The Warden slid into a parking orbit as it arrived at its destination. Automated systems separate from the fragmented AI began a long-awaited project: the terraforming of the major terrestrial planets of the targeted system.
The Warden’s
programmed destination was the Xi Ursae Majoris
system. The interstellar survey revealed a system with a variety of planetary bodies and a vast potential for wealth. It consisted of 12 planets: 5 were rocky, terrestrial planets; 7 were
gas giants of varying size; and a pair of asteroid belts of suitable density. Two of the terrestrial planets were targeted for terraforming
due to their almost Earth-like size, gravity, and orbital positions.
Scion occupies an
orbit roughly comparable to that midway between Earth and Venus in the Solar System. It’s a warm, generally
dry planet after terraforming, though large swaths of tropical areas lay near
the equator. It has two moons.
Essence occupies
an orbit that is the equivalent to about a third of the way from the Earth to
Mars. Generally cooler than Earth, Warden’s terraforming equipment found it
relatively easy to develop a lush, varied ecosystem. It has one moon.
In this alternative campaign, the Warden’s automated systems followed a scheduled command to begin terraforming the
colony planets once the ship established a safe orbit and had sent drones to
perform a survey. Due to the damage to the ship, only a portion of the
terraforming equipment could be sent planetside at any given time. This increased the time
required to terraform by a wide margin. Still, the robotic equipment had more
than enough time to complete its work, and then some, due to the crippled ship's AI.
The AI, deactivated in
parts, damaged in others, and corrupted in still yet more areas, had numerous
side projects and experiments begun on its own initiative, and, in some cases,
completed after its main work was done. The fragments of the AI, each with its own agenda, personality, and relative sanity, rarely worked in tandem, and often battled each other for supremacy over Warden. Recently, the ship's AI was rebooted, and most of the fragments were reintegrated into a single whole. While each fragment's personality still exists, they work as a team...except for the shards of the AI that fled into hiding, fearing being absorbed into a greater singular intelligence. The potential bolt-holes are numerous, ranging from robots and androids to satellites and planetside facilities. The greater, mostly healed AI feels extraordinarily embarrassed at the loss of these "renegade" shards, as well as many of the "off the books" projects from before the reboot, and has set up a low-key search for all of these that it will only reveal if directly queried about them.
The Warden’s
terraforming equipment has long since been recovered as the great ship swung
about in its leisurely orbit around Xi Ursae Majoris. Robotic construction
equipment has completed work on three major cities on each terraformed planet,
with a ring of suburban towns and villages for each. One city on each
terraformed planet is home to a spaceport. The robots have completed a network
of highways that connect most of the main continents on their respective planets, though huge swaths of each world still remain far from a paved road. A halo of
weather and communication satellites hovers about these planets, silently and
patiently awaiting the day when they will be put to use. Parks, factories,
farms, mines, and wilderness areas have been put in place, awaiting the
colonists that should have arrived so long ago. Most of the surface of each
colony planet still remains relatively untouched, besides terraforming them into
human-friendly climates and ecosystems. The intention was for the colonists to decide on their
own how to manage their new homes, with solid bases from which to work.
These
planets have been, and are, eerily silent of human activity, with the whir and clank of robotic
maintenance the only sign that the human habitations are not long-dead cities scattered across
their surfaces.
Except…
The ecosystems so carefully constructed on the planets consist of flora and fauna decanted from Warden's cryo storage and some of the ship's garden domes. Much of it would be easily recognizable as originating on Earth, with wolf packs howling across Essence's spectacular forested highlands as they pursue bison and elk, to the savannahs of Scion, home to teeming herds of antelope and elephants. Yet the radiation that mutated so much of Warden's shipboard life has also shown its effects on the planets. The jungles of Scion are plagued by loping carnivorous trees, and Essence's arctic is haunted by massive, gaunt humanoids with terrifying calls that seem to tear at the listener's sanity. Even more strange lifeforms have begun to manifest after centuries of change forced along by the after-effects of the radiation. As the plants and animals migrate and adapt to all corners of Scion and Essence, the mutations grow in number and strangeness.
Next: Part 3: The Synners
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