• Most visitors to the Sirius system are disappointed at how little there is to see, given its
importance in human history. It has numerous firsts to its name, in addition to being the
brightest star in the sky of ancient Earthbound humans. Doubtless the guides in the Sirius
Museum Complex on Lucifer will tell you, this was the first entirely corporate system, and the
location of the first commercial production of anti-matter based fuels.
• Most historians now tell a different story, however, about how Sirius became rich
during the First Interstellar War. The Sirius Corporation was set up by a group of rich
industrialists from Earth, in order to exploit the discovery of a way to store a stable atom of
anti-matter within a complex molecule and use it as a fuel. Sirius first started production in
2350, supplying the Federation war fleet, whose ships had been adapted to use the new fuel.
This caused a major swing in the Federation's fortunes, but only a few years later Imperial
ships were similarly equipped, cancelling the advantage. It is now known that Sirius supplied
both sides, engineering convenient shortages whenever one side was winning, thus greatly
prolonging the war (and increasing their own income). Though it is not denied by Sirius today,
it is blamed on a few unscrupulous individuals, who are now long dead. This Gazetteer does
not wish to suggest in any way that the Sirius Corporation today would do any such thing.
• Lucifer itself is an interesting planet. It orbits Sirius B very closely indeed, hence the
enormous power the corporation can extract using the coils wrapped around the planet, and
from their solar collector panels. Visitors should beware of the high radiation levels mainly
from Sirius B, but also from the fuel plant. The numerous volcanoes are quite a sight,
and small craft can be hired to go on a slingshot path close to the fearsomely dense white
dwarf. This is supposed to be the "ride of a lifetime," though be warned - there have been
many fatal accidents.
Entry by David Braben
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