A few more writey ideas

First up :

I'm improving after the ManFluPlague ! As ever, when I write about something that's getting me down or making me anxious, expressing the feelings seems to either trigger some kind of weird karma or helps me turn around the not so good feelings.

So .... I got through today at work without too much trouble from the ManFluPlague. The main symptoms let up a fair bit, my nose behaved and I don't actually move around that much at work so the energy problem wasn't a handicap.

And my friend who had gone off the grid is back ! Hurrah ! I had a feeling I knew what she was up to, although I thought that was actually happening next month. Must listen better.

That's me feeling better (not fixed yet) and the anxiety about the friend dispelled. How about the writey ideas ....

A lot of the writey ideas at the moment are for the book and they centre on two themes. Setting up the colony, expanding the colony and ... how to murder a planet full of people. (The murder thing is essential for part of the plot)

I think I have the idea for the murdering thing. A Big Falling Rock usually does the trick but .... it's the build up to that incident and the how to make that work which is the trick. If a culture has the technology to tow Big Space Rocks around a solar system, then just a standard Big Falling Rock isn't going to cut it. The Naval ships in orbit would see it coming a long way off and just tow the Big Falling Rock to somewhere safe.

Unless it's actually a small moon that's being dropped on a planet - I saw that written into David Weber's Armageddon Inheritance. Gave me a Holy Carp moment when I was reading that. Oh and it was also in Star Wars - Vector Prime, which is a book that is now in the Star Wars Expanded Universe which has been cut from the canon. It had the end of Chewbacca, howling his rage at the moon as it dropped on him, having been left behind by Han. That set up themes that ran on for a few books.

The original set up of a Destroyer and an Auxillary ship stands, although I won't land the Auxillary ship any more. The vision in my mind is of fleets supported by Auxillaries that have to deploy for long periods away from an industial base to support them. So the Auxillary ships basically eat asteroids, smelt them into minerals and metals and then 3d print spare parts and new bits. It makes sense to keep your factory ship in orbit so it can eat asteroids that are towed to it. It doesn't make sense to land the ship and then drop the asteroids down on it.

So the Auxillary ship creates prefab bits for the colony, which are then landed on the planet. It would also be on station to provide emergency response from orbit while the Destroyer has fun rolling around the system. The explanation for them paying off is that the ships have a limited number of hyperspace jumps they can before the hull crumbles and our two ships are very close to that limit. (A new Battlestar Galactica idea !)

How to do scouting ?

Bike gangs !!! This colony is about the disadvantaged, the unwanted escaping a society that's basically out to get them. There's not much love for cyclists out there, except by the cyclists themselves. Car drivers don't want them on the roads, pedestrians definitely don't want them on pavements and the cyclists don't stick to the cycle paths. But .... what if there are no cycle paths ? What if there is open country to roam in ?

I'd see a cycle gang or two recruited to basically tour around the countryside around the colony, mapping it, taking pictures of everything, taking samples to either analyse on the spot or send back for further analysis. It's a new planet to these people, the best way to explore is to be out there seeing what there is. And cycles give a chance to cover decent ground while still being able to see Stuff.

The bikes would be built in the colony too - things like solar charged hybrid motor assist bikes, which is good cos these people will be sleeping in the open. Light weight is important for letting them carry the survival gear. Not too much though because :

Drones are getting more popular now aren't they ?

We'll take that, we'll use it. First, set up a low orbit space infrastructure with an equivalent of GPS satellites. GPS is pretty nigh on essential to our daily lives now. It doesn't make sense not to have it in our colony. Our bikers (and everyone else) could be located via their GPS which would allow help and supplies to get to them quickly.

So our biker scout gangs would be resupplied in the evenings by Drone carrier bots, which would also allow the samples to be returned.

The 3d printing would also extend into elements like medical science. Bit like Star Trek has its replicators which magically appear Stuff out of thin air. I don't think our replicators can be quite that advanced though. 3d printing inorganic stuff (metals, plastics) seems fairly feasible but I'm not so sure about doing that with organic stuff. Better to grow it.

This society has most medical stuff licked though like being able to produce replacement parts that Just Work without any of the rejection or matching problems that we have at the moment. One element I'll draw in is more ethical and it's to do with reproduction and sexual orientation. I touched on this in the April 1st post ....

In an advanced medical society, it makes no sense that it hasn't stretched into methods such as cloning. Or even tailored babies. I'm not going to go as far as tailored babies though, at least ... not to the point where the parents choose sex and looks of the kid. That cuts out diversity and ... a new colony needs genetic diversity to survive.

The idea is that any two people who want to have a child can. Best to do it with a womb (if the mom agrees !) but the medical science also allows for artificial conception and incubation of Little One. Not just for LGBT+, also for the couples who can't conceive in the natural way and for ladies who can't carry to term. This society would not require couples to go through the anguish of not being able to have a child if they want one.

The need for genetic diversity is far more important than an outdated of idea about what type of sexuality is right or wrong, especially in a Space Colony when there aren't that many people to work with. The rule would be that everyone has to provide their genetics to at least 2 children. I.e. 2 people's genes needed per child.

The secret though is to make all this sound very natural. Like it's the done thing. Like doing anything different (i.e. how we live today) would be odd. To expose people to a different way of thinking.

To make people think more. To have them question their ingrown beliefs, their prejudiced ingrained through their history. If you can make someone think, to challenge their preconceptions.

If you can do that, you're winning.

I haven't talked about entertainment yet .... I talk a fair bit about the Youtube watching and the Twitch stream watching. I think we'd continue that. Perhaps a disabled streamer coming with us who has problems in the higher gravities which the medical science can't fix. She'd stay up in orbit, enjoying low gravity and would broadcast from there. It would also be a substitute for colony news.

Entertainment and a way of getting the important info across.

And I think I just invented Reality TV. IN SPACE !!!

Pardon me while I run and hide from my conscience.

Only kidding. I'm curious to hear what people think though, even if I'm still not back to the level of mental focus that would allow me to write something coherent.

Nite !