The Lunar Penitentiary Scene was designed by Jeffory Beckers.
In 2021, France and Russia began a cooperative construction project to build a lunar penal colony. The project was designed to serve both as a solution to prison overcrowding on earth and as a social experiment in criminal self-governance.
A self-regulated mining community, the lunar penitentiary was staffed entirely by convicts serving life sentences. The facility was designed to be self-sufficient in every way except in the production of food, which would be used as an inducement to production. Bauxite would be mined from the moon's interior by the prisoners, packaged into 50-ton spheres and then launched into lunar orbit with magnetic accelerometers. The orbiting bauxite would then be transported to Space Forges to be processed into space station components. In return, the penal colony would receive unmanned lunar landers full of cryogenic steaks, borscht and pate de fois gras.
(The Lunar Penitentiary Lite model is not drawn to scale - it is drawn at approximately 50% of scale. Therefore, to get dragged and dropped objects to "fit" the scale of the scene they will have to be scaled down after being dropped into the design view.)
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The Mirror World Scene was designed by Scott Curtis.
Once upon a time, a lonely old aesthete from the distant 23rd century had a chamber built for himself within a small asteroid. Immediately after construction was completed, he and his asteroid were placed into orbit around Mars. He entered his apartment alone at the age of 116, storing enough food to last for 20 years. His only other provisions were a few of his favorite paintings and books.
The old man stipulated that the design of his chamber would incorporate a newly discovered technology that allowed for movement into any space defined by a reflective surface. Additionally, he demanded that the floor of the chamber be mirror smooth.
After 20 years of quiet contemplation, the old man opened the air lock leading to his chamber and embarked on the next phase of his journey.
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The Rushmore 2057 Scene was designed by Scott Curtis.
By the year 2057, the United States had divided into seven autonomous nation states. Each of these sovereign unions incorporated and then individually redefined what had once been a shared history of political institutions and documents, monuments and historic locations.
Calif, by population the largest of the autonomous unions, had its own recreations of Plymouth Rock, the Washington Monument, the Capitol Building, the White House, the Declaration of Independence and, pictured here, Mount Rushmore. Calif and the other six autonomous regions -- the Midwestern Union, the Eastern Secession, Pacifica, the Southeastern Confederation, Texas and Long Island -- had made every attempt to remake these reconstituted national icons into distinctive symbols of their respective regional political and cultural realities. For example, Calif's Mount Rushmore was designed to be easily updated to suit the prevailing political opinion. Using stereo lithography, former Presidents could be added or removed from the memorial in less than two hours.
However, a President's inclusion among the four figures was no guarantee of veneration -- the head could be modeled for derision or celebration. Each of the heads was a hollow structure that could contain symbols that either ridiculed or venerated the figure. The Caliph of Calif was the official who decided which figures were to be included on the monument and how they would be memorialized -- she determined whether their "thoughts" (the contents of their heads) would hold them up for ridicule or honor. Since hers was an elective office, the Caliphate was compelled to select the figures wisely and portray them in a way that most accurately reflected the current collective political mood.
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The Stellar Ark Scene was designed by Scott Curtis.
Fifty million years have passed since the Earth embarked on its first major attempt to colonize another region of the Milky Way. For this ambitious journey, the Ark Expedition was outfitted with male and female specimens of nearly 10 percent of all of the known species on the Earth. Complimentary species had been assigned to self-supporting habitat containment vessels that would also make the 25-year voyage to Alpha Centauri.
Ten years into the voyage, the Ark experienced catastrophic engine failure and broke apart. All of the containment vessels were jettisoned just prior to the final explosion. The vessel in this scene was an aquatic fauna and flora habitat held together in the shape of a cube by a magnetic containment device. Upon being jettisoned, the containment device was damaged and the habitat split into two seperate sections. Ten million years after being jettisoned, the habitat went into orbit around a collapsing supernova.
The divided sections of the habitat have been independently evolving their own distinct life forms for the past 50 million years. The upper section "pursued" an evolutionary path that proved to be unviable -- it no longer has any life forms. The lower section was more successful -- it has a small variety of vegetation and microscopic fauna which have evolved from their ancient ancestors aboard the Ark.
"She is old," said the Wolflyn shuttle pilot, "but very space worthy!"
The Wolflyn pilot was tall and covered with dark grey fur. He looked remarkably like an eight foot wolf. There was significant strength evident in his fluid motions as he flew the shuttle craft to the Drafonfly.
Gazing out through the shuttle’s two inch durablite glass, the human observer watched the approach to the Dragonfly. The stars, refracted by the light sensitive crystal facets built into the glass view port, winked and twinkled . The Dragonfly was but a speck among them.
"From here, she looks like a piece of junk!"
"Now hold on human, you agreed to be the captain the ship back at the Blue Claw Bar."
"Agreed? Hardly, my Wolflyn friend! Getting a fellow high on a winning spree at three card then jerking the rug out is not the basis for a strong business contract."
The Wolflyn reached out his right paw and extended its sharp yellow claws. Long narrow claw points depressed tiny buttons set in the shuttle's control panel and a projection of the contract appeared floating among the stars, superimposed on the glass in front of them.
"There it is, all legal."
"There it is, all coerced."
The Wolflyn pulled his paw back from the controls as the contract display vanished. He did not waste the opportunity and slowly withdrew his claws inches from the humans face.
"Ok! I'll admit you got a legal document. Why do you need me?"
"Ah, human, I know your kind. You can not resist a story."
The Wolflyn barked. It was a low and guttural bark lightly flavored with the howl of a dog that passed for laughter among the Wolflyn. The human had experience with the Wolflyn race and understood the sound but still had trouble with the hideous fang-filled snarl that accompanied it.
"The colony ship 'Brood-Den' returned to the home star a month ago. The colonist should have embarked at their designation and the ship should have come home with only the crew. It did not happen. They were all dead. You cannot imagine the sight. There were signs of fighting in the hallways. Later, whole families, fathers, mothers and cubs gathered in small rooms and held on until the atmosphere went bad. The Wolflyn technicians checked everything but they found nothing. We know the ship was entered while in hypersace. The battle, however, was fought in normal space. There is nothing, however, to indicate the nature of the enemy. The high counsel tried to keep it a secret and failed. There is a planet-wide demand for blood and honor!"
"I repeat my original question. Why do you need a human captain? I have no taste for blood!"
"Humans are impatient! The Wolflyn cannot stand the transition through hyperspace. All Wolflyn must hibernate while in hyperspace or die. The human race is immune. We were very fortunate to find a pilot such as yourself." The shuttle pilot laughed again.
The shuttle was now close enough to see the details of the Dragonfly. She was indeed old but there were subtle alterations. There was significant power hidden behind those old plates. The Dragonfly consisted of a conning tower resting on a long square keel that ended in a docking pod. She had numerous modular mounting points allowing attachment of weapons, propulsion pods, cargo containers or specialized modules. The ship possessed only the propulsion pods.
"I don't see any weapons," said the human.
"That is true. You are the experienced hyperspace pilot; you must finish the configuration of the ship." He paused the held up his left paw extending only one claw as if to point something out. “Price is no object in this matter. Change it as you see fit.”
"I like the sound of this so called deal even less with each passing moment. I don't know what I am up against and - Why I am doing this alone?"
"Alone? If you need human company, recruit them yourself. The bridge has a full communications package. “
“Even if you decided not to recruit,” continued the Wolflyn, “you will not be alone - you will be carrying a platoon of the finest warriors of the pack. Every one is a supreme soldier. The plan is simple. Find the enemy and then drop out of hyperspace. Remember to wake the troops. By the way, I suggest you hibernate immediately after waking them. They will be in a very nasty mood."
The shuttle approached the landing dock at the rear of the Dragonfly. Force beams reached out and grabbed the shuttle. Efficiently, the doors blocked out space as they closed after the shuttle entered. The Wolflyn opened the shuttle door after the rush of returning atmosphere abated. He left the shuttle and stepped on the landing ramp in the Dragonfly.
The Wolflyn pilot turned and looked at the human emerging from the shuttle and said, "Welcome home human!”
