A Chunk of SciFi – 1.03 – Myrotrophia II [Planet]

“Captain…I don’t understand these readings we are getting from Myrotrophia II. There is nothing there. No lifeform, the city of Hilar, not there. Nothing! Bringing up viewscreen now, getting some odd interference and…I don’t believe it. The city is there, along with everything else. I can see it as plain as I can see you Captain, but …I think there might be something wrong with the sensors as they still say the planet is empty of higher life and civilisation. The scanners…are fine?? What?? No I didn’t know about the scattering field…ha ha very funny, a big joke on the new guy…”

Size – 10% Larger than Earth.
Atmosphere – Virtually identical to Earth
Satellites – 2
Land/Water – 50/50
Day – 22 hours
Year – 390 earth days

Myrotrophia II, known to the locals as simply Myro, is the second planet in the Myrotrophia star system, which contains 12 planets. In many respects, Myro is a rather boring planet. It has a roughly equal amount of land and water. There are two ice poles. It has a sail amount of desert, a few jungles and quite a few plains and mountain ranges. There were calls to jokingly refer to this planet as Earth II, but that was quickly stopped by the naming committee. Myro would be considered a quite boring, yet pleasant planet if not for one rather odd and unique feature that, so far, has not been discovered on any other planet.

Myro’s source of curiosity is that it produces a natural scattering field. Attempts to scan this world fail or give false information. Anyone looking at the planet outside of visual range sees a boring and mostly lifeless planet. Anything advanced or of value simply will not show up. This was only discovered after the first colonists landed here and the re-supply craft had trouble finding the site, leading to a mild panic back on Earth as for a short while it was thought that Hilar colony had been destroyed. Once they got within visual range of the colony, the problems were resolved.

It was discovered that signal on a certain frequency could be sent out of the scattering field, but this was only one-way. In effect, those on the planet could observe and see the rest of the universe, but as far as everyone else was concerned, Myro was an empty and boring place. This proved to be quite a benefit during the 1st Stellar War. Myro turned out to be close to the enemy shipping lanes and was ignored because of the scattering field making all other races believe the planet was useless. This information, when supplied to Humanities allies, helped turn the tides against a deadly foe.

Attempts over the years have been made to discover the source of the scattering field, to see if it can be turned off or even duplicated on other planets. So far nothing solid has come forth, but a few deep expeditions have started to discover what can be described as odd, regular placed and impenetrable geodes deep underground. A popular theory says these are the source of the field, but further examination is required.