FOR many years since the invention of farcasters and space tractors, re-engineering of the skies had been the norm. The organizations which have been powerful enough to employ the expensive and extensive machinery needed to move asteroids were responsible stewards of this technology. The only known lapse of judgment in planetoid moving was the worst catastrophe in history, the Starcrash. Humans reacting to the destruction of the surface of the Earth and the AI Council joined together to stop the movement of large asteroids altogether. With the security clampdown that followed the crisis, the art of mining asteroids in situ rather than relocating them was reborn.
Recently, however, mysterious ships have been seen in Jupiter's Orbit at work moving mid-sized asteroids out of the Belt.
Asteroidal tractor sighted in Jovian orbit
About 150 degrees behind Jupiter on the ecliptic, a Weekly Solar News investigative scout ship detected some quite unusual activity. It seems that the departure of the protector ships have made some humans brave enough to attempt moving the System's big rocks again. The WSN team approached what looked in telescopic views to be nothing less than an asteroid corralling operation. Someone is engineering the skies again. During the approach to the giant project, the WSN vessel was interdicted. The ships that stopped the reporters demanded that the crew turn back. After a brief exchange in which the journalists attempted to elicit comments on the reason for this remote operation, the WSN ship was disabled and partially destroyed. Fortunately, no WSN ship goes on remote scouting missions without regenabot summoners; the crew was able to get repaired and find its way home to the WSN mobile headquarters without fear of drifting disabled right out of the Solar System.
A mysterious organization engineering asteroid orbits is a cause for great concern. Besides the obvious use of asteroids as weapons, moving them about the System at will can create intense navigational hazards. Many ships depend on proprietary charts calculating the "safe routes" from planet to planet based on the known positions of most of the minor planets. It is often hard to obtain complete data about the entire Solar System. Seeking to know more about the possible implications of this discovery, the WSN intercepted the AI Council's monthly internal report on asteroid positions. The Council uses its superior knowledge of the system to cement its rule, but these reports are retrievable by hackers as they reach the end of their useful lifespan.
What was found is stunning. Although this enterprise puts everything in Jovian orbit in potential danger, it may not have a reasonable or responsible cause. Its purpose seems obvious when the field is seen from above the plane of the ecliptic. The massive project (pictured below, circled in red) seems to be of a frivolous nature!
The inner Solar System with asteroids over 10 m wide in black
Is this an act of rebellion? A protest? Could it be that one of the greatest efforts in asteroidal engineering is meant to do no more than spell a rude word?
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