Inside the Argus System: The World Behind Particle Death
Argus Station orbits between the system's first planet, Eos, and the lush habitable planet of Ionos, positioned to service both the Ionos routes and the deep-space corridors leading to the outer planet of Ouranos, and the deep black beyond the asteroid belt. It is close enough to Ionos for a supply run, far enough that its residents consider themselves a separate world.
The Argites are the system's defining oddity: a microscopic particulate organism native to the mining planet of Eos. Left alone, they are inert. After being harvested and refined, they can be deployed to any application with electric or bioelectric impulses. They are used in ship and weapons manufacturing, 3d printing technology, and systems maintenance. This is precisely why every faction in the system wants a stake in the trade. Argite futures move faster than any currency on the station, and more than one character in the Particle Death series makes their living from the Argite economy. Holding the exclusive Argus System charter is the mega-conglomerate Barbarant Corporation, which sits in the Cathedral City on the barren surface of Eos. They control nearly every aspect of life in the Argus System.
Argus Station itself runs on a fusion core supplemented by a solar collection array angled toward the system's single star. The core alone could power the station, but the array buys redundancy, a hedge against the kind of failure that station engineers discuss in low voices and never in writing.
BarCor agents are always listening. Waiting. Watching. Always.
