2540 Asteroid Under Attack.

Military forces of the inner system bombard a vulcanoid asteroid and then steer the body into the sun. Officially a test. Many observers suspect an out-of-control experiment with outlawed technology.

Mukhagni is a small asteroid inside Mercury's orbit. Sensors reveal several 100 megaton antimatter explosions at its supposed position in short order. The event causes a system-wide outrage. Two days later, combat units of the Magadha Sangha Federation, Venus begin firing at Mukhagni from great distance. Military units approach Mukhagni on expensive max delta-V courses from all directions under sustained firing.

The news agencies of the Solar system broadcast live. State of the art telescopes achieve a resolution of 20 meters even over interplanetary distances. They clearly show the effects of the bombardment. But the telescopes fail to reveal the reason for these excessive military measures.

A few days later freighters from Venus and Mercury transport additional ordnance to Mukhagni. Commercial mass drivers in Mercury's orbit support the bombardment. Soon it becomes clear that the mass drivers work to reduce the asteroid's kinetic energy and angular momentum in order to change its orbit towards the sun.

After several weeks Mukhagni's orbit becomes elliptical and the asteroid approaches the Sun. Attacks stop at a distance of ten million kilometers. The kinetic component of the bombardment by mass drivers continues until the orbit finally falls below the Roche limit where the asteroid breaks apart. The remaining fragments of the asteroid fall into the sun.

The official explanation is a combat exercise, which was supposed to neutralize a kinetic threat, the asteroid, with simultaneous suppressive fire. A test by the Magadha Sangha Federation to protect the population of the inner system in response to the Umvelinqangi incident a few years earlier. However, this does not explain the initial antimatter detonations.

Actually, Mukhagni was a research facility of Ratha-Musala (the development office) of Ayatashatru (the interplanetary intelligence service) of the Magadha-Sangha (a federation of wealthy Venus habitats). Contrary to the official statement, a secret research project on the asteroid had got out of control. The initial amat-detonations were intended to sterilize the asteroid and eliminate the problem. But this did not yield the expected result. Obviously, the people responsible for the operation saw no other possibility than to plunge the asteroid into the sun.

Of course, the public suspects illegal AI research as happened during the Newplace conspiracy a 100 years earlier. At that time, the asymptotic development of a gestalt-AI had to be suppressed by a spherical wave of antimatter explosions. In the case of Mukhagni, Ratha-Musala had obviously taken precautions and had installed heavy explosive devices as an emergency measure. This was a lesson from the Newplace experience. Ratha-Musala also had the wisdom to detonate the explosives. But that apparently was not enough. Whatever there was at Mukhagni, it was so powerful that it could withstand even concentrated attacks from several heavy cruisers, their missiles and attack drones.

What can be more dangerous than the Newplace AI? There are hints at superior technology. Did an asymptotic AI develop new technologies in a very short time? Or did Ratha-Musala have access to extrasolar technology so early?

According to another theory, Ratha-Musala experimented with Kessler-Viroidae, discovered by Zipi Kessler in 2478. Supposedly, without intending it they activated the disassembler genes of these inorganic viruses (see Massara plague, 2746). If this were true, then the purpose of the nuclear bombardment would have been to sterilize the fragments ejected by kinetic impacts. Correlations between kinetic and nuclear firing sequences support this theory.

The fact that solar powers conduct secret and sometimes forbidden research projects with outlawed technologies is not surprising. They often use small remote asteroids for this purpose. Asteroids provide more cover from the ubiquitous telescopes than space stations. Over the centuries, several such activities have been uncovered, mostly by chance, misfortune, or by the lack of care on the part of the operators. A restricted area without military activities is a clear sign of some secret project going on, though not necessarily an illegal one.

Ratha-Musala had chosen a vulcanoid close to the sun for their research facility on purpose. As a precaution they had also installed explosives. Obviously, they were aware of the risks. Whatever the research topic was, one can assume that it was illegal.

In all the history of the interplanetary civilization, only few secret projects got such a high media attention.

2544 The First Alien Visitor to the Solar System.

Humanity has spread throughout the Solar system. Millions of people live in orbit and on other planets. Recently, spaceships started to travel faster than the speed of light. And only 13 light years away, a trading post has been discovered where alien species meet. Humanity’s first FTL ships travel there. The trip takes several months because FTL technology is still brand-new.

After meeting humans at the trading post, an interstellar trader of the Marui species decides to visit the Solar system. For the Marui, the trip only takes 10 days. From humanity’s point of view, their ship is extremely modern and very fast – the Marui, however, consider it rather small and old.

The Marui ship’s incoming course is 60 degrees off the ecliptic plane. The nearest planet is Saturn. Neptune and Uranus are currently far off on the other side of the Solar system. During their approach, the Marui crew analyzes traffic patterns and approaches one of the busiest hubs: the Ibadan habitat orbiting Titan.

The merchant vessel hails Ibadan’s traffic control. Using automated translators, they ask about docking procedures and local habits. The traffic control centre assigns a docking tube, just as if extrasolar visitors were an everyday occurrence.

The traffic in the outer Solar system outside the plane of the ecliptic is not regulated. Sometimes, long-distance ships arrive there, but interstellar traffic is still insignificantly small compared to the in-system traffic volume. The Marui ship can easily be mistaken for one of humanity’s few long distance merchants.

In the middle of the third millennium, the live translator is ubiquitously used for communications. Many different languages are in use throughout the Solar system. Traffic control typically use their local language, which in this case is Titan-Nigerian Hata. The Marui had acquired the translator with hundred nguages from the human mission at the trading post.

The Marui vessel pulls in at one of the flexible docking tubes. As they have been advised by the control centre. The crew waits for the release indicator before they open the airlock and leave the ship. Then, inside the Ibadan dock, a group of five Marui, dressed in light protection suits, knock at the crystoplast window of the docking master’s booth.

The docking master on duty is surprised by the protection suits and by the unfamiliar look of the visitors. But an experienced 26th century docking master has seen a lot of questionable genetic engineering. Compared to all the uplifts, bio-mods and mech-shells, the Marui seem rather normal. At least, they walk on two legs, which cannot be said about all human zero-g genetic hacks.

During the following conversation (with the help of the automatic translator), the docking master slowly realizes that his visitors are more alien than he initially assumed. Then, frantic activity breaks loose. The docking master rushes back into his crystoplast booth and alerts the control centre (that takes 3 seconds), then the on-call team of the immigration agency (after 10 seconds) and finally his sister at Kronos News (within 25 seconds).

Fifty seconds later, the five Marui are surrounded by camera drones and police bots. At the 55 second mark, the avatar of r flickers up inside the Marui group. The first flash posts are online after 60 seconds. Kronos News starts to broadcast live after 78 seconds. Their 3D live feed is taken over by a relay chopper after 85 seconds. 90 seconds after the dock master’s alert a rapid response team in heavy exoskeleton armour takes aim at the visitors. The area around the Marui is cordoned off by mobile barriers after 92 seconds. Three seconds later, jammers unsuccessfully try to interrupt the live feed – the relay chopper had arrived in time and is already sending from inside the barrier.

Avatars of the first gawkers flicker up after 98 seconds. The first physical spectators, after 105 seconds, are uploads in mechs. Bios arrive only slightly later.

Two minutes after the initial alert, the dock is filled with 25 circling sensor drones belonging to ten different news services, as well as 15 police bots with crowd control equipment, seven military drones, an airborne tactical coordinator AI, 12 barrier bots with transparent shields, 800 mechs, 120 bios (among those the four in battle armour, who don’t have a free line of fire any more), and 5000 avatars in varying sizes and shapes, though these don’t take up any physical space.

An uneasy silence falls onto the scene, which is only interrupted by the reporter avatar’s persistent attempts to get an interview with the Marui.

After another 90 seconds Esmeralda Alvarez Velasquez, head of the Ibadan civilian traffic control, pushes through the crowd and reaches the inner circle, where the five Marui have moved closer together.

Almost exactly four minutes after the docking master realized the significance of the moment, the first extrasolar visitors are officially welcomed, covered live by Kronos News. The news propagates at the speed of light throughout the Saturn system with all its moons and satellites. The Kronos newsfeed is automatically augmented by other news agencies with live impressions, background information and commentaries. The exa-level priority tag is authorized by most reputation networks, so the news penetrates all news filters.

Most of the ten million inhabitants in the Saturn system interrupt what they are doing, or they are woken up or booted. They experience the first extrasolar visit live via their retina displays, implants or data interfaces, as if they were present on the spot.

Velasquez tells the visitors “Maraba da rana. Kada ka damu”, using the local language Hata. This means “Welcome to the Solar system. There is no need to worry”. The term “Kadakadamu” – “No need to worry” turns into a popular quote transcending all language barriers, and Velasquez becomes the star of the talk shows.