MVOTHT Ch 08



Kim Lauchang left us already at Threshold saying he had everything he needed and would not need to go on across the bridge with us. My first Space train trip was a bit disappointing as there was no sensation, no feeling of movement, no strange sounds. the doors closed and a display showed our progress where we would be if we made this trip in real space. Without that indicator I could not tell we were going anywhere. They simply detached the entire coach module from the Blue Moon - Threshold train and added it to the Trans Bridge express. I was sitting in my ready room reading and refreshing my memory on what the Bridge was. Threshold was the last stop in the M 0 (Milky way Galaxy). Our next stop would be Midway Station. Exactly half between the two Galaxies. . Threshold was already pretty lonely and on the outmost reach of the Cygnus arm, where star density was already very thin, but out there at Midway there would be no light, no stars and only a few hydrogen atoms every other light-year. After the Bridge was complete, most believed the Stations in between would become obsolete, as only Midway station was really needed., but then Companies and people migrated to these huge stations. Five thousand light years into trans galactic space for example was First Step. As Bridge construction begun, long range transporter ships went as far as they could and built the first Gigamon Station, complete with ship yards to build new ships to make it even further out. The process was repeated until the Andromeda Galax was reached. After the Space Train connection was established no one really needed to go to First Step or any of the other bases, during the Construction however Communities started aboard the bases. Where Workers went, families followed and then shop keepers, School teachers and all the other things civilizations drag behind them when they expand somewhere. those Communities remained even after the Construction workers moved on. Companies choose to establish their head quarters aboard those stations, high tech companies started highly specialized factories. Where small amounts of raw materials produced a lot of goods. First Step became the most important Nanite development and manufacturing center ,before the X101's joined, Corporations established research institutes there and First Step had to be expanded. Similar Developments happened on each of the 800 stations, a trend continued to this day. The Union beings living here call themselves Bridgers. Since there are no natural resources everything has to be brought in, but the services and high tech products manufactured here more than make it worth. The Bridge community is among the most advanced within the Union. Bridgers claim that they are also safer, since no Pirate or Kermac would ever make it that far out, an if they do you would see them coming for a long time and no place to hide. Station 421 for example, known as The Forge is the place where Terra manufactures Translocator Cannons. To make it a High Security area was easier than anywhere else, since no known adversary could reach it, and would have to go across all the other bases first. At first the Bridge was considered by some a waste of money and resources. Some critics claimed that the same resources could be used to build a large defensive fleet. Today the bridge was an enormous and quite unusual community and vital part of the Union. Noteworthy was the aspect that the Bridge was still growing. Midway originally just another Gigamon Space station had been extended to five times its original size. So called Deep Space Villages grew around the big bases, some of them retirement communities. In less than 4 days we would reach Midway.