[big]Speech By Fischer in L910[/big]

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((partial audio fragment))

[...]" a list of people I would like to thank. Randal, for your dedication. Manfried, for your excellent timing. Mariken, Leona, Nuo [laughs] ... for when you keep arguing with me [several people laughing in the background]. Sonnie and Peers for your ability to find the right spot. Kevork - for your ambition. Because ambition is what make Greenhouse Five. It makes us - me - proud [shuffling noises] to be a part of all this. So without further ado I want to [...]" -- L910 ring meeting speech by Fischer, data collector unknown.

Notes

Information available to colonists on request:

The people mentioned in the fragment are members of Fischer's ring Greenhouse Five

Fischer was the first human to set foot on Da Vinci in L900

See Fictive Fragment Sources page for more info on fragment origins

It's undecided what the speech is leading up to. Presumably something the ring wants to celebrate.

[big]Sava's Spring[/big]

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Da Vinci Memorial Banks (DVMB)

Ex-Greenspacer Ghalian speaks at inauguration of the garden spring

((audio recording:)) [...] to signify the continous flow of life which always was her main priority. She probably would have scolded us for wasting valuable research space [...] the end of Sava’s Garden as we knew it. Let this be a lasting monument to her memory, and to The Greenspace Ring [...] As of today this ring is disbanded. Together with all of its practices. I hereby [...]

Notes

See Greenspacer data fragment for more info on The Greenspace Ring

[big]Mainstay: Ringlab Beta[/big]

The construction of Ringlab Beta was the first serious full-scale attempt by colonists at understanding the ways of the alien planet, and assimilating their terraforming efforts to them. It was the vision of an idealistic few who believed that the enigma of weather systems and their seemingly unpredictable behavior could be solved once and for all.

The Kapstan-Oliver-Grofman collective presented an impressive piece of research concluding that instructed data selection, a surprisingly simple set of mathematics, and a lab full of modified quantum computers would do the trick. If you count long enough you will eventually have counted the universe. And if you only have to count a single planet, you don’t have to count nearly as long.

Soon almost everybody shared in the vision of the three weathermen, and for a while a sort of collective euphoria gripped the colonists. Today the project would probably have been written off as plain madness, but back then people still believed that the genius of simplicity could save the day. Or, at least, that was what they wanted to believe.

Construction began around L940, and lasted almost five years. The first attempt was a rushed performance suspended high above the Canyon floor, and accessible from the interim gangway connecting the radlocks to LabSpace and the later Hatchery. However, it had to be abandoned when it was discovered that frequent earth tremors and sudden changes in temperature had a negative influence on hardware performance.

Efforts were then moved back to LabSpace where it was decided to model the weather station on the existing Ringlab Alpha. Then followed the big argument about the Loading Bay lift (see The Shaft), and when finally it was settled, it turned out that existing quantum computers could not be linked in the way proposed by the Kapstan-Oliver-Grofman thesis. New research had to be made, and new blueprints had to be thought out.

The only reasonable explanation that the project was not given up midway is that too many resources and too much faith had already gone into it. Defeat was no longer an option, and even though the original roadmap had long since been scrapped work continued unabated. The vision would carry them through.
Ringlab Beta was the single most resource expensive and time-consuming construction project ever undertaken at the time. And in the end, it turned out to be nothing but a somewhat inferior copy of Ringlab Alpha. Hardpoint performance has never reached the level of its predecessor, and the place is still subject to frequent and unexplainable flaws.

The quantum computational dream was never properly realized. The calculation network could only be extended over a small corner of the lab, and soon other pieces of hardware started moving in.

Still, it was a triumphant moment when project lead Grofman flipped the switch, and set the new Ringlab a-humming and a-buzzing. In the first couple of months everybody faithfully waited for the scientific revelation to come. And when the first successful weather simulations were produced people spoke of a breakthrough even though the simulations could easily have been done with existing equipment from five years before.

In time it became clear that nothing worthwhile would come of the Kapstan-Oliver-Grofman setup. However, a few enthusiasts kept the dream alive, even after the originators had abandoned it. Today they stand accused of having contributed to the worsening of the overall climate on Da Vinci.
Faulty decisions based on faulty computations led to questionable terraforming efforts the full effect of which the colony may not have experienced yet. Some even link the project to the allegedly intentional introduction of black algae which resulted in the Dambuster Event in L960, and the seasonal flash floods continuing to this day.

In a sense, the laborious and costly construction of Ringlab Beta was the first major let-down after the first hundred were released into the tower. The idealism and self-confidence of the colonists were shaken, and it became obvious that neither man nor machine were free of fault. Never again would the visions of a few lead so many so blindly.

[big]Prometheus Gang[/big]

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Colonist’s Phrase Files (CPF)

Entry: Prometheus Gang (in progress)

Radical ring, Dug-Out as research facility for studying alien lifeforms, more humans means greater expendability, connections to established rings? --- Mirina, L1018

(*) Mir, this is pure speculation. I know you know. Be reasonable. --- Ngala

(**) I’m perfectly reasonable. It’s you who won’t face up to reality. --- Mirina (***)

We gotta talk this over. --- Ngala (****)

I’d love to. Just to prove you wrong. If only you’d come see me. It’s been more than a month now. ---Mirina

Notes

The Prometheus Ring did actually propose turning the Dug-Out into a large-scale microbiological research facility. This, however, was in the earliest days of the cluster before any people were living down there.

[big]On Original Floatbeds[/big]

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Early Day Recollection Series (EDRS)

Interview with Margyan, hatched L900

((audio recording:)) Back then all we had to go from was Ringlab Alpha and the ancillary Loading Bay. Which wasn’t quite a loading bay yet. The lift hadn’t been put in place, and we used the old stationary floatbed system up there. You can still see some of the floatbed recesses in the floor. Now, of course, they use them for handling crates and stuff. The piping where the floatbed liquid used to flow, they’ve turned that into oversized cable-throughs. Funny, ain’t it?

Notes

See Mainstay (LabSpace) and affiliated entries for more info on the first humans in the tower

[big]
On Being Hatched No. 9[/big]

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Early Day Recollection Series (EDRS)

Interview with Margyan, hatched L900

((audio recording:)) No, no, it was nothing like that. We were simply ... *informed*. I remember walking sideways down the spiral stairs, knees wobbling, hands touching the wall. I hadn’t even got the proper balance when TAU’s message just popped up out of nowhere. Or so it seemed. It was right there, right before my eyes. It said something like ’Original mission plans aborted’. Very formal anyway. And I couldn’t even walk. [... laughs hard ...] Good old TAU.

Notes

See Mainstay (LabSpace) and affiliated entries for more info on the first humans in the tower

[big]On Accessing TAU[/big]

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Early Day Recollection Series (EDRS)

Interview with Shikaya, first TAU programmer, hatched L900

((audio recording:)) I don’t wanna get into that. That’s an old argument about who did what first. And does it matter? No. [... shuffles ..] It was a natural thing for me to do. I had been interested in swarm AI systems long before I was hatched. And it didn’t have anything to do with hacking TAU. I enabled data processing from a much wider field than was immediately accessible. That’s all. Without that data we couldn’t have gone anywhere. Anybody will tell you so.

Notes

See Mainstay (LabSpace) and affiliated entries for more info on the first humans in the tower

[big]Mossbacks[/big]

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Colonist’s Phrase Files (CPF)

Entry: Mossbacks

A common denominator for Dug-Out pioneers who began building the new cluster around L1010. The Terran definition of the term hints at both conservatism and people living in backwards rural areas. Though some might see the last part as holding true, the term was coined as an actual description of Da Vincians working in the humid air close to the bottom of the tower. In fact, many had their suits covered in moss and lichen when they returned from their shifts. --- entry by Ngala, L1015

[big]Maintenance Hatches (QTG)
[/big]
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QuickTip Guide entry #11: Maintenance Hatches

Maintenance hatches serve as entry points to the massive machinery contained in the walls. Damages to hatch contents mainly derive from exposure to microbes, dust and other environmental pollution, but may also be related to aging or jury-rigged machinery.

[big]Mainstay[/big]

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Colonist’s Phrase Files (CPF)

Entry: Mainstay

The name dates all the way back from L900 when humans were first released into the tower. Then, all they had to move around in was Ringlab Alpha and some recreational areas in what is now the floatbed chambers in The Hatchery (see entry). Today ’Mainstay’ is used as a generic term for the two Ringlabs and Weller’s Shaft. However, with the expansion of the Habitat cluster the term has become not only a misnomer, but an unnecessary display of arrogance towards third gen Da Vincians. --- entry by Mirina & Ngala, L1016

Notes

For more info on the Mainstay see Mainstay (LabSpace).

[big]Leenas Notes Day 89[/big]

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((Personal notespace for Leena, labeled "day 89"))

10:34:12: It seems we've got a metal-loving bacteria. A native organism that has proved hard to wipe out. It lives off all sorts of metals, slowly turning it brittle and full of microscopic fault lines due to metal being eaten away. We need a killer for this one, definitely.

16:23:01: There's a body dump ceremony for Makken. Not sure I want to come. It's so, I don't know, wrong. To throw him down there. I don't want to watch it.

Notes

Information available to colonists on request

See Fictive Fragment Sources page for more info on fragment origins.

See Body Dumps (burials) for more information.

[big]Last Words From Lobe[/big]

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Automated ’link recording

Lobe, Dug-Out Cluster, L1020

((audio recording:)) The Habitat crowd? Never! What would they care? No, they’re quite happy that they’re up there and we’re down here. But you know what they say about colossuses with feet of clay. If that membrane breaks, damnit, they’ll be just as sorry as we are. Know what, I think someone ... [... deep roar slowly rising ...] Typical! There go the lights again. Well, I’ll better go check on my bit.

Notes

Recorded at the onset of the flash flood that caused the power spike a few months prior to game launch at L1020/05/01