Making Part of the Planet Completely Inaccessible
So Earth has just suffered a horrible catastrophe and most of civilization is back in a Middle Ages level of development. A few people live on other planets relatively unscathed, with highly advanced technology (But nothing inconceivable. No teleporters, no going faster than the speed of light, and computing never got past basic optical processors, so it's only a few orders of magnitude faster than the current fastest supercomputer.) They have decided not to try to let people on Earth gain technology because they are afraid that they will lack the ability to use it right.
Unfortunately, the climate is completely unsustainable and requires maintenance to prevent it from spinning completely out of control. Like CO2 levels at brinkpoint, weird changes in climate, etc. Their solution is to put a refinery on the planet where they use large amounts of energy (they have large amounts of energy) to collect CO2, CH4, and other atmospheric pollutants and re-release harmless O2 and H2O.
However, I can't think of a way to put this on Earth's surface without allowing the inhabitants to know. I would like not to have to set aside an entire continent.
My first idea was radiation (covering only the boundary / the plant is automated and can handle radiation), but that has a tendency to spread. I was wondering if there was any way to create a barrier that would prevent middle age-level technologically advanced people from entering. (I'm thinking they have no gunpowder, no animals (all killed off in disaster), and little wood because of the climate's effect on forests. So not that much of a threat, just don't want them snooping around and getting advanced technology.)
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You could just make it out of adamantium or some other space-age indestructible material and let the natives do whatever they want with it. They can walk right up to it, bang on it with clubs or axes, but nothing they do will even scratch the surface. After a couple generations people won't even notice it any more.
Medieval people got around. Vikings, south pacific islanders, and many other groups crossed huge amounts of ocean. Nepalese have been climbing the highest mountains since long before modern climbing techniques.
If you think about it, humanity started somewhere in the general area of Africa, and spread across the globe. There is literally nowhere that your factory will be safe from people, especially if they know it exists.
Another option is biological and wide spread. Super trees and plants, but then you have to deal with human caused deforestation and how to spread the plants, especially if a lot of the planet is arid or not plant friendly in some other way.
The last option is simply fear.
"We don't go into that place, because the monsters hunt anyone that does. No one returns!"
Fear will work more effectivly than walls a lot of the time, and for the people that are brave, you have an army of mutant spider robot attack squid to make sure they don't come back out.
The only real drawback to this is really big armies. If some king really wants your factory, and can get together a large enough army, then they might be able to overcome your giant killer super space hamsters by numbers alone.
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