The Evacuation of Solfilius

The Evacuation of Solfilius - Part One: The Planet

Chapter 1

Solfilius was truly a draining place to be. The surface of the wretched planet was pounded with scorching heat from Coronus, the star that Solfilius swung around closely. The atmosphere was harsh and thick, frequently caked in the volatile dust that covered the planet's surface. During the night, the planet would snap into a frozen state. Just about every bone in your body would become brittle without any protection. Everywhere you looked was brown and dull. Not even a hint of colour that strayed away from the overwhelming amount of brown and grey.

Justin was utterly clueless how the people on this planet worked here. He would lose his sanity if he had to stay here for more than a few days. Despite this, numerous people stayed here for a week while they worked, before leaving to go home. Justin had no clue how they managed such an undertaking.

It wasn't just the natural environment of this planet that made it truly depressing. It was the vast array of industrial equipment here. Justin's accommodation was located on the top of a wide ravine. His single window overlooked the depths below. The ravine was littered with all kinds of mechanical machines. What stood out the most were the three gigantic, dystopian-like drills that stood upwards out of the ground. They had seen heavy use and were covered in swathes of rust. Large proportions of their paint had flaked off, and the large NFMC logo, the mining company that was in charge of all mining operations on Solfilius, could only be made out on one of the drills now. The wide expanse of land below looked like something out of an apocalyptic movie.

Extending from the scaffolding that supported the drills were large conveyor belts that transported raw ore from the drill into large hoppers. Trucks would drive underneath these and transport the ore into awaiting transportation ships to be shipped off the planet, and onto the next planet over, Adusta, where the ore was to be processed.

Despite how utterly repulsed Justin was by Solfilius, he knew it was of utmost importance to the interstellar frontier. The major export of the mining facility here was Staminite. Staminite is typically found within dense areas of matter, such as in nebulae or other supernova remnants, especially towards the centre of the galaxy. It is found more often in asteroids and high-debris areas than in planets.

Because of this, Solfilius was a very strange outlier. It was a planet, and yet Staminite is incredibly abundant on its surface. This never failed to baffle Justin. Was it simply by pure chance? Did the stars happen to align themselves in just the right way to form gigantic swathes of it here? Justin thought he should ask someone about it some time.

What made Staminite so precious was its role in spaceships. It has the ability to warp space time incredibly effectively, allowing ships to move through the interstellar void at rates never seen before. Solfilius was 3500 light years away from earth. Using the old graviton drive ships, the trip took a couple of months. Using the new Staminite ships, it takes a week. The appeal of ships that were eight times faster than the old graviton ships quickly got the attention of ship manufacturers, and production of the ore skyrocketed when Solfilius was discovered.

Solfilius and its resources are heavily regulated by various international treaties. The NFMC is the only company allowed to mine on its surface, and the company is closely monitored by the international community. Although the presence of tyrannical corporations and governments around the world took a sharp decline during the 2050s, allowing any group to unfairly exploit the resources of Solfilius could be catastrophic, extremely damaging to the interstellar frontier, and the world economy as a whole.

Solfilius was rather different compared to where Justin worked. Justin worked in an orbital gateway to and from Solfilius, high above its surface. The gateway was run by the international community, and served as a border point of sorts. They were common around the interstellar frontier. The gateway served as a quarantine and security checkpoint, to ensure any potentially lethal alien diseases stayed on the planet, and any illegal goods were kept off of the planet's surface. Justin was the Overseer of the whole gateway. His job was very important to get right, otherwise disaster could ensue.