That's the end of the Mayan calandar, if you missed that line in the Grand Unified Timeline.
First, the concept, then the supporting details:
In brief, that's when someone finds proof of alien intelligence. It's not first contact, it's not even planetary ruins or a wrecked ship - and no one in the character space is going to know about it for a while, because it's a two-year trip back on a straight line for Sol.
================
December 12, 2012
Unnamed system, approx 1000ly from Sol
(find a registry number that's suitable)
It was three years since the USS Miranda launched - she'd been the result of probably the only wide-spread privately funded space program that would ever exist, a collaboration between several major colleges, the SETI group, and (in a burst of mad brilliance that had pulled in most of the individual donations) the Trekkies. The actual structure of the ship had sort of accreted on the back side of the Large Array radio telescope framework that was her major hardtech "eye" for Serious Astronomy, and most of the internal volume was tankage for the two strains of handwavium that fed the ship's engines and power system, but in that breif period between when Handwavium became relatively public knowledge and when the mundane governments cracked down on it, they'd gotten enough funding in place, and with the enthusiastic design and programming assistance of hundreds of people too attached to their regular lives or unwilling to jump into the black on a wing and a prayer they'd gotten environmental and suplly systems that could actually support a five-year mission.
They'd followed a somewhat irregular course to this point, with regular stops to point the Main Sensor Dish back at Sol to get a look "into the past" in the sky beyond, but this was the furthest out they'd get, it was time to turn back for the long trip home, with only two stars on the way to break up the trip. For now, though, it was time to put the Big Eye to its other use...
The ship flipped gracefully in space, the sensitve radio ears designed to listen to the whispers of the stars now seeking out the sounds of civilization... and for the very first time, there was something to hear. Not the multitudinous cacophony of an inhabited, technological world's communications, just a single signal, a candle in the endless night playing out an endless loop of squawks and chirps, several voices in an approximation of harmony before breaking up into recogniseable cheers, then breif passages of single voices, before repeating. The whole thing took about twenty minutes to cycle.
It was remarkably similar to to recording made for the drone they'd been getting ready to drop off in this system themselves, to mark the furthest extent of human exploration. Sometime in the tenth hour of the ship-wide party following the announcement of the find, the captain wondered if there would be video screens when they physically examined the beacon, as they'd planned to leave running on their own.
=============
The nature of the aliens, how long ago the beacon was left, how long it would take to find them even if the Miranda gambled on their being freindly, willing and able to provide resupply if they blew off returning (because they are at RTB with only a very narrow safety margin) and how anyone else will take it is up to developement, and this is strictly an Idea Box submission - there's lots of story before winter 2014/2015, which is the absolute earliest the Miranda could be back.
And yes, though far from show-accurate, the ship is named that because it's basically a big round platter with a thicker addition on the back and two engines hanging off the bottom. No rollbar, and the upper surface has a small forest of antennas. THere's also a carefully maintained dived between the 'waved systems (drive, enviro, navigation) and the pure hardtech (astronomy, mainly) espescially in the computers - the Science Network has absolutely no wireless access, the wired network is maintained in different access spaces than the 'wavetech data lines, and even the power supply is fed through three stages of hardtech converters and regulators to avoid the possibility of handwave info contamination. Transfer to the 'wavetech system is very rare, because it means burning one of the limited supply of CDRs on the hardtech side - there is no transfer back from 'wavetech to hardtech, ever. Serious Science has no room for waving hands.
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
First, the concept, then the supporting details:
In brief, that's when someone finds proof of alien intelligence. It's not first contact, it's not even planetary ruins or a wrecked ship - and no one in the character space is going to know about it for a while, because it's a two-year trip back on a straight line for Sol.
================
December 12, 2012
Unnamed system, approx 1000ly from Sol
(find a registry number that's suitable)
It was three years since the USS Miranda launched - she'd been the result of probably the only wide-spread privately funded space program that would ever exist, a collaboration between several major colleges, the SETI group, and (in a burst of mad brilliance that had pulled in most of the individual donations) the Trekkies. The actual structure of the ship had sort of accreted on the back side of the Large Array radio telescope framework that was her major hardtech "eye" for Serious Astronomy, and most of the internal volume was tankage for the two strains of handwavium that fed the ship's engines and power system, but in that breif period between when Handwavium became relatively public knowledge and when the mundane governments cracked down on it, they'd gotten enough funding in place, and with the enthusiastic design and programming assistance of hundreds of people too attached to their regular lives or unwilling to jump into the black on a wing and a prayer they'd gotten environmental and suplly systems that could actually support a five-year mission.
They'd followed a somewhat irregular course to this point, with regular stops to point the Main Sensor Dish back at Sol to get a look "into the past" in the sky beyond, but this was the furthest out they'd get, it was time to turn back for the long trip home, with only two stars on the way to break up the trip. For now, though, it was time to put the Big Eye to its other use...
The ship flipped gracefully in space, the sensitve radio ears designed to listen to the whispers of the stars now seeking out the sounds of civilization... and for the very first time, there was something to hear. Not the multitudinous cacophony of an inhabited, technological world's communications, just a single signal, a candle in the endless night playing out an endless loop of squawks and chirps, several voices in an approximation of harmony before breaking up into recogniseable cheers, then breif passages of single voices, before repeating. The whole thing took about twenty minutes to cycle.
It was remarkably similar to to recording made for the drone they'd been getting ready to drop off in this system themselves, to mark the furthest extent of human exploration. Sometime in the tenth hour of the ship-wide party following the announcement of the find, the captain wondered if there would be video screens when they physically examined the beacon, as they'd planned to leave running on their own.
=============
The nature of the aliens, how long ago the beacon was left, how long it would take to find them even if the Miranda gambled on their being freindly, willing and able to provide resupply if they blew off returning (because they are at RTB with only a very narrow safety margin) and how anyone else will take it is up to developement, and this is strictly an Idea Box submission - there's lots of story before winter 2014/2015, which is the absolute earliest the Miranda could be back.
And yes, though far from show-accurate, the ship is named that because it's basically a big round platter with a thicker addition on the back and two engines hanging off the bottom. No rollbar, and the upper surface has a small forest of antennas. THere's also a carefully maintained dived between the 'waved systems (drive, enviro, navigation) and the pure hardtech (astronomy, mainly) espescially in the computers - the Science Network has absolutely no wireless access, the wired network is maintained in different access spaces than the 'wavetech data lines, and even the power supply is fed through three stages of hardtech converters and regulators to avoid the possibility of handwave info contamination. Transfer to the 'wavetech system is very rare, because it means burning one of the limited supply of CDRs on the hardtech side - there is no transfer back from 'wavetech to hardtech, ever. Serious Science has no room for waving hands.
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows