Dugliss MaMill
A friend was one of the first people to start reading the books. He wanted a character named after him - so here is his story.
The MaMill family was one of the richest in the galaxy. They elicited strong feelings in many, some were jealous of their fortune, while many more were thankful to the MaMill clan for the worlds they lived on. This was because the MaMills had made their money through terraforming. As soon ftl travel was discovered, opening up the galaxy for human exploration, Dugliss MaMill’s Great x7 Grandfather, had claimed, moved to and then terraformed the planet of Nueva Tierra. Once one planet was successfully adapted for human habitation, the MaMill clan sold up (for a profit) and staked a new claim, each time they did, their fortune grew, as did their reputation for terraforming and eccentricity.
The announcement by The Planetary Engineering Corporation that they were building a Dyson Sphere came as a shock and a potential disaster to Dugliss MaMill, the current heir to the fortune.
At first Dugliss was worried. If PEC were successful, then the demand for terraformed planets would drop. However, PEC announced that areas of the Sphere would be open for development, it was then that Dugliss realised that this was an opportunity to do something that nobody in his family had ever done in their ten generations and three hundred and twelve planets – design customised continents.
Terraforming only touched the surface of a planet. It never affected the actual layout of mountains and valleys. Once a planet had been surveyed and the continental layout was known, then the only major thing the terraformer could do to affect the continental shapes was to adjust sea-level and that was a very crude tool.
Dugliss gave-up the rights to his inheritance and submitted his application to PEC to design continents and although the MaMill family was one of the main rivals to PEC, his application was accepted.
Dugliss stood in the holo-room in his family’s company’s present headquarters in the soon-to-be temperate zone of the planet of Gran Sierra and started doodling. He designed mountains, valleys, intricate coastlines, pseudo-volcanoes and invented several new geographical features. On his fifteenth design, he had a river system spell out his name. That triggered a series of thoughts, that gave him an idea and so he looked through the archives for appropriate pictures.
The announcement by The Planetary Engineering Corporation that they were building a Dyson Sphere came as a shock and a potential disaster to Dugliss MaMill, the current heir to the fortune.
At first Dugliss was worried. If PEC were successful, then the demand for terraformed planets would drop. However, PEC announced that areas of the Sphere would be open for development, it was then that Dugliss realised that this was an opportunity to do something that nobody in his family had ever done in their ten generations and three hundred and twelve planets – design customised continents.
Terraforming only touched the surface of a planet. It never affected the actual layout of mountains and valleys. Once a planet had been surveyed and the continental layout was known, then the only major thing the terraformer could do to affect the continental shapes was to adjust sea-level and that was a very crude tool.
Dugliss gave-up the rights to his inheritance and submitted his application to PEC to design continents and although the MaMill family was one of the main rivals to PEC, his application was accepted.
Dugliss stood in the holo-room in his family’s company’s present headquarters in the soon-to-be temperate zone of the planet of Gran Sierra and started doodling. He designed mountains, valleys, intricate coastlines, pseudo-volcanoes and invented several new geographical features. On his fifteenth design, he had a river system spell out his name. That triggered a series of thoughts, that gave him an idea and so he looked through the archives for appropriate pictures.
“The first group of continents are interesting and quite intricate, but it’s the second group that are more unusual.” Jean-Claude Schmidt, the president of PEC said. “They are not really original designs.”
“No they are not and I never claimed they would be, but then it was my idea to use them as continental designs. So are you going to accept them?” Dugliss asked.
“I don’t see why not,” Jean-Claude replied. “For maximum effect I think we’ll group them together. It’s not as if we’ve got a shortage of continents. We’ve been getting computers to randomly generate a lot of them. These though are somewhat unique.”
Dugliss shook his head. “I just wanted the opportunity to design world-size continents and to know that people will see my designs. I hope that they come from all over the galaxy to see them, because if we do right, they could be listed on some lists of seven wonders.”
“No they are not and I never claimed they would be, but then it was my idea to use them as continental designs. So are you going to accept them?” Dugliss asked.
“I don’t see why not,” Jean-Claude replied. “For maximum effect I think we’ll group them together. It’s not as if we’ve got a shortage of continents. We’ve been getting computers to randomly generate a lot of them. These though are somewhat unique.”
Dugliss shook his head. “I just wanted the opportunity to design world-size continents and to know that people will see my designs. I hope that they come from all over the galaxy to see them, because if we do right, they could be listed on some lists of seven wonders.”
The grouping of continents that became known as S11 became a major attraction on the new Sphere. For maximum effect the continents had to be seen from a distance. From quite far within the inner Sphere, which regulated night and day. To ensure the maximum number of people saw them, the continents were placed on the route between S1 and S2, the first two major planned population centres.
Dugliss continued to design other interesting shaped continents around different themes, mostly for his own amusement.
Sometimes Jean-Claude would scan through Dugliss’ latest drawings.
“These are interesting,” Jean-Claude said as he looked through a series of drawings.
“Really? I was just doodling.”
“I think we might for a very special project,” Jean-Claude said. “So what is that?” he asked pointing to a small speck.
“It’s a mouse but it’s only a small island. It just adds to the whole picture.”
“Indeed.”
Dugliss was asked if he wanted to purchase the realm, he refused. He wanted other people to live there and enjoy the knowledge they were living in the largest optical illusions ever created. The realm though became one of the first to be offered to private groups and was finally bought by the descendants of the founders of one of Earth’s more ruthless mega-corporations.
In the years to come, many shuttles would slow down and view the continents. Travellers would wonder who had decided to have island groups that when seen from afar, looked like two Dalmatians dogs or the other that looked a face in the snow. Then there was the continent of the rabbit or the duck, which could look like either. The cube: a two-dimensional representation of the three-dimensional object, which the mind flipped the perspective of, when stared at.
The most intricate was the magic eye, which when you didn’t focus on it quite right, showed a three dimensional cat pouncing. It required desert for the yellow, snow-covered mountains for the white, and various vegetation types for the browns, greens and black. To maintain the illusion throughout the artificial year the weather systems had to be quite strictly controlled.
Dugliss continued to design other interesting shaped continents around different themes, mostly for his own amusement.
Sometimes Jean-Claude would scan through Dugliss’ latest drawings.
“These are interesting,” Jean-Claude said as he looked through a series of drawings.
“Really? I was just doodling.”
“I think we might for a very special project,” Jean-Claude said. “So what is that?” he asked pointing to a small speck.
“It’s a mouse but it’s only a small island. It just adds to the whole picture.”
“Indeed.”
Dugliss was asked if he wanted to purchase the realm, he refused. He wanted other people to live there and enjoy the knowledge they were living in the largest optical illusions ever created. The realm though became one of the first to be offered to private groups and was finally bought by the descendants of the founders of one of Earth’s more ruthless mega-corporations.
In the years to come, many shuttles would slow down and view the continents. Travellers would wonder who had decided to have island groups that when seen from afar, looked like two Dalmatians dogs or the other that looked a face in the snow. Then there was the continent of the rabbit or the duck, which could look like either. The cube: a two-dimensional representation of the three-dimensional object, which the mind flipped the perspective of, when stared at.
The most intricate was the magic eye, which when you didn’t focus on it quite right, showed a three dimensional cat pouncing. It required desert for the yellow, snow-covered mountains for the white, and various vegetation types for the browns, greens and black. To maintain the illusion throughout the artificial year the weather systems had to be quite strictly controlled.
