Challenge #04268-K250: New Record For the Longest-Running Experiment
The humans have a plan. It's both a bit frightening, and incredibly exciting. They intend to seek out a solar system with a huge asteroid belt, but no planet in the habitable zone. Their experiment? To create a warm, stable, earth-sized planet, and then terraform it to be a Havenworld. Will it work? -- Anon Guest
They went down to deepest-time wormhole to a system in the midst of formation. They were geologists, biologists, astrophysicists, and a whole pack of scientists of every flavour. All willing to do what it took to create a planet.
Well. Technically a planetary system.
And, because they were immense nerds, they called it Project Magrathea. They had all the apex technology and all the information they could need, and stasis booths to keep them ready for the long stretches of deep time that such an experiment necessitated. Their goal? To create a perfect world.
An artisinal Havenworld.
It was the conglomeration of every theory they had to employ. The use of the goldilocks zone. The need for seasons. The need for at least one moon. How to keep a planet safe from extinction-level events.
All despite the fact that the collective noun for theoretical scientists is an Argument.
They were going to stress-test every theory they had in this system. There were three combatting theories regarding the "Goldilocks Zone", so they could make three planets, here. They could experiment with moons. They could carefully seed each world with test variants of LUCA. They could closely observe each and every world in progress from specific vantage points.
And while they slept, idle as various experiments ran their course, there was a broadcast across the entire system.
"This is an experimental solar system. Please do not interfere with the experiments in progress. If you are experiencing an emergency, the best ports are at the transmitted co-ordinates. If you cannot control your vessel, automated drones will escort you to the nearest safe port. All attempts to land on experimental planets will result in automated drones forcing you into the nearest safe port." The message repeated in all living languages.
Some space pirates attempted to raid the facilities for treasure, but soon learned that there are few forces more formidable than a pissed-off scientist trying to protect their specialty equipment.
Nobody wants to get woken up in the middle of a five-thousand-year sleep to discover someone trying to make off with your pet spectroscopy machine.
[Photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash]
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