Terra Novus History
Development of Technology
Some four hundred years ago on Earth a team of scientists, led by twins Linda and Brian Harroun and inspired by the wealth of the eccentric Eric Cloverwood (who made no secret of his desire to travel among the stars and hinted that anyone who could provide him with such an opportunity could expect the means to make the dream come true), discovered the secret to rapid interstellar travel. Their discovery generated a great deal of excitement as scientists around the world jockeyed for coveted positions on the Harroun teams assembled to solve the difficulties attendant to the building and manning of a craft able to take advantage of the warp drive technology and to withstand the rigors of deep space travel.
Financed by Mr Cloverwood’s deep pockets, the Harroun twins and their teams spent nearly twenty-five years developing, building, perfecting, and testing. At last they were ready with their final creation–the mother ship, a crew, and the first colonists. Christened the _Cloverwood_, it orbited Earth, awaiting the hand of its captain.
Much had to happen in the twenty-five years between the initial discovery and Cloverwood Day, as it came to be known. The Harrouns hired the best of the best. Several individual teams worked simultaneously. First, of course, is…
* Team Harroun–Drive
The Drive team refined the warp drive technology, eliminating as much as possible the uncertainties that made it dangerous. When they were ready to test it in space, they turned to…
* Team Harroun–Ship
This team developed and tested various alloys of metal as they built one small interstellar ship after another. The first ones were tested right on the ground in special facilities designed to mimic the conditions expected during interstellar travel. Then they moved to drones–ships that traveled by a type of remote control. Many of these were lost in space, but when they could reliably launch and retrieve a ship every time they tried, they added passengers. The first ones were various animals. Some of these were sacrificed for the cause, but at last they were ready to try it personally.
Many people thought the first volunteers were either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid, as no one knew what effect the warp drive would have on the human body. Or mind. There was a great deal of publicity and much discussion by people of prominence–talk show guests, news analysts, and televangelists. Most agreed it was a foolhardy risk and they were glad _they_ weren’t among those going. And at least there was the…
* Team Harroun–Health
The health team accumulated all the data to be had on interstellar travel and the possible effects on the human mind and body. Using this information the team devised a diet and exercise plan for those selected for testing and, ultimately, taking the maiden voyage to a distant planet. Additional care was needed for determining criteria for choosing who would go on that final voyage and for handling their training and preparation, as they would never return to Earth. The colonists must be not only extremely fit, healthy, and stable physically but also mentally, socially, and psychologically.
The Trip
Although the discovery by the Harrouns made interstellar travel feasible, it wasn’t instantaneous, so provisions needed to be made for the journey. Astronomers (or would it be astronomy physicists?) had determined that the planet most likely to be able to sustain life as nearly like that on Earth as possible was HD 85512 b, dubbed Terra Novus by the Harrouns. Calculations suggested it would take about forty Earth years to make the trip, so Team Harroun Health included experiments in cryogenics in their activities.
****
I think there needs to be more techie stuff here, but I’m not up to it at the moment. These parts could be fleshed out better.
****
At length the colonists arrive at Terra Novus. Almost immediately they discover that a small contingency of Techbolists (the name was a slang appellation applied on Earth to a fanatical fringe group that used terroristic methods to try to eradicate technology as they believed it was evil and was causing all humanity’s troubles–this is a story in itself) had accompanied the colonists to the new world in hopes of starting fresh with a technology-free society. They mount an offensive within a few days of landing. After vicious fighting they were defeated. Most people thought the threat was wiped out, but a few crept away and started their own colony at some distance and were not discovered for some time. Ironically, they do use quite a bit of technology themselves but, of course, “that’s different”.
By the time the colonists set up camp they already know several details about the planet. Its year is only fifty-four and a half days long. A day is only sixteen hours long, which was problematic at first. Initially, everyone wanted to retain their habitual twenty-four hour pattern of about sixteen hours awake and eight asleep. Except for a few stubborn individuals, msot gave that up fairly quickly, as it was too confusing. Most soon adapted to a pattern of twelve hours awake and four asleep.
****
I don’t know if this is feasible physiologically.
****
Weather, Climate and Seasons
Climate is pleasant from the poles to about halfway to the equator. From there to the equator is gets dangerously hot and humid and is not inhabited as a results. Right at the poles it sometimes gets cold enough to snow in winter, but that doesn’t amount to much, as winter is so short, but, because there is so much area that doesn’t get cold enough to snow, no one lives as far north or south as the poles. At this point, it only matters in the northern hemisphere, as no one lives in the southern hemisphere. About half the northern hemisphere is land and only about a fourth of the southern. The rest is covered with water.
With a year of only 54.5 days, seasons are short. In most areas there is not a lot of variation between seasons, so it doesn’t matter much, anyway. The colony is established closer to the north pole than to the equator, and they do enjoy about as much variation in season as there is, except right at and near the north pole. Temperatures in summer range from lows of around twenty degrees Celsius to highs of forty degrees Celsius. Winter seldom drops below ten degrees, although it has been as low as five degrees. Upper temperatures in winter can reach as high as twenty degrees, especially during the first or last days of the season. Both spring and autumn can dip down to fifteen or up to twenty-five or a little higher.
Since the year is only fifty-four plus days long, each season is quite short, about two and one-quarter six-day weeks long or thirteen to fourteen days, depending on the year.
Development of Culture and Time-Keeping
Over the years a culture developed that suited the length of the years and the days, the climate, and the isolation from Earth. As agreed upon, they launched a probe that would reach Earth after forty years of travel and would confirm to those back home that they had arrived. The problem is, no one they knew would get the news. Even if we were only looking at the eighty years of travel in each direction, few, if any, of their families or acquaintances would still be living. Since time is distorted by space travel, with time passing faster for the travelers than for Earth, much more time will have passed on Earth. Hundreds of years, in fact. The colonists will barely be mentioned in the history books by the time the probe returns.
The colonists started having families about five Earth years after arriving on the planet. Of course, only nine weeks after the first baby was born, a planetary year had already gone by.
“We can’t start having birthdays every nine weeks,” Linda Harroun said at a council meeting. We all have an aversion to higher numbers when discussing our own ages. Can you imagine how demoralizing it would be to have to admit you’re, say, three hundred years old?”
“It will become a non-issue within a generation. Two generations, for sure. No one will remember anything different and it will be as normal as our way is to us now,” said her brother Brian.
“Well….” Everyone turned to look as Joan Glassberg spoke. “Brian is right, but I don’t think I want to be having birthday parties every nine weeks. We’ve talked about how we will be encouraging large families to get our colony more firmly established. Can you imagine the birthday parties for a family of eight children?”
Brian looked a little surprised. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
The topic was discussed at length and a new calendar system was developed to suit the planet. The word “year” would no longer be used. Since the planetary year was only fifty-four and one-half days, they settled on the term “cycle” and decided cycles would alternate between fifty-four and fifty-five days. Each cycle would be a week of six days. They decided to keep two-day weekends, as everyone was pretty attached to having two days off every week.
“Remember,” Linda cautioned, “we may not have nice, tidy work weeks for some time.”
They knew and accepted that reality, but wanted to keep the idea, at least.
Marking stages of life for individuals required some detailed consideration, but they came up with a plan. One hundred planetary cycles (years) is a “passage”. One hundred cycles turns out to be almost fifteen earth years, so they settled on a schedule of passages to mark the stages in each person’s life.
1. Passage of Growth and Learning
2. Passage of Apprenticeship
3. Passage of Career Development
4. Passage of Mentorship
5. Passage of Advisorship
After five passages, a person is the Earth equivalent of age seventy-five. At that point s/he has achieved the Elder Passage. If someone should exceed six passages, the Elder Passages are itemized so: Elder Passage 1, Elder Passage 2. It will be a long time before Elder Passage 3 is needed. By that time, who knows? Maybe they will have developed a different plan.
Each passage has a specific purpose. The first, of course, is to grow to adulthood and acquire a basic education. During the first passage a person is considered a minor and the parents are responsible for its behavior. At the end of the first passage, a person reaches the age of reason and there is a celebration of that person’s coming of age and emancipation.
The second passage is devoted to learning a trade. Each person in the fourth passage takes on several apprentices and teaches them a craft, trade, or occupation. Some areas of training are more popular, therefore competitive, than others, but everyone has the opportunity to find a appropriate spot, although sometimes not his or her first choice. Extensive interest and aptitude testing ensures that each person is assigned to a good fit. The second passage is also when most people choose a mate. Some start raising a family, but others wait until the next passage to have children.
During the third passage each person is expected to work hard at his or her trade or craft and try to stand out in his or her area. There is a lot of competition for prominence in the various trade and craft areas among those in their third passage.
Maturity is the hallmark of the fourth passage. These are the people who take on apprentices and teach a new generation what they know It is possibly the most rewarding passage. In the early years after colonization, these people continue to be productive in their area. Later, when the colony is more stable and the workforce has grown quite a bit, many of them choose semi-retirement. They only take on and train apprentices; they don’t continue their own productive trade.
No one is allowed to take on apprentices during their fifth passage, but they may carry on their trade if they don’t wish to retire. There are some exceptions to this. Health practitioners, for instance, must take periodic tests demonstrating whether they are still capable of carrying out their tasks safely.
The fifth passage is more relaxed. On Earth these would include our retired people. They are well respected and their advice is often sought by those in younger passages.
Grand Passages
The previous section explains how the stages of growth and life are documented and celebrated. But what about the passage of time for the planet and its inhabitants as a whole?
The passing of time is also marked in one-hundred-cycle units. Each of these is known as a “Grand Passage”.
Weeks are six days long. Cycles alternate between fifty-four days and fifty-five days. As a result, every other cycle has one extra day. This day does not belong to any week and is called Interweek Day. It’s considered a holiday.
In the early days the colonists were too tired from the hard work of setting up a new colony from scratch to be creative, so the first two Grand Passages were named First Grand Passage and Second Grand Passage. Later Grand Passages came to be known by two names. One was the unimaginative numbered name. The other was a name that would be applied sometime during the Grand Passage, or even after it was over, and usually commemorated some outstanding event from the GP.
Harroun Twins
Born to Ben and Jane Harroun, they were inseparable from the beginning. They were brilliant, learning to talk in sentences by the time they were a year old and able to read and comprehend at first grade level by the time they were three. They were interested in all subject areas. They were fortunate their parents had the means to provide them with the best education available, both public and private. They attended carefully selected public schools, as their parents had strong feelings about the dangers of children seeing themselves as privileged. In spite of that, the twins were encouraged to enroll in a wide variety of private lessons. Over the years Linda studied piano, guitar, drums, oil painting, calligraphy, photography, basketball, skateboarding, and astronomy. Brian’s interested were similar to Linda’s. His private studies included piano, singing, French horn, oil painting, wood sculpture, photography, baseball, snowboarding, and astronomy.
When the twins were age twelve, their father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died before they were thirteen. Both twins immediately vowed to become researchers so they discover a cure for cancer. Neither one had an honest interest in this line, however, and their passion faded. They knew many dedicated scientists were already working hard in this area, and they didn’t mind leaving it to them.
When they were fourteen, they were introduced to the infamous Hoax of Eric Cloverwood. Cloverwood, handicapped by visions of grandeur at age 26, claimed to have discovered the secret of interstellar travel. Aided by photos gleaned from the internet, he engineered a monumental hoax that ultimately had the entire world in an uproar. When all the dust settled, Eric was reprimanded with a virtual slap on the wrist and nothing more.
The twins were caught up in the excitement and developed an attraction for the idea of interstellar travel that stayed with them for life. Cloverwood, who seemed to be a magnet for good luck, won a multi-million dollar lottery the following year. Having achieved a higher level of maturity in that short time, he shrewdly sought expert financial advice and invested his millions wisely. By the time the twins were applying for college and scholarships, Cloverwood had parlayed his winnings into a massive fortune. He was the richest man in the world and had become a recluse. He was still interested in traveling among the stars and decided to use his fortune to make his dream come true. He offered scholarships to college students entering fields of study that had the potential to make his dream come true. Two of these students were the Harroun twins, who both won “full ride” scholarships to the best scientific research university in the world. Seven years later, both with doctorates, they founded the Harroun Teams, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Unfortunately, Eric Cloverwood did not live to ride among the stars. Killed in a freak accident, he died at the age of only thirty-seven. He had expected the twins’ research to solve the puzzle of interstellar travel and, in case something happened to him, he took steps to ensure they would have the money they needed to continue their work. Their consortium of teams was his only beneficiary.
****
Okay, Simon. I meant to send this to you much earlier, but it has taken me longer than I expected to get this far. I hope you’ll read it and get some ideas and then do some actual editing right in the document. I’ll still have the original, of course, and can compare what I wrote with what you write. I think you might have some good ideas for this book proposal document.
****