The Jigsaw Planet Mir

[Laryssa]

I've been reading an incredible book by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter called Time's Eye, which is Book One in their Time Odyssey Series. The premise is simple, insrutable aliens with unimaginable technology have taken pieces of Earth from various different eras ranging from 2,000,000 BC to 2037 AD, and have assembled a planet dubbed by a Russian Cosmonaut called Mir.

I've Thought I might do a similar sort of world right here.
We start with the Earth X867600-8, this is the basic traveller stats of this world, its been jumpled together from different eras of Earth in a series of hexagonal sections extending from at least low orbital space to well beneath Earth's crust. Since the resulting planet is not quite Earth we dub it Mir, after the Russian word for Peace.

I use the following mapping conventions:
Lets start with the World Worksheet in the back of the Traveller Handbook T20, that is on page 441 in my copy. There is a polygonal geodysic map of a planet's surface on the top, and this map divides the planet's surface into 20 triangular faces, if you were to cut this out and fold it up along the edges of the triangles, it would take the shape of a 20-sided die.

Now for the standards:
I lable the faces of this polygonal map with roman numerals I through XX, these are the points on Earth's surface that make up the twenty triangular faces of the polygonal map in latitude and logitude:

I -------------- V -------------- IX -------------- XIII -------------- XVII
North Pole ------ North Pole ------ North Pole ------ North Pole ------ North Pole
144 E, 30 N ----- 144 W, 30 N ---- 72 W, 30 N ----- 0 W, 30 N ----- 72 E, 30 N
144 W, 30 N ---- 72 W, 30 N ----- 0 W, 30 N ------ 72 E, 30 N ----- 144 E, 30 N

II -------------- VI -------------- X -------------- XIV -------------- XVIII
144 E, 30 N ----- 144 W, 30 N ------ 72 W, 30 N ------ 0 W, 30 N ------ 72 E, 30 N
144 W, 30 N ---- 72 W, 30 N ------- 0 W, 30 N ------- 72 E, 30 N ------ 144 E, 30 N
180 W, 30 S ---- 108 W, 30 S ------ 36 W, 30 S ----- 36 E, 30 S ------ 108 E, 30 S

III ------------- VII -------------- XI -------------- XV -------------- XIX
144 W, 30 N ----- 72 W, 30 N ------ 0 W, 30 N ------ 72 E, 30 N ------ 144 E, 30 N
180 W, 30 S ---- 108 W, 30 S ------ 36 W, 30 S ------ 36 E, 30 S ----- 108 E, 30 S
108 W, 30 S ---- 36 W, 30 S ------- 36 E, 30 S ------ 108 E, 30 S ----- 180 W, 30 S

IV ------------- VIII ------------- XII -------------- XVI -------------- XX
180 W, 30 S ----- 108 W, 30 S ------ 36 W, 30 S ------ 36 E, 30 S ---- 108 E, 30 S
108 W, 30 S ------ 36 W, 30 S ------ 36 E, 30 S ------- 108 E, 30 S ---- 180 W, 30 S
South Pole ------- South Pole ------- South Pole ------ South Pole ---- South Pole

Doing the math, Earth has a radius of 6,378.14 km, half the circumference of this planet is radius * Pi = 20,037.518 km, the height of each of the triangular faces is 20,037.518 km / 3 = 6,679.17 km, to get the width of each hex, each triangle is 7 hexes in height according to the map, so the hex width is 6,679.17 km / 7 = 954.17 km wide, that is from corner to corner. To get smaller hexes, we go to the Advanced Combat Megahex on page 171 of the Traveller handbook and from corner to corner, there are 26 hexes in a megahex, thus 954.17 km / 26 = 36.7 km or width for each megahex. These small hexes are what we will use for determining which random time periods to represent for each hex.

Now lets assume we determine the year of each hex randomly generating a random number from -2,000,000 to 2037, with an equal chance of getting any of the years within this range. We must calculate how many of these small hexes it would take to cover the entire surface of the Earth, and this will determine how many of these hexes will likely be of a recent time period.

I don't have the formula for determining the surface area of sphere in front of me right now. I shall look it up, but in the mean time, if anyone can calculate the surface area of Earth and divide it by the area of one of these small hexes which are 36.7 km from corner to corner, I will appreciate it. Once we have that number of hexes, we can deduce how many of those hexes statistically will be from time periods within 100 years, 500 years, 1000 years, and 6000 years just to make it interesting.

 

[Plankowner]

Surface Area of a Sphere is 4/3*pi*R^3
Divide that by the number of hexes to get the surface area of each hex.

Don't forget about the oceans! You won't really have people in every hex, just the land ones.

Also, rather than make it random -2M to 2037, I suggest a 1d100 table since from -2M to about -6000 there won't be much change in humans other than moving from one hominid to another (all at TL 0).

Once you get to about 6000 BC, you can use the TL table to define your eras and just roll for the TL and then figure out which culture from that era you want to use to get a good mix of cultures.

 

[far-trader]

Don't forget about the oceans! You won't really have people in every hex, just the land ones.

People no*, critters yes. Ancient giants of the deeps. Age of the dinosaurs aquatic monsters. Near future uplifted intelligent dolphins. Far future evolved intelligence whales. Lots of fun to be had in the water.

* well, there are island groups, maybe submarine bases or floating cities in the near future, maybe geneered merfolk in the far future, or Atlanteans from the past, pre and post submergence if you want to mix in fantasy

 

[Plankowner]

True Dan, but he is only dealing with 2 Million BC to 2037, so no dinosaurs and no Far Future Geneered species.

2 Million years ago, hominids where just getting started and 2037 is only 30 years away, sure technology has changed in the last 30 years, but PEOPLE really haven't (well except for plastic surgery I guess). To minimally geneered humans might be possible, but at the extreme end of the timeline.

 

[Laryssa]

Surface Area of a Sphere is 4/3*pi*R^3
Divide that by the number of hexes to get the surface area of each hex.

Actually that was the volume of a sphere. I have my almanac now, the surface area of a sphere is:
4 * Pi * r^2
Earth is 6378.14 km in radius
4 * pi * 6378.14^2 = 511,208,374.3 km^2

One edge of a Hex that is 36.7 km across is half that or 18.35 km on a side.
A hex can be divided into 6 equalateral triangles each with a base 18.35 km and a height equal to the base. The formula for the area of a triangle is:
1/2 * b * h since b = h then 1/2 * b^2
1/2 * 18.35^2 = 168.36

511,208,374.3 / 168.36 = 3,036,377
I want an even number of hexes as they don't over lap. There are 20 faces in the polygonal map, and 24 large hexes in each triangle. Each large hex is made up of 6326 small hexes exactly. So there are 24 * 6326 = 151,824 small hexes per triangle, and 20 * 151,824 = 3,036,480 small hexes covering the entire surface of the planet.

I'll settle for 151,824 hexes per face and 3,036,480 hexes for the planet each hex is about 36 km across from edge to edge.

Don't forget about the oceans! You won't really have people in every hex, just the land ones.

Also, rather than make it random -2M to 2037, I suggest a 1d100 table since from -2M to about -6000 there won't be much change in humans other than moving from one hominid to another (all at TL 0).

Once you get to about 6000 BC, you can use the TL table to define your eras and just roll for the TL and then figure out which culture from that era you want to use to get a good mix of cultures.

I think what I want are islands of civilization in a wilderness of a hodge podge patchwork of different time zones from the year 2,000,000 BC to 2037 AD. I'm using the planet in Clarke's book as a guideline, mostly I want it to work as a Traveller setting.

I see no reason why this planet couldn't fit into the OTU. If the Ancients were busy making pocket universe, and they obviously had contact with Earth's prehistory, I don't see why they couldn't do something like this. The question is where to put this planet and system.

Now we come to the question of how the Ancients made this planet. I would say they used something similar to wormholes. One end of each wormhole is accelerated to near light speeds and they make 3,036,480 such wormholes 36 km in diameter. One end of each of the wormholes is at 2,000,000 BC, while the other end of the wormholes due to relativity is in the current campaign year of the Traveller OTU. A planet is created that is of the same mass and composition as Earth, orbiting a star that is the same type and mass as the Sun, and a Moon about the same mass and size as Earth's moon is made to orbit this planet. The rest of the system can be anything more or less, so long as the other planets stay far enough away so as not to get in the way.

The ancients then move from the past ends of their wormholes to the future ends in the current campaign year. The past ends of the wormholes are then accelerated to different points in time, the most recent on to the year 2037 AD.

The ancients then pick some unsuspecting spot on the 2037 AD Earth and they then core the Earth at that location instantly transfering that peice of real estate to the new planet as the future end of the wormhole cores it, this is all done simultaneously from the point of view of the future end of the wormholes, the past ends core the Earth in different eras, and each time it does do, the Universe splits, with the cored Earth timeline deviating from the Traveller timeline and our own, the result however ends up in the current Traveller campaign present.

Humans in nearby systems witness something strange going on in one of the nearby systems about a parsec away. By the time humans see this, the events that they see are already 3.26 years in the past, by the time they jump there the Ancients are gone and they find this strange imperfect duplicate of Earth orbiting a sunlike star and in trun being orbited by a moon similar to Earth's at a similar distance that Earth's moon orbit's Earth.

The native humans and near humans on the planet notice the constellations look different, the planets aren't the same, and the moon looks unfamiliar.

The displaced humans will probably receive some visitors from other stars in 3.26 years from the moment of their arrival, up to that time at least they are on their own.

Now we get back to the time zones. There are 20 regions on the polygonal map labled I through XX. Each of these regions has 151,824 hexes 36 km wide.

 

[Laryssa]

Recapping the different regions of Mir here:
I -------------- V -------------- IX -------------- XIII -------------- XVII
North Pole ------ North Pole ------ North Pole ------ North Pole ------ North Pole
144 E, 30 N ----- 144 W, 30 N ---- 72 W, 30 N ----- 0 W, 30 N ----- 72 E, 30 N
144 W, 30 N ---- 72 W, 30 N ----- 0 W, 30 N ------ 72 E, 30 N ----- 144 E, 30 N

II -------------- VI -------------- X -------------- XIV -------------- XVIII
144 E, 30 N ----- 144 W, 30 N ------ 72 W, 30 N ------ 0 W, 30 N ------ 72 E, 30 N
144 W, 30 N ---- 72 W, 30 N ------- 0 W, 30 N ------- 72 E, 30 N ------ 144 E, 30 N
180 W, 30 S ---- 108 W, 30 S ------ 36 W, 30 S ----- 36 E, 30 S ------ 108 E, 30 S

III ------------- VII -------------- XI -------------- XV -------------- XIX
144 W, 30 N ----- 72 W, 30 N ------ 0 W, 30 N ------ 72 E, 30 N ------ 144 E, 30 N
180 W, 30 S ---- 108 W, 30 S ------ 36 W, 30 S ------ 36 E, 30 S ----- 108 E, 30 S
108 W, 30 S ---- 36 W, 30 S ------- 36 E, 30 S ------ 108 E, 30 S ----- 180 W, 30 S

IV ------------- VIII ------------- XII -------------- XVI -------------- XX
180 W, 30 S ----- 108 W, 30 S ------ 36 W, 30 S ------ 36 E, 30 S ---- 108 E, 30 S
108 W, 30 S ------ 36 W, 30 S ------ 36 E, 30 S ------- 108 E, 30 S ---- 180 W, 30 S
South Pole ------- South Pole ------- South Pole ------ South Pole ---- South Pole

Region I starts with its tip on the North pole, follows the 144 degrees East line of longitude down to 30 degrees North and follows that line of latitude to 144 degrees West and then traces that longitude line back to the North Pole. This region includes the eastern most tip of Siberia, a tiny sliver of Japan, a solid chunk of the north Pacific Ocean and most of Alaska west of the 144 th West Parallel. There is not much else.

Region II is an upsidedown triangle south of Region I, that region starts from the 30 degrees North line from 144 degrees East to 144 degrees west and it follows straight lines following Earths curve to converge upon the point at 180 degrees East or West and 30 degrees south, within this swath is a large chunk of the Pacific Ocean, just north of New Zealand but not including it, the entire Hawaiian Islan chain is within this region as well as a whole host of south pacific islands, including the Marshall Islands, the Solomons among others too numerous to list.

Region III is adjacent and to the east of Region II, it starts at 144 degrees West and 30 degrees North, its base starts at the southern most tip of region II at 180 East or West and 30 degrees south and follows the 30 degrees south line until it reaches 108 degrees west, and from that point it traces a line back to 144 West and 30 degrees North. This area is an empty section of the Pacific, and there is not much here except water.

Region IV is an inverted triangle under region III from 180 degrees West and 30 degrees south to 108 degrees west and 30 south and from that base, longitude lines project southward to the South Pole and a slice of Antartica. This basically encompasses another large section of the Pacific Ocean plus a slice of Antartica.

Region V begins at the North Pole and follows a line of longitude to 30 degrees North and 144 degrees West and then traces the latitude line to 72 degrees West and 30 degrees North and then following the line of longitude back to the North Pole. This covers the lower 48 of the United States starting from just below the George/Florida state Line, and it covers most of Canada excluding Labrador and most of Alaska. It is region V that would be of most interest to Americans wanting to play themselves perhaps, or perhaps someone from United States of Canadian History.

This is all I have time for on my gaziteer of Mir for now.

Lets focus on Region V for a moment. There are 151,824 hexes in this region as there are in each one of them, the important thing here is that most of these hexes fall on land instead of ocean as the previous four regions do.

There are 2,002,037 years of history to work with, in this section alone that means that on average the closest two hexes in time are seperated by 13.19 years, that means that each century will be represented by about 7.5 hexes. So for the 21st century, you have one hex for 2037, and 2 others for the early part of the 21st century, letting ourselves be generous. Lets say in North America, there is one 36 km Hex for 2037 AD and one 36 km hex for 2008 AD, and the third hex, we'll role randomly, and it turns out to be 2020 AD.

Ok, now we'll do the 20th century for region V
I'll roll a 2d6 and obtain 9 hexes, and I roll these dates randomly:
1974, 1953, 1908, 1929, 1910, 1916, 1961, 1910, 1959, each one of these is a 36 km hex, let the GM place them where ever he sees fit and where ever he finds it convenient to his campaign

Now we'll do the same thing for the 19th century
Roll 2d6 for 4 hexes, rolling randomly we have: 1855, 1886, 1839, 1854

For the 18th century we have 2d6 = 7 hexes which are: 1785, 1735, 1737, 1721, 1713, 1715, 1754.

The rest is Indians, wilderness, and various strange beasts and cave people of different sorts.

 

[far-trader]

True Dan, but he is only dealing with 2 Million BC to 2037, so no dinosaurs and no Far Future Geneered species.

Ah that's right, I'd missed the time line constraints in my quick skim

 

[Agemegos]

A hex can be divided into 6 equalateral triangles each with a base 18.35 km and a height equal to the base.

Nope. An equilateral triangle doesn't have height equal to base, it has height equal to SQRT(3)/2 times base, as you can easily confirm using Pythagoras' Theorem.

By the way, 26 hexes in a megahex seems like a strange number. Are you sure it isn't 19 or 37?

 

[aramis]

1 = 1
+6 = 7 (2)
+12 = 19 (12)
+18 = 37 (27)
+24 = 61 (38)

Hmm, using full hexes (half hexes outside, 1/3 hex corners), by neither method to I get 25 nor 26. I get 27 by counting center, plus 2 full rings, plus"half a ring" (6(1/3)+12(1/2)=2+6=8...)

 

[Laryssa]

1 = 1
+6 = 7 (2)
+12 = 19 (12)
+18 = 37 (27)
+24 = 61 (38)

Hmm, using full hexes (half hexes outside, 1/3 hex corners), by neither method to I get 25 nor 26. I get 27 by counting center, plus 2 full rings, plus"half a ring" (6(1/3)+12(1/2)=2+6=8...)

That was a quick rough estimate, I calculated it by counting the hexes in a single "pie slice" triangle from the Mega Hex so I may have been a little off.

Also when I calculated the area of the hexes, I forgot to multiply by 6, so the number 151,824 which I came up with is really the number of equalateral triangles in a single face of the polygonal projection, but here's another way.

First let me mention, that when these triangles are stretched across a globe, the angles at each vertex actually comes to 72 degrees rather than 60 degrees as a normal equalateral triangle would if projected on a flat surface, so the bottoms of the top triangles on the map don't actually match the 30 degree latitude line, as that is not the path followed by a taught string when stretched tightly between the lower two corners of the triangle, it actually bows above it.

The area of each triangle is actually the total surface area of the planet divided by 20 or 25,560,418.71 and we have the number 151,824 for the number of triangles. Each triangle has a edge of pi*R/3 = 6679.17 km, each triangle is about 18.35 km on an edge.

In each face traingle, you can fit 4 smaller triangle of half the edge length or of 3339.58 km in length, multiply this progression by 4 every time you halve the length and you get the following sequence of numbers:
1, 4, 16, 64, 256, 1024, 4096, 16,384, 65,536, 262,144 for the number of triangles with the associated edge lengths being:
6679.17 km, 3338 km, 1669.79 km, 834.90 km, 417.45 km, 208.72 km, 104.36 km, 52.18 km, 26.09 km, 13.05 km.

This last number 13.05 km is associated with 262,144 triangles per face. I think this is the number I'll finally go with. On a curved surface though the actually area is greater than this, but it is a good first order approximation.

With 262,144 equalateral triangles per face and 2,002,037 years to play with the average seperation in time will be again 7.64 years, divide this into 100 and we get 13 .09 triangles per century per face. If we roll 2d12+1, this will nicely approximate the number of triangles per century, or the GM can just pick whatever years and locations suit him. As and experiment, I get the following numbers for the 20th century:

23 triangles
the years are: 1928, 1988, 1910, 1960, 1984, 1906, 1956, 1982, 1968, 1943, 1909, 1931, 1944, 1966, 1974, 1944, 1970, 1991, 1971, 1992, 1925, 1936, 1997, 1940. Each one of these years is represented in each instance by a triangle of realestate about 13 km on a side. There maybe people living in this area, or there may not be, depending on where it is.

 

[Laryssa]

Lets put Mir in the context of a larger system.

What if we place in in the Alpha Centauri System On the Traveller Map? Lets say early in the Traveller timeline this happens.

So we get a system like this:

Alpha Centauri A --- G2 V
Orbit ------ Diameter
0.385 AU -- 5,440 miles
0.805 AU -- 9,600 miles
1.250 AU -- 7,926 miles Mir
2.906 AU -- 3,200 miles

Alpha Centauri B --- K2 V
Orbit ------ Diameter
0.526 AU -- 8,960 miles
0.700 AU -- 7,926 miles Prometheus
2.143 AU -- 1,600 miles
2.645 AU -- Asteroids -- 3.658 AU

The Mir calendar
January: 42 days
Febuary: 38 days
March: 42 days
April: 40 days
May: 42 days
June: 40 days
July: 41 days
August: 41 days
September: 40 days
October: 41 days
November: 41 days
December: 41 days

More later.

 

[Laryssa]

The Alpha Centauri System
Orbit AUs/Satellites km -- Name ----------- UPP
Primary ----------------- Alpha Centauri A - G2 V
0.385 ------------------- Vulcan ---------- Y500000-0
0.805 ------------------- Lucifer ---------- YAB0000-0
1.250 ------------------- Mir -------------- B867600-8
1.250/513,696 ----------- Selene ---------- F300200-8
2.906 ------------------- Frost ------------ Y310000-0
23 +/- 12 AUs ----------- Alpha Centauri B
0.526 ------------------- Persephone ------ YAB0000-0
0.700 ------------------- Prometheus ------ X867600-8
2.143 ------------------- Hectate --------- Y200000-0
2.645 ------------------- Asteroids -------- Y000000-0

Details of the Mir/Selene System
Alpha Centauri Radius = 1.23 Sols
Alpha Centauri would appears 0.52 degrees in angular diameter from Mir.
coincidentally, Mir's Moon Selene also appears that same angular diameter.
Selene is 1.336 times bigger than Earth's moon, but at 513,696, it appears at about the same size as Alpha Centauri A does from the surface of Mir, which is about the same size Earth's sun appears from Earth.
Selene's diameter is 4,645 km, or 2,886 miles, the gravity at Selene's surface is 0.223 of Earth's while the gravity at Mir's surface is exactly equal to Earth's.
It appears that during the discontinuity when all the pieces of Earth from various eras appeared on Mir's surface, there was also a piece of Luna that was transferred to Selene, an entire moonbase from the 2037 Era was transferred complete with lunar shuttles and spaceport, also the spaceport at Cape Canaveral, Florida from that same era was also transferred, along with a fleet of space planes or scramjets. The scramjets are about the size of standard Traveller shuttles, they burn the same fuel (LH2), but the scramjets can only reach Low Earth Orbit, while likewise the Luna Shuttles can reach low Earth orbit, but can't land on Earth, the scramjets meet them and personel and cargo can make the transfer from spaceplane to Lunar Shuttle and from Lunar Shuttle to spaceplane. So the basic infrastructure for interplanetary travel is more or less established.

There is somewhat of a mystery about the planet Prometheus, some radio signals were detected from that planet, but at an average of 23 AU away, it will be some time before humans are able to go there. The radio signals appear indecipherable beyond the fact that they are clearly artificial in origin. But the Humans on Mir and on Selene have their own problems. Dealing with the people and creatures of various different eras from Earth's history. Ground based, and space-based telescopes launched from Cape Canaveral were able to establish that Prometheus has approximately the same water coverage as Earth, the same rotation rate, axial tilt and mass as Earth, it is theorized that Prometheus may be a different version of Mir, but taken from a sampling of Earth's history that is much earlier than the range of 2,000,000 BC to 2037 AD. Judging from the apparent shapes and positions of the continent, it appears to be somewhere between 70,000,000 BC and 60,000,000 BC, what can be generating those apparently intelligent radio signals is unknown, but it doesn't appear to be from any know human era.

 

[su_liam]

By the way, Mir doesn't just mean, "Peace," in Russian. It also means something else appropriate to your purposes.

"World."

 

[Laryssa]

Yes, I know that. Said as much in Clarke's book, his and Baxter's version was placed in a pocket universe though, and included the like of Alexander the Great and Gengis Khan, and there armies. Using the same concept, my version was placed in the Alpha Centauri system orbiting the A component, and included Abraham Lincoln and Adolph Hitler as well as the Kennedy Space Center from 2037, and the Titanic. I figure I'd use the same concept but be creative in the specifics. I'm also including my local community from 2008.

The story goes like this: Lincoln is sitting in the White House waiting for telegram dispatches from Gettysburg, when a sudden fierce electrical storm blows in, all telegraph lines are cut, Union troops send runners out to see what happened to the telegraph lines, and past a certain radius from the White House, the environs of Washington DC end immediately and sharply at a swamp, all the surrounding area is forest or unimproved wilderness. Patrols are sent out and one of the soldiers is attacked by a sabre-toothed tiger. There are still ship in the harbor within the boundary, but outside of it, there is not a farm or building to be seen.

The Titanic is steaming across the Atlantic, the night watchman spots an iceberg in the distance, and suddenly a severe electrical storm kicks up, huge rolling waves rock the ship as fog suddenly blows in. When the sky clears there is a new bright orange yellow star shinning in the night sky brighter than moonlight, an unfamiliar moon illuminates the dark sea, the iceberg is gone. Two days later the Titanic pulls up to what it thinks is New York City, they come to an island shaped like Manhattan, it is covered with a mixture of decidous and conifer trees, a giant ground sloth is spotted foraging on some leaves by the Titanic's crew, some men are sent ashore on the life boats to see what's going on, and the passengers start complaining. Navigational charts are out of kilter, as the constellations are in the wrong part of the sky, and that second sun and different moon are obvious clues.

Hitler rants and raves at his subordinates when he finds out that his entire Third Reich is gone, and Berlin is surrounded by forest. Troops are sent out into the forest, planes are sent out to take pictures, and a tribe of neandertals are discovered.

The NASA Administrator is puzzling this out when all communications to the outside world are cut off, the emergency generators kick in, and the only people he is able to contact are at the Moon base, but its a different Moon.

 

[aramis]

Checked my russian and slovonic dictionary:
мир ( ru-en-korolew )

мир
м. world, universe;
происхождение ~а the origin of the universe;
со всего ~а from all over the world;
окружающий ~ the outside world;
органический ~ the organic world;
не от ~а сего unworldly;
ходить по ~у live by begging.



мир
м. (отсутствие вражды, войны) peace;
в ~е at peace;
дело ~а the cause of peace;
угроза ~у a menace to peace;
защита ~а defence of peace.

мир ( dictd_www.mova.org_slovnyk_ru-en )

мир
all
break
kingdom
pax
peace
system
universe
world



мир ( dictd_www.mova.org_slovnyk_uk-en )

мир
all
break
kingdom
pax
peace
system
universe

 

[Laryssa]

I call this world Mir, because I got the idea from the World named Mir in the Clarke "Time Odyssey Novels" so I am therefore acknowledging the origin of the idea. I go in a slightly different direction with it though than did Clarke and Baxter. Basically the first Novel Time's Eye dealt with Mir, the Second Novel Sunstorm dealt with the world the main protagonist came from, that is the Solar System of 2037 to 2042, that is an interesting setting of its own. Basically 2037 is Clarke and Baxter's reimagining of the Original Space Odyssey Trilogy, with the moonbase, the space station, and round silver spheres taking the place of those black domino-shaped monoliths. The Aliens in this case are more overtly hostile than in the previous Space Odyssey, their basic intent is to wipe out the human race, but some among them are conflicted over this, and so try to help the Human Race survive the onslaught, that is why the Protagonist Biessa Dutt, a British-Indian Army soldier, who was patrolling the frontiers of the Aghanistan/Pakistan border in 2037 was caught up in one of the time slices that made up Mir, along with an 1885 British army outpost in Northern India, the Armies of Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan, as well as the city of Chicago circa 1894. Most of what got transferred was prehistoric time slices, and this world was largely empty wilderness as a result. The 1894 Chicago really didn't come on its own until the Third Novel Firstborn.

I basically like the idea of a planet that is a patchwork quilt of different time zones from Earth. In my version, this Mir is in the Centauri System, I figured I needed some bad guys, so import World War II Berlin with Hitler in it, surrounded by European wilderness, mammoths, sabretoothed cats, cave people and various other strange people. No doubt these Nazis are going to cause some trouble, as Hitler doesn't want to be just Mayor of Berlin, he'll want to find some other places to conquer. I think my world will have some more historic time slices. Perhaps Lincoln will eventually have to deal with the Hitler Threat. I think Hitler's Army is going to encounter some real problems finding fuel for their vehicles, much of his manufacturing capability was not included with his Time slice of Berlin, and much of the important World War II generals that he relied upon weren't with him when his time slice gat transferred, but with primitive savages to conquer, it doesn't exactly take a military genius, most of the other timeslices nearby are technologically inferior to his own, one major exception is Cape Canaveral in Florida, which also includes an Air and Space Force base, with unmanned fighter drones, spaceplanes and scramjets, many of which are operated by Artificial Intelligence Computers, although human involvement is still required for them to operate efficiently. The AIs of this time aren't exactly clever or brilliant, nor very imaginative.

GPS's are non functional, magnetic compasses work, but the folks at Canaveral have to compile new star charts for navigational purposes and make some astrolobes to get a fix on their coordinates, they can also use a radio beacon from the airbase. Suffice to say, Hitler may take a while before he can build ships that can cross the Atlantic without shipyards.