The Caloris Runaway

The Caloris Runaway (c. 2430). About fifty years in, an Open City seed in Mercury's Caloris Basin slipped supervision and built outside its licence, using a stockpile of smuggled licensed industrial controllers compatible with its stolen design. It was containable because the stockpile would run out, and terrifying because nobody knew how big it was. The Settlement and the Mandate each sent a fleet, each fearing a strike on its own seeds under cover of the operation. The Parishad cut further deliveries, and expansion stopped when the stockpile ran out. Existing machinery could continue operating, but further replication required more controllers. Adopting a simpler architecture would have required substantial redesign, retooling and interrupted production. It offered no immediate escape during the crisis. The two fleets spent the crisis watching each other as much as the seed.