Ice, the Final Frontier...

The science of our exomoon and its race's launching in to space aside for the moment, let's delve into some of the dialog of the Garums and start to flesh them out a bit. The following, of course, is just a rough translation. We obviously cannot translate all the nuances of their skin color changes and the scents that are wafting through the waters. This is just the dialog--we'll create/name/describe the characters to have the dialog some other time.

"We need to get up there somehow and explore! Our [Not totally translatable -- roughly, it is "Tribal Exploration of Things Above the Surface Agency"] needs to get us out there and find out what those lights are! It has been too long since we last broke the Surface."

"Have you not noticed? The Tribes no longer care about the Surface. We have other problems. There are too many mouths to feed, and not enough food. Homelessness is rising."

"That is my point! Perhaps there is food in those lights. But we'll never find out if we do not explore. Plus working for the [Rough translation -- "Agency"] will give resources to the homeless to be able to afford a home. "

"But the [Rough translation -- "Money"] to do this would be better utilized feeding the masses--and creating homes for the homeless, now, not later. The [literal translation is "Fry" -- most likely means children/young] need energy to grow."

"There is energy out there--those pinpoints of light. Light is an energy. When we first broke the surface, the whole Tribe stood holding its [Not totally translatable -- roughly it means, "Breath" but not quite breath since their gills gather oxygen from the water]. It was a triumph for the Tribe! What can we not continue that feeling?"

"The Tribe has lost interest. No one wants to spill resources into boredom."

"But success beyond the surface would generate interest and cancel boredom."

"Doubtful. No one cares about beyond the surface. They care about energy for the Fry."

"We can discover new energy sources through our experiments beyond the surface."

"That's just it -- it's all 'experiments.' We don't need or want any more experiments. We want solutions. No one cares about experiments."

"But the experiments provide results. We need to use our resources to gain more resources. Those resources are beyond the surface!"

"The answer is no. Tribal opinion is negative towards your goals."

Somewhere in here the "Lights Are A Myth" Garum would start trouble for further exploration, too.

Imagine someone who truly wants to go into space (Beyond the Surface) and gets slammed into the wall of public apathy--contempt for anyone who even thinks that the resources are worth spending on exploration. Perhaps even disgust. The resources are being wasted on those experiments and exploration.

So our Garums space explorers find that public (or Tribal) opinion is against them. Would they then turn to private enterprise? Using entrepreneurs to gain the "Surface" and beyond? Would the lure of resources for private ownership drag them up out of the seas and beyond to the stars?

Back to the science of discovering the stars . . . a friend of mine (who we shall refer to as "Thanatos" for reason obvious only to Lairites) made a comment on Facebook (after this inane blog reposted the previous entry there as a note) that as the ice expanded it might lift off the surface of the water. Thanatos conjectured that brave explorers might have then broken the surface tension and travelled on top of the water, discovering that the ice barrier extends both above and below the water's surface, yet having different properties on either side. He continued that the ice is most readily broken where the ice itself is brightest beneath. Thanatos also pointed out that breaking the ice barrier for the first time would have been equivalent to us finally breaking the speed of sound with the Bell X-1.

He also suggested that as a twist, the atmosphere might become lost or tainted when the ice was broken.

At that point I wrote asking what ramifications such a loss might be--and would it bother this aquatic race at all? They breath water through their gills, after all. And as for a loss of atmosphere, would it bring the surface down to near vacuum, thus rendering the surface unfit for exploration?

On that point, since they would be going into what to them would be vacuum anyway once they left the water, wouldn't they have some sort of suit and breathing apparatus to leave the water? Therefore, a lack of atmosphere at this point would have no real ramifications to them other than actually assisting in their exploration in a lack of the horrific winds that normally are found on the surface.