The Space Station - Chapter 2 - Page 2

The nature of Pristine was not a surprise to Functionary. He had read his briefs and the additional information he had been able to download into his personal book from the public and Service data sources. Clicking through this officially sanctioned information during his long voyage, had told Functionary that Pristine was a barren planet with no recorded indigenous life of any sort, animal or vegetable. It was a dead planet and had always been so. It was a barren planet which was usually bitterly cold save when its flat, elliptic orbit brought it relatively close to its star, in which instance the side exposed to the star's radiation could slowly build-up profoundly dangerous levels of heat and radioactivity. This heating and cooling process was probably primarily responsible for the lack of life forms of the planet. It was also the sole process by which, through the stresses of rapid heating and cooling and the drastic contrasts in temperature experienced across the planets core, that a slow change in the stony landscape and internal geology was driven. In summary: there was virtually no atmosphere, no air and little by way of shelter, no natural sources of food and water and periods of extreme temperatures. The only way to survive on this forsaken planet for more than a few hours in a space suit or planetary vehicle was by existing within hermetically sealed space domes, with supplies shipped in from Service supply stations located in distant solar systems.