How did the Deucadons crash land?
When the Deucadons arrived at their primary target, 82 G. Eridani, their AI discovered there were no habitable worlds. So the computer fired up their Grey Drive and they proceeded to their secondary target, Tau Ceti.
As mentioned yesterday, simpler is better. Fewer moving parts are fewer things to break. So the lifting surfaces on the gigantic delta wings on the Arks were controlled by actual wires. Unfortunately, the control wires to the delta wings were damaged so the Ark III would not be able to enter the atmosphere using the normal aero-braking technique.
What to do? The Captain and the command crew had terrible fights on how to proceed. One of them wanted to grab a group of women and stuff them in the cargo module and just fly it down. The thinking was they would reproduce and in a hundred years, they would have developed the technology to go up and retrieve the remaining crew. The Captain wanted to take the crew compartment down even if it meant forgoing ever retrieving the cargo compartment.
In the end, the Captain won. Using a maneuver that was the ultimate in last resort, they spun the Command Module and SSTO booster around and docked with the crew compartment facing backwards. They fired the SSTO booster as a super-retro rocket and were able to slow their velocity down sufficiently that they merely crash-landed.
Most of the colonists, frozen in blocks of ice, survived the crash. The Captain, Pilot and Co-pilot all died. But several of the remaining survivors thawed and were then able to thaw out the remaining crew members.
Sadly, they had to start their new colony with only "the clothes on their back." They had it very rough for many, many years. Further compounding their troubles, a huge asteroid crashed down forming the crater that eventually became Lake Eprehem and many of the colonists (actually the Darwin group) died in the explosion.
The people remaining, who came to be known as The Deucadons, sought refuge underground and lived there for half a millennium until liberated by Rei and Rome.
As mentioned yesterday, simpler is better. Fewer moving parts are fewer things to break. So the lifting surfaces on the gigantic delta wings on the Arks were controlled by actual wires. Unfortunately, the control wires to the delta wings were damaged so the Ark III would not be able to enter the atmosphere using the normal aero-braking technique.
What to do? The Captain and the command crew had terrible fights on how to proceed. One of them wanted to grab a group of women and stuff them in the cargo module and just fly it down. The thinking was they would reproduce and in a hundred years, they would have developed the technology to go up and retrieve the remaining crew. The Captain wanted to take the crew compartment down even if it meant forgoing ever retrieving the cargo compartment.
In the end, the Captain won. Using a maneuver that was the ultimate in last resort, they spun the Command Module and SSTO booster around and docked with the crew compartment facing backwards. They fired the SSTO booster as a super-retro rocket and were able to slow their velocity down sufficiently that they merely crash-landed.
Most of the colonists, frozen in blocks of ice, survived the crash. The Captain, Pilot and Co-pilot all died. But several of the remaining survivors thawed and were then able to thaw out the remaining crew members.
Sadly, they had to start their new colony with only "the clothes on their back." They had it very rough for many, many years. Further compounding their troubles, a huge asteroid crashed down forming the crater that eventually became Lake Eprehem and many of the colonists (actually the Darwin group) died in the explosion.
The people remaining, who came to be known as The Deucadons, sought refuge underground and lived there for half a millennium until liberated by Rei and Rome.
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Tales of the Vuduri
Tidbits and insights into the 35th century world of the Vuduri.
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