Primary:
Turrel,
spectral class F3V. ICN S4K0210F3V. Mass 1.46 standard. Stellar diameter 1.52
standard. Luminosity 5.34 standard.
Planetary
System: Six major bodies. One Inhabited world (Daken, IV).
Two gas giants, one empty orbit (#3) in system.
IV Daken: Mean orbital
radius, 343.97 million kilometers (2.3 AU). Period, 2.89 years ... No satellites
... Diameter, 10,994 kilometers. Density, 1.08. Mass, 0.456 standard. Mean
surface gravity, 0.81 G. Rotation period: 21 hours, 12 minutes, 19 seconds.
Axial Inclination, 10°15'4.3" Albedo, .20 ... Surface atmospheric
pressure, 0.33atm; composition, standard oxygen-nitrogen mix, breathable with
respirator to compensate for pressure. Hydrographic percentage, 2%; composition,
liquid water. Mean surface temperature, 28°C.
Remarks: Daken is an
extremely hot, arid world, with little free-standing water; temperatures are too
high for humans to survive except near the poles. The world would never have
been settled, were it not for the presence there of goldsand,
a desert life form similar in evolutionary status to Earth corals.
Harvesting goldsand is a dangerous business. Colonies spring up rapidly, grow
with great speed, and are then scattered by the fierce sandstorms which sweep
across the ergs. individual parts of the colony may survive to start up new
colonies in new locations. Thus, to harvest goldsand, crews must reach a colony
soon after it forms, and work it quickly before a storm can carry it off.
Goldsand also forms the chief food source for the sandroller, a small (25kg)
animal which poses a danger to humans because of the highly poisonous spines
which cover its spherical body. This makes goldsand harvesting doubly dangerous
work, for a goldsand colony is sure to be infested with the spiny menaces.
A colony of no more than 750 people has been settled around the south polar
starport for the last 125 years. They have grown accustomed to life at the edge
of the world's harsh deserts, and make their primary living harvesting goldsand
and selling it to offworld markets. Several companies, including the imperial
megacorporation SuSAG and the Dakaar
Corporation, have attempted to cut out the locals and harvest goldsand
directly, but planetary conditions are far too harsh and every attempt has ended
in disaster.
Recently the Dakaar Corporation attempted to force an exclusive contract on the
colony, to tie up the goldsand supply. Since the colony turned down this offer,
there have been threats, rumors of sabotage and violence, and other problems
around the colony. The Dakaar Corporation, of course, is suspected of being
behind the problems, but there is no proof of this and corporate officials have
hotly denied any involvement in the wrongdoing.