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C# Fiction > Escape from Earth
Escape from Earth - Updates Thread
Steve Walmsley:
Background
January 1st 2025 was a good news, bad news day. To the astonishment of the worldwide scientific community, a team at Cambridge University announced the discovery of Trans-Newtonian physics. The Cambridge team assured the assembled global new media that the discovery would revolutionise industry and open up the entire solar system for exploration. Six hours later, a four-kilometre-wide asteroid, travelling unseen from high above the ecliptic, impacted near the southern Indian city of Bengaluru.
The shock wave flattened buildings as far away as Mumbai, almost nine hundred kilometres to the north. Intense, unbearable heat was felt at double that distance, reaching the southern suburbs of New Delhi. Within hours, fiery ash was blotting out the sun over four thousand kilometres from the impact. While the great cities of Beijing and Shanghai escaped the immediate fall out, two thirds of China was drowned in ash, killing animals, crops and millions of people. To the West, the fallout covered Iran and most of the Middle East, although Syria, Jordan and Israel escaped the worst of the damage. Somalia, Ethiopia and parts of Kenya vanished under the ash fall. All of Central Asia was affected as far as the Kazakhstan – Russia border and halfway across Mongolia. South-East Asia was lost entirely and Indonesia suffered greatly, with the ash burying Sumatra and falling on western Borneo and Java.
While later estimates placed the immediate death toll at well over two billion, the disaster had just begun. Even as those areas of the world without direct damage, the Americas, Europe, Russia, Japan and Australasia, launched massive relief operations, the skies began to darken. Vast quantities of dust remained in the atmosphere, blocking out the sun and causing the temperature to decline rapidly. Within weeks, the average temperature was approximately -27C, a fall of forty degrees. People did their best to survive, but most of the world was not equipped to handle arctic conditions. Unless temperatures increased or special infrastructure was constructed, most of the human population would freeze to death within a few years. Initial estimates were that the surviving population would fall by approximately eighteen percent per year.
One month after the impact, with the world starting to come to terms with the magnitude of the catastrophe, the situation deteriorated considerably. Across the world scientists came to the same conclusion; the impact had knocked the Earth out of its orbit. The planet was locked into a death spiral that would take it closer and closer to the sun until it was torn apart by tidal forces. Although it would be almost a hundred years before the final destruction of the Earth, environmental effects would be felt much sooner as the temperature rose. Earth would change from a frozen world to a planet of molten rock within a few decades. The planet would be uninhabitable long before it was destroyed
Faced with the destruction of the planet and the extinction of the human race, the major nations of the world finally discarded their ideological and geopolitical disputes and cast aside old rivalries. Only a global effort could save humanity from the asteroid winter and, once the dust settled, from a Sun that would grow larger and larger in the sky as it scorched the surface of the Earth. A global council, the Colonial Alliance, was formed with the objective of evacuating the entire human population within fifty years. The council had the legal power to override all national governments and appropriate whatever resources it required.
The only point of light in the darkness faced by the human race, both literally and metaphorically, was the discovery of Trans-Newtonian physics. If that knowledge could be harnessed, it would provide the means to rescue a substantial portion of the surviving population before time finally ran out.
Game Setup
Conventional Start with Tran-Newtonian tech already researched
Known Systems
25% research speed.
All spoilers active.
Earth with five billion pop and industry for two billion
Earth Dust Level 4000 (-40C)
3x NPRs at 50-80 light years from Earth.
Steve Walmsley:
January 2025
Population 5 billion
Temperature -26.9C
Distance to Sun 150m km
Worldwide casualties during the first year of the asteroid winter were devastating. Seven hundred million perished due to starvation or the frozen conditions. The desperate situation caused massive unrest among the populations of almost every country on the globe. The Colonial Alliance used the existing conventional forces of Earth’s major military powers to quell that unrest. There was little need for high tech weaponry, so the military was formed into infantry-heavy Security Brigades. Each comprised four thousand troops for security duties, one hundred and eighty machine gun teams to handle serious unrest and forty tanks for sheer intimidation. The conventional tanks were a mixture of M1A3 Abrams from the United States, T-15 Armatas from Russia, British Challengers, German Leopards and Chinese ZTZ-99s. Twenty Security Brigades were formed in total. The rest of Earth’s major military forces were disbanded, as their maintenance was a luxury that could not be afforded.
To a large degree, the future of humanity lay with its scientists. They had to research and develop the technology required to save the population of Earth before the ice turned to deserts. Even within the scientific community, certain key personnel stood above the others. Earth’s leading propulsion scientist, Wolf Spielmann, was possibly the most important person on the planet. Fortunately, he was a man who handled himself well under pressure. At the start of 2025 he had responsibility for fifteen of the thirty-three available facilities. By the end of the year, that had risen to twenty-four. Nuclear thermal engine technology had been researched and he had begun work on improved pressurised reactors, the prerequisite for an improvement in nuclear thermal technology.
The main areas of concern for research were construction and sensors. The leading construction scientist, Georgi Maslov, was brilliant but his administrative skills were lacking and he could manage only five research facilities. Carmela Pasquale, formerly an expert in propulsion with excellent administrative skills, had transferred to the construction department but so far lacked the skill in her new field to make an impact. Sensors and Control System were in an even worse situation as no world-leading scientists in the field survived the impact and the aftermath. The missile scientist Stefan Voskresensky was retraining, but had only minimal expertise.
Industrial effort focused on converting conventional industry to Trans-Newtonian technology. Three thousand, two hundred industrial complexes around the world had been identified for conversion, including factories, mines and fuel refineries. BY the end of the year, one hundred and five construction factories, ninety-seven mines and a single fighter factory had been converted. Two small orbital shipyards, built in the early 2020s to support missions to the Moon and Mars, were being expanded to handle larger ships. In the meantime, the Colonial Alliance planned to convert factories to produce small ships of up to 500 tons to begin a survey of the Solar system.
As the years passed the temperature rose; partly due to dust settling out of the atmosphere and partly due to the decreasing distance to the sun. By January 2028, the temperature was -14.7 and rising toward the lower edge of the range at which humans could survive without specialised infrastructure. Even so the intervening years had been harsh and while the rate of deaths was slowing, the numbers were still catastrophic. Four hundred and thirty million died during 2026 and a further two hundred and twenty million in 2027. The distance to the Sun had fallen by 4.5m kilometres, which had contributed four degrees to the temperature rise. It would not be many years before heat, rather than cold, became the primary threat.
The conversion of industry was halted temporarily in December 2027 so that a second commercial shipyard could be constructed. One of the two existing shipyards was intended to build military shipping, so a second commercial yard was required in order to build both freighters and colony ships. The decision would add four months to the completion time for conversion, but would allow time for the second shipyard to be expanded.
By the beginning of 2029, the temperature was -10.8C, almost within the tolerance range. Without the dust it would already have risen to 20C due to the spiralling orbit. The decline in population had halted and begun to reverse. Even so, half the human race had died within the previous four years and the population of Earth had fallen to three point six billion. Eleven hundred conventional industrial complexes had been converted to Trans-Newtonian technology. No ships had been designed, much less constructed, but Wolf Spielmann believed he would have a working design for a nuclear pulse engine within a year. At that point, research would be focused in other directions until the number of facilities could be increased.
In late December 2029, work began on the first Galileo class Geological Survey Craft, a small, 500-ton design that could be constructed by factories on the surface, rather than requiring an orbital shipyard. The Galileo was a basic design with limited engine power, a single geological survey sensor and sufficient engineering and crew quarters to allow missions of up to two years. The ships of the Galileo class were intended to conduct a survey of the inner Sol system and identify future sources of minerals.
Galileo class Geological Survey Craft 500 tons 12 Crew 122.2 BP TCS 10 TH 8 EM 0
800 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 2 Sensors 0/0/0/1 DCR 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.59 Years MSP 35 AFR 20% IFR 0.3% 1YR 7 5YR 110 Max Repair 100 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Morale Check Required
Spielmann-8E Nuclear Pulse Engine (1) Power 8 Fuel Use 39.53% Signature 8 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 37,000 Litres Range 33.7 billion km (487 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
In February 2030, construction began on the first two Trans-Newtonian ships to be built in orbit. The Mars class freighter was a bare-bones design, with nuclear pulse engines and a Duranium hull wrapped around a cargo hold and four shuttle bays. The design was named for the planet that was the most likely future home for the human race, although Professor Spielmann believed that spatial rifts known as jump points existed somewhere in the Sol system and would lead to other star systems. Unfortunately, the detailed knowledge and technology required to search for them did not yet exist.
Mars class Freighter 41,643 tons 175 Crew 586 BP TCS 833 TH 1,000 EM 0
1200 km/s Armour 1-107 Shields 0-0 HTK 71 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 8 Max Repair 50 MSP
Cargo 25,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 4
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Spielmann-100C Nuclear Pulse Engine (10) Power 1000 Fuel Use 11.18% Signature 100 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 450,000 Litres Range 17.4 billion km (167 days at full power)
The Diaspora class colony ship was a companion vessel, designed to transport sixty thousand colonists per trip. The immediate problem was that Mars was not habitable, so specialised infrastructure would be required to live on the surface. Even with Earth’s combined industry, including the contribution from the civilian sector, it would be challenging to build sufficient infrastructure to house a significant portion of Earth’s population and transport that to Mars. The potential solution lay with Lucas Harris, a biology and genetics scientist who believed a terraforming system could be devised to make Mars more habitable, or even to slow down the environmental disaster that would unfold on Earth. Unfortunately, he was a scientist of only moderate ability with minimal administrative skills. The project to develop the module would require approximately twelve years, by which time the situation on Earth would already be considerably worse. Other alternatives were under review, including giving the project to a scientist without a biology specialization, but with sufficient administrative skill to manage a large number of facilities. It was not an efficient solution, but it could shorten the time required at the expense of other research projects.
Diaspora class Colony Ship 27,546 tons 194 Crew 1,038.2 BP TCS 551 TH 700 EM 0
1270 km/s Armour 1-81 Shields 0-0 HTK 60 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 23 Max Repair 100 MSP
Cryogenic Berths 60,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 4
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Spielmann-100C Nuclear Pulse Engine (7) Power 700 Fuel Use 11.18% Signature 100 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres Range 23.4 billion km (212 days at full power)
The first Galileo class Geological Survey Craft was constructed on March 28th 2030. Commander Morgan Evans was given the honour of commanding the twelve crew that would take humanity’s first steps into the era of Trans-Newtonian space travel. Six days after launch, Galileo completed a survey of the Moon, finding accessible deposits of Boronide and Corundium, then moved on to Venus, which was just thirty-five million kilometres from Earth. Copernicus, the second Galileo class, was completed on May 10th and headed for Jupiter to survey the giant planet and its moons. Construction speed was increasing as fifty fighter factories were in operation by this point.
On May 11th, Galileo completed the orbital survey of Mercury. While no minerals were found, the survey revealed a vast alien construct on the surface, surrounded by what appeared to be the remnants of a destroyed alien outpost The construct and the outpost appeared to be of different design, perhaps indicating the presence of more than one alien species. There was no sign of life. Even so, the discovery was profoundly shocking for the Colonial Alliance. Not only did the Alliance have to rescue as much of the human race as possible, it now had to contend with the existence of alien life. Whoever the aliens were, they had visited the Sol system in the past and might return. Once the immediate threat of extinction was addressed, the Alliance would need a Navy.
Steve Walmsley:
January 2031
Population 3.75 billion, Temperature -2.6C, Distance to Sun 141m km
The first Mars class freighter was launched on February 4th 2031. Despite the lack of minerals on Mars, it remained the only realistic destination for humanity, at least for the foreseeable future. The freighter began a shuttle run between Earth and Mars, transferring the infrastructure that the civilian sector had built during the asteroid winter. The stockpile of infrastructure on Earth was sufficient to support only one hundred and forty million settlers on Mars, assuming that sufficient freighters and colony ships could be built to transport both the infrastructure and the colonists. Even in that case, the capacity represented less than four percent of the human population.
With the logistical situation looking more desperate than ever, the terraforming research project became the highest priority for the Colonial Alliance. The propulsion scientist Wolf Spielmann continued to impress, with his knowledge growing as he learned more about Trans-Newtonian physics. Therefore, the decision was made to place him in charge of the terraforming research. While it was not his specialist field, he could manage twenty-four facilities and the council believed he would improve the output of those facilities by up to forty-five percent. The downside was taking him away from propulsion research, where he would be far more efficient. The alternative was to concentrate on the jump point theory research, but even if that was successful it still required that a habitable planet be located within a relatively short distance from Earth. With the survival of humanity at stake and no way to conduct both projects simultaneously, the less efficient but less risky option had to be chosen.
In January 2032, the survey vessel Kepler ran out of fuel on its return to Earth and became stranded just inside the orbit of Saturn. The technology did not yet exist that would allow fuel transfer in deep space so, for the moment, there was no way to send help. Before the stranding of Kepler, the four Galileos conducted an extensive geological survey of the solar system, including everything inside the orbit of Neptune and perhaps a third of the Kuiper Belt, before heading to Earth for resupply and overhaul. The other three ships, Galileo, Copernicus and Tycho Brae, all returned home safely.
The results of the survey were not encouraging. The only substantial deposit of accessible Duranium was on Io, one of Jupiter’s moons, which had a colony cost of 6.3. It would require substantial terraforming before a productive mining colony could be established. Two comets, Whipple and Van Biesbroeck, had accessible deposits in the tens of thousands of tons range. All four gas giants had accessible Sorium, but it would be some time before the technology was available to exploit that resource. It appeared that humanity’s long-term future would depend on Wolf Spielmann being correct about the existence of jump points.
Io Survey Report
Duranium: 6,369,452 0.70
Mercassium: 33,160 0.80
Corundium: 429,759 0.90
Whipple Survey Report
Duranium: 66,221 0.70
Mercassium: 7,601 0.50
Vendarite: 12,018 0.50
Corundium: 8,676 1.00
Van Biesbroeck Survey Report
Duranium: 50,243 0.80
Neutronium: 10,891 0.90
Corundium: 25,728 0.90
Jupiter Survey Report
Sorium: 572,000 0.90
Saturn Survey Report
Sorium: 542,430 1.00
Uranus Survey Report
Sorium: 664,560 0.90
Neptune Survey Report
Sorium: 247,600 0.90
The conversion of industry to Trans-Newtonian facilities was completed in April 2032, resulting in twelve hundred and fifty construction factories, one thousand mines, six hundred financial centres, three hundred fuel refineries and fifty fighter factories. Two weeks later, the first Diaspora class colony ship was launched. The Martian colony, humanity’s first off-world outpost, was established on May 2nd 2032.
Shortly thereafter the civilian sector on Earth finally began to contribute to the survival effort. Over the next eighteen months, three separate off-world civilian mining colonies were established; two on comets and the third on the Jovian moon Europa. During the same period, the civilian company SpaceX constructed three freighters and a colony ship to begin transporting infrastructure and settlers to Mars.
By the end of 2033, five government-owned freighters were in service, as well as the single Diaspora class colony ship, and the population of Mars reached seven million. It was a very small beginning, but at least a small portion of the human race was guaranteed to survive the destruction of Earth. There was a concern over potential unrest on the new colony and there was no way to transport the Security Brigades and all their equipment from Earth to Mars. For several months, a limited amount of precious research time was devoted to developing a troop transport bay, until a new solution was found. The five Mars class freighters transported the ground forces construction complex from Earth to Mars, along with a supply of Vendarite, so new formations could be built in place. A new Security Police formation was designed with six hundred lightly armed troopers. The first formation completed training on December 5th 2033.
With industry fully converted and able to concentrate on other tasks, production of new installations began in earnest. Between April 2032 and December 2033, a naval shipyard, three commercial shipyards, a military academy and seven research facilities were completed. Finally, on October 16th 2033, the technology required to build terraforming installations was developed by Wolf Spielmann. The construction factories on Earth began building the new installations, with the first being delivered to Mars on Christmas Day 2033. Wolf Spielmann began a new project to improve the rate at which terraforming took place.
A second civilian shipping line, Boeing, was formed on Jan 19th 2034. By the end of the year SpaceX and Boeing each had three freighters and a colony ship in service. With three government colony ships and seven freighters, the evacuation began to speed up a little. On January 1st 2035, ten years after the asteroid impact, the population on Mars was seventeen million, with twenty-two terraforming installations in operation. Despite the number of installations, the rate of atmospheric production was 0.0232 atm per year, which would mean fifteen years of effort to build an atmosphere plus ten build to add sufficient water.
The construction factories on Earth were dedicated to building additional terraforming installations, to speed up the process, with occasional breaks to construct cryogenic modules and engines for additional colony ships. The research situation changed in mid-July 2034 with the graduation of Morita Maya, a brilliant young scientist in the field of construction and production. While she wasn’t quite as capable as Georgi Maslov, she could manage twenty facilities compared to five for Maslov. Some facilities were diverted from Wolf Spielmann’s efforts to speed up terraforming so that Morita Maya could begin work on improving research rate. As of the start of 2035, it was estimated that the improved terraforming would be available in one year and the improved research rate in eighteen months.
Despite the progress, the environmental situation on Earth was worsening fast. The surface temperate had risen to 13.7C, virtually the same as before the impact, but that included a fifteen degree lowering of the base temperature due to the remaining dust in the atmosphere so the real temperature was 28.7C. The Earth was ten percent closer to the Sun than its original orbit and the situation would quickly worsen, especially once the dust settled. Humanity was running out of time.
Steve Walmsley:
January 2035
Earth Population 3.95 billion, Mars Population 17m, Temperature 13.7C, Distance to Sun 135m km
By early May 2035, Morita Maya had improved her knowledge to equal that of Georgi Maslov, making her the pre-eminent construction scientist. Finally, significant progress could be made in this critical field. Wolf Spielmann continued his invaluable contribution with an improvement in terraforming rate, then moved back to his specialised field of propulsion, completing work on making engines more efficient before beginning research into jump point theory. In April 2036, Morita Maya completed her project to increase research speed, then moved on to improved wealth generation. As the Exodus grew in size and scope, it was consuming material and financial resources at an ever-increasing rate. Since terraforming installations had become the priority, no more research facilities had been completed, so forty were in operation.
The occasional diversion of construction factories to build colony ship components speeded up the construction of colony ships by a factor of three and made a significant difference to the growth of the Martian colony. The population reached thirty-nine million in January 2036 and seventy-three million by January 2037. By the latter date, thirteen Diaspora class colony ships and thirteen Mars class freighters were in operation supported by four civilian colony ships and seven civilian freighters. Civilian mining operations continued to expand with eighteen civilian mining complexes spread across six different sites by early 2037.
On Earth, the temperature continued to rise; 17.9C in January 2036 and 22.1C in January 2037, with dust still keeping that temperature artificially low by ten degrees. The population reached four billion, but that was likely to be close to the post-impact high point, before the heat really began to take effect. The Earth had moved eighteen million kilometres closer to the Sun since 2025.
Morita Maya developed technology for improved wealth generation in February 2037, while Wolf Spielmann completed his research into Jump Point Theory in October of the same year. It would still be some time until the technology could be used due to the requirement to develop a number of follow-on technologies required to build jump drives. A team led by a young scientist named Rachael Banks began research into gravitational sensors.
Meanwhile, the terraforming of Mars began to show results. In August 2037, with seventy-five terraforming installations in operation and the population passing one hundred million, the ice caps melted, raising the temperature slightly and creating small seas that covered ten percent of the surface area. Even so, additional water would be required to make the surface fully habitable.
A year later, in August 2038, the number of terraforming stations reached one hundred. No more would be built, as the terraforming was making good progress, so Earth’s construction factories began building a mixture of research facilities and components for additional colony ships. By February 2039, the atmosphere was breathable, although the colony cost was still 1.00 due to the small amount of surface water. The Colonial Alliance finally began to believe that Earth could be successfully evacuated.
So far, the rapid increase of population on Mars had been driven by using the infrastructure built up on Earth during the asteroid winter. However, that was almost exhausted. In February 2039, at the point the Martian atmosphere became breathable, there were 36,000 infrastructure installations on Mars, mainly atmospheric domes and environmental systems, supporting an overcrowded population of one hundred and ninety million. Only 900 remained on Earth. The atmosphere had become breathable just in time to prevent a serious slowdown in the evacuation.
On Earth, only twenty million kilometres outside the orbit of Venus, the temperature was 30.9C, including five degrees of cooling provided by the remaining dust. A new environmental disaster was fast approaching. The population was stable at just over four billion as the evacuation caught up with the growth rate. Once sufficient water vapour was added to Mars to increase the surface water beyond twenty percent, the one hundred terraforming installations would be moved back to Earth in an attempt to slow down the environmental damage. In the meantime, the infrastructure originally transported from Earth to Mars would be transported back to Earth to provide some protection for the population.
The resource situation was becoming a cause for concern. Deposits of Vendarite and Gallicite had both been exhausted on Earth and all but two of the remaining deposits were at reduced accessibility. While there were still tens of thousands of tons of each mineral in stockpiles on Earth, the Colonial Alliance would eventually ground to a halt unless new deposits could be found. The solar system had only limited resources, except for the large deposit of Duranium on Io, so the Alliance had to rely on future interstellar exploration.
The more immediate concern was fuel. With the demands on research since the asteroid impact, fuel production and efficiency technology had been a low priority and therefore never addressed. The Spielmann-100C Nuclear Pulse Engines of the Mars and Diaspora classes were therefore very fuel hungry. That was not a concern in the early years due to the limited number of ships. However, with forty-six freighters and colony ships in operation by February 2039, the fuel stockpile was dropping at an alarming rate. Once jump drives and gravitational sensors were available, the focus of research would be on improving the productivity of the three hundred fuel refineries on Earth and researching the technology required for more efficient engines.
Gravitational survey sensors were developed in early October 2039. The first Newton class Geological Survey Craft was launched ten weeks later on December 19th 2039. Although superficially similar to the preceding Galileo class, the Newton had High Density Duranium armour, compared to the Duranium armour of the Galileo, which allowed room for increased fuel storage and larger crew quarters. In addition, the Spielmann-8EB Nuclear Pulse Engine used 10% less fuel than the original Spielmann-8E. These two improvements provided a substantial increase in both range and endurance.
Newton class Gravitational Survey Craft 500 tons 12 Crew 122.4 BP TCS 10 TH 8 EM 0
801 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 3 Sensors 0/0/1/0 DCR 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.47 Years MSP 35 AFR 20% IFR 0.3% 1YR 8 5YR 119 Max Repair 100 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months Morale Check Required
Spielmann-8EB Nuclear Pulse Engine (1) Power 8.0 Fuel Use 35.58% Signature 8.00 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 55,000 Litres Range 55.7 billion km (805 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
As the 2040s dawned, fifteen years after the asteroid impact, the situation for humanity was in equal parts encouraging and concerning. The Martian colony was firmly established. A population of two hundred and sixty million lived on a planet with a breathable atmosphere, slowly expanding seas covering thirteen percent of the surface and, most of all, a stable orbit. Mars was also the Colonial Alliance’s financial hub with over four hundred financial centres transported from Earth. However, four billion people remained on Earth, which had a surface temperature of 34C. The last of the dust from the asteroid would settle during 2040 and the surface temperature would move beyond the upper bound of the habitable range by early 2041. 10,000 infrastructure installations were back on Earth with more arriving every day, along with twenty-seven terraforming installations that were pumping Frigusium gas into the atmosphere.
The impact would be limited though. Earth was a much larger planet than Mars and even with all the installations on Mars added to those already transported to Earth, they would not be able to prevent the inevitable. They could only slow it as long as possible to get more people off the planet. The Colonial Alliance hoped that someday, the capacity of Mars, estimated at three point four billion people, would become a problem to be solved. Resources continued to be a problem, with the fuel stockpile reduced by almost thirty percent in a single year. A new engine had been developed for future colony ships and freighters that used only half as much fuel and new ship designs were being created. However, the fuel situation was a problem just for the already existing ships. Fifty new refineries had been built in 2039, which helped a little, and that strategy would continue until production improvements could be made.
Steve Walmsley:
January 2040
Earth Population 4.02 billion, Mars Population 261m, Temperature 33.8C, Distance to Sun 127.5m km
By January 2041, the remaining atmospheric dust from the asteroid impact had returned to the ground and Earth was one hundred and twenty-six million kilometres from the Sun. Even so, the temperature had risen only a tenth of a degree since January 2040. The fifty terraforming stations in operation on Earth were adding Frigusium, which by this point comprised 2.1% of the atmosphere. The Frigusium was reducing the greenhouse gas effect and counter-acting the increased solar radiation. On Mars, the other fifty terraforming installations continued to add water vapour, which condensed out of the atmosphere and increased the surface water. The Martian population was almost three hundred and eighty million and the number of installations on the planet was increasing. All six hundred financial centres were on Mars, along with five research facilities, the military academy and Colonial Alliance naval headquarters.
The first jump point in the Solar system was detected in April 2040 by the second Newton class survey craft, Nikolai Tesla, and was located just inside the orbit of Saturn. Two further jump points were detected later in the year, located five hundred million and one hundred and twenty million kilometres inside the orbit of Uranus. The fourth and final jump point was discovered in May 2041, 750m km past Neptune, just a month before the gravitational survey of the solar system was completed.
Wolf Spielmann completed development of the Spielmann JD-90C Commercial Jump Drive on June 27th 2041, opening up the galaxy to humanity. The new drive was incorporated into the Kamikawa Maru class Jump Tender, a design intended to provide jump support for commercial-engined ships without inherent jump capability, in particular colony ships and freighters.
Kamikawa Maru class Jump Tender 41,896 tons 240 Crew 713.9 BP TCS 838 TH 1,024 EM 0
1222 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-107 Shields 0-0 HTK 76 Sensors 5/5/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 10 Max Repair 265.6 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Spielmann JD-90C Commercial Jump Drive Max Ship Size 90000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Spielmann-128C Nuclear Pulse Engine (8) Power 1024 Fuel Use 4.55% Signature 128 Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres Range 37.7 billion km (357 days at full power)
Navigation Sensor (1) GPS 1200 Range 19.7m km Resolution 120
Commercial Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 17.7m km
Commercial EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 17.7m km
Wolf Spielmann began work on the Spielmann JD-8M jump drive, a design intended for military-engined vessels of up to 8000 tons. Disaster struck three weeks into the project, on July 19th 2041, when Spielmann was killed in a tragic boating accident on the Colorado river. His protégé, Jason Kirk, was assigned the task of completing the new jump drive. Kirk was an accomplished young scientist, considered one of the most promising on the planet, but not yet as capable as his illustrious predecessor. Even so, the drive was ready by December 2041 and along the way Kirk improved his skills until they almost matched his mentor. In fact, his administrative skills were superior, as he was able to manage up to thirty-two facilities.
The Spielmann JD-8M jump drive, final legacy of the famous scientist, would have to wait before being incorporated into a new design as the Matsushina Naval Shipyard, intended to build the first interstellar survey ships, was still being upgraded to its target capacity of 8000 tons. As of January 2040, it was at 7568 tons.
Mars reached a population of 400m in April 2041 and by January 2042 was at 488m. The terraforming was almost complete with water covering 18.7% of the surface. With the rapidly growing population providing a large manufacturing sector, the centre of industry for the Colonial Alliance was gradually moving to Mars. Nine hundred construction factories were in operation, leaving just three hundred and fifty on Earth. Earth was still home to all Alliance shipyards, mining complexes, fuel refineries and fighter factories. Sixty terraforming stations on Earth were pumping Frigusium into Earth’s atmosphere and the temperature was actually starting to fall. After reaching a high point of 33.9C in January 2041, the temperature had fallen to 29.4C at the start of 2042.
The base temperature of Earth, based purely on solar radiation without any greenhouse effect or Albedo, was 280 Kelvin, or 7C, twenty-five degrees higher than in January 2025. Greenhouse effects took that to 315K, or 42C, which would be above the upper tolerance level of humanity. The terraforming stations had added 0.0434 atm of Frigusium, which reduced that temperature by 12.5C. However, as the Earth moved closer to the Sun, the increase in base temperature would accelerate. Earth was 0.83 AU from the Sun, or 124.5m kilometres. The first 0.1 AU added 13.7C, the second would add 16.3C and the third 19.7C. At 0.5 AU from the Sun the base temperature would have risen in total by over a hundred degrees. As the Sun grew ever larger in the sky, the subsequent 0.1 AU increments would add 42C, 62C, 104C and 280C. Frigusium would help for a while, but ultimately it was a losing battle.
On June 3rd 2042 the first Rappahannock class Tanker was launched. The Rappahannock was relatively small for a commercial vessel and was intended to ferry fuel from Sol’s gas giants once Sorium extraction technology became available. Its first mission was to rescue the geological survey craft Tycho Brae, which was stranded due to lack of fuel several years earlier. It’s sister ship Kepler had suffered the same fate and did not survive due to overwhelming maintenance failure. The crews of the early interplanetary vessels had known their mission was vital and pushed beyond safe limits to achieve their objectives.
Rappahannock class Tanker 19,177 tons 132 Crew 544.4 BP TCS 384 TH 768 EM 0
2002 km/s Armour 1-63 Shields 0-0 HTK 159 Sensors 5/5/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 17 Max Repair 25.6 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Spielmann-128C Nuclear Pulse Engine (6) Power 768 Fuel Use 4.55% Signature 128 Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 5,700,000 Litres Range 1,174.7 billion km (6791 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 50,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 114 hours
Navigation Sensor (1) GPS 1200 Range 19.7m km Resolution 120
Commercial Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 17.7m km
Commercial EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 17.7m km
Mid-2043 was notable for several other reasons. By June 4th, all construction and fighter factories had been transported to Mars, along with the spaceport from Earth. Earth gained a refuelling station instead. Three weeks later, Morita Maya completed her research into the Sorium Harvester module, leading to the first harvester station design. In July, Mars became an ideal habitable world. Finally, Jason Kirk, the propulsion scientist who succeeded Wolf Spielmann, reached the same level of research skill as his mentor and had the advantage in administration ability.
In August, Kamikawa Maru and Kiyokawa Maru were launched. The two tenders were the first jump-capable ships in history. They would not investigate the four jump points in Sol though as that task would fall to another class of vessel. In October, the first pair of Magellan class Survey Ships laid down. At 8000 tons, they were large enough to mount a jump drive, carry both geological and gravitational sensors and still retain sufficient endurance to conduct missions of up to four years in duration. Exploration would wait until these ships were available.
Magellan class Survey Ship 8,000 tons 193 Crew 988.7 BP TCS 160 TH 300 EM 0
1875 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-35 Shields 0-0 HTK 71 Sensors 5/5/2/2 DCR 8 PPV 0
Maint Life 5.22 Years MSP 617 AFR 64% IFR 0.9% 1YR 38 5YR 567 Max Repair 128 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 47 months Morale Check Required
Spielmann JD-8M Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 8000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Kirk-150M Nuclear Pulse Drive (2) Power 300.0 Fuel Use 24.65% Signature 150.00 Explosion 7%
Fuel Capacity 1,303,000 Litres Range 118.9 billion km (734 days at full power)
Navigation Sensor (1) GPS 1200 Range 19.7m km Resolution 120
Commercial Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 17.7m km
Commercial EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 17.7m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
By the end of 2042, all the Colonial Alliance’s financial centres had been transported back to Earth to free up workers. The industrial centre-of-gravity for the Alliance was rapidly moving to Mars. In May 2043, the last of Earth’s fuel refineries were moved to Mars to join those built by Martian construction factories. Four hundred and seventy refineries were in operation, but the fuel situation was still cause for concern with less than twenty million litres in storage. The first Hercules class Tug was launched later the same month and began towing shipyards to Mars as they finished their current tasks.
Hercules class Tug 63,664 tons 506 Crew 1,246 BP TCS 1,273 TH 3,840 EM 0
3015 km/s Armour 1-142 Shields 0-0 HTK 224 Sensors 5/5/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 12 Max Repair 100 MSP
Tractor Beam
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Kirk-128C Nuclear Pulse Engine (30) Power 3840.0 Fuel Use 4.05% Signature 128.0 Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 69.8 billion km (268 days at full power)
Navigation Sensor (1) GPS 1200 Range 19.7m km Resolution 120
Commercial Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 17.7m km
Commercial EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 17.7m km
Mankind’s second off-world colony was formed on May 29th 2043 with the delivery of 320,000 settlers to Io. The moon had six million tons of accessibility 0.7 Duranium, along with smaller but accessible deposits of Mercassium and Corundium. The colony cost was high at 6.30, but it could be brought down over time through terraforming.
June brought another major milestone in the great quest to save humanity. The survey ships Ferdinand Magellan and James Cook launched from the Matsushina Naval Shipyard in Earth orbit. The rapid build time of eight months was due to some components being pre-built by Martian construction factories and then transported to Earth. The first interstellar transit took place on July 2nd. Ferdinand Magellan was under the command of Commander Morgan Kerr, who was previously captain of the ill-fated gravitational survey craft Kepler before its destruction. His new command was sixteen times larger and far more capable.
Ferdinand Magellan transited jump point one and arrived six point five billion kilometres from Sirius, a dazzling white A1-V primary that was the brightest star in the sky when seen from Earth or Mars. Sirius had two planets, a superjovian with eighteen moons and a terrestrial world, plus a companion white dwarf star orbiting by its own superjovian with nineteen moons. Both superjovians had clusters of Trojan asteroids; eighty in total. The terrestrial world was mountainous, with large lakes covering sixteen percent of the surface and a nitrogen – oxygen atmosphere of 0.7 atm. The oxygen content was too high for humans at 38% and the temperature was 78C, but overall the planet was a very good terraforming prospect. Three of the moons orbiting Sirius-A I had Venusian atmospheres while two others were colony cost 2.00, although they lacked both water and atmosphere. Even so, the system presented better colonization options than the pre-transit expectations of the Alliance.
Nine days later, James Cook entered jump point three and discovered the system of Alpha Centauri, a binary with a yellow G2-V primary, similar to Sol, and an orange K1-V companion. The survey ship arrived at the edge of the system, five point eight billion kilometres from the primary and more than seven billion from the companion. In total, the two stars had twelve planets, sixty-four moons and forty-six Trojan asteroids. While there were no immediately habitable planets, two planets and one moon had nitrogen – oxygen atmospheres. Alpha Centauri-A III was a huge, super-terrestrial planet 30,000 kilometres in diameter with gravity of 1.45, temperature of -39C and an atmosphere of 2.09 atm, 36% of which was oxygen. Ice sheets covered 97% of the surface. Unfortunately, the sheer size of the planet meant terraforming would be almost six times slower than on Earth. Due to the density of the atmosphere, 0.18 atm of oxygen would have to be removed to make the atmosphere breathable. Combined with the size of the planet, that would be a task equal to creating Earth’s entire atmosphere.
Alpha Centauri-A IV was a slightly better option. A world larger than Earth at 15,800 km, it had a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere of 0.9 atm, with only 1% oxygen. The temperature of -71C would also need to be addressed. However, it had ice sheets covering thirty-eight percent of the surface and the population capacity was eighteen billion, making it a far better terraforming prospect than the third planet. The fifth moon of Alpha Centauri-B III presented another option. The moon was a similar size to Mars and had a nitrogen – oxygen atmosphere of 0.156 atm, including 0.04 atm of oxygen. Ice sheets covered half the surface and the temperature was -57C.
Ferdinand Magellan and James Cook headed in-system to begin geological surveys, while the jump tenders Kamikawa Maru and Kiyokawa Maru headed for the two jump points to maintain communications with the survey ships and provide jump support if colony ships or freighters were sent into the systems. By the end of 2043, the planets and moons of Sirius-A had all been surveyed and about half the bodies of Sirius-B. The terrestrial planet Sirius-A II had deposits of all eleven minerals, including ten million tons of accessibility 0.5 Duranium. All the others were minimal accessibility, with the exception of Corbomite, which was accessibility 0.5, and Neutronium, where the deposit was only 2000 tons. Three moons of Sirius-A I also had noteworthy deposits
Sirius-A II Survey Report
Duranium: 10,534,050 0.50
Neutronium: 2,025 0.60
Corbomite: 10,791,225 0.50
Tritanium: 6,350,400 0.10
Boronide: 4,473,225 0.20
Mercassium: 72,900 0.10
Vendarite: 11,696,400 0.10
Sorium: 164,025 0.10
Uridium: 10,208,025 0.10
Corundium: 10,497,600 0.10
Gallicite: 2,924,100 0.10
Sirius-A I – Moon 1 Survey Report (CC 3.71 – 2800 km, no water, no air)
Duranium: 352,800 0.90
Neutronium: 1,920,996 0.50
Uridium: 63,504 0.60
Sirius-A I – Moon 10 Survey Report (CC 4.98 – 3000 km, no water, no air)
Duranium: 3,976,200 0.70
Vendarite: 216,225 0.80
Sorium: 900 0.80
Uridium: 72,900 0.40
Gallicite: 216,225 0.90
Sirius-A I – Moon 5 Survey Report (Venusian atmosphere – ground survey potential: High)
Duranium: 38,896,200 0.10
Neutronium: 4,900 0.10
Corbomite: 18,835,600 0.10
Tritanium: 3,841,600 0.10
Boronide: 7,840,000 0.10
Mercassium: 35,402,500 0.10
Vendarite: 29,052,100 0.10
Corundium: 10,824,100 1.00
Gallicite: 4,900 0.90
In Alpha Centauri, the survey of the primary solar system was virtually complete by the end of 2043, although the bodies of the companion solar system remained unsurveyed. Alpha Centauri-A III, the super-terrestrial world, had a deposit of thirty-two million tons of accessibility 0.7 Duranium, but nothing else. Two of the moons of the fifth planet had multiple accessible deposits, with the fourth moon being perhaps the better short-term option as it would be easier to terraform. The sixth moon had almost eight million tons of accessibility 0.9 Duranium, plus large accessible deposits of Mercassium and Vendarite, but the atmosphere was fairly dense and mostly hydrogen making it hard to terraform. The most notable discovery was another destroyed alien outpost surrounding the same type of ancient construct found on Mercury. Once research time was available, the Colonial Alliance would need to develop the necessary technology to uncover the secrets of the outposts and the constructs.
Alpha Centauri-A V – Moon 4 Survey Report (CC 5.85 – 2000 km, no water, no air)
Duranium: 405,000 1.00
Boronide: 57,600 0.80
Uridium: 40,000 0.80
Corundium: 291,600 0.90
Alpha Centauri-A V – Moon 6 Survey Report (CC 6.76 – 9200 km, 46% crustal, Hydro-Helium 0.75 atm)
Duranium: 7,824,968 0.90
Neutronium: 15,288,100 0.10
Corbomite: 9,217,296 0.20
Mercassium: 2,742,336 1.00
Vendarite: 18,696,976 0.70
In December 2043, the first pair of Saturn class fuel harvester stations were completed in Earth orbit. Two Hercules class tugs towed them into orbit of their namesake planet. The Saturns represented the first step in ending the growing fuel supply problems of the Alliance.
Saturn class Fuel Harvester Station 88,683 tons 374 Crew 1,266.9 BP TCS 1,774 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 225 Sensors 5/5/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 8 Max Repair 30 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Fuel Harvester: 34 modules producing 1,632,000 litres per annum
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range N/A
Refuelling Capability: 50,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 40 hours
Commercial Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 17.7m km
Commercial EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 17.7m km
During 2042 and 2043 the population of Mars continued to grow, reaching six hundred million by December 2042 and seven hundred and seventeen million at the end of December 2043. Earth’s population was starting to fall slightly as the evacuation outpaced the growth rate, but remained close to four billion. The most promising news was the temperature. After the high of almost 34C in January 2041, the temperature had fallen all the way back to 16.3C. The reason was the vast quantities of Frigusium being pumped into the atmosphere by the ninety-seven terraforming installations on Earth. The atmospheric pressure of Frigusium was 0.11 atm, or about ten percent of the atmosphere.
The two civilian shipping companies, SpaceX and Boeing, continued to play a vital role, with a total of fifteen colony ships and sixteen freighters in operation. The government-owned fleet comprised thirty-four colony ships and forty-two freighters. Civilian mining companies continued to flourish with eleven civilian mining colonies setup on moons, asteroids and comets across the Sol system.
At the end of 2043, a new chapter in the history of the Colonial Alliance was beginning. Survey ships had begun the long task of exploring the galaxy and the first out-system colonies would soon be established. The success of the terraforming of Earth also promised a much longer period than initially expected would be available to evacuate the home world of humanity, although that presented its own problems given the population capacity of Mars. The unknown factor was the potential for alien contact. The outposts on Mercury and Alpha Centauri-A IV were solid evidence that alien life had visited both system, but whether alien civilizations still existed was a different question. The Colonial Alliance had no military assets and no research time had been devoted to weapon research. As the pressure to evacuate Earth was starting to decrease, the Alliance had to consider diverting precious resources toward building a navy.
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