The Luna Deception by Felix R. Savage
Authors: Felix R. Savage
Tags: Science-Fiction, Space Opera, Military, Science Fiction & Fantasy, cyberpunk, Hard Science Fiction, Exploration, Space Exploration, Galactic Empire, Space Fleet, Space Marine, Colonization, space opera science fiction thriller
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But maybe they had budget issues.
FRAGGER1: HAH! It’s the HOPE Center for Nanobiotics. They’re the second-richest family on Luna. They don’t have BUDGET ISSUES.
PINOY56: OK, that actually ties into
FRAGGER1: Technical issues, maybe.
PINOY56: what I wanted to ask you. You know your manifesto about taking the fight to the enemy?
FRAGGER1: YEEEEAAHH! Frag em!
PINOY56: Guess that’s why your name is Fragger. But let’s get technical for a minute. If you were going to implement your dream campaign, what would you need?
FRAGGER1: A lot of money.
PINOY56: Obviously, but what about resources? You talked about a new-tech fleet of fighter-bombers. Could you build that with just the resources we have here on Luna?
FRAGGER1: Oh, you’re on Luna, too? Nice to meet you.
PINOY56: Dude, you already knew that from the latency. He never could tell about Fragger1: was the poster a smart guy playing dumb, or a dumb guy who occasionally said smart things?
Fragger1’s next bubble tilted Mendoza’s opinion towards smarter-than-he-wants-us-to-think.
FRAGGER1: About the resources, the answer is no. First off you need steel. Lots of high-quality steel. We don’t have that here, and we couldn’t procure it without raising red flags. Remember this all has to happen under the radar, because our DEAR LEADERS in the UN get panicky at the thought of people taking their survival into their own hands instead of relying on Star FARCE. So even if you had all the necessary resources, you couldn’t manufacture the ships on Luna. I’m not even sure it would be possible, regardless. We don’t have the heavy industrial capacity anymore. It’s all gone out to the Belt and Midway, where you can legally automate instead of having to hire expensive spaceborn labor.
PINOY56: What about Hope Space Industries?
FRAGGER1: Dude, that’s a design house. They outsource all their manufacturing to their partners on Mercury.
PINOY56: Mercury?
FRAGGER1: Sure. There’s a reason they call Mercury the factory of the solar system. Actually, if you wanted to build my fleet, that would be the place to do it. They’ve got the shipyards, the supply chain, everything.
PINOY56: That’s really interesting. Thanks, Fragger1.
FRAGGER1: No problem … Hey. Looks like you just logged out.
Mendoza had left the forum. He had found out what he needed to know. The plan Lorna had sketched out was not only feasible, it was obvious to anyone who had thought deeply about the issues involved. He emailed Lorna, as the funicular climbed the dark side of Malapert Mountain: ~ I’ll do it. Will start tonight.
Back in All-We-Know-About-Mars/secret.cloud—a barebones sim hosted on a private server in Luna orbit, where anonymous avatars stood around a bulletin board collaged with newspaper clippings—a new chat bubble appeared over the head of Fragger1, visible to no one, any longer, except himself.
FRAGGER1: It’s uncool to leave without saying goodbye, Pinoy56 … a.k.a. John Mendoza.
★
Once he started, Mendoza got sucked into the new project. He decided to create a full-blown sim that Dr. Hasselblatter could use as a campaign freebie. He worked through the night, went to the office, and kept working, fueled by coffee and trail mix.
He had found his original inspiration in the works of an early futurist, Kim Stanley Robinson, but his own creativity swiftly took over.
In the future—Mendoza proposed—a city would run on rails around the equator of Mercury, staying just ahead of the lethal sunrise. The city would boast a rollercoaster, a quidditch arena, a public swimming pool, and several parks. He added scenery along the route, in the form of landscape art and opportunities for corporate sponsorship (“Your Logo @ Here”). He extrapolated the outlines of a future Mercurian economy based on tourism. He added a sheen of sociological proof using statistical modelling. You could explore the whole thing in 3D. It was mapped to the actual geology of Mercury.
He
FRAGGER1: HAH! It’s the HOPE Center for Nanobiotics. They’re the second-richest family on Luna. They don’t have BUDGET ISSUES.
PINOY56: OK, that actually ties into
FRAGGER1: Technical issues, maybe.
PINOY56: what I wanted to ask you. You know your manifesto about taking the fight to the enemy?
FRAGGER1: YEEEEAAHH! Frag em!
PINOY56: Guess that’s why your name is Fragger. But let’s get technical for a minute. If you were going to implement your dream campaign, what would you need?
FRAGGER1: A lot of money.
PINOY56: Obviously, but what about resources? You talked about a new-tech fleet of fighter-bombers. Could you build that with just the resources we have here on Luna?
FRAGGER1: Oh, you’re on Luna, too? Nice to meet you.
PINOY56: Dude, you already knew that from the latency. He never could tell about Fragger1: was the poster a smart guy playing dumb, or a dumb guy who occasionally said smart things?
Fragger1’s next bubble tilted Mendoza’s opinion towards smarter-than-he-wants-us-to-think.
FRAGGER1: About the resources, the answer is no. First off you need steel. Lots of high-quality steel. We don’t have that here, and we couldn’t procure it without raising red flags. Remember this all has to happen under the radar, because our DEAR LEADERS in the UN get panicky at the thought of people taking their survival into their own hands instead of relying on Star FARCE. So even if you had all the necessary resources, you couldn’t manufacture the ships on Luna. I’m not even sure it would be possible, regardless. We don’t have the heavy industrial capacity anymore. It’s all gone out to the Belt and Midway, where you can legally automate instead of having to hire expensive spaceborn labor.
PINOY56: What about Hope Space Industries?
FRAGGER1: Dude, that’s a design house. They outsource all their manufacturing to their partners on Mercury.
PINOY56: Mercury?
FRAGGER1: Sure. There’s a reason they call Mercury the factory of the solar system. Actually, if you wanted to build my fleet, that would be the place to do it. They’ve got the shipyards, the supply chain, everything.
PINOY56: That’s really interesting. Thanks, Fragger1.
FRAGGER1: No problem … Hey. Looks like you just logged out.
Mendoza had left the forum. He had found out what he needed to know. The plan Lorna had sketched out was not only feasible, it was obvious to anyone who had thought deeply about the issues involved. He emailed Lorna, as the funicular climbed the dark side of Malapert Mountain: ~ I’ll do it. Will start tonight.
Back in All-We-Know-About-Mars/secret.cloud—a barebones sim hosted on a private server in Luna orbit, where anonymous avatars stood around a bulletin board collaged with newspaper clippings—a new chat bubble appeared over the head of Fragger1, visible to no one, any longer, except himself.
FRAGGER1: It’s uncool to leave without saying goodbye, Pinoy56 … a.k.a. John Mendoza.
★
Once he started, Mendoza got sucked into the new project. He decided to create a full-blown sim that Dr. Hasselblatter could use as a campaign freebie. He worked through the night, went to the office, and kept working, fueled by coffee and trail mix.
He had found his original inspiration in the works of an early futurist, Kim Stanley Robinson, but his own creativity swiftly took over.
In the future—Mendoza proposed—a city would run on rails around the equator of Mercury, staying just ahead of the lethal sunrise. The city would boast a rollercoaster, a quidditch arena, a public swimming pool, and several parks. He added scenery along the route, in the form of landscape art and opportunities for corporate sponsorship (“Your Logo @ Here”). He extrapolated the outlines of a future Mercurian economy based on tourism. He added a sheen of sociological proof using statistical modelling. You could explore the whole thing in 3D. It was mapped to the actual geology of Mercury.
He
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