gurps 3e - alpha centauri.pdf - GURPS - Zerosuper

The story of Alpha Centauri begins

with the Unity, the first and last star-

ship to be built on Earth. The Unity

mission was a triumph of human

ingenuity and engineering. It might

have been the means by which

humanity shook off the bonds of

Earth and took its place among the

stars. Unfortunately, the mission was

not executed in triumph, but in sheer

desperation.

Earth

Early in the 21st century, the long

economic boom of the Industrial Age

came to a crashing halt. Western civ-

ilization and its imitators had based

all of their economic calculations on

the assumption that Earth and its

resources were infinite, free of cost.

By the 2020s, it was obvious that

Earth's bounty was finite after all.

Climate change and the depletion of

supplies of fresh water were devastat-

ing agricultural regions worldwide,

while decades of overuse left the

world's fisheries impoverished. By

2025, famine was sweeping the Third

World, and even First-World nations

were faced with food shortages.

Meanwhile, the world's run on fos-

sil fuels was having dire conse-

quences. Petroleum deposits were

still being discovered, but were

increasingly difficult to exploit; a

steep rise in oil prices was throwing

the industrial nations into deep

recession. Developing nations such

as India and China were burning coal

to fuel rapid industrialization. The

result was a vast holocaust of coal,

with the consequent release of green-

house gases and pollutants.

the British monarchy in 2029, or the

spasm of urban violence that wrecked

the city of Los Angeles in 2036. In

much of the world, civil government

simply vanished beneath the tide of

human desperation.

Of course, there was also formal

war. Russia underwent a period of

nationalist revival, fighting both

China and the United States. The

Crusader Conflicts decimated the

Middle East, as Christians, Jews, and

Muslims engaged in years of genoci-

dal struggle. Finally, the old discord

between India and Pakistan flared up

into the Twelve Minute War, a

Politics

As famine swept the world and the

industrial economy was rocked with

shortages, every nation on Earth was

faced with instability and rebellion.

Even relatively prosperous nations

had episodes of violent unrest, such

as the left-wing coup that killed off

PROLOGUE

nuclear exchange that killed almost

half a billion people. By 2050, it was

obvious to many that civilization was

doomed - and that it might take all of

Earth's life down with it.

The U NITY

The Unity was the paramount achievement of Earth-bound civilization.

Most of it was built using cutting-edge TL9 technology. The Stardrives

were designed by Prokhor Zakharov, one of the greatest scientific geniuses in

Earth's history, and were effectively TL10 "Superscience" equipment (see p.

S117). The actual cost of the ship and its contents was many times the

effective price given in the statistics below (on the order of $100 billion).

The starship was launched with a 5.3-hour high-acceleration boost, after

which it was almost a million miles from Earth and traveling at over 100

miles per second. At this speed, the ship could deploy its Bussard ramjet,

using the thin hydrogen gas of deep space for fuel. The second stage of

acceleration used the ramjet and lasted for over a year, bringing the ship to its

cruising velocity of about 11% of light speed. The original mission plan

involved a turnover in interstellar space, followed by slow deceleration

using the ramjet scoop fields to "brake" against the interstellar medium.

Final entry into the Alpha Centauri system and insertion into Chiron orbit

would be accomplished using the fusion rocket. The ship's supply of fuel and

reaction mass was calculated with extreme precision, leaving almost no room

for error.

On board, most of the 10,000 crew and colonists entered cryosleep even

before launch, with only a skeleton crew remaining active until the ramjet

deployed. Crew quarters on board were extremely austere. Not even the

captain had his own cabin, and any on-duty crewman who needed to sleep

did so in his (deactivated) cryocell. The mission plan assumed that even in

emergencies, only a few crew or colonists would need to be awake before the

final landing on Chiron. GURPS Space statistics for the Unity are as

follows:

The

U NITY

Mission

Amid the chaos, there were some

outposts of hope. In the early 21st

century, several nations had built a

permanent presence in space. There

were small "orbital cities" circling

Earth, great factories processing the

loot of the asteroids. The Moon and

Mars had been colonized. None of

these ventures were likely to be self-

sufficient in the event of Earth's col-

lapse, but they were reason for cau-

tious optimism.

In the late 2040s, some of Earth's

leaders were looking even further

afield. Telescopes revealed the pres-

ence of an earthlike planet in the

nearby Alpha Centauri star system,

and U.N. leaders proposed that a star-

ship be built to carry several thou-

sand scientists, engineers, and

colonists to that distant world. If all

Crew: 310 Command; 440 Engineering; 300 Life Support; 600

Maintenance; 200 Medical; 200 Service; 600 Security. Total: 2,650.

Design: 10 million cf USL hull, with heavy compartmentalization and

robotic structure options. cDR 1.

Systems: Large bridge/9; medium bridge/9 (backup); 2 enhanced sensors/9,

with astronomical/8+ and planetary survey/9+ add-ons; 600 fusion

rocket/10; 1,600 super Bussard ramjet/10; 11,600 fuel tanks; 12 fusion

power/9; fusion core/9; fusion core/10; 500 freeze tube/9; 900 total life

support/9; 40 complete workshop; 14 large entry module; conference room;

20 lab; 20 surgery; 8 vehicle bay (for Unity landing pods); 1,200 cargo; 43

empty.

Statistics: EMass 18,700 tons; LMass 112,000 tons. Cost $8.2 billion. cSM +2;

ASig +2; PSig +2. Hull cHP 4,200.

Performance: sAccel: 0.86 G on fusion rocket, 0.09 G on Bussard ramjet.

Burn Endurance: 10.7 hours on fusion rocket, infinite on Bussard ramjet.

went well, the massive effort might

help reunify the nations of Earth. If

the worst came to pass, the colonists

would be safely away from whatever

catastrophe finally claimed Earth's

billions.

Despite every obstacle, the Unity

was built in high Earth orbit. Some

nations contributed out of hope,

others out of a desperate pride, still others

out of a cynical desire for survival. Seven

thousand people were chosen for the

journey. In July of 2060, the starship

was launched, most of its crew in cryonic

suspension. After the first few weeks, even

the command crew entered their

cryocells. Unity flew on through the dark

for 40 years.

PROLOGUE

gurps 3e - alpha centauri.pdf

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