Rainbow World

Rainbow Worlds are "worlds whose radiant energies defy all scanners producing a rainbow-like image". When seen from space they appear as yellow. There are 10 of them in the area of space in which Star Control II takes part. Each one is the first planet orbiting a star. When seen from HyperSpace, these stars lie on two lines intersecting at Groombridge. It is believed that the arrow-like pattern they form is supposed to point the direction of the Precursor departure.¹

The Spathi mention a Precursor text refering to what they translated as "10 artificial `waste disposal sites`". Similarly, the Slylandro Joyous Lifting remembers that the "Shaggy Ones" (the Precursors) either discovered or assembled a set of 10 worlds and organized them in some pattern. He describes the location of two such worlds. The Thraddash likewise have discovered ancient text fragments which describe "Precursor Dumps" and state that the "Dumps are in some kind of pattern." It is generally assumed that these are all references to the rainbow worlds.

Rainbow Worlds are rich in already-processed radioactives, but more importantly, the Melnorme give 500 credits for the whereabouts of each newly discovered world. It is sufficient to orbit the planet for its location to be registered in a ship's log; No scan of any kind is required.

Table of Rainbow World locations

World	Star Location	Refered to by
Beta Pegasi I	039.5 : 745.8	Slylandro
Epsilon Draconis I	283.6 : 785.7	Thraddash
Epsilon Lipi I	543.7 : 827.0
Beta Leporis I	766.6 : 866.6	Supox
Gamma Aquarii I	853.4 : 879.7
Groombridge I	996.0 : 904.2	Slylandro
Alpha Andromedae I	862.5 : 700.0
Gamma Reticuli I	741.6 : 508.3
Gamma Kepler I	602.0 : 297.9
Zeta Sextantis I	468.1 : 091.6	Tanaka/Katana

Pattern in HyperSpace

Notes and references

¹From a mail by Paul Reiche III to a Star Control II player:

the arrow points the direction of the Precursor Migration -- and the supposed direction for the sequel to follow.