As the distance between them grew further and further, and they grew older, the First began to see those whom they had nurtured begin acting on their own. The First, in keeping with who they were, saw the end of the beginning that they had worked with, and were the first to know both pride and joy. The First watched the Second take steps and were joyful, they watched the Third take flight in their primitive way, and they were proud.

They watched as the Third met the Second, and were the first to know sorrow as they were no longer the first in all things. They were again the first shortly afterwards; as they watched with horror as the Third became the first to kill, as the Third became the first to commit genocide by exterminating the Second.

The First watched as the Third destroyed all things related to the Second. The Third then returned to their previous ways, and the First were the first to know confusion. They thought that perhaps the Third and Second were incompatible in their ways. The First pondered this question for a time, and watched with concern as the Third met the Fourth, and again committed genocide.

he First were the first to weep as they watched the cycle repeat over and over. The Third, stronger after destroying the Fourth, did not return to their previous ways as they had done before; they began to explore, to search for more to destroy, and when they encountered the Fifth, they again were the destroyers of a race. The First watched as the Third destroyed the Sixth and Seventh almost immediately after discovering them; and then the First knew hope, as the Eighth became the first to fight back; the first to destroy the destroyers. The Eighth stopped the Third when they came to them, and then in return, began to seek the Third out wherever they hid.

When the Eighth finally destroyed the Third, the First knew both joy and sadness. Joy that the Third had been stopped, and sadness as the Eighth, in their hunt of the Third, encountered and destroyed the Ninth.

The First wept, as they watched the cycle repeat again and again, as a new race would arise and destroy those that came both before and after; before they themselves were destroyed. The first amongst the First, tired and older than the rest, ceased to be, while other, younger members of the First, came into existence.

>>11829913

But then, as was the way of things for the First, one of them did the unthinkable: they became the first to unmake a life. The first murderer.

The repercussions were immediate and severe.

(least, that's where I'd go with it)

Two younger members of the First, brothers in their way, tried to intercede; to stop the cycle. They themselves were destroyed, as the latest destroyers; the Seventy Third were at the height of their power. The First stood by as members of their own race were destroyed by the power of the Seventy Third, and they were not the first to know fear. When finally the Seventy Third were stopped by the One Hundred and Fourth, the First were relieved.

The First never again interfered with the cycle that they had brought on. The First watched as power changed hands time and again over the vastness of space and time. Eventually, the First; tired of watching the cycle repeat; stopped watching, and thusly, ceased to be.

The cycle however, continued.

Chapter One

The planet Heinlein is not one that would normally be supportive of human life. Stuck in a stationary orbit around the star of the system, the surface is one of extremes. The western hemisphere being one of perpetual scorching sunlight the surface there consists of nothing but blistering hot desert and rock; the temperature there would burn the skin from a man in less than a day. The eastern hemisphere is obviously the polar opposite of the western; it is one of perpetual cold and darkness, the temperature there cold enough to freeze nitrogen.

The perpetual contrast forced humanity to settle in the area between these two extremes. Only there are conditions mild enough for a human to live, and even there, life is harsh. To escape the hard conditions, humanity, always one to adapt, began to dig vast underground cities all along the equator between east and west. Eventually, all life on Heinlein was underground in the vast cavern cities. People would only visit the surface when they were arriving or leaving via one of the large landing areas attached to each city.

Because of the precarious situation that Heinlein natives live in, nothing is wasted. Recycling waste is not a new idea, however making a profit by selling the rights to recycle your various wastes to the highest bidder was. Those who inhabit Heinlein are a hardy and stubborn folk who take frontier capitalism to the extreme. Everything and anything can be found for sale here, the economy booms, and life, for those who succeed is good. For those who do not succeed however, life can be short.

*Excerpt from Visiting Humanity in the Stars, Brinkley Publishing, Heinlein, 2620 edition.

The week had not been a kind one for Nate Hawkins. First he had been fired from his job as a slow burn Kinzer Stardrive technician at Jennings StarDrives. Without a job, and after living in corporate funded housing for the past three years, he was now without a home. The market of Kinzer stardrive technicians was flooded with recently laid off technicians, and his prospects of finding a job soon enough to stop his eviction were slim. To top it all off; his mother had taken her own life, two days prior to his being fired. Life was not looking up for Nate at all.

The interior of the hivehab was darkest black; just the way that Nate liked to sleep. The incessant buzzing of the earcom however prevented that. The monofilament tendrils that inhabited his ear canal felt like they were tap-dancing on his brain. With a sigh, Nate sub vocalized the command to answer the call.

“Nate.”

“Hello Nate Hawkins,” the electronic female voice said. “This is Chapel2; the scheduling service for Zar Gemmell; licensed corporate attorney for Jennings StarDrives. You had a scheduled appointment with Mr. Gemmell ten standard minutes ago, are you running late?”

“Uhm, yes I am.” Of course Nate was running late, he hadn’t bothered getting out of bed for two days. “I’m really sorry about this, but I had a small crisis come up and I’m going to be a bit late. I’m sorry that I didn’t com you earlier.”

“Would another time be more convenient Mr. Nate Hawkins?”

“No no, it’s fine.” Nate said as he threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. “I can be there in about thirty standard if that is ok.”

Through the earcom came a slight buzz indicating that the auto secretary was working. After another moment the voice returned.

“Mr. Gemmell indicates that will be satisfactory, he looks forward to seeing you Mr. Nate Hawkins. Goodbye.”

“Yeah, bye.”

Nate sighed as he waved his hand over the light sensor beside the bed, bathing the room in a soft yellow glow as the panels fashioned into the ceiling of his hivehab came to life. Nate dressed quickly and took a perfunctory look at himself in the mirrored wall panel in the bathroom before he left.

In his highly professional opinion he looked like shit. His short brown hair was a mess and he had the ghostly stubble of a two day old beard. Nate shook his head as he left the hivehab and made his way out of the hab building and onto the busy street. He tapped a command into the data pad in his pocket and moments later his boxy Per-Tran vehicle pulled to a stop beside him. The small two passenger automated vehicle was perfect for him, it ran on thermal energy, which was cheap enough to almost be free in the cavern cities located around the equator, and the auto navigation program allowed him a few minutes to ready himself for the coming confrontation with the lawyer.

He knew he was getting evicted from his home, he had already signed the paperwork and turned in his corporate renters card; he thought he had a few days left before his belongings had to be out, but he maybe he was wrong. Thoughts and worries flooded his thoughts, the scary truth that he was about to be homeless foremost in his mind. He hardly noticed as the Per-Tran pulled alongside the bunker-like building that housed most of the Jennings offices in the cavern city of Anson.

As he stepped out of the vehicle and stepped through the sliding door, the two bulky guards on either side of the entrance nodded at him from the other side of the holoscanner. He stepped over the sensor pad that would have alerted them if he were carrying a weapon and made his way to the visitors’ desk just past them. The young receptionist nodded to him as he pressed his right palm down on the hand scanner attached to the desk.

“Hi, I’m Nate Hawkins; I have an appointment with Zar Gemmell.” Nate hesitated on her name; he had spoken to her a few times while he worked here. She was pretty by his estimation, short hair, light skin, and a smile that nearly knocked his socks off. “It’s good to see you again Tansi.”

She smiled across the desk at him and Nate felt his heart flutter. “Of course Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Gemmell’s office is on the third sublevel in the legal section. Would you like a guide?”

Nate shook his head, “No thanks Tansi, I know the way.”

She smiled at him again as he turned to the row of transit tubes that would take him deeper into the Jennings facility. He waved his hand before the palm scanner and stepped into the tube that arrived for him moments later. The tube took him down the three levels in a matter of seconds and opened for him to exit.

The legal offices of the Jennings StarDrive Corporation were very nicely decorated. Stylish replicas of ancient art decorated the lobby and hung on corridor walls that he walked through. Finally, at the end of his trip he stood before a fauxwood door and knocked. The voice that came from inside the room was deep and rich.

“Enter.”

Stepping into Zar Gemmell's office was like walking into an old movie set. Fauxwood bookshelves stood tall around the circular room; various knickknacks and books filling the shelves nearly to capacity. Behind the large desk in the center of the room, Zar Gemmell, a rather rotund man sat with a smile on his face.

“Welcome Mr. Hawkins, sit down, sit down.” Zar gestured to the small chair that sat before his desk. “Can I get you a drink?”

“No thank you,” Nate said as he sat down, confusion evident on his face. “You’ll have to forgive me, when I was handed my termination and eviction papers in this office, you didn’t start the conversation off by offering me a drink.”

“Of course not, why waste a good drink on a termination and eviction?”

“Then why am I here?”

Zar spread his hands across the wide desktop and smiled even wider at Nate.

“Well Mr. Hawkins, I have something of yours here. You may not have known this, in fact, you probably didn’t know. I was the executor of your mothers estate and I only recently discovered that I have several things here for you.” He tapped the small stack of papers on the desk. “You of course have access to her pension accounts already, but other than what she placed there herself, any corporate donations became void when she committed suicide.”

“You don’t have to tell me that, I already knew that.”

“Yes, well you may not have known that she also possessed five different patent accounts which now pass to you, along with a secured deposit box that also is now yours.”

Nate reeled back in the chair. “Five patent accounts? What… I mean, how much is there?” His mind refused to register what was said to him as it tried to remember the corporations patent payment policy. “Sorry Mr. Gemmell, say that again?”

“I said the total net worth of the five accounts comes out to nearly seventeen million Col Creds. Congratulations Mr. Hawkins, you just became a very wealthy man.” Zar pushed a small electronic pad across the desk. “Just imprint your thumb there and everything will transfer into a corporate escrow account in your name instantly.”

Nate stared at the thumb pad in bewilderment.

“I’m rich?”

“Indeed you are.”

“I’m rich?”

“Yes Mr. Hawkins.” Zar sighed heavily, he hated days like this. “You no longer have to worry about anything financially. You don’t have to worry about being evicted from your home, you can purchase it if you like, or you can purchase any number of much better homes anywhere you like. The fact of the matter is, with that much money, you can pretty much do whatever you like for the rest of your life.”

The rest of the day passed Nate in a blur. He vaguely remembered shaking hands with Zar as he left the office. He almost remembered going to the bank indicated in the paperwork he had signed to pick up the contents of the secured box. He didn’t remember how he got home, and he certainly didn’t remember how the young woman whose hair covered the pillow on his bed had gotten there.

Nate blinked blearily at the soft glow as he sat up in the now to small bed and wiped his hands across his face as he tried to wake up. He stared down at the sleeping woman curled up with her back to him and shook her gently.

“Hey, hey wake up.”

She murmured quietly as he shook her and rolled to face him. Nate’s face broke into a broad smile as he stared at her face for a moment. “I’m going to wake up soon.” He thought. “This has got to be a dream, this can’t be possible.”

Then he pinched himself, hard. After a moment he smiled even wider as he realized it wasn’t a dream. Nate lay back on the bed again as he turned out the lights. His last thought as he fell back to sleep was a happy one.

“It’s not a dream, it’s real.”

* * *

Nate stared across the new fauxwood table at Tansi as she scooped vat grown bacon and eggs onto her plate. He had always enjoyed watching her eat, and this time was no exception. She was picky about the size of each bite she would take, each bite she took was exactly the same size as the one before it, and she never mixed her foods. First a bite of the bacon, then a bite of the eggs, then a sip of the (incredibly expensive) coffee, then another bite of bacon and so on.

“If you just watch me eat, your food will get cold Nate.” Her voice was, in his mind perfect even when it was telling him what to do. The small smile she directed at him from across the table even more so.

“I know, I just couldn’t help myself.” Nate replied before turning his gaze to the plate of food before him. He wasn't nearly as picky an eater as she was. When she would take a single fork full of each portion, he simply shoveled the food into his mouth and ate, then washed it down with a sip of the coffee.

“So, what are you doing today Nate?” Tansi asked him after taking another sip from her coffee. His shoulders moved slightly when he shrugged in response. After a moment of finishing his mouthful of food he looked across at her again.

“I dunno yet. I think I’m going to go down over to the northern sector and see if I can find a few of the guys. They haven’t seen me in a few weeks and I figure I owe it to them to at least drop in on them.”

“I’m sorry I’ve been taking up so much of your time lately.” Tansi set down her fork and looked across the table at him.

“No, it’s not that at all Tansi, it’s just, with everything happening so fast, they just haven’t seen me is all. They are after all my friends, and I do enjoy their company, just not quite as much as I enjoy yours.”

That elicited a laugh of response out of Tansi as she stood up and placed her dishes in the auto-cleaner. She made her way back across the small kitchen and planted a kiss atop Nate’s head.

“Go have fun with your friends Nate. I’ve got to head to work anyway.”

“I told you that you could just quit, I’ve got enough money for both of us.”

“And I told you that I’m not that kind of girl.”

Nate watched as she grabbed her small bag and walked through the doorway. He tapped the data pad that sat on the table beside him and turned to watch the vidplate on the wall as he finished his breakfast.

The news on the vidplate was politics. Nate snorted, no matter where you went, politics was always on the news. One of mans favorite pastimes was complaining about politics, so of course it was always on the news. He finished the last of the bacon as the commentators rambled on about the rising tensions between the Coalition of Allied Systems and the Terran Conglomerate over a recent trade agreement.

Nate dumped his dishes in the auto-cleaner and padded across to the doorway. He glanced at the room, double checking to make sure he hadn’t left anything behind. After returning to the table to grab his data pad he walked out the door and down to the street. As he arrived at the curb, his new Per-Tran arrived. The luxury model wasn’t a simple two-seater, and its upgraded autonav system was much more reliable. Within moments it was propelling him through the busy streets.

* * *

The Per-Tran stopped outside of the old hivehab building. Unlike the one he himself had recently lived in, it was built only partly into the solid rock of the cavern. The walls at the rear of the block length building were joined to the living rock of the cavern city; while the front, sides, and roof of the building were build from commercial rockcrete. Also unlike the building he lived in now, it was falling apart slowly. The exterior walls had all been painted with various signs and symbols; graffiti in this neighborhood was a form of artistic expression.

Nate pushed the old style manual door open and walked inside. Newer buildings would have transit tubes to take him to the various levels of the building, the only transit tube this building had was a maintenance tube in the back, and was inaccessible to residents and guests. Nate took the stairs up the four levels and pressed the buzzer beside the second door.

Minutes later, still standing before the door, Nate pressed the buzzer again as the door opened and a mousy face appeared before him. “Graham!” Nate exclaimed as he stepped into the room. “How you been man?”

“Heyas Nate.” The shorter man stared at him and sniffed. He closed the door, crossed the room, and sat down on the old couch that filled almost a third of the available space. “Been ok I guess, I haven’t been doing much recently, there’s no real call for out of work techs right now.”

“Tell me about it man.” Nate said as he sat down on the other side of the couch. “I figured I was gonna end up here as your neighbor when they laid me off.”

“Be glad you didn’t.” Graham said looking away from his friend. “It’s not exactly a good neighborhood to be in. There’s this guy who keeps terrorizing the people who live here, a mean bastard called Resnick. I guess he figures everyone here doesn’t have anyone they can really go to for help, so he runs it like his own little kingdom.”

“Resnick?”

“Yeah, he’s a real bastard Nate. Built like he’s made of solid rock, he swaggers around here with this bunch of people and they tell people what to do and how to live. He takes what he wants from whoever he wants to and nobody says anything.”

“I thought the crime rate over here was almost non-existent?”

“Sure, that’s what he wants people to think. He doesn’t keep the crime rate down by stopping crime; he keeps it down by scaring people into not reporting it or not hiring investigators. There was a guy who lived in this building named Erichs. A few weeks ago he told Resnick that he wasn’t going to take it anymore. I dunno what happened, but nobody’s seen him around for a while.”

Nate stared at his friend in horror. “The hell with that, we’re gonna get you moved out of here! I can help out until you get back on your feet, you don’t have to live in a place like this.”

Nate stood up and held his hand out to his friend. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

Graham sniffed again and a faint grimace crossed his face. “Nice of you to say to Nate, but it don’t work like that. He probably already knows you’re here; you weren’t exactly inconspicuous coming over here in that new Per-Tran. He’ll probably be here in a few minutes, either to rob you, or to beat the hell out of you, and then rob you.” Nate stared at his friend, a look of shock on his face, his arm outstretched; as the door to the run down hivehab opened.

The man that stepped through the open doorway was not a large man, build wise he was slightly on the right side of average, but the look on his face, and the gleam in his eyes were filled with menace. “That shiny new Per-Tran outside belong to your guest Nicky?”

Before Graham could open his mouth Nate turned and took one step towards the newcomer. “Nice to meet you, I’m Nate Hawkins and yes, it’s my Per-Tran; was there something you wanted?”

Nate stopped abruptly as the man before him stretched out one finger and tapped him on the forehead. “Quiet you. You talk when I tell you to talk, until then, keep your mouth shut. Tell me Nicky, does it belong to your friend here?”

“Yes Mr. Resnick.”

“And what did I tell you would happen if anyone came calling and you didn’t tell me about it first?”

“What’s the hell is going on Graham?” Nate turned to look at his friend then felt a blast of pressure and pain on the back of his head, and everything went blissfully dark.

Anyone reading this or am I posting it for my own enjoyment?

>>11830050

Enjoying the story.

>>11830047

Mr Resnick did a bad thing

Before I toss chapter two on here, anyone got comments or similar?

>>11830058

STOP STALLING MAN I MUST HAVE THE THRILLING CONCLUSION!

(and if this ends in a fresh prince reference so help me I will come to your house, chop off your dick, stick it on the end of a spear, and kill you with it)

Chapter Two

Business fills all aspects of life on Heinlein, especially within the pseudo-capital city, Anson. With the trade-and-commerce based style of life, it is understandable that many of the more stereotypical functions of government do not truly exist as many visitors would expect. In fact, most of the so-called “governmental services” that someone from another society would be in need of are resolved via private means.

Industries such as fire containment, emergency medical service, and even law enforcement are cared for by various individual firms. The largest such firm in Anson, and indeed on the whole of Heinlein is the Tulkus Firm. Various investigative services such as property theft, personal injury, and even murder are handled via contracts with various involved parties. Punishment for various crimes in this society cover a wide range; repayment of debt, servile indenturing, and even summary execution are all practiced on Heinlein.

The only problem with this social engineering dynamic that occasionally appears is that of corporate conflict of interest. Simply put; unless someone has already contracted one of the various firms for a legal claims contract no punishment other than monetary will occur save in capital offenses. In the rare situations like this that have occurred, there are of course, more private and partially legal means of resolving problems between two parties.

*Excerpt from Visiting Humanity in the Stars, Brinkley Publishing, Heinlein, 2620 edition.

>>11830058

Reads well so far. The only point I'd pick at is the bit where the protagonist inspects himself in the mirror as a pretext for a physical description, but I don't know if that's an accepted literary technique or an overused cliche nowadays.

The rest of it's good, and I would like to read more.

>>11830062

You have my word, no fresh princing will occur from me.

>>11830050

Please keep on going, this is awesome.
You're making me be late for work but that's okay.
<3

* * *

Nate groaned as his eyes slowly adjusted to being gently forced open. He struggled to focus on the bright light that washed first over one eye, and then the other. “It’s alright Mr. Hawkins; I’m Mel Sinclair with Zeracorps. When your Per-Tran hit the wall your personal com alerted us that your were knocked unconscious. Let’s get you out of your restraint shall we?”

Nate nodded and then winced with pain as the burly medico carefully sliced the harness restraint straps that held him uncomfortably inside the wreckage of his Per-Tran. After a few well practiced slices, the final strap of the harness released, and Nate was helped free from the wreckage.

“There you go Mr. Hawkins. I’ve signaled for a contracted transport to remove the wreckage and determine if any of it is potentially salvageable. If you would like, I can also requisition a transport to take you to your hab, or anywhere else you would prefer.”

“Thank you,” Nate said as he staggered slightly.

“Careful sir.” Said Sinclair, “You took a nasty knock on the head, there isn’t any concussion that I could detect, but you certainly want to take it easy for the next few days. I also suggest get a full medical work up done just in case.”

Absently Nate brushed the helping hand aside and steadied himself by leaning on the wreckage. “What happened? The last thing I really remember is talking with my friend Graham at his hab in the commons.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Hawkins, I can’t tell you precisely what happened until a proper investigation has been performed. What I can tell you is that the auto pilot on your Per-Tran was disengaged shortly after you left the Commons district. We aren’t sure why but you took off at a pretty good speed through the thoroughfare and zipped right into the wall. You are actually pretty lucky, you swerved a bit at the last moment, and if you hadn’t, you probably wouldn’t have survived the wreck. Your passenger however, Graham Waters is in much worse shape than you are. We already packed him off to the nearest medical facility.”

“Holy hell!” Nate winced again as the pain in his head almost dropped him to the ground. “Where is he?”

“His medical contract has been expired for three months; however your Per-Tran contract covers partial expense in case of near fatal and fatal wrecks. He’s been sent over to the Pinter facility.”

“How badly was he hurt?” Nate asked as he finally sat on the ground beside the wreckage and looked around.

“Pretty badly to be honest, he has multiple deep lacerations on the face and neck, fractured ribs, a shattered pelvis, multiple organ failure and was unconscious from blood loss when we pulled him out. Unlike you, he wasn’t wearing his restraint, which probably is what saved you from as much damage.”

Nate nodded weakly and touched his hand weakly to his throbbing head as another wave of pain flowed over him.

“I think I see that transport Mr. Hawkins, let’s get you taken care of shall we?”

Resnick reminds me of an old boss... I hope he dies painfully

* * *

The transport that dropped him off at his hab left after ensuring that he was able to enter the building under his own speed. When he finally made his way to the entrance to his hab he was almost ready to pass out from the pain the moment he made it through the doorway. The softly glowing illuminator panels set in the ceiling of the hive told him that something was wrong the instant he closed the door behind him.

The fact that all his belongings had been scattered about the floor told more of the story to him. As he continued through the entrance and into the main room of the hab he stared at the wreckage and devastation that littered his living quarters. The shattered remains of his newly purchased vidplate crunched beneath his feet as he stepped gingerly around the shredded chairs and overturned table. He sat heavily on the least damaged of his chairs stretched back as best he could.

“Contact Tulkus.” He subvocalized to his earcom. Moments later, he felt more than heard the buzzing in his head that signaled his connection was complete.

“Good afternoon and thank you for contacting the Tulkus Firm, how may I help you?” the voice on the other end of the line was a modular digitization of one of the more popular Vid starlets.

“This is Nate Hawkins; you can pull my voice print to run a check for my contract. My hab has been ransacked and I need help!” his voice sounded to him as if it were coming from far away.

“Certainly Mr. Hawkins, we will have a team there right away, are the perpetrators on scene at this time?”

“I don’t know, maybe. I’m sitting in a chair in the main room, I haven’t gone any further in yet.”

Nate began looking around, expecting someone to jump out at him from behind a chair, or a hallway at any second.

“It is suggested that you leave the premises Mr. Hawkins, for your own safety. Our team should be arriving within ten standard.”

* * *
The first man to enter the door of the hab was covered from head to toe in black ceramite body armor. His helmet swept from side to side as he checked the room before moving on. When he entered the main room and saw Nate seated on the shredded chair he automatically covered him with the barrel of his VPN-1 Screamer. Nate stared him as he entered and tiredly raised his hands to show they were empty.

“I’m the resident, I contacted you.”

The officer nodded once and continued his sweep of the room before lowering his weapon.

“Sir, do you need medical assistance?” his voice came forth very loudly in the confined space as his speakers slowly adjusted themselves.

“No, I’m fine.”

Without another word the armored security officer nodded once and stepped into the hallway that led to the rest of the hab and was gone. Nate sat silently wishing that the headache would go away. It didn’t, but the officer did return, and moments later three other figures entered the room.

Two of the new entrants began processing and cataloging the damage, while the third set a small black electronic data pad on the overturned table and began sweeping a long thin black bar across various items.

The armored officer reached up and removed his helmet gingerly before walking back to where Nate sat. The officers’ youthful appearance belied his obvious competence from his inspection of the home.

“Bradford Allen sir, contracted entrance specialist for the Tulkus Firm, can you tell me what happened here?”

Nate raised his hands and shrugged his shoulders in bewilderment.

“I… I don’t know. I just got dropped off here after my Per-Tran was wrecked and came in to find it all looking like this.”

“Are you alright sir?”

“Just a headache from the wreck, the medico told me I should be fine.”

“Right sir, well it’s going to take some time before the technicians have finished going through your quarters, do you have somewhere else you would like us to take you until we can determine what occurred?”

Nate shook his head and instantly regretted it.

“Not really no.”

“Sir, the technicians will find their job much easier to complete if you aren’t present to possibly impede the investigation. We can contract at no expense to you a temporary set of quarters if you like, that is part of your executive level contract.”

“That’s fine.” Nate felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier by the second as he nodded.

“Just fine.”

* * *

When Nate opened his eyes again he stared around him in momentary confusion at the strange room he found himself in. Slowly the lights began to illuminate above him and a white suited female medico walked into the barren room.

“Glad to see you awake at last Mr. Hawkins. I’m afraid that your knock on the head during the wreck was worse than diagnosed on scene; you were suffering from a mild concussion and exhaustion. An armored Tulkus representative brought you here yesterday; you’ve been unconscious since you arrived.”

Nate gingerly pushed himself up in on the hard mattress and licked his lips.

“Am I alright?”

A faint smile touched the lips of the medico and she sat gently on the edge of his bed.

“Yes sir, you are going to be just fine. We administered you fluids, dosed you with some pain inhibitors, and set everything right. Your brain scan revealed no permanent damage and everything looks normal.”

Nate sat up and looked down at the medical gown he was wearing before pulling it down as far as it would go.

“Uhm, could I get some clothes, and maybe a bite to eat? I’m kind of hungry.”

“Not a problem sir, the clothes you arrived in have been cleaned for you and should be ready to go when you are. I’ll see about getting you some food also.”

By the time the food arrived, Nate had finished dressing and was sitting cross-legged on the bed waiting. It wasn’t the best food he had ever eaten by far, but it filled the empty space in his stomach. Shortly after he finished eating the medico returned to the room and handed him the last of his personal effects.

“Here you go, that’s everything you came in with Mr. Hawkins.”

“Thanks.”

“Would you like us to contact a transport service for you sir?”

“That would be great, thank you.”

She nodded once and extended her hand to him, “Good luck sir and I hope you take my meaning but I hope we don’t have to meet like this again.”

Nate smiled back and shook her hand.

“Likewise.”

Once he had made it out of the med facility the light of the cavern city made him blink and shield his eyes momentarily at the unexpected brightness before he stepped into the waiting transport and gave the directions to his hab to the driver.

When the transport arrived at his hab, Nate stepped out and made his way inside and to the transit tube that would deposit him on the same level as his hab. The ride to the top floor took only seconds as the tube rapidly delivered him to the seventeenth level. When he stepped out and walked the short distance to his home each step seemed to take longer than the one before it until suddenly he found himself outside of his door.

With a deep breath he palmed open the door and stepped inside, taking a quick look around. Gone was almost every sign that anything had happened inside of it. New furniture replaced that which was ruined. His fauxwood table had been replaced by a new one, a new Vid plate hung on one side of his wall, and to his eye everything that had to be replaced had been. Sighing he palmed the door closed, removed his data pad from his pocket and sat down in a new chair.

He glanced at the report from Tulkus about the damage and his eyebrows rose at the lack of evidence pulled from the scene. He set down the data pad and stared at the room before making up his mind.

“Contact Tulkus.” His earcom buzzed as it confirmed his connection and he cleared his throat before the digitized voice could begin its normal greeting.

“My name is Nate Hawkins, I had a break in and vandalism of my home yesterday. Most of my possessions have been replaced or removed, and I have the analysis of what happened, however there is no notation of who was responsible.”

“One moment please while I connect you.” The voice vanished for a moment, before being replaced by a rather gruff voice.

“Art McNeill lead investigative technician. How may I help you?”

Nate sighed and began talking again.

“I’m Nate Hawkins, someone broke into my home, trashed the place, and stole stuff. I have a contract for complete security and offender punishment, but when I look at the analysis that I received on my data pad no mention of the offender or punishment is made. It lists that DNA evidence and organizational evidence was gathered, along with surveillance data from the building monitors, but no mention is made of who it was or what action was taken.”

“Hold on just a moment Mr. Hawkins while I take a look at the case file.”

The voice in his ear vanished for a moment. Nate shook his head, stood up, and began going through the rest of his hab looking to see what remained and what had been replaced. As he entered the bedroom the voice returned.

“Right, after inspecting all gathered evidence, and it seems that there was quite a bit of it pulled from your hab, the problem is that those responsible for the vandalism of your home and property are guarded from punishment other than fiscal under a separate Tulkus security contract.”

Nate eyed the lack of pictures and personal items in the bedroom angrily.

“So, because someone has a contract with you, they can steal everything they want, and destroy what they don’t take and all that will happen is their contract pays for it? Nothing else, no other punishment?”

“Unfortunately sir, that is correct.”

“And there is nothing I can do?”

“Sir, they have the same contract that you do with our firm, which is binding and mutually exclusive for all security firms on Heinlein. There is nothing that can be done Nathan, this is not a capitol offense, simply a property crime, and reparations have been made from their account.”

There was a moments hesitation before the voice started again.

“In fact, under your contract, there is nothing more that can be done to Jakob Resnick sir.”

“I… see…” Nate said hoarsely. His voice caught in his throat as he continued. “Well, thank you then for all your help.”

“Thank you for contracting with Tulkus Mr. Hawkins.”

Nate sat heavily on the bed as his brain began to make sense of the past day and a half. After a moments hesitation he placed another call on his earcom.

“Per-Tran service and repairs department, how can we help you?” the electronic voice said in his ear.

“Uhm… I had an accident yesterday in my Per-Tran, and I was wondering if there was any news on it.”

“Wait one moment please.” The earcom went silent a moment then the voice returned. “Mr. Hawkins, your Per-Tran is protected from negligence and all damage is insured in case of accident, however your contract is void during times when you bypass all security measures and engage in unsafe driving.”

“But I did no such thing!”

“According to the recorder and transponder in your vehicle that is exactly what occurred when you and your two passengers entered the vehicle.”

“You said I had two passengers?”

“Yes sir, one passenger exited the vehicle before your accident.”

“Who was that passenger?”

With his heart thundering in his ears Nate hardly heard the answer to his question.

“Please repeat that again.”

“Jakob Resnick exited your vehicle shortly before your accident.”

Silently Nate disconnected the conversation and stared unseeing across the room as his mind worked the name Jakob Resnick around over and over again. Eventually he nodded to himself and began searching through the public information on his data pad. He knew what he had to do.

That would be the break for chapter two folks. Gonna get to chapter three in a few moments.

Thoughts so far?

>He knew what he had to do.
Find the bastard and toolbox him to death?

>>11830147

still holding my breath... I so desperately want to see this jerk get his ass whooped (good job with getting me so attached to the main character... not to mention getting me wanting to kill the ass who did this to him)

Chapter Three

Several troubling aspects of the frontier mentality strain the relationships which allow Heinlein to exist without interference from the Coalition of Allied Systems or the Terran Conglomerate.

Artifact smuggling from newly colonized or discovered worlds is proliferating despite interstellar accords designed to prevent such. While Heinlein does not officially sanction such smuggling, those who profit from it typically consider Heinlein their home port. Combined with the strict neutrality laws that Heinlein vigorously enforces, these smugglers are nearly impossible for the C.A.S. or T.C. to interdict save in rare circumstances when they are caught looting these long dead civilizations.

The smugglers who eke out their existence traveling and trading in these artifacts frequently find themselves able to draw upon the existing criminal element on Heinlein. Because of Heinlein’s neutrality several people who have been labeled criminals on their home planets have found a fresh start on Heinlein. While some of these persons have started themselves new lives away from their previous actions, others have found loopholes in the laws of Heinlein and made themselves an integral part of the economy. Some ship out with the smugglers, some work for corporations in various capacities and some make their livings as personal security contractors.

Mercenaries have found new life on Heinlein, and the second oldest profession known to man thrives under the unique conditions of this planet.

*Excerpt from Visiting Humanity in the Stars, Brinkley Publishing, Heinlein, 2620 edition.

* * *

Nate awoke slowly from his troubled slumber. He could not remember his dreams from the past few nights in whole, but flashes of them stayed with him most of the day. Flashes of fire and blood slipped unknowingly into his mind during the day at the most mundane of times.

While eating breakfast he would stare at his plate and instead of food see the destruction wrought on his hab; while taking a shower he would see the mangled wreckage of his Per-Tran; when speaking with Tansi he would hear a name whispering in his ear over and over.

Jakob Resnick.

He padded silently from the bedroom to kitchen and made his way to the kitchen and his autocooker. The preloaded selections he had purchased for the week flashed across the small screen and he pressed the same selection he always did, vat grown bacon and eggs with a hot cup of imported coffee. His breakfast chosen he walked to his bathroom and stepped into the shower cubicle to start his day.

Following his morning ritual he lifted his data pad and pulled up the information for the next business on his list. He had already gone through seven different companies, and each of them had refused to help him in trying to get justice from Jakob Resnick, Each of the large firms had turned him down due to conflict of interest, as had two of the smaller firms. The few options left to him were bound to have similar contracts with Resnick which left Nate with the only option available to him being outside of the typical system.

Of the small organizations Nate had contacted two of them had turned him down flat once he mentioned the name Resnick. When he contacted the third they to had turned him down, but they gave him the name of someone who would possibly be able to help him.

The man they directed him to, Alexander Vandercamp III was a transplant from old Earth. Nobody was exactly certain why he had left Earth in a hurry, but rumors said he had fallen afoul of the Terran Security Council some how, none of the rumors were specific of why; but they were specific that he would be able to help Nate.

That was why, following his breakfast he made his way out of the building and down to his waiting Per-Tran for his trip to visit the curio store that Vandercamp owned.

* * *

The building his Per-Tran deposited him outside of was smaller than the majority of buildings he had seen. From the outside it was a squat slab sided mass of ferrocrete and steel. The windowless walls were plain and unadorned save for the building identification block, and the single old fashioned manual door that led into the building.

With a small shrug Nate opened the door and stepped into the entrance of Vandercamps Curios. Passing through the entrance to the building he marveled for a moment at the differences between the exterior and interiors of the building. While the exterior had been unadorned, the interior of the room he had entered was filled with shelves bearing various items of various sizes, shapes, and origins. The shelves themselves were enclosed in thick transparent plastic panels that prevented items from being removed without first being unlocked.

Nate stared in wonder at a small rotating sphere that hovered on one of the shelves; his eyes following its movement as every few moments of rotation showed different picturesque settings that while beautiful seemed somewhat off kilter.

“It is a Vrexian Travel Ball. At least, that is what I was told it is called when I purchased it from… well… from the man who discovered it. How he knew what to call it frankly I have no idea, I believe that he may have made the name up out of whole cloth.”

The voice that came from across the room was melodious, the accent quite different from anything that Nate had heard before. When Nate tore his eyes away from the globe and turned to the speaker he smiled faintly.

“It’s marvelous.”

“Quite.”

The older man standing before him extended his finely manicured hand and briskly shook Nate’s hand in a firm grip.

“Alexander Vandercamp, owner and proprietor. How may I assist you today?”

Nate smiled as he took in the man before him. His starkly combed back gray hair and high widow’s peak contrasted well with the smile that he wore on his face; the suit he wore was of a cut that had gone out of style several years before, yet he wore it as if it were the latest in high fashion.

“I’m Nate Hawkins, I was given your name the other day by the Saini Corporation, the lady that I spoke with told me that you would be able to help me with what I’m looking for.”

“Indeed?” Alexander Vandercamps eyebrows rose at the mention of the Saini Corporation and he stepped away from Nate and locked the entrance to the building.

“If you would care to follow me then, this way please.”

Without another word Alexander turned from the door and made his way across the room and through another doorway further into the building. Nate followed him silently as they made their way through a long hallway and down a flight of old fashioned stairs into a subbasement of the building. The stairwell ended with a single doorway and a solid blank wall, Nate stepped toward the doorway before realizing that Alexander had pressed on the wall instead and was swinging a section of the wall open for him.

“Come inside sir and we shall finish our discussion.”

The room that Nate found himself in was austere and empty save for a desk and two chairs. Alexander walked around the desk and seated himself in the plush chair behind it before gesturing to the simple chair before him.

“Please, be seated and we can find out why the Sinai Corporation sent you to me.”

Nate nodded and seated himself in the chair specified as Alexander stared at him over hands steepled on the desk.

“Now then, perhaps you would care to explain why you are here sir.”

“You see, it’s like this…”

“I do not care what it is like Mr. Hawkins, simply explain to me what you want, and I will see if I can arrange it.”

Nate swallowed and rubbed his hands gently against his pants, his palms sweated when he was nervous.

“Alright then, last week I went to visit a friend of mine, and when I was there this guy came to his house and did something to me, I don’t know what it was; but when I woke up I was being pulled out of my wrecked Per-Tran, my friend was in a med center, and my hab had been trashed. When I talked with my Tulkus representative they said that because of a conflict of interest they could only get me financial reimbursement.”

“And what is it, exactly that you want other than that young sir?”

“Well,” Nate licked his lips, “I’d like justice sir! This guy roughed us up, nearly killed my buddy Graham, messed with my new vehicle, and trashed my hab! I can’t even tell you what else he has done, but my friend said that he pretty much runs the hab block where Graham lives. He’s got the entire block living in terror of him, and none of the companies or firms I spoke with can help me because he has contracts with either all of them, or with other companies they have agreements with. I went through seven firms and independent companies before I was told that you may be able to help me.”

“I see,” Alexander stared intently at the young man before him before continuing. “What help do you believe that I can render sir? I run a curio shop.”

Nate slumped in his chair and buried his head in his hands.

“I don’t know, it’s just that everything has all fallen apart and changed so fast that I don’t know what to do! I lost my job with Jennings, my mom stepped in front of a speeding transport, and Graham is in the med facility because of me. Tulkus won’t help me and I just don’t know where to turn to sir! Jakob Resnick has it set up so that he’s nearly untouchable and I don’t know who to go to or what to do!”

“If I can help you Mr. Hawkins, you just told me that you have lost your employment, how would you be able to reimburse me for my assistance?” Alexander removed his hands from the desktop and after shuffling through one of the drawers before him removed a rather battered data pad and laid it before him.

“My mother left me some money sir.”

Alexander smiled faintly and began tapping gently on the data pad before him, before arching his eyebrows and flicking his gaze to where Nate sat before again looking at the information presented on the pad.

“According to your economic report, she left you almost seventeen million Col Creds. That is a tidy sum sir, even after your reported expenditures.”

Nate looked up from his hands and stared at the man across the desk from him.

“What?”

“Yes Mr. Hawkins, according to the information available here you spent 1.2 million creds to purchase the penthouse hab you currently reside in; another half a million creds to purchase a lifetime high security contract with Tulkus; another million for an upgrade package from Per-Tran that includes a new vehicle yearly with complete security for fifteen years, and the majority of your finances have been set into some fiscally sound annuities and securities on the market.”

Alexander turned his gaze from the data pad and looked squarely at where Nate sat before him.

“Mr. Hawkins, with finances such as yours you should be able to secure any form of punishment or justice you wish. To put it bluntly sir, what exactly do you want from me?”

“I want him to never be able to hurt me or anyone else who lives in fear of him again.”

“Of course you do.”

Alexander tapped twice more on the data pad and slid it across the desktop toward Nate.

“The figure before you is not negotiable. Half of it is required upon agreement, with the remainder placed into an escrow account to be available with compounded interest upon completion. Again, Mr. Hawkins, and I stress this, my terms are not negotiable.”

Nate lifted the pad and paled slightly at the figure it displayed to him.

“But…”

“Not negotiable, if the figure is not one you can agree to then I will wish you good luck in your search for justice.”

Nate’s shoulders slumped and he nodded bitterly.

“Fine.”

The smile that crossed the older mans face reminded Nate of the look on Zar Gemmells face when he had told him about the termination of his employment.

“Excellent. I will have one of my associates contact you for the particulars Mr. Hawkins. In the meantime, let us go get that Vrexian Travel Ball for you, I believe it would make you feel a bit better to not be leaving exactly empty handed eh?”

* * *

For Nate, the next two days seemed to last forever. Time itself seemed to slow down and minute distractions seemed to take forever. Nate spent a great deal of time watching the images that slowly cycled through the Vrexian Travel Ball, by the time it started it’s cycle over for the third time, Nate had realized that a panoramic view of both his home and the store where he had first seen it had been added to the images cycled through.

When, on the second day following his conversation with Alexander Vandercamp, his earcom chirped to indicate an incoming message Nate almost jumped with fright. The message was simple and brusque, obviously nothing more than a simple electronic message recorded without actual voice interaction. Nate left the apartment swiftly, the message had left him little time to get to his new Per-Tran and make his way across four hab blocks to the small restaurant indicated.

It took Nate nearly fifteen standard minutes to finally get to the out of the way restaurant, and then another ten minutes to find the seat indicated in the message. Finally however, he found himself seated in a simple booth decorated in what he considered twenty second century noir. The clear plastic table reflected the rotating ambient lights in a garish cacophony of color directly into his face.

Ten more minutes passed, then another fifteen. Finally, angry with himself at being played for a fool Nate turned in the booth and began to stand when another man finally sat down across from him.

“Nate Hawkins?”

The newcomers tone was much like the message sent before, brusque and to the point.

“That’s right, do I know you?”

“No, for which you should be rather thankful. Most people who have met me in a professional capacity aren’t able to be thankful for anything.”

Nate pivoted in the booth for a moment and stared across at the other occupant of the booth. His hair was both short and dark; it’s cut uniform and not in a style that Nate had seen before. The eyes were a dark blue, though if they were naturally that color Nate had no idea, however it was the strangers face that drew his attention most. Even in the rotating colored light Nate could tell than unlike almost anyone else he had met in his life, the man across from him had a darker complexion to him. Not a black skin tone that would indicate African descent, rather a tanned tone indicative of someone who spent a lot of time under natural sunlight.

For someone like Nate, who had spent almost his entire life below the surface of Heinlein, the affect was unsettling.

“Can I help you?”

The stranger barked a laugh.

“No son, there is nothing you can do to help me. I’m actually here to help you with your little problem.”

“My little problem? Do you mean that…”

Before Nate could finish the stranger slapped his left hand down on the plastic table between them.

“Don’t say it. For reasons you don’t want to know, you simply do not want to say his name in a public place, especially not in light of anything else we may discuss. But the answer to all your questions is yes. Yes I was told about your problem, yes I know who you spoke with regarding this problem, and yes I will help you resolve it.”

Nate looked across the table at the larger man and simply nodded his head.

“What do you need from me then if you have all the answers?”

The smile that crossed the strangers face was feral and cold.

“We can discuss that in private. One should never discuss revolution, murder, or acts of violence in a public place, the effect of such a conversation can be most unsettling on any casual listeners. Show me where you live.”

And there folks is the end of Chapter 4. Chapter 5 incoming in a few.

MFW I found this thread

Chapter Four

For those who consider themselves amongst the more adventurous of humanity, often life on even a planet such as Heinlein will seem confining. There are some of the more rough members of society who consider even the more haphazard life of the “settled and civilized” frontier to be untenable.

For those brave and hearty enough, there is always wild exploration of deep space. With modern travel between the stars being available for anyone willing to work on various ships; simply exploring newly discovered systems or plying the shipping lanes between systems can be an adventure.

For those who wish to run from aspects of their former lives, the dark vastness of space can easily insulate one from any past misdeeds. With a new planet and a new name, almost anyone can find themselves a new life far away from the one they previously fled.

*Excerpt from Visiting Humanity in the Stars, Brinkley Publishing, Heinlein, 2620 edition.

>>11830233

Grr. I feel like and idiot. Mislabled the chapters thought I was ahead of myself. Carrying on.

* * *

“I served in the Coalition Marine Corps; I was part of a unit stationed on one of several mining facilities in the Achernar system during my final tour. Eventually I most of us got tired of baby sitting the miners and making certain that profits and quotas were met, so when my enlistment ended I took my buy out and headed home.”

Nate’s guest leaned back on the pseudo leather couch facing where Nate sat in his favorite chair.

“I guess I just got tired of the regular life on Castor and started hiring out as security on various star liners, but eventually I figured that security on a star liner was about the same as watching over miners. I’m not a security guard, I joined the Corps for action, and for excitement but all I got was baby sitting duty. So, when my last stop was Heinlein I just stopped drifting and stayed here. I’ve been working for Abernathy off any on for the past two years now.”

Nate took a small sip from the cold coffee in the mug beside him.

“Doing what?’

His guest shrugged.

“What ever he needs doing. Abernathy uses people based on their strengths; some jobs require a scalpel to solve the problem, some require a mediator. I don’t do those.”

“When does he use you?”

“He calls me when he needs a sledgehammer. I break things and kill people, and I’m very good at it; which is why he commed me to solve your problem. You ran up against Resnick, so you know the kind of person he is. Does he strike you as the type of person who would be willing to sit down and talk?”

“Well no…”

“The question was rhetorical. You want the problem solved, you paid Abernathy, consider the problem solved.”

“If you already know about Resnick then why are you here?”

“I won’t do a job until I’ve met the man I work for. Some people prefer to just get paid and have no face to face contact. Me, I prefer to know who I’m working for.”

Nate nodded his head and glanced over at the now empty mug of coffee.

“Why?”

The tone of his guest changed, and none to subtly. What once was conversational and almost jovial became cold, hard, and sent a shiver up Nate’s spine.

“Because I want you to understand that if something goes wrong, or if you try to screw me or Abernathy I will kill you. I’ll kill you, I’ll kill your friends, your family, the people you owe money to, and the people who owe you money. Then I’ll start killing their families and their friends."

"Understand this, you try to burn us, and I will burn your world to the ground and piss all over the ashes.”

His guest leaned forward and gave Nate a feral grin.

“If you thought Resnick was scary, you haven’t ever met a man like me.”

Nate nodded once and gulped, audibly.

“Uh… how do I get in contact with you once you are… uhm…”

The man across from Nate gently shook his head.

“You don’t get in contact with me, we’ll contact you.”

“Do I get to know your name at least?”

The man cocked his head slightly to one side and stared at Nate with his cold blue eyes before replying in his emotionless monotone.

“Richardson. My name is William Richardson. Not Bill, not Dick, and most certainly not Bill Dick. William Richardson.”

The former Marine stood smoothly from the couch and nodded down at Nate.

“Anything else?”

Nate simply shook his head and William nodded down at him.

“Be seeing you Nate.”

With those parting words William turned and left the hivehab. Nate rested his head in his hands and after a few moments wiped his face. He stood slowly and made his way to the bathroom that adjoined the bedroom. With a wave of his hand he began splashing water over his face and scrubbing his eyes. Finally, after he dried his face he stared intently at himself in the mirror.

“What have I done?”

That question too, was rhetorical.

* * *
The roof of the block smoked and burned as fire burned through the supposedly flame proof rockcrete. Flames licked from most if not all of the individual hab windows as the seven story hivehab burned. Through the smoke and flames strode one man walking from hab to hab searching for one particular person. His movements were quick and catlike as he carefully picked his way through the burning rooms.

Up the final flight of stairs he stalked, his S.L.A.M. rifle sweeping before him searching for targets. As he reached the door opposite the stairs he paused, then with quick movements he kicked the door of the room inwards and strode through. Moments later he turned and entered the first of the top level habs.

Four more hab doors were opened by the kick of his boot, each door revealing a set of rooms empty of inhabitants. Finally he returned to the stairs and returned the way he had come. Down the flight of stairs he strode, ignoring the flames that licked around his lanky body. He knew that the flames were burning hot enough to ruin the structural integrity of the hivehab; however his black body sheath would protect him from the worst of the heat as long as he made it out fast enough.

He paused once at the top of the final flight of stairs and stared out the building entrance at the crowd gathered across the street from the building. Fire workers, medicos, emergency transports, security contract agents, reporters and onlookers surrounded the building as it burned, and for a moment he stared, perhaps judging those who battled the flames.

With a snort he made it down the final flight of stairs and walked to the entrance, the rifle held in his hand barking with each step. The Self Loading Automatic Magnetic rifle fired teardrop sized metal slugs down paired polarized rails and out the end of the barrel at the people standing outside.

There a man holding a hose spewing flame retardant foam fell clutching the stump of his leg, here a reporter dropped silently with her chest cavity smashed into smoking ruin.

Screams abounded as the man strode forth from the smoky hell that was the burning building, his rifle clutched in his hands.

The polymer slide set into the top of the rifle slammed rearward, the empty plastic cylinder it held popping free and tumbling to the ground to join dozens of its fellows as the man walked on.

Right and left he swept his rifle sending emergency workers, reporters, and onlookers falling to the ground or seeking cover.

With nary a pause he stepped over the body of local firefighting hero Tory Glurk. The stare on his face utterly lacked emotion. His movements were methodical and precise as he calmly walked from the scene of devastation. His rifle roared again and again as people scrambled for cover, for concealment, or simply ran for their lives.

High velocity metal slugs slammed through vehicles seeking those cowering behind them for cover. Finally, after making his way more than half the distance down the road the man turned and sprinted down an alley and to a waiting Per-Tran.

Later surviving witnesses descriptions of this man varied from person to person. Some thought him tall, some thought him short. Some described him as dark, light, fat, skinny, and all aspects in between. The camera footage that was recorded by Silas Kenton captured his face however.

The man stood somewhat over six feet and was not terribly imposing. His black body sheath reflected the flames and flickered in time with the flames as its computer matrix attempted to match the pattern of the fire.

His hair was cropped short, in an almost military cut, and his face was clean shaven. Few distinguishing features were visible as he strode from the home.

The most apt witness report simply said “He looks like the Devil with a rifle.”

For weeks after this incident news reports would decry the violence inherent in the Heinlein founding documents, the public outcry that was for better security, greater personal safety, and for fire workers to carry guns on their person.

Nobody would mention the name William Richardson, and after the footage of the stone face killer was shown on various news outlets for the first time, it was never shown again.

Francis Abernathy made certain of that.

The building that burned to the ground became an eventual memorial to those men and women who fell on those grounds. People would remember this house in years hence in hushed and reverent tones. Tears would be shed, and people would wonder angrily how the merciless killer managed to escape.

People would wonder why he had chosen this building for his rampage and when or if he would return.

Without a name for him, or even a proper description of the killer various security organizations would eventually refer to him by one of a multitude of nicknames. None of them were nicknames he was normally known by, but the new names were unique nonetheless. The names did not matter, as it was only referred to locally. The Tulkus Firm and other security firms with various names had another name for him.

They called him William Richardson.

Francis Abernathy and those who knew him called him Corporal.

The Tulkus Firm had thought he was dead on Castor years earlier. They considered him a terrorist, a nightmare killer of women and children.

Those who knew him called him a mercenary.

He was a killer without compunction, without thought, without mercy. He killed for money, because he was good at it, and because he liked it.

The saying goes, when you have walked to long in darkness, it stains you. William Richardson embodied that stain.

The hivehab that contained the body of Jakob Resnick and twenty seven other men, women, and children burned to the ground regardless.

And that Ladies and Gentlemen, is where our story ends for now. Because... I haven't gotten any further yet.

Suggestions on where to take this next?

>>11830320

You know this would actually make a good introduction for a story revolving around William Richardson.

>>11830050
greatly enjoying it

Awesome, just finished reading it. You are gonna post more later right?

>>11830331

That's kind of where I was thinking of taking it. Here's the vague outline I have for it from here on.

1. William returns to Nate's home. Nate is horrified by what has happened, yet is conflicted by the death of Resnick.

2. Graham dies, Resnick's family invokes his Tulkus contract. Nate is discovered to have potentially contracted this as William is a known merc.

3. Abernathy contacts William, orders him off planet to hide as Abernathy's organization is now being torn apart following a search of Nate's hab by Tulkus that discovered the Vrexian Travel Ball which shows not only Nate, but William, Abernathy, and others.

4. William grabs Nate, drains as much funds as can be gathered before all accounts are frozen by Tulkus and attempts to secure off planet transport. They get screwed, and end up stowing away on a departing shuttle.

5. Shuttle goes up to old beaten up ship named the Carthage that is bringing up final load of perishables before leaving system to go excavate a dead world, (Read loot dead alien civilization against all laws)

I would like to see more Tansi. She seems important enough to Nate to warrant more appearances.

6. As ship is leaving, O2 levels show more consumption than normal, about enough for two more passengers. Captain of ship starts a search for them.

7. William and Nate attempt to hide, but are caught in the end as they don't know the ship or their way around.

8. Captain disarms them, makes them the offer to either crew along for now and be let off ship once this trip is done, or be returned to Heinlein via airlock and orbital insertion sans suits or shuttle.

9. After deciding to not die, ship makes transit to planet tomdickandharry or whatever the hell name I come up with, Nate gets forced to work in the engineering area as he has background as a tech. William is given scut work as all he is good at is killing.

10. Planet arrival, hijinks ensue. Planet shows minor alien civilization living in former great civilization now long dead. Captain angry at finding more dirty aliens, drops short term neutron bomb on civilization. Commences looting.

11. Nate horrified by bombing of unknown civilization as humanity has never encountered aliens before. Captain informs him and William that they have dusted four or five other planets just like this, aliens are common as roaches, and just as annoying.

Tansi plays a big part with Nate in the next bit. Nate is going all BAWWW about the fact that morally, he just caused all those deaths by proxy.

Tansi is the one to turn him in to Tulkus.

William shoots her in the face.

Nate isn't really liking William, he is mostly being drug along by William as the money he has is all the cash and finances that William has access to anymore.

Well I like the outline so far. Will you be posting more on here at some point?

Yep, I'll be posting more as I get it done. Probably going to crank out a chapter or two tonight and put them up as fast as I can. If the thread is gone, then I'll probably just feed it all together and put it up again. If not I'll update the thread.

Any more ideas on where people would like to see this go or similar? Also, I've got a planet and government background written up for the two main human world spanning groups.

I'm trying to tell two stories in one in a way. One being that humanity is the latest race to commit genocide, and is going to eventually run up against the current destroyer race, and the story of William and Nate at the same time.

How that will work out, I don't know yet.

Here's the two main trans-solar governments in what I am writing.

The Coalition of Allied Stars has it’s governmental home in the Castor system and grew out of the abundant population and colonies there. It is close to a democracy being as its founders were settlers from the old earth nation of the United States, however certain aspects of day to day life in the CAS are far from democratic. A massive government, high taxes on imports and exports, and a rigid monopoly on stellar transport are all hallmarks of the CAS.

The president of the CAS is Arthur O’Rourke, a hearty middle aged man of 63. His family can be traced back to Ireland, and were among some of the first settlers to arrive at Castor. Castor made a fortune in mining speculation and was instrumental in securing exclusive mining contracts with the Achernar Mining Conglomerate. He is also the person who brought Achernar into the CAS. Currently enjoying high popularity ratings and a grip of steel on the Stellar Senate, O’Rourke is enjoying his third term as President.

>>11830489

I'd focus on Nate and William with the elements of the bigger story peaking in here and there, with it becoming more noticeable the farther down the rabbit hole the unlikely duo go. However you take it though you better archive this as I want to save it all to my computer. Was a good read and definitely worth staying up really late for.

Each member planet of the Coalition elects three representatives every five years for appointment to the Stellar Senate. Like the presidency, no person may serve more than four terms total in the Senate or other governmental elected office. Currently the Chancellor of the Senate is Charles O’Rourke, a younger brother of Arthur.

The CAS military consists of a planetary defense force raised, maintained, and stationed on each planet. These forces can be called upon to leave the planet to assist other allied systems in case of invasion, civil unrest, natural disaster, or in case of war. Each planet is responsible for the upkeep and construction of five ship fleets for use in the CAS navy. These ships are used for operations against smugglers and pirates and of course, for defense in case of attack. Each of the planets maintains their ships locally, and typically they are deployed within their home systems. The CAS has a standing naval force of 75 ships of various sizes and uses apart from the system ships making it the second largest standing naval force in human space.

Member systems: Castor, Achernar, Merak, Procyon, Ras Alhague, Sirius, Mizar, Deneb Kaitos, and Capella.

>>11830518

I've got around 30 pages of just this so far, plus more for background, a timeline from 2008 up until 2620, major world backgrounds, government backgrounds, a tech bible for it, how star drives work, three alien critters for it, and the man antagonist overall of the current destroyer race.

>>11830519

I like the use of real star system names for a change. Seems that's too rare these days.

The Terran Conglomerate

Based on old Earth, the Terran Conglomerate evolved from the ancient United Nations of Earth following the tragic events of the final world war. Once significantly larger in influence, several planets have left the Terran Conglomerate due to their distrust of the ancient and corrupt government. The easiest way to describe the governmental style and life inside of the Terran Conglomerate would be rigidly socialist with several civil and personal liberties vastly curtailed.

Current Chairman of the Terran Conglomerate is Xing Chang Yao and has been so for the past 24 years. He has already stated that he does not intend to seek a second 25 year term as Chairman and plans to settle down in private life and seclusion. During his tenure as Chairman several planets broke away from the Conglomerate and have declared neutrality, or have become members of the Coalition. Several economic downturns, repeated scandals, and the attempt to maintain control of Achernar by military force have marred Chairman Yao’s tenure.

Assisting the Chairman in his duties are several council and comities. The most powerful of these, the Security Council, makes and oversees policy enacted in all areas operated and controlled by the Conglomerate. Appointments to the councils are done by popular mandate through individual blocs and ethnic guidelines.

The Conglomerate maintains a standing peacekeeping force on each controlled world with the express purpose of maintaining order. While they fill the role of a civilian police force, they operate under military guidelines and organization. These forces are also frequently redeployed to various trouble spots through the Conglomerate or to neutral planets in an attempt to maintain and secure Conglomerate interests.

The Conglomerate has the largest standing naval force in human space, a vast armada of 230 ships of various ages and states of repair (and disrepair). Though intended for defensive purposes only, these are frequently used as displays of force and power throughout Conglomerate space. Ships have been known to desert the Conglomerate Navy and either become smugglers, pirates, or defect to the Coalition.

Member Systems: Terra, Alpha Centauri, Alpheratz, Algol, Alderamin, Aldebaran, Pollux, Denebola, El Nath, Fomalhaut, Hamal, Phecda, Vega, Menkent, and Gienah.

>>11830530

Got a starmap? I'd love to see that

>>11830532

Yeah, that bothers the hell out of me for most, if not all modern sci-fi. Everyone wants to create their own system... which technically I did with the planet Heinlein, but really, is it utterly required to wipe all of the milky way out and make new stuff up?

Look up systems like Castor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_%28star%29
It's a freaking sextuple star system! It's gonna have stuff other than just stars!

>>11830553

Sure do!

Sadly, it's one I stole online a while back, but it's what I've got and have been using.

Big fan of what your doing, definitely focus on Nate and William, maybe further develop William's character as more than just a homicidal manic, give him some depth, and makes us like him, until he pulls another stunt.
As far as the plot progression goes, don't give it away but to you have an idea of where it's going to lead? if the ending is anti-climatic i will be sorely dissapoint

>>11830568

William being connectable despite being a raging psychopath. Check, can do.

I'm kind of nebulous on where to take it. If you read the outline I have for the next ten or so chapters, you can see the direction it's kind of taking. I'd like to take this further if I can, make it something that shows how the actions of just small groups of people can affect the outcome of this interstellar war between the previous genocidal race, and the newest one (ie us.). But, I'm also not certain how to show the big bad race, maybe just a glimpse or two and not much else.

After all, it;s not like this mismatched pair is going to save the universe and kill off this ancient race of killers on their own no matter how homicidal William is.

>>11830585

Have them run into a particular ship of this race several times. Turn it into a sort of annoying nemesis. That gives them a realistic foe to defeat. In the background you can stick the larger war and politics to give a feel to the grand scale of the conflict.

>>11830585

Right then this sounds good to me, to through my own idea into the mix i was thinking Nate and WIlliam could be mere bystanders caught between the warring races, that would give the epic feel of grand battles but leave the characters in the grand scheme of things unimportant small, naturally there would be a grand galactic conclusion but Nate and William would come to terms with there own story conclusions.

I obviously know shit about writing and am eagerly awaiting your next chapters, get to it man!

Let me show you what I have worked up for the alien ship(s). It's part of the timeline.

2482 Intersolar mining vessel Domino out of Pollux encounters odd mile long object in space apparently travelling slowly toward Pollux. Attempts to contact it are futile and attempts to land on the object are repulsed by strong magnetic/gravity field.
2483 Human colony of Pollux detects the mile long object finally closing to the system. All attempts to communicate end in failure. The object settles into geosyncronus orbit around Pollux’s southernmost pole region and remains there.

2485 Attempts to land or contact the “Space Scraper” finally result in a landing aboard the craft. Despite extreme obvious age aboard the object, no damage to the hull is discovered, nor is a way into it found.
2486 Second floating Space Scraper discovered, this one enroute to Proxima.
2487 Entrance into the first Space Scraper successful following repeated focused antimatter detonations on a small spot. All data classified and unreleased.
2494 Second Space Scraper dives into Proxima’s sun destroying itself.
2497 Third Space Scraper discovered, this one on direct route to Mars. Due to the slow speed that these travel at, contact not expected for nearly 75 years.
2521 First Space Scraper suffers from catastrophic destruction. Debris rains down on planet. Curiously, at the same time, Third Space Scraper picks up speed.
2554 Ship of unknown origin and design appears in Sirius system. Attempts to contact ship fail. Ship is visible for 4.5 local hours then vanishes.
2560 Third Space Scraper enters Terra System ahead of schedule. Space Scraper appears to be going at .9 of light speed with no signs of slowing. Mars Evacuation begins.
2561 Third Space Scraper splits lengthwise and two separate discs are dropped into high Mars orbit. First and second disc enter Mars atmosphere at 10th, at 9:15pm local time. Each disc cracks open to reveal miniaturized black hole. Mars is scoured of atmosphere, habitability, and life.

>>11830376
>>11830413
Sounds good

The story was incredible as well
hope this has been archived

How technologically advanced is humanity exactly?

Space Scrapers.

These mile long vessels show the passage of time upon their hull. Apparently capable of faster than light travel, yet travel at less than speed of light between systems typically. Each ship is ancient in the order of ages. Scars from micrometeor strikes, elongated scars from obvious beam weapon strikes, and with no visible external means of propulsion or defense save the massive gravitational and magnetic fields.

>>11830635

Oh dear. Yes... urm... explaining that will help somewhat. Allow me to post up my tech bible, or at least part of it.

1 Ships.

Humanity is known for function over form. Certainly there is beauty in the universe, and certainly humanity has made beautiful things. However space ships are not beautiful. Most of them are pug ugly. Sleek lines, gentle curves, and concealed parts are great for most sci-fi. This is not most sci-fi. Ships are ugly as sin, most of them boxy, elongated, and with various bits and pieces sticking out all over the place. The lines are sharp, the compartments on most ships boxy, and many parts are only concealed because they are inside the ship. Take an Omega Destroyer from B5 and uglify it. Thusly you have the way that many ships look, ugly.

Most human built ships operate under antimatter fission power. Attempts at creating or discovering alternate more efficient power sources have failed and continue to fail. The available hydrogen between star systems, and inside star systems allows for near limitless power sources for the creation of antimatter.

Two differing drive types power all ships; the first is the older Kinzer style propulsion system. It can be boiled down to the statement of a pusher plate and antimatter reaction drive. Constant and small scale matter-antimatter reaction provides a shockwave “push” in the desired direction with increasing speed and momentum over time. This is the older style of drive system, and while slower is most commonly used for in system transit.

>>11830646
Nice concept comrade,
will you work this backstory-ing your doing into the narrative somehow?
Part of the chapter foreword perhaps?

The second form of drive is the Altarian Pocket Drive. The only discovery within the alien derelict star ship that once orbited Altair is that drive. Through an antimatter reaction it powers a miniaturized “big bang” of a pocket universe. The raw power of this creates eddies and currents that throw the ship in the desired direction as the miniature universe attempts to escape the larger, pre existing one. This progresses along at rapid speeds that increase the longer the pocket universe is allowed to exist. Travel and acceleration will continue until the drive is shut down, or until a gravity well of sufficient power forces it to shatter dropping the ship back into normal space.

The destruction of the pocket universe typically causes massive gravity waves throughout a small area of space, and thusly is never used in systems due to the potential damage it may cause. Ships typically engage the drive upon entering the Heliosheath of a system, and drop out of the drive upon entering the Heliosheath of another system. Typically the travel of a light year will take a day, thusly to travel between Earth and Alpha Centauri will take four days transit out of system, four days Drive time, and four days into system.

The Kinzer drive does allow travel between systems, however at a much slower rate as it cannot travel at a speed that is faster than light. With constant acceleration aboard a Kinzer powered ship would allow for near light speeds, the time taken to reach such a speed would be longer than most interstellar trips allow for.

The backstorying is going to be done as part of the foreword per chapter, yes. Most likely as pages from the "visiting humanity in the stars" travel book that's at the start of each chapter so far.

While travel between stars with the Kinzer drive is slower, it does not show the effects on passengers as much as it would normally due to advanced time dilation occurs the closer to light speed a ship travels. Thusly while travel between Earth and Alpha Centauri would take 26 years for all outside observers, for those involved in the travel it will take only 6 years, with most of those years being spent in hibernation sleep.

All interstellar ships have a form of artificial gravity based upon the spinning of ship sections devoted to life support and the counter spin of the outer wall sections, reaction mass tanks, and pusher plates.

Most interstellar ships are built in orbit, and thusly are incapable of planetary landing. For this express purpose all ships carry a small number of landing craft, these ships are typically close in size to a 21st century transport bus.

2 Space Weaponry
Humanity is what it is, and while some wish that Violence amongst humans would have been left behind hundreds of years ago, sadly it has not. The only contact that humanity has had with the dangerous automated craft known as “Space Scrapers” has led to some small advancements in space based weaponry, however much of the theoretical weapons that speculated upon during the height of the “Sci Fi” era have been proven unworkable.

Typically space based weaponry can be classified into three distinct types. The first being projectile based, secondly energy based, and finally fission based.

2.1 Railguns, Coilguns, and Gravity Launchers.
Railguns are the most cost effective and effective space based weaponry. A typical planetary defense ship or warship will have a number of these weapons in various positions aboard. Normally arranged in clusters of four, these batteries of railguns launch metallic projectiles with enough force to punch their way through multiple layers of hardened armor.

Coilguns are electrically charged weapons that launch smaller metal projectiles in a shotgun like effect. These being smaller than railguns, and thusly less effective are typically used for point defense against incoming objects. These are similar in style of the “Metal Storm” weapons of the 21st century.

Gravity Launchers are large and typically a ship is built around them, hull length rail clusters that provide a small Altarian projector force these objects forward by counter rotation and gravity projection. These are large and unwieldy save for use against fixed objects, or other objects that have a direct course. Typically used for asteroid interdiction or planetary bombardment, the first of these was used to destroy the third “Space Scraper” following it’s scouring of Mars.

2.2 Energy Based Weapons.
Lasers and Grasers.

Coherent beams of light while focused along various wavelengths will provide power based upon input, focusing, and output. Typically these are less effective inside of atmospheres and thusly are strictly space-based weaponry, unable to be used against anything with an atmosphere. They operate by pulsing directional beams in a rapid-fire pattern designed to impact at a focused point. While slower, these do have the ability to burn their way through armor and objects given enough time. Based off speed of light they are harder to avoid despite their large sizes compared to other weaponry. They are some of the most common space weapons.

Antimatter pulse propulsion? As a hard science nerd I heartily endorse this.

>>11830707

Glad to see another hard science nerd. Yeah, an Orion style drive is what I wanted with just a slight variation.

Particle Accelerators.

Particle accelerators come in two types. The charged particle accelerator weapon (CPAW) and the neutral particle accelerator weapon (NPAW). CPAWs fire electrons — essentially chained lightning, with all that implies. They are less effective in space, since the electrons tend to repel each other, making the beam “fizzle out” relatively quickly, as opposed to in an atmosphere, where air pressure would tend to keep them together for greater distance. NPAWs are strictly space-to-space weapons; while deadly in their element, even a relatively thin atmosphere would quickly absorb all but the most powerful beam. Mechanically they are nearly identical to CPAWs. But they have the addition of an assembly at the muzzle that strips off an electron or adds a proton to each particle as it passes to make that particle neutral in charge; this may take the form of an ultra-fine screen, grating, filter, or laser.

There are two basic designs of particle accelerators, linear and cyclotron. The former simply lines up the magnetic and electrical elements, much like a coilgun. The latter arranges these elements in a toroidal shape, so that the particles swirl around, building up speed, before being emitted from the short linear final stage.

Linear devices are simpler and more resistant to battle damage; if an accelerator element is knocked out of action, it simply weakens the beam a little. However, the long beam path needed can represent a severe stricture on ship design. For these reasons, this type is better suited to large, powerful weapons making up primary armaments running the length of the hull — so-called “spinal mounts”.

Cyclotrons are more complex, but do not dictate vessel architecture as markedly. They are more affected by damage, since in addition to accelerating particles, the electrical and magnetic elements bend the particles’ path to keep them within the toroid, and the loss of an element compromises containment integrity. This type, then, should be relegated to secondary weapons of moderate power.

2.3 Fission Based.
Fission Launchers.

Fission Launchers are essentially self-contained mini missile launchers. Fission launchers operate via a small section of a projectile that contains antimatter; this antimatter is bombarded with hydrogen electrons, which cause a miniature reaction forcing the object out the barrel. When exposed to equal amounts of hydrogen these are launched at almost .01 C toward an enemy. Nearly unstoppable these objects impact and force their way through the hardest of armors, while at their core there exists a second and larger drop of antimatter, which when crushed against the containing device explodes creating a small nuclear reaction.

Missile Launchers.
The basic missile has remained unchanged for centuries. Propellant behind, payload in front. These can be used for any number of reasons, from bombardment of planets to anti-ship launches. Based off the size of the missile, these warheads are typically very large and contain enough antimatter to either force a focused X-ray beam of energy and radiation at a target (bomb pumped Xaser) or a simple fission explosion.

3. Space Armor.
Armor plating.
As there is no viable shield technology yet available to mankind, all ships are plated with various armors. Some older ships have ferrocrete armor arrayed around them in ablative replaceable layers. Other newer ships have a diamond mesh weave armor coating them.

Ferrocrete Armor
The ferrocrete while older is slightly more effective in some areas. It’s thickness blocks most laser from punching in by splintering off, as each pulse of a laser produces dust clouds which block most laser array effectiveness. Rail weapons simply penetrate into the armor and spend most of their energy-destroying armor. Fission and radiation missiles will punch through the armor, typically by melting it off, and thusly causing less effectiveness over multiple hits.

Diamond Mesh Weave.
The weave surrounds at various thickness most modern ships. Radiation directed at this armor is less effective as it is redirected via the weave over the entire ship and displaces almost all effects from shot, blast, and radiation. Rail based weaponry impacting this armor makes it harder as they penetrate further, thusly dispersing most effects. Lasers which direct most focused energy in specific spots will penetrate this armor faster than other weaponry however as the constant pulses focused on a specific area does not allow the armor to dissipate heat fast enough, and instead find itself burned through, decreasing it’s effect.

Some experimental ships use large gravity generators to prevent projectile and missile attacks, but currently there is no information available about this.

Some warships will have multiple ferrocrete layers surrounding the diamond mesh weave about their ships, giving themselves the best of both worlds at the cost of larger surface areas and less weaponry.

Shields.
No handwavium here. Move along, move along.

. Gravity and Life Support.
Gravity.
A way to create true artificial gravity has not been discovered. Most ships that perform longer ranged trips spin their habitation quarters to provide almost ½ G worth of gravity. While at rest, the ships base power continues to provide this motion to provide for comfort for the crew.

Life Support.
Contrary to belief, there are no hydroponics labs aboard ships. There are no green growing plants there to provide assistance by converting carbon dioxide to breathable air. The only air filtration consists of mechanical and electrical filters and scrubbing systems powered by the fission plant and operating throughout the ship. While some consider this technology outdated being as it is based upon designs now almost 500 years old, it still works, and is the most effective ways of providing air for passengers and crew.

5. Sensors, Scanners, Communication, and Electronics.
Sensors
The old fiction of scanners showing things in real time over great distances is a fiction and myth. There is no way for a ship half a light year away to have a real time visual or conversation across that distance. Most sensors operate by simply picking up light and movements from ships visually. That is, if the moving ship is three light minutes distant, the viewer would see their movements via a three minute delay. Light hours, light minutes, it makes no difference, the delay is as long as the distance between the two objects. Certain objects, such as sensor platforms located through out space in areas will provide some measure of faster communication of information, however these are highly inefficient and available only in densely populated areas.

Scanners
The immediate space around a ship is not subjected to the light speed lag delay, and certain scanners exist that allow detailed information to be picked up. Some older forms such as Radar, Visual scanning and Xadar do still exist and are in use, however more modern ships rely upon Lidar, Laser based scanning in laymans terms.

Communication
Communication between ships or planets is frequently boiled down to two basic styles. One, a laser based antenna array beams communications between local receivers, allowing taped messages to be viewed or heard through the time delay of light travel. The other method, more used for longer range communication between systems consists of MR. Message Rockets powered by small engines and rechargable power plants make their way across space using the Altarian drive between systems, then beam via laser antenna the messages and information packets before being routed to another planet with more messages.

Electronics
Artificial Intelligences do not exist in human space. Most computers are smart after a fashion, but they are machines and not self aware. Due to laws enacted early during mankinds space exploits the theory of an AI becoming more powerful and self aware was viewed as a threat to humanity’s existance, and thusly all work toward, and all existing examples of AI were abolished. Computers exist, and are in use on most planets and ships, however they are seen and used as tools, not as a crutch. Computers have come a long way from the primitive things that people from the 20th and 21st centuries would recognize. Circuits are not the old plastic wrapped copper, instead they are a liquid crystal matrix that is self repairing and more conductive.

6. Sleeper systems.
Sleeper systems have been available to humanity for quite some time. Older less effective version of cryohibernation while not as efficient nor as safe, provided the building blocks for modern sleeper systems. Subjects are first injected with a nanorepair solution which provides oxygen to the brain and extremities while shutting down all non essential functions. They are then cased inside a semi liquid medium of nanobiotic gel and frozen at precisely zero degrees Kelvin. The nanorepair solutions continue to function, and the frozen temperature allows for no expansion of gas or liquid. While in this sleeping state, human brains are kept semi conscious and are connected to a single computer, this allows socialization, interaction, thought, conversation, and life to be lived in an utterly controlled and secure artifical reality. Older models, which did not have these systems frequently suffered nearly 68% loss of sanity of life before discoveries were made to relieve symptoms.

7. Crew Life (Non Sus An)
For non suspended animation ships and crews, life is different yet still close to normal. In near half gravity muscle mass decreases, and thusly people become weaker the longer they stay in space. Because of this, most people make frequent use of training regimens, weight systems, or other exercise options to keep themselves healthy during extended trips between stars. Recreation on most ships consists of crew choices, games, reading, exercise, and the like. Larger ships make use of higher grade training facilities, and on longer hauls some people will complete school or college courses to pass the time. Sleep aboard ships is done via one of two methods. The cheaper, easier, and faster method of sleep tubes is the most common method. Consisting of a 30 inch high, 30 inch wide, and 96 inch long padded climate controlled tubes, these are mechanically racked in storage bays and pulled from those bays after elapsed times set by occupants or during emergencies. The more expensive and less effective style of sleep is a rack bed. As rack beds are larger and require more space, these are typically reserved to richer and more powerful people and ships.

That's most of the tech bible I have done up. There are a few small things left in it, but most of them are of no real use.

Per-Trans are an analog for modern cars that run off thermal energy.
Earcoms are small organically grown membranes that allow telephone conversations.

Generic sci-fi concepts really for some of the stuff that doesn't really need explanation to most people who read or write sci-fi.

If you are going to develop this universe further, I'd love to see something from the point of view of an Earth / Terranwhatever citizen.

Well I am off to bed. Was a great read and the effort you put into making the setting somewhat believable from a scientific standpoint is good too (no shields, ftl messages delivered via courier, function over form ships, etc). Before I go though I just want to say, you should make space ships white as a reference to modern spacecraft, and it does make sense as white helps reflect stellar radiation. Downside is it makes you more visible so might not be as popular on military ships.

Bitter Old Man, would you archive this on suptg? You'd know all the tags, and I'd be able to read the upcoming parts by searching the correct tags.

I need to go to sleep now. I just now spotted this thread and only had enough time to read the first few posts by the OP.

6.5 hours from now when I wake up, this thread BETTER still be here. Or I will will find you, OP, and rape you. With an angry robotic porcupine fitted with rotating razor dildos.

Are we clear? Keep this thread alive.

>>11830797

Um... This is gonna sound like fail... but I have no clue how to archive this on suptg. Never gotten enough people interested in anything to get something archived.

>>11830807
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/requestinterface.html

Follow the instructions and this thread will be archived.

And if a faggot admin behind suptg decides to cull this thread, he will meet Willy - the Razor Dildo Porcupine. Of Death.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/11829913/

read it, rate it up, enjoy...

Hope I did it justice in terms of name and description BOM. Now go make more wonderful threads. And for future reference you can archive by going here:

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/requestinterface.html

Then just put the number of the first post in the thread (11829913 was this threads post number) in as well as a title, description and a few tags to help in searching it out. I used "Heinlein, Sci Fi, Storytime" so you might want to include those to link later threads to this one.

>>11830828

Looks like some kind Anon decided to archive it for me. Many thanks to that kind anon.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/11829913/

And now... for the complete timeline so far.

>>11830828

Where can I get a razor dildo porcupine? I want one.

>>11830832

Many thanks Anon. Now... as promised, the timeline.

2010-2014 The war between the USA and Greater Caliphate ends following a limited Nuclear exchange that leaves New York City, Los Angeles, Baghdad and Teheran destroyed.
2017 Steven Kinzer of Toronto develops revolving antimatter conversion from and to hydrogen.
2018 Steven Kinzer murdered in Berlin following talks with German Chancellor.
2021 Kinzer base established on Moon.
2023 First Kinzer drive developed and built. Mars Colony One launched.
2024 Mars Colony one fails due to unknown disease strain.
2026 Mars Colony two established.
2030 Venus Colony one established.
2037 Europa Colony one established. Mars colony two fails due to repeat of disease strain.
2038 Mars Colony three established.
2040 Chinese-Russian war begins.
2045 Europa Staging area established for proposed jump off to stellar exploration.
Chinese-Russian war ends in a stalemate.

2046 Xin Yao demonstrates theory of light travel. Yao theory proves that the closer an object gets to light speed, time dilates for the object. Proven via test involving scientists set into ship powered by Kinzer drive orbiting Sol for two years.
2051 USA launches Einstein to Alpha Centauri. Proposed travel time 26 years. Relative time 5 years.
2052 USA launches Roosevelt to Sirius system. Proposed travel time 52 years. Relative time 8 years.
2054 UE launches Chiraq to Procyon system. Proposed travel time 70 years. Relative time 11 years.
2055 China launches Xin Yao to Fomalhaut. Due to 150 year travel time between systems experimental sleeper systems are installed in ship. Relative time, 26 years.
2056 Greater Caliphate drained of all oil based supplies.
2057 Greater African Nation merges with Greater Caliphate. USA merges with Canada and northern Mexico to form North American Union.
2062 NAU and EU launch dual sleeper ships Buckingham and Washington to Arcturus. Proposed travel time 184 years. Relative time 30 years.

2074 Einstein arrives at Alpha Centauri ahead of schedule. Landing performed on Centauri III. Colony established one year later.
2080 Alpha Centauri colony discovers partial ruins below surface of planet. Excavation begins.
2084 Alpha Centauri ruins contain remnants of extra solar life destroyed uncounted millions of years ago due to asteroid bombardment. Technology level equal to that of earth in the 1700’s.
2087 EU and NAU begin war with China and Greater Caliphate.
2088 Country of Pakistan hit by meteorite, subsequent eruptions and quakes devastate country and region.
2091 World War four ends with crushing defeat of China and Greater Caliphate. Much of Europe and China destroyed. NAU largely unscathed due to missile defensive shield.
2094 Churchill launched for Vega. Proposed travel time 127 years. Relative time 25 years.
2099 EU launches Roseau for Altair. Proposed travel time 80 years. Relative time 13 years.
2105 Roosevelt arrives Sirius system. Location contains no habitable planets but does contain asteroid belt. Sirius station and habitats begin construction.

2107 Japan launches Yamamoto to Pollux. Proposed travel time 169 years. Relative time 28 years.
2109 India launches Ghandi to Capella. Proposed travel time 211 years. Relative time 35 years. China launches Mao to Denebola. Proposed travel time 181 years. Relative time 30 years.
2209 Various colonies established throughout local star systems. Due to discoveries on numerous planets of elements of non-terrestrial civilizations humanity discovers Altarian pocket drive.
2442 Altarian pocket drive allows colonization of additional planets and systems within 150 light years of previous boundaries.
2479 Human colony on Alpha Ophiuchi stops communicating.
2480 Ships arriving at Alpha Ophiuchi discover planet scoured of life, planet covered in various craters, devoid of atmosphere.
2482 Intersolar mining vessel Domino out of Pollux encounters odd mile long object in space apparently travelling slowly toward Pollux. Attempts to contact it are futile and attempts to land on the object are repulsed by strong magnetic/gravity field.

2483 Human colony of Pollux detects the mile long object finally closing to the system. All attempts to communicate end in failure. The object settles into geosyncronus orbit around Pollux’s southernmost pole region and remains there.
2485 Attempts to land or contact the “Space Scraper” finally result in a landing aboard the craft. Despite extreme obvious age aboard the object, no damage to the hull is discovered, nor is a way into it found.
2486 Second floating Space Scraper discovered, this one enroute to Proxima.
2487 Entrance into the first Space Scraper successful following repeated focused antimatter detonations on a small spot. All data classified and unreleased.
2494 Second Space Scraper dives into Proxima’s sun destroying itself.
2497 Third Space Scraper discovered, this one on direct route to Mars. Due to the slow speed that these travel at, contact not expected for nearly 75 years.

2521 First Space Scraper suffers from catastrophic destruction. Debris rains down on planet. Curiously, at the same time, Third Space Scraper picks up speed.
2554 Ship of unknown origin and design appears in Sirius system. Attempts to contact ship fail. Ship is visible for 4.5 local hours then vanishes.
2560 Third Space Scraper enters Terra System ahead of schedule. Space Scraper appears to be going at .9 of light speed with no signs of slowing. Mars Evacuation begins.
2561 Third Space Scraper splits lengthwise and two separate discs are dropped into high Mars orbit. First and second disc enter Mars atmosphere at 10th, at 9:15pm local time. Each disc cracks open to reveal miniaturized black hole. Mars is scoured of atmosphere, habitability, and life.
2562 Militant human build up. Systems begin building ships and war machines preparing for war with an unknown alien race.
2567 Despite lack of contact with any more Space Scrapers, or other forms of life military build up is extended and continued.

2571 Tensions rise between Terran Conglomerate and Castor System over taxes and military forces.
2576 Castor withdraws from Terran Conglomerate. Sirius and Capella follow suit within the year.
2577 Castor, Sirius, and Capella systems form the Coalition of Allied Stars.
2578 Procyon withdraws from Terran Conglomerate and joins Coalition.
2580 Admiral Richard Waters and twelve ships mutiny from Terran Conglomerate and join Coalition. These twelve ships, being the most up to date military ships in existence, give a much needed PR boost to the Coalition.
2581 Merak renounces Terran Conglomerate and joins Coalition.
2582 Alpha Centauri system attempts to withdraw from Terran Conglomerate, is brought to heel and returned to the fold after militant stand off between forces loyal to CAS and TC end peacefully.
2583 Possible fourth Space Scraper discovered.
2584 Fourth Space Scraper denied as myth by both the Conglomerate and Coalition. Dual “wargames” involving both fleets results in accidental loss of 17 ships in Arcturus system. Losses written off as due to gravitational hazards in the system. System closed to travel.

>>11830849
>Technology level equal to that of earth in the 1700’s.
2087 EU and NAU begin war with China and Greater Caliphate.
Fuck yeah, at last extraterrestials in sci-fi who are below us in tech terms

>hamilik Gertrude's
Quite an old-fashioned captcha.

The current year is 2623, I've left the last few years open for major timeline inserts that may require insertion to make the story more cohesive and sensible to readers as needed.

Here's some of the general notes I have written down, some of them relevant, some not so.

>>11830874

Yep, honestly, I don't expect all aliens to be highly advanced super races, some will be behind us in ability, others ahead. Different races evolve faster or slower depending on when they hit both the industrial age, and the scientific age.

I admit, some of the stuff is "ooh sci-fi!" but I tried to follow hard science as close as I could and make it all fit.

Heinlein is known for a neutral standpoint. Build primarily upon the backs of free trade and free enterprise, it is wildly chaotic, and everything and everyone has a price. Mercenaries, soldiers, traders, criminals, politicians, everyone has a price and somewhere there is someone willing to pay that price.
The world is part of a binary star system, two counter orbiting suns causes the planet a constant day, and a constant night. Life exists primarily in the dusk/dawn region of the planetary belt for this very reason. On the day side, temperatures vary from hot in the closest regions to the occupied belt, to inferno in the midlands. Some roving caravans exist in the early morning and late afternoon regions, however nobody can survive in full daylight. Opposite that, Night is a cluster of ice and constant freeze with similar but reversed effects.
The world is named after the expedition that landed on the planet first. Most old earth expeditions were named for famous representatives from their geographic areas, this one is no different and is named after a famous writer who wrote sci-fi.

Religion is not a large factor of life on Heinlen. The dominant church is called ASC. The Awakened Stellar Church. Their stance on the universe is that god created all things. They are a very relaxed church compared to several others and have almost no hard creed. Easily put, a nice and friendly church.

Due to limited space available for habitation, much of the civilization has built down, into the crust of the world and large undercities exist. Most of the above ground is devoted to space ports, or trade.

Heinlen government is almost nonexistent and most things about the planet are governed by trade. Need raw Sewage dealt with? Either pay someone to deal with it, or sell it in it’s components to someone in need of the raw matter and elements.

Crime is fairly low. While there is no true police force, criminals understand that in an utterly free trade atmosphere, while they may rob one person, that person may pay to have them whacked after tracking them down, and thusly other than off-worlders committing crimes, most people do not.

Several other planets object to Heinlein’s complete and utter lack of taxation, simply because several interstellar companies have set their corporate headquarters there in an effort to avoid such.

Because Heinlen is on the outer skirts of the Terran Sphere as it is called, it is a frequent stopover for explorer ships, and scavengers.
Since the discovery of a few different fallen civilizations, yet no life forms in the galaxy yet(the topic of the Star Scrapers is under debate), many smaller ships have begun scavenging the remnants of those civilizations in an effort to provide artifacts for people who want them, and for new technologies.

Due to Heinlein’s proximity to the Coalition of Allied Systems relations are strained between the two due to Heinlen repeatedly refusing to join.

Because of the unique situation Heinlein is in, their professed neutrality has been strained a time or two. As such, the commercial and private space craft that operate from Heinlein are subject to emergency mobilization in case of unrest or conflict. While some object to this form of defense, others laud it as it allows them to upgrade defenses of their ships at very close to “cost”.

>>11830898
>but I tried to follow hard science as close as I could and make it all fit.
You've done a great job, congrats. However, I've found one unforgiveable error on that part. That is,
>They are then cased inside a semi liquid medium of >nanobiotic gel and frozen at precisely zero degrees >Kelvin.

That shit wouldn't work at all, as a) It's impossible ot freeze anything to 0 degrees kelvin and b), such a low temperature would make nanites somewhat 'unresponsive', if you know what I mean.

Personal weapons, Lasers require to much power to make effective outside of space, and dissipate far to soon. Ditto with plasma.

However hypersonic/ultrasonic weapons are realistic.

Mag Guns – Hand held magnetic/railgun analog.

Screamers – Sonic pistol/rifle analog.

Burner – focused microwave radiation pistol/smg analog

Slugger – Pistol/Rifle/SMG analog

Screamers fire a focused ultrasonic beam that functions in the 2-4 hz frequency in rapid pulses, these pulses proceed to cause rupture in the internal organs of a target, rapid lethality. Single pulses cause discomfort, multiple rapid focused pulses cause rupture/death.

Burners fire directed microwave radiation in a pencil thin beam over short distances. Typically these weapons begin at 400 degrees Celsius and dissipate one degree per yard up to 200 yards.

Sluggers are your basic old fashioned pistols/rifles save not fired by gunpowder. Instead they launch hypervelocity darts typically 1-2mm in size in small bursts of 10-15.

Mag weaponry uses magnetic rails to accelerate small teardrop magnetic alloy slugs to near relativistic speeds that impact targets with high levels of kinetic energy.

>>11830925

Believe me, I do know that. I said I tried to be as exact as possible, but still allowed for minor scifi bs. That right there is one of the biggest in my mind, especially as I am a huge science nerd and wanted to be as close to right as possible.

Incoming with planetary listing, note that while this is only a partial list and several (most) of the locations don't have a full write up, it contains the essentials that provide the setting for most locations.

Achernar
Achernar is home to a thriving asteroid belt mining operation. Many heavy metals occur in abundance in this system; enough to make any mining facility here well worth any associated risks from the radiological irregularities from the systems sun. The largest of these facilities, The Achernar Mining Conglomerate conducts most of the shipments into and out of the system. Due to the large quantities of substances such as gold, platinum, and other rarer ores thought to only occur in controlled laboratories shipments are guarded closely and patrols through the system are commonly conducted in an attempt to stop smuggling.
Aldebaran
Aldebaran is a mineral poor system with barely any of the building blocks of life. Oxygen exists only in controlled domes on the planet surface. The methane atmosphere is used rather than the standard hydrogen to provide constant fuel to the power systems that keep the planetary inhabitants alive on a world that is quite hostile to human life. Some of the largest examples of single celled organisms exist on Aldebaran, including one called by locals a Leech. These creatures, each growing about a yard in length, migrate about the planet on the methane storms, when encountering other living organisms they wrap themselves about their victims and via a method as yet unexplained draw energy from them. Because of these creatures and their abundance, travel outside of the domes is highly uncommon.

Alderamin

Alderamin can best be described as the vacation spot of the universe. Orbiting a star that will be becoming a red giant sometime in the next million years or so, and orbiting rather fast compared to other planets, the temperatures of Alderamin are a varied mix that change from day to day. Because of this and the gorgeous skylines and planetary view, the planet is a haven for the idle rich and those who can afford a vacation. Tailored to suit the most expensive of tastes, Alderamin is the most hedonistic of the worlds that mankind has settled down on.

Alhena

One of few binary star systems to actually bear planets or planetary life, Alhena is an iceball world. The only reason that any human inhabitants reside on Alhena is the vast ice covered oceans. Beneath the ice that sheaths the planets surface is natural PURE heavy water. This dense water contains much of the cocktail of life, and has many interesting life forms native to it. Anagrams of Terra’s extinct Sharks, Whales, and Dolphins exist here in large quantities.

Algol

One of the only known Triple star systems, Algol bears no natural planets, however does have a large asteroid field and oort cloud, both of which have been mined in the past. However there are no regular inhabitants of this system due to massive radiation output for most of the stellar year, which allows mining operations less than ninety terran days a year. Due to the radiation permeating the system, many of the minerals here are both denser than normally found, and have radiation resistant properties, which makes them highly sought after.

Alioth

Alioth’s large stellar dust cloud is home to no true planets, and three dwarf planets. On the furthest dwarf planet exists one of the largest starship building facilities in known space. Due to raw elements being available with almost no mining required ships built here are done faster than anywhere else. The planet is surrounded by stations and contains only three-domed atmosphere habitats due to the instability of the plate tectonics.

Alpha Centauri II, III

Alpha Centauri II is a planet not unlike Earth. Large masses of water cover most of the world in a 70-30 trade of water to land. The two planets share similar geology, similar temperatures and very similar metallurgical likenesses.

Alpha Centauri III is closer to old Mars than Earth. Dry hot and sandy, however it does have an atmosphere and living conditions here are close to those of dry arid climates on Earth.

Alpheratz

An unstable dual sun system, Alpheratz is a system home to deep mining facilities, which harvest the abundant mercury, gallium, manganese, and europium from the system.

>>11829913
Oh look it's the generic progenitor race from every scifi ever. Followed by shitting up the board devoted to traditional games with WALLS OF TEXT.
maybe you should post this on a site devoted to original fiction then post a FUCKING LINK.

Altair

Altair is a system utterly devoid of life bearing planets. The system is barren and of little prospects to either colonization or reasons for doing so. The fourth planet of the five-planet system is utterly devoid of atmosphere and life. However during a routine exploration of this system, the wreckage of an alien craft was discovered during the year 2209. Examination of the ship has lead to the development of the Altarian Pocket Drive. However other technical advances believe to have been available from the ship were utterly destroyed during the first catastrophic initiation of the drive.

Ankaa

Ankaa is home to both an orange subgiant star, and a large gas planet similar to the Terran systems Jupiter. The system is not viable for human life, and the only station in the system is home to a small splinter sect of the Church of Humanity Chained. These doomers feel that mankind has grown too far to fast, and believe that only by isolation will god allow humanity to continue existing. Because of their beliefs the system is off limits to most contact, and does not acknowledge or allow trade or interaction with other planets.

Arcturus

Arcturus is a system classified as off limits and interdiction of the system is heavily enforced. Speculation as to why is rampant, however most believe the semi-official story of three Star Scrapers having been discovered in the system.

Barnard

While a popular star in science fiction of the 20th and 21st centuries, this star system has nothing to offer humanity other than a small planet close to the size of Pluto at the furthest reaches of the system. A planetary dome was established here following humanity’s journey to the star. However despite high hopes during the initial colonization, the planet is mineral poor, badly situated, and prone to micrometeorite showers through the thin atmosphere. The initial colony was abandoned during the early 2300’s.

Capella

Capella is another dual star system, however this one is home of two terrestrial planets. The first, a planet almost as large as Jupiter is surrounded by huge rings and requires no domed habitat. The size of the planet not withstanding it has a low water ratio, being home to only three small land locked seas and a small number of rivers and lakes. Most water is shipped down to the planet from the surrounding rings. The second planet of the system is home to Capellan Fleetworks. Capellan Fleetworks is the largest ship building company in the galaxy.

Caph

Caph is a Delta Scuti variable star with oddball stellar output. There are no human settlements here, nor are there any potentially habitable worlds. The only planet in the system orbits so close to the sun that its surface is hotter than that of mercury.

Castor

Castor is the only known sextuple star system, with six individual stars gravitationally bound together in semi elliptical orbits. Each of these stars varies in size, shape, and metallic content. The system is the largest known to exist, with seventeen planets, three individual asteroid belts, and uncounted moons. Eleven of these planets are inhabited, and many of them bear scars of repeated asteroid impacts. Most of the inhabited planets of the system show signs either through archeological research, or visible structures of having once been inhabited by various species, each evolving separately and at varying times through the past four billion years. The most technically advanced of these civilizations would match up to our mid 20th century, having occurred almost two billion years ago. The ultimate end of these civilizations is unknown. The most advanced species left many artifacts and fossils suggest that the Castorians were bipedal creatures, ranging in height from eleven feet to nearly thirty feet tall. Their bone structure and curious civilization ruins suggests that while bipedal they were herbivores and herd creatures.

Delta Velorum

Delta Velorum is an incredibly closely orbiting binary star system with no known planets. The two stars however are slowly rotating away from one another, which suggests that the two collided at one time, and the smaller of the two, a dwarf star lost much of it’s mass to the larger star. The remnants of an asteroid belt suggest that there once were planets in the system, however they were destroyed shortly before, during, or after the stellar collision.

Denebola

Denebola is home to stellar dust cloud, and two inhabited planets. While the star output fluctuates every few hours, the dust cloud protects the two planets from the varying stellar radiation. Both planets have mild atmospheres containing less oxygen and have lower gravity than earth.

Deneb Kaitos

Deneb Kaitos is an evolving red star surrounded by three small cold, atmosphereless planets. The first suffers from severe tectonic plate movement, and the third suffers from an oblong orbit that swings both dangerously close to the star and far from it during its stellar year. The middle planet is home to a dome habitat.

Dubhe

Dubhe is a quad star system devoid of life.

El Nath

El Nath is an orange giant star home to a single inhabited planet; which runs an extensive mining operation in the Oort cloud. The naturally habitable planet is home to large water to land ratios, and some interesting undersea ruins dating back barely a million years. Little is known about the former inhabitants save that they did not exist on the arid land.

Fomalhaut

Fomalhaut is home to a close Kuiper belt and one inhabited planet. The planet is hostile to most terrestrial life and life exists only in large domes. Ore from Algol was used to produce the second domed colonies. The first expedition to Fomalhaut met with failure shortly after construction of their domed habitat. High radiation levels lead to the deaths of the entire first colony shortly after arrival.

Gacrux

Gacrux is home to both a red giant star, and a white dwarf star. The white dwarf is slowly collapsing upon itself. Sometime within the next million years, it is expected to collapse into the first known black dwarf. Due to the high radiation and gravitational fluxes in this system, it is avoided as a stellar hazard.

Gemma

Gemma is home to a binary star system with a protoplanetary spear. Gravitational pulls in the system prevent true planetary formation, and instead have caused a lengthy spar planetoid of irregular length, depth, and width to form. The object, known as Gemmas’ Spear is currently uninhabited due to the instability of the mass.

Gienah

Gienah is a cool orange giant in it’s death stage. The only planet of the system is a large and uninhabitable gas giant. However two moons that orbit both one another and the gas giant are home to small and newly settled dome habitats.

Gliese 710

Gliese 710 is a red dwarf star of no note, save for the fact that in nearly 1.4 billion years it will intersect with the Terran system and perform a near distance pass by of almost 1 light year.

Hamal

Hamal is a giant star, and quite possibly one of the largest stars in our galaxy. It burns hotter than our sun, and of it’s seven planets the only one that will support life is the furthest. Currently there is a small domed habitat on this planet, as the planet and system are rich in calcium and other metals expansion of the current habitat is underway.

Heinlen

The Heinlen system was late discovered shortly after the colonization of Castor revealed a near dual star system. Both similar in size to our sun, the only potentially habitable planet bears a scorched side, and a frozen side, with life only possible at the dusk/dawn equator of the planet. The planet is notable for being a complete free economy and is disparaged for artifact looting.

Menkent

Menkent is home to both an orange giant star, and two gas giants. One of the two gas giants is unlike any other in human explored space. While most gas giants typically consist of hydrogen, helium, and ammonia, Menkent II consists primarily of Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and Carbon Dioxide. With these building blocks of life it is odd that no native life has yet been discovered. The deeper into the atmosphere you go, the more solid these gasses become. Currently the planet has five floating habitats which make use of the abundance of gasses to provide both energy and lift to support and maintain the stability of the habitats.

Merak

Merak is a system inhabited by a large stellar dust cloud, and two planets in the process of forming. Currently the system is home to a research station, and scientific terraforming station. While the research station is studying the formation of the planets and the composition of the dust cloud, the other is using revolutionary methods and ideas in an attempt to force one of the two protoplanets into a similar style as Earth and other habitable planets. The two share information back and forth, and it is thought that discoveries will eventually be made which will allow humanity to both terraform and construct artificial planets.

Miaplacidus

Miaplacidus is a white subgiant star home to numerous asteroids and a few rocky dwarf planets. The asteroids here are thought to have once formed the core of a larger planet destroyed by some cataclysm long ago. Theories about the cataclysm abound, especially since it appears that the first known Space Scraper took a direct and slow path from Miaplacidus to Pollux. If the Space Scraper did in fact destroy a planet here, it is unknown how it did so or why. Currently Miaplacidus is a hotbed for illegal artifact scavenging due to the rumor that an almost complete starship of unknown origin was discovered here.

Mizar

Mizar was once thought to be an optical binary star system. Exploration of the system however led to the discovery of a mirror system. Two stars orbit one another with approximately three light years distance between them share the system. Four planets orbit Mizar Alpha and three planets orbit Mizar Beta. Of these planets, Alpha II, Alpha IV, and Beta II are inhabited.

Pollux

Pollux is an orange giant star with a single orbiting world. While the world is habitable and supports life, the incredibly slow orbit and rotation of the planet prevents much agriculture from being produced. With an orbit of almost 2000 terran days, and a rotation of a 38 days much of the planet is uninhabited with the only colonies and habitats centered on the southern continent.

Procyon

Procyon is home to one of the most populated planets in human space. Procyon is a dual star system, with both a large yellow star, and an incredibly small white dwarf. The white dwarf is thought to actually be a former gas giant planet, which may have ignited ages ago for an unknown reason. Procyon III because of its’ placement between the two stars rotationally has no night and an almost continuous summer/spring season. Because of this, Procyon III is one of the largest producers of natural foods amongst human worlds.

Regulus

Regulus is a system with a young, irregular star. Regulus spins on it’s axis once each 16 hours and because of this speed, it suffers from oblate shaping and gravatic darkening. It is thought that as the star is slowly speeding up its rotation, that within a few million years the star will shatter and form a super nova. The odd gravity of the system makes travelling here a hazard, despite the abundance of heavy elements in the system.

Ras Alhague

Ras Alhague is a white giant star orbited by three gas giants. The closest orbiting of the gas giants contains the only moon in the system. This moon due to the gravatic influences imposed upon it is incredibly dense and is the only place in the galaxy known to have an utterly diamond core. Ore mined here is used to create the Diamond Mesh Weave that armors many ships in the galaxy.

Sirius

Sirius is a triple star system. The largest of the stars is a main sequence dwarf star, that is orbited by a white dwarf star, and finally by the only known black dwarf star. The discovery of the black dwarf star, thought to be impossible has changed estimates on the age of the universe. Previously thought to be about 14 billion years old, the black dwarf star has been dated to nearly a hundred billion years of age. Sirius is home to two planets, one of which orbits the black dwarf star at the furthest reaches of the solar system. This planet is one of permanent night and despite a slightly higher radiation level is habitable to humanity. Vast seas cover the majority of this planet, with the only land running in small island chains across the equator of the planet. Ruins have been discovered on this planet on two different island chains. Oddly one of these ruins contained a fossilized human skull. It is unknown how this skull managed to get there before humanity did.

Phecda

Phecda is a main sequence star much like that of Terra though slightly larger and hotter. Nine planets orbit Phecda in varying distances, with the third planet bearing a colony.

Terra

The Terran system is home to humanity, and the most densely populated systems of the galaxy. Colonies exist on each planet of the system save for Mercury and the gas giants. Colonies also exist on most of the moons and several larger asteroids within the system also. Mars, once a thriving colony world is once again an airless planet devoid of life following its scouring by a Star Scraper. Currently no plans have been made to establish another colony on Mars.

Vega

Vega is a star surrounded by a disc of expanding matter. Most of the disc consists of asteroids and other similar debris, with a single gas giant in close orbit of the star itself. Inside the disc are two rocky micro planets utterly devoid of atmosphere. The larger of these two contains a single human domed habitat.

Wei

Wei is a giant star with a low energy output orbited by one gas giant planet. The planet is orbited by three moons, each of the moons have similar ecology to that of Mars. Currently there are inhabitants of each moon, with the third moon having been colonized by rival colonists. Currently, there is a civil war going on for control of the moon.

Wolf 359

Wolf 359 is an incredibly dim red dwarf flare star. While it has a high radiation output, most of this comes in the form of X-rays, and the system is inhospitable for human life despite having two unexplored planets.

That's about all I have honestly. I've got some stuff worked up, but most of it just fits into various parts of the story in various places, and posting those bits now would honestly ruin parts that come later.

Anything else that people want to see, or have questions about?

>>11830984

Actually, I kind of envisioned the First not as any progenitor race. If you read the way I wrote out the bit with them at the start, it kind of hints that the First are actually the stars themselves.

>>11831058
I only want to read the rest of your book.

When will it be released?

>>11831076

Probably going to post the next bit tonight, once I get it polished up enough to be satisfied with it. As it is right now, the flow isn't right and it needs a lot of polish. So that people know, I work second shift and live in the EST timezone. Which means I get off work at midnight, get home around 1am or so, work on stuff, write a bit, then sleep around 9am or so... which it nears as I type this. Guss I'll sleep eventually.

Oh, and for my reason for posting it on /tg/, I don't read the rest of 4chan, and I created the "world" as a place to run a space game. Which is why some of the stuff works the way it does, and why some of the rest of it works other ways.

Some "common sci-fi errors" nitpicks:
- A constant-acceleration-constant-deceleration profile ship does not need a rotating artificial-gravity section. The constant acceleration provides the artificial gravity. Additionally, the normal 'jumble of modules' design does not work for this style ship, as it lacks the required structural integrity for constant puled acceleration. In all likely hood, they would be able to take off from and land on planets, if you didn't care for the massive slagging of the surface by the drive (and/or didn't have room for a large body of water to act as a landing area).
This may not apply to your specific brand of warp-drive, as the effect of those varies depending on the technobabble used.

>2046 Xin Yao demonstrates theory of light travel. Yao theory proves that the closer an object gets to light speed, time dilates for the object. Proven via test involving scientists set into ship powered by Kinzer drive orbiting Sol for two years.
We both already know this, and it has already been proven experimentally multiple times. No need for Future Chinese Guy to tell us this. Maybe have him work out the mechanics for the Kinzer Drive for use with less fuel (i.e. inter-system rather than intra-system) instead, and use the relativistic flight as a commercial stunt.

>cont

>a nanorepair solution which provides oxygen to the brain and extremities
Providing tissue with oxygen is the LAST thing you want to do to suspend cell degradation. Current animal (and limited human) testing involves depriving the brain of oxygen very rapidly to PREVENT brain damage, as well as lowering the temperature. Look up some of the work being done with Hydrogen Sulphide. The temperature bit has already been mentioned, but lowering the temperature much below freezing has minimal benefit: our bodies use water as a solvent, so once that has frozen then few further reactions (and thus, degradations) can take place.


A non-nitpick that you already touched upon explicitly: Heinlein should essentially have unlimited free energy. Run a big pipe to the hot side of the planet, a big pipe to the cold side, and put a sterling engine in between. Props for this.

>The first, a planet almost as large as Jupiter is surrounded by huge rings and requires no domed habitat

Minor nitpick here (otherwise looking pretty good) but you can't have a planet near the size of jupiter be terrestrial. At that point the atmosphere thickens up too much and it basically becomes a type of gas giant. Also the gravity would be way too immense for people to survive on the world (ignoring the pressure that would crush a man like an empty soda can)

Got a little past the bit with the burning building, then stopped for fear of spoilers >_>

When 1d4chan gets back up you should make an article of the story so far.