On 7 Jan 2017 at 7:27, Kelly St. Clair wrote:

> On 1/7/2017 5:24 AM, Richard Aiken wrote:

> > Couldn't you use orbital mirror arrays to concentrate sunlight on an
> > iceball, melting it into a habitable planet? This doesn't have to be
> > a Darrian or Ancients thing. The mirror array could date from the
> > Swordworlds' temporary expansion or from the First Imperium. It
> > wouldn't require very high tech.
>
> The question then becomes why would anybody /bother/, when there are
> lots of other options available to a civilization with interstellar
> travel.

Murray Leinster did a good job setting up a similar situation in one
of his Med Ship stories. "Ribbon in the Sky"

"Children in Three City," growled Hunt, "are taught the same as in
Two City. Men came to this planet to work the mines. There was a
Company which sent them, and every so often it sent ships to take
what the mines yielded, and to bring things the people wanted. Men
lived well and happily. The Company hung the ribbon in the sky so the
hotlands could grow food for the men. But presently the mines could
not deliver what they made to the ships when they came. The hotlands
grew bigger, the glaciers flowed faster, and the pipes between the
cities were broken and could not be kept repaired. So the Company
said that since the mine produce could no longer be had, it could not
send the ships. Those who wanted to move to other worlds would be
carried there. Some men went, with their wives and children. However,
the grandfathers of our fathers' grandfathers were content here. They
had homes and heat and food. They would not go."

Pretty raw description, but the "ribbon" was something or other (not
solid) that was placed in orbit to reflect extra sunlight to the
equatorial regions. that meant they could raise food for the miners
locally.

This makes sense because food deliviries from off world have to be on
a schedule, and ships for hauling refined ore, ore even metal ingots
or whatever are not well suited to hauling food.

But with no need to import food, the ships can come on a schedule
more suited to picking up the ore or whatever. If there's too much,
just schedule the next pickup to be sooner. Unlike food, the ore or
whatever doesn't spoil.

When the output drops, you have the situation that Dr. Calhoun
stumbled into. Most of the population was evacuated, but some
stayed...
I'll leave it to you to read the story to find out what that
situation was.

BTW, the med ship stories have the ships using what amount to jump
tapes. In this case, somebody messed up the tape and he didn't come
out where he expected to.

I think they originally got the idea for jump tapes from Andre
Norton's second book in the "Time Traders" series: "Galactic
Derelict". Our heroes bring a stranded alien ship from the past to
the present. But in the process they accidentally engage the "tape"
which takes them to the home port of the ship, via several
intermediate stops.
--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com