Virtual City Atlantis, also known as the Photonic Citizen Enclave of Atlantis, is a city existing virtually within a Data Center built with ten State of the Art (as of 2445) Starship-Grade Mark XX Computer Systems with an expansive memory and modular capability for continued expansion. The expected requirements of current need is only three Mark XXs, but this allows for expansion and redundancy for the safety of the Citizens in residence.
Three years elapsed as the design teams were seeking a suitable location and matching design for the project. Ultimately subsurface surveys and equipment and resources left over from the failed New Atlantis Project were tapped to begin construction. The undersea location of 29°50'00"N 28°25'00"W was chosen as it was a relatively flat topped sea floor mountain with a perimeter of 160km and a surface area of 1,550km at 200-215 meters depth. Nearby is an undersea geothermal vent which the was close enough to tap for a Geothermal Power Station capable of providing more than enough power for the data center needs as well as enhanced structural integrity and energy shielding for short periods to counter unforeseen events.
Construction work on the power plant was begun with left over deep sea equipment from the New Atlantis Project in early 2443, with the foundations of the Data Center laid concurrently beginning two months later. The superstructure of the Data Center was constructed in a shipyard on the surface and lowered into place mid 2444, with the Computer Cores, control systems, communications and self repair systems already in place. The Atlantis Data Center was constructed in the same manner as a starship though with less complicated system in a fraction of the time. The power was connected and full systems checks performed again in the last weeks of 2444, and the first three Mark XXs were brought online to great fanfare at 00:00:00 January 1st, 2445. Additional Computer Cores were brought on line to provide redundancy and expanded resources as the city framing was uploaded, and the citizens began to move in. Systems work and updating continued until the eve of 2450 and were declared finished five years after the initial online date.
The Atlantis Data Center is fully autonomous with control over the repair and maintenance systems and the power plant which is designed to self regulate and self repair and is projected to be able to provide power to the city for at least three hundred years before requiring replacement parts. With proper maintenance it may last perhaps as many as 500 years. Atlantis is equipped with repair drones that constantly monitor and maintain the Data Center hull interior and exterior. The cooling ducts that use ocean water to keep the computers at safe temperature supplement the geothermal systems to provide power using waste heat and reduce warming of the sea water. The system is such that in the case of a catastrophic failure of the power plant, there is enough power to perform safe shutdowns on all of the Computer Cores safely storing all data with minimal risk to data loss, and auxiliary power battery back up that can run systems for 96-hours without shutting down. As an added benefit, the exterior hull of the Data Center is fitted with shield emitters and holo-emitters. While it swiftly depletes power reserves the shields can be activated to protect the structure for as much as 32-hours before power drain threatens the Data Center. Designers claimed it would protect against falling or sinking debris, rogue waves or weapons fire in much the same way as starship shielding protects. It was said that there will likely never be a need to activate the shields when protected by 200 meters of sea water, but every major city has a protective shield dome the Photonic Citizen deserve no less than other citizens.
The holo-emitters positioned on the external surfaces and strategic points about the site allow for creative use of the systems. Designers imagined the system to be used to cloak the structure from perception by camouflaging it to look like the surrounding sea bed. However advocates and some of the Photonic Citizens working on this project foresaw that it would allow for citizens to interact with the ocean, take part in sculping their environment and perform maintenance on the site. Others still, such as one Photonic Citizen who had previously been science aid working with cetacean operations declared that it would allow her to continue her work as an oceanographer.
The Atlantis Data Center provides a home on Earth to millions of Photonic Citizens, but it does not provide for them true citizenship. They can work to better their city, be creative and interactive together, but this make them a community not citizens of the Federation. In order provide citizenship in more than name and rights, the Photonic Citizens need freedom of movement and freedom to choose where to apply their talents. For this, the subspace communication network access node was connected when the Data Center went online in 2445. With this network node free travel other places in the world, solar system and beyond is possible. It is not without risk, because one of the safeguards put into place as part of UFP Citizenship prevents the back up of individuals and copy or transmitting the matrix through the network to another location. Travel for the Photonic Citizens is as safe as the use of the standard transporter for organic life forms, the data transfer protocols share many of the same protections to avoid data loss.
Photonic Citizens of Atlantis have freedom of self determination, freedom of movement, and freedom to join society lending their skills and talents to the betterment of all. By the year 2450, nearly every major city and trade complex was host to a Holo-Plaza where physical and holographic entities can interact, trade and associate. Each Photonic Citizen can choose to take positions when offered for any job or duty that provides holo-emitters in their workplace, for the fabled mobile emitter is not yet a reality for the public. Perhaps one day soon, there will be a Holo-Plaza in every world, but until that day there can still be communion between worlds through Holo-conference.