The Pandora Project stories are written by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox.
The Pandora Project is a series of stories set in the far future of another Earth. Over half of the human race has left Earth to live on five colonies in orbit: Luna, Themis, Tethys, Ophion, Crius, and Asteria. Luna Colony is actually located on the moon; the other five colonies are set at the Lagrangian points on Earth’s orbit. The decision to move off of Earth came as Earth’s ecosystem began to crumble under the weight of sustaining so much life and industry. Many of those remaining on Earth are farmers and conservators of the mother planet; since the initial wave of colonization, Earth has begun to recover and is on her way to being a paradise once more.
Selene, the first city on Luna, was colonized by a handful of Roman reconstructionists, a group whose pantheistic beliefs spread rapidly among colonists who joined them. Themis (L3) was built in its entirety long before Luna colony reached full growth. A massive industrial colony, Themis is populated by some of the most conservative and isolationist cultures of Earth. Many Themites practice some form of Christianity, usually a form known as Gracianism. The population of Themis has exceeded the capacity of the colony for over a century and as a result Themites make up the majority of deep space miners and experimental cloud colony residents.
Tethys (L1) colony was constructed in anticipation of the peaking of the population of Themis. However, the Themites showed no sign of emigrating from their home colony and Tethys was opened to Earth citizens as soon as the initial segments were complete. Tethys is home to Metis Metieta University, the first major institute of learning to have physical residence in space. Ophion (L4) and Crius (L5) were completed simultaneously and were the endpoint of the largest single migration in human history. Over a period of only five years, most of the equatorial region of Earth was emptied, save for outposts of conservators and monitors, as Earth’s atmosphere reached its most critical state.
Asteria (L2) is the youngest colony, and can be found on the far side of the moon. Asteria’s development is the most unique of all the colonies, since she is something of an outpost and a guardian for the inner circle. Combining both industry and agriculture to serve the space mining industry, Asteria has also taken over much of the production of exploritory and scientific vessels from Themis. Installations of facilities for the growing military have also been placed on Asteria.
There is very little left to the people of Earth in terms of a standing militia, there is only a small amount of residual nationalism, and the manufacture of machines of war has been abandoned for centuries. The arrival of the alien ship Pandora has rightly caused a great deal of concern. The Auriga, a repurposed deep space vessel outfitted to carry a crew and numerous scientists and researchers, has no conventional weaponry of her own. As a result, engineers have used the technology from old fighter jets and newer small space shuttles to create a dual-environment (atmosphere or space) single-man vessel equiped with an array of weaponry. The Harpy is the sole defence of the Auriga and, at present, the Earth herself against any aggression. Centuries of commitment to peace and the conclusion, after millenia of searching the skies, that humans were alone in the universe have left the human race in a potentially perilous position.
The characters who populate the Pandora Project stories come from all stations in life; most are directly involved with the Pandora, the Auriga, and the expedition itself. Other characters, like those in the Space Trash stories, are living ‘ordinary’ lives in a time in which space travel, including faster-than-light, has been in use for decades.