BOOK III: The Bridge

The Bridge

It was back in 2500 when the idea was first discussed at Pluribus. The Y’All attack was not forgotten and since they had come twice they might come back a third time. Only if one could find their place of origin and stop them at the source any future invasion could be truly stopped.

All research indicated that the Y’All had come from the Andromeda galaxy (M 31) removed from the M-0 Galaxy by 2 Million lightyears.

No known ship technology was able to travel such a distance. No ship could carry that much fuel and even the most advanced ship engines would burn out if traveling a distance of 2000 light years in Quasi space without stops for service.

Professor Hargar Novelton, back then  a student of Newest Delhi University is credited with being the first to propose a string of space stations, all the way from M-0 to M-31. In 1000 light year intervals. He called it the pear string model, but someone called it the Bridge and it was called that ever since.

SII-Ship Yards unveiled a prototype space ship, that was built on an ancient terran concept. The ship had three stages and could jettison burned out engine modules and had increased nuclear compacted hydrogen tanks, increasing it’s range to 6000 light years.

In a historical session of the United Stars Assembly on January 2502 it was decided to built the bridge.

In 2504, from the last starsystem belonging to the M-0 galaxy called Threshold System, the first construction fleet left to built First Step Station, one thousand light years in starless deep space. In 2712 Midway Station was completed marking the 1 Million light year mark.

A deep space station was built every 1000 light years and in 3001 only 500 years later the most ambiguous titanic construction project in the known history of the M-0 Galaxy was completed as the last Bridge station “ LAST STEP” was completed and Union space ships reached the first star system belonging to the Andromeda Galaxy. The System was named : Bridgehead and declared Union space.

A new technology became available in 2900. It was a new way of space travel and called Space Train by the developing Corporation SII-Strain Inc. The system utilized a patended technology refered to as Black light tunneling. A tunnel was established similar to the wormhole concept, bypassing normal space. The draw backs of the system was it needed two stations at each end of the tunnel and the tunnel could not be made bigger than 20 meters in diameter. Vehicles traveling inside therefore could be as long as needed but only 1999 cm wide. From this elongated shape the name space train was derived.

Space trains however could bridge distances a thousand times faster than any conventional Quasi space ship.

Space train stations where at first established at most major worlds but was the logical choice for the bridge. A space train can make the journey in less than 4 days.

Another surpsingly development was the colonization of the Bridge itself. The big deep space bases where thought to be just stop gap measures. The trend started with SSI leasing and later purchasing room at Midway for a research facility. With the scientists came families, technicians and maintenace workers, shop keepers and other smaller companies.

Soon Midway had reached its limit and Bridge seddlers moved to other stations. Today every base from here to Andromeda is a vibrant densley populated community center. Midway and other stations where expanded  and smaller “Space Villages” where established around the bases and along the bridge.

The seddlers come from all walks of life and member civilizations and their main reason is, being far away from galactic centers and politics. Of course living is more expensive since everything has to be imported, but most of the Employers are high tech companies with excellent wages. Some of the Bases are galactic wide known gambling and recreation centers.

The inhabitants call themselves “Bridgers”.

Once Explorer ships searched across M 32 to find any signs of Y’All activity other native civilizations to the Andromeda Galaxy where discovered and the Vexlaa from Astogar,an avionic species became the first Non M-0 Civilization to join the United Stars.

All research so far indicates that the Y’All where not native to Andromeda but came from an even more distant place, the Leo II galaxy. this research si not conclusive since less than five percent of Andromeda has been mapped.