The founder effect, p.42
The Founder Effect, page 42
Receiving a thumbs-up indicating proper engine ignition, the supervisor continued to the next name. “Beaver Two, Brian Johnson.” Once again, an engine came to life.
“Beaver Three, Vanessa Pearson.” The third engine rumbled into ignition.
“Beaver Four, Jack ‘One Cajón’ Murray.” The fourth engine fired.
“Beaver Five, Scott Atkins.” The fifth engine fired.
“Beaver Six, James Copley.” The sixth engine fired.
“Beaver Lead, Chris French.” With this name, no more engines were ignited. Instead all six of them were left running at what was essentially idle.
“Beaver Flight, this is Beaverton Ground Control. The lander is down with all souls safe.”
After a moment’s pause, the supervisor continued, “Coyote, this is Beaverton Ground Control. We welcome the return of all lost souls.”
“Lander Alpha, Joan ‘Jonah’ Walker.”
“Prometheus Prime, David ‘Coyote’ Parker.”
David Walker gave the signal to ignite the seventh engine, newly installed after salvage from the finally decommissioned Whale. He wished that his father, Adam, could have been here for the ceremony; the original had always left them both with tears in their eyes. Dad would have approved of the additions.
After another minute’s pause, he spoke the final words of this one hundred and fourth Landing Day Ceremony. “Coyote, Lander Alpha has arrived with all passengers.
“All flights, prepare for Landing Beacon to guide you home on my mark.” Pausing to take a deep breath and to keep from choking up, David finished the annual message, “Go for beacon, mark.” He signaled the technician to increase to maximum thrust.
A pillar of fire leapt to the sky.
Timeline
* * *
C.E. 2150 Construction begins in Mars orbit of the colony ship Victoria (named for the lone ship of Magellan’s fleet to complete the circumnavigation of Earth) to be sent to TRAPPIST-2 system.
2155 Construction begins on the automated terraforming ship Prometheus to precede Victoria to TRAPPIST-2.
2165 Prometheus is completed and launched toward TRAPPIST-2. It is fully automated with the exception of one backup human to be awoken only in the event of emergency. Otherwise, he will sleep until after the ship arrives at TRAPPIST-2 and has completed initial terraforming/infrastructure building.
2170 Victoria is completed. Deaths of Colony Foundation leaders delay mission launch. Victoria is put to work ferrying scientists to the heliopause and establishing science base/colonies in the Kuiper belt.
2180 TRAPPIST-2 Colony Foundation begins recruiting colonists.
2185 Victoria departs for TRAPPIST-2 with ten thousand colonists in cryostasis, 100,000 fertilized human ova frozen, plus approximately 1,000,000 fertilized animal ova. Crew of 250 rotate through eighteen-month shifts with five to twenty-five people awake at a time.
CE 2344 Ad Astra (AA) Year 0. Victoria Arrives at TRAPPIST-2.
AA01 Twenty-five crew awakened to begin colonization plan. Terraforming ship Prometheus is missing.
AA03 Remainder of 250 crew awakened to begin landing construction crews. Lander Alpha, Whale, is lost.
AA05 Re-engineered landers sent to sites Alpha (northern hemisphere) and Beta (subtropical) sites on the principal continent of TRAPPIST-2c. Planet is renamed Cistercia and the continent named Molesme in honor of Robert of Molesme, founder of the Cistercian order of TRAPPIST monks.
AA06 Site Alpha renamed New Virginia, Site Beta renamed Santa Antonia—or simply Antonia. First colonists revived from cryostasis.
AA21 Site Omega, experimental colony started on second moon (Trudovik) of TRAPPIST-2a by colonists disaffected with Antonia and New Virginia. Biosphere is simple and requires minimal terraforming; however, the colony never grows very large since it is domed due to extreme temperature. A collectivist society and government results due to scarcity of resources. Colony is eventually named Kerenskiy by locals.
AA25 Third and final colony on Cistercia established at Beaverton. Site Gamma plans are scrapped, and colony site Delta is selected on the shore of subcontinent-sized island Aopo. The crew names the planned colony Paradise, named for the lush equatorial islands. Lander 5, San Salvador, malfunctions, causing it to crash on an island in the wind-and-rain shadow of Aopo.
AA30 Contact with New Virginia is lost. Overland expedition from Antonia finds no trace of colonists, and only abandoned colony equipment. Some population and equipment transfer from Antonia to repopulate the colony. Site is renamed Roanoke.
AA40 Forty-five percent of Antonia and Roanoke colonists sick and dying of New Flu.
AA42 Roanoke colony fails for a second time.
AA50 Paradise colony is struggling because of crop failure (poor soil, not enough fresh water) and there is talk of recovering supplies from Roanoke.
AA75 By this date, every colony has experienced crises that drastically reduce population and damage infrastructure . . . however, each of them survives and the actions of the founders are becoming legend.
AA212 Encyclopedia Astra published by Gannon University of Antonia, Cistercia.
AA237 Flint’s People’s History of Interstellar Exploitation published by Trudovik Press, Kerenskiy, Trudovik.
Postscript and Acknowledgments
* * *
I am extremely grateful to the wonderful bunch of authors who contributed to this anthology. The stories were exciting and awesome for me to read, and I was particularly taken by how the various parts came together without (much) manipulation on my part. The world building was largely due to the contributors here. Many conversations at the LibertyCon and DragonCon conventions, by email and Facebook group, led to a collaborative story that went way beyond the mere “colonists die of some disease” notes that I had prepared. As the early stories came in, we shared them, or enough details, to give the later authors a glimpse into the mission, the ships, the colonies, and even the colonists. A notable example of this collaboration is the stories by David Weber and Mark Wandrey (individual and collaborative), who wanted to write about the same events. I suggested that they talk with each other and I mostly stayed out of those conversations. Along the way, this book went from anthology to shared world. They did this themselves, and you see the results before you. Another example is Brent M. Roeder and just about everybody in this book. Brent is currently my graduate student and soon to be postdoctoral fellow; he and I have bounced a lot of ideas off each other, both professional and fictional. Brent was instrumental in establishing the story of the Paradise colony, and we have various notes and drawings of landers, colony maps, etc. all through my office. Expect to see more science and science fiction from him in the future!
The genesis of this anthology goes back to Stellaris: People of the Stars, edited by Les Johnson and myself, and even further back to the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop symposium in 2016 where the working track “Homo Stellaris” discussed what would happen to human biology and society as we became an interstellar civilization. At the same time Les and I were proposing Stellaris to be a mix of fiction and nonfiction, I had an idea for a collection of stories that would arise from the myths and legends told in those far-flung colonies about the larger-than-life exploits of their founders.
Baen Books publisher Toni Weisskopf met with me at SpikeCon/ Westercon/ NASFIC in the summer of 2019 and we refined the idea such that I would provide a colony synopsis and timeline, and the authors would write this “future history” of the colonization of TRAPPIST-2. I tried to keep the background material to a minimum while still giving the authors a framework for their stories. The results were something quite special, and several of the authors (and editors!) have plans for future stories in this setting.
I am indebted to these amazing authors as well as my skilled co-editor, Sandra. As always, this volume is dedicated to my parents. My mother, Marjorie Hampson, fed my interest in science fiction by watching all those late-night movies with me. She has been the first to read anything I’ve written (sometimes before I’m finished) and is always encouraging me to write more. My father, Leonard Hampson, is my role model and hero. He always made time to support me, even going so far as to drive a gaggle of teenagers to math and science competitions. All my love to my dear wife, Ruann, and sons Brian and Stephen, who put up with my writing . . . as well as numerous Dad jokes and puns.
Oh, and one last note . . . Regarding those encyclopedia entries from Flint’s People’s History? The folks on Trudovik have a wee bit of a bias, I wouldn’t believe everything they tell you. . . .
—Rob Hampson, Winston-Salem, NC, December 2019
About the Editors
* * *
Robert E. Hampson, PhD., turns science fiction into science in his day job, and puts the science into science fiction in his spare time. Dr. Hampson is a Professor of Physiology / Pharmacology and Neurology with over 35 years’ experience in animal neuroscience and human neurology. His professional work includes more than 100 peer-reviewed research articles ranging from the pharmacology of memory to the first report of a “neural prosthetic” to restore human memory using the brain’s own neural codes.
He consults with authors to put the “hard” science in “Hard SF” and has written both fiction and nonfiction for Baen Books. His own hard-SF and mil-SF have been published by the US Army Small Wars Journal, Springer, Seventh Seal Press, and Baen. He is a member of SIGMA think tank and the Science and Entertainment Exchange—a service of the National Academy of Sciences. Find out more at his website: http://www.REHampson.com.
Sandra L. Medlock started her career as an editor and writer by reviewing environmental impact studies for the U.S. Air Force. She transitioned to editing for a private publisher and over time worked in the legal department for an oil company reviewing briefs and filings. Sandra moved to corporate writing and editing procedural and policy manuals. Her interest in computers and software led to a shift in her career as director and corporate trainer for two independent training companies and the IT department of a global manufacturer, where she wrote training curricula as well as company newsletters.
As a freelance journalist, Sandra wrote a weekly music column, a weekly technology column, and a monthly lifestyles column for three regional newspapers, including the San Antonio Express-News. She wrote freelance computer technology magazine articles, created and edited newsletters for several organizations, and was the producer of two computer shows on local radio.
Currently, Sandra tutors in math and English to students, provides an editing service, teaches music, and writes fiction. She lives outside San Antonio, Texas, with her husband, two very demanding small dogs, and a senior cat who has perfected Chewbacca’s wail. You can find her on social media and blogging at sandramedlock.com.
About the Authors
* * *
D.J. (Dave) Butler has been a lawyer, a consultant, an editor, and a corporate trainer. His novels published by Baen Books include the epic fantasy trilogy Witchy Eye, Witchy Winter, and Witchy Kingdom, as well as the 1930s occult detective novel, The Cunning Man (co-written with Aaron Michael Ritchey), and the sword-and-planet noir In the Palace of Shadow and Joy (July 2020). He also writes for children: the steampunk fantasy adventure tales The Kidnap Plot, The Giant’s Seat, and The Library Machine are published by Knopf. Other novels include City of the Saints from WordFire Press.
Dave also organizes writing retreats and anarcho-libertarian writers’ events and travels the country to sell books. He plays guitar and banjo whenever he can and likes to hang out in Utah with his children. Dave in fact has a bridal kidnapping in his family tree, as recently as the 20th century.
Larry Correia is the creator of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times best-selling Monster Hunter series, with first entry Monster Hunter International, as well as urban fantasy hardboiled adventure saga the Grimnoir Chronicles, with first entry Hard Magic. His epic fantasy series The Saga of the Forgotten Warrior includes first entry Son of the Black Sword, follow-up House of Assassins, and latest entry Destroyer of Worlds. He is an avid gun user and advocate who shot on a competitive level for many years. Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a military contract accountant, and a small business accountant and manager. Correia lives in Utah with his wife and family.
Monalisa Foster won life’s lottery when she escaped communism and became an unhyphenated American citizen. Her works tend to explore themes of freedom, liberty, and personal responsibility. Despite her degree in physics, she’s worked in several fields including engineering and medicine. She and her husband (who is a writer-once-removed via their marriage) are living their happily ever after in Texas with their children, both human and canine. Her epic space opera, Ravages of Honor, is out now.
Daniel M. Hoyt is a systems architect for trajectory physics software, when not writing or wrangling royalty calculations. Dan has appeared in premier magazines like Analog and several anthologies, notably the recent Stellaris: People of the Stars (Baen), and Dr. Mike Brotherton’s Diamonds in the Sky (funded by the National Science Foundation); and has edited Fate Fantastic and Better Off Undead for DAW. Having published in several genres, Dan returned to his science fiction roots with his debut space opera, Ninth Euclid’s Prince, and has since become known for plausible science fiction tales with emotionally resonant characters. Catch up with him at danielmhoyt.com.
Sarah A. Hoyt has published over thirty novels with various publishers (and one indie) as well as a hundred short stories with magazines such as Asimov’s and Analog (and a lot of anthologies). She prefers science fiction but has been instructed to give fair warning that no genre is safe from her. Well, except perhaps picture books and men’s adventure. She also writes as Sarah D’Almeida and Elise Hyatt.
Sarah lives in Colorado with her husband and a varying number of cats. When not writing she can be found walking, reading, refinishing furniture or creating miles of fillet crochet.
Les Johnson is a husband, father, physicist, and author. Publisher’s Weekly noted that “The spirit of Arthur C. Clarke and his contemporaries is alive and well . . .” when describing his 2018 novel, Mission to Methone. His 2018 nonfiction book, Graphene: The Superstrong, Superthin, and Superversatile Material That Will Revolutionize the World, was reviewed in the journal Nature, excerpted in American Scientist and on Salon.com. His latest anthology, Stellaris: People of the Stars, co-edited with Robert Hampson, was released by Baen Books in 2019.
Les was technical consultant for the movies Europa Report and Lost in Space and has appeared on the Discovery Channel series Physics of the Impossible in the “How to Build a Starship” episode. He has also appeared in three episodes of the Science Channel series Exodus Earth as well as several other television documentaries. Les was the featured “interstellar explorer” in the January 2013 issue of National Geographic Magazine and appeared again in the March 2019 issue for his work on solar sail space propulsion.
Les won the Watkins Prize for his popular science writing and was a nominee for the 2019 Prometheus Award for his novel, Mission to Methone.
By day, Les serves as Solar Sail Principal Investigator of NASA’s first interplanetary solar sail space mission and leads research on various other advanced space propulsion technologies at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. During his career at NASA, he served as the manager for the Space Science Programs and Projects Office, the In-Space Propulsion Technology Program, and the Interstellar Propulsion Research Project. Les thrice received NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal, has 3 patents, and was selected for membership in Mensa.
A Webster Award winner and three-time Dragon Award finalist, Chris Kennedy is a Science Fiction/Fantasy/Young Adult author, speaker, and small-press publisher who has written over 25 books and published more than 100 others. Chris’s stories include the “Occupied Seattle” military fiction duology, “The Theogony” and “Codex Regius” science fiction trilogies, stories in the “Four Horsemen” and “In Revolution Born” universes and the “War for Dominance” fantasy trilogy. Get his free book, Shattered Crucible, at his website, chriskennedypublishing.com.
Called “fantastic” and “a great speaker,” he has coached hundreds of beginning authors and budding novelists on how to self-publish their stories at a variety of conferences, conventions and writing guild presentations. He is the author of the award-winning number 1 bestseller, Self-Publishing for Profit: How to Get Your Book Out of Your Head and Into the Stores, as well as the leadership training book, Leadership from the Darkside.
Chris lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with his wife, and is the holder of a doctorate in educational leadership and master’s degrees in both business and public administration. Follow Chris on Facebook at facebook.com/ckpublishing.
