pick up small (50kg) objects at a half-LS distance.
Lamprey spacelaunch abilities are demonstrably in excess of Earth's current IRL ones by very wide margin. The precise numbers and abilities of their missile fleets are secret, but, for example-- after the NART--, Aggregated Groups (E1) lays claim to around five thousand intercontinental missiles, all of which can carry MIRV'd warheads.
All the aluminium bubbles on L-II-I and L-II-II created by the Equatorial side were done as individual projects. The NE ones were a group project, with Victus (NE3) and Princeps (NE5) being the lead partners. The groups responsible for each dome run:
Space assets:
Colonies and Facilities:
L-II-I:
L-II-I-Alpha: Formerly a bubble. Revealed to be a port and loading facility for Ha'Aretz (E3)'s Orion. Built by Ha'Aretz (E3). This dome was not unique. The heat sources observed on it earlier match up with small hardened subsurface facilities and mobile equipment.
L-II-I-Beta: Bubble. Victus (NE3)/Princeps (NE5).
L-II-II:
L-II-II Prime: Scientific outpost with mining and refining operations. Cooperative E/NE venture.
L-II-II-Alpha: Former bubble. Aggregated Groups (E1). Revealed to be a shallow parabolic bowl. Centerpoint does not intersect L-II; focal point lies beyond L-IV's opposition. The bowl is roughly five hundred and eleven metres in diametre. Whether or not it is in its intended final shape is unknown, but it is a fairly smooth curve. From what your spysat swarm can see, it is not optics-quality.
L-II-II-Beta: Former bubble. Aggregated Groups (E1). Revealed to be ploughed ground.
L-II-II-Ceti: Bubble. Çaiyad (E4).
L-II-II-Delta: Bubble. Victus (NE3)/Princeps (NE5).
L-II-II-Alpha: Former bubble. Aggregated Groups (E1). Revealed to be a shallow parabolic bowl. Centerpoint does not intersect L-II; focal point lies beyond L-IV's opposition. The bowl is roughly five hundred and eleven metres in diametre. Whether or not it is in its intended final shape is unknown, but it is a fairly smooth curve. From what your spysat swarm can see, it is not optics-quality.
L-II-II-Beta: Former bubble. Aggregated Groups (E1). Revealed to be ploughed ground.
L-II-II-Ceti: Bubble. Çaiyad (E4).
L-II-II-Delta: Bubble. Victus (NE3)/Princeps (NE5).
Probes:
The likelihood of gathering any genetic material from off one of the Lamprey's probes depends on if sterilisation proceedures were enforced, and after having been bombarded by rads for years on end, it is quite likely that any samples on it aren't 'pure', but have suffered degredation.
It is, however, a possibility.
It is, however, a possibility.
LP-1, aka Outrider:
Currently heading out-system. Flew by L-III, L-IV, and L-V.
LP-2, aka Seeker:
In orbit around L-III-VI.
Officially, it has a radioactive thermal generator, and it looks exactly like one from your perspective. It certainly doesn't have the large thermocouple elements even a compact nuclear reactor would have. You've accounted for the entirety of the probe's mass budget; it's wholly in purely non-threatening systems: Scientific survey instruments, comm with L-II, thrusters, etc.
Based on the images the Lamprey probe in orbit over L-III-VI has sent back, an areogel applique on the VN on L-III-VI could be noticed under the right cirumstances; the deeper, the easier. The actual application of it would be quite visible to the probe, but very difficult to see from L-II.
Being attacked by it would be like being attacked by Voyager.
LP-2 is considerably larger, but less sophisticated than, your MAPPERs, and designed for astronomic observations instead of resource surveying. There are certainly things it could find that your MAPPERs could not.
LP-2 is roughly eight and a quarter metres long and six metres wide. It would be physically capable of having megaton+ nuclear bombs in it, but there is absolutely nothing observable on it that would correspond to a nuclear bomb's physics package. For it to drop out of the sky on the pVN would take about seventeen hours and it cannot reach NotMoon based on your accounting of its mass budget.
When the probe first arrived in orbit around L-III, you were around three-fifths of a light-year distant. None of the signals you've picked up show anything you don't already know, but there's a long interval before you were close enough to pick up the weak, directional signals from the probe.
It has an imaging mirror around two metres across. It has spysat grade imaging capabilities. Gravity mapping is entirely passive. It's simply measuring experienced force. The second Lamprey probe to the outer system is known to contain inertial measurement devices capable of such a survey. Contemplator of God claims that Seeker took ground-penetrating radar surveys of L-III-XVII, also known as NotMoon.
LP-2 is currently several AU distant from Audacity and transmitting to L-II on a regular basis. Its owners, at least, know precisely where it is and what it is doing.
The probe employs weak ion thrust to move.
Officially, it has a radioactive thermal generator, and it looks exactly like one from your perspective. It certainly doesn't have the large thermocouple elements even a compact nuclear reactor would have. You've accounted for the entirety of the probe's mass budget; it's wholly in purely non-threatening systems: Scientific survey instruments, comm with L-II, thrusters, etc.
Based on the images the Lamprey probe in orbit over L-III-VI has sent back, an areogel applique on the VN on L-III-VI could be noticed under the right cirumstances; the deeper, the easier. The actual application of it would be quite visible to the probe, but very difficult to see from L-II.
Being attacked by it would be like being attacked by Voyager.
LP-2 is considerably larger, but less sophisticated than, your MAPPERs, and designed for astronomic observations instead of resource surveying. There are certainly things it could find that your MAPPERs could not.
LP-2 is roughly eight and a quarter metres long and six metres wide. It would be physically capable of having megaton+ nuclear bombs in it, but there is absolutely nothing observable on it that would correspond to a nuclear bomb's physics package. For it to drop out of the sky on the pVN would take about seventeen hours and it cannot reach NotMoon based on your accounting of its mass budget.
When the probe first arrived in orbit around L-III, you were around three-fifths of a light-year distant. None of the signals you've picked up show anything you don't already know, but there's a long interval before you were close enough to pick up the weak, directional signals from the probe.
It has an imaging mirror around two metres across. It has spysat grade imaging capabilities. Gravity mapping is entirely passive. It's simply measuring experienced force. The second Lamprey probe to the outer system is known to contain inertial measurement devices capable of such a survey. Contemplator of God claims that Seeker took ground-penetrating radar surveys of L-III-XVII, also known as NotMoon.
LP-2 is currently several AU distant from Audacity and transmitting to L-II on a regular basis. Its owners, at least, know precisely where it is and what it is doing.
The probe employs weak ion thrust to move.
Telescopes:
Visual/IR:
They have Hubbles, plural. The Lampreys have an excellent survelliance and astronomical observatory orbital infrastructure. They can see your mirror, and almost certainly know what it is; you've used it to talk to them in reply to the message sent by the M/I-2 leader, as it was requested that transmissions back to the Lampreys use the same medium the Lampreys sent their original messages in. However, that response wasn't at anything like full power.
They can probably spot anything in the Lamprey system that's under thrust or maintaining an operable fusion or fission reactor. That'd include the Audacity, the planetary VN, the Fake Brain, and the scoopship at the moment. The space elevator cabling they can't see. A high-resolution scope could pick out the asteroidal VNs, and of course so will radar. Anything with a chemical burn will be noticed unless occluded. To achieve an orbit around L-II is going to require a burn in proximity to the planet, which is certain to be noticed.
They're very unlikely to see the commlasers you're using unless you deliberately point the lasers at the L-II neighbourhood or their probe around L-III. Space is big.
However, they can certainly see the equipment for those lasers.
Radio/Radar:
The largest Lamprey radioscope, a 1km-diametre orbital one, is far too small to pick up anything other than a targetted signal aimed for the Lamprey system. If the Lamprey signals processing tech is about the level Earth had at their estimated level of computer tech, it would take an omni-directional signal in the 8 PW range to be readable. The Lampreys seem to be using it to conduct a sky search.
There's a radar tracking station on the far side of the L-II-II moon.
The Lampreys are bouncing radar off the Audacity at irregular intervals. It's not precise on the order of a laser or similar and can't be used for targetting, but they are getting better at placing that pulse squarely on you.
The Audacity wasn't EM-shielded, so you're leaking EM from pretty much everything on board that uses electricty. There's exactly zero way for any of that to be understood by the Lampreys, and no way to detect it short of coming extremely close to the Audacity.
Spacecraft:
The largest observed boosters belong to Aggregated Groups (E1) and can put over 260tne of payload into LLO. Every country on the planet posseses ground-to-orbit capability, although many have sub-tonne maximum lofts.
Combined global estimated spending on space totalled around two point seven trillion 2009$ USD equivalents pre-Ignition. Total launch capacity to LLO for all nations was around 67kT at that time. As of T+261 D, that figure has doubled to 135kT and is projected to increase further (excluding Ha'Aretz (E3)'s Orion ship).
Code:
Name Population (mil) Per-capita GDP relative to US Space % Maximum lift per launch (tne) Mil %
Aggregated Groups (E1) 1056 1.06 2.3 260 4
Canocha (E2) 283 0.96 0.5 60 3.5
Ha'Aretz (E3) 554 0.74 1.5 130 7
Çaiyad (E4) 382 0.96 0.5 70 4.5
Mater (NE1) 330 0.74 0.2 30 7
Borealis (NE2) 171 1.06 0.1 10 3.5
Victus (NE3) 448 0.85 1.8 140 6
Bisonpatrie (NE4) 323 0.96 0.8 110 7
Princeps (NE5) 508 0.85 1.9 140 6.5
Tullo (NE6) 211 0.74 1 60 10
Oriens (NE7) 264 0.64 1 60 7
Koori (M1) 88 0.53 0.1 2 5
Libertas (M2) 82 0.64 0.05 0.5 1
North Ukkei (M3) 79 0.74 0.05 1 6
South Ukkei (M4) 66 0.53 0.1 0.5 9
Herensuge (M5) 92 0.64 0.1 3 2
Occidens (M6) 132 0.74 0.2 10 3
Aurora (M7) 92 0.43 0.01 0.2 5The Dawn, aka Contemplator's Folly
An estimated 150kTne Orion-drive vessel, launched from Ha'Aretz (E3) at T+261 D.
It's basically bulletshaped, an aerodynamic form-factor protecting the pusher plate that caps the bottom of it. The interior is not known. Exterior measurements are a diametre of around 176m and a length of around 268m.
It was snagged by cables launched from a supply depot (previously hidden under a foil bubble) on the nearer of L-II's moons (L-II-I). The launch mechanism was a single underground nuclear charge. The detonation, as an estimate, was around 15 MT.
It appears that a lot of the more fragile components will need to be ferried up in less dramatic fashion. No Lamprey could possibly have survived the launch, even with acceleration mitigation measures in place.
For 'normal' flight, via shock absorbers, it should be possible. Alternatively they've built the biggest unLampreyed probe and/or giant distraction ever.
The launch facility was a military base buried in the lightly-inhabited north-eastern plateau of Ha'Aretz (E3). There is an open-pit copper mine next to it, with rail lines leading towards the more industrialised regions of the country. The base is not easily accessible by road, and is isolated from Ha'Aretz (E3)'s neighbours by difficult terrain (mountains, dense woods). There's regular train traffic to and from, and occasional vehicle traffic on the single road. What weapons are emplaced around/in the site is an unknown.
You know how much it masses, to a rough approximation; the composition and distribution of that mass is a different matter entirely, and without knowing that nothing else is calculable with certainty.
The Orion vessel is impossibly small for a manned interstellar craft. Best guess is that it is meant to move around within the Lamprey system, though to what destinations is not known at this time. Using reasonable assumptions it will be able to bring a crewed mission to L-III and back to L-II with a very considerable safety margin built in. L-IV would be a stretch. L-V is almost certainly impossible except as a one-way.
Estimated time for the Orion ship from L-II->L-III clocks in at around six hundred and fifty days; time to the belt about half that. 650 D II->III was for a return trip with direct, there-and-back boosts. Presuming a one-way trip, direct boost and decel, this drops to around four hundred days. Presuming an absolute max boost using an Oberth gravity assist from the Lamprey Sun, a hit on L-I, a hit on L-II, and aerobraking around L-III, it drops further, to around two hundred days. As ever, all numbers are very approximate. The sun hit is based on assumptions and guesses about the The Dawn's toughness that may not be accurate, given that all that has been observed of it is the aeroshell.
At the moment it's a big, tungsten-alloyed reflective shell. It might have anti-Audacity lasers within, but it would probably have to be very close to the Audacity to use them. Lamprey optics are simply not good enough to build an interplanetary weapons-grade laser, by everything you've seen.
You would not be able to hit it (except more or less by chance) if it was thrusting in a truly random evasive pattern. If it were thrusting in a predictable way, or coasting, you would be able to hit it; however, at this distance (asteroid belt->L-II), your delivered wattage would basically heat it up some. Especially if the ship is designed to shed heat, this won't do very much, and it will be quite slow.
A news commentator from the NE suggested the name Contemplator's Folly.
The announced commander for the Orion is a male Ha'Aretz (E3) senior lampreynaut and former submarine commander. His name is Sharptooth.
According to Ha'Aretz (E3) tradition, Sharptooth, as the first commander, is the one to choose the name of his ship. He has chosen to name the Orion the The Dawn.
The Orion is currently being examined at L-II-I by Ha'Aretz (E3) technical crew.
The The Dawn is physically smaller and less massive than the PVN. Provided a means to secure it to the Audacity exists, boosting it is well within the Audacity's ability.
An estimated 150kTne Orion-drive vessel, launched from Ha'Aretz (E3) at T+261 D.
It's basically bulletshaped, an aerodynamic form-factor protecting the pusher plate that caps the bottom of it. The interior is not known. Exterior measurements are a diametre of around 176m and a length of around 268m.
It was snagged by cables launched from a supply depot (previously hidden under a foil bubble) on the nearer of L-II's moons (L-II-I). The launch mechanism was a single underground nuclear charge. The detonation, as an estimate, was around 15 MT.
It appears that a lot of the more fragile components will need to be ferried up in less dramatic fashion. No Lamprey could possibly have survived the launch, even with acceleration mitigation measures in place.
For 'normal' flight, via shock absorbers, it should be possible. Alternatively they've built the biggest unLampreyed probe and/or giant distraction ever.
The launch facility was a military base buried in the lightly-inhabited north-eastern plateau of Ha'Aretz (E3). There is an open-pit copper mine next to it, with rail lines leading towards the more industrialised regions of the country. The base is not easily accessible by road, and is isolated from Ha'Aretz (E3)'s neighbours by difficult terrain (mountains, dense woods). There's regular train traffic to and from, and occasional vehicle traffic on the single road. What weapons are emplaced around/in the site is an unknown.
You know how much it masses, to a rough approximation; the composition and distribution of that mass is a different matter entirely, and without knowing that nothing else is calculable with certainty.
The Orion vessel is impossibly small for a manned interstellar craft. Best guess is that it is meant to move around within the Lamprey system, though to what destinations is not known at this time. Using reasonable assumptions it will be able to bring a crewed mission to L-III and back to L-II with a very considerable safety margin built in. L-IV would be a stretch. L-V is almost certainly impossible except as a one-way.
Estimated time for the Orion ship from L-II->L-III clocks in at around six hundred and fifty days; time to the belt about half that. 650 D II->III was for a return trip with direct, there-and-back boosts. Presuming a one-way trip, direct boost and decel, this drops to around four hundred days. Presuming an absolute max boost using an Oberth gravity assist from the Lamprey Sun, a hit on L-I, a hit on L-II, and aerobraking around L-III, it drops further, to around two hundred days. As ever, all numbers are very approximate. The sun hit is based on assumptions and guesses about the The Dawn's toughness that may not be accurate, given that all that has been observed of it is the aeroshell.
At the moment it's a big, tungsten-alloyed reflective shell. It might have anti-Audacity lasers within, but it would probably have to be very close to the Audacity to use them. Lamprey optics are simply not good enough to build an interplanetary weapons-grade laser, by everything you've seen.
You would not be able to hit it (except more or less by chance) if it was thrusting in a truly random evasive pattern. If it were thrusting in a predictable way, or coasting, you would be able to hit it; however, at this distance (asteroid belt->L-II), your delivered wattage would basically heat it up some. Especially if the ship is designed to shed heat, this won't do very much, and it will be quite slow.
A news commentator from the NE suggested the name Contemplator's Folly.
The announced commander for the Orion is a male Ha'Aretz (E3) senior lampreynaut and former submarine commander. His name is Sharptooth.
According to Ha'Aretz (E3) tradition, Sharptooth, as the first commander, is the one to choose the name of his ship. He has chosen to name the Orion the The Dawn.
The Orion is currently being examined at L-II-I by Ha'Aretz (E3) technical crew.
The The Dawn is physically smaller and less massive than the PVN. Provided a means to secure it to the Audacity exists, boosting it is well within the Audacity's ability.
Riverwards Huntsmaster
Current Position: Leading Lamprey, Aggregated Groups (E1)
Birth date: T-63 Y
Nationality: Aggregated Groups (E1)
Language(s): Alpha-1, Alpha-2, Beta-3, Ceti-1
Religion: M/NI
Age: 48 Lamprey years
Sex: F
Birth date: T-63 Y
Nationality: Aggregated Groups (E1)
Language(s): Alpha-1, Alpha-2, Beta-3, Ceti-1
Religion: M/NI
Age: 48 Lamprey years
Sex: F
Born to a poor family in a poor region devasated by the Great War, Huntsmaster's first job, at age 11, was as a clerk for a mining camp in the local mountains. While working there she mingled frequently with the rough and tumble crew, most of whom were killing themselves for pitiful wages. Huntsmaster's superb financial acumen and organisational abilities earned her increasingly important posts. She became camp administrator at 15, after breaking a strike armed only with a pair of pistols. Other strikes had usually ended in bloodshed, with the military or corporate enforcers dispersing the protesting workers. She later used her position to increase the miners' pay and provide better working conditions, avoiding a repeat.
However, disillusionment over the amount of progress she was making set in, and in T-41, at age 17, she entered national politics. Huntsmaster campaigned on a platform of worker's rights and labour reform, part of a slate of likeminded Reformist Lampreys all across Aggregated Groups (E1).
In Aggregated Groups (E1)'s capitol, she quickly became noted for her bluntspoken ways and sharp wit. Although without formal position within the Reformist group, she nevertheless inspired dramatic improvements in the organisation's proceedures and setup. In the face of fierce opposition from entrenched interests, during the next election at T-37 Y, more Reformists were elected, with more votes, than any other time in the group's history.
Following the election, in which Huntsmaster had yet again displayed her abilities in assisting other candidates and handily winning her own area, the then-leader of the Reformists, Chansy Ironsmith, offered her a formal position of Huntmaster's choice, excepting only the Ironsmith's own. Huntsmaster chose Secretary.
--
She and Ironsmith worked well together for many years, building the Reformists from a protest group into an organisation with broad, deep support. Ironsmith, who retired from politics in T-20 Y, had the satisfaction of seeing Huntsmaster become her replacement, and create the first Reformist government in the election of T-17 Y. Only thirty-five at the time, Huntsmaster was one of the younger Leading Lampreys in Aggregated Groups (E1)'s history.
The (now-misnamed) Reformists have gone out of and back into power since then, but Huntsmaster remains their leader, now an elderly stateslamprey on the world stage.
However, disillusionment over the amount of progress she was making set in, and in T-41, at age 17, she entered national politics. Huntsmaster campaigned on a platform of worker's rights and labour reform, part of a slate of likeminded Reformist Lampreys all across Aggregated Groups (E1).
In Aggregated Groups (E1)'s capitol, she quickly became noted for her bluntspoken ways and sharp wit. Although without formal position within the Reformist group, she nevertheless inspired dramatic improvements in the organisation's proceedures and setup. In the face of fierce opposition from entrenched interests, during the next election at T-37 Y, more Reformists were elected, with more votes, than any other time in the group's history.
Following the election, in which Huntsmaster had yet again displayed her abilities in assisting other candidates and handily winning her own area, the then-leader of the Reformists, Chansy Ironsmith, offered her a formal position of Huntmaster's choice, excepting only the Ironsmith's own. Huntsmaster chose Secretary.
--
She and Ironsmith worked well together for many years, building the Reformists from a protest group into an organisation with broad, deep support. Ironsmith, who retired from politics in T-20 Y, had the satisfaction of seeing Huntsmaster become her replacement, and create the first Reformist government in the election of T-17 Y. Only thirty-five at the time, Huntsmaster was one of the younger Leading Lampreys in Aggregated Groups (E1)'s history.
The (now-misnamed) Reformists have gone out of and back into power since then, but Huntsmaster remains their leader, now an elderly stateslamprey on the world stage.
Contemplator-of-God XXVIII
Current Position: Spiritual and secular leader of M/I-1 and Ha'Aretz (E3) respectively.
Birth date: T-43.5 Y
Nationality: Ha'Aretz (E3)
Language(s): Beta-3, Alpha-2, Beta-2
Religion: M/I-1
Age: 33 Lamprey years
Sex: F
Birth date: T-43.5 Y
Nationality: Ha'Aretz (E3)
Language(s): Beta-3, Alpha-2, Beta-2
Religion: M/I-1
Age: 33 Lamprey years
Sex: F
Contemplator XXVIII was born within half a minute of the death of the previous Contemplator. She was found, raised, and educated by the Interim Ruling Coucil, a policy with centuries of pedigree in the M/I-1 faith.
The Interim Council frequently moulds the Contemplator as they wish, into a compliant figurehead. Officially, they serve only as custodians of the faith until the new Contemplator comes of age, after which they serve at her whim. As the Interim Councilors are powerful figures in their own rights, this agreement in many cases transmutes into the Interim Council promising to do anything the Contemplator asks-- provided that the Contemplator never asks them to do anything they don't want to. History shows an unusually high number of early Contemplator deaths.
Contemplator XXVIII is an exception. When the Ruling Council was embarrassed by Bisonpatrie (NE4)'s accusations and irrefutable evidence of Ha'Aretz (E3)'s contra-Treaty nuclear weapons development, XXVIII seized her opportunity with all tentacles. Using her figurehead status to her advantage, XXVIII claimed no knowledge of the program, fired the Council, and replaced it with personally chosen allies, becoming the true and open ruler of Ha'Aretz (E3) at age 19.
In an impressive display of chutzpah, she then increased funding to the nuclear program, claiming it was necessary in response to the still-continuing exposure of nuclear weapons development in every major nation on the planet.
XXVIII has spent many of the years of her rule trying to crush small bands of E5 insurrectionists and religious malconents. So far, she's been winning.
The Interim Council frequently moulds the Contemplator as they wish, into a compliant figurehead. Officially, they serve only as custodians of the faith until the new Contemplator comes of age, after which they serve at her whim. As the Interim Councilors are powerful figures in their own rights, this agreement in many cases transmutes into the Interim Council promising to do anything the Contemplator asks-- provided that the Contemplator never asks them to do anything they don't want to. History shows an unusually high number of early Contemplator deaths.
Contemplator XXVIII is an exception. When the Ruling Council was embarrassed by Bisonpatrie (NE4)'s accusations and irrefutable evidence of Ha'Aretz (E3)'s contra-Treaty nuclear weapons development, XXVIII seized her opportunity with all tentacles. Using her figurehead status to her advantage, XXVIII claimed no knowledge of the program, fired the Council, and replaced it with personally chosen allies, becoming the true and open ruler of Ha'Aretz (E3) at age 19.
In an impressive display of chutzpah, she then increased funding to the nuclear program, claiming it was necessary in response to the still-continuing exposure of nuclear weapons development in every major nation on the planet.
XXVIII has spent many of the years of her rule trying to crush small bands of E5 insurrectionists and religious malconents. So far, she's been winning.
Backbreaker Hill
Birth date: T-71 Y
Nationality: Naturalised Libertas (M2). Birth origin unknown.
Language(s): Alpha-2, Alpha-1, Ceti-3
Religion: <N/A>
Age: 54 Lamprey years
Sex: M
Nationality: Naturalised Libertas (M2). Birth origin unknown.
Language(s): Alpha-2, Alpha-1, Ceti-3
Religion: <N/A>
Age: 54 Lamprey years
Sex: M
Little is known about Hill's origins or early career, though rumours abound, whispered in hushed tones. Three different continents are said to be his birthplace, and eight different sets of people to be his parents. The first reliable proofs of Hill's existence are a set of pay stubs bearing his signature, for work as a courier on the Aggregated Groups (E1) financial capital's stock exchange floor. The originals are partially charred from fire.
Hill's next appearance in the public record is several years later in Libertas (M2). A photograph shows a young, powerfully built Lamprey, already scarred and nicked in many places. It appears in a newspaper article about a dockside riot in one of Libertas (M2)'s major seaports. The newspaper in question later had its premises torched in another riot.
From here the record is rather more reliable. Hill, surrounded by thugs and surviving at least three attempts on his life, began manipulating Libertas (M2)'s major stock exchanges, taking advantage of the poor regulation and plundering and looting company upon company, making money as the stocks went up and as they went down.
Rumour attributes to Hill less savoury practices than mere stock market scamming: accusations of arson, murder, theft, organised crime, and assault have all been directed his way. No evidence of these has ever surfaced. Possibly concrete blocks were employed to ensure this.
In any event, Hill grew wealthy and despised, a notorious byword for bad working conditions, unionbusting, and cutthroat business tactics. A photograph, for which the photographer later won a prize, shows an elderly but still strong Hill attacking a young lady's pet.
As Hill's wealth burgeoned, he created a holding company, grandiosely named "Everything", to run those acquisitions Hill thought had value for more than temporary looting. Through Everything Hill-- now one of the world's richest Lampreys-- has a tentacle in, to be blunt, almost Everything. From banking to shipping to mining to government, Hill has access and influence.
Hill's next appearance in the public record is several years later in Libertas (M2). A photograph shows a young, powerfully built Lamprey, already scarred and nicked in many places. It appears in a newspaper article about a dockside riot in one of Libertas (M2)'s major seaports. The newspaper in question later had its premises torched in another riot.
From here the record is rather more reliable. Hill, surrounded by thugs and surviving at least three attempts on his life, began manipulating Libertas (M2)'s major stock exchanges, taking advantage of the poor regulation and plundering and looting company upon company, making money as the stocks went up and as they went down.
Rumour attributes to Hill less savoury practices than mere stock market scamming: accusations of arson, murder, theft, organised crime, and assault have all been directed his way. No evidence of these has ever surfaced. Possibly concrete blocks were employed to ensure this.
In any event, Hill grew wealthy and despised, a notorious byword for bad working conditions, unionbusting, and cutthroat business tactics. A photograph, for which the photographer later won a prize, shows an elderly but still strong Hill attacking a young lady's pet.
As Hill's wealth burgeoned, he created a holding company, grandiosely named "Everything", to run those acquisitions Hill thought had value for more than temporary looting. Through Everything Hill-- now one of the world's richest Lampreys-- has a tentacle in, to be blunt, almost Everything. From banking to shipping to mining to government, Hill has access and influence.
Windsong of the Lake
Current Position: Leader of the M/I-2 Church
Birth date: T-70.8 Y
Nationality: North Ukkei (M3)
Language(s): Delta-2, Beta-3, Ceti-3, Ceti-2, Ceti-1, Alpha-2, Delta-1, Alpha-1, Beta-2, Beta-1, Epsilon-1
Religion: M/I-2
Age: 54 Lamprey years
Sex: F
Birth date: T-70.8 Y
Nationality: North Ukkei (M3)
Language(s): Delta-2, Beta-3, Ceti-3, Ceti-2, Ceti-1, Alpha-2, Delta-1, Alpha-1, Beta-2, Beta-1, Epsilon-1
Religion: M/I-2
Age: 54 Lamprey years
Sex: F
Currently the head of the Church of the M/I-2 religion, Windsong was born as the fourth child of wealthy, devoted parents, followers of the M/I-2 religion, a small minority in the country of her birth. Born before the Great War, she was only a child during that conflict, but the aftermath ruled her early life. North Ukkei (M3)'s economy staggered after the war, only recovering slowly. Much of her parent's wealth vanished in the wake of inflation and market crashes.
With her other siblings, Windsong attended public school after the war, with a local church providing additional religious instruction during rest days to the sparse M-I/2 worshippers in the area. Windsong proved to be the most academically adept of her parent's children. Her parents were both bilingual, speaking both Delta-1 and Beta-3 in the home, but by the age of her majority Windsong was fluent not only in those, but in all three branches of the Ceti family as well as in Alpha-2.
At her age of majority, she won a scholarship offer from the Allstudy Academy in Tullo (NE6), a institution run by the M/I-2 Church and situated next to its Cathedral in Tullo (NE6)'s largest city. It is well-known as the training grounds for M/I-2's priesthood. Windsong accepted without reservations and moved thousands of kilometres for the chance.
She again excelled, graduating first in her class and a full Lamprey year early. She studied a combination of theology, medicine, sociology, and linguistics. By the end, Windsong could at least hold a conversation in every living language on L-II, a handy ability in the polyglot Academy. She officially enrolled as a trainee priest at the end of her degree, and volunteered to undertake her apprenticeship in one of war-striken hellholes that colonial conflicts were creating prior to the Pax Diabolica.
Windsong's request was granted, and she and one other priest-trainee, a male, were assigned to Matron Quicksilver, a twenty-five Lamprey year veteran. Quicksilver's parish was impoverished, disease-ridden, lacking food and clean water, and lawless. Before a year had passed, the male trainee died, shot by bandits; Quicksilver and Windsong fell ill from digestive inflammation, though both managed to recover; Windsong fought off and captured a rapist. Quicksilver later executed the rapist in front of the entire parish.
Nevertheless, they persevered for several years, pulling the parish towards civilisation. Quicksilver eventually passed away, labouring at the installation of a new water filtration system; Windsong was ordered to report back to the Cathedral once a replacement priest arrived.
Once safely back, Windsong discovered that her efforts, and Quicksilver's, had not gone unnoticed. Windsong was made a priest, and both she and Quicksilver were honoured by the M/I-2 hierarchy. Windsong was reassigned to a much quieter, safer parish in Aggregated Groups (E1).
The contrast between her new parish, and the one she had left behind, could not've been greater. Nevertheless, Windsong thrived; after several years as a local priest, she was promoted to a larger parish, and then to oversee a group of them. Windsong's climb up the internal Church hiearchy was steady, at every level demonstrating superior skills and gaining a reputation as someone who could fix anything. She was, and is, popular outside the Church as well; even, eventually, as the head of the Church she has been known to personally aid those in particular need.
Her ascent into the leadership of the Church at T-19Y following the death of the previous head surprised nobody except, perhaps, Windsong herself.
As head of one of the big-four religions, and as one of only two with a central hiearchy, Windsong has influence. She has used it sparingly, but to good effect. Her most notable achievement is the brokering of the MidOcean Treaty between Çaiyad (E4) and Mater (NE1) (and therefore, by extension, between the Equatorial bloc and the NE bloc).
As tensions between the two nations ratchetted higher, fuelled by the rich undersea oilfields discovered-- ironically, by the island Windsong's first parish was on--, refugees began fleeing the area. The poor island's already overstressed infrastructure snapped and mass starvation loomed.
Windsong took action, organising sea and air-lifts of food, medicine, and other needed supplies under the auspices, and at the expense of, the Church. Having established a presence in the region, with priests and Church soldiers trying to keep order, Windsong offered her services as a neutral arbiter, interested only in a peaceful resolution. The Church's many believers, particularly in Aggregated Groups (E1) and Tullo (NE6), added their voices to hers in support of this proposal.
The governments of Çaiyad (E4) and Mater (NE1), having backed themselves into corners with their rhetoric, and looking for a face-saving way out, seized the pro-offered limb and slithered through their escape hatch. They, and the rest of the world, were profoundly relieved when, after several weeks of intense negotiation, a mutually agreeable accord was reached, with the island and the surrounding oilfields being split approximately half-and-half. Windsong managed to wrangle a concession out of both parties: A commitment to rebuilding and helping the devastated population of the island, something neither country had given much thought to in their original sabre-rattling.
That incident gave Windsong a great deal of additional influence, which she still draws on from time to time. Her age, as one of the very oldest Lampreys still active in public life, also commands respect.
With her other siblings, Windsong attended public school after the war, with a local church providing additional religious instruction during rest days to the sparse M-I/2 worshippers in the area. Windsong proved to be the most academically adept of her parent's children. Her parents were both bilingual, speaking both Delta-1 and Beta-3 in the home, but by the age of her majority Windsong was fluent not only in those, but in all three branches of the Ceti family as well as in Alpha-2.
At her age of majority, she won a scholarship offer from the Allstudy Academy in Tullo (NE6), a institution run by the M/I-2 Church and situated next to its Cathedral in Tullo (NE6)'s largest city. It is well-known as the training grounds for M/I-2's priesthood. Windsong accepted without reservations and moved thousands of kilometres for the chance.
She again excelled, graduating first in her class and a full Lamprey year early. She studied a combination of theology, medicine, sociology, and linguistics. By the end, Windsong could at least hold a conversation in every living language on L-II, a handy ability in the polyglot Academy. She officially enrolled as a trainee priest at the end of her degree, and volunteered to undertake her apprenticeship in one of war-striken hellholes that colonial conflicts were creating prior to the Pax Diabolica.
Windsong's request was granted, and she and one other priest-trainee, a male, were assigned to Matron Quicksilver, a twenty-five Lamprey year veteran. Quicksilver's parish was impoverished, disease-ridden, lacking food and clean water, and lawless. Before a year had passed, the male trainee died, shot by bandits; Quicksilver and Windsong fell ill from digestive inflammation, though both managed to recover; Windsong fought off and captured a rapist. Quicksilver later executed the rapist in front of the entire parish.
Nevertheless, they persevered for several years, pulling the parish towards civilisation. Quicksilver eventually passed away, labouring at the installation of a new water filtration system; Windsong was ordered to report back to the Cathedral once a replacement priest arrived.
Once safely back, Windsong discovered that her efforts, and Quicksilver's, had not gone unnoticed. Windsong was made a priest, and both she and Quicksilver were honoured by the M/I-2 hierarchy. Windsong was reassigned to a much quieter, safer parish in Aggregated Groups (E1).
The contrast between her new parish, and the one she had left behind, could not've been greater. Nevertheless, Windsong thrived; after several years as a local priest, she was promoted to a larger parish, and then to oversee a group of them. Windsong's climb up the internal Church hiearchy was steady, at every level demonstrating superior skills and gaining a reputation as someone who could fix anything. She was, and is, popular outside the Church as well; even, eventually, as the head of the Church she has been known to personally aid those in particular need.
Her ascent into the leadership of the Church at T-19Y following the death of the previous head surprised nobody except, perhaps, Windsong herself.
As head of one of the big-four religions, and as one of only two with a central hiearchy, Windsong has influence. She has used it sparingly, but to good effect. Her most notable achievement is the brokering of the MidOcean Treaty between Çaiyad (E4) and Mater (NE1) (and therefore, by extension, between the Equatorial bloc and the NE bloc).
As tensions between the two nations ratchetted higher, fuelled by the rich undersea oilfields discovered-- ironically, by the island Windsong's first parish was on--, refugees began fleeing the area. The poor island's already overstressed infrastructure snapped and mass starvation loomed.
Windsong took action, organising sea and air-lifts of food, medicine, and other needed supplies under the auspices, and at the expense of, the Church. Having established a presence in the region, with priests and Church soldiers trying to keep order, Windsong offered her services as a neutral arbiter, interested only in a peaceful resolution. The Church's many believers, particularly in Aggregated Groups (E1) and Tullo (NE6), added their voices to hers in support of this proposal.
The governments of Çaiyad (E4) and Mater (NE1), having backed themselves into corners with their rhetoric, and looking for a face-saving way out, seized the pro-offered limb and slithered through their escape hatch. They, and the rest of the world, were profoundly relieved when, after several weeks of intense negotiation, a mutually agreeable accord was reached, with the island and the surrounding oilfields being split approximately half-and-half. Windsong managed to wrangle a concession out of both parties: A commitment to rebuilding and helping the devastated population of the island, something neither country had given much thought to in their original sabre-rattling.
That incident gave Windsong a great deal of additional influence, which she still draws on from time to time. Her age, as one of the very oldest Lampreys still active in public life, also commands respect.
- Atomic Rockets
- Exultant, by Stephen Baxter
- Kiln People, by David Brin
- Old Man's War, by John Scalzi
- Worldwar series, by Harry Turtledove
- How To Invade An Alien Planet, by TV Tropes
- A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge
- A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge
- Empire From the Ashes, by David Weber
- War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells
- Mass Effect Wiki
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