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Chapter Text

So, there was this colony... But- not yet.

The proposal for an interstellar colony was built on a carefully curated set of photos, instrument reports, composed appeals to national pride and political dominance, and a pile of hope the size of the Hawaiian islands.

Political committees fussed, making shows to demonstrate how politicians could believe they knew more than the scientist and engineers who used up computer time by the mega-hour. The scientists and engineers were seeking a set of solutions to the problem of 'what to pack in the ships that would make the journey so the colonists would have the best chance of surviving until a resupply ship could be sent'.

The politicians wanted to impress their voters so they'd get re-employed. The scientists and engineers wanted to keep the colony alive.

The photographs and instrument reports seemed to show the planet could support human life; the atmosphere contained lots of oxygen - too much, in a geologic scale. Water seemed to be available on the surface; in multiple tetra-liter quantities; the level of contaminants was uncertain; but distillation and reverse osmosis could hide many sins.

The inert gasses in the planet's atmosphere were nitrogen and argon; the percentage of argon was very high - 10 percent. This was odd; argon is a heavy element, and usually isn't captured during planet formation. If it was there, now, something was happening to supply the argon - lots of decay-chain products around? The nitrogen was normal; it was a heavy gas and, given the g-forces, would stay around almost forever.

The presence of oxygen at 14 percent was troubling, and reassuring. Oxygen was heavy, like nitrogen, but it is reactive as hell. Any metals an the surface, or within a diffusion depth, would oxidize, taking it out of the atmosphere. This happens fast, in relation to the age of rocks. If free oxygen exists, something is emitting it in huge quantities - a very active chemical reaction that keeps on happening.

To earth-bound scientists, this means photosynthesis; the conversion of carbon dioxide (or maybe another di- or tri- oxide) into lots of free oxygen, a ton of free electrons that can transport energy, and light- or another radiation source to drive the reaction.

This means something like life; and lots of it.

The politicians went to work. Assembling the convoys that would be sent to start (or try to start) the colonies would be a global effort; the multiple ships would draw on every nation for parts and supplies. The crew and passengers would be from every region of the globe, officially all would be volunteers; for a value of volunteer appropriate to the political nature of each country.

A second probes' messages arrived during the decades of building the fleet; a second planet that seemed safe for a settlement. Two years of haggling, and the orders for parts and people were doubled. The different conditions of the new planet needed different equipment from the original colony; the engineers shrugged and new equipment was designed, tested, and approved.

'Why build one fleet when the second means more graft?'

The spacecraft were huge. Each armada was a mix of cargo, scientific, engineering, and population ships, for triple redundancy. Three for people, each twice the size of a vacation cruise liner, three for supplies, twice the size of cross Pacific cargo liners, three agricultural ships, full of hydroponics and recycling machines, three engineering and machining and science gear.

And three smaller ships full of weapons.

=======

The night before the official launch, the captains and commanders of the two fleets had a private dinner with the ten who had sold the world - and quietly funded the development - on the mission. Two Presidents, a Prime Minister, and seven of the wealthiest people of the world. Minor guests were several of the senior judges from the nations of the world.

As the meal ended, the American President rose.

"My friends, it's time to say the most important words. Once the flotilla break orbit, you are on your own. Earth, and the national leaders you leave behind, are meaningless. Whatever orders, secret or public, you've been given are without meaning or force.

You are on your own. As alone as Captain James Cook was when he headed from Portsmouth on his voyage to the Pacific, as independent as Champlain was from the King of France.

Whatever libraries of rules, directives, orders, or commands you've been given are void and null; you have only one permanent order: succeed or die.

Success is your only goal, a viable colony at your destination is all that can be hoped for. All the plans are advice, not handcuffs to bind you and your crew.

Survive, that's the only order that matters."

The President drew a breath.

"Other governments will have placed people in the crew and passengers in attempts to enforce the directives they desire, who will have orders to kill or destroy to those ends.

If you find them - kill them.

They aim failure over success, so those political beliefs will trump reality. Don't waste their bodies; the recycling machines won't care if mutineers gets processed in addition to the usual wastes. Survival is your aim.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony should be in your mind when it comes to political organization, not the beer-filled theories of a German sot in exile in London. Marx disregarded the fundamental fact of human life, people will look after their own interest before the common weal; so use that self interest to your advantage - whenever possible.

It may take a hundred years for us to find you and visit you - I hope we can - and will. There are too many short-sighted maniacs on this planet, filled with stupidity, cupidity, and greed - who have and will oppose second expeditions; I hope earth survives for there to be sufficient people for a second fleet; I'm too much a realist, looking at the opposition to these endeavors, to have excessive hopes.

Survive, that's your only order.

Nothing else should be your goal."

Everyone in the dining room glanced nervously around the room.

The countdown timer started.

Chapter Text

Everything was loaded; tools, supplies, people. The engines were loaded with reaction mass and fuel rods. The maneuvering tugs cast off; the great ships of the armada set for orbital departure. In twelve bridges, nervous eyes watched numbers that were decreasing; at zero the lives on everyone would change.

The Commodore and Captains waits for the last few seconds before announcing the traditional words: Engine Room: slow ahead - now, just as the timers went to zero.

The commands were unneeded, computer programs did as planned and the departure engines ignited to slowly, excruciatingly slowly, move the massive constructs out and away from the Earth. In a second, all lines with the past, with their old home, were behind - a new home -might- be ahead.

There was much to do, in the next year, before the big engines would fire, breaking the flotilla from Sol, many things to prepare.

The idea for the mission configuration came to a graduate student in aerospace studies in Riyad, Saud Arabia. He, and his fellow students, were celebrating Eid, the end of Ramadan, in the semi-traditional way, with a feast, supplemented with plenty of Kat (fresh from Yemen), alcohol (old, Johnny Walker Black Label), and Hashish (recent, from the fields of Afghanistan).

The combination, mixed with many, many hours studying the Tsiolkovsky Rocket equations, the volumes of specific impulse tables for every known rocket design, and faint memories of stories from the pens of Robert A. Heinlein and Doc E. E. Smith birthed an insane set of ideas. He, when he awoke from the hangover, needed a week to pull the distorted memories into comprehensible shape.

The problem facing the Engineers was 'How do we stock enough supplies for thirty or forty year trip?' and 'How do we protect the ship from all the cosmic crud that they'll hit when they're up at speed?'

Space isn't empty; interstellar space is full of stuff - of various levels of 'Full'. Dust, protons, electrons, the occasional neutron, other stuff. If you're traveling slow - well below .01C, you don't really notice them, but get some speed, and suddenly it's like driving thru a forest.

Usually, high-energy particles are speedy on their own, but at velocities above a tenth of the speed of light, YOU are the high energy particle, and the random stuff you hit acts accordingly.

A handwaveium force field (beloved by all writers of space opera) would stop all that crud magically; but they haven't been invented.

Shame.

Some fragments of the Grad Student's memories collided, and he was left with the image of a three legged stool seat down in a camel plop.

Three legs sticking upward.

Everything covered by a pile of plop.

Three ships pushed into an asteroid.

The torch engines available didn't have the power to push an asteroid to the needed speeds in a reasonable time, but -three- together would get close,

An armada's worth, using the asteroid for reaction mass - easy.

He worked hard for a week; calculating, estimating, reading nomographs, burning the computer time; finally coming to a 'reasonable' configuration.

Grab a 'small' asteroid; high in metals, but with some chondrites present; under two kilometers across and a klick and a half deep.

Just like a Camel plop.

The armada ships would nose up to the asteroid, pressing into docking cradles, and start the burn. Twelve torch engines, fed with powdered iron from the asteroid, and getting to speed wasn't a problem.

The thickness of the asteroid would stop the free-space trash from the armada. A kilometer and a half of nickle-iron would block anything small; anything big and the mission becomes a new cloud of glowing gas.

Special bonus - once the initial burn was done; the engines would be separated from the ships on long cables, to slowly cool and let the radioactives get safe - at a kilometer or two from the ships. After a few decades, when they were safe to approach, the could be moved (remember that in free space everything is moving at the same speed, so it's all motionless to everything else) to the front of the asteroid; put in cradles, and used to slow the whole thing down.

No need for a troublesome mid-flight flip.

The armada had the time to shift the engines to the front, in three decades. Once the engines were off, the colonists could mine the asteroids 'soft' bottom for iron and the like, to make stuff for the colony - sheets, struts, blocks - stuff simple and complex. They couldn't bring all the tools and machines the needed, but during the long, boring decades they would unpack the manufacturing centers, and start making all they'd want at their new home. Housing, machines, extra hydroponics beds, ground cars and construction equipment.

It would keep the colonists busy.

Mine the chondrite chunks for organics, non-metals, all the other elements needed. Start up the chem processioning plants, make the paints, oils, grease, plastics.

When the armada arrives, it'll have a nice collection of everything the boffins can conceive the new colony will need. All stored on the underside of the asteroid.

Don't take it with you, build it in flight.

It's not like the crew and passengers won't have other things to do instead.

The student took his plans to his advisor; hoping his plans would at least get a laugh from the man.

Two weeks later he was called in for a special conference.

In the room were every notable in Aerospace engineering he'd ever heard of. All staring at him.

Introductions were made, the door was locked.

His Advisor; "Tell these guests your idea, please."

Not fainting, he started. The whiteboard filled, diagrams and formulas written and erased, sweat building in his fashionable half-beard.

Questions asked, answers written. The nightmare extended.

At the end; all the notables sat in silence. The Student stood alone beside the whiteboard. A husk.

His advisor stood, putting his hand on the students' shoulder.

"Fine job, Professor Saleh"

And the project was on.

Chapter Text

The two armadas left earth about a month apart; time for the politicians to bathe in the planetary adoration. That orbital mechanics required the delay, that was a coincidence.

The mission had stages; leaving Earth orbit was part one. Part two was moving to the asteroid belt; with a minor gravity well assist around Mars.

Then, things got tricky.

The individual ships had to rendezvous with the protection asteroid and dock with it. This was tricky; made easier by the thrust available from the torch engines. Everyone had to arrive at the right time, in the right order, and let the space riggers clamp everything down.

The asteroids had been carefully chosen for size, dimensions, composition and placement. The asteroid belt isn't as filled as Holly- and Bolly- wood special effects departments had shown; the actual distance between asteroids is similar to the diameter of the earth. It had taken a long effort to find and examine asteroids that fit the mission parameters, visit them, take samples, and then start building the needed structures and equipment for the armada's ships.

Two candidate had been found, both close to workable orbital positions. The architects started work; the construction crews started digging.

Three things had to be built: cradles for the ships, mines to produce iron pellets for the torch engines, and storerooms in the bulk of the asteroid for long-use stores. Two counter-rotating centrifuges were build, mainly for operating theaters and hospital suits. Surgery and recovery went better in an acceleration field, even a weak one of a tenth of a G.

A small ice asteroid was found, it was sawn into parts and the fragments packed into caverns. Over the length of the flight, water would seep from the ships; the ice would provide replacement. The interior of the asteroid was well below freezing; and would remain that way forever.

Other caverns were cut, some for more supplies, most left empty to hold machinery built during the flight. A few caverns were sealed and pressurized, most were illuminated, airlocks installed at their entrances.

On the leading edge more docking cradles were built, small frameworks that would be expanded. Two observatories were created, for navigation needs, and general scientific use. At the edge of the rock several large dish antennas were hung; to allow some limited communication with earth - or to the Pluto deep space observatory, with it's five kilometer dishes. The data rate would drop, as the flight progressed, but a few bits a second could carry much news, with sufficient seconds.

The planners had burned thru mega-liters of coffee, tea, and alcohol while planning. In the countries that still allowed tobacco, profits in the national cigarette industries had been fractionally higher.

Onboard the passenger ships, most were filled with deep sleep cylinders. Not in hibernation, but in electronically induced sleep, with cardiac and EEG monitoring a constant thing. Sleepers came up after six months, for a month of activity. The crew also rotated, but in a two years up and one year down cycle. Pregnant women had a shorter cycle, and children only for a few weeks every year. This rotated the population of all the ships constantly - or would, once the trip really started.

Since the ships were still in the solar system, all the ships were being regularly resupplied. The cavern in the asteroid still had room, so crates and pallets arrived weekly; until the last stages of the countdown started. One of the last step was for provosts and marshals doing a sweep of all the spaces in the asteroid, and most of the ships, to remove all stowaways and unwanted persons. The discovery of a collection of comatose citizens of a dis-favored People's Republic, packing neatly in containers labeled 'Vacupacked meats, not for human consumption' adjacent to wrapped pallets of military supplies, also from that People's Republic, created a series of harsh pronouncements from the seven nations at the core of the mission, and every denial imaginable from the People Republic, and it's supporters.

The military supplies were accepted as donations, then moved to proper armories. The citizens, who all seemed to be members of an army detachment, were revived and all asked if they wanted to go home.

When they were told, very privately, that if they wanted to stay, or be sent to another country, they'd be listed as not being successfully revived, due to the crude method used to sedate them, many did. Only forty of the hundred officially returned to initial fanfare, and not much else. Urn of ashes were delivered to the People's Republic, representing the 'lost' other members; each engraved with the names of the 'courageous volunteers'. Silence was the reply.

All the ship were successfully docked to the asteroid; all the cables and pipes attached. All hatches sealed, and telemetry in the green. Again, the clock marched down to the final minute; the commands said, and the computers ignited the engines exactly on time.

This time, the departure was for good.

Chapter Text

The two flotilla departed the asteroid belt at close to the same time. Their second destination was Uranus, after the initial grav well maneuver at Mars, for a grav well burn that would give them the boost to leave the solar system. After Uranus, it would be mostly a clear path to the stars and planets that were their destinations.

The rendezvous with Uranus was several months away; there was plenty to do on the way.

The ships were built from the same general design; four toruses linked together via a common central shaft. Someone had commented early in design that the ships were four doughnuts all stuck on a stick; the description stuck.

The 'doughnuts' were stacks of disks, five or six together, covered with an impermeable fabric ballute. When the ballute was inflated, the construct did look like a cake doughnut.

Each ballute had a different color, for no other reason than a bit of artistic flair. In general, the colors were randomly selected, but it was common to identify a specific groups of disks by color and level number; 'Green 3' or 'Purple 5'.

At the end of each 'Stick' was the engine array, a main torch bell surrounded by a dozen or so chemical engines. The torch was a nuclear thruster, fed with iron pellets to produce a high thrust, high impulse drive to generate the thrust to move the linked complex up to a workable fraction of the speed of light.

The iron pellets were mined and made from the body of the asteroid, perhaps 10% would be consumed during the journey - sixteen torches, Twelve on the individual ships, four built into the asteroid.

The torches lit on belt departure, they'd not stop for four years, when the flotilla finally reached its proper velocity. They'd only go to full power during the gravity well boost at Uranus, then throttle back to 75% until they shut off.

Chapter Text

The two armada were in contact with each other, Earth, Mars, and Pluto. The Torch drives ate tons of iron pellets each second; driving the ungainly craft that was the combination of all the ships and the asteroid onward, slowly reaching to the needed velocity. Onward, onward, into the empty sky.

The routine of life for the crew and passengers became a rhythm; it had been a year since departure from Earth orbit. The second population change went smoothly; sleepers woke, the awake went to sleep. The hydroponics tanks had their first major crop rotations; tanks drained for cleaning and replanting. As the ships approached Uranus, the first 'In-Flight' children were born; conceived and gestated fully in flight; with no link to Earth. The news of the births spread across the solar system; first link stories on the individual planetary and station news webs. Their first cries were played everywhere, On Earth, On Mars, in the Asteroid stations, in the Jovian platforms, on Pluto. Best wished and hopes were sent to the parents then other news wiped the public's minds clean.

The two armadas separated onto their individual paths as they curved around Uranus, the fierce brightness of the torch engines hidden by the bulk of the planet's atmosphere. the planet did glow for a brief time, as the photons reflected through the atmosphere, brightening the pale dot in the sky, Terran telescopes watched as the dim sphere glowed, a brief jewel in the sky.

Now they were permanently gone from Sol, and Earth.

The Torch engines were at full thrust; two small dots of light in the sky to telescopes on the moon. The Radio Telescopes saw then better, streaks of iron gas, slowly cooling, spreading, dimming. Pale trails never to be followed.

Life continued on the vessels; children went to school; babies were made, People committed small - and large - crimes. The Captains of each ship acted as prime magistrates, a Council of Captains and Commodores was the final authority for any appeals. The economy of the Armadas settled down; adjustments to prices made to create a stable set of markets. Everyone was guaranteed food, water, shelter; but some products from the growing tanks were rarer then others; some sub-populations didn't care for certain plants - and meats - created; other sub-populations prized some products highly. The planners had foreseen the varying demands, and designed an exchange system to admit to differing tastes.

Life adapted; lives lived; Lives began, lives ended. The ships accelerated onward.

Internal to the ship's lives, the schools were the most critical part of existence. The command staffs would not last the length of the journey, the Captains and Commodore knew that they'd eventually retire, and new officers promoted. Just outside the orbit of Pluto the first promotion ceremony was held; the first class of Ensigns and Coronets graduated, to take their place in the hierarchy in the ships. This was a major event, socially; as Command Crew they shifted their allegiance from the individual ship they had been living in to the collection of ships as a whole - old allegiances cast away, new allegiance created. Similar ceremonies were held for the non-commissioned crew; Recruits entered, Sergeants promoted, new uniforms worn for the first time. A hidden skeleton maintained; important to the stability of life on the ships.

Life adapted; lives lived; Lives began, lives ended. The ships accelerated onward.

Almost decade in, a momentous event was felt across all the ships. Preparations began to be made for the shutdown of the torch engines. They had reached the velocity they needed; now it was time to coast, with only a faint push from a few of the torches to maintain direction and a faint push to simulate gravity. The entire mass of ships and Asteroid wouldn't flip - that was too difficult, instead the Torch Engines would be shifted to the 'bow' of the asteroid, to eventually begin to blast and slow the ships and place them into orbit around the planets of their destinations. But first, the engines must be allowed to cool - thermally and radioactively - before they could be shifted.

To do this, each torch module was undocked from the ship it was attached to; and slowly extended on cables behind the ships and asteroid; a few kilometers of separation; still tied to the ships, but separated to allow both the heat - and the radiation - to diminish.

Now life changed. Instead of the nine meters per second of acceleration all had felt, now that dropped to a few single meters per second. Every thing seemed 'lighter', tho just as massive; but water sloshed differently, children could leap higher, apples thrown farther. In school, every child had measured the acceleration before the cutoff, and now after - they were the first generation to really understand Newton's laws completely - away from the constant acceleration in a planet's gravity well, which always 'pulled' everything on a vector pointing to the center of planetary mass.

For the first few months, the main result was an increase in head and neck injuries from people bumping into overhead bulkheads. Scaldings from inattentive cooks increased as well.

Life adapted; lives lived, Lives began, lives ended. Life went on.

Chapter Text

Who wants to read about all the things that happened during the middle of the flight.

Babies were born, fights broke out, the Proctors used their batons on drunken passengers. People got married, divorced, adopted kids, disowned relatives.

Wills were probated, - just another reason for relatives to stop talking to each other.... Hmmm...

Is this a way to stop incestuous inbreeding? Someone should do a research paper on that... Oh, never mind.

Boring, boring boring.......

There was a celebration when the Armada reached the official middle point in the passage. that was fun for a few days.

The kids enjoyed it most - days off from school! YEA!

So let's skip all the boring stuff and go to the arrival in the destination solar system.

Chapter Text

The final burn has ended. The armada was in a stable orbit around the only planet in the habitable zone; but it wasn't much of a planet.

At the poles, inside multiple craters, were large ice deposits. The crater walks were so high they blocked most of the sunlight, so the ice didn't melt, but it did sublimate. A constant half ring of heavy frost crept around the outer rims of the craters, always hiding from the sun. Those frost rings meant the colony had water that was available, just scrape it up, truck it to pipeline, and let it flow.

But where to live? It seemed everywhere was dust or sand, blowing in the wind - and that wind sometimes exceeded 200 kilometers an hour.

It would eat thru sheet steel in days; at best, months. Not good.

The planetographers kept photographing and radar scanning everything. Signs of old volcanic activity rise above the sand, and some asteroid impacts, a mix of old and new.

The radar scans probed deep, half a kilometer down. Old canyons and mesas existed in the sand hills, some not to deeply. Occasionally, such features were exposed after a strong global wind event, only to be buried a few years later. Several mega-volcanoes were charted and deep-radar images created, other, smaller volcanoes were noted and given lesser scans.

The chief Planetographer brought the initial findings to the landing committee. "First, settlements directly on the planets surface are not a possibility, The solar flux, high winds, high silica content of the winds all say no. Deep radar tells us the sand deposits are between half and a full kilometer deep across the planet. Burying settlements into the sand and soil would not be possible, either, as the sand 'circulates' constantly as the winds redistribute it. There are horizontal and vertical flows moving constantly, churning the sand and soil.

There are large open playas on the planet, most are downwind of the larger mountains; being protected from the blowing sand. That there are mountain chains existing indicated that the planet is still geologically active; the exchange of material down towards the core, and then the return as mountains, along with the strong magnetic field, shows the core is still in motion and molten. The strength of the magnetic field protects the surface from most of the emissions from the local star. This makes the possibility of some form of life, perhaps at the level of plants and microorganisms, much more likely.

Some of the playas indicate erosion from liquid streams; indicating that water, perhaps, existed in liquid form on the surface; From this, we may presume that there are local deposits of water ice hidden in caves or depressions protected from the solar flux.

There are several options for places to establish settlements. They are:

A real option is to create settlements inside the craters at and inside the arctic and antarctic circles. The major storms don't extend into the arctic and antarctic latitudes, providing a measure of protection for them. This would place the settlements adjacent to the water deposits, and the crater walls will leave the settlements protected from the solar flux. Construction of surface facilities should be possible, and the sand movements can be contained to prevent burial.

Another option are the magma tubes that extend from the seven major volcanoes. Five of those volcanoes are dormant; based on the condition of the volcano flanks and sand deposits adjacent - if there were recent eruptions; the magma flows and soil displacements would be obvious.

Several tube complexes are exposed to the atmosphere, and should be reasonably clear; they are at varying latitudes. The winds are fairly constant in direction and magnitude, downwind of the peaks are areas mostly clear of sand and deposits, making them reasonable candidates for landing facilities. It's possible the ice deposits exist with the tube complexes.

It is the general consensus in the Planetography department that the magma tunnels should be among the first areas that drone surveys map."

The committee considered the reports from all the departments. A final decision was made - drone surveys of the volcanic magma tubes first, then the arctic region craters. they were taking their time, if it took a year (old earth year) to make a decision, they could afford the wait.

They needed to find a place that was stable, protected, adjacent to a place a landing field could be built; water needed to be available or storable. With the severity of the storms, a surface settlement was impossible; the magma tubes were a reasonable possibility. The calderas of the volcanoes were protected from the worst sandstorms; drilling passages from the tubes to the calderas would be simple; or it would be a matter of drilling down to the tubes.

Drones away!

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Drones returned!

A special set of chambers had been dug into the asteroid shield during the trip; a special laboratory just for analyzing the samples that would come from the destination's surface. It was not attached to any of the other excavations dug into the asteroid; one had to suit up for a vacuum excursion and walk one hundred meters to get to the entrance. Power came from cables buried in the regolith, water was brought by tractor in thousand liter casks. Used water was allowed to vacuum distill at the site, then back in the same casks. The lab was as isolated as could be made, and then a set of thermal bombs were a last-ditch solution to contamination breaches.

Paranoia isn't enough when the survival of the colony effort is at stake.

The first samples, soil, sand, rock, air, came directly to the lab; every test the scientists and technicians knew were applied. Only the lunar surface samples from the Apollo missions were studied as deeply.

Life went on as the analysis continued; the routine of the armada remained. The largest change was that the factories began to make vehicles suited for the sort of conditions on the planets' surface; and more hydroponic shelters and tanks were stacked for - hopefully - quick use.

Some people went to sleep, some awoke, children kept playing, and arguing about having to go to school.

And everyone waited for the report from the lab.

Chapter Text

The Landing committee made it's recommendation.

The Command Crew examined the reports.

Everyone (metaphorically) held their breath. (Very Metaphorically, as the atmosphere processing people certified.)

"The Landing committee has recommended that there be an on-site inspection of two magma tubes adjacent to Mons Rama. These two magma tubes seem to be oped to the surface, are close to an open Playa, named 'Playa Astronomica', that seems safe for landing and liftoff. The atmosphere seems quiet that the moment, with no major weather fronts to cause storms or sandstorms.

The mission is expected to take 73 hours in total. Samples will be acquired of the soil, rocks, and atmosphere.

Details on the composition of the survey crew will be announced."

=====================

The problem was too many choices. The Command Staff knew they'd have an excess of volunteers, but the chance of the first team not returning was far too high. The team members had to contain a mix of science personnel, geophysicists, Atmospheric chemists, Cartographers, and more, plus several explorers, able to move and survey the site .

The problem was who to send, so that the selected would not harm the capabilities of the Armada,

One junior member of the planning staff suggested sending the most disliked scientists - if they didn't return, they wouldn't be missed; if they survived their attitude might change for the better.

Privately, this proposal was admired.

Publicly, the junior was disciplined.

Ultimately, the final team was selected with a wink and a nod to that proposal. The Explorer team was taken from the Asteroid mining cadre; as they had the experience of working in pressure suits while operating mining equipment.

The Science cadre was a mix of mid-career scientists; skilled in their field, but not at the top - or bottom - of their field. Each field was filled from a slate of candidate made by the professional organization for the subject; Ten men or women selected by vote.

From those lists the crew was selected. The Command Staff trimmed the expedition to five, not including the shuttle crew. The military command used their prerogative, and added five to the list, for 'Protective Measures'.

The shuttle was modified to separate the crew area from the payload bay; except via a single hatch fastened from the crew side.

Finally, the hour came; the first exploratory mission to reach the surface of their new home - hopefully their new home - left the asteroids launch sled.

The most tense thirty hours of the Armada began.

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At 25 hours mission time; the landing craft signaled it's safe arrival; the surface of the Playa was hard sandstone. The after-landing checks took an hour, sensor scans showed the area mostly bare of debris and sand; per mission rules, the equipment bay was detached to sit on the ground. A fleet of remote rovers was released; to inspect a large zone around the lander.

All clear; the landing site was clear of any detectable hazard.

The atmosphere was rated as safe to breath, with a particulate filter mask and UV protective goggles. However, the first team would leave the lander in full vacuum suits.

At 870 Hours mission time, the first woman to step foot on a completely alien world made her mark.

Chapter Text

So historic. So important. Such a blunder.

Dr. Eugenia Valois Dumarest stepped off the leg of the lander, and promptly twisted her ankle and rolled to the ground.

Caught is full color, live, with perfect audio.

It was the most historic expletive ever recorded.

She caught her breath, used the leg of the lander to stand, and peered down into the soil she'd disturbed.

"Medium clay content, from the way the impact was impressed into the soil. This is good, the surface shouldn't become airborne in strong winds."

It was a good try at recovering her composure. It didn't work.

The rest of the survey team exited without any mishaps. The Meteorologist and the Atmospheric chemists immediately unloaded the portable weather station; dragging it away from the lander to a safe distance; being helped by one of the Explorer crew. The Geologist and the Soil chemists detached the sampler sled while the other Explorers released one of the ground scooters and prepared it for use.

To the limit of the human eye, there was nothing but flat, boring hardpan. Kilometers of caliche and sandpan.

The Lander had left skid marks half a kilometer long, making furrows in the soil. They weren't very deep; they lessened in depth as the velocity of the lander reduced. At this final location, the Lander was on the surface; skids resting easily on the surface.

It must have been noisy as the lander skidded to a halt; multiple sonic booms in the not-very-dense air. If any small creatures were close by, they had probably skedaddled far away.

Which was part of the idea.

Several places on the planet had been scouted by a variety of remote machines; they had reported and retrieved hundreds of samples, but people on the ground could report more, in multiple fields, than any robot.

The survey team discovered something the remotes had missed - the surface gravity was fractionally greater than Earth, 10.1 m/s^2 not the familiar 9.8m/s^2 of Terra.

Officially, that difference was the excuse for Dr. Dumarest's accident; the team members had a different explanation.

The teams worked fast, the mission was time limited to four hours; too much to do, too few minutes.

The meteorological station was bolted to the ground, a seismograph station as well. Sample panels secured to the larger rock slabs. Multiple samples of everything were gathered, three drones took thousands of seconds of videos and still photographs. The scooter team circled the landing site, making larger and larger circles, collecting soil samples at regular intervals. The entrances to two lava tubes were visited; photos taken.

The tubes were seen to be partially filled with sand and detritus, but the drifts didn't fill the tube completely, it would be possible to explore the interiors without the effort of excavating entrances.

With minutes to spare, all the tasks were finished, everyone clambered into the lander, the hatches closed. Mankind's first (for this expedition) was finished.

Pre-lauch checks finished, the lander fired its engines and everyone tensed, on the ground, and in mission control, until the lander finished its ground run and it lifted into the sky.

Another step for the survival of the Colony completed.

Chapter Text

In the coming months, more surface landings took place. Sample from all parts of the planet were collected, examined, and fitted into the skeleton of a complete understanding of the ecology of the world. The biggest leap came when a pseudo-fungus was found, in a boulder-filled canyon, that inhaled carbon dioxide and exhaled oxygen. It was the complement of the simple plants they'd found - the organism to complete the cycle from O2 to CO2 to O2.

The fungus - in it's multitude of variations - was present under almost every ledge; in every crevasse, in every lava tube. If the area was shielded from direct sunlight, it existed.

The 'plants' were spread in the same way - but partially buried in the sand and soil. There was a high concentration of quartz - and other optically transmitting minerals - in the soil; so diffuse light was available for a meter of more below the immediate surface of the ground. As the surveys continued, samples of leafy plants were found in the higher latitudes; branches and stalks sicking into the air to gather as much light as possible, but the main body of the plants were protected by the topsoil. This also protected the water present - in buried aquifers under hard crusts of salt-encrusted hardpan.

The armada now knew how the oxygen in the atmosphere was kept stable; where the water was - and that, if a sheltered place could be found, a colony site could be maintained.

The enormous storms, with scouring winds that drove huge dunes across the land, had to be avoided. As they watched the planet for two years, they saw the dunes shift, marching across the open playas, burying and revealing the underlying terrain. Between twenty degrees north latitude, and twenty degrees south, the dunes were unstoppable.

Above those latitudes, the dunes were restricted to small portions of the terrain. Huge mesas and mountain chains blocked the movement of sand; and, during the years of observations, a new volcano erupted, releasing lava flows that trapped kilometers of sand under the layers or molten rock.

During this effort to survey the planet the system as a whole was also examined. The asteroid belts were visited, as were the outer gas giant planets and their moons. To the joy of the armada, two major metal asteroids were discovered; and a large carbonaceous one; all in orbits that could be shifted, carefully and slowly, to become new moons.

The manufacturing plants began to make housing and storage units, in all the type needed to support a pilot populations. The architects and engineers began to plan the special equipment and structures for the specific conditions on the surface; Discussions and arguments swirled everywhere as the hypothetical first settlement site was debated. In a lava tube? In a dome, on the surface? In a megabuilding in a protected canyon - where?

A day of celebration started when the first (semi) permanent location was announced. It was a permanent research station - not a temporary camp - but a permanent set of buildings that people would live in - sleep in - cook in - work in. It was sited in a small canyon, at 45 degrees north, and it's latitude was officially set as zero degrees. The canyon walls would protect the location for the worst of the winds. The atmosphere inside would be filtered (and supplemented) planetary air.

The microbiologists had examined the airborne particulates, finding a mix of iron oxide, calcium carbonate dust, and a mix of pseudo-pollen and spores from the extant molds and fungus. A special check was made of the range of growing conditions for the spores and an pollen; the spores would not activate unless the local conditions had an alkaline range of 12.4 or higher, the pollen did not activate a histamine reaction in terran animals. Simple filters, comprised of multiple layer of fine cloth, would protect humans for several hours, especially if a source of water to balance the humidity was available.

It would be best if protective masks would filter the native air, and add oxygen and humidity, but humans would not need extreme protection on the surface.

The first settlement was quickly built; a partial dome between the sides of a narrow canyon, and a landing/launch field on the adjacent mesa. On the mesa top, several deep trenches were cut, to hold the buildings and hangers for the trans-atmosperic shuttles. A fuel concentration and manufacturing facility was built a kilometer away; to draw oxygen, carbon dioxide, and ammonia from the air, to be processed into fuel for the shuttles. A small fission plant was built in an adjacent canyon, and power lines were laid to the settlement and the spaceport.

It was during construction that the capability of humans to live and flourish on the surface was proven. several accidents exposed the construction crews to the raw atmosphere; they survived and were able to return to work with short stays in the infirmary. The pollen/spores in the atmosphere did not cause any problems.

Clarke Base was formally established on June 20th, adjusted year 2351, by Armada Captain Denis Hu, by his formal act of activating the lights in the settlement's dome.

Chapter Text

With Clarke Base in operation, real data was being collected on how people could live and work on planet. The simple breath masks were quickly found to be workable - barely - but the low Oxygen partial pressure was a serious limit on performance. Several engineers worked up small filtered compressors that could boost the O2 level to better levels. With those, construction projects on the surface became feasible.

It was also found that a workforce was needed to sweep the outside of all structures to stop dust buildup. Fine particulates would stick the the plastic surfaces, due to the intrinsic electric charge in the plastic. Coating the plastic with a thin metal layer didn't help, unless the metal layer was firmly grounded to the deep soil; a dielectric effect caused more fine soil to cover the surfaces. After a windstorm, a large static charge would build up, causing sparking that could puncture the thin membranes of some structures.

A daily sweeping of the buildings with a grounded brush ended this problem - but it was an additional limit on the number of people who could work on the surface.

Problems, problems, problems.

Faced with real problems, not hypothetical ones, the engineers, not the scientists, created solutions. As a small example, Terran rules for sanitary plumbing didn't work in the slightly higher planetary gravity. 1.1G caused sanitary drains to flow at a higher rate; so solid wastes didn't empty from smaller pipes properly. The slope or drain pipes had to be lessened to allow waste water to sweep solids into the main drain completely. The scientists hadn't forseen this - but when toilets and sinks backed up, the engineers found the cure - reduce the slope of drain pipes just slightly, so things moved freely.

It's the little things that are underneath the big problems.

While Clarke Base was expanding, survey crews continued to explore the planet. There was immediate interest in the volcanic tubes close to the surface; four were found close to Clarke base; one was found to have a broken side, that was filled with sand and rocks. An immediate effort started to clear the breach; seismic test were made to test the strength of the the walls of the tube, and it's length and depth.

Survey results showed the tube was over fifteen kilometers in length, with an mild slope upward to the nearby extinct volcano (Named Mount Hermes) for eight kilometers. The wall thickness increased from one and a half meter near the breach to four meters at the eight kilometer mark. The interior of the tube was regular, and mostly smooth, Close to the breach, the sand and debris filled the tube for a half kilometer, then the tube was mostly empty.

The walls, though thick, were not impermeable. Cracks and small breaches allowed a steady exchange with the planetary atmosphere. A quick solution was to inflate and fasten a plastic tube to the walls to form a habitable space. A quick order was send to the manufacturing plants on the ship to make a sample tube, and fastening straps to support the tube, to relieve the need to the tube to be self supporting from pasteurization.

Other survey crews found ample deposits of iron ore, lithium salts, pure sulfur and several deposits of sulfate ores; many more of types needed to supply manufacturing plants.

The chemists and botanists delved deep into the chemistry and biology of the plants, molds, and fungi that covered the planet. It was soon discovered that the stems and leaves of the plants were made of a compound similar to earthly lignin - so the refining the plant mass into usable materials, like paper, or celluloid.

Further survey efforts revealed that the root system of the shrubbery extended down below three meters, to a layer of water and mineral rich subsoil. The plants drew the water and minerals they needed from the layer, taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The intervening layers were a hard, crusted sand layer, sufficiently to seal the water rich layer from the dry air above. The plants had a wax-like coating to prevent excessive water loss by respiration. This was similar to water hoarding methods of Terran cactus and other desert/arid plants. This indicated that it might be possible to plant such arid adapted Terran plants on this new planet. A research program was immediately started, drawing seeds from the archives on the ships. Several greenhouses were constructed to begin tests on these plants.

A research effort began to test various methods of using the magma tubes as work and living spaces, the initial idea of sealing the tubes by using plastic balloons was soon shown to be awkward - an alternative of slightly over-inflating the balloons, so they sealed cracks and faults, was quickly changed by coating the skin of the balloons with an adhesive, then overpressurising the skins to allow the adhesive to bind the film to the walls. Larger gaps were covered with heavier patches; within a week a half-kilometer section could be made safe for human use.

A framework of metal tube scaffolding was a simple and quick method of creating multiple floors of working and living space; creating a framework for mounding machines and equipment in a manner similar to many places on the ships themselves. Barracks and cafeterias were soon added for the use of the ground staff. The first tunnel was a kilometer from Clarke Base, a paved and covered roadway was constructed to allow easy movement between the two.

There was a tube adjacent to the first; it was decided that this tube would be dedicated to hazardous operations; power plants and many recycling processes would be reserved for this tube. Roller mills, furnaces, and chemical manufacturing would be reserved to this tube, each in isolated chambers. Thick walls were built from locally mined rock; using available sandstone and basalt to provide thick and dense isolation, for safety's sake.

When the first magma tube was formally commissioned, it was named Weinbaum Station.

Chapter Text

Let's scroll back time to a few months after the two Armadas broke final orbit.

First, various politicians were very mad that the American President had told the command crews to kill anyone who tried to commandeer the fleets. This disturbed the careful plans to firmly export certain political regimes cultured back home. Many hours of news and opinion broadcasts were sold as politicians complained at the temerity of the President to ruin their plans, and insult their politics.

The American President ignored all the complaints, and, in general, the news cycle spun to celebrate/denigrate a new singer/performer.

So it goes.

The scientific world ignored the political fuss; they were planning a secondary armada to the follow the first two. The industrial community decided this was a great idea - prestige, honor, rake offs, overbilling, promotions; all looked wonderful.

It took ten years, but the industrial/scientific complex advanced the notion of sending a second mission, with all sorts of new things, after the first Armadas. This second mission wouldn't be a large; just three ships under a smaller asteroid shield. The crew would be only about sixty; enough for six teams of ten, rotated thru frozen sleep, to operate the ships. The contents would be lots of biological samples: seeds, root stocks, embryos, ova and sperm. Documents on creating newer equipment; with samples of machine tools and newly developed plastics and alloys were included with this second mission.

All things that should be very useful to the (hopefully) established colonies.

The ships being sent were newly designed, with more powerful torch thrusters, better life support, and more scientific equipment to survey everything during the long flight.

This second (or forth, or eighth...) matter was of great interest to the astrophysicists and high-energy particle physics community.

As the first Armadas departed the solar system, they left a trail of iron gas in their wake; ejected at great velocity, and notable electric charge, behind. The Astrophysicists observed this wake, and got very curious at the behavior of the iron plumes in the Oort cloud.

They expected the cloud to expand at a comfortably simple fashion, easily predicted by any conscious grad student, but at a few places the cloud was - altered.

At these spots, the plume wasn't expanding, it was twisting - decreasing in volume. At other spots, it was expanding, but not in line with the known ship's trajectory.

If the iron vapor wasn't being sucked in, it was being blown to the side.

When these reports were published, the next year's scientific conferences became - entertaining. Much alcohol, THC, Amphetamines, and opioids were consumed.

Even more computer time.

The scientific community wanted to send one - or two, maybe, ships out into the Oort cloud to examine these anomalies close up.

The Aerospace companies said "Why build two, when we could build six?"

So the second missions were planned. And funded. And staffed. And sent on their merry way.

Chapter Text

The engineers and construction crews slowly filled the lava tunnels. Cleaning, sealing, structural framework, sheeting, installation, utilities, outfitting. The tempo of finishing new demimeters of usable tunnel space increased into fractions of kilometers, then into haves, then the third kilometer was finished; a mixture of housing, hydroponics, and workrooms. The diameter of the framework grew as the width and height of the lava tubes increased, from a few tens of meters into thirty, forty, fifty meters across.

The size allowed a few large rooms to be created; places for people to gather, 'large enough to allow a person to really stretch their arms' as an early colonist recorded. A final design for a breathing and surface operations suit was approved; a backpack with an Oxygen concentrator, filters, humidifiers and fans; a high-strength poly-carbonate helmet, with clear face plate and a set of shading and darkening filters. A set of overalls made from high-density spunbound polyethylene fibers provided protection from the high UV levels, and the abrasive sand blowing in the constant breeze.

Wearing one of these suits allowed anyone to work outside, in most weather conditions. The suits would not provide durable protection from a full-bore sandstorm; that needed 3mm aluminum plate; but they'd give time to find good shelter. With these, the serious work of building monorail tracks between the landing field, Clarke Base, and Weinbaum Station. A second power plant was delivered from orbit and installed in the companion lava tube to Weinbaum Station (unofficially called HG Wells station) to power the extra loads the increased habitation brought.

Work on the new habitations went well; All the schedules were met; then the big banana on the sidewalk that everyone had been ignoring was stepped on.

Water.

The new colony needed it's own source of water, it wasn't possible to shuttle the massive quantities of water down from the Armada; mainly because the Armada didn't have the water to spare.

Any effort to find a water asteroid and divert it onto orbit, then mine it for the Colony was dismissed. Aero- (Or Litho-) braking such a mass was impossible; unless the landing zone was more than an eighth of the planet away.

Not useful.

Survey teams had been sent to the polar regions to find hidden ice; global scans had indicated that there was a decent amount of H2O _somewhere_, but where?

When the Colonists arrived, they expected the walls of the craters to be filled with caves and caverns; filled with frost and ice. This is what was found on the Moon and Mars; water hidden away from the sun; with a small cycle of water evaporating then condensing as a month passed.

What the explorers found was different; the ice was mixed with the soil and sand; then covered by meters of sand. Very little solar heat penetrated, so the water never melted; there was a small amount of sublimation and frost within the covering soil.

Without the presence of pure ice; mining ice and moving the frozen water to the colony site was unfeasible. The frozen mix had to be melted, then refrozen for transport.

Building a rail line, either as a monorail or a two-track tramway, wasn't simple; the distance between the nearest polar craters and the colony site was on the order of two hundred kilometers. It would take a year to engineer and construct the line; and it would be susceptible to blockage by the constant windstorms.

Clearly, the polar ice would be useful in the future, but it wasn't available now.

Global survey satellites reported that the area close to Clarke Station was 'Wet', for an optimistic level of 'Wet', but direct surface examination didn't revel any large ice formations. Seismic teams did show large masses of soil with distinct properties compared to the surrounding soils - a drilling team was sent to sample one of the larger anomalies.

The result of the cores showed that the anomalies were water saturated sand and fine gravel. With that knowledge, there were more than fifteen gigaliters of water inside the three largest nearest water-soaked deposits. Hydrology showed that these deposits supplied the humidity that the local plants and fungi depended on. The local subsurface water deposits were filled; abet slowly; by these large, deep reservoirs.

Several large drilling and water extraction units were formed and equipped to tap two of the more distant reservoirs; the closest were left undisturbed to protect the local flora populations. The higher humidity was helpful to the colony; water harvester equipment was put in place to collect condensate every 'morning'.

The local condensate began to fill the first reservoirs for the two bases; it wasn't much; but every liter collected was a liter that wasn't delivered from orbit. Inside the base structures, Environmental services extracted water as part of keeping the atmosphere balanced; humans exhale a notable quantity of water as homeostasis is maintained; this excess water was recovered and added to the poll that would be purified and supplied to the inhabitants.

Within two months of the start of drilling, quantities of usable water was being extracted and sent to the colony sites via 100 cm pipelines. With the initial water demands of the colony satisfied, a larger population could be transferred to the surface.

Those first water-tapping stations still exist; but they are not used by Beta Colony. the water needs of the Colony are met by recycling, supplemented by harvests from the polar ice deposits; brought by the monorail line on a regular basis. Reaction mass water needed by the shuttleports are supplied by water - mainly ice - harvested from asteroids and delivered to the four orbital stations by mining crews.

The infrastructure for the Colony was in place; now it could be populated.

Chapter Text

While all the construction and surveys continued, the Planetary survey committee took up the most important question: What would be the best site for the permanent colony site? During the trip, possibilities were argued; more as a learning exercise than any real purpose. Without firm knowledge of the conditions on the planet, no firm decision was possible.

Now that the expedition was in orbit, the hypothetical became real. As the survey results came in the committee began its hard work.

One of the first decisions was that a surface colony, even in domes or other structures, would be unsustainable. The surface weather conditions - the high winds, all the sand carried in the storms - all meant that any surface structures would have to be specially constructed to survive for usable periods. A sub-committee commissioned several design teams to develop the layout of the shuttleports and needed surface buildings; balancing longevity and cost. The main terminal would be large; and multiple hangers and warehouses would be part of the layout; the design of the buildings was second. Another sub-committee started work on what sort of long distance transport would be effective; while some roads would be needed, it was recognized that the drifting sand would be a challenge.

A third sub-committee debated locations - for the shuttleport; colony placement, transport routes.

So much effort.

The various committees released a final report; in summary it said that of the five possibilities is studied, two stood out.

The possibilities:

Orbital habitats

Buried surface structures

Covered Canyon (Similar to Wienbaum Station, but on a larger scale)

Lava tube

Cave\Cavern expansion.

Orbital habitats were considered useful; from the amount of surface to orbit traffic that would happen for the foreseeable future, establishing several orbital platforms would be immensely valuable. However, people do best on a planetary surface; they were considered a valuable asset but not a long-term solution.

The costs of excavation and covering a buried complex was deemed to extreme. Expanding such a colony would be infeasible; the number of usable square meters created would be to small.

Covering a large canyon, and building inside the canyon, and into the sides of the mesas, was popular, but not economically viable. As a third or forth option, this would be an acceptable prospect.

Continuing to use lava tubes, especially if several were in close proximity so that tunnels to link them was possible, was considered very favorably. Clarke station was about to be made habitable, with the first log-term residents ready to take residence. There were several tubes close by, and with the engineering solutions available housing for several thousand could be established quickly.

Taking over a cavern complex (Lava Tube deluxe, one wag called it) was selected as the best long-term solution, ahead of Lava Tube habitation.

Survey efforts had pointed to several sites that could contain caverns, but the condition of these possible cavern sites was unknown.

Clarke Station was considered a test case; to develop the utilities and infrastructure the final colony would depend on. Weinbaum station was a similar test; to define problems and test solutions. When the colony site was selected, and development began. as many problems would have to be known, and solved, to allow the colony to be efficiently built.

The placement committee quickly decided that a surface colony would be unworkable. Surface conditions, from the climate to the solar flux, would make large domes or buildings inefficient and difficult to maintain. the second possibility, filling in a canyon, so the walls of the canyon would supply most of the form to the colonies structure, was set as a third, or forth possibility. Wienbaum station took a considerable amount of labor and supplies to be maintained; the storms and winds constantly damaged the dome structures requiring constant maintenance. that the covering structure was limited gave real numbers on what it took to build on the surface.

Clarke base, in the magma tube, pointed to the best solution. Let the local landscape resist the winds and storm; so the colony would be safe.

Building in magma tubes had a problem; there were to few suitable tubes on the planet surface to create a viable colony. A multitude of mall bases was obviously no solution; each being an island unto itself; always limited in resources and capabilities. The Arcologies on Earth had shown that to be successful, one had to build big - or have a nearby large city for supplies and resources, - for the Arcology to be successful.

With the Clarke complex under continuous construction, the exploration teams started searching the near area for sites that could contain caves or caverns. While the planet was mainly arid, geologic evidence showed that within the last two million years the planet had been 'wet', with oceans, rivers, rain, and a varied plant population. Large formations of chalk, limestone, marble and sandstone were identified by orbital radar scans; ancient waterways were mapped; large mud and salt flats supported the conclusion that free water had been present in massive quantities in the past.

The lava tube that Clarke station was being built inside came from a volcano cone cluster named "Shiva Seven'. It was one in a series that follows a crust fracture that was anchored at the largest mountain on the planet. Shiva One covered close to an eighth of the planets surface; from it's shape and location, the geologists and volcanologists decided that it was formed by a combination of events - a super-volcano that had become semi-dormant, and an asteroid strike that had fractured the tectonic plate, restarting the volcano.

The 'accidental' nature of the formation of the Clarke Station complex indicated that the chances of finding another tube complex would be limited; Geology indicated that the majority of lava tubes would be deeply buried, or in other ways inaccessible, or unusable.

The search for cavern complexes was set as the main goal of the geosurvey effort, a single cave complex would be a necessity, two or more, for future expansion, would be ideal.

Chapter Text

When the colony scheme was first begun, a multitude of committees started to plan all parts of the colonization effort. This would be - had to be - a fully engineered effort; once the Armada left earth it wasn't possible to send needed supplies, or change the structure, of the Armada.

One large and squalling committee considered the social organization of the colony; both during the trip, and then when the colony began on the planet's surface. There were actual fights between opposing groups of political economists; as haughty academics were told to shut up, or they'd be laid on the floor. Differing sociologist camps brawled in informal meeting; cooler heads forced comity on the most passionate.

In the physical engineering world; such athletic arguments rarely occurred. if a test sample failed; the shards spoke to the error.

The arguments eventually distilled into three propositions:

A: Total Government control and management of the economy.

The presumption is that specific committees and bureaucracies can and will allocate the scarce resources in the most effective and equal way; What is needed will be created and supplied based on overarching goals and as the result of expert study.

In short: Socialism in any of several varieties.

B: A mixed economy. where a central organization sees that all the base economic needs are filled, but a guaranteed surplus will be made available to allow entrepreneurship to fill individual wants and needs.

Not total Laissez-faire capitalism, but a managed economy to keep the population fed and supplied, but allowing private shops to operate.

C: A central government that keeps the lights on, air pure, and food and physical needs met, but allowing - encouraging - private production of almost everything.

The economy would be kept private, with only common needs under the control of a central government; which would operate the life support, hydroponic systems, and hibernation sections. The central government would be a mix of specialists and experts who would operate the machinery, and a central distribution/warehouse organization to supply the small shop owners and middlemen.

Ideal democracy mixed with open commerce.

An entire class of political economists objected to this proposed structure; insisting that this would be an ideal situation to create a more giving, cooperating, altruistic man. the need for extreme social cooperation during the long flight, living tightly packed for the long years of the trip - Man would learn to think of the colony first, themselves second.

The eventual colony would exemplify the highest level of social perfection; proving the theories long proposed, but never tried - or so was claimed.

The reply was "Oh, Really? This has been tried about a hundred times, and those schemes never work. Let's ask the people in the Soviet Gulags; The Nazi concentration camps; the re-education camps of China, Venezuela, Cambodia, South Africa...

It won't work.

...and you know it."

While these academic arguments had been in process, a dozen camps had been formed to start training candidates for placement on the ships. Life was regimented; to create and maintain order; obedience would be an absolute necessity when in transit - all the rules and regulations to maintain the finely balanced ecology of the ships. If someone couldn't follow the camp rules; best to remove them now, early, to avoid the damage they'd do during preparations.

As the economists and behaviorists predicted, an informal economy formed in the camps - people with a practical mind created ways of making services and goods the other camp members wanted. From 'home cooked meals' to decorated clothes; even intricate haircuts, to maintain individual flair, barter turned into currency; the population shifted and formed into small societies.

Anyone who had studied prison populations would have predicted this reaction to confinement; people want to live with people who share a common background of life.

Unlike a prison (or the Military) the sub-societies did not conflict; everyone knew that they were there voluntarily; not crammed together without choice. Cooperation was expected by all; toleration was a virtue; and those who didn't fit - could leave.

Some were ejected if twenty reported to the managers that a person, or a family, were hostile or didn't live peacefully. An investigation was made, and, when judged proper, the uncooperative were removed.

There were many ready to replace the ones who left.

The management of the camps adjusted to the self-arranged rules and markets the prospected colonists created. The private kitchens were recognized and regularized; the crafters supplied with materials. Slowly, the camps turned into towns and cities; collections of villages operating together in peace.

This took twenty years. As the ships of the Armada were built and the machinery installed, classes were started to train the engineers and technicians who would operate everything to allow the colonists to survive during the long years of the trip.

As the cold sleep hibernation machines were activated; a lottery was established, and the colony population began to adjust to the population rotation that would happen as people went into hibernation, and other came back to life. the camps were sorted into five groups; One for the current 'living' population, two for those preparing to enter hibernation or just coming out, two representing those in transit sleep.

The groups assigned as in transit sleepers were divided into two parts; with an eye for the eventual population that would be sent to the actual colony. Here in the camps, the rules and practices in support for the slow population rotation were created; the social dynamics experts knew that removing people , or inserting people, would cause social friction; someone who was accustom to eating at a private restaurant had to adapt to that closing; or changing owners; and as people would come out of hibernation they'd have to fit themselves back into the commerce and flow of daily life.

It was seen as best if all these new social dynamics were established early, not in mid-flight.

The first real test of all these experiments began when the first hundred transferred up to the armada. Expert plans failed; rules were bent - or ignored - to settle the first traches of colonists into the habitable portions of the ships.

It was a major disaster.

This was expected.

The easiest group to move were the early volunteers for hibernation; their cold forms were taken up and placed in their cold homes with little incident.

The living did not transfer as easily.

After much reorganization, the first population moved to the armada. After three months, the second groups moved up; then the final group.

The population reshuffled itself; the rota for sleepers and the awake began to operate; the ecology of the armada began to work; living in the confines of the ships began to be routine.

The shakedown could begin. The armada was ready to start it's long voyage.

Chapter Text

After Beta Colony was found by the new jumpships, a search was started for Alpha Colony. While the location of the star system that Alpha Colony was known, the sequence of Jumps was unknown. The nexus wasn't a simple mesh of 'Oh, this wormhole takes us there' according to some simple plan, but it took great work to find the links between systems. That Earth had only two or three portals made the exploration harder - everyone considered themselves lucky that the passage to Beta Colony was only four jumps - and the map of those jumps was in no way orderly.

It took a decade of exploration to find a jump sequence to Alpha Colony; a path that seemed to bounce (in real space terms) across the sky. The explorer ship 'TSS E. E. Smith' made the first jump into the system; taking a week to firmly determine their new location.

In the survey of the system, they noted no radio signals to indicate a successful colony; no clear sign that this was the expected site of the long-lost colony.

Nothing.

They slowly circled into the inner system; taking measurements and observations - looking for the verdant, living planet the Colony had been expected to make their newe home.

Nothing.

They finally heard a signal - a faint, repeating message: "Warning: Do not board these ships. Biohazard danger in all vessels. it killed us, we killed it. Heed this warning."

The planet the signal came from was dead - lifeless - the atmosphere filled with dense, clouds of silica dust; the oceans boiled; the ecology - gone. A massive crater was a glaring eye of destruction; multiple volcanoes erupting across the planet.

If anything had grown on the surface, it was long incinerated.

The survey ship finally located the colony armada ship - battered, pitted, two of the colony vessels breached in dozens of places - and four of the torch engines that should have been present were missing. One of the population vessels was intact - Section 'C - Charlie'; it seemed to have some level of power.

Using remotes, all the sections - population, manufacturing, agricultural, engineering, command - were scanned. One docking port was found to be usable; in the C-Charlie section; a remote was sent in, to reconnoiter the section.

Inside, the remote found the atmosphere was at very low, but livable levels, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Carbon Dioxide were at acceptable levels, but the pressure was low. Power was present; and lighting and internal machinery were operating. Samples were taken, and returned for analysis.

No unusual microorganisms were found in the samples, or harmful gasses, so a search team was sent for a hands-on search of the operating section.

The team entered, staying in their protective suits. They made their way to the command deck; encountering several desiccated corpses along the way. The corpses didn't seem to have died from trauma; several were found in crew spaces, laying on their bunks in formal positions - hands crossed on their chests, a few had flowers or religious objects on or close to them.

When the team entered the command deck; they found more corpses, arranged in a circle, arms linked together. Several empty bottles of alcoholic beverages were in the circle, suggesting the deceased had been drinking just before they died.

At the main command desk, a corpse was seated in the central chair; its right hand pointing at the playback control for the flight deck recorder.

The team chose not to start the playback, instead making a copy of the last recordings for later analysis.

The team was disinfected with a brief exposure to chlorine gas in the airlock. The protective suits were left in the airlock, which was taken to zero pressure once the team left the airlock.

The recording was played to the command crew of the E. E. Smith.

"Final log for the Alpha Colony expedition. Lieutenant Hardy Alan Rosa; commanding.

The expedition is dead. We weren't careful; we got cocky.

The full details are in the archives; all the names and facts and errors, in painful detail.

The planet killed us, so we've killed it.

If anyone ever reads this, say a prayer for us; settle our souls to rest. I hope the Beta Colony effort succeeded.

Log entry ends. Lieutenant Rosa ends."

What can one say after a message like that?

The complete ships log was copied and an intense study was started. Soon, a broad plan of how the colony failed - or didn't start - was created.

The transit to this system from Earth went without major incident. No remarkable damage happened during the trip, no mutinies, riots, work actions, or accidents. The entire population celebrated for a week once planetary orbit was made; everyone looked hungrily at the green, lush, inviting world below.

Probes were sent down, atmospheric samplers at first, to verify composition, and gather biosphere sample in the spores and dust in the high reaches.

The samples showed the biosphere was carbon based, very similar to Earth system, but with a slightly different mix of enzymes and nucleotides. Instead of the Terrestial combination of cytosine [C], guanine [G], adenine [A] or thymine [T], this ecology used cytosine [C], Hydramine [H}, adenine [A] or Quadrimine [Q]; the two new nucleotides were completely foreign, but combined with the familiar nucleotides to form analogs to rNA and dNA.

Humans could not use the local plant life as food; but it was expected that it would be possible to grow, with little effort, Terran crops in the local soils.

The different sets of nucleotides was expected to limit the possibility that the local ecology would be a threat to the colonists; local bacteria and fungi would not culture and grow, it was expected, on human tissue. The human antibody systems would easily identify and deactivate any infection organisms; rendering the planet safe - theoretically - for humans.

With help from the chemists, fertilizers and bio-preparation materials would change the bioregime of the colony site to one safe for humans. It was seen as possible that Terran bio-organisms might be able to overwhelm the local biology to create a self-supporting cycle of self-creating Terrafied soil.

That was the hope.

Surface landers began to bring samples of the soil, plants, fungi, and all other sample that were available. The atmosphere test showed that the chemical mix was safe for humans, in the short term; long term could not be guaranteed without actual exposure. Soil samples included samples of the animal life; analogs to earthworms and insects were studied, giving the biochemists their first real example of the bio-reactive chemicals that supports life on this planet.

All these experiments took place in a special lab, buried in the crust of the shield asteroid; isolated from the habitats by hard vacuum and meters of rock and steel. Most of the experiments were done remotely; so no seal breaches could threaten the scientists. The research effort took a year; over a metric ton of samples were gathered from sites scattered in every latitude and longitude.

Everything was going well, the surface was compatible with human life; the water was generally safe to drink; Terran plants would grow and reproduce in the soil.

A sample colony was landed on a small, isolated island. the vegetation on the island was burned off using a shuttles exhaust. A selection of common food crops were planted.

Everything was going well.

Until a survey crew was sloppy with its decontamination. A small patch of lichen was missed during the cleanup, it was brought into ship #2. Spores spread; new colonies started in the waste disposal containers.

In two months ship #2 was fully contaminated, and ship #3 was partially contaminated. When the unusual patch of lichen was noticed, an immediate biohazard lockdown was called. All three ships were isolated from each other; and emergency teams started sterilizing everything, with flame, caustics, radiation.

Ship #2 was lost; when the lichen reached a critical level it sporified; the air in the ship filled with lichen spores, which found a very hospitable home in the human body. the death rate was 89%.

Ship #3 managed to cleanse most of the lichen patches , keeping the lichen from sporifying. Eventually, the bulk of the woke population was shifted into a refuge area, and the remainder of the ship was vented to space, hopefully killing the lichen and dehydrating the remaining spores.

The population of the two remaining ships were balanced, but there wasn't sufficient food production for the new population. It was decided to strip part of one of the manufacturing ships, to add new hydroponic systems; after a year of limited rations the additional food production began.

The problem the remained was: what can they do?

Returning to Earth wasn't possible.

Sterilizing a portion of the surface, perhaps a large island, left the colony in danger from the airborne spores and seeds, The water could be purified before use, Domes could be built, but mining ores and refining them would be almost impossible in a sealed environment.

Mining the asteroid belt, or one of the nearby moons, to build a orbital arcology could be done, however the loss of ship #2 represented a huge loss of skilled labor and technology. The aim of the colony project was to establish colonies that could grow and flourish, not duplicate the orbital cities back in Terran orbit.

One thing that was decided was to detach Ship 2 and let it deorbit and die in a fireball; as a tribute to those who died inside it, and as a safety precaution. It was barely possible to rescue most of the cryosleep bodies; using a mix of sterilizing gasses followed by atmospheric purging. The seals on most of the cryochambers had resisted the infestation; those that had been breached were left behind, after the inhabitants were terminated.

They tried to build an arcology station in orbit.

They failed.

They didn't have the resources to build a new station. The industrial base and the inventory of supplies was not enough.

Slowly, the population died. People didn't want to have children when there wasn't a future for them.

Machines failed. Plants died. The atmosphere grew toxic.

They tried, oh how they tried.

But they failed.

Once the population dropped below one thousand, the only future was empty. A grand council was held, all could speak. The economics of the situation was described, how it wasn't possible, even with a constant effort to grow the population by forced reproduction - there wasn't sufficient supplies to go on.

The disheartening decision to allow voluntary suicide was a hard agreement for all; until a engineer asked "Can't we do something to this poisonous planet as revenge?".

This raised the remaining populations' interest. If they were going to die, so would this planet. The dying would see the planet dead.

A new vigor filled the remaining people; plans were proposed; until a proposal won the day. Thrusters from the remaining ships and installation would be shifted to a asteroid - thirty or fifty kilometers in size. It would be placed in an orbit looping around the sun for a velocity boost, then, at as great a speed as could be created, it would slam into the planet, in imitation of the Chicxulub collision, but larger, to burn everything.

This gave the colonists something to work towards; a goal - if revenge could be a goal - for all.

It took five years to finish the task, five years before everyone watched as the Hammer from Hate - as they called it - started onto its new orbit.

Almost exactly a year later the hammer struck; on the side opposite from the Armada. All watched as a ring of fire raced from the impact to engulf everything. The seas boiled, the soil burned, the sky filled with smoke.

The colonists had their revenge.

Their purpose was done.

So they began to sleep and rose no more.

A dead hope circling a dead world. The killer, killed.

Chapter Text

Slowly, and carefully, the new city was completed. Spraying the inside of the lava tubes with sealant, after patching the largest cracks and fissures, was finished within six months. Next was building the infrastructure. The tubes were large enough to encompass three levels of rectangular tubes, in a two - three - two arrangement; each tube being pressure sealed and independently pressure-safe. In the spaces surrounding the tubes the utilities were run, so that the interior space of the tubes (actually squares and rectangles, to fill the space efficiently) was not cluttered by power cables, water and sewage lines, and communication cables.

The three lava tubed touched in three places; creating large 'arenas', these were built to become large public spaces. One was close to the surface; a hole was cut to reach the surface, and a transparent dome was installed to bring outside light into the colony tubes. The center of the space, underneath he dome, was reserved for a public garden and farm with walkways and small glades for the public to be surrounded by all types of greenery. Visitors could gather small parcels of produce, based on seasonable availability.

As the Colony expanded, it was decided by popular vote that the outermost two hundred meters of each tube would be built as community gardens; in the area where it was easy to build a clear covers - effectively greenhouses - to allow the creation of public allotments for those who wanted to grow plants at their own leisure. The colony environmental department would provide soil, water and illumination; the colonist could select from a approved list of plants that were suitable for the growing conditions. the Greenhouse sections were airlocked to the main sections of the colony, to allow a carefully curated election of pollinator insects to be bred to support the lifecycle of the plants and vegetables.

The second common area was built to be a large open-air shopping area; called different things - the Mall, the Zocallo, the Agora, the Souk, the Bazaar; each depending on the cultural background of the speaker. Everyone knew what it was; once it was opened the rush to rent spaces was immense. Small shops with all manner of item to sell and personal services (within reasonable limits) filled the space, catering to the wants and desires of the residents. There were several stages for performers, a semi-public security force was established, based on subscriptions by the stall owners, to patrol and deter petty thieves and criminal. Those who were detained were put in the custody of the colony proctors, to be charged and tried by the colony magistrates.

The third common space was the lowest. It's bottom was excavated to form a cistern, with smaller pools available to the public. During the official summer it offered swimming and diving to all; in the winter it was frozen to become a huge ice skating arena. The total surface area allowed multiple activities to happen simultaneously; ice hockey, competition racing, pleasure skating, and such. The water and ice helped keep the humidity of the caverns even during the year, while acting as am emergency reservoir if needed.

The first major movement of colonists to the surface was one thousand people; a mix of individuals and families. The construction teams, which had grown to fifteen hundred, helped them get established and formed the core of the new colony. The first thousand were a mix of civil employees, who would be operating the public infrastructure, and independent entrepreneurs, who promptly set up small shops in the designated commercial spaces. Many had operated shops and stalls on the ships; the earliest shops were a mix of restaurants, cosmetology shops, and child care centers. While the civic cafeterias were open to all; a home-cooked meal was instantly popular to everyone. Grooming and adornment services were greatly desired; hair braiding, personal decorations, painting of pressure suits and helmets. Private vanity created a major industry.

Where there are children, there will be a be a need for babysitters and supervised play spaces. In most cases, all parents and adults in a family would be working, so the childcare industry had a large customer base. Private schooling, to meet the cultural preferences of the different communities present, had a great demand.

Many small shops opened to cater to the demand from the older children, where they could gather and play different games with and among friends. While the communication consoles in every family area could play any of a multitude of games and simulations, the younger population had a preference to join together as they played.

The main limit on the transfer of colonists from the ships of the armada was the expansion of the environmental services capabilities of the base. Air maintenance. Water supply and treatment. Structural installation, food production all united to limit the numbers that could be moved from the armada. On the armada, the effort to revive those in cryosleep was the largest limiter; informing the newly recovered that the long journey was over, and soon they could start living on a planets surface was more then some could tolerate.

Population balances were maintained; services kept operational; and machines built on the long flight were transferred to the surface to continue the effort of building the new habitats.

The first large private industry that opened was a commercial bakery, vertically integrated to accept grain from the hydroponic tanks and produce a dozen types of bread and pastry. While bread was made in the community cafeterias, loved and sticks of bread - the mixture of cultural styles that had been requested - had not been produced in any quantity.

The commercial bakery made a dozen individual types of bread, for french baguettes to naan bread rounds. A limited number of cake bodies were produced, ready to be frosted and decorated in the home. Fresh fruit had been turned into jams and jellies by small shopkeepers; fruit filled buns and pastries filled the market.

The opening of this bakery was accepted as the definitive sign the the colony was successful, and was here to stay.

Chapter Text

With the opening of the first commercial enterprise in the tunnel system, the Oversight committee that had been in charge during the voyage concluded it's operation. Most of the population had moved from the Armada to the surface; only a caretaker crew remained in orbit. The Armada structure remained to act as a permanent orbital station; it's automated factories still produced many needed items. None of the mining sites were in operation; the Refineries and foundries were under construction. the shielding asteroid had been chosen for it's high metal content; much of the structural metals needed were being supplied from the body of the asteroid. Large chunks of metal were carved out of the body of the asteroid; and ballistically de-orbited to the surface.

The landing sites were chosen to be safely distant from the colony site, but withing easy reach. the craters formed by the impacts form the first national park reservation on the planet. Two large impact masses still remain for examination by visitors, along with examples of the machines and vehicles used to remove ingots and ore bodies that were transported to the refineries located close to the Colony.

This method of resource harvesting was developed by Terra in the late 21st Century, when a small metallic asteroid was shifted into orbit and slowly disassembled to replace all the open-pit mines on the planet. the composition of the asteroid included almost all the industrially needed metals needed by Terran industry; causing all but a few mines to close. Most of the refining was done in orbital factories, reducing the pollution emitted by surface smelters and refineries; allowing the atmosphere to clear itself to a purity not known since pre-industrial times. The foundries for casting metal assemblies did not produce as much gaseous pollution; they were not as harmful as the old blast furnaces and smelters had been.

The same was planned for Beta Colony; a survey of the system's asteroid belts; and the smaller moons of the other planets, had started on arrival; and one of the first orbital facilities built was a mining and refining complex that was attached to a minor asteroid; to produce purified ingots of all types of metals, and some non-metal elements, that were transferred to the factories in the Armada asteroid. When that supply was fully established - mostly by remotely operated equipment, only a small crew was in place - the extraction from the Armada Asteroid was ended.

The Colony was beginning to develop it's own social structures; heavily influenced by the society that had formed during the long passage to the new system; but alterations began to develop. As the population was all present at all times (some cryosleep facilities remained, but for emergency medical use) difference between the social and ethnic differences began to re-establish themselves.

The initial plan had been to mix the population in a random fashion; to weaken the terran-based ethnic societies. there were to be no 'Chinatowns', 'Little Italies' , 'Highland Villages'; the colony was to be one population; origins forgotten and unimportant. Only a few languages were to be commonly adopted; with the development of a synthetic creole tongue in use after a few years.

This is what the sociologists and Political theorists intended.

Instead, people swapped housing assignments to create the ethnic neighborhoods that reflected the origins of the colonists. Shops and small businesses clustered together; regional specialties flourished in defined hallways and atriums; but no area was purely composed of one terran-sourced population. Inside the 'Italian' neighborhood, there were knots of oriental vendors; inside the middle-eastern souks were shops selling Samoan arts and crafts. The residence hallways were not the exclusive dominion of a sole group; Argentinians and Russians co-mingled front doors. [1]

Over the centuries, the initial social stratification has been eroded; Beta Colony now sees itself as 'one' people; respecting the very varied sources of the population, very few consider themselves 'English', Hindu', Polynesian', or 'Arab'; tho family names marking old origins persist. Fusions between cuisines are common; Italian-Nepali, Rwandan-German grills; Glaswegian-Omani Teashops all are examples of the mixes commonly found today (There is a current fad to reproduce the pure recipes that were present when the colony left Terra; beginning with an approximation of 'Tex-Mex' cuisine in it's original form.)

As the Colony began to operate, one rule that was adopted was that those who were artistically inclined would be exempt from some of the maintenance duties that the entire population was responsible for. Cleaning of public spaces; small repairs, sanitation inspections; certain types of teaching, other small, but critical for the survival of the Colony would not be required of those who wanted to dedicate themselves to the arts. Painters, Muralists, Sculptors, Poets, Lyricists; all these produced artworks available to all. Artists could dedicate themselves without being distracted by having to lead language classes, sweep hallways, repair walls; or attend to the upkeep of the Colony infrastructure.

As long as they produced a fixed number of pieces, or performances, each quarter, they could be fed and housed, have workshops and draw materials, from the public warehouses.

[Sidebar]
During the initial years of the transit, certain ethic and social subgroups caused trouble footed on commandments found in their religious or political texts. These sub-groups believed that the ancient commandments to expand and dominate the world were still active; they began planning revolts and massacres to 'purify' the Armada by converting or killing everyone not a member of their religion.

When these plans were uncovered; the leaders of the sub-groups were isolated via forced cryo-sleep; the people they'd been leading accepted that such revolts would be disastrous for their groups as a whole; they were outnumbered ten-to-one; airlocks were always available.

The remaining leaders accepted that the scriptures that encouraged said conquests were not valid on the new conditions of the Armada; and they would be dis-favored as new members were educated.

The original leaders, when they were removed from cryo-sleep, found they had no supporters in the new populations, they resigned themselves to a quiet retirement.

The other social clusters accepted that they _had_ to cooperate and tolerate the other societies that lived among, they must mingle, mix, and support all others to survive to their destination.

This method of enforcing social comity has been called the 'Peace Shirt' technique, the result of this, and other simple but non violent firms of social management have resulted in the politically peaceful shape of Betan society.
[End sidebar]

As the Colony population grew, and the need for public art for open spaces grew, many competitions, some formal, some informal, started. An artist or team of artists could use their participation in the planned production to avoid the growing need for maintenance of public areas - sweeping corridors and plazas, keeping walls and ceilings washed and unmarked, removing trash - the list was endless. Informal social pressure, not over pressure kept these tasks done, but being a member in a public arts exhibit was accepted as a replacement for the public cleaning duties.

As the population grew, and the Artist population, a larger and larger portion that claimed 'Public Artists' status as an excuse to avoid those duties grew.

This was a problem. Unless all the population acted to maintain the colony, it would fail; the ecologists had the numbers to show it. There were too few people to fill the needed maintenance positions - that was a job for everyone.

When problems arise, solutions will be found - harsh solutions.

Chapter Text

As the initial planning for the expedition started, the political scientists and sociologists expected - and tried to plan for - conflicts and social friction between the different ethnic, social, and religious populations. During the run-up to departure, as the populations gathered and were tested prior to boarding, there was a effort to trigger all the conflicts that might develop, so the most combative people and group could be replaced. The differing population might, if they were introspective, note that those who were very antagonistic to other groups were being weeded away; to create a population for the colony that would be as compatible as possible. This first effort of creating a level of cohesion was rough and ready; the trip itself would reveal the deeply-embedded conflicts that would be eliminated.

The main source of trouble was seen to be from tribal conflicts; 'tribal' being code for religious or social in nature. The conflicts that would come, as expected, between populations that retained a clan or tribal structure for social organization; especially from populations from the least developed (read least westernized) subcultures.

Conflicts were expected between the Muslim and Hindu populations, given the constant conflicts still occuring; the least probable conflicts between the USA and Northern European colonists.

The probably existence of 'sleeper' activists, from the most militarized cultures, was considered to be of a different caliber; if a sponsoring country attempted to insert a military threat in the non-sleeping population, who might assemble and attempts a coup against the Armada's leadership, was seen as a public safety matter; controllable by reviving such in small batches, followed by intensive investigations.

What the political scientists and sociologist aimed for was the eventual development of a colony spirit; where all accepted the need to deep social cooperation and unity. If that colony spirit was developed during the stresses of the transit, then it could grow and bloom once the real colony was established at journey's end.

There was some historic evidence for this creation of a colonial spirit being formed under common adversity; that the European colonists changed over two centuries into a distinct 'American' identity during the lead in to the American Revolution; the unification of the Indian sub-continent during the British Raj; were old geographic and cultural boundaries ended to form a distinctive Indian/Pakistani identity (that was focuses around the impression of one language - British English - and the leveling aspects of the British Military system working , across Caste and religious boundaries); the unification of mainland China from a series of regional princedoms into one unified Han culture' a similar mixing and melding into a common colonial identity was hoped for.

To this end, several social rules were established: Education was made available to all; based on strict rules of attendance and performance. Societies that were known for their less-rigorous educational standards were forced to encourage academic performance; social excuses of 'We don't think the way those XXX/YYY/ZZZ people do, so we can't learn the way they do' were not tolerated; Age groups were set performance standards, including mandatory school sessions, to prove it the children that they could - and would- match the performance of other groups.

Cultural rules, such as caste rules, that discouraged parts of a community from showing academic ability, were ruthlessly eliminated. The rule 'It's a persons' ability that matters, not their parents status' was drilled into all populations; with specific examples, both positive and negative being constantly cited. Official pressure was applied to overcome and social or cultural pressure to not perform.

This was a cause of conflict with the educational authorities - and the expedition staff - for the first decade; until the first tranche of in-flight candidates for important ship-board positions were announced, there was a set of minor conflicts as groups that had attempted to clam a lack of privilege being behind or underneath their traditional under-performance; hard questions were asked of cultural leaders when those long-held attitudes were seen, finally, to be excuses, and justification for victim hood; reasons for self-pity.

Many previously popular and respected leaders were replaced in the next half-decade. Their refusal to admit to their prejudices, demanded that they cease to lead their communities. New leaders, who advocated for the improvement of their constituencies, replaced the original leaders; soon, the educational and vocational levels began to even across all the colony populations.

By the time the Armada arrived in orbit at the destination, all the social and cultural groups had ended ancient conflicts and intolerances. The different groups retained their social customs; maintaining a mix of behaviors to maintain many different social variations; but friction between the groups had ended - those who had encouraged fighting, and had spent decades in frozen slumber, found they had no support when they returned to their families.

As the tunnels filled, and neighborhoods formed, Beta Colony developed.

Chapter Text

With the first major settlement well established, the Colony leadership decided it was time to use what they'd learned and build a second colony structure.

Easy to say, but leading up to the decision was a massive effort to develop a consensus in the colony. there was much to do in the initial colony site, more tunnels needed to be built, outfitted, and integrated with the existing colony tunnels. Most of the population was established downside, and the new population was to young to move to a new location to start a new facility.

What the colony leadership realized was that the colony, as it was, was still in a delicate, fragile state. A single accident could mean the destruction of the colony, cancelling all the effort and resources that had been expended. There were not sufficient colonists in the orbital cryotubes to restore the colony in the case of a catastrophe - the colony might fail if as few as 10% of the population dies. It was theorized that the total colony population needed to be over 100,000, adults and children, to have sufficient resilience to make the colony fully self-sufficient.

Total population was at 75,000; approaching the needed level, with only a few years of regular growth to take the colony over the preferred safe limit - but most of that number would be youth and adolescents; not trained adults.

Additionally, It would take a minimum of five years to find, construct, and prepare a new colony site to shift the increased population to it. It would be a race to complete a new location against population pressure, so the earlier the new site was started, the more time would be available to shift a fraction of the now mature population to a location that would be ready for the increased population.

Always a race, a red queen's race, to keep the colony healthy.

The survey teams had located a collection of possible tunnel sites within a hundred kilometers of the initial site; that being close enough to be easily supportable, yet sufficiently far to provide protection from such natural disaster as earthquakes (Betaquakes. some wits named them). A carefully orchestrated set of elections and surveys, along with numerous public debates and conferences, formed a consensus that , yes, it was time to begin constructing a second colony location.

One of the most contentious matters was - 'What to call the new site?' - followed by - 'What do we call this first location?'. It took half a planetary year to decide on names for the sites - the first was dubbed 'Silica'; the new second location was to be named 'Quartz' (There was a large quartz lode along the roof of the main tunnel; providing constant illumination of what would become the main garden complex of the new site.)

The two initial locations, Clarke Base and Weinbaum Station, kept their names.

Soon, a road was being cut across the plains to the new location, to allow the creation of a landing base; (which was named 'Verne Station'). Once that was cut into the soil, a series of orbital drops began delivering construction requirement from the still in operation orbital facility; there were plenty of construction machines and base structure still in stock from the hundreds made during transit. A new power plant was landed, along with atmospheric and hydroponic facilities - everything carefully planned with knowledge of all the mistakes that had been made during the construction of Silica Base.

At Silica Base (soon, Silica City), the population began to plan on who would move first to Quartz - no one was packing, but decisions were being planned for the eventual opening of the new site for habitation. Any family that wanted to volunteer to make the move was granted extra supplies, and encouraged to increase the facilities of any family business they had - with an eye to easing the establishment of those business when it came time to move to the new city. As before, the sociologists, political theorists, ecologists, and environmental engineers closely conferred to plan the eventual shifting of population; to create a viable colony site as fast as was manageable.

It was during this time that a problem could not be ignored. While a percentage of the population was mainly exempt from such social support duties and keeping public areas clean, doing maintenance of public areas, patrolling to prevent minor crime and offenses, a growing number of colonists claimed to be 'public artists', who substituted their artistic efforts fro those public duties.

As discussions of who - and when - the new population should be formed, there was a growing upset that there were too many 'no-contribution' members of the population. Proposals that one metric for selecting transferrees should include what sort of public service the person or family provided was commonly made (the social scientists kept quiet about what their actual methodology was) made clear that the people who did not participate in providing public support were noticed and disliked.

Slowly, a minor public revolt formed; those who performed any public art performances began to be identified and isolated, they were delicately, but firmly, ostracized. Some of the ostracized announced revolt-as-performance-art; others tried to hide.

this came to a head in CY 32, when a flash mob of musicians were finishing a performance of Handel's 'Messiah'; as the observing public applauded, a group of non-performing 'artists' tried to accept credit for arranging the performance. the actual arrangers protested, leading to several of the non-performers being tossed down from an upper level into the fountain below as protests against the fakers.

Soon, similar events such as that began to happen throughout the colony. IF someone was not available (often multiple persons) to swear to the suspected slacker's artistic efforts, a similar public punishment would quickly take place.

Quickly, those who did not offer actual artistic contributions in lieu of public service were identified - the colonies' small population meant that 'everybody knows everybody' meant that those who didn't contribute were swiftly identified - with vigorous chastisement.

This has been named the 'Night of Flying slackers', from the number of people who were tossed into the public fountains, pools, and ponds by outraged citizens.

Soon afterwards, those who hadn't been contributing to the needed social support were seen to be 'volunteered' and proctored into doing their fair (some said more than fair) share of public service work.

The Sociologists silently smiled.

Chapter Text

The Colony was astonished when a message arrived announcing the arrival of a new Armada from Earth. Before the first Armada had left there had been proposals to send a series of other ship convoys to supplement the first Armada - (assuming that something would be found to accept the supplies brought) - but those were very sketchy and abstract, conjectures, not decided plans.

But, here was a new arrival. It didn't hold many new colonists, being filled with equipment and raw materials. The most valuable component was a large number of animal fetuses, all frozen, along with a large inventory of frozen eggs and sperm. The second Armada carried only a few thousand humans, not counting the operational staff, all in cryosleep.

In the decades since the departure of the first Armada, the art and science of cryosleep/storage had increased dramatically; and the second Armada reflected the improved methods. The operational staff had rotated in and out of sleep, three years up, three years under, to reduce the total size of the active crew. The Hydroponics capacity had also improved, with more automation, to reduce the storage requirements of rations that had to be stocked.

The new Armada changed the plans of the colony. If a new Armada would be arriving every few decades or so, filled with improved technology and additional supplies, bringing new colonists, then the political and economic balance of the Colony would be altered constantly.

The initial population had created a common social spirit during the long decades of flight, an amalgam of all the societies that had been initially selected, seasoned by the hardships and hard lessons of cooperation and toleration endured by all during the mission. The new colonists would be ignorant of the rules and habits in place; educating and training them to fit into the Colony would be very disruptive. They would have to be introduced to the Colony with care; in small batches, so they adapted to the social customs and rules at work.

One suggestion was that new arrivals should be used to populate a new colony habitat; mixed in with the selected fraction of the existing population that was preparing to shift when the facility was ready. This was a popular opinion, until the population selection board pointed out that this would result in a major difference between the two habitats, from the uneven mix that would result.

The initial plan had been that Quartz base would be mainly populated by those who had been born and raised during the journey, filled with those who had no direct knowledge of Earth. Silica Base would be based on those who could remember Earth, either from early memories, or second or third hand from parents or grandparent.

Any new Armada arrivals would be used to fortify any new Tunnel/Colony locations that had been constructed.

Whichever it would be, Quartz Base would have to be operational before it could accept any Colonists.

The initial surveys made before Silica Base was established showed two other places geologically suitable for an underground Colony. Similar to Silica, they were a linked set of lava tubes, each several kilometers long, several dozen meters in diameter, with a large basalt plain covering multiple hectares fanning out from the end of the tubes. The volcano they were attached to was dormant; seismic surveys showed the magma chamber underneath the cove was solid, cold and inactive.

Of the two alternative locations, the closest site was less that fifty Kilometers from Silica base; on solid ground that would easily support both a roadway and a monorail track. The remaining cryosleep population on the initial Armada ships were sent to Silica Base; to be woken in batches to form the initial population for the Base.

According to local time, the second Armada would be arriving ten years after the initial message arrived. It had been sent when the second Armada had received the initial 'We are here. Alive and busy building a new Colony" messages. Near-C travel meant some unusual time delays as messages competed against the speed of light and the velocity of the Armada.

Quartz Base was minimally habitable when the Second Armada entered the system. It would take over a year for the ships in the Second Armada to shift into a stable orbit around the Colony planet - even after all the years decelerating it took several gravity well maneuvers to enter a successful stable orbit around Beta Colony. (While the planet the Colony was on has a name; it's usually ignored in casual conversation.)

When the final orbital insertion was announced, great celebration broke out in all the Bases and outposts on the Planet - and in orbit as well. The initial Armada ship still had a notable crew on board, to operate all the manufacturing and hydroponic facilities on board; They existed as a backup for all the facilities in place in Silica Base. It acted as the main orbital platform for all in-system efforts; building, hosting, and supplying all the in-system shuttles and freighters that had been built.

The new technology brought by the Second Armada was gratefully accepted by the Colony; the improved automatic manufacturing equipment was initially installed in Quartz Colony, along with the new Hydroponic bays. The additional population was intelligently distributed between Silica and Quartz Bases. The Sociologists noted the addition of a new social divide quickly formed; between the 'Old timers' and the 'Wet behind the ears' new arrivals. Some careful counter-rumor efforts to keep the differences down to a low hum; to limit the possibly of a major social conflict forming between the two populations. Since most of the new population was destined for Quartz Case; much of the possible conflict was buried in the difference between the development of the social fabric of the two communities. The Sociologists had planned for, and accommodated from the development of a such a difference; the politicians adapted into the new political terrain.

A disturbing aspect of the arrival was news of the major Terran global war that had occurred fifteen years after the departure of the Armada from Earth. Communication with Earth had become so sparse and incomplete that little except astronomical information had been received; the scope of the war and all the destruction that had laid waste to much of North America and the western expanse of Europe shook the Colony in its' foundation. Claim and counter-claim bounced across the different sub-groups in the tunnels; blame and accusations spilled everywhere in a tempest of fury.

For the first time in the Colony's history; the civil guard had to be called up to isolate neighborhoods; Old factions from Earth resurfaced as the scope - and targets - were revealed. The Social engineers saw their carefully structured unity be torn apart as blame for the war was pronounced. Politicians saw the extreme power that stirring protests against different culture groups could bring; The shock of armored Civil Patrollers blocking major caverns; to isolate and prevent violence; along with constant reminders that they were no longer 'Earthers'; but now 'Betans', joined together by their long, dangerous, and successful passage to their new home here.

This conflict finally broke the last cultural ties to Earth; Beta was it's own place; it's own culture. None were dependent on the relic knowledge that their Grandparents had been born in Italy, or Egypt, or Sudan, or Mexico; those were memories, fit for graves, not a component of what living within - as a part of - Beta Colony.

A major effort was to resupply the second Armada ships to allow them to make a return to Earth. The shield asteroid was checked and surveys to gauge if it had the needed mass to support a return trip; complete records of the long passage, and descriptions of how the Colony was arranging itself into a unified nation, were placed in archives. Examples of new inventions and adaptations created during the long years of isolation were loaded; a lottery was held for volunteers to return to Earth; as representatives to the new Terran Governments from their so hopefully sent sister planet.

Some sociologists had expected that a major item that would be returned to Earth would be the ashes and bones of those who was been born on Earth; to be laid in the soil that had given them birth; few families chose to do this. Many of the Earth-Born had specified in their final testament that they committed themselves in all ways to the future the Armada represented; they would not diminish that determination by every abandoning the great effort they had committed themselves to when they had stepped away from Terra soil to board the shuttles into space.

The crew of the refitted Armada made their goodbyes; accepting bundles of gifts to unknown (but hoped-for) descendants; orbital clearances asked fr clearances confirmed; and the first reply to Earth broke orbit with regret and longing - and hope - felt by all.

Chapter Text

The first notice that the Colony was changing came in a report from one of the deep system monitoring stations that followed the outermost micro planet in the system. It main purpose was to seek out and log potential visitors from the Oort cloud; possible comets that could wreak havoc in the inner orbits of the system. The station was not much more than an array of high resolution cameras, several terabytes of memory, and a multi-core processor made to do a quick orbital analysis, reporting possible comets.

Once a month a full dump of all the images and transmissions recieved would be sent to the main orbital station at Beta, where everything would be automatically scanned to add to the Stellar object catalog.

A few astronomers and grad students were habitually interested, in a slow fashion.

Then, an anomaly was seen. A very big anomaly. A burst of photons and energized particles, that could have been a matter-antimatter event; whatever it was - was disturbing.

The sighting was flashed directly to the senior administrator, who passed it directly to the analysis department. Whatever it was, answers had to be found.

A quick review showed that a -something- appeared from the anomaly site, a smallish orbital body, moving fast - and bright in radio and optical emissions. It wasn't a simple mass of rock or metal; it was weird.

Analysis started to rip the radio emissions from the object into shreds. Fourier transforms, modulation analysis, frequency distribution analysis - everything conceivable by a dozen of the brightest scientists were explored, to little use. Optical analysis reported a series of frequency pure emissions, starting at a low infrared frequency, moving up in frequency at one kilohertz steps, thru the optical spectrum into the ultraviolet range, in a constant pattern, repeating over a period of an hour, making over ten thousand separate emissions. This kept repeating ten times, then two hours off, then a repetition.

The radio signal was played, unfiltered, and a regular pulsation was noted. Two active sidebands were found, symmetric around nineteen megahertz. A quick patch into a spectrum analyzer showed the structure of the transmission; under expert hands the components to the transmission were separated, and made ready for display.

"- This is survey probe Baker oh four niner eight. This is survey probe Baker oh four niner eight. This is survey probe Baker oh four niner eight." - came from the speakers in a repeating patters. After five repetitions it changed into Russian then French, then Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese; finishing in Nigerian.

From video demodulation came the display of a map of Terra, with spots highlighted as each language was played, then a page of text, in each language, highlighted to match the spoken message. This sequence repeated six times, then changed. A starfield map was displayed, showing a path form Terra to a final system, then a dotted line to a possible position. the text and message changed to explain this new graphic.

"Jump explorer and survey ship Malay Vasco de Gama is chartered to find jump passages between Terra, the beginning of our search, to all possible accessible stellar systems that are passable. This automated probe will remain in this system for two hundred hours, recording and completing survey work. All signals that are received will be returned for analysis. Amplitude, phase and frequency modulated signals will be stored. Audio on five megacycles, twice the frequency now being modulated" - for ten seconds the satellite went silent except for a one kilohertz tone on a carrier frequency of five megacycles - "or frequency modulated on one hundred megacycles, Twice the frequency now transmitted - for ten seconds a fifty megacycles carrier frequency modulated with one kilohertz tone -" will be especially recorded. Recording now. Message will repeat in sixty minutes."

Recording made in the analysis room show moments of absolute stillness. then a chaotic battle as the scientists and technicians patched together a set of transmitters for the reply. The senior scientists urgently conferred to compose the reply, until one of the technicians urgently suggested that the senior staff be informed of the event - not just them but the Government itself. Dr. Helmin Chan placed a call to the Commanding Officer, General Patricia Thibidoux, describing the received message, playing the entire message as it had been recorded.

General Thibidoux reported this to the Colony Governor, and the Chief of the General staff at 0450 hours on 15 Janfeb Colony year 175.

The Colony was found.