NationStates Jolt Archive

A small rocky planet, drifting around a small red dwarf. X-827457-C, as the colourful Mykonian designation described it. Once in a while, huge solar flares from the comparatively small star lit up the entire star system, bombarding it with radiation that would instantly kill most lifeforms in the universe. The planet's thin atmosphere consisted primarily of nitrogen and could not support life, and given the distance of the planet from the small star, it was far too cold and offered no protection from harmful solar rays. The surface was dead; the planet was uninhabitable.

But it was perfect for the Mykonian purposes. Disrupting the serenity of the surprisingly beautiful scene, a large, irregular vessel suddenly rippled into view. The ship had no apparent aesthetic considerations, or even paintwork; it was purely functional. The forward nose detached from the main body of the vessel and hurtled straight towards the planet. It penetrated the atmosphere easily and slammed down into the rocky crust, embedding itself deeply. Almost immediately, grey tendrils spread out all around the device as though they were living creatures, and began to use the metals found deep beneath the surface to spread themselves remarkably quickly. They formed an interweaving layer, a hard, thick shell on top of the rock.

The remaining part of the ship landed gently on top of the newly-deployed layer of Myko-cables, and began the tedious process of converting the atmosphere. It removed potentially dangerous gases, like the trace elements of oxygen, and made it efficient for Mykonian purposes. Mykofication had begun.

[OOC: No need to reply. This is for reference mostly. The planet is within already-established Mykonian territory, and Mykonian borders are sealed, so I don't expect random fleets to magically appear nearby. General comments are welcome, though not expected.]

A year later, from space, the small planet already looked different. A large chunk of one side of its surface had been completely covered in metal. Its atmosphere was noticeably thinner. Stage 1 Mykofication had been completed. All the hazardous elements had been removed from the atmosphere, limiting the risk of industrial accidents. The pure nitrogen content of the atmosphere would help a lot in improving the efficiency of Mykonian computer systems.

Now Stage 2 began; any traces of water -- be it gas, liquid or solid -- needed to be removed. The atmosphere filters changed their configurations slightly and began their second task.

Stage two was completed without incident. Additional nitrogen was injected into the atmosphere once all the other trace gases and traces of water were removed. Myko-cables were spreading across the surface of the world at a steady rate, covering nearly 60% of it.

Stage three would see the growth of these cables accelerated to cover 100% of the planet.



In space, seven battleships rippled calmly into view, and entered orbit with the planet. Half of the world seemed to resemble a perfectly smooth metal marble, glistening in the light of the tiny star. The battleships launched several pods, each group of which contained pieces of a prefabricated, sentient factory unit. The large pods performed a controlled landing on parts of the planet already covered with Myko-cables, and awaited deployment. There were seven factories in all. These factories would burrow down deep into the planet and extract large quantities of metal with which to build an infrastructure.

On the surface, beside the groups of large pods, humanoid Mykonians materialised in a flash of bright light. Hundreds of them were beamed down from the battleships in one go. As they moved out of the way, hundreds more appeared, and then hundreds more, until there were nearly 50,000 humanoid Mykonians milling around. The surface of the world, aside from the Myko-cable generator and the pods that had just landed, was desolate. There was nothing there. The Mykonians did not seem bothered though, and wandered around on the flat metal surface. They began opening the pods and helping each of the seven huge factories assemble themselves in their designated positions.

Once the first factory was up, Myko-cables reached up slightly and grabbed it, sealing it to the ground permanently. As that happened, the factory itself jutted some spikes deep underground. Each spike had a series of teeth with jutted out once they were in place, anchoring the factory firmly to the ground. Mykonians got to work almost immediately, helping the factory start up.

One of the battleships launched a final pod. This pod contained an industrial-scale fusion reactor, which would help the colony get started.



With the factories in place, stage 3 of Mykofication could begin. While the Myko-cables expanded at a faster rate, the factories would construct planetary defence systems and set up a temporary infrastructure.