It was five years ago to this day that Streel agreed to endorse my idea of building a fully automated, fully proprietary city. My intention was to create a city designed by a single team of engineers, thus ensuring a metropolitan system of complete unity and coordination. FS 12 was chosen for this venture due to the fact that Streel has laid claim to the entire star system.
Our initial problem was that FS 12 contains no habitable planets. Tarn's proximity to the FS 12 star results in unacceptable temperatures nearing one thousand degrees Celsius. Gollow, though more temperate, is blanketed with a fatally toxic atmosphere. Gigus is a gas giant, with no solid surface and a crushing force of gravity. The planet Frigius was also not an option because its irregular orbit causes continual freezing and melting of its surface, which is mostly ice.
It was only after extensive research that we discovered a rocky moon in a stable orbit around Gigus. The moon, apparently an asteroid that escaped the Titian Belt, had a smooth spherical shape and a planet-like gravity of 0.8 gees. However, due to Gigus' powerful gravity, it did not have an atmosphere.
Given the circumstances we decided to construct the new city on this moon in an enclosed environment with an artificially generated atmosphere. We dubbed the moon "Metrosphere" and began construction at once.
Streel provided me with a ship full of robots and building materials. I was assigned 200 recruits to help in the design and construction of the new city. Unfortunately, 58 of the recruits, under the direction of a Yazirian named Snarr Ap-Rewann, split off from our group, stealing millions of credits worth of Streel materials and building a rebel colony approximately 15 km from our landing site. Our remote location and limited funds prevented us from taking legal action against the rebels.
Undaunted, we proceded with our plans for the new city that we named First Landing. Initial buildings were encased in plastiglass and inter-connected with plastiglass air tubes, each measuring 50 meters in width. Robot miners were sent out to collect valuable minerals from the moon's crust. Ore refineries were constructed to purify the large quantities from these mines. Factories were put up to provide additional building materials. New food plants provided us with all the food we could eat, plus enough for reserves.
In less than a year, First Landing was thriving. Reports came in that the rebel colony, later called Lost Point, was in poor repair and barely holding together. Several rebels had died from starvation, disputes and lack of oxygen. One by one, rebels defected from Lost Point to First Landing and were welcomed back into our group. It was only a matter of weeks before Lost Point was only a ghost town. Many of the original rebels were never accounted for and are assumed dead.
The fundamental principal upon which First Landing was built is inter-connectivity. According to our blueprints, we constructed a 2,000 metric ton computer within a 750 meter spire in the city's center. A main router was installed underground, directly beneath the spire. From the router, high-speed network lines sprout to every section of the city, allowing unlimited communication and data transfer between any two points.
Three years into the project, First Landing was doing so well that I decided to initiate a Lost Point reclamation venture. 30 volunteers were sent with full provisions to move into the deserted colony and repair it. A sky monorail was built between Lost Point and First Landing to facilitate the transfer of travelers and supplies.
The Lost Point reclamation went quite well for a while, but despite our repairs, malfunctions continued. Life support generators stopped working, even after being rebuilt. A number of breaches opened active areas of the outpost to depressurized conditions. Finally, after 5 months of reclamation, a serious accident occurred, killing 13 Lost Point inhabitants. In light of this accident and the ongoing malfunctions at Lost Point, I ordered that the reclamation project be abandoned and that Lost Point be evacuated.
First Landing, on the other hand, has enjoyed unprecedented prosperity. The well built environment and powerful point-to-point networking have attracted dozens of other Streel departments, bringing a flood of business and commerce. The exploding economy has attracted over 200,000 Frontier citizens who were looking for jobs and a nice place to live.
Looking upon First Landing today, I can confidently call it a success. I hereby retire and leave Metrosphere in the control of my replacement, Selson Streel.
--Maxim Zek'et, Streel Megacorps