Microstory 576: Construction on Verge Planet Complete

< > Table of Contents

Seven hundred years ago, the global public learned of the existence of interstellar space travel. The government had been using faster-that-light technology to study systems all over the universe for nearly a century, and kept this fact secret. After the great revelation, private companies began to invest in transdimensional technology, and established territories, claiming planets as quickly as possible. Fast forward a few more centuries and the Astral Military Force is initiated to regulate this travel. Fortunately, this control is not the hardest feat to accomplish. Every single vessel, no matter what, and no matter where its passengers intend to go, always has to first travel to the center of the universe first. Only then can they enter a second of what we call astral lanes and head for their final destination. It is at this central point that the AMF set up their base of operations. A space station was built to receive, log, and police all travel throughout the galaxy. They called it The Verge. But it quickly became clear that this station was never going to be a sufficient means of regulation. Travel was slow and tedious. Smuggling was, honestly, not that difficult, with the few staff that could even fit on the station far too overwhelmed to institute effective procedures. And so they got to work on the largest endeavor the galaxy has ever seen. Imagine slicing a standard planet in half, and removing the remaining dome until you have a relatively thin disc. This is The Verge Planet, as it were. Boasting an area of about 18 dolmas, this “planet” is the largest manman structure in the universe. It is capable of accommodating the hundreds of millions of officers, support staff, travelers, and visitors...and then some. An entire index of soldiers (268,435,456 units) will be posted here at any one time, which is currently under the command of Commander Harzel DuFrise. At the moment, the original space station—still orbiting a golma from The Verge Proper—has official control over astral travel, but power is set to be transferred to The Verge Planet tomorrow. At this point, thousands of astral collimators will be opening and closing astral nodes from every planet in the system, allowing Verge staff to decide exactly who can even enter Verge space in the first place, rather than handling whatever comes on an ad hoc basis. A grand opening celebration is scheduled for one week from today.