Restitution

      Malcolm had barely been awake for five minutes when he heard the soft footsteps in the hallway headed toward him. The door opened and his granddaughter rushed to the bed, bouncing on the covers.

     “Happy tire mint, grandaddy!”

     He patted her on the head and reached for his glasses. “It’s called ‘retirement’, Maya, and thank you!”

     “Maya, did you wake up your grandfather?” Malcolm’s wife, Loretta, stood in the doorway, her arms crossed.

     “No, Nana, he was already woked up.”

     She crossed over to the bed and gave Malcolm a kiss. She then picked up Maya.

     “We’ll let you get yourself together and then you can join us for breakfast”, she said to him and then looked at Maya. “How about waffles this morning?”

     “Yes, waffles, please, “ Maya replied.

     “How about waffles?” Loretta asked Malcolm.

     “Well, why not! Woo hoo! It’s my big day!” He held up his hands and gave them a wave.

     “Woo hoo!” shouted Maya, waving her little hands too.

     Loretta grabbed Maya and walked to the door. She turned back to Malcolm and gave him a small smile, then left.

     Malcolm sank back into the pillow. This was his last day at work. He let out a sigh. He had accomplished so much in the past fifty years and he never guessed he’d make it to this day. But he was going to simply treat it like any other day. He had one last Restitution to preside over, then no more. It was actually a good thing that he could pass the responsibility on to James, his deputy. Malcolm knew that he had secured his place in history when the government had adopted his idea of Restitution for criminals. It had been the project of a lifetime. He had to now let it go. He felt it was time.

     Maya was dabbing a piece of waffle into her syrup when Malcolm walked into the kitchen. Loretta walked over to him and gave him a cup of coffee.

     “You should just stay home with me and Maya,” she told him. “What can they do? Fire you?”

     “Let me have this last day and one last Restitution. We’ve already discussed this.”

     “Oh, I know. But you haven’t had to go to any Restitutions in years. You’re only a figurehead at the company anyway, they would be fine with you…”

     “You think I’ll decide not to retire...”

     “I just want you all to myself now,” Loretta leaned in and gave him a kiss. “Now let’s get some homemade waffles into you to start your big day.”

     “I hope we’ve got some juicy sausage or bacon, too.”

     Loretta frowned as she held up a blue and white package. “Only this,” she replied.

     “Not that fake stuff...not today of all days!”

     “I tried to get some real bacon, my dear, but Orlon’s has stopped carrying it. I talked to the manager but he said that it was too much trouble with all the new laws and everything.”

     Malcolm sighed and thought about the days before animals were thought to be feeling sentient creatures. He wished for the time when pigs were ham, bacon, chops, and sausage, and not emotional beings with rights. Since most industrial nations had given animals rights and banned slaughtering animals for food, the United States had seen a huge rise in meat prices and a move toward similar laws concerning animal welfare. The food corporations had begun to cut their ties with the animal farming operations, converting to meat substitutes. The fresh water crisis only sped up the process – it took too much water to raise food animals. Some called it progress, Malcolm called it madness.

     Malcolm worked for the National Prison Agency. Thirty years ago, he had lobbied for a change in polices concerning capital punishment. He himself had put forth the idea of Restitution as a graduate student in college, but it wasn’t taken seriously until the drug crisis occurred.

     Companies had started to end production of the drugs used in lethal injection executions. Some states had stockpiled the drugs for future use, but eventually those supplies began to drop. States began looking into other methods – firing squads, hanging, even the guillotine had been considered -but all were considered to be painful, drawn-out processes. Others had begun looking to ban capital punishment altogether, bowing to anti-capital punishment activists.

     One of Malcolm’s friends in college had remembered his graduate work and talked to a senator about it. Malcolm was called to Washington to explain his ideas. A few years later, the National Prison Reform Act was passed and Malcolm was chosen to implement Prisoner Restitution as a cornerstone of the reforms. “Capital punishment” was replaced by “Restitution” and states readily accepted this humane practice.

Malcolm walked into his office. He noticed a large book on his desk. He walked over and opened the cover.

     “The Victim’s Liaison Office went back through their files and put that together for you,” said his assistant Janine, poking her head through the doorway. She walked in and set down some papers. “I need you to sign these.” She looked at the inscription inside the book. “Letters from over the years from crime victim’s families praising the Restitutions they had gone through. That was real sweet of them.”

     “I’ll have to pop down and thank them later.”

     “Don’t forget you’re having lunch with the commissioner before the Restitution.” Janine tapped the papers lightly, reminding Malcolm to sign them. Malcolm adjusted his glasses, then took out his pen from his briefcase. “Your retirement party is a 5:30,” she reminded him. She then whispered, “ on’t be late. I hear there will be appearances by some bigwig politicians – maybe a vice-president – but you didn’t hear it from me.”

     “Oh, Janine.”

     “Some people think you’re a big deal, Boss.”

     “Not after today.”

     Malcolm did very little work. Most of the morning was spent accepting best wishes and congratulations from colleagues and taking phone calls saying pretty much the same. Lunchtime was spent with the prison commissioner and a few select VIPs in the prison industry. Restitution had proven to be a quite profitable option. Two hours later, Malcolm rushed away to his last Restitution.

     Malcolm got to the Restitution Center as they were bringing in Jimmy McKinzey for his Restitution. He entered the chamber as a nurse judged Jimmy’s dosage of Calmicolizine. The prisoner looked at him and meekly smiled – the effects of the drug given to him at his last meal. Malcolm silently burped – the effect of too much fake steak at his last meal. Malcolm was glad that most prisoners were now given sedatives and other drugs, it made it easier to deal with them. He was thankful the drug companies had introduced programs to medicate prisoners, it had made prisons calmer places, almost like schools.

     People slowly began to appear in the chamber – Jimmy’s attorney, the victim’s family, the commissioner, and others. Malcolm sat down at the large table across from Jimmy. He looked at his watch, it was time to start.

     An officer called the chamber to order. Malcolm shuffled through his papers and then looked up at Jimmy.

     “James Arthur McKinzey, inmate number 45629D, you have been called forth to this chamber for your Restitution. Do you understand that today you have to pay for your crimes against Nathalie Howe, who you brutally murdered last year, and provide restitution to her surviving family? Do you comply?”

     Jimmy stared at him for a second. “I do,” he said, with a slight slur.

     “As the verdict has been made and the prisoner understands that restitution has to be paid to the satisfaction of the victim’s family, to this state, and to this nation, according to the law. Your assets have already been transferred to the victim’s family in the amount of $3, 235.00; as a balance is still outstanding, we will proceed with the Restitution.” Malcolm turned and motioned to the two officers standing behind him. Jimmy made no show of emotion.

     The officers walked over to Jimmy and helped him to his feet.

     “James Arthur McKinzey, proceed to make your Restitution.”

     The officers escorted Jimmy to a curtained side of the chamber. They led him through the curtain into a small antechamber, followed by Malcolm. Meanwhile, inside the large chamber a large screen appeared from behind a wooden panel and the lights were lowered. A camera in the antechamber flashed, signaling that it had begun transmitting the event to the large screen.

     The officers placed Jimmy onto a slightly-inclined large metal slab, jutting out from the wall. Malcolm pulled over a stool and sat down beside Jimmy.

     “Time for your Restitution, James.”

     Jimmy slowly turned to look at Malcolm. He looked into Malcolm’s eyes and smiled.

     “Do you understand?” Malcolm asked, and slightly shaking his own head.

     Jimmy gave a shallow shake of his head, then grinned.

     “He’s ready.” Malcolm gave a sign to the officers standing near the slab.

     One of the officers moved a console close to Malcolm. The other officer reached up and pulled down a swing arm to which was attached a headset. Three large cylinders protruded out from the headset. Malcolm placed the headset onto Jimmy’s forehead. He adjusted it over Jimmy’s eyes and secured some straps which encircled Jimmy’s head. The other officer secured a strap across Jimmy’s chest and his legs.

     “Okay, Jimmy, I want you to count down from ten with me.” Malcolm pressed a few buttons on the console. “Okay, now we will start. Count with me. Ten...nine...eight...” The man slurred the number eight. Malcolm pressed a red button. There was a soft thud and a wisp of smoke appeared above the cylinders. There was a shudder across the man’s entire body as three bolts were driven into his brain, as was once done to cattle and pigs in slaughterhouses. There was no seven.

     “The law places the value of $488,000.00 on human life. Today, James Arthur McKinzey paid that ultimate price toward his debt. There can be no outstanding balance and Restitution has been paid,” said Malcolm, after turning to the camera which had shown the event to the people in the chamber. Malcolm paused and removed his glasses. “I would also like to say this is the last Restitution I shall preside over. I am glad that I have helped give closure to the family of victims over the years and that I have offered to the world a quick and painless method to implement justice. May we never go back to old days of needless and drawn-out suffering again. Thank you.” The camera light then signaled the end of the transmission.

     There was loud bell, and the nurse appeared. She placed a mask over Jimmy’s nose and mouth. There was a slight buzz and she placed a device on Jimmy’s chest. She pulled a display panel from the side of the slab. The slab was raised parallel to the floor. A hatch opened in the wall and there was a rush of cold air. The slab moved into the hatch, then closed quickly after Jimmy’s body disappeared inside.

     “Thank you, Nurse Greene. My office will finish the paper work and send in on.” The nurse nodded and left.

     Malcolm would now leave the organ harvesting and all to the medical division. The victim’s family would receive their commissions, and Jimmy’s body could realize a big return in compensation for them. There was still so much paperwork, but he was not too worried about it. It’s a job for someone else now, he thought. He had a retirement party to attend.

The Most Difficult Thing For Mankind

Humans are capable of doing grand things. We build monumental feats of engineering. We crystallize our ideas and imaginations into books. We travel at breath-taking speeds. We even leave our own planet to explore the heavens above. However, we still view the world according to our own immediate environment. We see the world usually as our home, family, and friends...simply put, whatever is comforting and familiar to us. Of course, there are the explorers, the people who expand beyond the immediate; yet, still, for many of us humans going outside this, we feel fear, hate, intolerance, all those negative things. We are afraid of what we don’t understand and what is different. Religion helps many of us to make sense of all we don’t understand. Yet we even take religion and mold it into something familiar, comforting, routine.

God knows what we humans are like.

We have created a million ways to seek God and the ultimate truths. A million sacred texts to find the answers and the way. Once you take out all the man-made stuff—Bible interpretations, traditions, requirements, customs, doctrine, and all that generates fear and misgiving or that forces you to conform to a man-made idea of what religion should do or be --you are left with something simple. Something so simple we humans can’t seem to collectively grasp it.

That simple thing is for us to get along and love one another. It is not to fear what is strange and new. It is wanting us all to work together. It is treating others the way we wish to be treated. It is wanting us to really love one another and seek peace. You can see for the entirety of human history, we have fought this simple idea of true peace. Wars, terrorism, greed, slavery, genocide, hatred, mutilation, intolerance, the pains of humanity have been "business as usual" for the human race since it has existed. We even quote Bible verses to say there will always be war and rumors of wars. We kill other religions and ideas to push our own agendas. We blindly follow leaders who tell us to hate. We applaud greed as necessary. We say we speak for God when we want violence to comfort our fear.

Maybe what God only wants for us and from us is for us all—every person, every race, every nation, every faith, everyone— to simply get along and love each other...because He knew that that would ultimately be the most difficult thing we would ever have to do.

The Economics of Star Trek by Rick Webb

The Economics of Star Trek

The Proto-Post Scarcity Economy

self-sealing stem bolt

by Rick Webb

"I promise this is about Star Trek. Sort of. Bear with me a moment.

I’ve been reading a lot about robots lately. When I read about robots, and the future, I can’t help but think about it in economic terms. And that inevitably turns my mind to the branch of economics called post scarcity economics. Traditional economics, of course, deals with the efficient allocation of inherently scarce materials. Post scarcity economics deals with the economics of economies that are no longer constrained by scarcity of materials — food, energy, shelter, etc.

The thing that never sits quite right with post scarcity economics, though, at least the very little that I’ve read, is that it’s always sort of an all or nothing affair: you either don’t have enough of anything or you have enough of everything. Thinking of this as a mental exercise is kind of fun, I think, but in reality it seems to me that getting from point A — a scarcity economy — to point B — post scarcity — is going to be a long, complicated journey as somethings become more abundant in some places, while other things are still scarce.

What is needed is some sort of interim-, or proto-post scarcity economics.

More and more I find myself thinking we are, as a race, constrained by the economic models we have. We have capitalism, of course, the proverbial worst model except for every other one that dominates much of our planet right now. It’s definitely a scarcity-based system. Then we have the centrally planned systems of Communism and Marxism, not particularly effective, as it turns out. We have European-style socialist capitalism, but that’s still capitalism, and scarcity-based, albeit with a much more robust safety net than we have here in the US. Some Americans seem to think that a robust safety net somehow nullifies the distributed planning of capitalism. I’ll listen to them again when our schools are decent and our life span starts increasing again magically.

The key here, to me, is to start thinking about how economics would work when we decouple labor from reward. Does that make a system inherently communist? I don’t think it does. People work. They get paid. It is market driven, and not centrally planned. In reality,the market already basically dictates this, for who can claim that a Wall Street banker works more than a teacher? The only thing we really need to do is take this to a logical extreme:that people can still get paid doing zero work. This fear seems to be at the heart of most people who say that Europe is communist: if we give people so much welfare, some of them might stop working! Quelle Horreur!

It seems to me that with the rise of machines and robotics, advances in mining technology, energy technology (both fracking and green energy technologies), the obesity epidemic in the US, etc., that there are plenty of reasons to believe that we may be at the beginnings of a post scarcity economy. We have a surplus, no doubt. Of course, we still have legions of people in the world that are starving, and even people still here at home. But we actually have the capacity to feed them, to feed everyone, even now, even if we don’t have the will. It’s not a matter of scarcity; it’s a matter of the organization of labor and capital.

Take a mental journey for a moment with me: what if, one day, technology reaches the point that a small number of humans — say, 10 million — can produce all of the food, shelter and energy that the race needs. This doesn’t seem like insanely wishful thinking, given current trends. There’s no rational reason why the advances in robotics, factories, energy and agriculture couldn’t continue unabated for long periods of time. Of course I’m not saying they will, but rather, they could.

So, then, take that journey. What, then, of labor? In today’s terms, a ‘healthy’ economy now is one at or near full employment. A healthy economy now is one where everyone has a job. But in our mental exercise, those jobs are actually unrelated to a healthy economy, at least from strict economic terms. Everyone’s fed and housed and tons of people simply don’t need to work. Right now, we have them working making shit we don’t need. Is that any better than them not working?

I give you we’re in some fringe areas of economics here, but I have always wondered: is there any economic proof that we need full employment to reach full satisfaction of needs? To my knowledge, there isn’t. There’s a body of economics that goes into standards of living, and the increased standard of living. And here we get to our shitty world of unabated consumerism,Thorstein Veblen’s conspicuous consumption and George Battaille’s accursed share — the inevitable destiny of all economies to eventually produce more than they need, and, thus, waste it.

Seems to me that if we could think beyond capitalism and think of a new model, we could break out of this pointless cycle of more and more consumption of shit we don’t need and model things in another way..."

To read the entire article, click this link.

The Sulis Star System (Life of Other Worlds, Part 4)

Life of other worlds: drawings and sketches from one space explorer's travel journal is a series focusing on various other star systems in the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Sulis Star System (Note: Planets and orbits not to scale)

The Sulis System is a yellow star system with five planets. Named after Celtic gods, life has only been found on the planet of Cernunnos. Research indicates that the asteroid field, known as The Bards and Vates, may at one time been a planet with developing microscopic life. The first three planets in the system include: 1) Nantosuelta, a Mercury-class planet 2)Ambisagrus, a planet similar to Mars, and 3) Cernunnos, with its barren moon, Damara. The first three planets are very close to the same size, only varying in temperature and crust structure. There is one ringed planet Barinthus that may have gotten its rings from the destruction of a planet where The Bards and Vates are now located. Barinthus has four moons (it is unknown if they formed recently from debris or escaped the destruction felt by other moons in the system).The gas supergiant Britannia is a failed ringed planet.   Britannia is located within a supergaint asteroid field called The Druids. The asteroids saturate the orbit of Britannia, and they have never coalesced into rings around the planet -the magnetic field of the planet seems to push many of the asteroids out of the way and they then settle back into place after it passes. Most disturbed asteroids are either flung into deep space or end up settling into the orbit of The Bards and Vates. It is believed that the The Druids were at one time actually one or more large moons that orbited Britannia, probably pulverized as the result of the recent planetary event (around 50 million years ago) that also demolished the planet that occupied the orbit of The Bards and Vates.

Cernunnos

Cernunnos

Little nocturnal creature that many other things seemed to like to eat. We named it the Dinner Mouse

The Vampire Bird (not really a bird) captures its prey and injects venom that completely liquefies the organs, muscles and bones of its prey, which it then sucks out.

They were fast. And they were NOT cuddly.

Britannia

Britannia and The Druids

The Aten-Ra Star System (and Giza Nebula) (Life of Other Worlds, Part 3)

Life of other worlds: drawings and sketches from one space explorer's travel journal is a series focusing on various other star systems in the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Aten-Ra System is a blue star system with five planets, located near the Giza Nebula. Astronomer Dr. Piers Langland, a member of the Unified Interplanetary Exploration Taskforce (UIET), discovered the system and its neighboring nebula. The system received its name due to the fact that it was discovered the year that the Forgotten Tombs were found and unearthed in Egypt.  Sadly, it was also the year of the Bombing of the Great Pyramids of Giza by religious fundamentalists.  The International Astronomical Union approved the naming of the system after ancient Egyptian deities and the naming of the nebula after the Great Pyramids as a remembrance of the great events of that year.

Life is found on Hathor, Amun and its moon Isis, and two of the three moons of Osiris-Anubis and Horus; however, life beyond Hathor and Amun is only microscopic (it is believed to have travel beyond Hathor and Amun as result of early meteorite impacts). Ancient microfossils have been found on the dead planet of Sokar. The Sokarian fossils resemble life on the moons of Osiris and Amun. This is a system teeming with life. So far Amun is only one of two known gas giants to harbor complex life in a thin upper layer.

Hapi

The first planet in the system: Hapi

Hathor

Hathor (with its moon Thoth in the background)

Hathor is a relatively flat planet with few mountain ranges. Most of the planet is very dry with large desert areas. Large expanses of the surface are covered in great prairies covered in grass-like plants.  One species that covers the large spaces actually is one plant that sends out roots underground forming a large megaorganism – one plant can cover hundreds of kilometers. There are no trees as on Earth, large herbaceous plants that resemble the banana trees of Earth create dense “jungles”.  The “trees” and the megaorganism plant never occur in the same spot –it seems the two species are constantly battling for space (where the two plants meet there is always a barren “no-man’s-land” between them-it is believed that there is some kind of chemical warfare going on among the two)

Herd animal on Hathor

Large herbaceous tree (similar to a banana tree on Earth)

Large grazing creature (abt 5 meters)

A nocturnal repto-mammal that survives only on nectar of certain flowers and juices of certain fruits.

This creature was always fighting others of the species. The sound of the bony plates crashing together filled the air at every hour. The tail would be used after the head jammed into its opponent.

These little critters were found in the water, in the mud, in the sand, everywhere. And yes, even the trees --or the equivalent of trees. 

Something that mostly laid in the mud (note that air is breathed in through hole on top of body) 

Osiris

The Moons of Osiris, looking toward Sokar and the Giza Nebula

Amun and its moon Isis

Amun

Many incredible life forms live in the thin stable habitable zone on a gas giant. The food chain of the planet includes large balloon-like carnivores, such as the Cloud Tiger, who consume the smaller and plentiful Kites. Kites themselves consume spores from the many forms of fungus and algae present in the zone.

Kites

Cloud Tiger (genus Aethercetus) captures Kites in a basket it swings through the air. The basket contracts tightly around the Kites and then digests them. The creature floats freely through the habitable zone of the gas giant, regulating its buoyancy to keep itself at the correct altitude. The "tiger" stripes are thought to resemble swarms of Kites causing other Kites to fly toward the Cloud Tiger, thus luring them to their death as lunch for the great floating beast.

Cloud Tiger

There was this creature we called Macy (after the large balloon figures in the Macy's parade). We believed it to be a member of the genus Aethercetus; if so, it is the largest member. It trawled for food with a large "basket" at the bottom. The "bubbles" on the side were young.

There was a carnivorous creature (genus Aethercetus) analogous to the Orcas on Earth. It hunted other members of the Aethercetus genus. We called it the Sky Orca. It seemed to prefer to eat Cloud Tigers. It used the sharp pendulum to ram the Cloud Tigers and deflate them; then released a dissolving agent to melt certain nutritious parts of its prey, which it sucked up through a tube.  It did this very quickly as it slowly descended due to the extra weight.  Before reaching the point of no return, it jettisoned the carcass of the Cloud Tiger and floated slowly up to a higher altitude.

Sky Orca

Creature we called Macy (after the large balloon figures in the Macy's parade)

Sokar

Sokar and the Giza Nebula

The Giza Nebula

Residing near the Aten-Ra System, the nebula fills the night skies of all the planets of the system.  A defining feature of the nebula is its bright monochromatic redness, caused by the abundance of hydrogen.  The three bright white dwarfs ( each one named after one of the three pyramids in Giza) are the three brightest points in the nebula.  Some believe the vivid red-purple colour of Sokar is due to the capture of nebula hydrogen by the planet.  An odd section of the Giza Nebula is separated from the main body and has a bright blue-white cast (see Hathor photo).  Scientists believe that the high temperature of this region is caused by the fact that the hydrogen is being consumed in some unknown type of reaction.  Some believe that the reaction might someday consume the entire nebula; others believe that  it is a localized reaction.  It has been put forth by some that the proximity of the "Blue Cloud" to the planetary system invites the question that the reaction is caused by abandoned alien technology. The establishment of a permanent space station (Langland Station UIET) in orbit around Hathor will study the Giza Nebula and its relationship with the Aten-Ra System.

Next in the series :  The Sulis Star System

The Odin Star System (Life of Other Worlds, Part 2)

Life of other worlds: drawings and sketches from one space explorer's travel journal is a series focusing on various other star systems in the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Odin Star System (NOTE: Planet and orbits not to scale)

The Odin System is a yellow star system consisting of six planets. Balder and Njord are the only planets with life forms.  Dr. Dag Stassen discovered the system during the exploration mission of the European Space Agency Interplanetary Space Probe in the early 21^st century.  The ESA gave it names according to mythological Norse gods and goddesses.

Frigg

The first four planets are rocky.  The last two planets are gas giants; Thor being a super gas giant.  Between the two gas giants there is a large asteroid field called The Valkyries, which contains some of the largest asteroids ever recorded.  The gas giants, Thor and Loki, seem to keep the asteroids in check and corralled into their orbit around the star Odin.  Without Thor and Loki, the asteroids would cause havoc within the system.  However, it is believed that the gravitational pull of the collective asteroid belt and Loki prevented Thor from being pulled further into the system, thus keeping the inner planets safe. (Note: Planets and their orbits are not to scale.)

Frigg

The first planet is Frigg, named after the wife of Odin and goddess of married love.  It is geologically inactive with a high surface temperature.

Hel

Hel

The second planet in the Odin System is called Hel, named after the Norse goddess of death. Hel is a turbulent geologically active planet which lives up to its name.

 

Balder

 Balder

The third planet Balder is an Earth-sized world with a similar gravity and atmosphere.  It is named after the Norse god who was the son of Odin and the favourite of the gods.  It has one moon named Hoder. Balder is a geologically active planet with a continuous rocky, mountainous terrain.  Unlike Earth, Balder contains most of its water underground.  Caves are a common geological form. Water on Balder has a very high mineral content and is very saline.  Most of the large creatures on Balder exhibit qualities of both reptiles and mammals on Earth.  Plant life consists mostly of lichen-like and moss-like plants.  Vines are the dominant plant, covering rock spires and mountain ranges, sometimes reaching several meters in diameter.

A repto-mammal that hangs from cliffs and lures in small flying nectar-sucking creatures - its mouth resembles a certain flower and oozes oil that smells like the nectar. 

One of the exobiologists on the team stated that this was not a dinosaur. I beg to differ.

 .

An actual flying snake, well it was really more of a clumsy glider, flapping and gliding from one cliff to the other. The landscape was littered with high jutting cliffs, making this creature quite at home

Njord

The chilly water world of Njord

The fourth planet Njord is a chilled water world. It is named after the Norse god of ships and the sea.  It has one moon, Aegir.

Njord is 82% water.  Its planetary climate resembles that of the Northern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans on Earth.  Most of the dry land consists of large mountainous archipelagos near its equator.  The equatorial ocean is more shallow and warmer than the deep, usually frozen, polar ocean.

Aquatic life on Njord is extremely diverse.  The largest numbers of species resemble the fish of Earth.  There are no mammal-like creatures anywhere on the planet.  Most of the scientists that have explored Njord say that it resembles Earth during its Devonian Era, though much colder.

One of the surprises of Njord is the existence of several large shark-like creatures.  The largest carnivore creature on the planet, the Fury Fish (Pistrix furiosus) make the Earth's sharks seem tame in comparison.  After the death of several explorers, a planet-wide caution is in place to anyone near a body of water that is connected to the open ocean.

the Fury Fish (Pistrix furiosus

Pistris piscatus - Distant cousin to the Fury Fish, this creature takes a gulp of water into its "blowhole", and then pulls itself through shallows (and sometimes on to shore) using its arm-like fins in order to capture trapped prey. 

Pistrix tenoris -- Related to the Fury Fish, this slow relation uses baleen to sieve the waters of the ocean world of Njord.

Thor

 

Thor

Thor, named after the Norse god of thunder and the sky, is a gas super giant.  It has two rocky moons, Fjorgynn and Sif.  The moons are warm desert worlds even though they are in the planetary cold zone.  As a gas supergiant, Thor radiates heat, passing it along to its moons.  Due to the distance from the inner planets and solar winds, Thor’s heat has little effect upon the smaller planets of the system.

Loki

 Loki is the last planet of the system.  It is named after the Norse god of mischief.

It is a gas giant, with one moon named Sigyn.

Loki

Next in the series : The Aten-Ra Star System