Substances in the Re-imagined Series

An article from Science in the Re-imagined Series

Artificial gravity Computer technology Elements and substances Life sciences Naturalistic science fiction Navigation Propulsion physics

The various chemicals, elements and other substances found in the Re-imagined Series vary from the familar to the outright strange.

The Tylium Question

Tylium is a curious substance in the universe where the Twelve Colonies resides. Used by both Colonials and their foes, tylium has the properties of a mineral or fossil fuel in as that the substance is mined and refined. Like some fossil fuels, tylium isn't useable until refined. While the ore can't be detonated, its precursor (similar to refined crude oil before its refinement into gasoline and other products) is very explosive. The fuel itself isn't as explosive as precursor, however.

So, is tylium a made-up substance or would it have a counterpart or comparative substance to the elements we know of here on the real-world Earth?

One speculation is that tylium can possibly be similar to Helium-3. Helium-3 is a primordial component in the Earth's crust, is deposited via solar wind on moons and asteroids. But, while helium-3 has potention as an energy source, the amount of energy needed to ignite it (fusion) would be more than the energy it would expel for use as an energy by-product.

There is a problem with this speculation in that helium-3 is a gas, not a mineral or solid element. A tylium counterpart should be a solid, non-radioactive, and likely non-organic substance. Coal would fit the tylium concept were it not a fossil fuel, which would suggest that life forms existed and died on the celestial bodies where the substance is mined. Perhaps another element from the Periodic Table could be a counterpart of tylium.

Tylium could be an exotic primordial compound. Research by astronomers, spectrographic analysis among them, has found compounds which do not normally form on Earth, but are formed and stabilized within the unique conditions of space. Tylium could be one such compound, which would in part explain why the Colonial scouts were looking at asteroid belts rather then planets to find it. Tylium could be a primordial compound that is destabilized on contact with other elements, such as oxygen, that are commonly found on terrestial worlds.

Familiar Elements and Chemicals

Plutonium is a man-made element used primarily as the explosive in a nuclear weapon.

Diloxin is used in chemotherapy for cancer patients. Laura Roslin chose to take chamalla extract instead, which did little for her cancer, but granted her remarkable side-effects.

Other drugs such as morpha, stims, and serisone have a logical counterpart to real-world drugs such as morphine, stimulants such as amphetamines, or fluid-reduction treatments.

Re-imagined Series definition: mineral that can be refined to a powerful fuel, see: tylium

Original Series definition: a highly combustible fuel (see: tylium) ^{(TOS: "Fire in Space")}