Phase One: Discovery
2032 - Antonio Juarez first publishes a paper postulating the existance of Z-space, a three-dimensional "dimension" that exists parallel but unconnected to our own. His theories attract little attention.
2037 - The first item, a satellite-like probe, is sent into Z-space by Antonio Juarez. It is never heard from again.
2038 - The Elk Woods Disaster. A twenty-mile section of Manitoba, almost perfectly hemispherical, containing Antonio Juarez' lab (and Dr. Juarez) disappears off of the face of the Earth. Interest in Dr. Juarez' work explodes overnight.
2042 - Lee Kwan-Chu replicates Dr. Juarez' results in a Chinese laboratory.
2044 - Scientists working in New Mexico construct a device capable of two Z-jumps. It not only succeeds in jumping, it returns to the precise spot it disappeared from seconds later. Subsequent tests show that Z-jumping items are being exposed to hard vacuum.
2045 - An instrument-bearing probe is successfully Z-jumped and returned. The data from the probe reveal that it had been translated to a point in interstellar space one hundred and fifty seven light years from Earth.
2053 - The first manned probe is successfully Z-jumped and returned to the point in orbit from which it left.
2054 - The Mann extensions to the Juarez equations allow for the calculation of an infinite set of Z-jump end coordinates. However, the nature of Z-space is fractal; Z-space does not map to "real space". Thus it is impossible to predict where a particular Z-coordinate will drop out into real space.
2056 - The United States begins the 'Blindfighter' project, a methodical program of sending probes to random Z-coordinates.
2058 - One of the Blindfighter probes emerges within the L-178 solar system.
2060 - A manned probe to the L-178 solar systems reveals no habitable planets.
2061 - Probes to the J-992 solar system discover monocellular life.
2062 - Probes to the M-54 solar system discover multi-cellular life.
2062 - An unmanned probe to the Vesuvio system fails to return. This is the third disappearance of an unmanned probe - the recently constructed lunar reactor opts to use the Vesuvio coordinates, thought to be inside a star, as a means of disposing of their spent fuel rods.
2063 - A manned probe investigating the twelfth solar system hit by the Blindfighter project discovers a marginally habitable planet, named 'Stinson's World' after the commander of the probe.
2063 - China, Russia, Japan, and the European Union all begin Blindfighter-like programs of their own.
2065 - One of the Japanese probes picks up alien radio transmissions from a star a hundred and fifty light years from the probe's location. They are the first signs of intelligent life elsewhere in space. There is no known Z-jump destination closer to the planet of origin.
2066 - A Chinese probe discovers New Canton, a marginally habitable world three hundred light years from Earth.
2069 - An unmanned probe emerges from a randomly chosen Z-coordinate within the Sol solar system, just beyond the orbit of Mars. A jointly-built and -manned space station is constructed there over the next dozen years.
2072 - A Russian probe discovers Ruska Nova.
2072 - A American probe from the Blindfighter 2 project discovers 'Grove's World', the first nearly Earth-like planet, with multiple indiginous ecosystems.
2078 - Scientists led by Jonas Frink improve upon the Z-space translation algorithms, allowing Z-jumping down second-order fractal branches. In layman's terms, it is now possible to place jump destinations only a few hundred thousand miles from other jump destinations with a high probability (82.525%) of success.
2079 - the discovery of the Bicidees (dubbed such from the first three musical notes involved in their self-given name) by the exploration vessel Ragout. (See Leaps and Bounds.)
2082 - The human population on Grove's World reaches ten thousand.