Children Of Gaia

Chapter 3: Titan Hyperion

The Titan Mandates.

A suitable planet:
Must lie within a habitable zone distance.
Must have a habitable zone composition.
Must have a habitable zone atmosphere.
Must have sufficient natural resources with which to build.
Must not have sentient life.
Impact on any preexisting ecosystem must be kept to an absolute minimum.

Above all else, the Titan Mandates must be upheld. For without the Mandates as their guide, humanity would be doomed to repeat its mistakes again and again, in an endless struggle against themselves. Having already ruined their former home, it was decided forthwith by the First High Council of Gaia, that they would endure to live harmoniously with their new home, wherever it was to be found. By the age of ten, all Gaia-born were able to recite the Mandates without fail, having been taught the grave importance of symbiosis and sustainability from an early age.

It was in 2078 CE that faster than light travel was first achieved. Professor Elsa Beringer had both damaged her laboratory and killed her research assistant during her initial large-scale testing. Beringer was elated to find her experimental field had indeed expanded and stabilised within her Lab. Until she discovered that only half her assistant's body was present within the Shroud. Beringer's work had led to a means of fully encompassing an object within a shroud of highly excited, vibrating dark matter particles. This effect, later to be known as Beringer's Shroud, allowed matter to exist at a slight variation from normal space-time, unaffected by light, matter or gravity. A moving object enveloped within Beringer's Shroud was able to accelerate far beyond the limited speed of standard ion drive thrusters at sub-light speeds. This revelation allowed humanity to send out hundreds of thousands of wayfarer reconnaissance probes, utilising compact versions of Shroud generators, to explore the galaxy in search of new prospective worlds.

There were already forty-seven recorded Titan expeditions without success. Of the hundreds of thousands of planets catalogued by probes, so few met the initial three criteria of the Mandates. The Titan Rhea had completed eighteen unsuccessful expeditions, whereas the Crius was recently dispatched on its fifth, to investigate a world 528LY away, a journey expected to take over eleven years.

With all the crew onboard, Gaia released her docking clamps and the Hyperion moved off effortlessly under manoeuvring thrusters. Once clear of the cargo bay, it pivoted slightly to align itself with their destination. The main thrusters began to pulse and the Hyperion started to lurch forward. Once the thrusters had achieved maximum output, the Shroud generator activated and the ship was completely enveloped. Within thirty seconds, those looking on from Gaia could no longer see the light from the departing Titan's wake.

The Hyperion's internal PA tone sounded, alerting the crew that an announcement was imminent. A coarse, aged male's voice filled the Titan.

"Attention crew. This is Colonel Emmanuel de Gaulle, I am the Commander of the Hyperion. We have just initiated Shroud travel. Our destination, PLW-742256R, was located by probe 8 months ago, and at that time was approximately 96LY from Gaia. We expect this voyage to take almost 2 years return. Welcome to the Hyperion's fourth expedition."

With his brief introduction over, the Colonel had his ADC address the crew. Lieutenant 1st Class Harrison Shyfer had been by the Colonel's side for the Hyperion's two previous expeditions. A stout man, Shyfer relished the opportunity to give orders to Captains of behalf of his Colonel. He advised the crew to familiarise themselves with the orders left in their quarters.

For the majority of the crew, there was little to be done during travel. Most personnel served no purpose until such time as a Titan landed at its destination and the viability process could begin. If a world was determined to be suitable, the bulk of the crew would remain to establish an initial colony outpost and a skeleton crew would return to Gaia to ferry the next wave to the new world. At such time, all other Titans would be recalled to Gaia to begin transport duties.