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[frostedplum]

@mei.zhou | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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@rey.nolo

[forcevisions]

We got lucky. Those crabs were poisonous.

[frostedplum]

Oh my gosh! What did their poison do to people?

[forcevisions]

Sort of a rash. Left someone unconscious too. Be careful, if any more of them pop up.

[frostedplum]

You think they still might be around? With a city this big, I would hope they couldn't hide long.

[forcevisions]

No, but more of us showed up.

More of them might too.

[frostedplum]

Gosh, I didn't consider that, but it's true. I'll be careful. I wish we had more answers on where those things came from. It's suspicious that the big one just appeared without warning.

[forcevisions]

And with no explanation of how yet. I'm curious too.

[frostedplum]

I'd like to think it's because the authorities are stumped, but they could just as easily be keeping what they've learned to themselves.

[ She really doesn't like being cynical about it, but in a world where everyone has tabs kept on them via neural implants and no one can walk around anonymously, she thinks she's right to have that view. ]

Well, since we know nothing else, have you settled in?

[forcevisions]

I got a job. I'm good with machines, so it was easy. Learning how they work here is a little different, but mechanical systems are mechanical systems.

And you?

[frostedplum]

Oh, good! I'm glad to hear that. Or read that, I suppose.

I'll be starting soon as an assistant to people in the Atmospheric Preservation Council. The work will be varied, which is good for me because I really don't like to sit still.

[forcevisions]

What does the atmospheric preservation council do?

[frostedplum]

Their work is mainly two-fold: they maintain the atmospheric stabilizers that keep the conditions on the planet livable, and they work on technology to successfully terraform the moon.

[forcevisions]

What's terraforming?

[frostedplum]

It's taking a piece of land that isn't suitable for growing anything and changing that through the introduction of the proper atmosphere, nutrients, and more. It's what they're doing on their lunar base right now.

[forcevisions]

So it was uninhabitable, and they've made it habitable?


Why didn't they just expand to another habitable world?

[frostedplum]

Well, there aren't any in this solar system. But the UN colonies are looking into terraforming other planets.

[forcevisions]

Yeah, but outside of this system.

[ what's the problem ? ?? oh right. hyperdrive. actually she recalls talking to other earth natives about this issue. ]

I just don't understand why they'd research how to turn other planets habitable instead of researching how to get to the ones that already are.

[frostedplum]

Probably because that's a lot harder. The people here already know they can stabilize atmospheres and terraform, though they're still doing tests to see how successful it will be overall. To create a faster method of travel to go much farther away in order to find habitable planets will take time the people of this world may not have left.

Start with what's close and convenient first, then move out from there. It can apply to a lot of things in life.

[forcevisions]

Terraforming doesn't sound convenient to me.

[frostedplum]

I think it is because they already know how to do it and know adjustments to make to get it to work better. Coming up with a brand new technology like being able to travel to a new solar system in a reasonable time would take decades.

[forcevisions]

Yes, but why didn't they start there to begin with? Why develop terraforming at all?

[frostedplum]

Probably in an effort to stay close to home. It's a lot easier to escape back if something goes wrong if it's a short distance, like the same solar system. If they explored the far reaches of space and found a habitable planet, it could take a really long time to get there depending on what kind of tech they build. And what if they get all the way out there and the planet is inhabited already by beings that don't want refugees from a dying planet?

[forcevisions]

[ if they don't have hyperfuel, that makes some sense. she just never put a lot of thought towards the discovery of hyperdrives. ]

Point taken.

[frostedplum]

[ Luckily Mei's world is a bit closer to this one in tech, though the neural implants are definitely few and far between. They've colonized the moon, then saw the lunar base wrecked by super intelligent gorillas whose genetic therapy gave them the side effect of rage. So she can look at what strides they've been making here and understand it. ]

Maybe once the neighboring planets are terraformed and stable, the people can look towards the galaxy and engage in that sort of long distance exploration.

[forcevisions]

I hope we aren't here to see it.

[frostedplum]

That's true. I would rather be home, but I suppose that since this is an alternate version of my home, I hope it can flourish.