TTA



By 2206 the use of artificial black holes as entropic cold sinks permitted the first cities to be constructed on Venus, but the planet itself remained so hot the red glow of superheated surface rocks were reflected by the sky



A few degrees east of the terminator of Venus is a sweet spot well known to Terran Trade Authority task force commanders where water smugglers skipping in from upsystem frequently emerge into real space. The less intelligent ones do, at any rate.



The moon Vikor orbits a gas giant planet named Telamon in the Epsilon Eridani system. Lingering resentments over a botched first contact have led the Vikorians to repeatedly block Terran Trade Authority entrance to the Integrated Star Systems Alliance.



When the Trax made a surprise attack on the Setasian stronghold in the disputed DX Cancri system over a hundred Terran Trade Authority advisors either perished outright if they were lucky or were taken captive if they were not.



In the stellar nursery of the Orion Nebula complex, deep-space explorers of the Terran Trade Authority encountered a warship identified in Jane’s as a Laodamian Phoenix class frigate, and lived to tell of it.



At Jupiter the situation is reversed from that of aircraft on Terra: oxygen is carried on board and hydrogen is sucked in from outside to be burned. But should the artificial gravity ever fail the wingless craft goes down.



Kapteyn’s Star. Automated transports sidle up to drink SP-5 like piglets at a sow’s tit while invisible petrochemical workers lead desperate lives in hovels that cluster on the side of the refinery like moss on a tree.



The large, ancient objects discovered on Morta in the Procyon system were abandoned and of unknown utility but they were obviously built to endure. The Terran Trade Authority brought in fusion pods to re-purpose them as drydocks for ship repair and called it a windfall.



After the catastrophic attack on Jossis the twenty-three surviving independent floating balloon cities at Jupiter immediately scaled back their hydrogen liquefaction operations to effectively hand the General Materials Corporation a monopoly on propellant



Early designs of the monowheel motorcycle were plagued with gerbiling, with riders caught spinning inside the big wheel like a cat in a dryer. By 2085 the Terran Trade Authority unveiled gyroscopically stabilized models that got out in front of that problem, literally.



The colony of Fortuna is situated at the trailing Lagrange libration point, frequently called L-5, equidistant from the Earth and Moon, but on the Moon’s orbit. Celestial mechanics holds it there with no stationkeeping fuel required.



“What a watch!” Lt. Adnarel complained. “I just cycled down fire-control but I still see blocks! It’s like when I was a girl at Tau Ceti, I used to pick ripe chamberries all day and I would still see little orange blobs when I closed my eyes.”



At the port on Vanth in the EZ Aquarii system containers with highly pilferable goods from Epsilon Indi are offloaded for distribution. The Terran Trade Authority has long considered the multi-system Fallen Angels MC to be the most reliable sub-contractors for perimeter security.



Hybla and Dia at Gliese 783 are the closest to a true double planet known to the Terran Trade Authority. Stony Hybla has underground water, and therefore cities, but sandy Dia has been seeded with self-replicating nano that combines silicon and sunlight to make energy-dense SP-5.



The General Materials Corporation knew they hit paydirt at Ross 154 with the discovery of Circe, an asteroid smaller than Earth’s moon that nevertheless was shrouded in a thick CO₂ blanket, indicating a high density metal interior.



3He + 3He fusion produces no dangerous neutrons and the fuel itself, delivered by the solar wind and strip-mined from the lunar regolith, is not radioactive. Consequently, it is the most common nuclear reaction found outside of Earth’s major power plants.



The traveling airshows sponsored by the Terran Trade Authority do much more than just catch the eye of purchasing agents. Early on the TTA learned that sub-contracting work in every congressional district ensured what they call the Greening of the Military Industrial Complex.



The Gorpai, founding members of the Integrated Star Systems Alliance, inhabit the arid world of Tanit in the 82 Eridani system. A heavy cruiser serves as their diplomatic courier to the ISSA, as with the Trax around one can never be too careful.



After a Brushfire missile intercepted Track 4022 Hunky noted the sparrowfall from the Taurus City war room. She said, “I get the distinct impression Asmodeus came down system with hyz second-best football team and expected to go up against nothing but cheerleaders.”