[YankeeGamer]

Somewhere deep in Infinity’s most secret records lie the full datatapes covering Coventry from a scientific point of view: WHY it seems to work the way it does. Those datatapes have been duplicated, and spirited away. At first, Infinity is concerned, but the investigation finds few leads, and the final lead leads to a bleeding corpse of a sociopath. Eventually, they conclude that, if they can’t find a way to get in and out of Coventry without a projector, no one else would, either.

A significant meteor strike in 1876 created a crater lake in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Not enough to bring about any sort of apocalypse, it was big enough that the mushroom cloud was seen in Boston and beyond.

On some worldlines, meteor strikes are seen as an act of god, and life resumes. Not on this one. The carnage was enough to galvanize President Grant into action. As relief poured into New Hampshire, the beleaguered President reverted to the successful General he’d been in the war. It was time to defend the country against a threat greater than had ever been dreamed of.

A new defense bill went through Congress in a hurry, placing responsibility for defending the country from threats above on the navy. Some thought it strange that President Grant, a general, went to the navy for this, but he had a very practical reason, grounded in the US Constitution. Appropriations for the army can only be done for two years at a time; the naval budget has no such limitations. The army was responsible, in coordination with the navy, for ground defense.

To the absolute horror of the South, the threat to the country, and an impassioned plea from President Grant, was enough to persuade General Sherman to run for the presidency. He had been absolutely unwilling to run for the job, but an appeal to patriotism finally changed his mind. He won the election of 1876 without need for the corrupt bargain of history.

Since the only way into the sky as yet was balloons, there was no way—yet—to do anything, but at least it could be researched. For the first time ever, astronomical grade telescopes were produced in significant numbers. Universities around the country and around the world could have them for the cost of production—plus an agreement to spend a certain amount of time searching for asteroids. Called the “Lincoln class telescope” after the destroyed town—now a lake—ultimately almost a hundred of them were produced. The results for the science of astronomy were impressive.

The navy’s engineering department was assigned to, besides developing new ships, researching means to stop a big meteor from striking Earth. Funds were just as scarce as historical for ships, but money flowed for flight research. Numerous artist’s impressions of the effects of a similar strike elsewhere helped bring in the funding. The famous painting, “Washington after the meteor” with the White House and Congress laid flat, and a few miles away, the lip of the crater, has remained one of history’s most influential paintings.

New Hampshire, in reaction to the disaster, amended its state constitution to require that 10% of the state budget be devoted to science and engineering devoted to protecting the state against threats from space.

In Europe, the fascination with the meteor quickly faded, and America's focus on the skies insured, in European minds, that the USA would remain focused inwards.

By 1885, massive solid fueled rockets were reaching unheard-of altitudes, sometimes carrying a smaller second stage. Instruments were primitive, but the first photographs from almost 10 miles up were a sensation. Atmosphere samples, too, were brought home.

The new cog railroad up Mount Washington was now being used, not just for tourists, but to haul rockets up the mountain. Besides being a launch platform a mile above the surrounding terrain, the launches brought more tourists to the area.

Big solid fuel rockets would often spontaneously disassemble, but that added to the appeal for tourists…things blowing up is always spectacular.

Besides rockets, substantial government research was going into scientific instruments, better telescopes, and tracking the skies. Several possibly threatening objects were noted, requiring more advanced mathematical techniques and precision to get a better idea of the threat.

The American obsession with flight started drawing people like Otto Lilienthal to the United States, where funding was readily available for their experiments.

The first manned heavier than air flight happened on June 6, 1888, 12 years to the day after the meteor destroyed Lincoln, New Hampshire and sent the Old Man of the Mountain tumbling to the ground. Unlike the refined efforts of the glider pioneers to build a light but strong machine, this flying machine was a brute force effort. Four solid rockets shoved the heavily built machine along a track, and at the end of the track, the pilot put the craft into a steep climb. More by luck than skill or engineering, he managed to maintain some semblance of control, and landed the machine intact. Tom Berenger had made the first successful heavier than air flight.

Although people perceive this as pure brute force, it was carefully planned and logically thought out. He and his team had done wind tunnel testing and flown unmanned smaller versions with adequate results. Humanity could fly.

What was apparent was that humanity would never fly far with techniques like this, or fly safely. Solid rockets burn out fast, when they don’t explode. History' s first heavier than air pilot died in a fiery explosion on his thirteenth flight, only a few weeks later.

Of course, that spurred a host of imitators, resulting in a series of violent crashes. If a kite crashes at 15 miles per hour, it can be survivable. If an amalgamation of steel, wire, wood, and canvas driven by a solid rocket crashes at 50 miles per hour, there may not be enough left to burry.

Another way to fly was needed badly. The internal combustion engine offered promise, but it was heavy. That was a mere engineering problem, and the United States wanted it. By 1892, a light enough, although EXPENSIVE, engine had been developed. In 1893, the first non-rocket heavier than air flight occurred. Undramatic compared to the flaming flights at speeds over 100 miles per hour—the world speed record was 150 mph—the “Pioneer” managed a 150 foot flight at a blistering 15 miles per hour. However, the new flying machine could be refueled and flown again, using the same engine, unlike the rockets that needed a whole new engine each time.

Europe watched as the Americans spent vast resources on the impractical reach for the skies, though the estate of Charles Babbage was thrilled when Dartmouth College bought all the patents and paperwork on the Babbage Difference Engine and Analytical Engine—then proceeded to built both machines.

The idea of recon photos taken from 15 miles up was appealing, but the European militaries thought that their balloons were much better photographic platforms—and rightly so. Aside from spectacular reports, and a few Americans that gave demonstrations in Europe, there was, as yet, little different outside of the USA.

The production of liquid oxygen wasn’t developed in the USA, but Dartmouth quickly adopted the technique as its engineers came up with the idea of using it as rocket fuel. They also conclusively proved that a rocket would function in a vacuum by the simple expedient of setting off a small solid fueled rocket in a large vacuum jar, ending the debate about if it would work in space before it began.

The Spanish-American war happened in 1898, and the navy had fewer battleships—only five—but also had a few rocket cruisers. They were not very accurate, but lofting 200 pound charges of dynamite, they were very destructive if they hit something. At the Battle of Santiago, USS Mount Hood and USS Vesuvius fired over 200 heavy rockets each. Only one hit, and the destroyer Pluton simply disintegrated in a ball of fire.

European navies dismissed the war rocket as a weapon requiring incredible luck, but armies were reassessing its potential. Rockets had come in and out of favor, and they were looked at as an experimental weapon, although useful for a siege. The United States didn’t. Instead, the rocket got the same treatment as gunnery: The navy saw that it was dreadful, and so, needed work.

With more precise manufacturing, a rocket with a reasonable degree of accuracy over short range was developed. Able to be launched from small, fast destroyer sized craft, the massive rockets filled a similar role to a torpedo in US Navy doctrine.

In the United States, and then in Europe, the improved internal combustion engines were being mounted in motorcars, which were advancing faster than in OTL.

The fervor was slowly fading, when a few meteorites struck near a farm out west. A hundred years or so later, it was proved to be a hoax, but it re-triggered the American obsession with space.

By 1900, the third generation of mass produced high quality telescopes was being manufactured—not as fine as the massive, unique, observatories, but still very useful. Dartmouth researchers had managed to build a functional liquid fueled rocket—or rather, several of them. Some used liquid oxygen and kerosene, and others used hypergolic fuel. Explosions were an occupational hazard…

One oddity, resulting from the original legislation: All military heavier than air flying machines were naval craft, although, in the tradition of President Grant, cooperated well with the army, even to the point of joint bases.

The 20th century had arrived…