65 Million Years Ago
The Z’Li spacecraft Epsilon dropped out of C+ Space, verified its position approximately 50 million kilometers from the third planet from the sun, and reduced its speed to 0.01c. Spherical in shape, Epsilon had a diameter of 100 meters and was coated with materials and bathed in electromagnetic fields that made it all but invisible to most life forms and their machines. The ship quickly launched several high-velocity drones toward the planet. Over the next few days, Epsilon would use remote sensing and visualization technologies carried by these drones and ship-based observatories to build a complex picture of the world they now approached.
Like all Z’Li spacecraft, Epsilon was more than a vehicle. It was a Ship-Citizen with the same civil rights as a Z’Li adult. A sentient entity profoundly knowledgeable and deeply wise, Ship-Citizen Epsilon was an artificial intelligence (AI) that resided in a space-time kernel located near the top of the spacecraft. This entity was connected to every adult Z’Li on board, every instrument, and every system. Physically, Ship-Citizen Epsilon occupied no more space than a child’s ball. The rest of the spacecraft served as living and working space for Epsilon’s crew and research teams.
Epsilon was constructed as two concentric crystalline spheres 100 meters and 90 meters in diameter. Structural supports, shielding, cloaking, the C+ Space translation drive, inertial damping, artificial gravity, and many other high energy ship functions were handled by equipment and smart materials attached to the inner surface of the outer sphere. Stationary and mobile robots attached to the outer surface of the inner sphere operated and maintained these systems. Since the space between the spheres was bathed in radiation and force field gradients deadly to biological life forms, it was strictly off-limits. This design gave rise to the phrase “trapped between the spheres”, a metaphor for a deadly situation.
Epsilon’s interior was partitioned into 20 decks (numbered from bottom to top). Each deck consisted of a disk-shaped “slice” approximately 5 meters thick, one meter of which was devoted to floor, ceilings, and other structural and life support systems. The remaining space was divided into work areas, service areas, systems areas, storage areas, personal areas, and group areas. For instance, three gangways into and out of the ship were located on Deck 1. Field research station modules, equipment, and hovercraft were stored on Decks 2 and 3. All systems associated with food, water, air, and recycling of wastes were located on Decks 4, 5, and 6. Decks 7-9 were partitioned into family apartments. Decks 10-12 housed meeting halls, an auditorium/theater that could accommodate the entire crew, a gymnasium, a library, an educational center, and a variety of game rooms. To accommodate large audiences and facilitate 3-dimensional activities, an auditorium, gymnasium, and two game rooms were three decks high. Research departments were house on Decks 13-17. The Research Management Center and the Ship Operations and Command Center were situated on Decks 18 and 19, respectively. Deck 20 served as a communication center and as Ship-Citizen Epsilon’s hardware and software domain.
Access between decks was via a cluster of elevators located at the center of each deck and via 3 Archimedean Spherical Spiral[i] ramps running along the inner surface of the inner sphere from Deck 1 to Deck 20. These gently sloping ramps, which were wide enough to accommodate hovercraft, were used to move bulky and/or heavy materials between decks. They were also used as jogging tracks and social gathering points. Scores of programmable view screens were located along the outer wall of each ramp, each 10m in length and 2m in height. Across the ramp from each screen was a seating area where individuals or groups could observe activities outside of the spacecraft (e.g., their approach to a planet), watch events on other worlds (e.g., sport competitions), participate in teleconferences (e.g., family gatherings), and so on. The list of possibilities was nearly endless.
Life aboard Epsilon was both purposeful and pleasant. Strong commitments to duty were balanced by strong commitments to family and friends. Operating on a 32 hour day, the same as the Z’Li home world, each work day was broken into three 11 hour shifts. The 20 minute per shift overlap implicit in this arrangement was used to facilitate communication and training between teams on different shifts. Other than shift and transition time, crew members had 20 hours per day to sleep, exercise, pursue personal interests, and engage in family and social activities. But today, all off-duty Z’Li crowded around the view screens as they got their first look at the planet where they would work and live for the next year.
Located far out on a spiral arm of the galaxy, the planet teemed with life. Extensive oceans drove the weather systems. Plate tectonics drove the continents. A moon raised tides that relentlessly churned and cleansed the margins of the oceans and sustained nutrient rich tidal estuaries. It was a primitive, violent paradise. At the top of the food chain, gigantic creatures (later to be called dinosaurs) reigned in a bloody life-and-death circus of birth, life, predation, and death. Here was a clockwork of carnage full of action and instinct but devoid of thought. In the Z’Li catalog of planets, this world was named P’Dax, meaning Savage.
[i] Archimedean Spiral, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KUGSPI5_Archimedische_Kugelspirale.gif
![[i]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KUGSPI-5_Archimedische_Kugelspirale.gif){kind=link}