by M. D. Cooper
Many other star systems possess belts similar to Sol’s EK Belt and the term fell into common usage to describe the first belt beyond the last major planet in a star system.
Electrostatic shields/fields – Not to be confused with a faraday cage, electrostatic shield’s technical name is static electric stasis field. By running a conductive grid of electrons through the air and holding it in place with a stasis field the shield can be tuned to hold back oxygen, but allow solid objects to pass through, or to block solid objects. Fields are used in objects such as ramscoops and energy conduits.
Modified versions also see use as ship’s shields where they are used to bleed off energy from beam weapons, or slow the impact of kinetic weapons.
EMF – Electro Magnetic Fields are given off by any device using electricity that is not heavily shielded. Using sensitive equipment, it is possible to tell what type of equipment is being used, and where it is by its EMF signature. In warfare it is one of the primary ways to locate an enemy’s position.
EMP– Electro Magnetic Pulses are waves of electromagnetic energy that can disable or destroy electronic equipment. Because so many people have electronic components in their bodies, or share their minds with AI, they are susceptible to extreme damage from an EMP. Ensuring that human/machine interfaces are hardened against EMPs is of paramount importance.
FGT – The Future Generation Terraformers is a program started in 2352 with the purpose of terraforming worlds in advance of colony ships being sent to the worlds. Because terraforming of a world could take hundreds of years the FGT ships arrive and begin the process.
Once the world(s) being terraformed reached stage 3, a message was sent back to the Sol system with an ‘open’ date for the world(s) being terraformed. The GSS then handles the colony assignment.
A decade after the Destiny Ascendant left the Sol system in 3728 the FGT program was discontinued by the SolGov, making it the last FGT ship to leave. Because the FGT ships are all self-sustaining none of them came home after the program was discontinued—most of the ship’s crews had spent generations in space and had no reason to return to Sol.
After the discontinuation FGT ships continued on their primary mission of terraforming worlds, but only communicated with the GSS and only when they had worlds completed.
Fission – Fission is a nuclear reaction where an atom is split apart. Fission reactions are simple to achieve with heavier, unstable elements such as Uranium or Plutonium. In closed systems with extreme heat and pressure it is possible to split atoms of much more stable elements, such as Helium. Fission of heavier elements typically produces less power and far more waste matter and radiation than Fusion.
FTL (Faster Than Light) – Refers to any mode of travel where a ship or object is able to travel faster than the speed of light (c). According to Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. As of the year 4123 no technology has been devised to move a physical object faster than the speed of light.
Fusion – Fusion is a nuclear reaction where atoms of one type (Hydrogen for example) are fused into atoms of another type (Helium in the case of Hydrogen fusion). Fusion was first discovered and tested in the H-Bombs (Hydrogen bombs) of the twentieth century. Fusion reactors are also used as the most common source of ship power from roughly the twenty fourth century on.
g (gee, gees, g-force) – Represented as a lower case g in italics, this symbol stands for gravity. On earth, at sea-level, the human body experiences 1g. A human sitting in a wheeled dragster race-car will achieve 4.2gs of horizontal g-force. Arial fighter jets will impose g-forces of 7-12gs on their pilots. Humans will often lose consciousness around 10gs. Unmodified humans will suffer serious injury or death at over 50gs. Starships will often impose burns as high as 20gs and provide special couches or beds for their passengers during such maneuvers. Modified starfighter pilots can withstand g-forces as high as 70gs.
Graviton – These are small massless particles that are emitted from objects with large mass, or by special generators capable of creating them without large masses. There are also negatively charged gravitons which push instead of pull. These are used in shielding systems in the form of Gravitational Waves. The GSS Intrepid uses a new system of channeled gravitons to create the artificial gravity in the crew areas of the ship.
GSS – The Generational Space Service is a quasi-federal organization that handles the assignment of colony worlds. In some cases, it also handles the construction of the colony ships.
After the discontinuation of federal support and funding for the FGT project in 3738, the GSS became self-funded, by charging for the right to gain access to a colony world. While SolGov no longer funded the GSS the government supported the GSS’s position and passed law ensuring that all colony assignment continued through the GSS.
Helium-3 – This is a stable, non-radioactive isotope of Helium, produced by T3 Hydrogen decay, and is used in nuclear fusion reactors. The nucleus of the Helium-3 atom contains two protons, but only one neutron as opposed to the two neutrons in regular Helium. Helium-3 Can also be created by nuclear reactions that create Lithium-4 which decays into Helium-3.
HUD – Stands for Heads Up Display. It refers to any type of display where information about surroundings and other data is directly overlaid on a person’s vision.
Link – Refers to an internal connection to computer networks. This connection is inside of a person and directly connects their brain to what is essentially the Internet in the fourth millennia. Methods of accessing the Link vary between retinal overlays to direct mental insertion of data.
Maglev – A shorthand term for magnetic levitation. First used commercially in 1984, most modern public transportation uses maglev to move vehicles without the friction caused by axles, rails and wheels. The magnetic field is used to both support the vehicle and accelerate it. The acceleration and braking is provided by linear induction motors which act on the magnetic field provided by the maglev ‘rail’. Maglev trains can achieve speeds of over one thousand kilometers per hour with very smooth and even acceleration.
MDC (molecular decoupler) – These devices are uses to break molecules bonds to one another. This technology was first discovered in the early nineteenth century—by running electric current through water, William Nicholson was able to break water into its hydrogen and oxygen components. Over the following centuries this process was used to discover new elements such as potassium and sodium. When mankind began to terraform planets the technology behind electrostatic projectors was used to perform a type of electrolysis on the crust of a planet. The result was a device that could break apart solid objects. MDC’s are massive, most over a hundred kilometers long and require tremendous energy to operate.
Mj – Refers to the mass of the planet Jupiter as of the year 2103. If something is said to have 9MJ that means it has nine times the mass of Jupiter.
Nano (nanoprobes, nanobots, etc…) – Refers to very small technology or robots. Something that is nanoscopic in size is one thousand times smaller than something that is microscopic in size.
Pico (picotech, picobots, etc…) – Refers to technology on a pico-scale—one thousand times smaller than nanotech.
After a series of accidents that nearly consumed an entire dwarf world, picotech research was banned in the Sol system.
Railgun – Railguns fire physical rounds, usually small pellets at speeds up to 10 kilometers per second by pushing the round through the barrel via a magnetic field. The concept is similar to that of a maglev train, but to move a smaller object much faster. Railguns were first conceived of in 1918 and the first actual magnetic particle accelerator was built in 1950. Originally railguns were massive, sometimes kilometers in size. By the twenty-second century reliable versions as small as a conventional rifle had been created.
Larger versions take the form of orbital railgun platforms which can fire sabot rounds or grapeshot at speeds over a hundred-thousand kilometers per second.
R
amscoop – A type of starship fuel collection system and engine. They are sometimes also referred to as Bussard ramscoops or ramjets. Ramscoops were considered impractical due to the scarcity of interstellar hydrogen until electrostatic scoops were created that can capture atoms at a much more distant range and funnel them into a starship’s engine.
Scattered Disc – Beyond a star system’s EK Belt lies a region filled with comets, asteroids, and dwarf worlds. In the Sol System this region begins roughly 50 AU from Sol and extends to the edge of the Oort cloud. While it contains the least mass of a system, a system’s scattered disc typically contains hundreds of dwarf planets and fills an area nearly half a cubic light year.
Stasis – Early stasis systems were invented in the year 2541 as a method of ‘cryogenically’ freezing organic matter without using extreme cold (or lack of energy) to do so. The effect is similar in that all atomic motion is ceased, but not by the removal of energy by gradual cooling, but by removing the ability of the surrounding space to accept that energy and motion. There are varying degrees of effectiveness of stasis systems. The FGT and other groups possess the ability to put entire planets in stasis, while other groups only have the technology to put small items, such as people, into stasis. Personal stasis is often still referred to as cryostasis, though there is no cryogenic process involved.
Tritium – T3 (3H) is an isotope of hydrogen where the nucleus of the atom is made up of one proton and two neutrons as opposed to just a single proton and no neutrons in regular hydrogen (protium). T3 is radioactive and has a half-life of 12.32 years. It decays into Helium-3 through this process.
v – Represented as a lower case v in italics, this symbol stands for velocity. If a ship is increasing its speed it will be said that it is increasing v.
Van Allen belts – A radiation belt of energetic charged particles that is held in place around a magnetized planet, such as the Earth, by the planet's magnetic field. The Earth has two such belts and sometimes others may be temporarily created. The discovery of the belts is credited to James Van Allen, and as a result the Earth's belts are known as the Van Allen belts.
Vector – Vectors used are spatial vectors. Vector refers to both direction and rate of travel (speed or magnitude). Vector can be changed (direction) and increased (speed or magnitude).
PLACES
Aurora – The seventh planet in the Bollam’s World System used to be two separate planets (the 7th and 8th), but was combined into one world in the late 89th century. The mass of the planet is 12Mj, which places it above the limit for sustained nuclear fusion. This is stopped by the use of massive antigravity fields around the world which hold it apart.
Ayrea (41 Arae 2) – An independent system centered a pair of binary stars, both cool dwarf stars with a well populated, stable stellar population. The stars lie only 28 light-years from Sol, but have managed to avoid being forced into the AST as of the 90th century.
Bollam’s World – Bollam’s World is the name of the fourth planet from 82 Eridani, in the Bollam’s World System.
Bollam’s World System (58 Eridani) – Independent system known as “Bollam’s World”. The system was settled in 5123 by the colonists of the GSS Yewing which left Sirius in the year 3814.
Coburn Station – Located above Trio in the Trio System of the Silstrand Alliance, this system is connected to its host world by the system’s only space elevator.
Fierra – The seventh moon of the planet Kithari in the Bollam’s World System. Fierra is in the late stages of terraforming when the Intrepid arrives intending to trade their tech for the world.
Gedri – A system on the core-ward fringe of the Silstrand Alliance. The Gedri System is the most corrupt and lawless of the worlds in the alliance and is rife with pirates and smugglers.
Kithari – The sixth major planet in the Bollam’s World System, Kithari is a 6Mj gas giant with jovian characteristics. It has a multitude of stations and inhabited worlds surrounding it.
New Eden (82 Eridani) – This stellar system was terraformed by the FGT in the late forty-first and early forty-second centuries. The stellar primary is a Sol-like star with two Earth-like planets in orbit.
“New Eden” also is the name the colonists gave to the first of the two Earth-like worlds in the system.
Silstrand (HR-5279 / HD 122862) – The seat of the Silstrand Alliance government and the center of the Alliance’s trade and commerce, the Silstrand System boasts three terraformed worlds, one with a ring and space elevators.
Silstrand Alliance – The Silstrand Alliance is a collection of worlds located roughly 90 light-years from Sol, which have banded together under an elected representative parliamentary government. The alliance consists of 10 major star systems.
Sol – This is the name of the star which in antiquity was simply referred to as ‘The Sun’. Because humans call the star that lights up their daytime sky ‘the sun’ in every system it became common practice to refer to Sol by its proper name.
Trio – The fourth world from Trio Prime, the world is a terrestrial planet with a single space elevator which reaches Coburn Station. Though the world has a space elevator, the system is not well populated due to prior wars with the Scipio Federation.
Trio Prime (CP-67 2079 / HD 111232) – Trio lies on the core-ward edge of the Silstrand Alliance. It has one terraformed world known as Trio.
PEOPLE
Abby Redding – Engineer responsible for building the Intrepid.
Amanda – One of the two human AI interfaces for the Intrepid.
Angela – A military intelligence sentient AI embedded within Tanis.
Bob – Bob is the name Amanda gave to the Intrepid’s primary AI after she was installed as its human avatar. She chose the name because she claims it suits him, though only she and Priscilla understand why. Bob is perhaps the most advanced AI ever created. He is the child of seventeen very unique and well regarded AIs. He also has portions of his neural network reflecting the minds of the Reddings. He is the first AI to be multi-nodal, to have each of those nodes be as powerful as the largest NSAI, and to remain sane and cogent.
Brandt – Initially the commander of the first Marine Battalion aboard the Intrepid, Brandt eventually became the commandant of the Marine forces in the ISF.
Cargo – The first mate of Sabrina bears a strange name as it was the first he was ever given after being found as a stowaway on a freighter as a child. He has lived on freighters in space ever since.
Carson – A fighter pilot from Sol, Carson is with the Andromeda when it battles the three Sirian scout ships.
Cary – Pilot in the Black Death squadron.
Cheeky – Biologically modified human who is capable of releasing heavy doses of pheromones and would be described as a nymphomaniac in some circles. She is also the pilot of the starship, Sabrina.
Cordy – AI of the Black Death fighter squadron.
Corsia – The AI operating the ISF Andromeda.
Earnest Redding – Engineer responsible for much of the Intrepid’s design. Earnest is one of the leading scientific minds in the Sol system and was responsible for much of Terrance Enfield’s success.
Flaherty – Long-time friend of Sera and muscle on Sabrina.
Helen – The AI embedded in Sera’s mind. Helen is an ancient AI, well over six-thousand years in age. She was a ship AI on one of the first FGT worldships to leave Sol in the 4th millennia. Helen was Sera’s caretaker as a child, and late her mentor. Before the events that led Sera to be exiled from the FGT, Helen had herself embedded in Sera’s mind.
Helen harbors a deep secret and mysterious background. Her origins date back to Sol’s AI wars.
Jason Andrews – An old spacer who has completed several interstellar journeys. Captain of the Intrepid.
Jerry – Jessica’s wingman in the Black Death squadron during the Battle of Bollam’s World.
Jessica Keller – A TBI (Terran Bureau of Investigations) officer who was chasing after Myrrdan, Jessica was found by Tanis in a st
asis pod with no record of how she got there.
Jessica’s experience with police procedure was useful in setting up the Victorian police force and academy. She also became an accomplished pilot in the ISF.