Venomous Atmosphere

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Things are heating up on Fulvus, the forth planet in the Kogan system and the host of the MMMCDLV Olympic Games.  Athletes from the Deltan Federation, Star Fold Confederacy, and Centaurus are anxious to take home the gold and prove their scion’s status as the best of the galaxy.  In addition to the omnipresent political element, the planet Fulvus itself contributes to the “venomous atmosphere”.

Sui Stadium, the main venue of the games, floats miles above the Fulvian surface, suspended by the oxygen in the structure.  This is possible because Fulvus’s atmosphere is so dense that the usual mix of nitrogen and oxygen is a lifting gas.  Most Fulvians have never actually seen the surface, always shrouded in clouds of sulfur.

That’s right, sulfur!  Fulvus’s atmosphere is thick with the deadly acid.  Kogan, the system’s star, reacts with the carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and water vapor in a photochemical reaction to create great gobs of the stuff.  The few habitats that float in Fulvus’s upper atmosphere are plated with an alloy resist to the stuff to keep the structures from corroding.

With such a poisonous atmosphere, one must wonder why any rational human would choose to settle here.  The answer is the same thing that corrodes the buildings and tints the clouds red; sulfuric acid.  If you’re not familiar with modern industrial processes, that may have you scratching your head.  In fact, sulfuric acid is a critical ingredient in the curing of various metals and is used in the most unlikely of processes and machines.

“That great” you say,”but why are the Olympic Games being held on this sh*thole of a planet?”  That goes back to the political venom, a strand much more deadly than mere sulfuric acid.  Fulvus is one of those few “neutral planets”.  It is not affiliated with any scion; its inhabitants are mostly employees of the multi-scion Venus Chemical corp.

While sulfur rain may patter on the windows of the Sui Stadium, the athletes are not deterred.  Li Tony of Viet, Star Fold Confederacy will fend off challenges from a multitude of hovercraft jockey’s in hopes of holding onto his gold medal for the fourth year in a row.  Sal LaThomas of Staten, Deltan Federation aims to become only the third man in Olympic history to win all track events as does Shaneesha Ramirez of Rivendell, Centaurus.

May the best win; this will be quite the games.

Obi Took is a journalist at
The Onion News Network, the
Galaxy’s leading news source.