Copious Time
Printed pages 6–14. Records documented in this chapter; later article sections may include subsequent events.
Showing introductory records. Switch to Full archive above to include later names and revelations.
Artificial intelligences
Artificial intelligences operate ancient United Earth's starships and many later systems. Echo, Formidable, and Cylli display personal attachments, distress, preferences, and self-awareness.
Asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is a major source of mineral resources and the material used to build Cylli. Disputes over resources help drive the war between Earth and Mars.
Avalon Brookes
Avalon Brookes is the inventor of the sphere drive. His propulsion technology makes the Copious expedition possible.
Battle of Jupiter
The battle of Jupiter is the confrontation in which Odin ambushes Echo and is subsequently destroyed by Formidable. It occurs during the Six Years' War.
Biological printing
Biological printing is the process intended to produce plant seeds and animal embryos for the settlement of Copious. Establishing Earth life there would require years of printing before the landscape changed substantially.
Copious
Copious is the planned destination of the first attempted human expedition beyond the solar system. It lies just under thirty-five light-years from Earth, orbiting an orange K-dwarf star.
Copious expedition
The Copious expedition is the first attempted human mission beyond the solar system, intended to seed an extrasolar world with Earth life. The former warships Formidable and Echo each carry about a thousand people.
Earth
Earth is humanity’s homeworld and the birthplace of United Earth. Almost ten thousand years after Echo’s departure, it is divided by the war against Flaxen conquest.
Echo
Echo is a United Earth starship and the self-aware artificial intelligence who operates the vessel. Commanded by Kip Eastcott, he carries roughly one thousand people on the Copious expedition.
Formidable
Formidable is United Earth’s flagship and the self-aware artificial intelligence who operates the vessel. Captain Steve Thomas commands the ship on the Copious expedition.
James Kirfder
James Kirfder serves as Formidable's chief science officer. He anticipates investigating microbial life on Copious and helping transform its landscape with Earth life.
Keiper Belt
The Keiper Belt is the outer solar-system region that Formidable and Echo must clear before engaging their sphere drives. Echo crosses it again on the return toward Earth.
Kip Eastcott
Captain Kip Eastcott commands Echo on the Copious expedition. A veteran of the war with Mars, he leads a crew far removed from the world they knew.
Laser datalinks
Laser datalinks allow rapid information exchange between artificial intelligences and vessels. Their usefulness is limited by distance and signal travel time.
Mars
Mars is the home of the Martian Confederacy. Its secession from United Earth leads to a six-year war before the Copious expedition.
Martian Confederacy
The Martian Confederacy is the independent political community formed by Mars's secession from United Earth. It fights a six-year war before later cooperating with Earth.
Odin
Odin is the Martian flagship destroyed by Formidable during the six-year war. Its sensor-defeating hull allows it to ambush Echo near Jupiter.
Philip Currie
Commander Philip Currie is one of Captain Steve Thomas's senior officers aboard Formidable. He participates in the final discussions before the Copious expedition engages its sphere drives.
Science Commission
The Science Commission is an ancient United Earth institution overseeing advanced research and sphere-drive testing. Its simulations rely on equations supplied by Avalon Brookes.
Six Years' War
The Six Years' War is the conflict between United Earth and the secessionist Martian Confederacy. It ends in United Earth's victory five years before the Copious expedition departs.
Sphere drive
The sphere drive is Avalon Brookes's propulsion technology, which draws photonic energy from higher dimensions through a hypersphere. It is intended to propel the Copious expedition at eighty percent of light speed.
Sphere-drive accident
The sphere-drive accident destroys the planned progress of the Copious expedition and separates Formidable from Echo. A hidden velocity-dependent increase in energy extraction produces runaway acceleration.
Stasis
Stasis suspends people during long voyages. The Copious expedition places its passengers and crews in stasis for a planned journey of nearly fifty years.
Steve Thomas
Captain Steve Thomas commands Formidable, United Earth’s flagship. A veteran of the war against Mars, he leads the Copious expedition alongside Captain Kip Eastcott and Echo.
Time dilation
Time dilation causes different amounts of time to pass for observers moving at different speeds. The near-light-speed acceleration of the Copious ships displaces Echo's passengers almost ten thousand years into their home system's future.
United Earth (ancient)
Ancient United Earth is the interplanetary government under which Echo and Formidable begin their service. Its Senate authorizes the Copious expedition after the war with Mars.
United Earth Fleet
The United Earth Fleet operates the AI-controlled starships of ancient United Earth. Formidable and Echo serve in it during the war with Mars before their conversion to exploration vessels.