Jack Frost
Another Story of Bubblegum Crisis

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(c) Michael White, June, 1996
Author's Note: Genom is probably copyrighted by someone else, I dunno who.
Not to be
distributed at a profit, 'cause you'll get sued and I might. Most of the
pre-97 stuff actually happened, but the details and dates are fuzzy. It'd be
a good idea to read this before the story, and there aren't any spoilers.
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Jack Frost Chronology

(<Date: April 23 - September 15, 1958>) Unusual seismic activity is recorded
on and around the Canadian Shield area. No explaination seemed forthcoming,
and the activity is so negligible that no serious effort is made to find one.

(<Date: July 16, 1964>) Research vessels commisioned to map parts of the
ocean floor on the Grand Banks record similar tectonic disturbances to those
found 6 years prior. Again, no explaination is apparent.

(<Date: 1970's>) A world-wide oil crisis comes into being. Efforts are made
to locate new oil reservoirs as market prices skyrocket.

(<Date: September 16, 1974>) A scientific study commisioned by the Canada's
Department of Natural Resources recommends an exploration for oil be
conducted on the Grand Banks, a large continental shelf off of Canada's east
coast.

(<Date: May 4, 1975>) The research/drilling ship 'Hibernia'  discovers a
small reservoir of oil 400km off the coast of Nova Scotia, 120km north of
Sable Island, a large sandbar once referred to as 'The Graveyard of the
Atlantic' due to the many shipwrecks that occured there over the past century.

(<Date: July 23, 1975 - June 6, 1976>) Extensive drilling of this site finds
it worth exploiting, but only barely. The oil is of a lower quality that its
middle-eastern counterparts, and the reservoir itself is on the small side.
Still, the 'Hibernia Project' is approved, and construction begins in ernest.

(<Date: November 14, 1985>) The oil crisis has passed. The Hibernia Project
is put on 'indefinite suspension' due to its questionable neccessity and
mammoth cost.

(<Date: March 30, 1989>) A sagging economy rekindles interest in the
Hibernia Project as a potential source of jobs. Also, several oil companies
and the Atlantic provinces agree to help fund it in exchange for some of the
profit and drilling rights. Construction resumes.

(<Date: June 19, 1992>) An artificial island over the site is constructed.

(<Date: August 16, 1993>) In a potentially fatal blow to the project, Gulf
Oil Co. goes bankrupt. The remainder of the investors agree to give
additional funding, most of which comes from the provinces. Construction
continues.

(<Date: June 2, 1996>) Nautilis Oil Development Co. is given permission to
search for oil underneath Sable Island.

(<Date: November 8, 1997>) The first oil is drawn from the Hibernia site. It
is of unimpressive quality, but production commences anyway. The project
loses $2.3 million in its first year.

(<Date: January 10, 1998>) NODC makes a *major* oil find deep beneath Sable
Island. The field they discover is the single largest ever found on the face
of the planet, stretching far beyond Sable Island. It is discovered that the
oil found by the Hibernia was merely a pocket of this field that happened to
be near the surface.

(<Date: January 10, 1998 - June 5, 2000>) Bickering over who controls this
oil field delays the start of production. It is decreed that no foriegn
country or company more than 20% foriegn-owned may drill on the field, which
is entirely in Canadian waters ( Redefined Maritime Boundaries Law, World
Court, August 11, 1999 ). This disqualifies most oil companies in Canada,
including NODC and the Irving Empire. A World Court challenge is defeated.

(<Date: July 22, 2000>) The Canadian government enters into a partnership
with the heretofore unheard-of National Oil Co. to build a massive oil
platform over a small portion of the field, an area of 45 square kilometers.
The estimated cost is $234 billion. After seeing a report on as to how much
oil is contained in those fields, world banks have no qualms about loaning
Canada and NOC the money.

(<Date: October 12, 2013>) The platform is 70% complete, and small-scale
production
commences. The platform itself looks like a conventional oil rig, save for
its mammoth size and its almost completely flat dorsal surface. Unlike the
now-defunct Hibernia field, the oil it recovers is of acceptable quality,
and the project makes a profit of $2.4 billion in its first year operating
at 10% capacity.

(<Date: July 19, 2015>) A second, smaller oil field is discovered deep
beneath the center of the Canadian shield. Scientists realize the link
between the tectonic readings recorded both there and at Sable Island and
begin searching for similar readings around the world to no avail. The
federal government and NOC agree to develop that field once the Sable Island
project is completed.

(<Date: August 24, 2016>) California secedes from the United States of America.

(<Date: February 11 - April 31, 2017>) The Great Pacific Rim Quakes
devastate the US,
Canada, Japan, and several other countries. The Sable Island project, now
80% complete, is put on hold while disaster relief is sent to Canada's west
coast.

(<Date: July 2, 2017>) The newly formed government of California, unable to
cope with the financial burden of rebuilding the newborn country, collapses.
The corporations it was indebted to move in and seize the land, despite a
United Nations protest.

(<Date: July 2, 2017 - December 8, 2025>) The infamous California Project
takes place.

(<Date: July 1, 2020>) The Sable Island Oil Drilling MegaPlatform is
officially opened. A tunnel between the island and nearby Nova Scotia is
completed, and a small town is been built on the surface of the platform for
the workers and their families.

(<Date: November 25, 2020>) Permission is granted for the development of an
entire *city* on the flat surface of the platform. Sable City is born.

(<Date: March 29, 2024>) Scandal strikes the project as it is revealed that
the National Oil Co. is in fact 80% owned by Genom, Inc. NOC's drilling
rights are revoked, and it threatens to dismantle the platform to take every
component with NOC stamped on it with them. This is averted when
NovaRobotics, a burgening new company, offers NOC $88 billion for its rights
to the platform. NOC, faced with a costly legal dispute should it decline,
grudgingly agrees. NovaRobotics assumes 60% control over the platform, and
with it Sable City.

(<Date: October 11, 2024>) The New Liberal Party of Canada is defeated in
general elections by the ProForm party after being in power for the majority
of the past 30 years. The ProForm party implements a program of accelerated
spending and massive budget increases funded by huge loans borrowed against
Canada's improved credit rating due to the Sable Island project. The most
notable increase is in the Department of Defense, whose budget goes from
$2.3 billion to $18.6 billion in two years.

(<Date: July 19, 2025>) Loss of NovaRobotics' Extra-Orbital Frieghter 1, and
the death of Captain Iris McInnely. This loss, accompainied by the steep
bill for purchasing NOC's drilling and property rights, forces NovaRobotics
to go public, selling shares of itself.

(<Date: August 27, 2025>) Jonathen Meyer, founder and CEO of NovaRobotics,
orders the
commencement of an 'advanced powered-armor' project.

(<Date: January 28, 2030>) Discovery of Endurium by Dr. Sarah McInnely at
the NovaRobotics Research Center in Sable City.

(<Date: Februrary 9, 2031 - Present>) Construction of the Advanced Endurium
Hostile-
Enviroment Powered Armor, code-named the 'Ice Suit'. A project to make this
powered armor into a highly advanced military weapon, code-named 'Jack
Frost', nears completion. Four prototypes are built, as are weapons modules
and one Ice Suit Assault Mobile Unit armored vehicle. An operational unit is
built on May 6, 2031. The majority of the work during this time frame is
conducted by Dr. Sarah McInnely.

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                                                                         - MW