ORICHALCUM UNIVERSE: VERANIS (Dyaxor A V) in 2123...

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

What it was that motivated the Thak-Tarak to create a ruby massing over sixty thousand metric tons, it clearly was only half-completed. The entire location has the unmistakable 'look' of a half-finished construction site. It is as if the Thakarians changed their mind in the midst of whatever the project was, and just left the immense disk of artificial ruby sitting in place.

None of the Thakarians or Thakarian-descended Humans remaining on Veranis after the Terrestrian takeover have any idea what the site was meant to be. The people who did know are either deceased, or have long since departed from Veranis, by 2124. A very few of the oldest local Veranisians, mostly living on the other islands of the Archipelago, can remember when the site was under construction. These people were children at the time, and they never knew anything about the why of it all, though they can remember when the Thakarian construction teams suddenly departed the site, leaving it half-done. These people are elderly in 2124, but some living memory of the incident still remains.

While ruby, as such, has little monetary value on Earth or Thakaria, the same is not true of Veranis. Rubies and sapphires (the same basic substance, with different impurities giving different colors) are very, very valuable among most of the cultures of Veranis, including the relatively advanced states of the Northern Continent. The immense mass of high-quality ruby on the island of Nyyshtris remains in place, however, in spite of the theoretical value it would have if it could be removed.

Under the former Thak-Tarak regime, the ruling powers refused to permit anyone to remove anything from Nyyshtris. They would permit visitors, for whatever reason, but not attempts to remove any of the locally valuable ruby material. Their Terrestrian successors have other concerns, but the ruby remains in place even so.

The disk of ruby is surrounded by a thin, but immensely strong, layer of transparent silicate plastic. To remove any of the corundum beneath, one would have to break through this layer, which would require heavy tools or other equipment, or significant paranormal abilities. Trying to crack through with hand tools is simply not practical (though a sequential combination of the right acids and bases might dissolve it away, this would present enormous practical issues).

While visiting the island is allowed, moving heavy equipment in would attract attention, and many people have a vested interest in the artificial ruby mine remaining unmined. For the Terrestrians, it is a desire to avoid further economic disruptions (in a Veranisian economy that is already undergoing tumultuous convulsions). Owners of ruby mines and stockpiles have no desire to see the value of their property undercut. On top of that, those wise enough to remember that there is no guarantee the Thak-Tarak will not eventually regain control of Veranis would rather not earn bad will from that direction.

In practice, of course, even if someone could find a practical way to remove large amounts of the corundum, cut it into gems, and bring it to market, the only result would be to destroy the market. The immense artificial ruby masses in the tens of thousands of tons. More gems could be carved from it than have been mined in all the history of Veranis. Gaining access to the 'treasure' would result in rubies going from precious stones on Veranis to cheap pebbles, not much if any more valuable than they are on Earth or Thakaria.

Still, there are plenty of economically naive people in the Archipelago who know about the site, and dream empty dreams about it.

The Three Power Commission is very interested in the site, not because of the 'value' of the vast ruby disk, but because their intelligence staff would very much like to know just what the Thak-Tarak Thakarians thought they were doing on Nyyshtris. Just what was under construction there? Why did the Thakarians begin the project, and why did they stop? While synthesizing corundum is neither difficult nor expensive for interstellar technology, creating a sixty thousand ton mass of the material in one place is still a major project.

The site is certainly visually striking. When the warm white-golden rays of Dyaxor A fall across the translucent mass of crystal, it blazes with a red fire that is visible for many kilometers across the waters (the site is near the shore of the island). Pictures and holographs of the disk are popular all over Veranis. Even if nobody knows why it exists, it is definitely beautiful.

Nobody seriously believes, though, that the strange structure was created out of aesthetic motivations. The Commission intelligence officers are always trying to find out more, but nobody on Veranis seems to have the requisite information.

MORE LATER.