Poseidon was the first success in mankind's experiments in planet building. Early forays into terraforming on Mars proved to be problematic at best, resulting that when the human race expanded to the Olympus System in the early part of the twenty fourth century it was considered easier to simply build worlds instead of alter them. The star Olympus was chosen because it followed Sol as they orbited the galactic center. This made travel between them safe, as such things are considered, and somewhat faster. Olympus itself is approximately ten light years from Sol, and the journey from one to another takes about fourteen months. That's the Earth-Orpheus time. The journey was long, boring, and made you half crazy. But at least it's over now.
Orpheus is a trio of iron heavy asteroids that have been anchored together at one of Olympus's Lagrange points. All traffic in and out of the system comes through Orpheus, and it's where pilot Dawnstar (Gibby) is currently sitting while his ship gets repaired. The rest of you left soon after arriving and are now touching down on Poseidon.
Splashing down would be more accurate. Poseidon is slightly more than Earth mass, resulting in a comfortable gravity. It was build from nineteen super-massive nickel-copper-iron asteroids to give it an Earthlike core. There isn't as hot a molten core as earth, but does provide some tectonic activity. After the initial seeding, the astrophysicists in charge sat back to watch and wait to see what would happen. The first thing they learned was that the orbit wasn't quite stable. Poseidon is actually a bit too light, and it's spiraling away from Olympus. To remedy this it was decided to orchestrate five more drops. Ice based comets were pulled from the extra solar cloud, locked into collision paths, and set free. Colloquially called the Five Sisters, the first, Battle, hit about nine months ago, and the second, Secrets, hit only four days before you got in system. Joy is on route now, and should be arriving in six months. You are all strongly encouraged to finish up your assignment and get off world before it comes.
The surface ocean is between one and two hundred miles deep at this point. It has an atmosphere of mostly ammonia with some water vapor, methane, and other gases, meaning the atmosphere isn't breathable. You're in a shallow depth sub, floating around the ocean.
As to what exactly you're doing, that depends on your job. The biologist is in charge of releasing anaerobic bacteria into the ocean. It is hoped they will flourish, building an ecosystem basically from scratch, and ultimately seeding the oceans for later viable life. It's a grand experiment, and the terrestrial biological community is watching with interest. The bio tech also has kits to test for xenological life forms, though up until this point none have ever been found. No one knows whether the bacteria you release now will survive the arrival of the other three sisters, but it can't hurt, right?
The physicist is in charge of making orbital measurements from the surface. Poseidon's mass, position, and speed are all under adjustment. Building a planet is a prohibitively expensive endeavor, and no one wants this one to fall into the sun because someone forgot to carry the one. The physicist will be in charge of a whole bank of measuring apparati, and spends a lot of time taking notes and doing math.
Whichever one of you pics up the reins as the geologist will be in charge of looking down while the physicist is looking up. As mentioned, Poseidon's core may very well be stable, but may very well not. As it gurgles and moves there are constant gravitation fluctuations and eddies. There are also gigantic mega-tsunami's as the rocky ocean bottom settles, and waves that are more than a mile tall have been reported. You probably want a bit of warning before one of those things hits the sub.
The chemist has to constantly observe the chemical composition of the water, building a survey data-base. He is also looking for trace elements of the grit from the bottom, and monitoring the atmospheric composition. He's the one who spends the most time out of the sub, taking measurements and so forth. The entire back half of the craft is effectively his, filled with detailed analysis machines, lab equipment, and strange machines with unpronounceable names.
Currently, you are all at 46 degrees south latitude, having just arrived and released the first round of biological seed canisters. The water is a balmy hundred and fifteen degrees in the sun, but that is expected to drop over the coming months. Your mission is to travel north, taking measurements along the way until you get to the equator. If you haven't rendezvoused with Dawnstar by then, an emergency extraction craft will be released from Orpheus to pick you up before Joy hits. Joy has enough water in her to raise the ocean level by approximately two miles, so that's going to be a big splash. It is morning on the ship's time, you're cruising fifty nine feet below the surface where the water temp is a bit more reasonable, and everything is going smoothly.
Orpheus is a trio of iron heavy asteroids that have been anchored together at one of Olympus's Lagrange points. All traffic in and out of the system comes through Orpheus, and it's where pilot Dawnstar (Gibby) is currently sitting while his ship gets repaired. The rest of you left soon after arriving and are now touching down on Poseidon.
Splashing down would be more accurate. Poseidon is slightly more than Earth mass, resulting in a comfortable gravity. It was build from nineteen super-massive nickel-copper-iron asteroids to give it an Earthlike core. There isn't as hot a molten core as earth, but does provide some tectonic activity. After the initial seeding, the astrophysicists in charge sat back to watch and wait to see what would happen. The first thing they learned was that the orbit wasn't quite stable. Poseidon is actually a bit too light, and it's spiraling away from Olympus. To remedy this it was decided to orchestrate five more drops. Ice based comets were pulled from the extra solar cloud, locked into collision paths, and set free. Colloquially called the Five Sisters, the first, Battle, hit about nine months ago, and the second, Secrets, hit only four days before you got in system. Joy is on route now, and should be arriving in six months. You are all strongly encouraged to finish up your assignment and get off world before it comes.
The surface ocean is between one and two hundred miles deep at this point. It has an atmosphere of mostly ammonia with some water vapor, methane, and other gases, meaning the atmosphere isn't breathable. You're in a shallow depth sub, floating around the ocean.
As to what exactly you're doing, that depends on your job. The biologist is in charge of releasing anaerobic bacteria into the ocean. It is hoped they will flourish, building an ecosystem basically from scratch, and ultimately seeding the oceans for later viable life. It's a grand experiment, and the terrestrial biological community is watching with interest. The bio tech also has kits to test for xenological life forms, though up until this point none have ever been found. No one knows whether the bacteria you release now will survive the arrival of the other three sisters, but it can't hurt, right?
The physicist is in charge of making orbital measurements from the surface. Poseidon's mass, position, and speed are all under adjustment. Building a planet is a prohibitively expensive endeavor, and no one wants this one to fall into the sun because someone forgot to carry the one. The physicist will be in charge of a whole bank of measuring apparati, and spends a lot of time taking notes and doing math.
Whichever one of you pics up the reins as the geologist will be in charge of looking down while the physicist is looking up. As mentioned, Poseidon's core may very well be stable, but may very well not. As it gurgles and moves there are constant gravitation fluctuations and eddies. There are also gigantic mega-tsunami's as the rocky ocean bottom settles, and waves that are more than a mile tall have been reported. You probably want a bit of warning before one of those things hits the sub.
The chemist has to constantly observe the chemical composition of the water, building a survey data-base. He is also looking for trace elements of the grit from the bottom, and monitoring the atmospheric composition. He's the one who spends the most time out of the sub, taking measurements and so forth. The entire back half of the craft is effectively his, filled with detailed analysis machines, lab equipment, and strange machines with unpronounceable names.
Currently, you are all at 46 degrees south latitude, having just arrived and released the first round of biological seed canisters. The water is a balmy hundred and fifteen degrees in the sun, but that is expected to drop over the coming months. Your mission is to travel north, taking measurements along the way until you get to the equator. If you haven't rendezvoused with Dawnstar by then, an emergency extraction craft will be released from Orpheus to pick you up before Joy hits. Joy has enough water in her to raise the ocean level by approximately two miles, so that's going to be a big splash. It is morning on the ship's time, you're cruising fifty nine feet below the surface where the water temp is a bit more reasonable, and everything is going smoothly.
