Colony Beta - Prologue
7 April 2031
Colony Beta, Nevada, USA
Ten years.
It's been ten years since the great doors sealed, locking us in this great metal sphere buried under the Nevada desert. The CGC doesn't want me around, but I've managed to stay hidden. So far. This journal is my first act of defiance in seven years, and serves as the first step on my final path, but I must write it.. I must take the step. The children are being taught the CGC's revisionist history, designed to keep the population ignorant and docile. I cannot allow it to continue.
Presumably I am dead or worse by the time you find this book. I only ask that you not let me have died in vain.
Most of what you have been taught about the colony and life inside is true. Or at least true enough. After the second World War and through the Cold War, plans for these colonies were created.
A prototype, Colony Alpha, was built near that nation's capital, just outside Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. It was smaller than the later colonies, meant only to house the politicians and support staff for a short time in the event of a nuclear assault on the capital.
Colony Beta, this colony, was built on a larger scale, able to hold hundreds of thousands of people and keep them safe for years. The colonists would be the harbingers of the American way of life once the radiation subsided, spreading our brand of peace and prosperity to whatever remained above ground.
The first problem was sustainability; Colony Alpha's population was small enough that they could get by with stored foods and recycled air and water. Beta proved more challenging.
We had harnessed the power of the atom and used it to wreak terrible destruction upon our enemies. Now we used it as the beating heart of our salvation. Colony Beta's core, the very center of the sphere, is a large nuclear fission reactor, with enough fissionable material to output terawatts of electricity every second for at least 100 years - far longer than any of us planned to be isolated.
Surrounding the core is ten layers, each ten feet thick, of lead-lined corridors designed to contain the core in the event of a meltdown. For security and common sense reasons, these layers are restricted to maintenance personnel only.
The majority of the power feeds in to the Agricultural Rings, powering the lights that mimic sunlight and the water reclamation facilities. Whereas most of the colony is divided into spherical layers, measured by their distance from the center point, the Agricultural Rings are flat planes comprising a layered belt around the equator, spanning nearly 600 square kilometers across five levels. The rings bisect the colony in to the Upper and Lower hemispheres.
The Administration layers are the first section to resume the layered layout of the colony, but because they are so close to the rings, they end up more like distorted rings with domed ceilings and floors. Elevators connect Upper and Lower administration, though they're hardly used anymore.
The next several layers are residential. The general rule of thumb is the close the house is to the center, the better it is. The innermost residential layer is reserved for those working in the Administration layer and contains the CGC's house and office, above the rings. As the layers increase in distance from the core, they are opened up to the middle class and lower class, generally the merchants and the laborers respectively. The outermost residential layer is almost exclusively populated by people working in the factories on the next layer out.
The Industrial layers blend with the residential, with some houses being either in the same building or next-door to a warehouse. Anything not grown in the rings can be produced or repaired in the Industrial layers.
Like any metropolis, there are pockets of commerce on every level: upscale, high quality clothing and accessories in the high-class residential areas, reasonably priced shops in the lower-class areas. Most of the outermost layer is home to a thriving black market. Marginalized colonists, those who fell through the cracks of society, and those who simply want to avoid the CGC's reach find homes in the abandoned or never-claimed places on the rim. I make my home near the equator on the rim. It's no where near as nice as my home in Admin, but it's a damn sight safer, despite what the Protectorate tell you.
Like the Agricultural Rings, the top most floors are horizontal planes and may be used to house the population in sparse conditions during times of crisis. Most colonists either never knew about the Top, or forgot about it after the CGC declared it a restricted area seven years ago.
At the outset, the CGC was the Colony Governance Committee. We were a group of nine men and women, chosen by the project's creators for our ability to govern fairly, neither discriminating nor showing favoritism to our fellow colonists. After the Great Doors on the top floor were sealed, one of the governors decided he wanted to govern alone, and either convinced us to step down or had us killed outright. I chose the third option: run and hide. The Protectorate are loyal to him and the little revolt I was able to quickly organize was put down before we could really get going. Colin dissolved the colony charter's provisions for electing new committee members, and changed the meaning of CGC to Colony Governor Colin.
I know the doors were sealed for a good reason, but after ten years of misinformation, misremembered history and half truths from the CGC, I can't remember why anymore. Was there a nuclear war? An alien invasion? Most of us were living in the colony full time anyway, having sold our surface homes before the doors closed. Maybe they were only supposed to stay closed for ten months as a trial run, but the CGC never opened the doors again.
There is one thing I do know for sure though: If the doors open, all of Colin's power within the colony vanishes. While they stay closed, he maintains his power, and power corrupts.
-Jack Marshall
Colony Beta, Nevada, USA
Ten years.
It's been ten years since the great doors sealed, locking us in this great metal sphere buried under the Nevada desert. The CGC doesn't want me around, but I've managed to stay hidden. So far. This journal is my first act of defiance in seven years, and serves as the first step on my final path, but I must write it.. I must take the step. The children are being taught the CGC's revisionist history, designed to keep the population ignorant and docile. I cannot allow it to continue.
Presumably I am dead or worse by the time you find this book. I only ask that you not let me have died in vain.
Most of what you have been taught about the colony and life inside is true. Or at least true enough. After the second World War and through the Cold War, plans for these colonies were created.
A prototype, Colony Alpha, was built near that nation's capital, just outside Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. It was smaller than the later colonies, meant only to house the politicians and support staff for a short time in the event of a nuclear assault on the capital.
Colony Beta, this colony, was built on a larger scale, able to hold hundreds of thousands of people and keep them safe for years. The colonists would be the harbingers of the American way of life once the radiation subsided, spreading our brand of peace and prosperity to whatever remained above ground.
The first problem was sustainability; Colony Alpha's population was small enough that they could get by with stored foods and recycled air and water. Beta proved more challenging.
We had harnessed the power of the atom and used it to wreak terrible destruction upon our enemies. Now we used it as the beating heart of our salvation. Colony Beta's core, the very center of the sphere, is a large nuclear fission reactor, with enough fissionable material to output terawatts of electricity every second for at least 100 years - far longer than any of us planned to be isolated.
Surrounding the core is ten layers, each ten feet thick, of lead-lined corridors designed to contain the core in the event of a meltdown. For security and common sense reasons, these layers are restricted to maintenance personnel only.
The majority of the power feeds in to the Agricultural Rings, powering the lights that mimic sunlight and the water reclamation facilities. Whereas most of the colony is divided into spherical layers, measured by their distance from the center point, the Agricultural Rings are flat planes comprising a layered belt around the equator, spanning nearly 600 square kilometers across five levels. The rings bisect the colony in to the Upper and Lower hemispheres.
The Administration layers are the first section to resume the layered layout of the colony, but because they are so close to the rings, they end up more like distorted rings with domed ceilings and floors. Elevators connect Upper and Lower administration, though they're hardly used anymore.
The next several layers are residential. The general rule of thumb is the close the house is to the center, the better it is. The innermost residential layer is reserved for those working in the Administration layer and contains the CGC's house and office, above the rings. As the layers increase in distance from the core, they are opened up to the middle class and lower class, generally the merchants and the laborers respectively. The outermost residential layer is almost exclusively populated by people working in the factories on the next layer out.
The Industrial layers blend with the residential, with some houses being either in the same building or next-door to a warehouse. Anything not grown in the rings can be produced or repaired in the Industrial layers.
Like any metropolis, there are pockets of commerce on every level: upscale, high quality clothing and accessories in the high-class residential areas, reasonably priced shops in the lower-class areas. Most of the outermost layer is home to a thriving black market. Marginalized colonists, those who fell through the cracks of society, and those who simply want to avoid the CGC's reach find homes in the abandoned or never-claimed places on the rim. I make my home near the equator on the rim. It's no where near as nice as my home in Admin, but it's a damn sight safer, despite what the Protectorate tell you.
Like the Agricultural Rings, the top most floors are horizontal planes and may be used to house the population in sparse conditions during times of crisis. Most colonists either never knew about the Top, or forgot about it after the CGC declared it a restricted area seven years ago.
At the outset, the CGC was the Colony Governance Committee. We were a group of nine men and women, chosen by the project's creators for our ability to govern fairly, neither discriminating nor showing favoritism to our fellow colonists. After the Great Doors on the top floor were sealed, one of the governors decided he wanted to govern alone, and either convinced us to step down or had us killed outright. I chose the third option: run and hide. The Protectorate are loyal to him and the little revolt I was able to quickly organize was put down before we could really get going. Colin dissolved the colony charter's provisions for electing new committee members, and changed the meaning of CGC to Colony Governor Colin.
I know the doors were sealed for a good reason, but after ten years of misinformation, misremembered history and half truths from the CGC, I can't remember why anymore. Was there a nuclear war? An alien invasion? Most of us were living in the colony full time anyway, having sold our surface homes before the doors closed. Maybe they were only supposed to stay closed for ten months as a trial run, but the CGC never opened the doors again.
There is one thing I do know for sure though: If the doors open, all of Colin's power within the colony vanishes. While they stay closed, he maintains his power, and power corrupts.
-Jack Marshall