Thursday, 28 January 2021

Dukeston

A Stone In Heaven, VII.

Dukeston, a Hermetian General Enterprises commercial base on the planet Ramnu, extracts from a sulfur-rich marsh:

fine-grained hardwood;
 
oricin, an antiobiotic effective against the Hermtian disease, cuprodermy;
 
other biologicals -

- which are cheaper to ship than to synthesize.

Also making Dukeston economically viable are palladium (scroll down) and other minerals from the nearby Chromatic Hills.

The base was located five thousand kilometers from Wainwright Station so that its cultural influence would not affect the natives studied by the xenologists who now include Miriam Abrams.

For dramatic events in Dukeston, see the link from "palladium," above.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And, of course, over centuries, the commercial base of Dukeston would also be affecting nearby Ramnuans. Gradually, what was once a mining centrum and trading post would become a town in its own right, as Ramnuans were attracted there. For one thing, it was obviously much easier to hire people who could live and move about under those conditions, to do much of the mining, processing, and other kinds of jobs. Then only a few humans would be needed.

Ad astra! Sean