Space!, Friday

[not_a_whiner]

"We talked about what was necessary for life last week," Kaidan said. He gestured at a large hologram of... well, it was Sur'Kesh, actually. "Well, according to the scientists of this era, number one with a dot is water. You don't get life without it. According to some estimates, one in five solar systems should have a planet that can support life."

He cleared his throat. "That's not taking the water factor into account," he said. "We're talking about Earth-like planets here. Planets in the right temperature zone. Hotter than that, and water evaporates. Colder than that, it freezes. Each solar system has a kind of... sweet spot, depending on the size and strength of its star, where life could hypothetically be possible. 'Course, not all of them have planets there."

His mouth quirked briefly. "So no," he said. "Unlike what some Earth philosophers would've liked to think in this time-- we're not special."

He handed a stack of handouts to Mercy, instructing her to give one to each student.

"We're all going to design a planet today," he said. A holographic interface appeared over each student's desk. "I want you all to team up. Each team designs one habitable and one uninhabitable planet."

Comments

Re: Play the Design A Planet Game

[not_a_moonie]

Alana fiddled with the interface a little while she waited for a partner. She was cold, so a desert planet sounded about right today...

Re: Play the Design A Planet Game

[walkswithcoyote]

Mercy smiled at Alana. "Need a partner?"

Re: Play the Design A Planet Game

[not_a_moonie]

"Sure," Alana said, spinning toward Mercy. "I was playing with the game a little. Controls are pretty easy, want to try?"

Re: Play the Design A Planet Game

[walkswithcoyote]

Mercy nodded. "I'll give it a try. I'm not so good with this sort of thing, though."

Re: Play the Design A Planet Game

[not_a_moonie]

"How come?" Alana asked, legitimately curious. It didn't strike her as the kind of game you could be either good or bad at.

Re: Play the Design A Planet Game

[walkswithcoyote]

"I never did much with video games or computers before I came here," Mercy admitted. "It just never seems to come as naturally to me as it seems to do to a lot of the other students, I guess."