The Demonstration
Life, Trauma/ Loss
On May 18th, 2045, a demonstration was held on an island off the coast near Brownsville, Texas, USA. That demonstration, intended to prove to a number of corporate interests that practical and portable fusion power had been achieved, went horribly wrong.
Sometime around 2030 an individual living in the United States of America, a large and powerful nation of Earth at that time, began working on a little-studied form of fusion power. Following the work of Dr. Robert Goddard, an early space and nuclear power pioneer. This individual, who's name is lost to history, achieved breakthrough success in 2040. By 2045 this person, recorded in surviving records only as "Father", was ready to demonstrate a practical, commercial, portable fusion power system. The system was portable in the sense that it was small enough to move without disassembly. Weighing in at a minimum of 20 tons it was not, in any sense, easy to move, but it could be used to power a large freighter or military vessel, or scaled up to power a city. The demonstration took place on a small barrier island about five kilometers off shore near the small city of Brownsville, Texas. Something went terribly wrong at this demonstration, and for years there was speculation that the demonstration was sabotaged. The practical result was the death of both mother and father of seven young adult sisters, as well as over one hundred of the most elite among the world's wealthy and powerful.
Less than thirty days later, on June 14th, 2045, the Pleiades Corporation was formed.