What follows is the original first draft (some story elements changed as pieces were built or discarded) which served as a guideline for developing VRML worlds to explore. The idea was to combine a text frame describing the background with an itinerary (list of actions) the Captain must complete at each planet. These would be combined with multimedia touches and an idea for "beaming" from site to site. The itinerary lists were just tentative and not complete. Ultimately they changed from a "task list" to a list of "Places to Visit in this Scene".
The voyage takes place in the year 2047. A small
asteroid has impacted Earth. The resulting global warming devastated the breadbaskets of
the Northern Hemisphere leading to a worldwide famine. As part of the rebuilding effort
and to ensure the survival of the race should this recur, immigration to the worlds of the
local solar system has begun.
The first wave of human emigrants follow the original explorer cosmonauts who with the aid of their robots and after some spectacular failures, have created surviving colonies on the Moon, and Mars with commercial facilities on Europa and a research station on Titan. At each world beyond, a manned station monitors the planet and provides shelter facilities for the ships that become stranded during the colonization. On Mercury is a large self-maintained set of droids that mine and provide sun sensors. While titration of the sulphuric atmosphere on Venus was debated, the Amazon disaster overtook these plans. No one has yet ventured out as far as Pluto or the Kuiper Belt.
The Jeanie Johnston is on her first voyage with
human cargo. She was a solar/nuclear ore and gas carrier that made the run between Mars,
the Asteroid Belt and Earth during the exploration. She has just been converted for human
transport. During the outfitting, ION emergency engines were added as safety gear given
the cargoType requirements. SurvivalPods are limited to automated return to Earth
geostationary orbit where survivors are retrieved on the routine Moon/Earth Shuttle run.
The JJ is a fully automated ship with an artificial intelligence fully capable of reason and caprice. The AI has chosen to keep the gender of the woman whose mind was the model for her AIs emotionModules. Her human model is a 34 year old woman from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The ship's captain is James Attridge who descends from a long line of sea mariners. While the duties of the Captain are mainly to attend ship functions and ensure the proper operating condition of the ship, he can override the AI and take control of some ships functions including navigation. The AI comments.
While living quarters are spartan, passengers have full access to the libraries of the ship in the monitors in their rooms. They are allowed a few personal possessions. As in the immigrant ships of old, money buys privilege, access and payload.
The colonies became self-governing during the ten years that interstellar flights were suspended. Strong individual traditions have grown up around each colony based on their economic, historical and environmental conditions. In some cases, old spellings for place names have been used to assert the independent traditions. While this has caused some friction among the colonies and Earth, it is an accepted fact because stellar distances and the weakened state of the economies precludes conflict. In order to survive, each colony and Earth is now interdependent for goods, services, and even rules for tourism. Because there is no need for a standing interstellar armed force, economic gains have been realized as these resources have been plowed back into the economies of each colony. It was this decision that freed the resources needed for the colonization.
However, the fear of future conflict lead to the establishment of an Interplanetary Forum which convenes at Armstrong Moon Base to resolve conflicts among the groups. Overhead in the main hall at Armstrong, hangs a banner with the following embroidered on it:
To ensure the rights of all citizens of the Solar System, these are the principals to which we devote all our efforts:
This is a sparsely fitted interior. It has the Captain's bunk, personal effects, a small Irish harp, and a computer console and desk. Using the computer console, the Captain can access the itinerary as well as all of the ship's historical records, medical records, literature, etc. The Captain is a well-read man. This is where he can converse with JJ.
The Captain's cabin is a scene for accessing background information. It serves as the interface to the computer library. In this scene, the console is dominant so we have a large flat display area that is easy to read. The harp has preselected tunes and we can make it playable with some simple wav files or midi notes.
Pictures of the wife and kids are here, and a picture of his home in Ireland. He also has the Kerry County GAA colors on the wall.
The JJ has been outfitted. Captain James Attridge,
her commander, is given orders to take the colonists to Armstrong Moon base, then on to
Mars. He is told there is another mission he will be briefed on at Armstrong Moon Base.
Itinerary
The ISS and MIR have been restored to full
capacity. Here the SS Jeanie Johnston is parked in orbit some miles from the ISS. The
flight from the ISS to the JJ is automated. The old shuttle fleet and the newer successors
are used to bring passengers to the ISS to adjust to weightlessness, then transferred to
the JJ.
Itinerary
Armstrong Moon Base is the central control for all
interstellar travel. Because it was the first permanent outpost on another world, it was
capable of sustaining itself during the ten years of chaos on Earth. A passenger from
Earth brought the first case of the Amazon virus to the moon base. The infection wiped out
the personnel at Gagarin Field where the tug from the ISS had landed.
To prevent the virus from spreading to the rest of
moonbase, no flights from Earth were allowed although the Moon Base personnel maintained
the low-Earth orbit space stations. It was Armstrong research scientists that discovered
the cure for the plague based on the samples taken from the Gagarin victims, returned to
Earth with the cure, then took up the task of organizing the retrofit of the freighters.
Now that the plague has subsided on Earth, Armstrong serves as the way station for
colonists who train for their assignments at New Tralee, Mars.
Itinerary
Venus is a hostile world. Humans have never
settled here. The Captain sends down a probe to look at the surface to collect data. This
data is normally returned by passing freighters to the science teams on Earth, who want
more information on global warming effects. This is of utmost importance as they try to
repair the damage done to Earth's atmosphere by the asteroid, and in anticipation that at
some future time the abandoned titration program might be restarted.
Itinerary
At Mars, the Captain is informed that further
signals from Europa say that the Saiorse colony is alive and well, but requires spare
parts to repair the oxygen condensers and the magnetic ramps. Upon receiving these and
making repairs, they can resume trade of water to Mars for Martian goods such as ores and
foodstuffs.
Itinerary
After leaving Mars, a signal is received from the vicinity of the asteroid belt. It is an automatic homing beacon from a planet monitoring station lifeboat. The JJ goes to investigate. On finding the boat, a passenger is discovered inside in a suspended animation chamber. The crew signals the Captain that computer logs reveal he is the remainder of a group of lifeboats from the Uranus station that tried to make it to Titan when it became evident they were facing certain starvation.
His thrusters misfired and he became separated from the main body and drifted into the belt. There is no record of what has happened to the remaining survivors.
Itinerary
The Europans have lived for ten years since being
cut off from the Mars supply ships. They were formerly engaged in trade with the Mars
colonists. They shipped ice to Mars in chunks wrapped in thin material layers like a
ziploc. These were launched by a magnetic ramp at intervals toward Mars where they would
fall into orbit and be retrieved by the Mars colonists. Ore freighters from Mars would
then return supplies to Europa.
During the period after the accident, the Europans ate plankton life found in the warm ocean beneath the ice surface. They have cut through the ice and can extract both heat and nutrition. Because of the exclusive plant diet and reduced carmelization, they are aging very slowly. They feel they can continue with their mission now that the captain has brought the necessary parts to repair the oxygen condensers.
The Captain tells the Europan Station Master, Liom
Macgillicuddy, about the lifeboat the JJ picked up in the asteroid belt. The Captain is
informed that the automated signals are still being received from the monitoring stations
at Neptune and Uranus, but that all human voice transmission stopped three years earlier.
The Captain receives instructions from Earth to go inspect the stations. The Europans
provision the JJ for the voyage.
Itinerary
At Titan, some of the survivors of the lifeboats
from Uranus are found. They have learned to live together despite the harsh conditions and
short supplies. Titan has an ethane ocean with a single prominent continent. It is the
only solar system moon with a significant atmosphere. That atmosphere is like very thick
smog composed of molecular nitrogen. Surface pressure is twice that of Earth. Solar winds
produce spectacular lighting like streaks through the upper atmosphere, dimly visible at
the surface. Although the surface is ice, it is pelted with a constant rain of ethane.
The station on the surface had just landed when
contact with Earth was lost. During the period out of contact, organic lifeforms have been
discovered which are similar to those hypothesized to have existed on Earth in the very
beginning of life. Despite this discovery, the survivors have endured very harsh
conditions. The captain sends down tugs to remove them.
Itinerary
The station is a ghost station. The JJ flies by
but does not stop. During this part of the flight, a large comet swings past and heads out
into deep space. Since comets are thought to have carried organic molecules throughout the
protoplanets, the Captain wonders if it is a good omen about the resurgence of life as the
emigration continues.
Itinerary
On arrival at Neptune station, it is found to be a
ghost station. Computer logs reveal the crew had monitored a signal from there for some
months after the disaster on Earth and believed an alien civilization kept a monitoring
post on the ninth planet. No lifeboats or human remains are found, but the computers show
the last known heading for the lifeboats was Pluto.
Itinerary
Until the flight of the JJ, no one has seen the surface of Pluto. A signal source has been monitored by the last survivor of the Neptune Monitoring Station. The captain will shuttle down to the surface. The lifeboats of the Neptune station are found empty and abandoned; In the center is a standing stone. Whoever mounted the stone has long since disappeared. It is not known if they have died or been removed from Pluto. The stone seems to contain a star map. On deciphering the map, it indicates that a civilization might be found on Alpha Centauri.
Itinerary