AI and Armor Surviving the Cosmic Abyss

Summary

The view was perfect, picturesque even; flowing green hills dotted with patches of trees, flowers and sunlight surrounding the CivCenter, a light breeze rustling the grass that stretched in a perfect march to the garden plots and rec areas. The colonists wandered through the sun splashed lanes, the streets lined with shops as simulated birds chirped in harmony with the beauty of the day. It was near perfection, though it should be; it was quite literally designed to be. This outpost, like all of the colonies built by the Landyard Corporation, were perfectly terraformed, perfectly sculpted from the rock with a master’s touch, a tiny slice of heaven so far from home.

Absentmindedly weaving her way through the Center, a girl looked from window to window with a joyous expression. Today was her birthday, her first birthday off-world, and marked six months since she had taken the leap and signed up at the Landyard Center back home on Terra. She had had her doubts, as anyone contemplating moving hundreds of light years from home should, but the advertisements had finally won her over. “PEACE AND SAFETY AMONG THE STARS” the posters always read, often accompanied by images not unlike the beauty that surrounded her now. Landyard was very proud of their safety record: no colonist had ever been lost to accident en-route to a colony, nor due to any malfunction on planet. Certainly a better success rate than the lower east side of New Cleveland where she had grown up.

In addition to the lucrative sign-on package, the company had offered her a premium accommodation; mostly, she felt, due to her looks. Certainly attractive women were preferred when the pool to choose a partner from was so limited. She had graduated from New Cleveland University two months before boarding the CivTrans ship with a degree in astrophysics, which may have had something to do with her bonus, now that she thought about it.