Much fanfare surrounds the launch of the Avian contact team. A small festival is held, and many watch the landing on Aquarius via television at the pubs that are springing up around the colony. The landing is bumpy, but a small floating craft is deployed, and the tagged Avians are located. Work is begun on teaching them to sign using their grasping wings. It seems to be going well, with an Avian mimicking the xenobiologist's gestures, until a massive sea creature emerges and swallows the entire craft whole. There were no survivors.
A hushed silence overtakes the pubs, and everyone is shocked. The entire incident, from the first panicked scream of a viewer noticing the gigantic shadow, to the disappearance of the epically large beast, took less than 10 seconds. Productivity falls this month, as there are many funerals and mourning events for the lost 10 colonists. While their remains are not recovered, small ceremonies are held all over the colony.
As a result, only another 200 colonists make it down this month. They are forced to sleep in lousy temporary dorms, because their permanent dwellings are not built yet due to the slow work. There is much grumbling, but otherwise no problems occur.
A picture is beamed to the moons ("sun"), along with a morse code spelling of the word. There is a long delay, most of the rest of the month, until the signal comes back. It is the same morse code, and some sort of encrypted file that the computers cannot decode. "Damned, if we could only decode their signals," muses the scientist.
The armored probe is completed without issues, and is ready for launch upon instruction from the AI.
Research is pushed hard this month. Basic physics classes are instituted, but few attend, given the palor over the colony. Weapons research into electricity attracting beams and tesla coils go smoothly, however, and a few small-scale prototypes are constructed. The technology could most likely be scaled up with some additional work.
Work at the algae farms is slowed slightly, out of concern for the giant predators that took out the away team, but it is resumed when no such creatures are spotted. The algae is kept in check, once again, but does not shrink either.
A man approaches the AI terminal one day, and asks a question quietly. "Mr. AI, sir, I represent a few of the men and women down here on the outpost. With your permission, we'd like to start a small chapel. I think losing a few of us has reawakened the spiritual side of some of us. Will we be able to do that? It wouldn't get in the way of new construction, I promise."
Time lapsed in system: 1 year, 2 Months- In orbit of Aquarius
- Militarized Shipyard
- 2 Nano Factories
- 2,100 hibernating men
- 2,100 hibernating women
- 395 men on Aries
- 395 women on Aries
- 10 dead
- Bank of animal and plants
Note: if no location is given, resource is
on ship- 2,000 space suits
- Small defensive fleet
- Mass drivers (orbital)
- Mass drivers (planetary)
- Sensor Probes
- Construction and miner bots
- Nuclear weapon (1 months until completed)
- Orbital lenses (Aries and Aquarius]
- Planet A: abundant minerals, inhospitable
- Planet B: ash, acidic atmosphere, radioactive, small mining operation
- Planet C "Class.2224" "Aquarius": aquatic world, savage aquatic life, pack-like nomadic intelligent avians, virulent bacteria, plankton and algae infestation: 6% of surface, small harvesting operation
- Planet D "Class.1111" "Aries": some minerals, Mars-like, medium mining operation, 790 person colony, medium industrial base, small brewery
- Planet E: abundant minerals, inhospitable
- Abundant Asteroids
- Gas Giant A: mysterious interference, detected radio
- Gas Giant B: mysterious interference, detected radio
- Pack dwelling
- Near-human intelligence
- Nomadic
- Capable of tool use
- Quick breeding rate
Poll
7 (33.3%)
Author
Topic: Terraforming: Suggestion Game (Read 362515 times)