Outsystem (Aeon 14)

by M. D. Cooper

  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.

  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.

  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.

  Helium3 – 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 Helium3 atom contains two protons, but only one neutron as opposed to the two neutrons in regular Helium. Helium3 Can also be created by nuclear reactions that create Lithium-4 which decays into Helium3.

  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.

  MarSec (MSF) – The Marsian Security Force is a quasi-military organization that has its own small space force as well as ground forces and police-type security. They also make up the federal police force for the Mars Protectorate.

  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.

  MOS Sec – The MOS Security organization handles internal and external security around the MOS.

  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.

  platoon – A military unit consisting of roughly 30 soldiers. In the TSF a standard Marine platoon has three squads, a staff sergeant (often a gunnery sergeant if it is a weapons platoon) and a second lieutenant as the platoon commander.

  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.

  ramscoop – 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.

  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 a 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 having 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.

  SOC (Security Operations Center) – This is both the command organization for security on the Intrepid as well as the physical location on the ship where the offices of the SOC are located. The command organization has over two hundred humans and AI working in the organization to oversee the security of the ship. Physical security departments, both internal and dockside do not operate directly out of the SOC, but have their own divisional locations within the ship.

  solar mass – A solar mass is an object with the mass of the Sol Star (Earth’s sun) as of the year 2103.

  SolGov – An abbreviation for Solar Government, SolGov was originally analogous to the early Earth U.N. It was a guiding governing body for the Sol system and interfaced with all of the many local governments across multiple worlds.

  After the creation of the Sol Space Federation and the dissolution of the Solar Government, the term was still used to refer to the current government.

  Sol Space Federation (SSF) – Formed in 3301, the Sol Space Federation became a true federal government for the entire Sol system. Unlike SolGov it has full legal authority over its constituent regional powers. The primary member states of the SSF are: the Terran Hegemony, the Mars Protectorate, the Jovian Combine, and the Scattered Worlds.

  squad – In the TSF Marines a squad consists of three fireteams. It is headed up by a sergeant, making the squad consist of 13 soldiers. Each squad in a platoon has a number, and each fireteam has a number. Thus, one/one refers to the first fireteam in the first squad in the platoon.

  T3 (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 a single proton in regular hydrogen (protium). T3 is radioactive and has a half-life of 12.32 years. It decays into Helium3 by this reaction.

  TSF – The Terran Space Force was originally the space force of the Terran Hegemony, but after the formation of the Sol Space Federation, the Terran Hegemony used its position of pre-eminence to make its military the federal military. Over the years elements of different national and regional militaries merged into the TSF, bringing new elements and a mix of organizational structures to the military.

  The space force is a mix of naval and army disciplines. It consists of sailors, Marines, pilots, and the regular army.

  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.

  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

  Alpha Centauri – A 3-star system, Alpha Centauri contains tw
o yellow stars (originally known as simply A and B, but named Prima and Yogi after colonization) and a red dwarf known as Proxima which is the closet star to Sol.

  Callisto Orbital Habitat (Cho) – The Cho (sometimes called the Callisto Semi-Orbital Habitat or the Callisto Concentric Ring System) had its first four rings completed in the year 3245 and is considered ‘semi-orbital’ because R1 (ring 1) is directly attached to Jupiter’s moon, Callisto, and does not technically orbit. While Europa is the capital of the Jovian Combine, Callisto is the socio-economic hub of both the region and all humanity. With a population of over three trillion, nearly half of all humans in existence live on the Callisto Orbital Habitat. New rings are constantly being added to the Cho and by the year 4123, 151 rings surround Callisto.

  Ceres – Once considered the largest object in the main asteroid belt, Ceres was eventually classified a ‘dwarf planet’. It is over 1500 kilometers in diameter and is a smooth round object with a subterranean ocean. After humans landed on the dwarf planet in 2119 it became a staging ground for exploration of the outer Sol system. Ceres proved more useful in this respect because of its lower mass (making breakaway velocity require less fuel), more readily available water for fuel creation as well as its position further from Sol.

  Cruithne (3735 Cruithne) – This asteroid, named after an early people of Ireland, was discovered in 1986. It is a very unique asteroid in that t is in a 1:1 orbital resonance with Earth. This means, that with rare exception it is always on the same side of Sol as Earth and is spends half its time accelerating toward Earth, and the other half of its time accelerating away from earth.

  From an earth-bound perspective that makes Cruithne appear as though it is orbiting Earth, and when it was first discovered it was briefly thought to be a second moon of the Earth.

  Originally a 5 kilometer asteroid, Cruithne quickly became a significant trading hub because of its ability to function as a useful cargo slingshot platform to OuterSol. Cruithne is not a part of any planetary government, nor does it fall under the jurisdiction of the Terran Hegemony. It is, however, subject to the Sol Space Federation.

  Ganymede – This moon is the third of the Galilean moons from Jupiter and is the largest and most dense moon in the Sol system. Because of the tidal stresses caused by being so close to Jupiter the moon also has a molten core.

  In 2633 the orbit of Ganymede was altered to move it out of contact with Jupiter’s magnetic fields and in 2639 terraforming of the moon began. Ganymede’s surface is an ice/rock layer 200km thick. Beneath that is a water ocean that fills much of the moon’s interior. By using the mass of Kuiper belt objects an earthen surface was created and an orbital ring was built to funnel energy to heat

  High Terra – As the second planetary ring ever created (completed in 2519), High Terra is more elegant than the M1R, though Earth’s planetary ring has slightly less habitable space than its Marsian counterpart. The ring also houses the city of Raleigh which is the capital of both Earth and the Terran hegemony.

  InnerSol: This is the common name for the both the region of the inner solar system as well as the political groups that comprise that region. The boundary for InnerSol is nominally the main asteroid belt, but this is somewhat nebulous because some worlds within the belt are considered part of InnerSol (such as Ceres) while other sections, such as the Trojan asteroids are part of the Jovian Combine and thus in OuterSol.

  Jovian Combine: The JC encapsulates all worlds in OuterSol—most notably Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and all their satellites. After the construction of the Cho, Jovian space began an upward rise toward not only housing the majority of all the humans in the galaxy, but also becoming the center or commerce and culture. In the year 4123 InnerSol and the Terran dominated SolGov was facing a regional government that was effectively more powerful than the federal government.

  Jupiter – In 2644 a process of heating up Jupiter was initiated. Targeted impacts of KBOs (Kuiper belt objects) were made to cause pressure waves in hydrogen clouds. These waves were used to trigger fusion of deuterium rich layers of Jupiter. This process has been refined over the years and now the system is regulated by accumulating and igniting pools of Helium3 within Jupiter.

  This process has not made Jupiter a brown dwarf, or a star of any kind, it is just a much hotter planet, providing energy for the worlds nearby.

  LHS 1565 – This star is a red dwarf 12 light years from Sol. The Intrepid will pass through this system to gather isotopes streaming from the star for fuel.

  Mars Inner Shipyards (MIS) – After the MCEE was constructed, which made it possible to dock at a station further out from Mars and have materials transported down the gravity well, the Mars Inner Shipyards were constructed. Because high-tech manufacturing was occurring on the M1R as well, it became a better location for shipbuilding than the MOS and through the latter half of the fourth millennia and beginning of the fifth it overtook the MOS as InnerSol’s premier shipyard.

  Mars 1 Ring (M1R or MIR) – The first planetary ring saw its construction begin in the year 2215 and through a massive effort was completed in 2391. The ring is just over 1600 kilometers wide and wraps around Mars at the planet’s geosynchronous orbital point making it 128,400 kilometers long.

  The ring is not flat like a natural ring (such as Saturn’s) but faces the planet. It does not orbit at a speed to match the surface of Mars, but rotates at a slower speed to provide exactly 1g of gravity on the inside surface. Walls over 100 kilometers high line the inside of the ring and hold in atmosphere. The total surface area of the ring is 205 million kilometers. This is half the surface area of Earth and 72% more area than Earth’s landmass. Considering that M1R has hundreds of levels it contains more than 100 times the surface area of planet Earth.

  The completion of M1R definitively proved that mankind’s future home was in space and not on the surface of worlds. In the year 4123 the population of the M1R had reached over seven hundred billion people.

  Mars Protectorate: is the name for the political entity that encapsulates Mars, its moons, the Mars 1 Ring, and several asteroids in the main asteroid belt.

  MCEE – The Mars Central Elevator Exchange is a secondary orbital ring around the planet Mars which connects all of the outer habitats and shipyards to the Mars 1 Ring (M1R). Because of the need to keep gravity under 1g, all habitats and shipyards connected to the M1R must orbit Mars at a slower speed than the main ring. As a result they must connect to it via elevators which can move along the surface of the MCEE. Maglev elevators can then travel from locations such as the Mars Outer Shipyards to the M1R without requiring passengers or cargo to transfer to other transports.

  Mars Outer Shipyards (MOS) – This shipyard was once the premier shipyard in all of the Sol system. Built in 3229, the shipyard’s main structure is over 1000 kilometers in length with thousands of cubic kilometers of equipment and detached service yards surrounding it. The shipyard’s pre-eminence faded as the conditions which made the MIS more economical improved. In 4123 it was still one of the busiest shipyards in the Sol system, but until it won the Intrepid’s contract it had not done a high-profile build in decades.

  OuterSol: Is the region of space between the main asteroid belt and the inside of the main Kuiper belt—though this has shifted as political entities shift.

  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.

  Sol system – The Sol system used to be referred to as the solar system. However, as humans began to first think about, and then actually colonize other stellar systems it became obvious that the term was very Sol-centric. The common usage became to call the systems simply by the name of the star. For example: Tau Ceti system, Alpha Centauri system, etc… Because humankind’s home star is named Sol, the term Sol system came into use.

  Scattered Worlds: is a political entity that contains many
of the trans-Neptunian worlds. Its nominal inner border is the main Kuiper belt and its outer border is the Hills Oort cloud. The capital of the Scattered Worlds is Makemake.

  Terra – This is the Latin name for the Earth and (though there are some exceptions) is not commonly used to refer to the planet. However, it is often used to refer to Earth, High Terra and Luna (as well as the assorted nations within the Terran sphere of influence).

  Terran Hegemony – This is the official name for the InnerSol worlds either directly governed by Terra, or existing well within its geo-political influence. Notable worlds in the Terran Hegemony are Venus and Mercury.

  Toro (1685 Toro) – Toro is an asteroid that has a resonant 5:8 orbit with Earth and a 5:13 resonant orbit with Venus. This means for every 5 of Earth’s orbits and every 8 of Toro’s, it orbits Sol in resonance with the Earth. During that period it appears as though Toro orbits the Earth. It also makes for cost effective cargo transfer to Toro during that period. Toro, like Cruithne also is a useful slingshot accelerator for cargo being sent to OuterSol.