Eka-World

"Eka" is a Sanskrit term! See here.

The short story title, "Lodestar," and the novel title, Mirkheim, refer to the same fictitious heavenly body which is called "Mirkheim," not "Lodestar," in the series. Before she knows its name, Coya Conyon in "Lodestar" gives it yet another appellation:

"...the murk and chill and weight and radiation and millionfold perils of Eka-World...."
-Poul Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (New York, 2010), p. 672.

I had to google "eka" and was surprised that it was not Greek. See the above link.

The omniscient narrator of "Lodestar" informs or reminds us that the primordial element is hydrogen-1, one proton and one electron, "...with which creation presumably began..." (p. 655). But where did that come from? Maybe the word "creation" should be avoided or at least clarified? Of course, what the narrator means is something like "this observable phase of creation/the universe." Hydrogen-1, still the bulk of this universe, condenses into stars hot enough to melt atoms into heavier elements which are spread through space not only by novae and supernovae, as I already knew, but, "...more importantly...," (p. 656) by red giants. A later generation of stars starting with heavier elements generates planets with life.

Atoms with too many protons are unstable because they generate repulsive forces that overcome the attractive forces. However:

"Beyond a certain point, nuclei become more stable." (p. 657)

The first such, element 114 or eka-platinum, would be industrially useful but cannot be produced artificially even on Satan. Then the new Supermetals Company starts selling it and other supermetals in quantity...

The rogue planet Satan bypassing the blue giant Beta Crucis in a hyperbolic orbit becomes a base for the industrially valuable transformation of elements into heavier isotopes when its cryosphere becomes atmosphere and hydrosphere, coolants for heat waste. (Copied)


Falkayn spells out why Satan alone is ideal for producing heavier isotopes. This cannot be done:

on inhabited planets because heat and radioactive waste would make them uninhabitable;
on uninhabited planets because heat waste added to solar radiation would vaporize the rivers needed for coolants;
on uninhabited planets with orbiting albedo-raising dust clouds because these would trap home-grown heat;
in newly formed systems because factories would be bombarded by meteors and asteroids;
on airless planets because the necessary heat exchangers are expensive and put engineering limits on the size of a plant;
on Jovoid planets because free hydrogen diffuses through materials and interferes with nuclear reactions;
on ordinary rogue planets because temperatures near absolute zero affect the properties of matter and because liquid water and gaseous atmosphere are necessary coolants. (Copied)