Workshop of the Telescopes; Or, Memos from the Damocles Working Group Regarding a Confection-Based Black Hole Feed System

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DAMOCLES
INITIATIVE

Sic itur ad astra

From	O5-03 (Overseer, O5 Council)
Subject	Welcome to the Damocles Initiative
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Ladies and gentlemen,

Congratulations. As of this moment, you are now involved in the most significant human engineering project in unrecorded history.

Your task is to find a means to construct and launch a crewed interstellar spacecraft before the end of this year.

Attached, you will find briefing materials explaining why this is necessary, which should also help you determine the requisite performance parameters of the spacecraft. I won't go into more detail now, but suffice to say that this may be the most important project ever undertaken by the Foundation.

This is an Article 13 operation, which means you'll be working with a similar team from the Global Occult Coalition. They'll be providing additional expertise in thaumatology and esoteric paratechnology that will likely be useful.

All of you have been given Level 5 Damocles clearances, which provides Thaumiel access to all space-related anomalies and assets, and Restricted access to most other SCP objects; you are also entitled to request elevated access on any anomalies or assets that you believe will be useful for this project. Similar clearances have been provided to you for GOC files, and you are allowed and encouraged to exchange information with your counterparts.

I want a preliminary proposal from you all that I can present to the rest of the Council and the Undersecretary-General by the end of the day.

Godspeed.

O5-03

1 Attachment:
ISHMAEL_BREAKAWAY_Briefing_O5.scppt

From	Dr. Jukka Piirainen (Senior Researcher, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory)
Subject	Re:Welcome to the Damocles Initiative
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Son of a bitch. I would've bet money that we'd already done aliens.

Jukka Piirainen, PhD
Assistant Director of Research, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Priorities
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Obviously, this is impossible. If it were possible, we wouldn't be the ones doing it.

Start with a review of all space anomalies in-system. And any vehicular anomalies we have in containment. Check out any perpetual motion machines, anything ectoentropic, and anything that might be extraterrestrial in origin — we might even have something from Alula Borealis that got written off before. Start thinking of ways to combine them. Don't worry about con procs or cross-testing protocols. Three is asking us to do the impossible, so the impossible is what she's gonna get.

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Re:Priorities
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Already started — did you know we have a fucking moon base? Not that it does us any good — the pool has a fixed set of exit points. It might be useful for moving construction materials if we get to that stage, but otherwise it's a bust. Especially since it needs a human traveller to cycle between destinations — seems wasteful.

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	Dr. Tabitha Marston (Containment Specialist, Overwatch Command)
Subject	Re:Re:Priorities
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Actually, it works with rats too. PLabs developed a breed of super-smart lab rats for use in cognition studies, and it turns out they can be used to trigger a bunch of different anomalies that would otherwise require a human. It's how we built the moon base.

Tabitha Marston
Unattached Containment Specialist, Astrophysical Anomalies

From	Pierre Duval (Combat Epistemologist, PHYSICS Division)
Subject	Re:Re:Re:Priorities
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

I'm not sure that's actually any more ethical than just using human test subjects.

Pierre Duval, PhD, ThD
Warlock, United Church of Satan (Scientist)

From	Dr. Jukka Piirainen (Senior Researcher, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory)
Subject	Re:Re:Re:Re:Priorities
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Forget the moon base, forget the rats. I've been going through the GOC files — they have a goddamn PLUTO base. Crazy fuckers use apportation for resupply. The backlash must be horrific.

Jukka Piirainen, PhD
Assistant Director of Research, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory

From	Dr. Lilith Thornton (Professor, ICSUT Zurich)
Subject	Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Priorities
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

You don't know the half of it. Once, the backlash created a perfect doppelganger for each of the apportation targets. The doubles melted over the course of five minutes — screaming the entire time. Also, it set off an undersea volcano, and a whale died.

Professor Lilith Thornton
Chair of Multiversal Studies, ICSUT Zurich

From	Dr. Tabitha Marston (Containment Specialist, Overwatch Command)
Subject	Got something
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Found something in our files from PLabs — looks like they were trying to pull a Canvera 20 years ago. Take a look at this: they were gonna use a subatomic black hole to power a starship. They got as far as building the gamma ray reflector before ditching it in orbit around Herculina.

Tabitha Marston
Unattached Containment Specialist, Astrophysical Anomalies

1 Attachment:
Project_Daedalus_Overview.pdf

From	Dr. Jukka Piirainen (Senior Researcher, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory)
Subject	Re:Got something
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Goddamn. Can't fault their ambition. Shame it's not finished.

Jukka Piirainen, PhD
Assistant Director of Research, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Re:Re:Got something
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Sorry, did you find another interstellar vessel lying around for us to salvage? Maybe orbiting Ceres?

They finished the superstructure and most of the drive. All we have to do is fit the internal systems and ignite the black hole.

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	Dr. Jukka Piirainen (Senior Researcher, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory)
Subject	Re:Re:Re:Got something
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Right, of course, all we have to do is create a black hole. Easy.

Jukka Piirainen, PhD
Assistant Director of Research, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Re:Got something
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Tabby, I'm looking at these figures from PL, and I don't know if this is going to work. Look at the thrust profile, the acceleration is measured in centimeters per second per second. Canvera's Fifthists are burning out-system at almost a full gee. We'll never catch them with this, even if we could ignite the black hole.

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Re:Re:Got something
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

That's an engineering problem. We can solve it later. Three wants a preliminary proposal, and so far retrofitting the Daedalus looks like our best option. Unless any of you have a better idea?

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	Dr. Jukka Piirainen (Senior Researcher, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory)
Subject	Another "engineering problem"
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

What about Herculina's defenses?

Jukka Piirainen, PhD
Assistant Director of Research, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Re:Another "engineering problem"
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

That's a tactical problem.

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	Pierre Duval (Combat Epistemologist, PHYSICS Division)
Subject	Re:Re:Another "engineering problem"
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

It's hardly even that. Prometheus' automated defenses don't target the Daedalus, so just keep it between you and the asteroid.

Pierre Duval, PhD, ThD
Warlock, United Church of Satan (Scientist)

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Re:Got something
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Ship it. If we come up with a better idea, we can always pitch it later.

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Preliminary Proposal of the Damocles Working Group
To	O5-03 (Overseer, O5 Council)

After a great deal of research and discussion, we've concluded that our best option is to repurpose an existing anomalous asset. Prometheus Labs began to construct an interstellar spaceship in 1996, but the project was canceled and it remains abandoned. We believe that, with the combined resources of the Foundation and Global Occult Coalition, we will be able to retrofit the remains of the Daedalus into a suitable spacecraft for the Damocles Initiative.

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	O5-03 (Overseer, O5 Council)
Subject	Re:Preliminary Proposal of the Damocles Working Group
To	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)

Approved. Do you have a plan for how this will be accomplished?

O5-03

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Re:Re:Preliminary Proposal of the Damocles Working Group
To	O5-03 (Overseer, O5 Council)

We are ironing out the details right now.

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Three has given us the greenlight
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Okay, how the FUCK are we going to do this?

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Step One: Identify the Problem(s)
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

How do we get to this thing?
How do we ignite a black hole?
How do we increase the thrust?
What other systems need to be installed?
How do we ignite a black hole???

First thing's first. It's too far out into the Belt to use conventional rocketry, and we'd run the risk of being shot down by the asteroid's defense grid. What are our unconventional options?

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

From	Dr. Jukka Piirainen (Senior Researcher, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory)
Subject	Nature abhors apportation
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Just spitballing here, but maybe we could use the same method they use to resupply their PLUTO BASE?

Jukka Piirainen, PhD
Assistant Director of Research, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory

From	Dr. Lilith Thornton (Professor, ICSUT Zurich)
Subject	Re:Nature abhors apportation
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Apportation does seem like our best bet. The backlash shouldn't be too unreasonable. A few million gallons of seawater turned into blood, the occasional rain of frogs here and there, and maybe a small earthquake.

Professor Lilith Thornton
Chair of Multiversal Studies, ICSUT Zurich

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Next problem
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Alright, that's progress. What about the black hole?

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Re:Next problem
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Pass. I've been thinking about the thrust issue. Could we lighten the hull using thaumaturgy?

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	Dr. Lilith Thornton (Professor, ICSUT Zurich)
Subject	Re:Re:Next problem
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Probably, but there's a limit to how much we can lighten things before compromising structural integrity. You might be able to double the acceleration that way, but it sounds like that still wouldn't be enough.

Professor Lilith Thornton
Chair of Multiversal Studies, ICSUT Zurich

From	Dr. Tabitha Marston (Containment Specialist, Overwatch Command)
Subject	I hate to ask
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Definitely not. Even if we canceled the entire mass of the ship, we still wouldn't be close to a full gee of acceleration — the black hole is too heavy and doesn't put out enough power.

Do we know if thaumaturgy works on black holes? Could we use the same trick to reduce its effective mass?

Tabitha Marston
Unattached Containment Specialist, Astrophysical Anomalies

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Let's not
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Before we open up that can of worms, there's a much simpler solution here. We use a smaller black hole, one that actually has less mass.

Less massive black hole = more power output and less mass to accelerate. If we can get the hull down to a hundred thousand metric tons, a black hole half that mass would get us 1g.

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

From	Dr. Tabitha Marston (Containment Specialist, Overwatch Command)
Subject	Great idea, small problem
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

It would also explode in four months.

Tabitha Marston
Unattached Containment Specialist, Astrophysical Anomalies

From	Dr. Lilith Thornton (Professor, ICSUT Zurich)
Subject	Re:Great idea, small problem
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Wait, why? And how are you getting power out of it in the first place?

Professor Lilith Thornton
Chair of Multiversal Studies, ICSUT Zurich

From	Dr. Tabitha Marston (Containment Specialist, Overwatch Command)
Subject	Re:Re:Great idea, small problem
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Hawking radiation. Black holes radiate at a temperature inversely proportional to their mass. They get hotter as they shrink, and shrink faster as they get hotter. And then they explode.

Tabitha Marston
Unattached Containment Specialist, Astrophysical Anomalies

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Re:Great idea, small problem
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Yeah, that's a problem. Could we feed mass into it to keep it stable?

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Re:Re:Great idea, small problem
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

How? It'll start out burning several kilos a second, and it'll only get faster as it shrinks. Even if we stop in every star system along the way to shovel a small moon into the intake, we'll never beat the fivefuckers there when their spaceship literally runs on the power of positive thinking.

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	Dr. Tabitha Marston (Containment Specialist, Overwatch Command)
Subject	Screw entropy
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Isn't there a reference tag for stuff that creates mass out of thin air? There's gotta be something in lockup that we could use to feed this thing.

Tabitha Marston
Unattached Containment Specialist, Astrophysical Anomalies

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Too hot to handle?
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

I'll look. In the meantime, are we sure that the drive system can handle a black hole that small? It'll be radiating at over 2 million billion degrees.

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

From	Dr. Tabitha Marston (Containment Specialist, Overwatch Command)
Subject	Re:Too hot to handle?
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

In what units?

Tabitha Marston
Unattached Containment Specialist, Astrophysical Anomalies

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Re:Re:Too hot to handle?
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Any units.

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Re:Too hot to handle?
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

I think we should be good? The reflector is electronium, so it shouldn't have any issues. The supercon blades might be a concern, but PL's docs say they're rated to withstand a supernova. So it's probably fine.

Yeah, we should probably test that.

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Re:Screw entropy
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Alright, I think I might have a solution for our mass problem — nutrition too, in a pinch. Take a look at this.

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

1 Attachment:
L2-871.scptxt

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Re:Re:Screw entropy
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Okay, this is promising. Any ideas on how we funnel the output into the black hole though? The mouth is going to be less than a tenth of an attometer. I don't think we can mash them up into a particle beam without triggering the replication.

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	Dr. Jukka Piirainen (Senior Researcher, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory)
Subject	Shrink the problem
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Anyone got a shrink ray?

Jukka Piirainen, PhD
Assistant Director of Research, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Re:Shrink the problem
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

I think Tom had one. Doesn't fit our specs, though. What about that funnel, what number was that?

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

From	Dr. Tabitha Marston (Containment Specialist, Overwatch Command)
Subject	Re:Re:Shrink the problem
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

This one?

Tabitha Marston
Unattached Containment Specialist, Astrophysical Anomalies

1 Attachment:
L2-786.scptxt

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Let it eat cake
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Yeah. If we set up a mechanism to sort the cakes into equal mass piles, we could run them through the funnel until they're subatomic and drop them straight into the hole. Free energy, and dessert to boot.

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

From	Pierre Duval (Combat Epistemologist, PHYSICS Division)
Subject	Re:Let it eat cake
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

…Cakes?

Pierre Duval, PhD, ThD
Warlock, United Church of Satan (Scientist)

From	Pierre Duval (Combat Epistemologist, PHYSICS Division)
Subject	Re:Re:Let it eat cake
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Why in the name of Satan do you even have this thing? Do you know how quickly an exponential mass replicator could destroy the planet, left unchecked? When we find a threat like this we destroy it on sight.

Pierre Duval, PhD, ThD
Warlock, United Church of Satan (Scientist)

From	Dr. Phoebe Harlan (Senior Researcher, Metamaterials Workshop)
Subject	Re:Re:Re:Let it eat cake
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

We have an institutional inclination towards hoarding. Good thing, too — it's exactly what we need to make this work.

Dr. Phoebe Harlan
Program Supervisor, Applied Composites

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	About the black hole
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

And we're back to the problem of igniting a micro black hole. PL had machinery to do it, but it's stuck inside that damn asteroid. What's our solution?

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

From	Dr. Tabitha Marston (Containment Specialist, Overwatch Command)
Subject	Re:About the black hole
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

It's a kugelblitz. We just need to get a lot of energy into one place at one time. Some extremely high power demolition. Isn’t that the GOC’s motto?

Tabitha Marston
Unattached Containment Specialist, Astrophysical Anomalies

From	Pierre Duval (Combat Epistemologist, PHYSICS Division)
Subject	You hoard cakes
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

If you took five seconds to stop assigning boxes to everything that ever spooked you, you’d realize that the Global Occult Coalition is a diverse and complex organization that does far more than just blow things up.

That said, this sounds like a job for the Gormogons.

An array of bomb-pumped lasers, augmented with thaumaturgy, is probably the best way to get the energy density you need. And when it comes to combining magic and explosives, they're the only real experts.

Pierre Duval, PhD, ThD
Warlock, United Church of Satan (Scientist)

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Let's wrap this up
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

Seems like we've worked out tenative solutions to the major issues, at least.

The GOC can use apportation to get our engineering teams out to the Daedalus
We'll use a smaller black hole to get more thrust, and lighten the ship as much as we can using thaumaturgy (as well as more conventional mass saving methods)
We'll use SCP-871 and SCP-786 to feed mass into the black hole at a steady rate to offset the mass lost from Hawking radiation
The Gormogons will supervise the construction of a thaumo-nuclear bomb-pumped laser array that will be used to ignite the black hole
Installation of remaining operational systems will be handled by on-site engineering crews; figuring out what systems will be needed for the mission, other than propulsion, is outside the scope of this working group

I think that's enough pre-production to start inking things out. I'll get to work on the schematics for cake sorting, shrinkage, and propulsion. A confection-based black hole feed system. Rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it?

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

From	Dr. Jukka Piirainen (Senior Researcher, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory)
Subject	Three's going to love this
To	gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD#gnikroW.5L\|SELCOMAD (Damocles Working Group, Provisional)

So which one of you wants to tell Three that we've designed a starship powered entirely by cake?

Jukka Piirainen, PhD
Assistant Director of Research, Esoteric Propulsion Laboratory

From	Dr. Song Jin-ho (Senior Researcher, Experimental Fusion Laboratory)
Subject	Final Proposal of the Damocles Working Group
To	O5-03 (Overseer, O5 Council)

I’ve attached our full proposal below.

The good news is that we have a plan. We should be able to construct, power, and staff the ship, and the ship will be capable of reaching Alula Borealis at approximately the same time as our adversaries.

The bad news is everything else about this plan.

Dr. Song Jin-ho
Principal Investigator, MICROSTAR

2 Attachments:
Damocles_Report.scppt
Antoinette_Machine.scpng

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