NationStates Jolt Archive

By now, the auditorium used by the UFE to make public announcements must be intimately familiar to the various reporters that ceaselessly sojourn to each and every conference.

As the lights dimmed, the reporters instinctively quieted down. They knew the meeting was about to start. Sure enough, a man in a handsome gray pinstripe suit, bearing the symbol of the UFE, walked onto the stage.

“Greetings, and thank you for coming,” started the man. “I have called you all here today to showcase a recent discovery unearthed by archeological teams dispatched by the government.” Pausing to take a breath, the man shuffled a few notes, and then continued. “Seventeen months ago an object of incredible power was excavated and shipped to a government facility.”

“After several intense weeks of testing, it was determined that the construct was made of a dense, granite-like rock never before encountered. What was more, glyphs appeared to have been craved in the surface. Upon X-ray scan, it was revealed that there was an object embedded inside.”

“We tried to remove it, but the stone was denser than any of our blades. Admantium, Diamond, it didn’t matter. Everything broke. Until, that is, we tried a laser. For some unknown reason, the stone gave way and melted under the glare of a simple industrial laser cutter, revealing the object inside.”

“About a meter in length, half as wide, and three dozen or so pounds in weight, it was pretty unassuming. For months nobody could figure out what it was. Then, one night, a novice archaeologist accidentally dropped two live wires on the object. At that point, the surveillance tapes end, but what was made clear by the wreckage of the site, was that the object released a powerful gravitational field that had thrown every piece of matter in a wide radius back hundreds of miles.”

“The object, which was completely unharmed, was further experimented on under extreme security. And just six weeks ago, the secret was unlocked.” The man paused again, looked around the room, and then continued. “As we speak brand new technology is being shipped to every UFE world. This technology, called Phased Graviton Planetary Webbing, has been synthesized from that one alien artifact.”

“Each PGPDW projects a bubble of intense gravity whenever electrical current is run through it. If enough are placed together, as will be done on all UFE worlds, they create a bubble large enough to encompass a planet. This gravitational field is so powerful it actually bends concentrated light around it.”

“Curiously, it allows sunlight and all of the other necessities needed for continued inhabitation of a planet through, but stops any metallic objects or concentrated radiation of any kind from reaching the surface.”

“I will now answer any questions you have for me,” concluded the man.

This energy source sound a lot like a child biomech core.....

An Anagonian stood up among the crowd, eager to ask a question.

"So, ist basically like a Planetary shield, correct? A defense platform if you will." He went silent for a moment, then continued. "What obvious and non-obvious benefits can you derive from this, and, in concerning of others interest, would you allow a copy of this technology to be sent to friendly nations?"

OOC: No idea what a biomech is, sorry. I could guess, bit it wouldn't really be the same, would it?

IC: "Yes, it is like a planetary shield," replied the man, "but it uses ancient alien gravitics instead of energy. At the moment, the technology is too new for trading, but that will not remain the case forever."

Wouldn't a gravitational field strong enough to bend light cause anything on the planet to simply collapse under its own weight?

"Admitidly," he replied, "it should. Somehow the weight is transfered to some other plane, we assume, but since gravity is not matter, we have no way of finding out if it is actually invading Netherspace. Whether the PGPDW will have any detrimental effects on reality is yet to be seen."

OOC: No idea what a biomech is, sorry. I could guess, bit it wouldn't really be the same, would it?

IC: "Yes, it is like a planetary shield," replied the man, "but it uses ancient alien gravitics instead of energy. At the moment, the technology is too new for trading, but that will not remain the case forever."


OOC:Biomech are a Hobbeebian unique mecha that has incredible power. power that could destroy planets and stars. A mecha of great beauty equal to its power. Mechs that live but are not made of flesh, but of living metal. They are not made but born. They grow, they eat, they have personalities, and even play. They are so interesting that not even Hobbeebia can accurately
describe them.....They have a biomech info page just type Biomech in the search box.

Sorry about the long intro....

A Kambarian zombie raised his hand. "Exuse me," he said, "I have two questions:

1. Are you capable of mass producing these devices and, if so, how widley availiable would they be?

and 2. What kind of power source does this device utilize? Atomic? Solar? Heat? Steam? Plasma? Coal? Fossil fuel?

As sentient Machines, we have already computed the existance of such a device. However, we are impressed at your scientific find, but are more interested in your thoughts on its origin. It was, evidently, shot upon your planet from afar, but from whence we do not know. Did the planet's orientation at the time allow for the excavation site to be pointed at Concordiat space?

The man coughed a bit. "Yes, we can mass produce them. It is a surprisingly simple process, allowing many brick-sized pieces to be made every hour. At the current rate of production, we could shield every world within 10,000 light years in the next decade. Of course, once most UFE planets are protected, production will peter off."

"Any power source will work, as any electrical current seems to produce the same effect, no matter where the energy came from. As such, the source will differ from world to world. Solar, fusion, plasma, and geothermal are all predicted to be used, among other things."

"Unfortunately, we did not mark the orientation of the world at the time, and in fact cannot yet release the coordinates for reasons of secrecy I am sure you can imagine."

A Xessmithian physicist spoke up, "An interesting device, but according to your description of its effects activitaing a planetary scale one would cause massive destruction of the planet as it is activated. The gravitiatnal shear of would tear apart the planet, rendering the device useless in any defensive role.

"It would however make a good weapon. I suggest you do that instead of finding all of your planets destroyed when you activate their so called shields."

A Xessmithian physicist spoke up, "An interesting device, but according to your description of its effects activitaing a planetary scale one would cause massive destruction of the planet as it is activated. The gravitiatnal shear of would tear apart the planet, rendering the device useless in any defensive role.

"It would however make a good weapon. I suggest you do that instead of finding all of your planets destroyed when you activate their so called shields."

I think that this is a good idea, but it is simple to test whether or not it will work in this way. Find an uninhabitable planet, and sheild it. See what happens.

The UFE man nodded slowly. "First of all, all PGPDWs are about the same size as the original artifact or smaller. To create the gravitational field, several hundred are placed in a single place (or perhaps a few hundred at each pole) and charge sent through the whole group. The field emanating from each is magnified by its brethren, creating the desired size."

"Also," he continued, "the actual shield of gravity is only a few meters thick, and gravity resumes normal standards. Now, for reasons of security, I cannot reveal to you if this technology is being weaponized, but I think I can safely say that there will be several new weapons being engineered into UFE warships in the very near future."