ægisys

Great urban race

2011-06-25T13:49:00.001-07:00

Well, we just finished the Great Urban Race, Madison Edition. It was a really great day for a race. 75 degrees and sunny at noon when it started. The race is like a big scavenger hunt, or similar to the Amazing Race, without the international travel. The race started at a campus-area sports bar, and the went all over the downtown Madison area. Our team name was the salad spinners.

At the beginning, all the teams got a clue envelope. When they say go, you open your envelope and start solving clues. There are 12 clues. You get to skip one. Each clue has some sort of trick to it. Some have anagrams, others have riddles or word puzzles, or some kind of clue that helps you figure out a location somewhere in the city. Then you have to go to that location. Once there, you perform a task, get a brochure or picture, and move on. Some of the tasks we did this year were to hit a volleyball back and forth 10 times, and pump up a bike tire, and throw coffee beans into a cup. There are also pictures you had to take along the way. We had to take a picture of Emily riding a stranger's bike, take a picture with a guy who has a mustache, and take a picture with a person in uniform.

The most tricky clue was that there was a clue in the classified ads in the paper. We looked it up and found it, and it said Midwest clay project, and then below that there was a paragraph: "In 1953, a skinny errand boy (me) stands in front of a building at 1 west Wilson street, staring up at the building with with the words Wisconsin State Office Building over the door. It was as if the building was the place that Wisconsin will always do business. I was wrong."

So we went to the building mentioned, and it was locked. The was nobody anywhere nearby, and couldn't figure out what to do. Then we saw an elderly man walking with a walker and we thought, "yes, that's the skinny errand boy!" Then we went to him and asked him if he was the skinny errand boy. He looked confused, and asked us if we were lost. We realized that wasn't it, so we kept looking. We then realized that the paragraph had nothing to do with the clue. We looked up the Midwest clay project, and found out it was a scripting studio on Willy street, and we were completely off track.

In the end, we finished just over 2 hours, and we think we finished in the top ten. We go back tonight to find out where we ended up placing. I'll try to update later. Some of our pics are attached below.

Test

2011-04-22T07:43:00.001-07:00

test

2011-04-22T07:33:00.001-07:00

Singularity - Chapter 10: Priscilla

2009-04-13T07:29:00.000-07:00

Chapter 10: Priscilla

The president didn’t look up as an aide entered his office. He had been interrupted too many times today, and he was behind on reviewing the monthly Senate summary. If he didn’t get through it soon, he would be late for his appointment at the club. His table golf partners never seemed to respect his position of power the same way most others did. He was powerless in their presence, since most of them were old business associates of his father’s, and many had great investments in the purification industry. At any rate, he enjoyed spending time with them, it was a relief to be able to relax once in a while, and just enjoy a few drinks. Still, the interruptions were becoming an annoyance, and his response to his aide was less than gracious. Eyes closed, he grumbled, “What is it now?”

“I’m sorry sir.” Was the reply, but what surprised President Rennet was that the voice was female.

He looked up to see Dania at the door. Immediately, his voice softened, “I’m sorry Dania, it’s been a tough day. What can I do for you?”

“Priscilla Faust and Garst Jasper have returned from Mars. Albrick Hunter would like to have a word with you about their findings.” Dania was obviously shaken from the President’s reaction a moment ago, and her voice was slightly shaky as she spoke. “May I send him in?”

“Yes, please do.” The president arranged the papers on his desk as Dania returned to the door. “Oh, and please let Mr. Hunter know that I only have a few minutes, so he should be brief. I find these meetings go much more quickly if the schedule is set beforehand. Thank you Dania, as always, you are a terrific assistant.”

The door had almost closed as Albrick shuffled through, and helped himself to a seat across from the President’s desk. He was always annoyed by how the president never acknowledged him when he came in, but just kept his eyes on his desk, as if there were more important things to do. It could be very disarming, but Albrick refused to let it bring him down. He determined that he would just be bold this time around.

“Mr. President, I thought…”

“Hold on Albrick.”

Albrick lost his focus. How had the President done it again? How could he consistently get under Albrick’s skin, and throw his mind off of what he was there for. It was as if the President enjoyed conflict so much that he had to find a way to incite it. Albrick sat in the chair, tapping his fingers on the lightly padded armrest.

The president looked up as he set some papers aside, “Ok Albrick, what do you want to say?”

“I was hoping to give you an update on the status of the Homestead mission.”

“Homestead? Oh, right, the Mars thing.” The president said, with obvious mock disinterest.

“Two of our staff members returned unannounced from Mars, Priscilla Faust and Garst Jasper.”

“Didn’t we send four?”

“Yes, precisely. We sent four staff, only two of our staff returned. The craft only has space for 4 passengers, so two of the staff, Elliot Adams and Sarah Angler remained at the base on Mars. The reason was that Faust and Jasper returned with two other people.”

“Wait, other people? What other people?” The president’s voice contained tangible interest and wonder at the idea of mystery people returning from Mars. Albrick was happy, he had finally gotten the President’s full attention.

Albrick grinned, “My question was the same. It turns out that the previous Mars missions from Pre-Travesty had created a base on Mars as a sort of research station. The Homestead team arrived, and to their surprise, they were met by a very full base of people. The people there had survived many generations on Mars, and had no contact with Earth during the time, due to the lack of communications satellites after the wars.”

“Fascinating. Albrick, hold that thought a second.” The President pressed a button on his desk, “Dania, can you bring me the files on Faust and Jasper? Thank you.” He released the button, “Albrick, please continue.”

“So after some discussion, and catching up, they discovered that the Genesis people, they call their base Genesis, I don’t think I mentioned that, the Genesis people were stationed there for the purpose of studying deep space travel to neighboring stars. Apparently, they discovered ways to do it, but after one journey, gave up on it because they didn’t find much when they got there. Anyway, since then, they’ve been living there, and have survived all these years.”

“Wait, they figured out how to travel to other star systems? That’s amazing.” Albrick could tell that the whole story had touched a special nerve in the President’s heart, which brought out a child-like curiosity. “Tell me more!”

Dania walked in and left the files on the president’s desk. The president didn’t even notice, he was so engaged in what Albrick was saying.

Albrick continued, smiling to Dania as she came in, “Well, we don’t know much else at this point. The Genesis people have said that they have certain secrets that they don’t wish to share just yet, they wanted to have discussions with us here on Earth before they shared any of that with us. At any rate, they sent two of their leadership staff here to have discussions with you, and see if there’s any way to come to a cooperation agreement.”

As if a switch were flipped in the President’s mood, he shifted back into Presidential mode. “It’s unfortunate they don’t trust us. We will need to remedy that. Of course I will discuss things with their ambassadors, but I’d like to debrief the Homestead staff first.”

He looked at the edge of his desk, suddenly noticing the files Dania had brought. He looked at the door, and then back down at the files. He opened them up and briefly scanned the first pages of each. He read quickly, with the occasional ‘mmhmm’ and ‘uh huh’ before putting each aside.

“I’ll send them to talk with you.” Albrick said as he got up to excuse himself, determined that he would leave on his own terms, just as he had entered.

“Albrick, hold on a minute. Don’t bother sending Jasper, he’s just a meathead. I just want to talk to Ms. Faust for now. Thanks Albrick. This is a very exciting development, I think the Earth’s prognosis just got a lot better. You can go now, Al.”

Singularity - Chapter 9:Genesis (Part 2 of 2)

2009-04-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm excited about this section. It's probably the most technical section of the book, so I hope it doesn't turn people off. See if you can follow it, and then leave me a comment telling me how good/awful/interesting/unrealistic it is.

The Homestead team spent a week at the Genesis base. Garst met with the engineers around the base, gathering as much knowledge as he could about their transport technology, which was surprisingly basic, but had a few points of light that he could use. Priscilla gathered information about their life support systems, and some of their computer technology to bring home. They had agreed that Elliot and Sarah would stay behind at the base, to open space in the return craft for two of the Genesis people to go back to Earth.

They all agreed that the information about the people on Mars had to be kept under wraps for a time, until the proper people were notified, and a plan was put in place for what to do with this knowledge and how to notify the people of Earth. The Genesis staff, and Tom specifically insisted that their new technology be kept secret from the Homestead crew until after they had the opportunity to meet with President Rennet and some other Earthdwellers to be sure that they could be trusted. Priscilla protested, but Tom stood firm.

By the time the craft left the surface of Mars, Elliot and Sarah had already begun making friends with the staff and people of Genesis. Once they got past the accent, they found the people very interesting to speak with. They were, quite literally, like speaking to someone so foreign that you don’t even share the same frame of reference. Sarah was basking in all the knowledge she could gather from the others.

Elliot spent a lot of time with Tom. He enjoyed talking to him, he was a visionary type of man, and Elliot just got excited when he was with him. It wasn’t long before there was a genuine trust between the two men. About a month after Garst and Priscilla had left the base, Tom invited Elliot into his private quarters. Elliot arrived and took the seat offered him. Tom was smiling like someone who was keeping a secret.

“Hi Tom, why are you so happy?” Elliot asked jokingly.

“Elliot, I think we’ve got a certain understanding. We trust each other, right?”

“I think so, don’t you?”

“Absolutely. I know I said I wouldn’t share our biggest secret with your team for a while, but I think it’s time I brought you into the loop. I think our team could use your perspective in the next phase of the project.”

“Tom, are you sure? I’m honored, but I don’t want you to regret telling me.”

“ Of course I’m sure. Now just be quiet and listen.”

Elliot sat back in the chair, and took a drink from the glass on the table next to him. He settled in, as Tom told him a story. Tom’s storytelling style was engaging, but not over-simple, very easy to listen to.

After the first trip to Alpha Centauri, the Genesis people decided that it wasn’t worth all the effort to travel that way. It was too costly in time and materials, and the lack of any suitable landing planet in the system highlighted the problem of what to do when you get to a foreign system. The fact was, it could be decades before they even stumbled upon a good place to land. They returned home, scrapped the program and focused on other priorities.

One of those priorities was potential environmental refunctioning of the planet of Mars. There was evidence in the lower regions of the Martian underground that there could have once been life on the planet, and they theorized that they could one day return to that state. The problem with creating an atmosphere is that it took a tremendously long time to accomplish. To solve this problem, a brilliant young physicist backed into a theory that would allow for travel forward through time, which after several years of diligent work, he was able to prove conclusively, when he created a machine to successfully send himself a note from 10 minutes in the past.

The full efforts of the base were re-directed at developing this technology for human travel. The goal was to set the environment on a course for change, and then transport thousands of years into the future to benefit from the intervening years. After decades of development, the whole civilization was celebrating the success of properly scaling the machine for human sized transport. A young woman volunteered herself to be sent forward 10 minutes in time. To the amazement of everyone present, she materialized out of thin air 10 minutes after disappearing in the machine. To their horror, she died 15 minutes after the jump.

The experiment was attempted several more times, with other brave volunteers, and they discovered that the further forward in time the person travelled, the faster they died after the transport. The cause was relatively unknown, but it was as if time were stretched like an elastic band and released, snapping the traveller. This was an unexpected side effect, and effectively shut down the time travel project at the Genesis base, the equipment was boarded up in a closed chamber. The program was forgotten for several centuries.

In the 50 years prior to the day the Homestead team arrived, the Genesis people were again exploring intergalactic travel. A maintenance man stumbled upon a door that was welded shut behind several stacks of boxes. After cutting the door open, he discovered the time travel chamber and all the records of the original time travel project. The program was re-opened, and the top engineers in Genesis were tasked with resurrecting any technology from the time travel device that they could.

One of the engineers on the project had been exploring the machine and its controls, and discovered that the machine had a forward orientation programmed into the software that operated the machine. After reconfiguring the machine, he was able to send a wrench backwards in time, where he found himself holding two identical wrenches for about 10 minutes. The discovery was a breakthrough that opened a whole new course of exploration. They were able to successfully transport a person forward in time, and immediately back to the instant from which they left. The key was to have the person transport back quickly enough that they didn’t die in the future time, and the time period known as the Time Elasticity Interval became irrelevant when they returned to their natural timeline.

This engineer theorized that there was a point infinitely into the future at which the Time Elasticity could be stretched to the point of breaking, allowing the traveler to remain at that point in time for an extended period. Because of the infinite nature of this point in time, it exists at a point that is always infinitely far from any point in time, which causes the Time Elasticity Interval to remain constant. A person could remain at this point indefinitely, and travel back to the time they left without being affected negatively. The timeline for a living thing that travels to this infinite point in time would freeze, since the place does not literally exist on any timeline, but actually outside the literal timeline itself.

The theory was finally tested once the engineer was able to calibrate the machine to an infinite time horizon. The engineer who devised the theory was the first to test it. What he found when he travelled infinitely into the future was that the point was not only infinitely far from his home time, that this point in time, by its very nature exists outside the universal timeline and thus outside the physical universe as well. He found that he existed outside time, between matter, everywhere, nowhere, and all the time. He called this point in non-time and un-space the “Infinite Singularity.” The phenomenon became the central focus of every effort of Genesis from that point forward.

The time travel device was modified and replicated. The device was able to transport everything within the chamber, living or inanimate to the Singularity and a small handheld console was able to transport the objects back to the point where they had left. Time for the physical person would suspend as it entered the Singularity, and they would resume their timeline upon their return.

The biggest breakthrough was the discovery that because a person at the Singularity could exist at all possible locations simultaneously, the physical re-entry could be targeted anywhere in the physical universe. The machine was calibrated so that the re-entry time was fixed to the instant from which they left, but the physical re-entry was variable, expressed in relative position from the origin. This could be calculated relatively accurately, however, the possibility of sending a person to another planet presented some serious difficulties. The problem with the vast distances involved in some of this travel meant that even with pinpoint accuracy, the point of a pin was still ridiculously large. 99.9999999999% accuracy over only a single light year of distance is still a 5,000 mile margin of error, which only grew more and more as distances stretched out over parsecs, or for intergalactic travel, over distances of Megaparsecs. The chance of re-entering the timeline at the exact right location to stand on the surface of a foreign planet was so minute, it was hardly worth trying.
The Singularity Matter Transference Theory was proven on the surface of Mars, with several people successfully transporting across the planet instantaneously via Singularity. Even over that short distance, on one occasion, the traveler re-entered the timeline about 10 centimeters too low, and was forced to dig her own feet out of the ground. This margin of error was too much of a risk to attempt to send a person to another planet without assuring precision and accuracy of the coordinate system.

The plan devised to solve this problem was a brilliant one. The transport chamber was scaled to the size of a small space probe. The probe would be sent through the Singularity, and re-emerge in the vicinity of the target planet. The probe would land on the planet, run several tests, and send back data recorded on electronic media that it transported through its on-board Singularity chamber back to the Genesis base on Mars. The probe data was read, recorded, and it was determined whether the planet was a candidate for human exploration. The probes determined to be safe locations were referred to as Guideposts, and served as nodes in what became a significant travel infrastructure. Presence of a Guidepost allowed a traveler to link directly to the precise location of the probe’s linking chamber. The problem of accuracy had been solved, opening wide the gates of intergalactic exploration.

When Tom had finished with his explanation, he paused to give all the information some time to sink in for Elliot. “Kid, you look shocked. How you doing?”

“A little confused. I have to admit, a lot of that went over my head. What I really don’t understand is how all of this has anything to do with me.”

“Yeah, I was going to get to that, just thought I’d let you absorb that info first.” Tom said sympathetically, “As you may have guessed, the guidepost probes are a little costly to build. We have sent a few of them out, and haven’t yet found a planet suitable for human travel. It’s a tough thing, you know, to find a planet parsecs away with the possibility of even walking on it, much less breathing the air, or being remotely comfortable.”

“I can imagine.”

“Well, we’re hoping you might be able to help us find candidate planets, so we can narrow our search. Your friend, Sarah says you are somewhat of an expert on planetary positioning and the relationship to atmospheric formation. We’d like to have you jump in with the team that has been collecting star system data, maybe you can make some sense out of all of it.”

“I’m happy to help where I can.” Elliot said, “Now one question, could you just explain the whole Singularity thing to me again?”

Singularity - Chapter 9: Genesis (Part 1)

2009-03-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

Chapter 9: Genesis

The team was sitting around a large metal table. Across from them were several people who, unexpectedly, lived in the Mars base. The youngest, a teenage boy sat against the wall in a small chair, while the oldest, a man with a scruffy beard and white hair sat directly across the table from Sarah. He introduced himself as Tom Bosworth. He was obviously the leader of the base, and took the lead in the discussion at hand. Sarah had taken it upon herself to speak for the Homestead team. The man had a very even, calm voice, with an accent that was hard for the Homestead team to understand. He seemed to take everything in stride, and had a very dry wit and humor about him.

He leaned back in his chair, crossed his ankle over his knee and addressed the team, “Well, I’m guessing you are all a bit more surprised than we are. We had expected some visitors someday, but I imagine you never expected to see us here.”

“Yeah, you can say that again. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed right now.” Sarah said, sounding more overwhelmed than her words spelled out. “I admit we weren’t sure what we would find when we arrived, but I can say for certain that we weren’t expecting to find people living here.”

Tom laughed a hardy laugh, “I imagine not. Let me just say that you should not feel threatened to be here. In fact, we’re overjoyed that someone finally found us. This base is called Genesis, we’ve been here nearly 500 years, dozens of generations have come and gone from our numbers. The human race has long ago forgotten us, we’re sure. The problem with a secret base such as this one is precisely the secrecy. Our people at NASA couldn’t acknowledge us. We, and when I say we, I mean our ancestors of course, had been here about 13 years when we last had contact with Earth. We had been sent here on a 25 year mission of discovery. In the 13th year, we were awaiting a mission to bring a relief crew and supplies to repair our return craft. The craft never arrived. We tried to communicate back to Earth, but we couldn’t find a satellite. Since then, it’s been silence from Earth.

“The crew had a choice at that moment, either try to repair the craft themselves, and attempt to get home, or prepare to survive on Mars, and wait for another rescue mission. They chose the latter. After a decade or two, it became clear that a rescue wasn’t coming. They determined that they would survive here on Mars. The base was expanded below ground, where sealed chambers were easier to build. The greenhouse became more valuable than ever before, and a great deal of work went into the production of food, fibers, and the other things needed to survive. Our original mission was neglected for a century.”

“Pardon my asking,” Sarah took the opportunity to jump in during a pause in Tom’s speech. “Do you have any idea what has happened down on Earth?”

“Not a lick. Although, we’re pleased to find out you’re not all dead. Our leaders sure did have quite the arsenal back then, figured the planet was dead long ago. But I’m glad you’re still alive, that’s great news!.”

“You and me both.” Sarah Laughed

“We can get to that in a minute.” Tom said. “So after that initial 100 years, we were able to increase our population enough to get on to some research. Technology used to advance pretty slowly on Earth, other than military tech. We were able to devote our full efforts to studying what we came here to study. We advanced in leaps and bounds. In fact, after being here for 500 years, we have done things we never dreamed were possible. Sure, we accomplished our original mission, but we took it way beyond that as well.”

Sarah had a confused look on her face, which Tom recognized, and stopped, allowing her to get a word in. “Tom, this is interesting, but I don’t think we have any idea what your mission was. You see, we found our way here because of some documents we found on Earth, but those documents said nothing about why you were sent here, only that there was a base here. We came hoping to find some answers, and find a way to make the Earth livable again. So I guess I’m just wondering, what exactly was your mission?”

Tom smiled, “Intergalactic travel, of course.”

Sarah’s jaw dropped, “But you said you accomplished that a while ago. Why didn’t you come home?”

“We are home here. By the time we got ourselves to Alpha Centauri, nobody here had ever seen the surface of Earth. Earth wasn’t our home, it was a planet that we see in the night sky once in a while. But this base right here is the place we call home.”

Garst was amazed by this, the gearhead in him came out immediately, “Oh man, what kind of thrusters do you use, what’s the craft like, is life support at those speeds difficult? How long did the journey take? Man, I gotta sit down with your engineers.”

Tom guffawed. “Slow down there, kid. If you talked to any of our engineers, they wouldn’t know the first thing about it. That’s a bit like asking you to explain a steam engine. Obsolete technology, long gone. Fact is, we found that travelling by spacecraft was terribly inefficient. All that mass to move over all that distance, and it took so long to do. No sooner had we returned from Alpha than we changed gears immediately.

“Truth be told, we haven’t even gone anywhere since that first trip. We’ve been waiting a long time for the right technology, and we finally have it.”

Singularity - Chapter 8: Hunters

2009-03-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry that this is a little longer than some sections I've posted, I couldn't figure a good way to split this one up without making one section really short and boring. Still, it's not that long of a chapter, so enjoy.

Chapter 8: Hunters

After Bruck’s death, Cheslie struggled with what she would do. She was 17 years old, nearly graduated from primary school, but she had been so far ahead of her peers, she had already completed the requirements to go on to college, but no universities accepted students under 18. They all said it was because they wanted to be sure students had all the pre-college experiences that would make them well-rounded people, but Cheslie knew it was just to keep the schools from getting over-crowded. She didn’t want to stay in Inner-London any longer. Without Elliot there, and after her father’s death, there was no reason to stay there anymore, and every day just reminded her of Bruck.

She had decided to sell everything in the apartment, and use the money to move to New Washington. She had applied at the University, and was certain to be accepted with her perfect grades. She just needed to find a place to stay for a while until she found a permanent apartment. She remembered that when she had spoken to Albrick Hunter, Elliot’s program director, he had told her that if there was anything she needed, just ask. She hated imposing on people, but decided that just this once, she would try depending on someone else for help.

She called the phone number he had left, and watched as the video phone began the ringing sequence, with the multi-colored bubbles rising randomly across the screen, the ringing tone quietly humming away. A woman answered her call. “Hello, this is the Hunter house.”

The woman was probably in her late fifties, or early sixties. Cheslie could tell that she was once a beautiful woman, which still shone through the wrinkles and gray hair left by time. Her eyes were a gray/green shade, her face was welcoming and her smile was broad. Her gray hair was cut short, in a distinguished cut, like you would expect from a businesswoman or politician. Cheslie was a little startled by the woman, since she had been expecting Albrick to answer.

“Yes, hello, is Mr. Hunter in?” Her voice was a little shaky, she did not enjoy talking to strangers on the phone, especially when it was personal, and not business.

“I’m sorry dear, he’s just run out for an evening meeting. Can I leave a message for him?”

“Oh, sure, can you tell him that Cheslie Adams called, and if he has a minute, could he call me?”

“Cheslie Adams? Albrick told me about your father, I am so sorry for your loss. Can we do anything for you? Oh, I’m so rude, my name is Hadessa, I’m Albrick’s wife.”

Cheslie was a little taken aback that Albrick’s wife knew who she was. But it made sense, since Albrick worked with Elliot, she had probably heard her name come up after Bruck’s death. “Um, well, actually, I um, yes, that’s why I, um.”

“It’s alright Cheslie, you can ask for anything.”

“Well, I was calling Mr. Hunter to ask for a favor.”

“Of course, first, a tip. Don’t call him Mr. Hunter, he hates that, it makes him feel old. Stick to Albrick, or Al if you prefer. Come to think of it, I don’t like being called Mrs. Hunter either, so that’s out too, guess you’ll have to call me Hadessa.” She smiled broadly at Cheslie, which made her feel much more comfortable.

“Well, obviously, you know what happened to my dad, so I am planning on selling our furniture and moving away from Inner-London. I applied at NWU, but they won’t take me for another six months, so I’m planning to move to New Washington in the meantime.”

“Enough said, our guest room is your home.”

“How did you…?”

“Just a hunch.” Hadessa shrugged her shoulders, “We’d love to have you stay with us. When will you be arriving? I’ll meet you at the station.”

“Um, Next Monday, I guess. Are you sure that’s ok? Shouldn’t you wait until Mr. I mean Albrick gets home?”

“He’d say the same thing, hon, when you’ve been married 35 years, you start to think alike.”

“Well, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Albrick has said so many nice things about Elliot, and surely we can take care of his sister when she needs help.”

* * * * * * *

Cheslie had been living with Albrick and Hadessa for several weeks by the time they got word that Elliot’s team had safely reached Mars. It was an exciting day for everyone, and was heralded around the world as a major advance in the human struggle against the world they had inherited from the destructive generations before them. The world rejoiced together at what a prolonged peace could provide. At the center of this triumph was the figure of Zeke Rennet, the president who set the wheels in motion to achieve this success. The regions of the world had been in constant communication with the NAR government to offer assistance with the program, and ask for inclusion in any benefit it provides. A movement was underway in the NAR citizens to vote Rennet in as President for Life.

Cheslie was surprised to find out, upon moving to New Washington, that Hadessa was a Senator, representing New Washington in the NAR Senate. Albrick and Hadessa seemed to work almost every hour of the day, so she had a lot of time to herself in their apartment. The view from their apartment was fantastic. They lived near the edge of the cavern, with a view over the city. Cheslie loved sitting on the balcony looking out over the city below. She could see the Capitol and Artemis building in the center, and the roads radiating out from the bright center like a sunburst. It brought her hope in the human race to see the way the city functioned, everything working together to make the habitat continue. She would sit there and stare out, dreaming about her future, and what her part in society would be. She was enrolled in the Political Science program at NWU, and would be starting in just a few weeks. She had told Albrick and Hadessa that she planned to move out of their home once she started, because she didn’t want to overstay her welcome, and wanted to be closer to the university.

Cheslie was sitting on the balcony in one of her long daydreams when Hadessa came up behind her, and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Cheslie, how’s the view?”

“Oh, hey Hadessa, you’re home early today.”

“Yes, after the senate passed a resolution recognizing today as ‘Zeke Rennet Day,’ they decided that we should celebrate by taking an afternoon off. I had to give my staff the afternoon off, so I decided to come home, and spend the afternoon with you. How would you like to take a walk with me?”

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

They headed outside and began to walk towards the city center. They discussed life, told stories about where they grew up. Cheslie talked about Inner-London, and how it was so unpleasant and dark all the time, wherever you went.

As they neared Pratt Square, they sat on a bench and watched street performers entertaining children and tourists nearby. Hadessa turned to Cheslie, and put a hand on her arm. “Cheslie, what are your plans for college. Besides school, I mean. Are you going to find a job to pay the bills during school?”

“I dunno, I hadn’t really thought about it in great detail. I was most likely going to just work at a coffee shop or something like that I guess.”

“Well, I’d like to make you an offer that I think you might want to consider. I would love to have you work for me in my Senate office. I know that’s going to take a significant amount of time, and I’m sure it will limit the amount of leisure time you’ll have. I will be flexible with your hours, you can work between classes, and if you need an afternoon off to study for an exam, no problem. “

“Thank you for the offer, I’m not sure I’m qualified, I’m only 18 years old, and I haven’t even started college yet.”

“Frankly, Cheslie, you’re over-qualified. The job involves a lot of mundane work, filing, answering phones, a little bit of research, nothing that you aren’t prepared to do. The most important qualification is trust, and I can trust you more than anybody currently on my staff. You’re a brilliant young woman Cheslie, and if I didn’t hire you now, I’m afraid I’d lose that opportunity.”

“Well, you make it hard to say no, are you sure there’s room on the staff?”

“Yes, I had to let half of my current staff go today.”

“Oh no, what happened?”

“Well, I was one of only 10 senators to oppose the resolution on Zeke Rennet Day. It made me very unpopular among my fellow Senators, and I started getting dozens of calls in my office every minute. I heard several of my staff telling the callers that I was opposing the measure, but could be convinced. I couldn’t have such mixed messages coming out of my office, so I had to let them go.”

“Oh…” Cheslie looked down at her feet, “I’m not sure I understand why you oppose that.”

Hadessa placed a hand on Cheslie’s shoulder, “Cheslie, it’s ok, you don’t need to be embarrassed. Your feelings are the same as most. It’s hard to understand why someone who has done great things for the NAR would not be honored in such a way as this. It’s why most of my colleagues voted in favor of the measure.”

“Yeah.” Cheslie looked up at Hadessa, who had a very soft look on her face, “Can you explain it for me?”

“Of course, let’s walk back to the apartment, I’ll explain on the way.” The pair got up and began to walk back towards the apartment. Hadessa dropped a few coins in the hat of one of the performers as they walked past.

Hadessa looked up at the dome of the Capitol and smiled. “Cheslie, do you know the story of Mayor Morgan Pratt?”

“A little.”

“Well, here’s a story you probably hadn’t heard. When he built the city of New Washington, he had no plans to become the Mayor. He was a visionary man who was incredibly inspirational. He knew that nothing would unify people more than a goal. He made this city his goal. He organized the people around the construction of it, he designed it, he managed the process, he took care of details. No single person was more involved in the founding of this wonderful city. He did not want to be mayor, in fact, when they held the first election, he specifically asked not to be on the ballot. But the people wrote his name in. He won the election with over 80% of the vote. It was overwhelming, to the point where he could not turn down the people’s sincere request that he lead. He became the mayor of the city, and when his four year term was done, he requested that they not vote for him, but encouraged them to vote for his vice-mayor instead. The people did this out of respect for the man.

“Once he was out of office, there was groundswell across the nation to elect him as president of the NAR. He was nominated by his party as their candidate, and he attended their national convention. At the convention, he gave an incredible and courageous speech. He talked about the responsibilities of the office of President, and the power associated with that office. He discussed how important it was to be cautious on whom you place that awesome burden. He spoke about the potential corrupting force of power, and the way that a person can become addicted to that power, to the detriment of the governed. He then said that he was declining their nomination, because he was severely disturbed with the legendary status he had attained, and did not trust himself with the responsibility of that legend. He knew that if he were given a seat of power, he would not easily relinquish it, and the people who voted him into that office would willingly enable him to stay. He argued for the necessity of a change of power in government as a way to keep any one person from achieving pharaonic status. He warned against the mindset that places any man or woman above human status, and made the profound statement that any person who would accept such a status could, by no means, be trusted with such. He said that his fear was that he did not have the character to turn down that status, and therefore, could not accept their nomination.

“The crowd was shocked as he walked off the stage. It wasn’t until several silent minutes later that a slow applause started in the gallery, and eventually spread to a loud standing ovation. The party nominated a new candidate, who won the election with the support of Mayor Pratt. The mayor lived out the rest of his life without holding office, but was a strong figure speaking out against abuses of power around the world.

“Most people stop their history of Mayor Pratt before that presidential nomination speech, but it’s that principle of preventing abuse of power for which he spent the latter years of his life fighting. I serve in the Senate and hope to emulate the vision of Morgan Pratt. That is why I could not support a resolution honoring a sitting president. That is why I fear this movement to make President Rennet more than just a president. I fear that it will come to the Senate before long, and I don’t have much time to get support from my colleagues. I refuse to allow our government to go down the road of crowning an Emperor.”

Cheslie was speechless, she tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. It would take some time before that all sank in for her. She was caught up in the fervor around the constant praise of Zeke Rennet, so this shift was something that she had a hard time accepting. But Hadessa’s story was very compelling. She knew that she could learn a lot by working on her staff. “I’d like to accept your offer, Hadessa. I look forward to working for you.”

“Good. I don’t suppose I can talk you out of moving out of our apartment, so take a week, get settled into your new place, and you can start next Monday.”

Singularity - Chapter 7: Contact (Part 2 of 2)

2009-03-02T08:16:00.000-08:00

The landing on Mars was not as smooth as the Moon. The atmosphere on Mars was considerably thicker than the Moon, causing additional heat and friction on entry. The B-537 landing craft took all of this in stride, the aerogel shell that surrounded the craft effectively deflected the heat from the thin metal hull holding the crew and equipment. This craft was significantly smaller than the A-537, designed to be able to easily land on a planet, and leave the planet’s atmosphere easily without the aid of rail launchers. It was more difficult to control during turbulence than the larger craft, but more maneuverable. Garst set the craft down on the dusty clay landing strip that was remarkably clear of debris. The landing was bumpy, but safe.

The crew put on their space suits for their first steps on a foreign planet. The excitement of the moment was electric. They had all trained months for this, and it was finally happening. They would be the first people to set foot on Mars post-travesty. Garst silenced the airlock alarm warning of the lack of suitable air outside the craft, and pushed the outer door open. Because he had done all the hard work so far, they had decided that he would be the first out of the craft. He descended the ladder to the ground and bounded around in a circle while the others watched from the windows of the lander.

The gravity was stronger than the moon, but not as strong as Earth, providing a good balance that made him feel like he could move effortlessly, but without that feeling that he could jump off the planet if he tried. He smiled and touched the communicator switch, “You guys really oughta get down here, or I’m going to have all the fun.”

The rest of the team took their turns exiting through the airlock and down onto the planet. They spent a few minutes chasing each other around, bounding, and just enjoying the planet that they were all visiting for the first time. The strangeness of their situation took a while to sink in.

After a few minutes, Priscilla said, “Hey guys, I just realized, we’re standing on Mars. I have no idea what I did right in my life to arrive here, but I’m glad I did it.”

Elliot Laughed, it was the first honest laugh he’d had for days. He looked towards the horizon where he saw the sun rising above the thin red line that marked the curve of the planet. It illuminated the dusty amber color of the sky, which was the most striking feature of a planet that otherwise looked similar to the surface of his home planet. He was somewhat disappointed in the sunrise, or was it sunset? No, sunrise, definitely. The sun was small, distant, and no noticeable warmth came with the light. By far the most noticeable difference was the size of the sun in comparison to what he was used to seeing on the days he spent at the surface research station. It was a tiny spot in the sky. It still illuminated the landscape brightly, but did not dominate the sky the way it did on Earth. The pale sky, small sun, and barren landscape gave him a cold feeling. The suit he wore kept his body warm, but he felt chilled to his soul by the view in front of him. This was truly a strange place.

Priscilla led the way from the tarmac to the research station, while Garst ran back to the craft to grab a toolbox. The team found the main entrance, and Garst began to examine the door. It looked to be in decent condition, but he was sure that the hundreds of years would have taken a toll on the mechanics of the door, and definitely would have ruined the motors that control it. Besides all of that, the world that designed this base was a warlike world, and even Mars wasn’t far enough away for security. Thus, the door was built with a keypad entry system, and a 32 digit code, which, of course, was only ever communicated verbally, and never recorded on the schematics unearthed recently. Needless to say, they had anticipated a bit of a struggle to access the inside of the base.

Garst began to eye up the door. It was a beautifully constructed device. The schematics had shown that the door was actually a rotating chamber that served as an airlock as well. It was designed to rotate and stop at three points, spaced evenly around the chamber. The first was the exterior opening where they currently stood. The door would allow up to 10 people to enter the chamber, then rotated to the second point. The second point was a completely sealed position, where the chamber would be brought to equal pressure with the inside or outside, depending on the direction being travelled. The final stop was the opening to the inside of the base.

A solid sheet of metal curved slightly across the opening of the door frame before fitting snugly back behind the other side of the frame. The fit of the door in the frame meant that there was only a few molecules width separating the door from the frame, so no amount of prying would do any good. There was a mechanical override for the door, but that was located inside the base, not on the outside. The team decided that the only way in was to cut the metal. It would be a tedious process, and would require repair later if the base was going to become airtight again, but they didn’t come all the way to Mars to look at the exterior of a Base, maybe peek in the windows and head home.

Garst removed the protective cap off the laser cutting device. He flipped on the safety catch, and started the cutter through its warm-up cycle. The cutter gave off a low tone, which grew higher and higher in pitch as the device warmed up. When the green light came on, he began to test the cutter on a large square of metal sunk into the ground next to the door. The beam flared up where it contacted the metal, and the material could be seen melting away at the sides of the laser. The beam reached the edge of the metal, and Garst flipped the safety back on. “Seems to work well. Kinda fun actually.”

He walked over to the door, and drew a square on the door with chalk, about a meter on each side. He pointed the cutter at the corner of the square, and released the catch when a speaker overhead crackled, causing them all to look up, expecting to see something move. Nothing moved, but a few seconds later, the speaker came to life again.

“If you’re planning to treat the door like that poor bench, we’d really prefer if you’d just knock. It would save both of us an awful lot of time and effort.”

Singularity - Chapter 7:Contact (part 1)

2009-02-23T10:34:00.000-08:00

Chapter 7: Contact (Part 1 of 2)

If the trip to the Moon was long and boring, the trip to Mars was torture. The journey was ten times longer, the scenery was infinitely less interesting. Ten times as many hours to fill, and nothing with which to fill them. The small sleeping quarters on the A-537 were cramped, and not even remotely comfortable.

Garst spent most of the time reading. He said that all the adrenaline of flying needed some balance. So he was an avid reader. He brought an electronic reader with him on the trip, and stuffed it with thousands of books. He was working his way through them in alphabetical order by author. He especially liked old fiction novels. By the time the team left the moon, he was just finishing up with the Douglas Adams section of his books.

Priscilla was in the small exercise room for a good portion of the time. The team was prepared for their muscles to atrophy after a long time in space, so they had all spent time exercising their muscles. For Priscilla, it bordered on obsession. She would strap herself into a treadmill and run for an entire 2 hour briefing video on some of the equipment they were likely to find on Mars.

Sarah and Elliot spent a lot of time playing scrabble and card games. The games ended up being a light distraction while talking. They were both amazed at how much time they could spend talking, since they already thought they knew everything about each other. “Quack!” Sarah shouted, “and a double word score, 40 points!”

“Really? Quack? Do I need to get Garst’s dictionary?” Elliot teased.

“It’s the sound a bird called a duck made. Remember, I have a doctorate in natural sciences, I just know these kinds of things, Elliot.”

“Ok, ok, you can keep quack.” Elliot shook his head as he tried to find a way to build off her ‘Q,’ but sadly had no ‘U’ to pair with it. He vowed to himself that if he ever invented a language, he wouldn’t have letters be dependent upon each other, it makes scrabble so much more difficult. Maybe the ‘K’ had potential.

“Elliot, can I ask you something?” Sarah said. Her tone was gentler than before, almost timid.

“Of course, what is it?”

“Remember when you came back from your leave in Inner-London? I had asked you what was wrong, and you said you didn’t want to talk about it then. Are you ready to talk about it now?” She wasn’t sure how to break into this conversation, so she did her best.

“I guess so. I just got this feeling while I was at home that something was going on and nobody would let me know what it was. I kept asking Cheslie, but she would always change the subject. I just felt very distant from her and my dad, it wasn’t a very good trip. I felt like I might have upset them in making the decision to join this program, and I worried that I was distancing myself from my family. It really hurt, and I had a lot of doubts on the trip back to New Washington. When I saw you there, it just added to the conflict, because I knew that I had to stay on to help you with the work.”

“Elliot, your family wasn’t upset about the program. At least I don’t think they were. Cheslie seemed very excited last I talked to her.”

“I don’t know Sarah, it just felt weird.”

“Elliot, I have some bad news for you, and I have been putting this off, but I need to get it off my chest now, before we get to Mars. Elliot, your father died of Tuberculosis.”

“What? When?” It was as if a brick wall fell on Elliot right then. His head felt heavy, his vision blurred. The shock of what he had just heard took time to settle in. The trip home made more sense in this light, but it didn’t lessen the blow of the news.

“When we were at the Moon Base. I wanted to tell you earlier, but I didn’t want to have your feelings distract you from the preparations. You weren’t supposed to know at all, Albrick was forbidden from telling you, but he got a message to me the day before we left.”

“How could this happen? He was young, strong. What’s Cheslie going to do?”

“Elliot, Cheslie will be ok. She’s an adult now, she’ll take care of herself. They didn’t want to tell you he was sick when you were home, because they wanted to be able to enjoy the time together without worrying about Bruck. I know this is going to be tough for you, so I wanted to give you some time before we got to Mars. I’ll leave you alone.”

“Please stay.” Elliot said. He could feel himself choking up, and forced back the tears. Sarah sat on the bench next to him and pushed the small table away. She put an arm around his shoulder, which was just the trigger his tears were waiting for. He began to sob, head in hands. His body lurched as he struggled to take in breaths between moans. He turned and looked at Sarah, and she hugged him while he cried on her shoulder.

Sarah felt ashamed that in the midst of Elliot’s grief, all she could think about was the embrace they shared. She had felt a sort of tingle as she wrapped her arms around the grief stricken man who was her best friend. She knew that she should be sharing in Elliot’s grief, but had learned to repress feelings of grief long ago. Somehow she had not developed the same control over feelings of love. She rubbed her hand across Elliot’s back as the tears became slower. She knew there would be plenty of time to explore love later, once Elliot had recovered from his grief, for now, she needed to be a friend.

Singularity - Chapter 6: Zeke Rennet (Part 2 of 2)

2009-02-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

Chapter 6: Zeke Rennet (Part 2)

Albrick stormed from the Executive Residence across Pratt Square towards the Artemis Building. He was fuming from the argument with the president. How could he be so cold and calculating? Does he not think of human emotion from time to time? The confrontation was something he had been wanting to do for a long time. He was doubtful about the direction the President was leading the Homestead program. He didn’t like that the President was micromanaging the project.

As he arrived at the Artemis building, he walked with a purpose. He didn’t notice the receptionist greeting him as he walked across the lobby to the elevator. He failed to hold the door for another program director who was running to the elevator. When the elevator finally arrived at the 14th floor, he got off, walked to his office, threw his jacket at the coat rack, where it fell in a heap on the floor.

He sat at his desk, and pressed a button on his com-screen. The screen flicked to life, showing an office with a young red haired man studying a computer monitor intently. “Gredge, can you come to my office please?”

The redhead on the screen looked up, “Right away sir.”

Less than a minute later, Gredge entered the office, and Albrick got up, grabbed him by the arm, and walked him into the hallway. “Come on, we’re going to the roof.”

“Al, I don’t understand.”

“Just walk with me, I’ll explain in a minute.”

Albrick walked to the stairwell at the end of the hall, pushed open the door, and bounded up the stairs to the roof. Gredge followed behind, still confused about why they were going to the roof. Albrick swung open the door at the top of the stairs, and shuffled out onto the roof. Albrick paced back and forth, waiting for Gredge to catch up. He kicked a pebble across the roof, and it struck an air-recycler with a satisfying clang. Albrick picked up another pebble, threw it at the recycler. CLANG.

After throwing three or four small rocks at the recycler, he looked over at Gredge. “Gredge, how long have you been my program assistant?”

“About five years now, I think.”

“Have you ever known me to have poor judgment? Have I made many bad decisions?”

“Nothing comes to mind. Why are we on the roof?”

Albrick laughed, and walked to the edge of the roof, standing a few inches from the lip at the edge of the building. He looked down at the city below, and then across the cavern at the edges of the great engineering marvel that was New Washington.

Gredge was getting nervous. He didn’t understand why Albrick was so upset, and what they were on the roof for. “Al, is something wrong? Why don’t you step back from the edge?”

“Don’t worry, Gredge, I’m not going to jump.”

“Of course not, so what’s going on, Al?”

Albrick walked back to where Gredge stood, near the stairs. He put his hands on Gredge’s shoulders, and lowered his voice “I didn’t want anybody hearing this conversation. That’s why we’re on the roof. Gredge, I want you to contact Sarah Angler at the Armstrong Moon Base, tell her that Bruck Adams, Elliot’s father, has died of tuberculosis. Tell her to use her discretion in letting Elliot know. Make sure nobody overhears this conversation, I’m under directive from the President not to let Elliot know, but I don’t want him going to Mars without knowing.”

“Sure thing, Al, I’m happy to help. I don’t understand why the president would direct you not to tell Elliot.”

“You and me both, Gredge.”

Singularity - Chapter 6: Zeke Rennet (Part 1)

2009-01-21T06:45:00.000-08:00

Chapter 6: Zeke Rennet

“Mr. President, I have Albrick Hunter for you.” The male aide stood, without making eye contact, awaiting a response from President Rennet. The office in the Executive Residence was decorated to resemble the historic Oval Office of the President of the United States. The Executive residence was built as a modern steel and stone structure, a far removed building from the White House of old, but the office of the President was kept relatively similar. Still oval in shape, the office was decorated in the same provincial style that it had been for centuries of the old nation.

Without looking up from his desk, Zeke Rennet replied, “Well, send him in then.”

The aide signaled to the side of the door as he exited, and Albrick Hunter shuffled in, walking to the front of President Rennet’s desk, awaiting acknowledgement from the unsettlingly tall man sitting at the desk. Albrick was visibly agitated, and seemed to be itching to get something off his chest. After allowing him to stand several minutes, the president motioned with his left hand at a chair behind Albrick, and without looking up, “Are you planning to stand the whole time? Take a seat.”

Albrick sat down in a lush yellow chair. The cushion of the high backed chair absorbed Albrick’s small frame. It was deep enough and tall enough that his stocky legs were not quite long enough for his feet to touch the ground as he sat. It made him feel insignificant and small. He had a feeling that these chairs were chosen for that very effect on their occupants. One of the president’s aides, a young, pretty, slender woman with elf-like features brought Albrick a tray with a tall, thin steel cup and a small plexi-crystal pitcher filled with water. She set the tray on the table next to the chair, and filled the glass with water from the pitcher. Albrick smiled politely at the aide, “Thank you”

The president leafed through a few sheets of plasti-paper, signed his name at the bottom of one, closed the folder on his desk, and handed it to the aide, who took the paper out the door behind the president’s desk. He looked up from his desk at Albrick, and removed the mahogany-framed glasses from his face, laying them gently on the edge of his desk. He grabbed a pecan from a bowl at the front of the desk, and gestured at the bowl, “Help yourself Albrick.”

“No thank you, Mr. President.” Albrick was getting impatient, but did not want to break protocol by pushing the meeting faster than the President chose to lead.

Rennet tossed the pecan into his mouth, and spoke, his words muffled by the chewing of the nut. “So, Mr. Hunter, to what do I owe the pleasure of this surprise meeting?” He leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, and crossed his right ankle over his left knee, his re-conditioned patent leather shoes reflecting the light coming through the window behind Albrick. He licked a finger, and rubbed at a scuff on the side of the wooden sole.

“I received your note, and I wanted to encourage you to reconsider your decision.” Albrick did everything he could to contain his emotion, knowing it would not help his argument.

“I respect that you disagree with me, Albrick, but I made my decision, and it’s final.”

“He needs to be told, Mr. President, once they leave the Moon Base, contact with the team will be difficult, then it will be several months before we have the opportunity. I don’t wish that sort of delay, sir.”

“I understand your concern, Albrick, but what do we do when he wants to return for the funeral? The team can’t leave the base without him. The return trip would be too costly, and would result in an unnecessary delay in the mission timeline.”

Albrick sat forward in his chair, gazing intently at Rennet, “Sir, no such delay would happen, I just want Elliot to know that his father has died, we owe him that dignity, for all that he is doing for us.”

The president uncrossed his legs, sat forward, grabbing a folder from the top of the stack on his desk. His tone flat, “We can let him know once he returns to the Moon Base after the Mars leg of the mission, Albrick, it’s only a few months, and it doesn’t make that much difference, the man is already dead, there’s nothing he could do to change that now, it’s not worth compromising the mission.”

Albrick leapt from his chair, and raised his voice in anger, “The mission? Are you so dense to think that telling the man about his father will cause him to leave the mission? Do you have no faith in my training program? Or his devotion to the program?”

The president got out of his chair, stood up, towering head and shoulders above Albrick. He leaned forward, hands on the desk, furrowing his brow, he looked down at Albrick. “Dense? I think you are forgetting who you are talking to, Hunter. Would you care to revise that last statement?”

“You’re right, I shouldn’t have called you dense.” Albrick was in a haze, not fully aware of everything around him, his mind was spinning in anger, his vision shaky as the room appeared to revolve around him. “Heartless would be more appropriate.”

The president sat down, and in his unaffected voice, “Yes, well, sometimes it’s necessary for the greater good.” He picked up his glasses from the desk and placed them on his nose, opening the folder he had grabbed.

“Spoken like a man who made his billions selling defective machines that pump disease through the cities of the world.” Albrick stared at the massive man sitting behind the desk, amazed at how he could be so disaffected by any kind of human emotion.

“Albrick, get some rest, you seem tired.” He pushed a button on the desk, and the male aide opened the door through which Albrick had entered. Albrick glared at the President, who had already moved on to his folder, and refused to look up.

“Sir, the president is very busy, please follow me.” The male aid held out his hand, inviting Albrick to exit the room.

Albrick turned on his heel, bumped into the small table with the water pitcher, causing the cup to fall off the tray to the floor. He continued to the door, taking no notice of what he just did. He walked past the aide, who put a hand on his back as he stormed out of the office and closed the door behind.

The president sighed without looking up from his folder, pushed a second button, “Dania, would you come in here please, Mr. Hunter spilled his water.” He continued reading as the door behind him opened, and the pretty, young aide walked in with a towel.

The president looked up over the top of his glasses as she wiped up the spilled water, unable to miss the way her black skirt tightened around her hips as she bent down. He remembered at that moment exactly why he had hired her. She replaced the glass on the tray, piled the towel next to it, and picked the tray up to carry it out of the room.

“Thank you, Dania.” The president smiled. “You should know how much I appreciate the work you do for me, Dania. I look forward to seeing your career develop.”

Dania smiled, flattered at the compliment. “Thank you sir, It’s an honor to work with you.”

The President’s eyes followed Dania as she left the room. He grinned and shook his head slightly as he grabbed a walnut from the bowl, and returned to his document.

Singularity Chapter 5: Bruck

2009-01-02T09:06:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I enjoyed writing this chapter. I think it's one of my best so far. I could be wrong, feel free to tell me such in the comments below.

Chapter 5: Bruck

Bruck had been feeling worse every day since Elliot went back to New Washington. Knowing that he would see Elliot soon made him forget his illness before the visit, but once that visit was done, he began to decline. The coughing was getting more frequent, and lasted for much longer intervals. It felt as if he were coughing almost constantly now.

The doctor had been uncertain what the cause of his coughing was, but attributed it much to the low air quality in his sector of the city, and lowering oxygen levels throughout the city. The air recyclers were working full time now, and weren’t able to keep up with the demand. Cheslie had been taking odd jobs here and there, saving up to buy a home unit air recycler, hoping to help with their air at home, but even that wasn’t helping much.

His body was feeling weak, and his muscles were starting to deteriorate. He could no longer work, the demands of his job being too heavy for his weakened body. He spent most of his time in bed, watching news reports, and reading books.

Cheslie brought the doctor into the room, and walked over to her father. “Dad, Dr. Schindler is here to take a look at you. Are you feeling up to it?” She gently rubbed his shoulder, and was disturbed by the way she could feel the bones of the joint without the muscular shoulder she was used to. She hated to see him this way, and could hardly stand to stay in the room for long.

“Hello Bruck, I just wanted to take some tests and let you know a few of the things we’ve been figuring out. How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling ok Frankton. My lungs haven’t been hurting as much lately, but my stomach has been pretty bad. I can’t eat much anymore. Anything other than water makes me sick.” He began coughing, and didn’t stop for a few minutes. Cheslie left the room, at the edge of tears.

Dr. Schindler sat in the chair next to the bed, and avoided eye contact with Bruck while he coughed. He pretended to look through some papers, and study what they said, but he already knew what was on them, and reading again would not change that. He had been seeing more cases like Bruck’s for the past few months, and had heard from doctors around the world who were seeing the same sorts of problems.

As the coughing stopped, Frankton looked over at Bruck, “Well, Bruck, we’re starting to get a little more information about your cough. It seems that this has been happening more frequently lately. It appears to be a disease called Tuberculosis, which was common at one point a long time ago. The disease seems to have become somewhat eliminated at one point, but it has been showing up more commonly of late. It seems to thrive in the poor air quality that is in most cities. Unfortunately, the disease doesn’t show signs until it is fairly advanced, and by that point, it’s hard to change the course. We will try giving you some medication that should help, but most of the strains that have survived are drug-resistant due to over-medication in the past. I wish there was more I could do for you. I can give you some pain relievers to help with the aches. Otherwise, just get some rest, and eat if you think you can. I’ll be back in a few days to check in.”

He left two bottles of medication on the table across the room, and turned to look back at Bruck, he was falling asleep, and his body was trembling slightly from the muscle fatigue. He shook his head slightly and walked out into the hall closing the door behind him. He saw Cheslie slumped against the wall sobbing into her hands. He walked over to her, and sat down against the wall across from her. He put a hand on her foot, and she looked up.

“Sorry, Dr. Schindler, I have such a hard time looking at him lately. I remember a man who was so strong and independent. I don’t recognize the person laying in that room. That’s not the man who raised my brother and me by himself. I don’t know who that is, but the disease has taken my father from me. Is he going to be ok?” She choked back the tears as she asked the question.

“It’s hard to say, Ches, he is very sick, and we don’t know a lot about his disease, because it was thought that it didn’t exist anymore. I left two medications on the table. You can give him the pain relievers when he asks for them, but the other one he can only have one per day. Otherwise, he just needs to rest. Try to think about the Bruck you love, and hopefully that will help.”

Cheslie got up to walk the doctor to the front door. He gave her a hug as she opened the door, “Please, let me know if there’s anything Marylee and I can do for you, anything at all.” And then he was gone.

Cheslie went back inside and thought about all the great times she could remember. She remembered the day that Dad had brought home their first computer. She knew how much it must have cost him, but he insisted it wasn’t expensive, and that they needed it for their schoolwork. Or all the times he had taken a day off of work to watch her debate matches. Or the first time she had gone to New Washington to visit Elliot, and the tears she saw in the corner of his eye that day. She realized that he lived his life for Elliot and her. Everything he ever did was to give them a better life. He never thought about himself, only them.

She was sad that Elliot couldn’t be there for her right now. She thought about him, thousands of Kilometers away, off the planet at the moon base. She wished that he had known what was happening with their dad. But Bruck had insisted that Elliot not know he was ill. He put on a great show of being fine. He had worn heavy shirts to hide his thinning body, and held back the coughing as much as possible. Cheslie had to do everything in her power to keep from letting Elliot in on the secret, but it was what Bruck had wanted. He didn’t want his illness to keep Elliot from following this dream.

Everything he did was for Cheslie and Elliot.

Cheslie heard Bruck calling her name from his room, so she went in there by him. He was sweating and flushed, and his breathing was irregular. She brought him a pain reliever, and a glass of water, and held his head up while he swallowed. He coughed a little as she lowered his head back to the pillow.

“Cheslie, sit down.” Bruck’s voice was weak, almost a whisper, raspy and airy, as if coming out of a ghost. Cheslie took the chair next to his bed, and held his hand. She wiped his forehead with a towel.

“Is there anything you need, Dad? Are you too warm?”

“Just you…Sit with me Ches…” There were long pauses between phrases, as if each thing he said were so exhausting that he needed to gather strength to speak again. “Dr. Schindler…Says I have…Tuberculosis…”

“I know dad, I spoke with him. He said you should rest.”

“Elliot.”

“Elliot is at the Armstrong Base, Dad, he couldn’t be here.”

“He’s there…” Bruck coughed quietly, and pointed at the video screen on the wall. There was a video of Elliot’s team arriving at the Armstrong Moon Base. The news reporter was talking about the equipment and supplies they had brought to the base, and said they would be doing research at the Moon base for six months.

Cheslie squeezed Bruck’s hand, “He’s safe, Dad, the team made it safely.”

“Good…so proud of both…Tell…New Washington…”

“Dad, you’ve been there.”

“Elliot… New Wash…” A slight cough told Cheslie that the talking was hard for Bruck.

Cheslie wasn’t sure what he wanted from her. But she decided to tell him the story about when she had first met Sarah. She told him about how she had mistakingly believed she was Elliot’s girlfriend, and had treated her so awfully, only to later find out that she was his professor and friend. She said how they had laughed so hard over tea, and had become such good friends. That was the trip where Elliot told her about the Artemis program. She told him about the Surface Studies building, and how Elliot had taken her to the surface research platform one day, about how beautiful the view was of the open ocean, and the mountains. How wonderful it was to see for such a long distance, longer than even in New Washington.

She had been talking so much she didn’t notice how his breathing had changed. She started to feel his grip on her hand loosen, and she looked at him. His eyes were nearly closed, and his breathing had slowed. It was regular now, but weak. “Dad, do you need anything? Are you ok?”

“Love…Ches…Elliot…”

“I love you too, Dad, Elliot and I both do.”

His eyes closed, and his breathing continued slowly, quietly. His grip on her hand released, and she kept holding on to his.

His breathing was slow, quiet, rhythmic. His body had stopped trembling, he had stopped sweating. He was relaxed.

He inhaled slowly, quietly, a slight smile came across his lips.

Exhale slowly, quietly.

Inhaled slowly, quietly.

Exhaled.

There was no more coughing. No more pain.

Singularity: Chapter 4: Armstrong (part 2 of 2)

2008-12-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

So, this was a section I labeled as "weak" after writing it. I made a few changes, but I would welcome any input from my reader(s).

The team assembled in the meeting room. The furniture and technology had been upgraded since that first day, but the room was the same. It brought back feelings in everybody of that fear and uncertainty of the first day. The truth was, even after the months of training, there wasn’t much more certainty for any of them. Albrick came into the room, and took his spot at the slate. He smiled at them all.

“Well, you guys made it. You survived the most rigorous training we could come up with, and you’re ready to make Homestead a reality. You have already learned what you need to know, there’s nothing left for me to teach you. You don’t need another briefing on your mission, you’ve had so many of those already. So today, on the eve of your launch, I’ve arranged for a special guest to come and speak with you, and hopefully provide a little motivation. Mister President, will you please join us?”

The team all looked to the door, as it swung open, and two of the suited twins walked through, with their dark glasses and earpieces, wearing emotionless faces as usual. Then the man walked through the door, Zeke Rennet, it was really him. He stood a little less than two meters tall, broad shoulders, clearly muscular and fit. His hair was dark, cut medium short, and perfectly groomed in the fashion of a politician. His face was clean shaven, and his blue eyes peered through thick rimmed glasses, which was unusual, since most people had their vision surgically corrected, many people assumed it was to show off his wealth, as the frames were made from solid mahogany wood.

His presence was intimidating, partially because of his importance, and partially because of his size. It was rare for people to grow tall, since proper nutrition was difficult and expensive, so height was usually an indication of wealth or a genetic rarity. Clearly President Rennet was the former. His fortune was made in air recycling equipment. His father had invented the most frequently used large scale machine, which was enough to fund Zeke’s education in business and economics. After school, the company, under Zeke’s direction expanded their business into small home units, which flew off the shelves as fast as they could build them. As a result, the Rennet fortune grew. Zeke Rennet was a household name from that point forward, which helped bring him to the position he was in that day, as president of the NAR. He was widely known to be a likable, friendly, if slightly conceited guy. His smile was broad and welcoming as he addressed the team.

“When we first started your team, there was a significant amount of debate over whether to have it be included in the Artemis program, or to make it its own. We ultimately decided that it would be independent of Artemis, but under the cover of the program’s name. But we needed a name for this program. I knew that Homestead would be the perfect name. Homestead gives the feeling of possession, of value. A person’s home is the place that matters most to him, and cannot be taken from him. So we seek to declare the planet as our homestead. We will not give up in our struggle to survive. We will do whatever we need to do to make life on Earth easy and carefree once again.

“When we discovered what work was planned on Mars before the Travesty, our immediate thought was about how we could use any technologies developed for that project to sustain life on earth, and maybe even return to the surface one day. The potential to do such good for the planet could not be ignored. Unfortunately, the documentation for the Mars base was very slim, and difficult to find, and that is where all of you come in. You are the hope of our race. You are the light shining in the distance. Your success in this mission will bring a new era to the people of Earth.

“Now, I know this does not come without sacrifice, and we recognize the sacrifices you have all made in being here today. The secrecy does not come easy, even to someone such as myself who deals in it daily. And the knowledge that this program could take your life, well, I could not be so brave as all of you. I admire each of you for the courage that you exhibit by sitting where you do today.

“Allow me to share with you a brief story. A few years ago, when Artemis was just a note on an agenda, I came across a mother with a small child. The mother was sick, she had frequent coughing fits. She told me that she had lived her whole life in the lower reaches of Boston. Her husband had been killed in a tunnel collapse, and she feared that her illness would take her life before her young daughter was fully grown. She told me that the one thing she wanted for her daughter was a better world. She dreamed that her daughter would one day walk the surface of the Earth, feel rain on her face, and breathe clean, fresh air. I was devastated that I could not answer her plea. It broke my heart that I could not snap my fingers and fix the world. I was able to provide an air unit, hoping to help her illness, but I knew that would not help her dream to come true. I determined at that point that the NAR needed to take every opportunity to make the world a better place, no matter what the cost. I decided at that point that her story would become the shared dream of this region. Thus, Artemis, and eventually, Homestead were born. Godspeed to all of you, and I look forward to your return.”

That night, the team slept the dreamless sleep of drug-induced rest. They could not risk the possibility that any of them would not be fully rested before the launch. They all assembled for the launch at 5:30. They walked as a team to the elevator that took them 5,000 meters below New Washington, into the space dock chamber. They each loaded into their seats in the A-537 craft, sitting four wide across the craft. They fastened acceleration straps, and all held hands as the electromagnetic rail launcher began hurling the craft towards the end of the tube. With increasing speed, felt only by the forces pushing them into their chairs, the titanium craft flung itself through the blackness of the subterranean tunnel. After several minutes of the constant acceleration, they could feel their bodies pushing down into their seats as the craft began the slow curve upward towards the surface. By the time they could see the light appearing at the exit of the tunnel, they were darting towards it at 3,000 Km/h.

They could hear a massive pressure wave as they exited the tunnel, left the rails and flew free away from the earth. Elliot watched the monitor as the rear-mounted cameras showed the landscape of the planet as they travelled away. He could see the blue glow of the Fusion-Plasma thrusters as their craft began powering itself towards the edge of the thin atmosphere. As the A-537 finally arrived at the edge of the atmosphere, they could feel the acceleration reduce as the engines were able to relax and perform their final thrust towards escape velocity. The engines clicked off and Garst rotated the craft so the crew could watch the planet through the plexi-crystal windows as they floated towards the moon.

Elliot marveled at the view he saw. What he saw was not the blue-green and cloud-streaked planet depicted in ancient photos. The planet he looked upon now was very different. The blue was still there, with mostly brown landscape, and clouds were heavy around the center of the earth, but very sparse near the poles. He became sad as he looked down at his dying planet, and had a sinking feeling that their research would be in vain. They had set something in motion that could not be stopped. He wondered if it would come to sealed cities, completely closed off from the rest of the planet. He knew that a lot of their research would be towards that end. It was a depressing resignation, but he knew that survival sometimes required undesirable things.

Elliot was amazed at how dull actual space travel was. He expected excitement the whole time, but once he got past the view of Earth, the rest of the journey was terribly boring. It was a lot of waiting and floating, and he welcomed the docking procedure when it came the next morning. Garst’s control of the craft was masterful as it began its orbit of the Moon. After two orbits on a decaying path, they approached the Moon Base runway, and he set the craft down lightly on the tarmac. The team disembarked into the sealed tube that was attached to the hatch. The thing they all noticed the most was the gravity differential. They went to explore the base as the Armstrong crew began to unload the cargo they had carried from Earth.

It took a few hours for the reality of what was happening to sink in for Elliot. He was actually standing on the Moon. As a person who had only rarely been to the surface of the Earth through his life, the idea that he was standing on the moon was startling. He reflected on the events that had led him to this point, and he was amazed that in such a short time, he had gone from an ordinary family in Inner-London to actually travelling off the surface of the planet. And a week from that day, he would be travelling to an entirely different planet.

Singularity - Chapter 4: Armstrong (Part 1 of 2)

2008-11-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

Chapter 4: Armstrong

The two months of Basic training went fast. Sarah had grown much stronger during that time, due to the physical training and sound diet that was provided by Artemis. The years since leaving home had not been kind to Sarah’s physical wellbeing. She never had time to think about food, or to learn how to cook. She would often eat takeout food, or just throw a quick sandwich together, but more often, she would just forget to eat. At Artemis, she was able to eat a well balanced diet, scientifically perfect, and exactly what her body needed to respond to the rigorous physical training she underwent for several hours each day. The results were fantastic. She had replaced her old skinny physique with toned muscles. For the first time in her life, she would look at herself in the mirror and be happy with what she saw. She didn’t see the old pile of skin and bones of her days at NWU, but now she was actually looking like a woman, and it made her feel good. She felt attractive.

Of course, the training she had really appreciated was the other specialty training she had undergone. She was invigorated with the knowledge she had gained since starting in the program. She now was trained at operating the navigation system of the A-537 interplanetary craft that would be transporting them from Earth to the Moon, and then from the Moon to Mars. She also was trained in operation of the B-537 landing craft. She loved learning things that were outside the training she already had in atmospheric studies. It was a refreshing change from what she was accustomed to.

Tomorrow would be the day they would launch to the Armstrong lunar base, and the crew was all arriving back at the Artemis building after a three day leave of absence. Elliot had taken the opportunity to visit his family in Inner-London. Garst and Priscilla had spent the time with their families as well. She was looking forward to getting back together with her companions who had shared these past weeks of training with her.

Sarah chose to spend her leave in New Washington. She hadn’t returned to Lower Chicago since her mother had died a year ago. She didn’t want to visit the father who had abandoned her at such a young age. Ironically, she had realized that it was her father’s abandonment that had pushed her away from home, and caused her to pursue the course that her life had taken. She was oddly grateful for the incredible pain, which continued to drive her to follow her dream. The leave time had given her pause to reflect on this paradox. She remembered the day that he had left her and her mother. She was young at the time, but not too young to understand the emotions involved. She remembered the shouting fight the night before, and the countless nights before that day as well. She remembered worrying that her friend next door would hear the shouting. When she woke up the next morning, her father had gone. She found her mother crying on her bed, clutching her father’s jacket in her hands. Her mother took her away that day, and they moved in with Sarah’s grandmother. That was the day that Sarah built the emotional barriers around her heart. She had decided on that day that she would not let her emotions interfere with her life, and locked all her feelings inside, vowing never to let them out.

She always wondered what she would say if she saw her father again. He showed up to her graduation from Harvard, but she avoided him, instead hiding among a group of friends until he gave up and left. She was afraid to confront him then, afraid she might say something she would regret, or perhaps not say something she needed to. Silence was safer. She knew that a confrontation with her father might be the one thing that could crack the shell she had meticulously constructed around herself. The risk of letting her emotions out was not worth the opportunity to make contact with the man who had not been involved with her life.

Elliot had invited Sarah to visit Inner-London with him, but she had decided to stay in New Washington. She needed time to herself to reflect on what had happened throughout the past few months. For some reason she felt uncomfortable going to Elliot’s house in Inner-London. She felt that New Washington was safe ground for her, because it was unfamiliar to both her and Elliot, but she worried that if she were in Inner-London, where she would rely so heavily on Elliot for everything, she would be unable to repress the feelings she had started having towards him. She was certain that those feelings were a result of how closely they had worked over the past year, and the past two months they spent nearly every hour of every day together. She reminded herself that her feelings for him were a sort of default reaction. Having never been in love, she just latched on to the first man who had treated her like she was special. None of this was able to explain the feelings of physical attraction. Elliot was on the same diet and exercise regimen as her, and she had noticed that his body was responding equally well to the plan. For the timebeing, she decided that this was just her reproductive instinct trying to pop up, and instincts were easy to repress. Repression of these emotions had become harder and harder as Elliot went from being her student to being her friend, and eventually her equal. She made a mental note of all these feelings, and compartmentalized them away in the place where she held those emotions she never understood, a compartment occupied nearly entirely by Elliot.

She had occupied herself by going back to the University. She rode the research train to the surface. While the students she rode with were doing research, she just looked out over the planet’s surface. From the mountainside platform, she could see for many kilometers to the East. She could see the Appalachian Mountains trailing off into the ocean beyond. The remnants of a few cities lay below in the valleys. Crumbled buildings strewn across concrete and dried soil marked the places where people had lived before destroying this planet. She looked at the sky above, the blue color fading towards black as the atmosphere thins. In a few more years, the atmosphere would have thinned enough that the brightest stars would be visible during the day. She noted the burning sun shining down on the scorched surface. She knew that at this point, the only thing preventing complete atmospheric collapse were the machines used to condition the air in the cities for people to breathe. There was no way to use mechanical means to bring back this atmosphere.

She was frustrated that a solution did not present itself obviously as she sat there. She wanted nothing more than to be able to go back to the University and announce that she’d figured everything out. But her world was one of baby steps towards the eventual solution. She worried that the science was moving too slowly to make a difference. There was a definite point where the whole system would collapse, and the planet was moving slowly in that direction. She estimated that if nothing changed, they would have one hundred, maybe one hundred fifty years before humans start dying from the lack of atmosphere. The whole process will take another hundred years from that point, slowing as the population declines.

All of these thoughts weighed heavily on her mind as she sat in the residential lounge in the secret Homestead facility that had been her home for the past months. She was still daydreaming when Elliot came into the room and sat in the chair next to hers. “Whacha thinking about, Sarah?” Elliot said, taking some pleasure in the startled reaction he got from her as she snapped out of her thought trance.

“What? Oh, hey Elliot. How was your trip?”

“Good. It was nice to see my friends and family again. Ches says ‘hi.’“

Sarah could tell there was something bothering Elliot, he was holding something back. “You seem upset about something. Wanna talk?”

“Not now, I’ll tell you about it later. It just felt a little weird, like I was lying to them the whole time. I hate having to tell my family the official talking points, mission to the moon, blah blah blah.”

“Ok, well, anytime you want to talk, you know I’m there. What do you think will happen at our final briefing this afternoon?”

Elliot welcomed the change of subject, “Oh, probably just the same old thing, talking about the mission, going over our plans, timelines, procedures, as if the dozen other meetings weren’t enough. I’m ready for the mission to start, all this anticipation is making me anxious.”

“Tell me about it. I get the feeling this briefing might be different. I mean, it’s the last before we launch, if any briefing were important, this would be the one.”

They could hear Garst’s rumbling laugh coming down the hallway, along with Priscilla’s dainty giggle. Sarah took the last moment of solitude to talk candidly to Elliot, “Elliot, I just want you to know that when we get up there into space, I’m going to be glad to have you with me. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have at my side on this mission.”

“Me too, Sarah, we have always been a great team. Our research is so much better together, we’ll make a breakthrough, I just know it.”

Sarah nodded and smiled. Of course that wasn’t what she meant, but she couldn’t let Elliot know different. She wouldn’t let any distractions take them away from the important work they were doing.

Singularity Chapter 3: Artemis (Part 3 of 3)

2008-11-06T07:20:00.000-08:00

“I’m sure you have all learned about the Travesty and the conditions that led to that collapse. Before that time, the world had several very powerful nations, with nearly unlimited resources. Those nations invested in things we would now see as wasteful. The most wasteful of all in our current mindset was the space exploration program. The nations would send probes into space to determine the soil makeup of Mars, or to explore whether there were planets revolving around nearby stars. The program was wasteful because of the tremendous cost to build crafts that were durable enough to withstand the extreme amounts of time required to travel long distances, but light enough to be easily propelled at very high speeds. Recently, in preparation for Artemis, we sent researchers to a few key locations around the world that were involved in the pre-Travesty space programs, hoping to find any information that could be helpful for us in our endeavor. The goal of Artemis was not exploration as much as research, and the ultimate goal of helping mankind to return to the surface. Any information we could find that would help to those ends was worth a tremendous cost in obtaining. One location was near the pre-Travesty city of Albuquerque, long since abandoned, but was once a very important base for top-secret activities by the government of the United States of America. Most of the equipment was ruined, and records were hard to come by, but we were able to find a bit of information about a few of the space programs they had been working on.

“It turns out that what had previously been believed to be unmanned missions to Mars were actually manned missions with the goal of creating a Mars base, on which to develop new technologies for deep space travel. Unfortunately, shortly after these missions were sent, communications were lost with the destruction of all orbiting communications satellites as part of the great Nuclear War. The crew of those missions were abandoned on Mars, and all records of the mission were destroyed. The US government, however, failed to destroy all records, as we were able to discover, there was an engineer working on the project who kept a journal of what he was working on. It was this journal that we discovered, and we have reason to believe that the Mars base might have been completed despite the loss of communication.

“The goal of Homestead is to journey to the Mars base, and determine the condition of that base. You will spend the next two months in training here in our New Washington facility before being launched to the Lunar base. We have an advance team at Armstrong awaiting your arrival. You will receive further training there, before launching to the Mars base. You will be the first team to arrive at the Mars base since the original mission was launched. We’re not sure what conditions you’ll find when you arrive there, but we will prepare you for all eventualities.

“Once at the Mars base, you will report back to us on Earth regarding the condition of the base, whether the life support systems are usable, and we will make a determination as to the course to take from that point.

“Now, regarding your training. I will be overseeing every bit of your training. You will all receive physical training to prepare your body for the long journeys in space. You will also receive training on low gravity environments to prepare you for the Lunar and Mars gravity differentials. You will also receive, although I hate to use the phrase, a crash course in the equipment that you will be using for the journey. Of course Garst will be piloting the vessels, we want to be sure that you are all trained in the event that anything should happen to him.”

The team looked at each other. They all felt a sense of wonder at what they’d just been told. It was not what they had expected when they walked into the building this morning. Priscilla seemed to be soaking up the thrill of this new uncomfortable situation. It seemed to have an odd effect on her, as if she was happier right now than she had ever been before.

Garst was skeptical, which was his usual reaction to situations that do not turn out the way he was expecting. He was very excited, however, for piloting missions to the Moon and Mars. It was going to be a new experience for him, and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on the controls of whatever craft they are going to be using for the journey.

Elliot looked at Sarah. She looked at peace with all of this. He thought about what she had told him earlier, about running from her memories. He thought how much she must be reveling in the thought of being on Mars. No place could be further from her memories than the red planet, the furthest any human had ever travelled. He knew she would be thinking about that right now as she looked at him, a placid smile on her lips. She mouthed words to Elliot, “I can’t wait!” Her sureness gave Elliot strength. Any uncertainty he had felt before seemed to melt away when he saw how accepting Sarah was of the situation. He was going to be part of something big.

Albrick continued, “So you are now all wondering why you were chosen. Mister Jasper, of course you know why you’re here. You’re the best pilot we could find who didn’t have family ties. Of course you’re not familiar with the specific craft you’ll be piloting, but it won’t take you long, I’m sure. Your instructors have spoken highly of your ability to learn quickly and well. Miss Faust, you will be the technician of the crew. I know your experience has been mostly with computers, but you have developed a certain expertise with some of the legacy programming languages used Pre-Travesty. You’ll be using that knowledge much once you arrive on Mars. Before then, you’ll be taking care of the communications, and since Mister Babbit will not be joining us, you’ll be assisting Garst with piloting.

“And for the atmospheric scientists, your work will be somewhat less defined. We anticipate that there will be a lot you can learn from this trip. You’ll want to make special note of conditions of the Earth as you travel to the Moon, and as you slingshot past on your way to Mars. We know that part of the mission to Mars involved some contained environmental technology that we’d like to learn more about, so you’ll be examining that equipment while you’re there.

“The door behind me leads to your quarters, please make yourselves at home there, and we will send someone for you in two hours to begin your physical training.”

Sigularity- Chapter 3:Artemis (part 2 of 3)

2008-10-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

The pair walked together in silence across town to the Artemis building. They both sensed an awkward emotional moment on the roof, and neither wanted to bring it up now. Silence seemed to be the best option. When they arrived at the Black tower, Elliot held the door for Sarah, and they went inside. The attendant at the reception desk directed them to room 742, and to use the elevator at the end of the lobby. They rode the elevator to the 7^th floor, and got off. The hall down which they walked felt as if it grew smaller the further they walked. When they finally arrived at 742, they were both feeling a little claustrophobic.

Sarah pushed the door open, and they walked into the room. It was a large room, with a long oval table sitting in the middle. About two dozen metal chairs surrounded the table. Elliot was amazed by the table. It was made of wood. Wood was so rarely used since the Travesty, due to the small number of trees that actually grew anymore. The wooden table only made the room more intimidating. The ceiling was two stories high, with pendants hanging from the ceiling above each spot around the table, casting a dim circle of light. The effect was to make each seat around the table feel like an interrogation seat. The rest of the room was dimly lit from half-dome lights around the perimeter. There were no windows in this room, so the dim light was all there was to illuminate the room. The path from the door to the table was lit by small lights installed into the carpeted floor.

Elliot led Sarah down the path to the table, where they took two seats next to each other. They looked around the table. At the end furthest from the door sat a man in a Dark suit, with a white shirt, and a thin black tie. He wore a pin depicting the North American flag on his lapel. He looked to be in his early 40’s. His hair was an earthy red hue, and his skin was very fair. Next to him was an overweight middle-aged man, wearing a short-sleeved button down shirt. His black hair was receding up his scalp, currently about half-way to fully bald. He compensated for this with a thick goatee. He looked uncomfortable as he sat in his chair, like a spring coiled and ready to jump at the slightest provocation. Next to him was a young blonde-haired woman. She looked to be a few years older than Elliot, with soft features, pale green eyes, and a slim figure. She wore a brown suit, with thin yellow pinstripes, and a yellow buttoned blouse, with a ruffled collar. She sat confidently at the table, directly across from Elliot. In the corner of the room furthest from the door stood two men, who could have been twins. They wore identical suits to the man at the head of the table, with the matching lapel pins. Unlike the man at the table, they both had dark hair, cropped short, and looked to be in their mid-thirties. The both wore darkened glasses, and each had an earpiece snaking over the back of his left ear. They stood with their backs to the wall, showing no emotion.

Elliot looked up to see a man about his age walk into the room. He had dark skin, being obviously of African descent. His head was shaved clean. He wore a red t-shirt under a black sport coat, and a pair of dark blue jeans. He was built muscularly, and looked very tough. He sat at the end of the table opposite the man in the suit. As he sat, the man in the suit nodded to a young woman standing next to the door. She left the room, closing the door behind her. The man in the suit looked around at the people sitting at the table. He looked over at the twins and gave them a nod. The twins walked across the room to the door, and stood on either side of the door. The man in the suit turned back to the table. His eyes travelled from person to person at the table as he spoke.

“You all know that you have been chosen to take part in the Artemis program of space exploration. I am here to tell you that this was a necessary lie that you were told in order to keep certain things secret. The program you have been asked to join is related to Artemis, but is not Artemis. You need to know that this program is vital to the survival of humans, and is undertaken at a very high cost to those ends. You also need to know that this program is dangerous, and there are a lot of unknowns. It’s possible that you could give your life in service to this program, and so we are giving you all one last opportunity to back out of this. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you more about the program we are asking you to join until you have fully committed. If you choose to leave this room now, you will be escorted out of the building, and you are free to resume your normal life. We do require absolute secrecy of what I have already told you, and any failure to keep this secrecy will be met with severe consequences. Would any of you like to leave here now?”

The man in the suit sat back in his chair, as if to release the others in the room from their obligations. Sarah looked over at Elliot, and he gave her a nervous smile. She smiled back and whispered into his ear, “I’m staying.” Elliot felt his heart drop into his stomach as he heard that, it was a signal to him that he had his own decision to make. If Sarah walked out, he could have followed easily, and had someone with whom he could relate. But with Sarah staying, the decision became that much more difficult. He saw the overweight man sweating and stirring in his chair. He stood up, mumbled an apology to the man in the suit and staggered towards the door. One of the twins opened the door for him, and a third twin was waiting outside the room to escort the man out of the building. As the door came to rest in the jamb, Elliot felt his foot step off the cliff into the abyss. He didn’t know how the decision was made in his head, but he didn’t get up, and now he knew he could not. He was now committed to this program, whatever it was.

The man in the suit smiled, “Good, the four of you are the brave ones. You will help assure the survival of our species, and it will all start right now. From here forward, you are the Homestead team, ladies and gentlemen, if you will follow my colleagues, we will head to our facility to commence your training.”

He motioned to the twins, and they Walked to the table. One of them said, in a smooth deep voice, “If you folks will just follow us, it’s a short walk away.” The twins walked back to the corner where they stood before the meeting began. As they approached, a panel on the wall slid sideways to reveal a well-lit white hallway.

The team walked into the hallway, and Elliot could see that it was slightly sloping downward. There were several other hallways and doors leading to the sides of the passage, and Elliot could not tell how the twins knew to turn down certain halls. After a few turns, they arrived at a door. The twin who had spoken entered a code into a number pad on the wall, and put his eye to a lens. The lens scanned his eye, and the door opened. He turned to the team and in the smooth voice said, “If you could each please look into this lens so we can verify your identity. Just a safety precaution, I’m sure you understand.”

Elliot was the second to scan his eye, after the twin. He placed his eye to the lens, and saw a red beam sweep across his eye, and then back. A computer voice spoke, Identity confirmed, Elliot Adams, please proceed. Elliot stepped through the door into the small room, followed shortly by Sarah, and the muscular African man, and finally, the second twin. The door closed behind him, and Elliot had a sinking feeling in his gut. He assumed this was his nerves coming back into play again. He had thought he was past that now, resigned to his decision, so he wasn’t sure why he was getting this fluttering feeling in his stomach. He started to notice a humming noise coming from beyond the walls of the room, and realized at that point that the room was moving, which was causing him to feel the way he was feeling. He paid attention to the acceleration, and sensed that they were moving downward very fast. How far down have we gone? We started on the 7^th floor, are we below ground level now? How many levels below ground? How far down can we go?

Just then he felt the elevator begin to slow. It came to a gradual stop, and the door slid open in front of them. The hallway in front of them was the same clean white as the previous hallway. The twins led the team out of the elevator, and down the hallway. The smooth-voiced twin punched another code into a number pad in the wall, and again scanned his eye. He invited all the team members to do the same again. The door next to the keypad opened, revealing a very basic room, gray walls, gray table with folding chairs, and a slate on the wall, with a piece of yellow chalk in a tray below it. “This is where we leave you guys, welcome to Homestead, good luck with the training.”

With that, the twins turned around and left the way they had come. The door was left slightly open, as if to tempt the four team members to make a run for it. The room was very sterile, not the type of room you would expect when you show up for your first day of a secret government program. The table was made from inexpensive polymers, not the elaborate wood of the table in 742. The chairs too were cheap. The slate on the wall was a sharp contrast from the monitors and displays seen throughout the Artemis building lobby. Everybody was looking at each other, trying to size their teammates up. Sarah was the first to speak.

“I’m Sarah Angler, I work with atmospheric studies and atmospheric manipulation.”

The muscular man spoke with a gentle voice which was unexpected from such a large man, “Garst Jasper, aviation engineer, pilot as they used to say.”

“My name is Priscilla Faust, I’m a computer engineer, I work with communications technology too.”

Elliot was last, “Elliot Adams, I’m in atmospheric studies with Sarah, my specialty is the relationship between plant life and the composition of atmosphere. Do any of you have any idea of what’s going on?”

“Not a clue,” Garst replied, “I was recruited to be a pilot for the Artemis program, so that was what I was expecting. But all this sneaking around and secret passages is a little too much spy novel for me, I’d prefer to just do my job and not ask questions.”

“I think it’s exciting,” Priscilla beamed, “I’ve always loved uncertainty. I like to be uncomfortable, not know what’s coming, it’s a thrill. Plus, it's nice to be important.”

The conversation was interrupted by a short old man walking into the room. He had a slightly protruding belly, and a bushy mustache. His hair was whispy and messed up. The hair on the left side of his head stood out like a wing. He wore a tan cardigan sweater over a white turtle-neck shirt. His pants were too long and too tight for his short, stout legs. He carried a small briefcase in his left hand, and a pair of glasses in his right. He set the briefcase down on a chair next to the slate, and put the glasses on his face, before writing Albrick Hunter in large round letters on the slate. He turned around to face the group, and looked at each one giving a small nod after examining each, and a quiet “uh huh” after he was satisfied with all four. His voice crackled from his throat as he addressed the team.

“I see Mister Babbit chose not to join us. It’s a shame, but no matter, he was not essential. I suppose you are all wondering why you’re here, in this dingy room in the sub-sub-sub basement of the Artemis building here in New Washington. I suppose you’re wondering what Homestead is, which you have no doubt heard mentioned several times in the past few minutes. I also suppose you’re wondering who I am. I hope to answer all these questions for you, but I will start with the easiest. I am Albrick Hunter, and I am the director of the Homestead project. You are here because you are all experts in your field, without immediate families to make you cautious, and you fit the profiles we needed for inclusion in Homestead. And the last question is somewhat more difficult for me to explain, so I will do so by telling you a short story."

Singularity - Chapter 3: Artemis (Part 1)

2008-10-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

Chapter 3: Artemis

Elliot’s alarm went off at 6:00, but he didn’t need it. He was already sitting at his kitchen table, dressed and ready to go. He had tried in vain to sleep, but gave up at 3:00, knowing it wasn’t worth trying. He was too excited, nervous, and anxious about the Artemis program, and what it would be like. He had emptied his fridge, the Artemis administrator had told him that he would be away from his apartment for at least two months, but he was not to pack a bag, they would provide issued clothing once they were at the training facility. He could bring a small bag of personal items, so he packed his shoulder bag with a picture of his dad and Cheslie, a notebook and pencil, a few keepsakes that made him happy, a deck of cards and a travel Scrabble set, just in case. He just sat there, staring out the window as the sun began to filter in through the gap in the cavern dome overhead. He decided to leave a little early before going to Sarah’s apartment to get her.

He got outside his building, and crossed the street to the Surface Studies building. He took the elevator to the roof, and walked out to the edge, facing north toward the Capitol. He loved the view from the roof of the SS building. He could see the Capitol dome reflecting the early morning rosy glow. He had seen true sunrises on the video monitors before, but for some reason, he liked the New Washington sunrise so much more. The video screens couldn’t fully capture the hues of the light that streamed through the ceiling gap, or the way the city became bathed in the pure sunlight. Beyond the dome, he could see New Union Station, and beyond that, a landscape of buildings stretched to the edge of the cavern, just barely visible in the dim morning light. To the left of the Capitol, he could see the Artemis building, looming where it sat at West Avenue and 1^st Ring Road. It was a huge black monolith, tall and thin, fourteen stories above the surface, and an unknown number below. The activities in that building were a mystery to most in the city, and until today, Elliot had counted himself as part of that number. This very morning, he would enter into the elite few that had been inside the building.

Elliot stood at the edge of that building that had been the place where he had learned everything he knew about how the world worked. He felt as if he stood literally at a cliff’s edge, and one foot hovered over the edge. Below the cliff was blackness, mystery, intrigue, the unknown. If he stepped back from the edge, he could run home to Cheslie and Bruck, live out his life in Inner-London, become a rail mechanic like his dad. He’d find a nice girl, maybe a school teacher, get married, have children, and completely forget what he had learned about the doomed planet, and the sliver of potential to reverse course. He could take that step back from the cliff, and never know what changes the future could bring. He could be near the ones he loved, with the only uncertainty being the future of the planet he calls home, and maybe he could train himself to forget. But he knew that if he took that step back, he would always wonder what might have been. He was determined to step from that cliff and fall into whatever his future brings. He knew this course could lead to his death, or separation from his family, but he knew that the cause was greater than one person, and he knew that he needed to heed the call of duty to his race. Mankind had destroyed this planet, and he was determined to see that mankind would fix it. He dreamed of a day where people could once again walk the surface, grow crops, and incubate the animal zygotes stored in cryostasis before they became extinct. That future lay ahead of him off the edge of the cliff.

He heard footsteps behind him. They were footsteps he recognized, and had heard many times before as he labored through the night in a lab, studying an air sample from the surface, or testing the reaction of extreme ultraviolet on certain grass hybrids. Those footsteps had woken him from dozens of naps while sitting at a worktable. The footsteps grew louder as the owner of the feet approached. “Hi Sarah, how did you know I was here?”

“I didn’t, apparently, I just had the same idea as you.”

“Did you sleep at all last night?”

“Not a wink, you?”

“I have been wondering for the past month what today would feel like. The day where I wake up, walk into that huge black building, and start a new chapter of my life.”

“So how does it feel?”

“Hard to say. I didn’t wake up, for starters. But other than that, I guess it just doesn’t feel real. Just now, I was watching the sunrise over the city, and I thought about how beautiful it is. I wondered whether this would be the last time I saw that. I keep getting these feelings of finality, like after today, nothing will ever be the same again. Like I’m going to walk through those doors, and disappear. I thought about running away, but then I thought that maybe things happen for a reason, and I was selected for this because I’m meant to do something to help save the planet. So I know that I have to stay, and I have to walk into that building. Well, we have to walk into that building. Sorry, I sometimes forget that you’re going through the same thing as me. It just doesn’t seem to faze you.”

Sarah leaned against the half-wall next to Elliot. Her blue eyes had a softer look to them in the dim morning light, not the piercing that Elliot had eventually grown accustomed to. She looked younger to him somehow in this moment. He had always seen her as being his mentor, and in his mind that made her so much older than he was. But now that they were both off to the same fate this day, he looked at her, and saw an equal. She was still his mentor, and he knew that he still had a lot to learn before he could come close to her knowledge. But today, they were both going to step off that cliff together, and it was that unknown abyss that brought them to equality. She was truly his friend and colleague, and he wasn’t sure at what point they had gone from student and teacher to friends.

She grimaced a little, as if thinking of a sour memory. “I wouldn’t say I’ve not had doubts about my decision. I’ve had plenty, but I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. There are so many bad memories for me here. I ran from Lower Chicago to get away from them, but no matter where I go, they chase me. They caught me in Boston, and they are on their way here too. I’m a nomad, Elliot, I need to keep moving, it’s just how I am. Sure, I could have gone to another city, but when you get the chance to do something really good, something that could make a difference for millions of people… Think about that, Elliot. I grew up feeling like dirt. I blamed myself for my parents’ divorce for the longest time. I never thought I was good enough. Sometimes that little girl inside me still doubts whether I can do anything right. But when this came along, I knew it was right. It was my chance to finally do something to prove, if only to myself, that I am an ok person.”

Sarah had let down her guard for a moment. It felt good. She hadn’t opened up to anyone like that before. At least not anyone who wouldn’t be sending a bill. But still there was a voice in her head telling her to be ashamed of her emotions, to hide them deep inside, to hide them behind a book, or a telescope, or computer. She felt sheepish for the thought. But for that moment, she could feel the emotion pushing up her throat, trying to find a way out. She forced a small smile at Elliot.

“Sorry for the speech.”

“Don’t be sorry, Sarah. I’m so glad to be sharing this with you. You’ve been such a wonderful mentor to me, and a true friend.”

“We should probably go.” Sarah said, trying to change the subject. She knew that if they sat there much longer, she might crack and fall crying on Elliot’s shoulder. She didn’t want to be the typical girl. She was too old for that, and too mature. She was the world’s foremost expert in atmospheric manipulation, a staff member on the Artemis project, and she was standing on top of the roof of the NWU Surface Studies building, ready to cry on a former student’s shoulder.

Singularity: Chapter 2-Cheslie (Part 2)

2008-10-06T12:02:00.000-07:00

The commons was busy with activity, people talking, playing games, making new friends, and falling in love. It was the type of place that Cheslie rarely saw in Inner-London. She thought that it must be the natural light that streamed through all the buildings in the city. It just made people happier. Sarah bought Cheslie a cup of tea, and they found a couple of nice soft chairs near a window.

“Either you’re really distracted today, or you really don’t like me. I’m hoping it’s the former, but I suspect the latter. Can I have a second chance?” Sarah started

Cheslie was taken aback by Sarah’s honesty, but she appreciated that even though she was nearly twice her age, she didn’t treat Cheslie like a child. Maybe there were some redeeming qualities about her after-all. She immediately sipped at her tea to hide the startled look on her face, and burned the tip of her tongue in the process. She couldn’t hide behind the cup forever. Unfortunately, the only thing that came to her mind was, “I’m sorry, the trip over was so stressful, and I wasn’t expecting anybody to be with Elliot when I got here.”

“It’s ok, Cheslie, a lot of people dread ICBM travel. But I can tell that you’ve got more on your mind than that. I’m sorry Elliot didn’t mention I’d be with him, but it was a last minute thing. He was on his way over to the station when I ran into him on the street. We had some details to talk about, so I walked with him. I offered to let him meet you by himself, but he said that he really wanted you to meet me, so I stayed and waited with him.”

“I feel terrible for the way I’ve reacted. I would really like to know more about you, since you know my brother so well, and I know almost nothing about you. Tell me a little more about the mysterious Sarah.”

“Well, let’s see, the short version is, I was born and raised in Lower Chicago where I lived with my mom and Grandma. I have only traveled to Europe one time in college, I like reading and strawberries. I got my PhD from Harvard in Environmental Manipulation, and now I’m here in New Washington, doing what I love.”

“Well, I can see why Elliot likes you so much, you guys are perfect for eachother.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said you’re perfect for eachother. Elliot told me he had a big announcement. I had suspected that he was going to tell me he had fallen in love. I have to admit that I was a little surprised when I met you, because you’re so much older than him, but now I can see what he likes about you.”

“Oh Cheslie, I’m sorry for the confusion, Elliot and I aren’t together. Elliot is a wonderful young man, but our friendship is not romantic at all. I’m his professor, we have been working together on an independent research project studying the planetary conditions required for atmospheric formation. “

“Wait, you’re Professor Angler?”

“That’s me, Sarah Angler. Elliot never calls me Professor Angler anymore now that we’ve been working on this project together, we’ve become more friends and colleagues than a student and teacher. But I can assure you that this big announcement has nothing to do with a romantic involvement with me. Believe me, if I were ten years younger, I would probably feel much differently about Elliot. I won’t give away his secret announcement, though, you’re going to have to wait for him to tell you later.”

Cheslie felt guilt, shame, and disappointment hit her all at once. She felt guilty for all the bad thoughts she’d had about Sarah, shame for the way she’d treated her. Oddly, it was the disappointment that was strongest. She was surprised, but she was hoping that her suspicions were right. But all that was out the window now, with Sarah’s revelation.

“I feel terrible, Sarah, I haven’t been very friendly to you today. I started thinking on the train about what Elliot’s announcement would be. I assumed it was romantic in nature, and when you were at the station with him, that connected all the dots in my mind, and I have to admit that you weren’t the type of woman I was expecting, so that threw me off balance. I know how terrible that must sound, and I’d really like to make it up to you, Sarah, and I’d like for us to be friends.”

“Don’t even worry about it a second longer. Let’s just move past it. How about if you tell me an embarrassing story about Elliot?”

“Wow, I thought you’d never ask. So many to choose from, it’s hard to pick just one.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

By the time Elliot joined Sarah and Cheslie, they were laughing almost to the point of tears. Elliot was happy to see that they had warmed to each other. He was worried about Cheslie’s mood earlier, but that appeared to be gone now. Sarah was the first to look up as Elliot approached. “Cheslie informed me that you prefer to be called Elli-Belly. How come you never told me this?”

“You can’t believe everything she tells you, she’s a known liar.” Elliot smiled at his sister.

“Liar is a little harsh, don’t you think? You know, Elli-Belly, when I got here on the train, and I saw Sarah, I had thought you guys were dating. Sarah has cleared that all up now, and everything is great. Of course, that means I still don’t know what your secret is.” Cheslie said, with a slight grin peaking out of the corner of her mouth.

Sarah put a hand on Cheslie’s shoulder, “You really should tell her, Elliot, I think she might explode soon, I can feel the pressure building in her.”

Elliot pulled up a chair and sat down. He wasn’t sure how he could tell his sister what he was about to tell her. He was a little frightened of it himself, and he didn’t want her to be afraid for him. He decided that it would just be easier to just tell her flat out, without dancing around it. “Cheslie, Sarah has been asked to join the Artemis program as an atmospheric researcher, and she has decided to take that position.”

Cheslie touched Sarah’s arm, “You didn’t mention that, Sarah, that’s great, congratulations.”

Elliot hesitated before saying, “She’s asked me to be her research assistant, too.”

“Wow! That’s fantastic, Elliot, this is like a dream for you. I’m so excited! When do you start, will you be moving?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty exciting. But the thing about where I’ll be is a little complicated. I’ll be here in New Washington for the next few months, but they are going to be training Sarah and me for space travel. I’ll be travelling to the space station and the Armstrong Moon Base to do some outer atmospheric studies. It’s been a while since they’ve sent anybody to the moon base, but they have a team there now testing it for usability, and the signs are good.”

Cheslie’s face dropped at that announcement. Suddenly she was scared for Elliot. She remembered when he went to New Washington for the first time. She was so worried that she would never see him or hear from him, and that was scary, but this is a whole new thing. He’ll be on the moon. That’s even further away than New Washington, and there’s no bullet train connecting Inner London to the Armstrong Moon Base.

Elliot could see Cheslie’s fears, and put his arm around her, “I know Ches, I’m a little scared too, but the only reason I agreed to this is because I see how important this could be to changing the Earth for the better. This could be my opportunity to make a difference, and fix the problems that are ailing our planet. This wasn’t an easy decision, but I think it’s the right one, and I’ll never have this kind of opportunity again. I already told Dad, but I wanted to tell you face to face.”

“I trust you Elliot, but I’ll miss you. I hope you’re right about this.”

Cheslie didn’t sleep that night, she just stared at the ceiling of Elliot’s apartment, thinking about all that Elliot would be experiencing in his new project. The rest of the weeks in New Washington they spent seeing the sites, chatting about the old times, and by the end, Cheslie considered Sarah to be a true friend. When the three of them walked to Union Station for Cheslie’s train home, she had a sinking feeling that she might never see them again. She hugged them both as they left her at the platform, and she found her seat on the train. She was able to hold back the tears until the train left the station, but as the electromagnetic coils began to accelerate the train towards Inner-London, her eyes began to well up with tears, and she could no longer hold back. The tears flowed the whole trip, and Cheslie didn’t notice once the terrifying ride home.

Singularity: Chapter 2:Cheslie (Part 1)

2008-09-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

Chapter 2: Cheslie

Cheslie had been to New Washington to visit Elliot a handful of times before, but this time felt different. She looked out the window of her train cabin. The sea rushed by at 1500 Kilometers per hour. Cheslie didn’t like the train ride. The speed frightened her. She was used to the traditional tube lines that traveled regionally throughout Europe. Their speed was limited by the capacity of the train to stay on the rails, as well as by the drag effects on the train, plus, the trains didn’t have windows, so you could hardly tell they were moving at all. The Intercontinental Express between Inner London and New Washington was a new concept in tube travel. It was a major accomplishment of engineering. The train was nestled safely inside the evacuated plexi-crystal tube that kept the water from rushing in. It was the longest continuous vacuum sealed tube ever built. The ICBM, as it was commonly called, was propelled by an electromagnetic coil drive, allowing the train to forgo traditional rails and wheels, and simply had casters built in rings around the cars, a gyro compass kept the train upright as the massive magnets at the front pulled the train through the tube at speeds that blurred the little bit of scenery visible through the windows. It allowed the trip to be made in only a little more than 4 hours, a trip that used to take 12 hours when the train had to make stops at land masses along the way, stopping in Iceland, Greenland, and then down the coast of North America. Cheslie wondered about all that technology put into the system, seemingly all designed to make her sick and nervous. But she liked how fast she could get to New Washington to see Elliot.

In his last phone call with her, he had mentioned some big news that he wanted to tell her, but he wanted to tell her in person when she visited. She didn’t like waiting for things like this. She hated surprises, and didn’t like not knowing everything at all times. She couldn’t believe he actually made her wait two weeks to find out what was going on with him. She was trying to guess. Was it a job? Maybe he won a contest. It could be a girl. She was convinced of that last one. It must be that he’s met a girl, and he wants to introduce me. Cheslie had worn her best dress for the occasion. If she was going to meet her future sister-in-law, she had to look her best. She tried to picture what the girl was like. She’d surely be tall. Elliot always liked tall girls. She imagined she would be smart, brilliant really. She would surely have dark hair, and a warm smile. Suddenly, Cheslie was jealous of this girl. She knew that as time went on, Elliot would have less and less time for her. How could he forget about his sister?

The speaker above the door to her cabin interrupted her quiet anger, “We will be arriving in New Washington in approximately fifteen minutes. Please return to your seats and fasten your safety harnesses for deceleration.” Cheslie moved from the small writing desk in the corner to her seat, pulling down the rigid harness and latching the buckle to her seat between her legs. After a few minutes, a small alarm went off signifying that the deceleration was about to start. Cheslie felt the pressure on her shoulders as her body tried to keep moving against the train’s slowing progress. She could hear the click clack of the magnets switching on and off outside the vacuum tube pulling against the train’s progress. After eight minutes, the train had slowed to docking speed, and she could hear the cars in front of her detaching from the train, and entering the airlock before being unloaded into the docking bays. She did enjoy the docking process. Her car got lifted out of the half-tunnel where it had rested, and was carried across the terminal to dock C-3. When the crane had set the car down, and locked it down to prevent sideways rolling, she headed out onto the platform. She tried to hide her smile as all her resentment flooded away from her when she saw Elliot waiting for her on the platform. A box of candies in his hand, he opened his arms to hug her as she ran over to him.

“Hey Ches! How was the ride?” Elliot asked his sister.

“Terrifying as usual, Elliot. Do they really have to do that so fast? Why is everyone in such a hurry?”

“Because they are all excited to see their older brother, and find out the secret that he’s been hiding for months!” He couldn’t contain his excitement, and his voice showed it. Even with her head buried on his shoulder, Cheslie could hear Elliot smiling.

“You couldn’t even wait one minute to remind me, could you? And you thought you’d bribe me with candy to boot.” Cheslie slapped her brother on the chest teaslingly. She wanted him to see that she was upset, but she was still excited about his big announcement, and forced out a cursory smile. All she could think was that this girl that’s got his attention better be something special.

“They’re your favorites. Fruit squares and a few chocolates. I think one or two have hazelnuts! You dressed up for the occasion, happy to see your brother, huh? C’mon, I’ll get your bag. Sarah’s waiting outside the station for us.” Elliot picked up Cheslie’s bag and started walking towards the exit.

Cheslie was not one to miss a subtle hint, and she caught exactly what Elliot just said, and he tried to pass it off so nonchalantly. So, her name is Sarah. That’s an ok name. An old pre-Travesty name, like Elliot. Could he have been so careless as to not realize that he was giving away his surprise? Probably not, I’m sure that was supposed to be a hint. If he expects me to ask about her, I won’t satisfy him with that kind of reaction. I’ll just forget he even said it.

As they worked their way through the maze of tunnels and hallways that led to the different platforms of New Union Station, Cheslie couldn’t help but be impressed with the structure. It was built near the center of New Washington, just a few hundred meters from the Capitol, and only housed one story above ground. That is, above the surface of New Washington’s roads and walkways. The whole city was underground in reality. The rest of the station was built below the ground level of the city. Different train routes entered the station at different depths. The local trains were shallow, while the long distance trains were on the lower levels. The Intercontinental Express was the deepest, since it was added recently. The trip from the platform to the surface was long and disorienting, so Cheslie was somewhat confused when they suddenly emerged from the station into the grand cavern of New Washington.

Even though Cheslie had been to New Washington several times before, she was still in awe at the first view every time. They walked out through the massive columns of New Union Station and she saw the sunlight streaming through the massive gap in the dome overhead. The light seemed to flow like water throughout the cavern. The whole city was bathed in clean, white light. The Capitol dominated the view, with its majestic dome reflecting the sun’s rays in crisp whiteness. Beyond the Capitol, the cityscape stretched, each building unique in its details, some were glass monoliths, others stone or brick structures. The roads radiated out like rays of sunlight from the bright Capitol in the center. It was just about the closest thing to a beautiful vista that existed on Earth anymore. The natural light made the city much more pleasant than the artificial lights of Inner-London. Cheslie was too distracted by the view to notice the woman that came up to her with hand extended in greeting.

“Hi, I’m Sarah, you must be Cheslie. Elliot has told me a lot about you.”

The voice took Cheslie by surprise, and her reaction was less than gracious, “What? Who are… Oh, right, Sarah, Yeah, it’s nice to meet you too.” She looked at Sarah. She was thirty-something, with wavy dark hair, fierce blue eyes that Cheslie was sure could cut steel. Not unattractive, she was of average height, Cheslie could, if it weren’t such a terrifying experience, look her eye to eye. She was thin, but not in the way that you would expect of a person who takes care of her body, more in the manner of someone who frequently forgets to eat, no doubt for the same reason that she has no time to exercise. Her handshake was firm, with a hint of bitterness to it, in the manner of someone who has a serious chip on her shoulder, and resents the world for all the problems it causes. Cheslie was surprised by the woman. What a letdown, that is not what I expected. She’s definitely not right for him. I must prevent this from going too far.

Sarah was a little put back by the reaction from Cheslie. After what Elliot had told her, she was expecting a friendly, gracious young woman who could make conversation with anyone. The distracted teen she met was not as Elliot described. Sarah remembered how it felt to be seventeen. Sarah was raised in a lower-middle class household in Lower Chicago. She never had to worry about her next meal, but was no stranger to a hard day’s work. It took her several years of academia to rid her hands of the calluses of her youth. Her parents had split when she was eleven, and Sarah went to live with her mother and grandmother in a deeper part of the city. Her teen years were marked with awkwardness and a feeling that she didn’t belong to the world in which she lived. Her youth never slipped into criminal territory, but she was never far from that. She struggled with who she really was until she was asked to join a program for children of single parents at Harvard University. She discovered that academic pursuits provided an escape from the memories of the turmoil that marked her youth. It was this release that caused Sarah to spend the next ten years of her life learning everything she could. Her passion for academics translated perfectly into her career as a professor. She discovered a passion for life support systems and atmospheric and environmental manipulation theory. That passion led her to teach at NWU, which is where she had met Elliot.

She was sure Cheslie’s cold shoulder was just distraction, and was hoping that she and Cheslie would get a chance to talk privately later. She was sure that with all the time she and Elliot would be spending together in the future, a good relationship with Cheslie would be important for Elliot, and also would give her some personal peace of mind.

The trio began to walk to Elliot’s apartment. It was a long walk, but Cheslie always enjoyed the walk across the city, so they didn’t take the subway to get there. They walked down the steps of the station and found themselves in an area called Pratt Square, named after the city’s first mayor. It stood between the station and the Capitol, and today it was the home of a flea market. As they walked past the vendors that lined up across the square, they saw every variety of oddity, necessity, and a lot of things that didn’t make any sense at all. Some of the vendors stood in front of their stands, shoving their wares in Cheslie’s face as she passed. Others sat quietly reading or napping behind their tables. Vendors’ children ran between the tables with complete disregard for the sales going on, or the people walking through the square.

They walked past a table full of pieces of rusted metal that looked like tools. Thin rusted metal cylinders with one pointed end, and one blunt sat next to some kind of striking tool with a heavy metal head attached to a metal handle with a rubberized grip. Another tool had a plastic handle with a metal shaft and tip shaped like a plus sign. Several other tools on the table were hard to recognize, and all were rusted to the point of being fragile. A man behind the table was dressed head to toe in a slick black suit. Only a small section of the suit opened for his eyes. The skin around his eyes was redish black, and looked like a tomato charred under a broiler. The table had a large slate with a small piece of chalk next to a card that read I cannot hear or speak, please write questions on the slate. All tools were personally gathered from the surface, certified Pre-Travesty woodworking tools.

An old man jumped out in front of Cheslie. He looked at her through one eye, the other was shut tight, a scar running across it from his cheekbone to the center of his forehead. He wore a pair of tattered blue pants and a striped, button-down shirt, with only two buttons remaining. His hair was reduced to thin gray whisps that darted randomly across a scarred and filthy scalp. His wrinkled lips tightened into a toothless grin as he held up a large, empty glass bottle. “Would y’be needin’ air? Ten pounds pure Oxygen, only fifty dollars, git it befur it’s all gone. Er maybe y’need water? I’ve got twenty liters fer only ten bucks. Garunteed pure. Stock up now little lady.”

Elliot grabbed Cheslie and pulled her away from the peddler, dragging her along with him. “Let’s get out of this square, it creeps me out.”

They walked faster towards the Capitol. When they finally cleared the last of the tables, they were able to slow their pace, and Cheslie could start to take in the sights. She looked up at the dome as it glistened in the light from the opening in the cavern roof. Elliot lived about two kilometers South from the Capitol down the 165^th degree radial street. The route took them down South Avenue, through the government office complexes of the inner ring, then the business district, with large, multi-story buildings between 1^st Ring Road and 2^nd Ring Road. They turned on 2^nd R.R. and headed counter-clockwise one block to the start of 165^th Street. From there, it was another 3 rings of business district before they arrived at NWU. The University occupied six blocks of the city between 5^th R.R. and 7^th R.R. stretching from South Avenue to 135^th Boulevard. The university buildings were mostly between three and seven stories above the surface level. To refer to these as separate buildings is somewhat inaccurate, since the entire university complex occupied five stories below ground level that were linked together through hallways and tunnels, forming essentially one interconnected building with various sections protruding up above the ground. The Surface Studies building was in the southwest corner of the University, at the intersection of South Avenue and 7^th R.R. The above ground portion of the building was six stories above surface level, and filled one block of the city. Below ground, the building went an extra two stories down, seven in total, to allow for extra labs and equipment storage near the access tunnel that ran under the city to the surface studies platforms. Cheslie marveled at the building’s construction as she walked past. The exterior was mostly plexi-crystal, shaded verdant green at the base, and fading to a rich blue at the top, to symbolize the colors of the surface from before the Travesty. Sections of the building protruded from the sides, in cantilevered rooms, at seemingly random intervals. A sky bridge extended across 165^th Street from the Surface Studies building to the commons building on the other side.

Elliot’s apartment building was at the corner of 7^th R.R. and 165^th Street, diagonally across from the Surface Studies building. It was a five story building above ground, with two more below. It was built as a large stone square, with fifty small studio apartments. Elliot lived on the third floor, facing 165^th street, with a view across at the Surface Studies building. As they entered the apartment, Cheslie noticed, as always, how much better this apartment smelled than most homes throughout the world. Her home in Inner-London was a hole in the ground, with an exhaust shaft and fan to circulate air through. This apartment had windows that could be opened, and air circulated directly into the open air of the city outside. It was one of those things that most New Washington residents took for granted, but it was marvelous for her. She set her bags down next to the couch under the window that would be her bed for the next two weeks. She looked around the room. Elliot had a way of making this place feel much larger than it was.

“Well Cheslie, I’m sorry, but I have to run to a plant biology class, it’s my last one for the day. Maybe you and Sarah can run across to the commons and grab a cup of coffee and I’ll join you two in an hour. I’m off, I’m really glad you’re here, Ches, this is going to be a great visit!” Elliot grabbed his bag and ran out the door before Cheslie could protest.

Great, now I’m stuck. Cheslie thought to herself looking over at Sarah. I’m going to have to try to talk to Sarah, and pretend I don’t know what’s going on. Elliot never even introduced us properly. He seemed to be in a big hurry the whole time. His mind seemed pre-occupied. I just need to grow up. If this woman will be my brother’s girlfriend, or maybe even my sister-in-law, then I am going to have to learn to like her.

Headphones

2008-09-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

This is totally not related to anything. I just had a sudden warm loving feeling towards my headphones, and I needed to communicate it. I love them so much. They are Philips SHE-9500 in-ear headphones. They come with 3 different sized rubber cones, so you can fit them to your ears. They kinda jam into your ear canal (I know, it sounds painful, it's not). But they completely seal off your ear, so all you can hear is your music. It works really well, I can't hear my phone ringing 2 feet away from my head, and I never notice when people come into my office either. The sound quality is very good. I imagine I could probably spend a lot more and get something even better.

I've always been impressed by the bass that they can produce. They have a bass port design, so there is an opening on the back side of the headphone, and that allows the bass to react more naturally, which it can't do when jammed into a tiny ear. The result is a great frequency response range, and minimal loss of volume in the low frequencies. Sure, it's nothing compared to listening on my system at home, where the bass has an entire room to fill, and the speaker cones can be measured in full inches, and the power measured in hundreds of watts. But it's great for my office.

That makes me think about how it's been a long time since I've had the chance to just sit down and focus on listening to music. I used to do it all the time, especially in college, when I had all the time in the world. Now I mostly listen to music as a background to doing something else. I listen while I work, while I write, while I clean or mow the lawn, etc... So I don't give the music my undivided attention. When you actually sit and listen to the music, you can catch a lot of details that you've never heard before, and come to appreciate the finer points of the music you listen to every day.

Singularity - Chapter 1: New Washington

2008-09-04T06:01:00.000-07:00

Chapter 1: New Washington

Elliot tried to repress a smile as he ran into the flat he shared with his father Bruck and his little sister Cheslie. He ran up the stairs from the front door, and stormed into the kitchen where his dad and sister were chopping vegetables for dinner. He was a tall young man, with dusty brown hair, he was strong, but not muscular. His pants were an inch too short, and his shirt a size too big. He looked awkward, like a young deer fawn just getting used to his legs. This analogy would, of course, be lost on Elliot and his family, since none of them had ever seen an adult deer, much less a fawn. The deer had now been extinct for several hundred years, along with the other major land mammals other than humans.

“Happy birthday, Elliot!” Cheslie blurted. Cheslie was 14 years old, with the same hair as Elliot, only she wore it considerably longer. She was getting quite tall now, was very smart, and absolutely adored her older brother. “You’re 18! That’s exciting!”

Bruck put down his knife and walked over to Elliot, and shook his hand, “Welcome to the adult world, son.”

Elliot immediately gave his dad a hug, and then walked over to Cheslie to hug her too. He picked up a piece of radish and ate it, trying to show indifference towards it, as if it was the most ordinary radish he’d ever eaten. It was, in fact, a very ordinary radish. Red skin, white flesh, grows in the dirt, slightly bitter, very crunchy, in every way, a very ordinary radish. But for some reason, it was the best tasting radish Elliot had ever eaten. He couldn’t contain the excitement anymore. “Dad, Ches, I have a big announcement.” The family gathered around the counter. “I got accepted to New Washington University!” The smile that had been building up behind his teeth burst out with what seemed like an explosion.

“Yay! Congratulations Elliot!” Cheslie was immediately happy for her brother, but slowly her smile faded as she remembered the family’s trip to New Washington four years ago, and how long that took. She started thinking about the fact that Elliot would be far away, and she’d never spent more than a day or two without talking to her brother. Her eyes went to the floor as she wiggled her foot.

Elliot could see that she was upset and walked over to her. He put his arm around her shoulder, “Don’t worry sis, I’ll be home for holidays, and I’ll call you every week. Maybe you can come visit me sometime. With the new bullet rail service across the sea, it wouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours to make the trip.” He looked up at Bruck who was still smiling. “That is, if it’s ok with Dad.”

“Of course that’s ok, Cheslie’s almost 15 now, I think you’re ready for a trip by yourself. But we can figure that all out later. Elliot, this is your day. I’m so proud of you. Your mother would be proud too.” Bruck had pictured this day for years now, and it was harder than he imagined it. Elliot and Cheslie were all he had in the world, and the thought of Elliot heading out on his own was bittersweet to him. It wouldn’t be four years before Cheslie would be out on her own too. They would both get jobs, maybe move to a different city, and Bruck would be left alone in Inner-London. It was times like these that he missed Jenla. She was his soulmate, and they had such plans to spend their lives together, raise a family, and just be happy. But she was gone now, and he had two beautiful children, one of whom was about to head off to college, so he was determined to move on.

Elliot could tell his dad was sad, and knew it was about his mother. Times like these were hard for Bruck. Elliot couldn’t remember much about his mother, just her vague presence when he was very young. He remembered when Mom and Dad went to the hospital, and he was sent to the neighbor’s house. He remembered his dad coming home with Cheslie, and not Mom. He also remembered how sad everyone was. He remembered Dad holding Cheslie and just crying for hours. Over time, things became normal without Mom. The neighbors all talked about her as being a wonderful person. They all spoke of how generous she was, always helpful, always caring, and kind. He also knew that those were just the things people say about the dead. Nobody remembers the bad, only the good. He just remembered her being warm. Elliot always wondered why Bruck never remarried, but he just figured it was because of him and Cheslie. He hoped that once they were both out on their own, Dad might think about finding someone. He could hope at least.

“Well Ches, we should get back to making some dinner for Elliot. Son, go sit down, put your feet up and relax. We’ll let you know when dinner is ready.” Bruck gave Elliot a solid pat on the shoulder, and got back to his vegetables. Cheslie went to the sink and started washing something, but something was bothering her about her Dad.

“Dad, what’s wrong? “

“Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about your mom. She would have been really happy today.”

“What was mom like?”

“She was a lot like you, actually. She loved her family, worried a lot, and always knew when something was wrong. She was beautiful like you too, Cheslie. I’m proud of who you’ve become.” He paused, realizing that all the time he’d spent missing Jenla, he never realized how great his kids had turned out. “How are those berries coming along? Almost ready to make the pie?”

“Yes, Dad, be right there with them.”

* * * * * *

Elliot was in the living room, relaxing, and daydreaming about his future. Elliot had learned about the original Washington DC, and it’s place in history in one of his school classes. Before the Travesty it was once the seat of government for a very powerful country called “The United States of America.” The US, as the country was commonly called, was the most powerful nation in the world shortly before the Great Nuclear War. They had become too proud of their power, and had resisted the admission that Europe was becoming more powerful than they were. Although Europe and the US were never officially at war with each other, it was this tension that had caused the Great Nuclear War.

After the Oil Wars, the great powers of Europe and North America had learned that it was too costly for them to actually fight wars themselves. They decided that the best way to fight wars was to get other smaller countries under their influence, and induce them into fighting the wars for them. It was very effective. The great powers didn’t lose as many lives, but the battles were still fought by proxy, and the desired results achieved. Of course, everything changed when robotic warfare became the standard. At that point, without soldiers fighting the battles, it became easier for attacks on the heavily fortified nations to be carried out. Great tunneling robots or airborne robots were used to execute pinpoint attacks within territories never thought possible. Once this began, the chain reaction was rapid, and the world began its slide into the state it was in that day, as Elliot sat on his couch.

After the end of the wars, and the environmental disasters, collectively called The Travesty, life had become impossible on the surface. Most cities began to build downward. The basements of buildings became entries into the massive tunnel systems that started growing beneath the once great cities, being overrun by heat. Over time, as more and more people retreated to the underground, new tunnels were built. On average, most cities achieved a depth between 2,000 and 5,000 meters below the surface. In some places, those depths got close to 8,000 meters. The balance was to find the spot where the temperature of the earth surrounding the city was neither to cold nor too hot. Care had to be taken to avoid major aquifers or lava flows, or potential lava flows. However, proximity to aquifers was an obvious advantage. Most cities became somewhat complicated systems of tunnels running at odd angles and varying depths.

It was very easy to get lost in a city like Inner-London. The problem was with depth. Elliot’s house was at approximately 2,800 feet below the surface. There were at least 2 layers of city above his house, and more than 10 below. So a person could be heading the right direction, but be a thousand feet too deep. The tunnels wove back and forth, crossing occasionally, or occasionally ending abruptly, sometimes at an Elevator or ladder, sometimes not. Great efforts were made to map the cities, but it was well known that there were corners of the city that very few people knew of, except the packs of miscreants who spent their time there. Elliot remembered a poet who had written about the city of Chicago.

Windy City, where have you gone?

Gone to the depths below the earth.

Gone are the winds, gone are the lakes

Gone with Lower Chicago’s birth.

Grab your children, grab a shovel

Like ants, we’ll tunnel with food to store

Windy City, what have you become?

An earthen anthill, nothing more

Elliot was all too familiar with ants, and other tunneling insects. Of all the creatures of the earth, the tunneling insects were the ones who survived best. At times, it seemed as if Inner London were overrun with ants. Some tunnels and homes were coated with materials to try to prevent the ants from getting in, but they were resourceful, and got in. Elliot thought that the poet got it exactly right, although he had never been to Lower Chicago, he knew exactly what it felt like to live in an anthill. It was stifling for him. He had spent his entire life underground. 18 years, and he had never seen the surface. The truth was, not many people went to the surface. The surface was a dismal place. Nearly devoid of life due to the extreme heat, and the sun’s rays were so powerful that they could burn you almost instantly. The only people who ever went to the surface were the power engineers, going to repair or replace solar arrays. About the only good thing coming from the thinning atmosphere was a great source of solar power, and the surface above cities was blanketed with solar arrays. The power engineers would put on their protective suits, stuffed with frozen gels and cooling devices, and even still could only spend an hour or two on the surface at a time. Elliot’s only experience with the surface was when he would look up through some of the air shafts, and catch sight of a speck of light at the top. And he could watch videos coming in from the cameras mounted on the surface. The cameras themselves were remarkable, able to withstand the extreme weather of the surface. The boiling heat, the torrential, hot rains, which were more than a little acidic, and the fierce winds would be enough to rip normal equipment apart. But these cameras had to be built tough. Their job was to monitor the solar arrays, watch for debris, or other potentially dangerous situations.

Elliot had always felt like mankind was out of place living underground. He read books from before the Travesty, all stories about life on the surface. They took it all for granted. He read about characters running from the rain to find shelter. People complained about the heat of the sun, or worse yet, about the cold of a season called winter. In the northern and southern parts of the globe, ice occurred naturally. Elliot thought they would have seen this all so much differently if they had lived the life he has. Some people were ok with living underground, but Elliot hated it. It was his curiosity that made him wonder what it would be like to breathe clean, fresh air that naturally came from plants, not the stagnant, recirculated air in the cities. Elliot dreamed about running through the fields he had seen in photographs, and read about in books. He would watch the video feeds from the sky cameras and deep space telescopes, wondering whether there was a better place out there for people than this wretched ant-hill called Earth. Inside, he often hated mankind. He hated that they had a perfect planet, capable of sustaining the race for eternity, but unable to control their warlike urges and selfishness for the sake of humanity. It wasn’t until humans saw their own destructive abilities that they finally got together to try to solve the problems, and by then it was too late.

He had these types of thoughts from time to time, and inevitably, it would lead him back the same types of thoughts. He would think about life, death, history, and always would wonder whether there really was anything outside of the Earth, and whether he was just dreaming. He thought about what old Rand Stillson, who lives down the tunnel says about a supreme being out there that controls everything. He wondered whether Rand was right about that, but had doubts. Why would a god allow people to destroy the planet he gave them? Not many people thought like Rand did anymore. It used to be pretty common that people had religions, but since the Travesty, people had sort of moved away from that in the focus for survival. Maybe it was the easy life the surface provided that made that so common Elliot thought. But he decided that sometime, he would have to go talk to Rand about it. He thought he was a sort of eccentric, but maybe hearing the man’s stories would give him a little hope for a brighter future.

All these thoughts brought Elliot back to thinking about New Washington. New Washington was half a world away, and a much bigger city. He remembered the family’s trip there a few years ago. Unlike Inner-London, which was built quickly, in pieces due to increasing need for space, New Washington was built as a fully planned city. The streets were laid out in a pattern of concentric circles, centered around a grand structure called The Capitol. Every fifteen degrees around the circle, a road radiates out away from the center towards the edges of the city. Since the original Washington was built near the ocean, at a relatively low elevation, the new city had to be built further inland. The final site was chosen west of the original city in a high-elevation area known as the Appalachian Mountains. The city began as a massive excavation of a huge cavern. The cavern was round, six kilometers in diameter. The roof of the cavern was built as a massive dome, which was reinforced such that it was self supporting other than a circle of support pillars about one kilometer from the center. From those pillars, the dome opened to a shaft that ran upwards in a slow curve to the south. By the time the shaft emerged at the surface, it was horizontal, and opened in a half-kilometer wide opening in the side of a massive south-facing cliff. That tunnel was lined entirely by highly reflective surfaces, which allowed sunlight that shone into the tunnel to travel all the way down into the city. The light shone through the gap in the dome, onto The Capitol and out through the cavern. It was one of the few cities in the world that could function without 24 hour electric lights.

The city was also one of the few places with open spaces. Most cities, like Inner-London, were simply a series of tunnels, connecting caverns that were converted into buildings. Although there were advantages to the tunnel/cavern construction method, there was nothing quite as remarkable as an open area six kilometers across. Of course, this meant that the city of New Washington filled very fast. Eventually, the main cavern had become full of buildings, and could not support any additional construction. The radial roads had been extended, and the traditional tunnel/cavern construction was used for the extension.

The university at New Washington was widely seen as one of the best universities in the world. Some of the pre-Travesty universities had survived underground, and Oxford, Harvard, and MIT had all remained good universities, but New Washington University was the best. Because it was located in New Washington, they could draw the best minds from around the world. It’s location inside a mountain made it a center for geological studies, and surface science. Tunnels extended outward from New Washington to the surface. The situation of the city meant that the tunnels could extend horizontally, and emerge on the surface near the base of the mountain. This meant that equipment could be transported easily between the city and the surface. Tracks were built with platforms at the emergence of the tunnel. Trains would leave the university and arrive at the platforms several minutes later. The trains could carry students, equipment, and other cargo to the surface for research, and the students could stay protected inside the train while the analysis was done.

It was the surface science that drew Elliot to NWU, specifically atmospheric studies. Since his first Pre-Travesty History class in 3^rd grade, Elliot had been fascinated by the study of planetary atmosphere. He wanted to learn how atmospheres formed, how they deteriorated, and how they could be balanced. He knew there was a balance in the Earth’s atmosphere once, and he hoped there could be once again, under the right conditions. But he had to learn the fundamentals before he could move beyond that. He had to learn how Ozone and CO2 worked together to form the outer layer of the atmosphere that keeps everything inside protected. How light filtered through a thick atmosphere produced the right conditions for plant growth, and safe conditions for human exposure. He wondered how they could ever replace those elements. His thoughts were interrupted by a news bulletin on the radio.

…until next month. Meanwhile, in New Washington, the North American Region Government has announced that they will be starting a space travel program early next year. The program will be the first of its kind post-Travesty. NAR President Zeke Rennet made the announcement from the steps of The Capitol in New Washington. “The purpose of the NAR space program will be to again stretch the limits of mankind, to venture beyond the scarred atmosphere of the planet. Humans once regularly travelled to space for research, communication, even pleasure. If we, as a race, give up our curiosity, we give up that one thing that most makes us human.” No human has travelled to space since the last Mars mission, in the 3^rd year after the start of The Travesty. The NAR is calling the program Artemis, casting the program as in the spirit of the Apollo program from early space exploration times, which landed the first man on the Moon. The initial task of Artemis will be to launch 3 probe satellites. The first will orbit Earth, to determine the condition of any remaining orbital stations, the second will land on the Moon, to determine the status of the Armstrong Moon Base, named after Neil A. Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon. The Final probe’s status is currently classified for security, but speculation is that it may be sent outside the solar system toward neighboring star systems.

“Elliot! Dinner is ready.” Cheslie shouted from the kitchen.

Elliot’s daydreaming would have to wait. For now, it was dinner time, and of all the dinners throughout the year, it was his birthday dinner he looked forward to. He was not disappointed. As he walked into the kitchen, the table was covered in his favorite things. There was a large bowl of asparagus right in front of his plate. Across the table was a dish of beet and radish cole slaw. He saw a large dish of nut and bean loaf, which he was sure would be seasoned with fresh basil and rosemary. There was a golden loaf of cornbread in the center of the table next to a dish of brown rice with peppers and tomatoes. It was the perfect spread. He remembered from his history classes that at one time, people ate animals on special occasions. Birds, pigs, cows, sheep, and other animals were cooked and eaten. Since The Travesty, the idea of eating animals seemed silly. People had learned to supplement their protein needs with beans, and other vegetables. On rare occasions, people ate nuts. Nuts were rare because of the difficulty in growing them. Peanuts were common, but since trees did not grow on the surface, tree nuts were grown at tremendous cost in massive greenhouses near the surface. Luckily for Elliot, today was just such a special occasion.

“Thank you both so much for this meal! It’s absolutely perfect.” Elliot mumbled through a full mouth.

“You’re welcome, Elliot. We do it because we love you.” Bruck said through a wide grin.

“Just wait until you see dessert!” Cheslie said with visible excitement.

“Elliot, there are a few things I would really like to get done before you head to New Washington. We need to clean the water pump again, pressure is getting so low lately. I’m not sure it will do much good though, I think the city is putting too much of a strain on the aquifer with all the growth. I’d also like to replace the old com screen in the living room. If you’re going to be across the world, I want to be able to see your face well when you call home.”

“Sure thing, Dad…Dad, what do you think the future has in store for the planet? Water shortages seem to be more and more common around the world. I have heard that some cities are starting to collapse in Southern Europe. It’s getting hotter under the surface, and the atmosphere seems to be getting thinner every day. Today, I heard that the NAR is starting up a space program, that doesn’t make much sense. I’m worried about the planet, Dad.”

“I’m worried too, Elliot. I don’t have an answer though. I’ve spent my whole life as a rail mechanic. I fix trains, engines, rails, and things like that. I don’t know the first thing about fixing a planet. You are a brilliant young man, and I believe that if anyone can fix it, you can.”

“I hope so, dad.” Elliot finished his dinner, and thoroughly enjoyed the strawberry rhubarb pie Cheslie had made for him. That night, he couldn’t sleep. All he could think of was the Artemis program going on in NAR. He wondered if he would be able to see any of the facilities in New Washington. He was excited about college, but nervous about the future, and what part he would play in that future.

Singularity: Preface

2008-07-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've tentatively named the novel "Singularity." It's a little hard to explain why without giving away a future plot point, so I'll just leave it at that. But I decided to post the Preface for starters. You can keep the suggestions for character names/descriptions coming, I still have some characters that I need to add to the story, so maybe your character will make the cut. Shawn, sorry, at this point, zombies have not entered the story.

Preface: The Fall

If any one of the factors were missing, the planet may have survived, but combined, they formed a lethal cocktail of destruction. People always expected that the end would come explosively. Someone would start a nuclear war, someone else would retaliate, and poof, the end of civilization. But the nuclear war had come and gone, and still people remained. No alien attack with anti-matter weapons, no massive center-earth explosion, or catastrophic atmosphere collapse. Perhaps one of those options would have been better than reality. It would have ended nearly the same, but it would have been quick and relatively painless. Unfortunately, reality is rarely compassionate, and never painless. The end came slowly, forcing the planet’s inhabitants into submission over a great number of generations.

It all started with the wars. Wars had been waged many times before, but the combination of massively destructive weapons and blind, flag-waving nationalism allowed mankind to ignore the terrible things they were doing to each other, while simultaneously increasing the efficiency by which they did them. As the wars escalated more and more, it came to a point where the wars were less about finding the enemy and attacking, and more a game of statistical analysis. Countless formulas were developed to justify the number of enemy or friendly civilians that could be killed in an attack. The truth was that killing enemy civilians required no justification once armies were eliminated in favor of remotely controlled weaponry. One necessity of war is death, and with no army to battle, civilians were all that were left. In reality, no justification was needed, for the leaders were only concerned with victory, and didn’t care who got hurt in the process. It got to the point where victory was no longer even possible. Each leader was so embedded in his underground command center, firing automatically targeted weapons, it wasn’t until a massive uprising around the world resulted in the arrest and execution of these leaders. The result was worldwide peace, at the cost of 60% of the Earth’s population.

The remaining 4 billion people set out to make things right. A new body was set up to prevent such a destructive war from happening again. It was designed to fill the gaps left in the previous United Nations body. The nations of Earth had agreed to mutual destruction of nuclear arms, which was hardly needed, as the world’s supply of nuclear fissile materials was depleted to the point where creating new nuclear weapons would have been nearly impossible anyway. The planet entered into an unprecedented era of peace. This peace did not come with prosperity. Decades after the war’s end, the radiation from countless attacks on every populated area made a large portion of the Earth intolerable for anyone hoping to have children with less than three legs. The effects of the radiation on many people caused another 60% of those remaining to die of cancers and radiation sickness. The population of the planet was forced into the areas that were spared in the attacks, which were, by their very nature, the less desirable places to live. Those that didn’t die from the radiation began to struggle to try to resume life in the deserts, mountains, and frost-covered landscapes that remained untouched.

The technology was not a hurdle in making this life possible, but it didn’t take long before it became obvious that the energy required would be. For a long time, the Earth had been fueled by combinations of solar, geothermal, wind, and nuclear/fossil fueled generation. Since nuclear and fossil fuels were no longer viable energy sources, societies turned to the others for energy, but none of these could produce the consistent, high levels of energy needed to fuel the Local Environmental Refunctioning machines while still keeping lights and water purification machines running. A brilliant young scientist in Australia developed a machine that would solve all these problems. She called it a UAS or Upper Asthenosphere Stimulator. It was a machine that would send a probe deep into the earth to the layer upon which the Earth’s plates move. Once there, it would send out high frequency, high intensity shockwaves, causing the liquid mantle layers of the Earth to momentarily release more heat energy. These spells would last anywhere from 24 hours to 2 weeks. UAS machines were sent to all the major civilizations remaining, and seemed to be the solution to the energy problem. Geothermal power could now be relied upon to power the technology to make life possible in the least desirable places on Earth. The world was celebrating yet another triumph over adversity.

So it came as a surprise when the earthquakes started. The civilizations had known small tremors to be a mild side-effect of the UAS machines, but they never lasted this long, and were never this widespread. It seemed as if the entire planet were quaking simultaneously. This was, in fact, exactly what the planet was doing. The simultaneous use of UAS devices around the globe had achieved a resonant frequency across enough of the Asthenosphere that it began to self propagate. This initially caused the geothermal energy plants to generate record levels of power, but quickly caused them to burn out, leaving the electrical grid dark and silent. After a week of near constant rumbling, something even more unexpected began happening. The vibrations had caused a massive build-up of pressure just under the surface of the Earth, and within the next two days, thousands of new volcanoes were forming across the globe. Every weak spot in the earth’s surface began to rise, and eventually erupt, spewing hot lava and, more significantly, clouds of black smoke into the air. Some civilizations were wiped out in an instant when the ground on which they were built began to rise and explode from the massive under-earth pressure.

The immediate concern was the smoke. As the sky began to darken around the globe, survivors began to discuss how they would get past this one. The theories were all that the smoke would cloud the sky, and the earth would begin to cool, entering a massive ice age. But this is not what happened. This is not what happened, because the smoke clouds cleared only months after they had appeared. It was not clear why this happened, but people began to look past it, and towards the future. It was now 150 years after the end of the nuclear wars, and people determined that they would return to the more habitable areas of the world, eliminating the need for Local Environmental Refuctioning, and allowed the return to solar and wind power. The next 200 years were marked with recovery. The population of the planet, which had dwindled to less than 500 Million was once again growing. Cities were rebuilt, nations reformed, plans were made to prevent future disasters. Life was, it could be said, getting back to normal.

People were growing accustomed to this new world they were given, and one of the things they noticed was that the winters were getting shorter, and the summers longer and hotter. Areas of the globe previously too cold to use were becoming lush farmlands. Rainforests were making a comeback in the tropical regions, and even extended north into North America, Southern Europe, and China. Growing food was easier than ever. Warm clothing was rarely needed, and homes could be built without insulation. This world was an easy place to live. The Earth was warming up, half a degree at a time, and making the entire planet into a tropical paradise. Once the ice caps melted, naturally occurring ice had become a thing of the past. People knew that this warming of the planet was due to the increased carbon dioxide in the air from the great eruptions, but did not fully grasp the problem with this change, nor could they have done anything about it if they had. Eventually, the average global temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius. Equatorial regions were completely uninhabitable, and water was becoming scarce in the polar regions as they became increasingly arid. By the time civilizations started heading underground, it was clear that the surface was becoming completely uninhabitable, they would never be able to return. So they found refuge under the surface, where the temperatures were cooler, and the sun could not damage. The people of Earth were determined that this travesty of destruction would not spell the end of their race.

Dreaming of Doppler

2008-07-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

So my employer had a "Purple Prose" contest. It's essentially a contest where people submit the opening paragraph of the worst possible story they can think of. I submitted an entry, so I thought I would post it here. Enjoy!

Dreaming of Doppler
How a simple worker bee found her true calling and revolutionized the world.
By Adam Buckingham

Johanna was a small bee. Actually, she wasn’t really a small bee. In terms of bees, she was probably closer to average. Being a worker bee, she was about 100 mg, and slightly more than a quarter of an inch long. This is average for a worker bee of the subspecies Apis mellifera mellifera of the species Apis mellifera, known commonly as the Western or European honeybee. She was a German honeybee specifically, first, because that was the common name of her subspecies (Apis mellifera mellifera), and second, because she lives in Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany, formerly known as Karl-Marx-Stadt. Of course, Johanna doesn’t remember when the town was known as Karl-Marx-Stadt, because, as a worker bee of the species Apis mellifera, she will only live for a few months. So being the year 2008, she could not have been alive during the period of 1953 through 1990, during which time the city of Chemnitz was known as Karl-Marx-Stadt. Johanna was about 43 days old, that is, it had been 43 days since she left her larva stage, when she realized that being a worker bee is not her true passion. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy flying around from flower to flower, collecting nectar. No, she did enjoy that. The nectar was sweet, and the hours were good, but she always dreaded re-entering the hive. The hive was dark, and crowded, with a population of 73,163 bees at last counting, and oh, how she loved the outside. When she was outside, in the sun, wind, even rain, she was happiest. One day, as she was flying fruitlessly into a window screen of a house, repeatedly buzzing into the window over and over, she saw a box inside the house, with pictures of people on it. There was a man on the picture, in front of a map of Europe. He was pointing at pictures of the sun, clouds, rain, lightning, and curly lines, which, obviously, represented wind. At this point, it’s important to note that the German honeybee (which is the common name of the Apis mellifera mellifera subspecies of Apis mellifera to which Johanna belonged) is imbued with an uncanny intelligence, not often seen in other species of insects, but quite common in subspecies of Apis mellifera. Johanna learned to read at a very young age of 4 (days), and has since taken a great interest in reading everything she can. She reads newspapers in trash cans. She reads the sides of condiment bottles and soda cans, and once even flew inside a soda can to see if there is more great reading inside, only to be disappointed. So it comes as no surprise when she was able to see that the man on the picture was named Hans Schleiss, and he was a Meteorologe, which is the German word for Meteorologist. Johanna had found her calling. Oh, to be a meteorologist would be heaven to her. No more carrying nectar to the dreaded hive. No more giving birth to worthless drones who have no father, but only serve to swarm around the selfish queen, keeping her warm, fertilizing her eggs. And what for? To create more workers to gather nectar and make honey. Johanna grew bitter quickly. By the time her 50th birthminute came around, she vowed never to return to the hive, and hateful queen, and she would venture into the city to become a meteorologist. This is her story.

Is there anybody out there?

2008-06-26T22:58:00.000-07:00

So I've been debating if I should make anything of this blog. The problem is that it is hard to get people to actually read a blog. I don't want to just do daily posts about my life. Writing about myself is not something I particularly enjoy doing. I think if I am going to take the time to write on a blog, i want to feel like I'm doing more than just talking about me. I want to give people a reason to read it.

A friend suggested that I could just rant about Google all the time. That could be fun for a while, but I think I would run out of things to say fast. Another friend suggested that I could just make things up about Google to rant about. "Google stole my cat today." "Google walked through my living room with muddy shoes." Whatnot. Fun, but tiresome, I'm sure. At any rate I'm not sure I would want to take the time to actually write these rants.

Another friend suggested I go political. I have plenty of political things I could talk about, but I've found that nothing can ruin a friendship quite as fast as a political rant. I once had a blog that I ranted about political things on, and it was fun, three or four people read it. Not too satisfying. But I know that when I start to debate about politics, especially when challenged, I sometimes put my foot in my mouth, so until I learn not to do that, I will just steer clear of that topic.

I think the idea I liked the best was one that I came up with myself. I have always enjoyed writing, and I think I am a decent writer. With the exception of this post, which is being written at a very odd hour while I'm not doing what I'd like to be doing, namely, sleeping. I write very short stories for my family sometimes, and they have been very well received. So I have been tossing around the idea of writing a novel. I have a rough concept of what it would be about. I was thinking of posting it here, serial novel style, a few pages at a time. That way, people can give me feedback as I go, and I can change things along the way. I've started writing the aforementined novel, but I'm not more than 20 pages in, and only on the first chapter. I think I would like to actually get a few chapters written before I start to post here.

Anyway, if you actually stumble across this, drop me a comment below, and let me know if you think this idea is good or not. If you want to participate, you can leave a name, and/or description of a character you would like to see in my novel. If I see a spot to fit your character in, I will do so.

Infinite Authentication Loop

2008-04-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

So I'm out posting comments on a friend's blog, and decide to see what my profile looks like. So I click on my own name. Of course, when I do that, it says that I have to enable my profile. So I decide to enable it. Then it says, "You are using the old Blogger, would you like to claim your old blog in your current account?" So I say yes. I didn't remember that I even had an old blog. So I got it, and sure enough, I had an old blog. But I hadn't posted anything on my old blog, it's just a template, with no data. Well, I tell it to merge my old blog with my google account. It tells me to enter my login/password for my old blog, I do that. Then I click continue, and it tells me to sign into my google account. I do that. Then it asks me if I want to merge my old blog with my google account. I say yes, it asks me to enter my old blog password. I do that, and it asks me to sign in to my google account. I do that, and it asks me if I want to merge my old blog. I say yes... There's a cycle happening here, I know it... So after clicking in a circle for about 5 minutes, I realize that it's not going to go anywhere. So I decide to give up. I wander around the lobby of the internet for a while, before coming back, and clicking help. Then I have them send me an email to recover my old password. The email is on its way. The email postman was a little late, so I had to wait around by my mailbox. When it finally came, I clicked through, and it finally worked. So Here I am, back in my old blog that I had completely forgotten that I'd created and left to fester in the back of the cyber-refrigerator.

So now I'm posting on it, and nobody will read it, so that's kinda fun. If you do read this, I'm very sorry. Maybe someday, I'll post something of significance. Maybe not. Maybe I'll post this, and then 2 years from now, I'll go log into my google account and it will ask me if I want to merge my old blog with my account. I'll say yes, and enter an infinite loop of authentification, before finally realizing what a pathetic little blog I have here. Yay!