Becca crackles with lightning and red auroral flares. A million years ago the gas giant's axis was wrenched eight degrees by a high-energy impact. Rings of dark dust still whirl around its equator.
Ten numbered moons orbit, aloof in their own plane.
Moons One, Two, Five, and Six are small and airless. The others rival Earth in size, water and oxygen. Moon Three orbits in 162 hours; Moon Four, 236 hours and so on, up to 443 hours for Moon Ten. These orbits are restabilizing but the Titius-Bode rule only works if additional moons once orbited much closer to Becca.
Trojans Seven and Eight share one orbit. Moon Nine with its fractal coastlines is an example of saving the best for last. These three moons aren't yet colonized. Eighteen hundred years haven't been enough. There've been setbacks to Yahya's seeding program.
All moons lock faces on Becca. They swelter in noon heat and freeze in midnight cold, in weather cycles longer than an Earth day and shorter than an Earth year. Moon Four is the most temperate of the colonized worlds, thanks to location and atmospheric density.
Nothing launchable can shield human spacefarers inside Becca's lethal radiation zone. Inter-moon travel is limited to space-faring bugs. Even these devices are at risk. Despite triple backup, Seedship Yahya sustained damage while introducing Earthlife to Moon Four. Yahya was forced to suspend operations.
The colonists of Moons Three, Four, and Ten celebrated Yahya's recovery by marking a new era: Year 1 of the New Beginning was pegged to 5943 of the Common Era back on Earth. Unfortunately war preparations were already under way. Year 1 is remembered less as a beginning, and more as a year of factional disaster.
Brazening Becca's powerful radiosphere, Moons Three, Four, and Ten broadcast words, genetic templates, and binary soul-stuff from world to world. Most interworld needs are met by radio. Space launch facilities are built or restored only at times of need. No need is foreseen for the next two centuries.
Genre: Science Fiction
Ten numbered moons orbit, aloof in their own plane.
Moons One, Two, Five, and Six are small and airless. The others rival Earth in size, water and oxygen. Moon Three orbits in 162 hours; Moon Four, 236 hours and so on, up to 443 hours for Moon Ten. These orbits are restabilizing but the Titius-Bode rule only works if additional moons once orbited much closer to Becca.
Trojans Seven and Eight share one orbit. Moon Nine with its fractal coastlines is an example of saving the best for last. These three moons aren't yet colonized. Eighteen hundred years haven't been enough. There've been setbacks to Yahya's seeding program.
All moons lock faces on Becca. They swelter in noon heat and freeze in midnight cold, in weather cycles longer than an Earth day and shorter than an Earth year. Moon Four is the most temperate of the colonized worlds, thanks to location and atmospheric density.
Nothing launchable can shield human spacefarers inside Becca's lethal radiation zone. Inter-moon travel is limited to space-faring bugs. Even these devices are at risk. Despite triple backup, Seedship Yahya sustained damage while introducing Earthlife to Moon Four. Yahya was forced to suspend operations.
The colonists of Moons Three, Four, and Ten celebrated Yahya's recovery by marking a new era: Year 1 of the New Beginning was pegged to 5943 of the Common Era back on Earth. Unfortunately war preparations were already under way. Year 1 is remembered less as a beginning, and more as a year of factional disaster.
Brazening Becca's powerful radiosphere, Moons Three, Four, and Ten broadcast words, genetic templates, and binary soul-stuff from world to world. Most interworld needs are met by radio. Space launch facilities are built or restored only at times of need. No need is foreseen for the next two centuries.
Genre: Science Fiction
Used availability for Phillip C Jennings's Sans Souci