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Mines of Mercury WRITING PROMPT
Shared previously on a Facebook page, the following is the writing prompt for the current project, The Mines of Mercury:
Year 3017. After the terraforming of Mars and Venus and the collapse of the former societies of those worlds, Mercury collapsed as well. The United Nations wars and the loss of trade partners devastated their economy, but the culture and technological advances of the distant past linger on, unlike on Venus and Mars.
Beneath the surface of Mercury run a series of interconnected tunnels deep enough to protect from the extreme rages of heat and cold between night and day, passageways that used to be mines, shafts that cut across the entire planet. The metals that built the panesl that provided Venus' artificial day and night, built the colony on Earth's moon, contributed to the settlement of Mars, that supplied spaceships for the exploration of the entire Solar System--these mostly came from the mines of Mercury.
The mines are a ghost of what they used to be. Only a relative handful of the robotic workers still function, the massive excavators fallen into decay from centuries of disuse. Among the few remaining mines, robots work some shafts, while in others, humans provide all the labor, in places with pick and shovel. Multiple republics cut across sections of the planet, only recently united with one another in a weak confederation. Cultures are diverse. No one language or time period is represented. The majority believe in God but without any specific devotion. Strong faith of any kind and organized religion are rare, but held on to fiercely by the small minority who believe.
Robotic workers predominate in some areas, especially in the hotter tunnels around the equator, while others are dominated by mining corporations and labor unions, while still others are littered with small stakes, pirates, and claim jumpers. Especially remote are the cold tunnels around Mercury's North Pole. The United Republics of Mercury are trying to rebuild the basis of their economies and repair the shipyards, to reclaim their heritage. They need the mines.
But in the depths of the mineshafts emerge strange beastes, genetically engineered monsters that linger in the darkness, "gifts" of the genetic masters of Planet Earth, though few on Mercury will discover this. For the Earthlings, "Earth is our mother" and living anywhere else is a violation of the natural order. They hope to force the mines of Mercury to close and the inhabitants of the planet to return home to "mother."
"Mother Earth" is a child abuser, her astounding monstrosities devouring both man and machine...
Year 3017. After the terraforming of Mars and Venus and the collapse of the former societies of those worlds, Mercury collapsed as well. The United Nations wars and the loss of trade partners devastated their economy, but the culture and technological advances of the distant past linger on, unlike on Venus and Mars.
Beneath the surface of Mercury run a series of interconnected tunnels deep enough to protect from the extreme rages of heat and cold between night and day, passageways that used to be mines, shafts that cut across the entire planet. The metals that built the panesl that provided Venus' artificial day and night, built the colony on Earth's moon, contributed to the settlement of Mars, that supplied spaceships for the exploration of the entire Solar System--these mostly came from the mines of Mercury.
The mines are a ghost of what they used to be. Only a relative handful of the robotic workers still function, the massive excavators fallen into decay from centuries of disuse. Among the few remaining mines, robots work some shafts, while in others, humans provide all the labor, in places with pick and shovel. Multiple republics cut across sections of the planet, only recently united with one another in a weak confederation. Cultures are diverse. No one language or time period is represented. The majority believe in God but without any specific devotion. Strong faith of any kind and organized religion are rare, but held on to fiercely by the small minority who believe.
Robotic workers predominate in some areas, especially in the hotter tunnels around the equator, while others are dominated by mining corporations and labor unions, while still others are littered with small stakes, pirates, and claim jumpers. Especially remote are the cold tunnels around Mercury's North Pole. The United Republics of Mercury are trying to rebuild the basis of their economies and repair the shipyards, to reclaim their heritage. They need the mines.
But in the depths of the mineshafts emerge strange beastes, genetically engineered monsters that linger in the darkness, "gifts" of the genetic masters of Planet Earth, though few on Mercury will discover this. For the Earthlings, "Earth is our mother" and living anywhere else is a violation of the natural order. They hope to force the mines of Mercury to close and the inhabitants of the planet to return home to "mother."
"Mother Earth" is a child abuser, her astounding monstrosities devouring both man and machine...
