Page 112 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

Chapter 2
Another world, another life

When the Luna Mechia expedition became trapped in the inner part of The Veil, their first
actions were to explore the immediate region near to the rift they had fallen through. It was not long
before they determined that a barrier prevented their exit back through the rift; so thoughts turned
to finding a habitable planet in a suitable system, or, at the very least, another rift that could lead
them back. They found three systems within their first month within The Veil, but none that seemed
to have worlds they could settle on. There were many asteroid and debris fields that provided raw
materials for the Factory ships, but it would seem that the systems nearby were not to be their new
home. By vote; the colonists, as they now were, decided to press on deeper into the section of The
Veil they were in. They made many surprising discoveries, including the linked rifts within this
“bubble” of space. By adapting the scout vessels to use smaller versions of the Factory ships Bussard
Collectors, a plentiful Deuterium and Hydrogen fuel supply could be gleaned from The Veil. Modified
Ion drives powered by this fuel mix made local and long-range exploration using the Scout ships an
economical and practical possibility. Eventually a world was found that could sustain them and
provide shelter in this radiation blasted, dust and gas riddled, tormented place. They managed to
corral a few herds of Space Whales to eke out their mineral supplies and, although they had no
Terraforming supplies or capability, quickly established a viable colony and a base to explore more
efficiently their new realm.

Early during their exploration phase, it became apparent that life here had taken many
vastly differing routes of evolution than elsewhere in the Galaxy. Some hardy examples of fauna
seemed to be immune to many forms of radiation, though were only still in primitive states. One
expedition came across a world much like Jupiter’s moon Io; with a sulphurous atmosphere,
extremophile bacterial stromatolites were processing the atmosphere using chemical reactions.
Their colonies sometimes spread for miles. On a moon in another system, they found a water world
of wonders. Its ocean was several miles deep and completely covered the surface. Here, life had
evolved gigantic copepods that not only devoured their smaller relatives but harboured symbiotic
colonies of photosynthesising plants to supply food in lieu of shelter.

The colony prospered and it developed into a generational society. Laws and government
followed the path that they had used on Terra, from the Atalaman Congress constitution.
Structurally their society was a loose Feudal system mixed with the Ships Command structure, crude
but efficient and worked well when all understood their rank and position. Unlike feudal societies of
the past though, a person could progress upward with effort. Their new home world they called
Keteria. Its two moons they called Hemio and Venetia, Hemio having a ring and Venetia being the Ice
Moon, as some of the lower casts called it. Outposts were established on both for scientific research
and to mine ice for the factory ships, these stayed in orbit around Keteria. Once the hostile and
venomous local life were controlled, some of the venoms actually could be used as raw materials for
medicinal products, and the farming communities established and producing large enough
quantities of essential food stuffs, it seemed they really had a chance of surviving in this realm.

When other systems that could support colonies were discovered, seeds were sown to
expand their foothold in this space. The discovery of the vast ruins of Atlantis at first seemed to dash
all hope of finding intelligent life, if it existed, or had existed, it seemed to have gone elsewhere a
long time ago. As previously stated; life had chosen some strange evolutionary paths here in The
Veil. The Space whales and the Behemoths were extreme examples of life that had adapted, but The
Veil was to throw up some extremes of its own. Six generations had passed when the first
indications of the oddest life in The Veil came to light. On a world in a system, the colonists had
named Hades, because of its blasted and extensive deserts, a form of life not based on carbon but
Silicon was found. The Tektites; as they became to be called were, in appearance, mobile
stromatolite like structures that seemed to feed on the sands and mineral rich rocks by using some
kind of acidic excretion. The atmosphere was low in Oxygen and high in some of the inert or noble
gasses. The Tektites showed a rudimentary intelligence; more like that of a Frog or a Gecko, and