The Violet Sky series has three overlapping timelines. The main timeline (on the left) is the span of human history from now until present day in the series, year 14284. The second timeline records the passage of time on Alcott Station as it orbits a black hole called Willa. That timeline begins during year 5000. The station is positioned in orbit around the singularity to extend time so that 1 day on the station lasts 1 year in the main timeline. The third timeline starts when Sephy Alcott establishes a secret colony on the seeded planet Urey during year 11286.
History of the Violet Sky series begins implementing stable AI in 2030. Though the breakthrough affects global technology, it’s not enough to avoid a global ecological collapse in 2177. The diaspora of humankind into space begins.
Space is not safe for the human genome. Gamma rays, nutrition shortages, and other hazards suppress human evolution. By 2377, males are endangered, and females are stunted. In 2411, the survivors begin to seed planets with healthy humans, but the damage is done. Spacefaring humans are unable to produce males or healthy females. The affliction is so widespread and pervasive, that by 2622, a new species is declared called Homo feminae or feminkind. The human inhabitants of seeded planets are declared property.
In 4080, Sephy Alcott, a brilliant engineer and entrepreneur constructs a space station near the rogue black hole, Willa. Her research into harnessing gravitational force is groundbreaking though only theoretical. She makes in the headquarters of the Willacast Corporation with herself as CEO. In 4091, the station disappears inside the orbit of the singularity is presumed lost. In 5000, Alcott Station emerges from Willa and becomes the hub of a galaxy-spanning transit network using gravitational portals. Space travel using ships becomes instantly obsolete.
Willacast Corp uses its transportation monopoly and unique long-term perspective allowed by a 365:1 time dilation to take over and vastly expand efforts to terraform and seed new planets. The stewardship of the human genome becomes the most lucrative business ever. Willacast Corp corners the market on Seeded Human Assets (SHA). Willacast Corp invests heavily into AI and nano-cyber technology to control more and more seeded planets and distribute SHA for profit.
One of these planets is called Urey. It orbits an unstable blue star and is doomed to a short planetary lifespan. Planets orbiting blue stars are banned and the SHA of Urey are consigned to destruction.
Illustration by Natasha Gonzalez
In 10555, Melrayis Valdez, an employee of Willacast Corp and intellectual equal to Sephy Alcott, advocates for a different fate for Urey. The planet quietly disappears from the database. In 11286, Melrayis and Sephy secretly establish a colony on Urey to find a way to reverse the damage to the human genome and allow feminam to produce healthy males and females once again. Melrayis employs a series of three nano-cyber automatons to control the inhabitants of the planet in favor of the feminam colonists and to the detriment of the existing SHA. Melrayis retires to the feminam colony on Urey, leaving Sephy Alcott to oversee operations from the station. Sephy Alcott doesn’t return to the colony until the year 13303.
Terraformed and seeded in the unregulated era between 2480 and 2600, no corporation has been willing to risk cultivating Urey. The ROI for a doomed planet doesn’t justify it. Urey’s SHA have evolved unchecked under a blue star for approximately 8000 years until discovered by Melrayis. The humans of Urey exhibit the effects of the blue star in their DNA. And without regulation, they have fallen into many of the habits of their Earth ancestors. Technology on Urey will soon reach a level capable of global consequences. When Sephy and Melrayis established the AI controls, they expected the humans to regress while their colony thrived. As Sephy discovers, the opposite has happened.
In one corner of the Urey, an empire rises to conquer all surrounding regions. The Galathians have co-opted the AI controls and use the advanced technology in their favor, thinking of it as a religion steeped in magic. The independent nation of Calonade resists until they are decisively defeated on the battlefield. After a generation of oppression, a young man discovers the key to turning the tide of the war on his people and ending the reign of a galactic overlord bent on enslaving all of humanity.