Vume - 2115 B100477-C NI VA AN

Vume is a very small rockball planet, with no atmosphere and no water; in fact, it has little of anything except rock, and not a huge amount of that. It is the mainworld of the system by virtue of the fact that it is the only body known to be inhabited, and because the highport was built in orbit above it. Vume was chosen as the orbital highport location rather than one of the other rockballs and moons in the system for two reasons. One is that it orbits quite far out from the system’s primary, making solar flare activity and radiation less of a problem. It is quite unusual for a mainworld to be located in the out system, but Vume is not a typical star system. Its true inner system was swallowed up long ago by the expanding star, leaving only a collection of scorched rockballs as the new ‘inner system’. These are too inimical to be much use.
With the usual choices out of the question, the decision of where to locate the port could have been made on an arbitrary basis. However, the discovery of alien ruins on one of the worlds in the system was the deciding factor – a port in orbit over the world of Vume would be a useful base for exploration of the ruins. It is not known which species built what is now known as ‘Vume Station’. The location is officially listed as an Ancients site, but whether these are the same Ancients who built other structures and eradicated themselves a few hundred thousand years ago is an open question. Since the site is named Vume Station, some new arrivals in the system expect the port itself to be an Ancients site, which can lead to a certain amount of misunderstanding and additional opportunities to fleece Travellers.
The ‘station’ is in fact on and partially under the planetary surface. It is known as Vume Station simply because early researchers assumed it was some kind of scientific outpost or way station. Its extent was not at that time known.
There is some evidence that Vume once had a different orbit. Whether its current path is the result of natural rearrangement caused by the expanding star or some deliberate means is a matter for speculation. What is known is that the structure known as Vume Station was built long after the star entered its bright-giant phase, and by some unknown alien race.
Large segments of the station are derelict, and these are for the most part airless and dead. However, there are pockets that can still support life, powered by ancient machinery that keeps functioning by unknown means. Both living and dead sections could be sources of great wealth to those capable of exploiting them. Something as simple as salvaging and scrapping components from the station could be lucrative, and finding working alien devices would set a band of Travellers up for life.
However, there is always the danger of infection either whilst working in the station or when handling items removed from it. Illicit salvage operations have occasionally led to disease outbreaks – unlicensed scrapper crews are not known for their attention to decontamination regulations – and salvage from Vume Station is now treated with suspicion. That does not prevent expeditions from penetrating deep into the underground parts of the city from time to time.
Some of these expeditions return with wild tales of habitable areas with animals, plants and even people in them, or vast hauls of valuables. Cynics have observed that if expeditions really did find something they would hardly advertise the fact. It is also widely known that most expeditions do not return from Vume Station. Early reports from some parties entering the station have included accounts of finding the remains of previous explorers, with no real clues to how they died. Often the expedition goes silent soon afterward.
If there is any truth to these stories at all, then the question arises of why the ‘indigenous’ population does not seem to be harmed. If the inhabitants of Vume Station know the answer they are completely incapable of explaining it, and perhaps even of comprehending the question.

A fairly large population moved into Vume Station when it was discovered, some to stake a territorial claim, others simply to study it. These people eventually became the system’s only ‘indigenous’ population, and are now incapable of living anywhere else. This is due to a bacterial infection that radically altered their brain chemistry as well as some metabolic functions. The result is that there are now four groups, totaling about ten thousand people, living in different parts of the station. Each was affected in different ways.

The four groups’ thought processes were so radically altered by the infection that they cannot comprehend the words or actions of any other group – nor outsiders in most cases – even though they speak more or less the same language. The same words or deeds are supported by and interpreted in the light of completely different thought processes that cause members of other groups to simply not understand them. Violence between groups is uncommon, since the station is very large and they have occupied widely separated parts of it, but it has happened. Outsiders have also been attacked, sometimes after long periods of peaceful interaction.

Type

Outpost / Base