Some notes, snapshots, ideas, et cetera.
............................................................
That time down in Georgetown, when I was speaking, during the Q&A, a girl came up to one of the microphones.
She was a radical steeler hardcase with only just more attitude than tattoos and a Spock gene-hack to the ears. Since that was expensive it meant that her parents had probably paid for it. So she was either spoiled rotten or her units were compensating.
"Hi, Dave", she said."Fluid Stasis." That was her name. "My brother Nick was on Ring of Solomon." And bingo. The last ship lost before we declared war, that made us declare war. Captain Riegert sent video back of the Thaiax ship that was destroying his. His crew were the first martyrs of our first interspecies war. Fluid Stasis was probably Nick's only sibling.
"You kill any?" she asked.
"Probably."
"Good," she said and sat back down.
A few years later I ran into her in Clavius. Well, she ran into me. She'd emigrated and enlisted and wanted me to know it was because of my talk. "Gonna give those bastards the Static Flu," she laughed.
............................................................
As of right now, this instant, when you are reading this, humanity in the Big is completely independent of humanity on the Dirt. Absolutely.
We don't need you for energy, food, water or even replacements.
We have solar power in the Inner System and fusion out where we need it.
We have habitats whose sole purpose is to grow food. Vast plantations out in the Asteroids spinning silently in the dark, with hectare after hectare of wheat and corn and soy,all suitably genetically diverse to avoid plagues.
We move mountains of ice to where we need them. It's considered an honour to get the first drink of water off a newly tamed comet.
We move mountains of stone to where we need them, too. We build our own worlds, with technology developed out here, where we have unlimited space and energy to experiment with anything we choose.
There are young adults on Mars who were born and raised there. Who are having their own families now.
Children on Mars aren't memorizing American state capital names, or Old World GNPs. They don't even call it the Old World because that's meaningless to them in that context. As far as they care, Earth is the Old World, people came from there and now they're on Mars.
Kids born at L5 have their own anthropological jargon to describe people, and it's catching on all through the Big. Here's a sample:
Old World - east hem
New World - west hem
European - eurogen
African - afrigen
Asian - asiogen
Indian - indogen
aboriginal (any) - eogen
So, I, born in the Big of Canadian European descended caucasian parents, am a west hem eurogen. NB, no caps.
These words are mere historical adjectives, with no negative connotation, like up and down or east and west. And here in the Big, when they're used, their meaning is completely local and consensual.
Yes, there's Jews and Muslims et cetera out here, but in most cases, they're like hobbyists. A few hardcases, to be sure, but life goes on.
............................................................
The copyrighted name for OR/Aeneid's fusion plant, whether used as a rocket or a power source, is the Askr. It's really hardly ever used. It comes from ancient Norse myth of Ragnarok, the end of the rule of the ancient gods like Odin and Idun and Loki. After the apocalyptic war, two figures emerged, the first man and the first woman of the new world. (Historians usually point out the obvious Christian influence on the evolution of this part of the story.) Askr was the man and Embla was the woman. If you don't know, Embla is the nickname of the 'flying girl' figure in OR/Aeneid's logo.
Rumour has it that ASKR are the initials of relatives of one of the original founding principals of OR/Aeneid. False.
............................................................
Re: ships and stations
Ever since the production of buckytubes and buckyballs was made practical by zeegee factories like at L5-l'Usine, stations or habitats are really just special cases of ships.
(I keep saying this) 'You know' the Gibraltar bridge was built with the substance sometimes called fullyester or bylon or half a dozen other copyrighted names for strings, cables, sheets or stays made of woven, braided, twisted, plaited or knitted long tubular carbon fibres that are the strongest substance we've ever made. And, yes, we have way more uses for it out here than you do down there.
The standard design for an OR/Aeneid ship is really the same as the design for a habitat, or as they're saying now 'communitat'. For years now, the standard construction material has been fullyester.
After a few test cases were built out at Ceres, including the showcase Amarna, OR/Aeneid approached the Europeans and joint-ventured the construction of L5-la Ville. And please, west hem eurogens should know that it's pronounced Ell Sank La Ville. It's French. L'usine means 'factory' and it was built by the Euros too, the old fashioned way.
Stations/habitats/communitats have to be as robust as any ship. First of all, they are seldom built in situ. They come with a standard fusion engine so they can be moved into place on completion. Or moved to another orbit or location later.
L5-la Ville is the largest station that OR/Aeneid has ever built. It's fifteen klicks long and four in diameter. It maintains one standard gee on the inside surface and it can even rain inside. It is such a design and functional success that several more are planned, some to replace the much smaller rings and toruses at L5 and L4. Even some of the geosynchs will be replaced.
'Communitats' like L5-la Ville can only become more common, so I imagine a time when there will be bred and born spacers who might never leave their home habitat, just like - ahem - you. I'm not really kidding, but I truly hope I'm wrong.
............................................................
That time down in Georgetown, when I was speaking, during the Q&A, a girl came up to one of the microphones.
She was a radical steeler hardcase with only just more attitude than tattoos and a Spock gene-hack to the ears. Since that was expensive it meant that her parents had probably paid for it. So she was either spoiled rotten or her units were compensating.
"Hi, Dave", she said."Fluid Stasis." That was her name. "My brother Nick was on Ring of Solomon." And bingo. The last ship lost before we declared war, that made us declare war. Captain Riegert sent video back of the Thaiax ship that was destroying his. His crew were the first martyrs of our first interspecies war. Fluid Stasis was probably Nick's only sibling.
"You kill any?" she asked.
"Probably."
"Good," she said and sat back down.
A few years later I ran into her in Clavius. Well, she ran into me. She'd emigrated and enlisted and wanted me to know it was because of my talk. "Gonna give those bastards the Static Flu," she laughed.
............................................................
As of right now, this instant, when you are reading this, humanity in the Big is completely independent of humanity on the Dirt. Absolutely.
We don't need you for energy, food, water or even replacements.
We have solar power in the Inner System and fusion out where we need it.
We have habitats whose sole purpose is to grow food. Vast plantations out in the Asteroids spinning silently in the dark, with hectare after hectare of wheat and corn and soy,all suitably genetically diverse to avoid plagues.
We move mountains of ice to where we need them. It's considered an honour to get the first drink of water off a newly tamed comet.
We move mountains of stone to where we need them, too. We build our own worlds, with technology developed out here, where we have unlimited space and energy to experiment with anything we choose.
There are young adults on Mars who were born and raised there. Who are having their own families now.
Children on Mars aren't memorizing American state capital names, or Old World GNPs. They don't even call it the Old World because that's meaningless to them in that context. As far as they care, Earth is the Old World, people came from there and now they're on Mars.
Kids born at L5 have their own anthropological jargon to describe people, and it's catching on all through the Big. Here's a sample:
Old World - east hem
New World - west hem
European - eurogen
African - afrigen
Asian - asiogen
Indian - indogen
aboriginal (any) - eogen
So, I, born in the Big of Canadian European descended caucasian parents, am a west hem eurogen. NB, no caps.
These words are mere historical adjectives, with no negative connotation, like up and down or east and west. And here in the Big, when they're used, their meaning is completely local and consensual.
Yes, there's Jews and Muslims et cetera out here, but in most cases, they're like hobbyists. A few hardcases, to be sure, but life goes on.
............................................................
The copyrighted name for OR/Aeneid's fusion plant, whether used as a rocket or a power source, is the Askr. It's really hardly ever used. It comes from ancient Norse myth of Ragnarok, the end of the rule of the ancient gods like Odin and Idun and Loki. After the apocalyptic war, two figures emerged, the first man and the first woman of the new world. (Historians usually point out the obvious Christian influence on the evolution of this part of the story.) Askr was the man and Embla was the woman. If you don't know, Embla is the nickname of the 'flying girl' figure in OR/Aeneid's logo.
Rumour has it that ASKR are the initials of relatives of one of the original founding principals of OR/Aeneid. False.
............................................................
Re: ships and stations
Ever since the production of buckytubes and buckyballs was made practical by zeegee factories like at L5-l'Usine, stations or habitats are really just special cases of ships.
(I keep saying this) 'You know' the Gibraltar bridge was built with the substance sometimes called fullyester or bylon or half a dozen other copyrighted names for strings, cables, sheets or stays made of woven, braided, twisted, plaited or knitted long tubular carbon fibres that are the strongest substance we've ever made. And, yes, we have way more uses for it out here than you do down there.
The standard design for an OR/Aeneid ship is really the same as the design for a habitat, or as they're saying now 'communitat'. For years now, the standard construction material has been fullyester.
After a few test cases were built out at Ceres, including the showcase Amarna, OR/Aeneid approached the Europeans and joint-ventured the construction of L5-la Ville. And please, west hem eurogens should know that it's pronounced Ell Sank La Ville. It's French. L'usine means 'factory' and it was built by the Euros too, the old fashioned way.
Stations/habitats/communitats have to be as robust as any ship. First of all, they are seldom built in situ. They come with a standard fusion engine so they can be moved into place on completion. Or moved to another orbit or location later.
L5-la Ville is the largest station that OR/Aeneid has ever built. It's fifteen klicks long and four in diameter. It maintains one standard gee on the inside surface and it can even rain inside. It is such a design and functional success that several more are planned, some to replace the much smaller rings and toruses at L5 and L4. Even some of the geosynchs will be replaced.
'Communitats' like L5-la Ville can only become more common, so I imagine a time when there will be bred and born spacers who might never leave their home habitat, just like - ahem - you. I'm not really kidding, but I truly hope I'm wrong.
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