Mark Chance
Boingy! Boingy!
The Sisyphus comes out of drillspace at the end of the Hard Light system. The spike drive's persistent hum -- more felt than heard -- dwindles away to be replaced by the steady thrum of standard engines. It's still a few days to Brightside Station, but most the trip now lies behind.
The system is infamous for its star, the red giant Perdurabo that burns at the center of the Hard Light system. Perdurabo casts its lethal radiance out from the molten slag-droplets of the inner system to the charred debris that circles at the outer rim. It is monstrously hostile to all living flesh. The radioactivity emitted by the star is enough to burn through ship shielding in a matter of days and the only safety lies in hiding behind the scorched bulk of some lonely stone.
Brightside Station was built here fifty years ago, its materials brought up from the half-melted planetoid of iron and rock that serves as its shield against Perdurabo. It was a remarkably risky investment by the Geostellar Mining Industries, but Perdurabo offered wealth as well as death. The star emits tiny particles of novium amid its sleet of radiation. This rare substance is vital for the maintenance and upkeep of many pretech manufacturing devices, and GMI needed Brightside to serve as a refinery for its catcher drones.
The station itself is built along the old Bannerjee Twelve structural lines, a construction pattern popular since pre-Scream days for its cheapness, reliability, and ease of maintenance. The fittings aren’t especially modern, and the living is primitive compared to more advanced stations, but the reliability is vital in the face of Hard Light’s special dangers. The station is an ovoid cylinder in shape, its habitable decks divided into three levels.
Perhaps more impressive than people surviving on Brightside Station despite Perdurabo's malevolence are the sky tombs. The sky tombs were discovered only a scant two years ago, and there has been no real archaeological or xenological study of them performed yet. The only people who have made a concentrated effort to explore them have been adventurers and freebooters with minimal interest in the society or history of their creators.
Of course, much of this system trivia is really just that: trivia. Your duties aboard the Sisyphus aren't likely to give you much time for sightseeing or relaxing. Once the Sisyphus takes on its shipment of novium, you're due back into the spaceways. All total, your stay on station will probably be measured in hours rather than days.
The system is infamous for its star, the red giant Perdurabo that burns at the center of the Hard Light system. Perdurabo casts its lethal radiance out from the molten slag-droplets of the inner system to the charred debris that circles at the outer rim. It is monstrously hostile to all living flesh. The radioactivity emitted by the star is enough to burn through ship shielding in a matter of days and the only safety lies in hiding behind the scorched bulk of some lonely stone.
Brightside Station was built here fifty years ago, its materials brought up from the half-melted planetoid of iron and rock that serves as its shield against Perdurabo. It was a remarkably risky investment by the Geostellar Mining Industries, but Perdurabo offered wealth as well as death. The star emits tiny particles of novium amid its sleet of radiation. This rare substance is vital for the maintenance and upkeep of many pretech manufacturing devices, and GMI needed Brightside to serve as a refinery for its catcher drones.
The station itself is built along the old Bannerjee Twelve structural lines, a construction pattern popular since pre-Scream days for its cheapness, reliability, and ease of maintenance. The fittings aren’t especially modern, and the living is primitive compared to more advanced stations, but the reliability is vital in the face of Hard Light’s special dangers. The station is an ovoid cylinder in shape, its habitable decks divided into three levels.
Perhaps more impressive than people surviving on Brightside Station despite Perdurabo's malevolence are the sky tombs. The sky tombs were discovered only a scant two years ago, and there has been no real archaeological or xenological study of them performed yet. The only people who have made a concentrated effort to explore them have been adventurers and freebooters with minimal interest in the society or history of their creators.
Of course, much of this system trivia is really just that: trivia. Your duties aboard the Sisyphus aren't likely to give you much time for sightseeing or relaxing. Once the Sisyphus takes on its shipment of novium, you're due back into the spaceways. All total, your stay on station will probably be measured in hours rather than days.
