link to previous story for continuity
Silver Lining, As Usual
Private Domini's bout of insanity had not delayed the proper space launches noticeably. But it became a good warning of the dangers of being alone in virtually infinite space. He had been rushed to sickbay, and from there to a mental hospital, and five days later, the neuroscientists had identified a set of pathways likely associated with space insanity under some conditions. A somewhat hurried investigation revealed that all of the astronauts in line for launch would not develop such neuroses.
The Beat Goes On
Benalia II was the only planet in Benalia that still functioned after the Scourge. Benalia I had never been more than a burning dirtball with a research station, and had simply shut down. Benalia III was toxic but rich, had been worked by machines with occasional supervision, and had collapsed quickly. With chaos ravaging everything, the asteroid belt had quickly ceased to be a safe location as belt objects smashed into drones and vice versa. Benalia IV, the supergiant? Let's not talk about that. Benalia V, a gas giant, had perpetual fires in its upper atmosphere now, these having developed from the burnoff and uncontrolled reactions of gas harvester satellites. And finally, Benalia VI and VII, frozen dirtballs, had more or less intact machinery due to their isolation and low gravity, but it was extremely impractical to begin mining either of them at the moment.
President Jonathan Domini had had an ambitious plan to have Benalia II in working order again within one year. It meant that there would be little surplus, true, but the Emergents had gone poorer for years after the Scourge, trying to get their sole planet reactivated, and would well support a time that was slightly better.
Now three months had gone. The President had trusted to luck and it had held up once already. A number of large minirep (mining and reprocessing) modules which had been disabled by short bursts of destruction turned out not to be scrapmetal after all: They were modular, and about half of them were now functioning.
With minirep modules in the deep, it was far easier to acquire the final elements for the last phase of Benalia II's reconstruction. The President smiled, and tried to think of a good way to spin the fact that his plan had been impossible and this stroke of luck would only help actual developments come up to speed with the plan again... well, he would have to trust to luck again. Wasn't there a saying that it worked better that way? And besides, his subconscious would be working on it.
OOC: Can you add player names outside the spoilers so I can ctrlF for them?
