Lord_Phoenix
Dogs are fuzzy
- Reaction score
- 69
I wrote this story for a project for Enviormental Science. I got a 94% on it, an I liked the way it turned out, so I decided I'll post it here. There's really not any character development, or anything like that, but I limited it to 3 pages, and it was due the day after I wrote it, so I needed to get it done quickly.
Premise: A newly terraforming planet gives off a superevolving virus due to littering in an early stage of environment. The way to fix this is by finding the bioweapon virus, removing it form the environment, and reversing the bioweapon virus by having to replace it with a vaccine. (Local problems affect the planet). This is based on René Dubos’ philosophy on Global problems are conditioned by local circumstances and choices.
History:
During the Great Expansion of 2785, people were discovering new and more efficient ways of converting light and other renewable resources into energy. However, once fusion was invented, we were soon able to send unmanned massive satellites into space, reaching a deserted planet. Once it landed, the fusion reactor would start itself up, creating an abundance of energy, but also starting to produce necessary gases and materials to make a planet livable. This process ends up taking up to about 50 Earth years. This would not be a problem, but unfortunately, it would also increase the development of anything on the planet significantly. If there would be any bacteria on the planet, it will evolve significantly and can sometimes evolve from a single-celled organism to a multi-cellular organism. Also, it greatly increases layers of earth, creating a crust, outer core, and so on.
Herb looked at the instrument readings for the terraforming planet K-62. K-62 was a lonesome rock, as it was the only planet evolving around its sun. The planet has been terraforming for about 7 years now, so crews have been sent to test life signs, collect bacteria, and make sure everything goes smoothly. Because of how far the planet is away from the nearest planet that can launch a long-range spacecraft, they have traveled for about 10 years already.
“Ten years, eight months, fifteen days, eighteen hours, twenty-two minutes, and twenty-five seconds,” sighed his partner, Frank. Frank was an odd guy. He was from Mars, one of the first Mars-born, in fact. He was raised differently from other people, and took an active commanding part of the Mars-Earth revolution. Earth won, but Mars’ citizens still held grudges against Earth.
“Yeah, but the pay is good,” replied Herb. And it was. Even though the inflation of the dollar ruined the economy, Japan proposed a new form of economy, making it possible for Earth and Mars to have proportional currency, making transactions much easier.
“Entering the atmosphere. Goal is to observe how the terraforming process is going, and identifying any unknown life signs,” Herb said on the telecom to his commander, who oversees the operations. Herb and Frank were visiting the early terraforming planet to see how everything was going. To do this, they have to dawn biosuits, and go out to take readings on the environment. After about 15 minutes, they land on the planet. They then go out and take readings on the planet, sending the data back to the ship.
“Barometric pressure about 700 below Earth-norm, atmosphere is still too high on CO and Tetraethylpyrophosphate.* We’re not sure why it is so high on Tetraethylpyrophosphate, but we’re going to try and find out. Herb out.” Herb took his astrothermator, and it then absorbed a sample of the atmosphere to be tested out.
“Well, we better check the mechanics of the terraformer before we leave,” said Frank over the telecom. They check it, and found nothing wrong with the machine, even though they tested the settings and everything.
“We can’t find anything wrong with the terraformer. Maybe the sample from the astrothermator will bring us some clues,” said Herb to the commander. “We’ll see you in a few hours. Over and out.”
Back on the ship, the Atmospheric Meteorologist analyzed the sample of the air that Herb had brought back to the ship.
“Well, there does seem to be something there, but it isn’t any gas that I’m aware of,” said the Atmospheric Meteorologist, “My readings did report a lot of protein and bacteria activity, however. Take it to our Xenobiologist** and see what he thinks about this,”
“Alright,” replied Herb. As he took it over to the Xenobiologist, he heard another shuttle launch from the main ship. He guessed that it was another group of terraforming crews going down to do more readings on the atmosphere.
“Well, this is completely different from what I’ve seen,” said the Xenobiologist,” It seems that the sample you gave me is a superadvanced form of the flu. In this state, it is almost completely incurable. Also, it seems that it is transferred atmospherically. When some one breathes it in, it will start attacking the lungs. The bacterium is a deciduous living organism that has grown with the virus and evolved to make the virus part of itself. When it enters the lungs, it keeps the antibodies from fighting off the virus, letting it duplicate freely. Then, the virus destroys the lungs.”
“Do you know what the cause is?” asked Herb.
“I have a few guesses,” replied the Xenobiologist, “One would be that this terraformer was sabotaged. This is one of a new experimental series, making the terraforming process much faster than what would normally occur. Also, the Martians are still angry about Earth’s control over them. This planet will sonly be used for Earth. If this fails, it would possibly mean the overthrow of the Earth government. If we don’t fix this, this could also be harnessed to kill millions of people.”
Just then, a siren sounded. “Unauthorized shuttle launch. Apprehend vehicle and capture the person. This is not a drill.”
Herb ran and got into an intercept vehicle. He found the shuttle just entering atmosphere. If he went into the atmosphere to peruse, he would burn up. Pursuit vehicles cannot enter atmosphere, as they are usually only fitted for space fights or atmospheric fights, not both. Other squads of terraform workers went to the atmosphere, hopefully to capture the person. Herb than heard Frank’s voice on the telecom.
“Well, I’m turning myself in. I’m sick of all the deceit and lies. I was hired by the Martian government to sabotage the terraformer, causing millions to die, giving us the advantage over Earth, hopefully helping us fight back and win against this oppression. I planted a barrel of the flu virus somewhere, but because of the terraforming, I can’t identify where it is. I’ll give you the coordinates of where I planted the toxin.”
Once he gave the coordinates, the terraphysicist was then able to figure out how far it would have been moved, and how deep it would have been buried. The damage was able to be reversed by adding a penicillin-like substance to the fusion reactor, saving the planet from become a disaster area.
* All I know is that Tetraethylpyrophosphate is a dangerous gas. Website is http://www.d.umn.edu/ehso/safety/table1.html I’m not sure if it would be relates with any planet development, however. For the sake of the story, it’s not whatever it actually is. Also, I didn’t choose that gas because it is a long word.
** This term is I give credit to Orson Scott Card. He created the term Xenobiologist, and I give him full credit for it. As a matter of fact, I suggest reading his book series, Enders Game. It is very good.
Premise: A newly terraforming planet gives off a superevolving virus due to littering in an early stage of environment. The way to fix this is by finding the bioweapon virus, removing it form the environment, and reversing the bioweapon virus by having to replace it with a vaccine. (Local problems affect the planet). This is based on René Dubos’ philosophy on Global problems are conditioned by local circumstances and choices.
History:
During the Great Expansion of 2785, people were discovering new and more efficient ways of converting light and other renewable resources into energy. However, once fusion was invented, we were soon able to send unmanned massive satellites into space, reaching a deserted planet. Once it landed, the fusion reactor would start itself up, creating an abundance of energy, but also starting to produce necessary gases and materials to make a planet livable. This process ends up taking up to about 50 Earth years. This would not be a problem, but unfortunately, it would also increase the development of anything on the planet significantly. If there would be any bacteria on the planet, it will evolve significantly and can sometimes evolve from a single-celled organism to a multi-cellular organism. Also, it greatly increases layers of earth, creating a crust, outer core, and so on.
Herb looked at the instrument readings for the terraforming planet K-62. K-62 was a lonesome rock, as it was the only planet evolving around its sun. The planet has been terraforming for about 7 years now, so crews have been sent to test life signs, collect bacteria, and make sure everything goes smoothly. Because of how far the planet is away from the nearest planet that can launch a long-range spacecraft, they have traveled for about 10 years already.
“Ten years, eight months, fifteen days, eighteen hours, twenty-two minutes, and twenty-five seconds,” sighed his partner, Frank. Frank was an odd guy. He was from Mars, one of the first Mars-born, in fact. He was raised differently from other people, and took an active commanding part of the Mars-Earth revolution. Earth won, but Mars’ citizens still held grudges against Earth.
“Yeah, but the pay is good,” replied Herb. And it was. Even though the inflation of the dollar ruined the economy, Japan proposed a new form of economy, making it possible for Earth and Mars to have proportional currency, making transactions much easier.
“Entering the atmosphere. Goal is to observe how the terraforming process is going, and identifying any unknown life signs,” Herb said on the telecom to his commander, who oversees the operations. Herb and Frank were visiting the early terraforming planet to see how everything was going. To do this, they have to dawn biosuits, and go out to take readings on the environment. After about 15 minutes, they land on the planet. They then go out and take readings on the planet, sending the data back to the ship.
“Barometric pressure about 700 below Earth-norm, atmosphere is still too high on CO and Tetraethylpyrophosphate.* We’re not sure why it is so high on Tetraethylpyrophosphate, but we’re going to try and find out. Herb out.” Herb took his astrothermator, and it then absorbed a sample of the atmosphere to be tested out.
“Well, we better check the mechanics of the terraformer before we leave,” said Frank over the telecom. They check it, and found nothing wrong with the machine, even though they tested the settings and everything.
“We can’t find anything wrong with the terraformer. Maybe the sample from the astrothermator will bring us some clues,” said Herb to the commander. “We’ll see you in a few hours. Over and out.”
Back on the ship, the Atmospheric Meteorologist analyzed the sample of the air that Herb had brought back to the ship.
“Well, there does seem to be something there, but it isn’t any gas that I’m aware of,” said the Atmospheric Meteorologist, “My readings did report a lot of protein and bacteria activity, however. Take it to our Xenobiologist** and see what he thinks about this,”
“Alright,” replied Herb. As he took it over to the Xenobiologist, he heard another shuttle launch from the main ship. He guessed that it was another group of terraforming crews going down to do more readings on the atmosphere.
“Well, this is completely different from what I’ve seen,” said the Xenobiologist,” It seems that the sample you gave me is a superadvanced form of the flu. In this state, it is almost completely incurable. Also, it seems that it is transferred atmospherically. When some one breathes it in, it will start attacking the lungs. The bacterium is a deciduous living organism that has grown with the virus and evolved to make the virus part of itself. When it enters the lungs, it keeps the antibodies from fighting off the virus, letting it duplicate freely. Then, the virus destroys the lungs.”
“Do you know what the cause is?” asked Herb.
“I have a few guesses,” replied the Xenobiologist, “One would be that this terraformer was sabotaged. This is one of a new experimental series, making the terraforming process much faster than what would normally occur. Also, the Martians are still angry about Earth’s control over them. This planet will sonly be used for Earth. If this fails, it would possibly mean the overthrow of the Earth government. If we don’t fix this, this could also be harnessed to kill millions of people.”
Just then, a siren sounded. “Unauthorized shuttle launch. Apprehend vehicle and capture the person. This is not a drill.”
Herb ran and got into an intercept vehicle. He found the shuttle just entering atmosphere. If he went into the atmosphere to peruse, he would burn up. Pursuit vehicles cannot enter atmosphere, as they are usually only fitted for space fights or atmospheric fights, not both. Other squads of terraform workers went to the atmosphere, hopefully to capture the person. Herb than heard Frank’s voice on the telecom.
“Well, I’m turning myself in. I’m sick of all the deceit and lies. I was hired by the Martian government to sabotage the terraformer, causing millions to die, giving us the advantage over Earth, hopefully helping us fight back and win against this oppression. I planted a barrel of the flu virus somewhere, but because of the terraforming, I can’t identify where it is. I’ll give you the coordinates of where I planted the toxin.”
Once he gave the coordinates, the terraphysicist was then able to figure out how far it would have been moved, and how deep it would have been buried. The damage was able to be reversed by adding a penicillin-like substance to the fusion reactor, saving the planet from become a disaster area.
* All I know is that Tetraethylpyrophosphate is a dangerous gas. Website is http://www.d.umn.edu/ehso/safety/table1.html I’m not sure if it would be relates with any planet development, however. For the sake of the story, it’s not whatever it actually is. Also, I didn’t choose that gas because it is a long word.
** This term is I give credit to Orson Scott Card. He created the term Xenobiologist, and I give him full credit for it. As a matter of fact, I suggest reading his book series, Enders Game. It is very good.
it's a simple mistake that doing things quickly seem to produce. And it is over all a good story, though you made the ending a little abrupt, given the page limit. If you ever did expand on it, it would be a good story.
