Sci Fi Story

Data accumulates slowly when you have great distances to traverse. The infinitesimal processing of zeroes and ones from continuous files are decompressed and filed until a computer can review them. Human interaction is minimal, as humans err. Still the neccessity of cognitive carbon intelligence is required in the processing of data. A biological filter straining the compiled data (soup) into a reactive resource (entity)(bowl).

Space exploration will continue long after life ceases on Earth. Its just a fact, unpreventable...unless you can prevent the cessation of life, or the chemical reaction of thousands of unmanned, programmed craft billions of miles separated from the machinations of mankind. Machines will work as programmed long after humankind has failed.
(P?)
The hope of continuity would not motivate mankind to extend its reaches into space beyond its previously known borders. No, its something much more base than that, which drives man from a safe, comfortable home. Greed. The inglorious pursuit of the self-centered and competitive mammal will generate the interest in the ever expanding search for resources. Resources required by a hungry planet that refuses to acknowledge limitless energy and materiel.

The seemingly endless pursuit of resources begins within nations, but like a fever it spreads. Multiple nations seeking new assets eventually, realistically begin to acknowledge that the cost of these endeavours could be shared. The burden lightened and decreased, as the planet sought a new supply base. One hundred years of politics could not tame the passionate promise of striking it rich. The expansion of human influence required sharing the burden, but corporations around the globe kept their fingers in the kitty. The space surrounding the globe had been dissected in mils* into a complex of 6400 units equatorally and 6400 units polarly for a total of 40,960,000 sectors. The accumulated wealth of nations was spent on bidding and purchasing these sectors.

Thus began the largest real estate auction in the history of mankind. National alliances were formed, as no successful binding of international co-operation was successful, alliances based on pre-space investigation were weak, and wars were fought over the spacial distribution of the inner planets and closer solar systems as they frequently spanned multiple sectors. Wars that would be fruitless as the nations coped with the burden of conflict and burgeoning progress as others excelled. No planet was found to be com,patible with life, and the resources found were undesirable for profitability.

That all changed when a green light flashed on an anonymous computer array focused deep in sector 23,559,447... a minor reconnaissance of a distant solar system. The craft honed in on a gravitational attraction deep in the dark Nether Sector, more specifically the ninth planet investigated in the sector. Named by a man 40 generations ago for reasons unknown as Liturball... all communiques referred to it as Lit-Net-9. The corporation which owned the rights became silent and ceased all operations in every single sector.

*author's note... from wikepedia.

The angular mil is commonly used by military organizations. Its relationship to the radian gives rise to the handy property that object of size s that subtends an angle θ angular mils is at a distance d = 1000s/θ. Alternatively, if the distance is known, we can determine the size of an object by s = θd/1000. The practical form of this that is easy to remember is: 1 mil at 1 km = about 1 metre (2π/6.4 ≈ 0.98 m to be more precise). Another example: 100 mils at 2 km = 200 metres.

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Not sure if this is a prologue, but I need some manner to get the reader to visualize the situation and setting.

This is just a prelim to a story I've been working on, but I thought I might try to add names from the litnet forums...when applicable. I haven't asked permission, but I don't know how long I'll keep this going, just like to have the access to some good names. Anyone that doesn't want a character name based off of their name, kindly PM me, and I'll change it. Cheers B