Within the Universe
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Chapter 8 - Star
Drifting aimlessly on an elliptical path around a large galaxy, the star shone. It shone without fail from the first days after it had condensed enough to fuse hydrogen into helium, and would shine until the very day when all of its material had been fused into iron. The lifetime of the star was long, and it defined how long a galaxy would live too. The blue stars meant it was a younger galaxy, and the red ones meant it was older. This star was red, and tiny. Floating on the edge of its dying galaxy it glowed with persistance for over 20 billion years. Humanity would almost never find it however, as it was simply too dim to be found. Only an accident would lead to its discovery.
Around this star orbitted three small rocky worlds, far too cold to harbor life without extensive terraforming. They held many valuable resources like iron, cobalt, uranium, and aluminum. These resources could be used to build ships and power them. These resources would fall into the hands of the Universals, who would then ship them directly to Star's End. At Star's End, these resources were used to build new facilities and ships. Most of the resources were used to facilitate construction and improvement, but in a time of war, it was necessary to allocate the rest to constructing weapons. New technology allowed the creation of gamma weapons... emitters that instead of emitting normal light, fired intense beams of gamma radiation. These beams could only be stopped by immensely heavy armor, and were energetic enough to vaporize an unprotected human light-years away. These weapons were forbidden to be used on planets because of the unintended destruction they could cause.
The unbelievers managed to discover this technology as well, but were less inclined to protect life. Entire planets were baked with gamma beams, killing everything on them and irradiating them for generations afterwards. These weapons were truly weapons of massive destruction on a planetary scale. The unbelievers developed them to the point of being able to even bake entire solar systems, destroying all life existing in them. Star's End worked feverishly to develop a defensive shield to protect the outpost should it eventually be discovered and fired upon. Only with the advent of anti-particle weapons was a solution devised. Firing anti-gamma rays would neutralize gamma rays in an energetic explosion. Obviously the gamma rays needed to be intercepted far from Star's End... so defensive emitters were placed around the station a few light-years away. When gamma radiation was detected, these would immediately fire and prevent the station from becoming baked in the attack. Other conventional methods were being developed too. Extremely heavily armored bunkers were constructed in the inner-most areas of the station to protect personnel should a gamma ray attack be detected. Fortunately, they were never used...
Stations were put in orbit around the three planets of the dying star, and the each had portals to transport material back to Star's End. They were also protected by smaller versions of the shielding device used to prevent portal travel. It was fortunate that this technology never fell into the hands of the unbelievers, otherwise they would have likely developed one capable of eliminating portal travel throughout a significant portion of the known universe. The Universals kept this technology very well protected, only a few handful ever knew how to develop one, and they were all guarded and watched to prevent them from transmitting the data to unauthorized personnel.
Humanity was fighting a religious war, just as it had centuries earlier on Earth. This time the costs were much higher. Annihilation could result if either side seriously considered it as an option. As the unbelievers began to lose ground, they would consider this option, and work to build a doomsday device capable of collapsing the entire universe in upon itself. Holy wars had never changed... they had just gotten much bloodier. ¶ 10:15 PM 0 comments
Drifting aimlessly on an elliptical path around a large galaxy, the star shone. It shone without fail from the first days after it had condensed enough to fuse hydrogen into helium, and would shine until the very day when all of its material had been fused into iron. The lifetime of the star was long, and it defined how long a galaxy would live too. The blue stars meant it was a younger galaxy, and the red ones meant it was older. This star was red, and tiny. Floating on the edge of its dying galaxy it glowed with persistance for over 20 billion years. Humanity would almost never find it however, as it was simply too dim to be found. Only an accident would lead to its discovery.
Around this star orbitted three small rocky worlds, far too cold to harbor life without extensive terraforming. They held many valuable resources like iron, cobalt, uranium, and aluminum. These resources could be used to build ships and power them. These resources would fall into the hands of the Universals, who would then ship them directly to Star's End. At Star's End, these resources were used to build new facilities and ships. Most of the resources were used to facilitate construction and improvement, but in a time of war, it was necessary to allocate the rest to constructing weapons. New technology allowed the creation of gamma weapons... emitters that instead of emitting normal light, fired intense beams of gamma radiation. These beams could only be stopped by immensely heavy armor, and were energetic enough to vaporize an unprotected human light-years away. These weapons were forbidden to be used on planets because of the unintended destruction they could cause.
The unbelievers managed to discover this technology as well, but were less inclined to protect life. Entire planets were baked with gamma beams, killing everything on them and irradiating them for generations afterwards. These weapons were truly weapons of massive destruction on a planetary scale. The unbelievers developed them to the point of being able to even bake entire solar systems, destroying all life existing in them. Star's End worked feverishly to develop a defensive shield to protect the outpost should it eventually be discovered and fired upon. Only with the advent of anti-particle weapons was a solution devised. Firing anti-gamma rays would neutralize gamma rays in an energetic explosion. Obviously the gamma rays needed to be intercepted far from Star's End... so defensive emitters were placed around the station a few light-years away. When gamma radiation was detected, these would immediately fire and prevent the station from becoming baked in the attack. Other conventional methods were being developed too. Extremely heavily armored bunkers were constructed in the inner-most areas of the station to protect personnel should a gamma ray attack be detected. Fortunately, they were never used...
Stations were put in orbit around the three planets of the dying star, and the each had portals to transport material back to Star's End. They were also protected by smaller versions of the shielding device used to prevent portal travel. It was fortunate that this technology never fell into the hands of the unbelievers, otherwise they would have likely developed one capable of eliminating portal travel throughout a significant portion of the known universe. The Universals kept this technology very well protected, only a few handful ever knew how to develop one, and they were all guarded and watched to prevent them from transmitting the data to unauthorized personnel.
Humanity was fighting a religious war, just as it had centuries earlier on Earth. This time the costs were much higher. Annihilation could result if either side seriously considered it as an option. As the unbelievers began to lose ground, they would consider this option, and work to build a doomsday device capable of collapsing the entire universe in upon itself. Holy wars had never changed... they had just gotten much bloodier. ¶ 10:15 PM 0 comments
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Chapter 7 - Gaia
On the otherside of the Milky Way galaxy was a planet that resembled that of Earth. It had an atmosphere similar, and organisms that were transplanted from Earth thrived in the new environment. This newly discovered planet would soon become the resting stop for humanity. Many would come from all over the universe to view the beauty known as Gaia. Even planets that had undergone terraforming weren't as majestic and capable of supporting life as Gaia was. In all respects, life should have developed there instead of Earth itself.
The mountains were majestic, and easily rose above Mt. Everest. To climb these mountains would nearly take space suits as they rose so high into the atmosphere. Gaia was also a larger planet than Earth. Somehow, it managed to remain a rocky planet even though it's diameter was nearly twice that of Earth's. These mountains could be seen from many, many miles away. All who saw them would not be able to forget what they looked like, rising high into the atmosphere.
Gaia soon grew to have many lucious jungles as the plant life transplanted from Earth took hold and began to grow at a tremendous pace. Within fifty years most of the planet had life of some form. Within the oceans other life took hold after they were transplanted. Endangered species were also transferred to Gaia after it was deemed safe. They were able to thrive again as the planet had not been tainted by centuries of pollution. Only small villas and tourist hotels were located on Gaia, as well as thousands of automated farms, capable of feeding billions of people around the universe. Soon a new portal was transferred to Gaia so that shipments wouldn't need to be redirected through Earth before reaching their final destination.
Gaia truly was a one of a kind planet. No other in the entire universe was a lucious. There were many that were similar to Earth, however. They were quickly inhabited and soon humanity's population broke two hundred billion people. Technology advancements and social changes were always changing. Each planet had its own customs, but fortunately it wasn't until the Great War between the unbelievers and the Universals that any armed conflicts took place using portal travel. It would be then that all new atrocities would be inflicted on humanity acrossed the universe; mostly by the unbelievers, but even the Universals committed significant infractions on occasion... mostly by accident.
Gaia stayed firmly within the control of the unbelievers throughout the war. The Universals deemed it unnecessary to taint such a planet with war, so no attempt was made to capture it. The unbelievers soon garrisoned troops there, as they believed that the Universals would not attack them there. They were correct, and soon most of the unbeliever military force was garrisoned on or above Gaia. Not even Earth had as many troops or garrisons allocated to it. It would almost be easier to conquer Earth, and go right around the Gaian military force. Eventually that day would come... but first, the Universals needed to find their leader.
¶ 11:36 PM 0 comments
On the otherside of the Milky Way galaxy was a planet that resembled that of Earth. It had an atmosphere similar, and organisms that were transplanted from Earth thrived in the new environment. This newly discovered planet would soon become the resting stop for humanity. Many would come from all over the universe to view the beauty known as Gaia. Even planets that had undergone terraforming weren't as majestic and capable of supporting life as Gaia was. In all respects, life should have developed there instead of Earth itself.
The mountains were majestic, and easily rose above Mt. Everest. To climb these mountains would nearly take space suits as they rose so high into the atmosphere. Gaia was also a larger planet than Earth. Somehow, it managed to remain a rocky planet even though it's diameter was nearly twice that of Earth's. These mountains could be seen from many, many miles away. All who saw them would not be able to forget what they looked like, rising high into the atmosphere.
Gaia soon grew to have many lucious jungles as the plant life transplanted from Earth took hold and began to grow at a tremendous pace. Within fifty years most of the planet had life of some form. Within the oceans other life took hold after they were transplanted. Endangered species were also transferred to Gaia after it was deemed safe. They were able to thrive again as the planet had not been tainted by centuries of pollution. Only small villas and tourist hotels were located on Gaia, as well as thousands of automated farms, capable of feeding billions of people around the universe. Soon a new portal was transferred to Gaia so that shipments wouldn't need to be redirected through Earth before reaching their final destination.
Gaia truly was a one of a kind planet. No other in the entire universe was a lucious. There were many that were similar to Earth, however. They were quickly inhabited and soon humanity's population broke two hundred billion people. Technology advancements and social changes were always changing. Each planet had its own customs, but fortunately it wasn't until the Great War between the unbelievers and the Universals that any armed conflicts took place using portal travel. It would be then that all new atrocities would be inflicted on humanity acrossed the universe; mostly by the unbelievers, but even the Universals committed significant infractions on occasion... mostly by accident.
Gaia stayed firmly within the control of the unbelievers throughout the war. The Universals deemed it unnecessary to taint such a planet with war, so no attempt was made to capture it. The unbelievers soon garrisoned troops there, as they believed that the Universals would not attack them there. They were correct, and soon most of the unbeliever military force was garrisoned on or above Gaia. Not even Earth had as many troops or garrisons allocated to it. It would almost be easier to conquer Earth, and go right around the Gaian military force. Eventually that day would come... but first, the Universals needed to find their leader.
¶ 11:36 PM 0 comments
