Children of the Dark World

by Will Townsend

  “But it is his destiny to do this thing,” the old man whispered into the darkness of the ‘apartment’ his People had made for him. His mind reached out and found comfort in the communion of his People. Then he sighed once more and turned to the computer that Captain Solis had so kindly provided him.

  The Earthmen were eager and earnest in their attempts to help his people. They did so out of a sense of guilt. It is often the case he knew. The people of Earth had survived the arrival of the Creators fury and they’d rejoiced in this. But they were appalled at what his people had had to endure for a century. So they were conflicted, and when the mind is conflicted it will fabricate guilt. The Foreman knew this. It was the burden of those that survived to feel the sharp pangs of guilt for those that didn’t. But this way led to entropy and entropy was the enemy of the human race.

  Earth had provided much and would provide much more he was sure, but the destiny of this world depended on its People, and materials and knowledge alone would not suffice when the time came to act.

  The people of Earth would’ve been shocked to learn that the colonists they’d seen were only a third of the actual citizens of this dark world. But they could not be allowed to know of the Dormant Ones for the Creators had forbidden it.

  For nine decades they had prepared for this time in the darkness and solitude of the lunar underground. For nine decades the Workers had searched and built on behalf of the Creators and now their task was nearing its fruition. The Foreman briefly shuddered when he thought of how close they’d been to disaster before the arrival of the Sword. If the ancient agent of entropy, the accursed line of Ptolemy, had had its way then the Sword would not have arrived in time and the People would have perished and all would have been for naught. But the Creators had brushed aside the attempted delays of Samos and his corporations and cleared the path for the arrival of the Sword.

  And now, the Dormant Ones would awaken and together with the Awakened they would complete the ordained task of the People and prepare for the difficult days ahead. He put aside these thoughts for another day and returned to his daily activities.

  His barely audible whisper activated the computer and he continued with his current project, the setting down of the histories of the People.

  “And the Creators caused a final message to be received from Stephen, one of duty and with a hope of salvation. And the Foreman received this message and understood its’ meaning. And the message was one of patience and sacrifice, for the Creators had a place for the People in the events to come. And the message of the Creators spoke of a promised one who would deliver them and thus spoke Stephen to the Foreman Skorsson:

  “And the Sword, forged over the eons by the Creator, shall come among you with his Companions and you shall know him for our mark is upon him. And the stranger with the savage blue eyes will be revealed to you by one of the Unaltered Ones and he shall carry within him all of the rage of abused humanity.”

  “From his words you shall know that the time of your trials has ended and the days of your deeds have begun. He shall take back the Garden in the name of the People and deliver it unto them. He shall, with upraised hands, strike down your enemies, making them helpless at your feet.”

  “And you shall forgive them, and nurture them in the ways of the People. And the People will accept their brethren back into the fold and teach them, preparing for the events to come.”

  “The Sword and his Companions shall return the world of Luna to its Chosen People. In gratitude, the People shall send one of their numbers, a boy, to accompany and guide the Sword and his Companions. And the Sword and his Companions shall sweep across the realm of the yellow sun to find the lost children of Earth and to unite them for the days to come.”

  “And so it has come to pass,” the Foreman echoed in his Mind and the People joined with him in Communion, confident too, that the day long yearned for had come at last.

  THE END

  THE SAGA OF THE ‘LOST CHILDREN OF EARTH’

  CONTINUES IN BOOK TWO

  ‘CHILDREN OF THE HOLLOW WORLDS’

  ‘65 CYBELE’

  APPENDIX

  A GLASS HALF FULL

  In the first two decades of the twenty-second century humanity stood poised on the threshold of imminent greatness. The twenty-first century had been a time of discovery and growth for the denizens of Earth. The twenty-second century would be the culmination and execution of all that had been learned and mastered over the previous century.

  Among the sciences, genetics had progressed farther and faster than any and diseases and afflictions that had plagued mankind throughout the ages were rapidly disappearing. Physical perfection and health was bestowed upon the world population, through genetics, to such an extent that lifespans extended easily beyond the century mark. With the extension of life the overpopulation problem began to ease of its own accord. No longer was immortality sought through one’s offspring. With longer lives humanity did not feel the biological imperative to reproduce and the population of Earth stabilized at eighteen billion.

  Working hand in hand with the genetic and medical sciences was nanotechnology. First dreamed of and speculated about in the twentieth century, the development of nanotechnology for a variety of disciplines blossomed in the twenty-first. By the midpoint many surgeries were rendered obsolete by the manipulation of nanobots. Obstructed arteries were the first to fall to the technology, then a whirlwind of afflictions ranging from cancer to brain tumors to cysts and cataracts fell victim to the nanobot’ revolution. The science of genetic manipulation entered the fray in the late twenty-first century as the discipline reached its’ zenith and humanity realistically spoke of adapting humans to off world environments.

  The ruinous effects of early industry on Earth’s climate had been corrected during the twenty-first century, albeit at a large fraction of the planet’s wealth.

  Space travel, that domain of super powers in the twentieth century, had undergone a renaissance in the early twenty-first century with privatization. Early giants in the industry such as Richard Branson, Robert Bigelow and Elon Musk, had paved a way, first into sub-orbital space, and then to orbital space and finally on to the Moon. This was, of course, done for a profit. While corporate space programs blossomed those of nations atrophied, and then, inevitably, died. Whether it was a wise path to take or not, it is the path that humanity trudged onto and once on it there was no exit.

  In the second decade of the twenty-first century the corporations surged forth into space. They had capitalized, some said, off of the backs of the taxpaying citizens who had funded the early national space programs and a multitude of research programs. Governments gave them unlimited access to all research and the corporations were saved the expense of development and research of their own. The die was cast and this was the path of humanity and the golden age of the corporations had begun, wherein they vied with each other for the riches of the solar system.

  By the start of the third decade of the twenty-first century the first orbital flights and the first space hotels appeared; inflatable and lavish habitats for the wealthy and privileged to look down on their earthly empires. By the end of that decade the first lunar bases appeared. And then the first missions to mine the resources of the asteroids occurred, bringing wealth beyond imagination to the corporations and their political allies.

  The ion engine for spacecraft rose to prominence during the third decade developed by massive funding from governments. The first ion propulsion systems had actually been developed in the 1960’s by the United States, who promptly shelved the technology for three decades. The soon to be extinct Soviet Union, however, continued to work with the technology for long range satellite propulsion. By the mid 1990’s the technology was back in vogue and a furious development program was initiated by all space faring nations.

  Satellites visited the outer solar system powered by ion propulsion. They’d explored the distant dwarf planet Pluto and beyond by the second decade of the twenty-fi
rst century. The propulsion system morphed over the next two decades into Hall thrusters and then into magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thrusters and finally culminated in the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetic Rocket (VASIMR), which entered full scale service in 2050. With the use of VASIMR a ship could reach Mars in three months instead of two and a half years. With this development the colonization and exploitation of the solar system lay within mankind’s grasp and the corporations surged outward, settling first Mars and then establishing bases in the asteroid belt.

  While the blazing VASIMR’s whisked humans across the treacherous voids other, less precious cargo traveled in more mundane fashion. Solar sails, as a concept, arose in the early twentieth century and saw no serious interest, with the exception of science fiction writers, until the late twentieth. But the benefits of needing no propulsion system other than sunlight was too alluring and by the beginning of the twenty-second century everything except humans was traveling between the colonies and Earth by solar sail on long slow journeys. The technology did not work well close to a large gravity well like Earth so the lunar colonies received everything via specially designed lunar modules that remained in orbit while guiding their cargo down to the surface by braking maneuvers.

  There were, of course, ways to make this technology faster and serious research was underway using large space lasers to power the sails. If this could be developed then the Vasimr engines would become obsolete the proponents of light sails, as they were called, argued. But the cost estimates for the space launching lasers were exorbitant so research continued but no one seriously expected fruitful development for several decades, if at all.

  Another development of the early twenty-first century were chipsats, so named because they were a satellite the size of a computer chip, at least at the time of their conception they were. As they evolved and developed so too did nanotechnology and the computers on which they were based. Later, as they shrank in size they were called gnats individually and swarms when there was a dedicated group. These miniature explorers functioned amazingly well, adding libraries to the already considerable knowledge of mankind.

  Nuclear fusion had still eluded mankind but advances in fission technology had resulted in smaller, more compact nuclear reactors which, coupled with VASIMR, made travel times in the inner solar system manageable.

  Significant advances were also made in the development of new materials for the new age. Graphene had appeared in the early twenty-first century, as well as carbon nanotubes, stanene and carbyne. Of these graphene was the most exploited. It was ten times stronger than steel and after three decades a hundred times stronger, as well as superconductive. By the twenty second century spacecraft had internal and external layers of these materials built into their outer structures which allowed electromagnetic currents to create fields around each ship that served as deflectors and eliminated the danger of micrometeoroids. Additionally, by the late twenty-first century the layers were self-healing with the application of a liquid carbon compound.

  The new materials aided the rapid expansion of the corporate presence into the solar system allowing mankind to exploit the immense resources of the Moon, the asteroid belt and Mars.

  By the year 2065 there were ten thousand humans on Mars and fifteen thousand on the Moon. By 2085 there were start up bases throughout the Cybele asteroid family and the Eunomian group as well. A full-fledged colony was established on Ceres, and Vesta and Pallas were scheduled to receive the same treatment.

  By the year 2119 there were thirty one bases or colonies in the solar system with more planned and a seemingly endless array of worlds to explore.

  The technology of space object detection had increased exponentially during the twenty-first century and the discoveries made were staggering. In 2014 there were two hundred and forty objects discovered within the realms of the eight known planets that were at least one hundred kilometers in diameter. By 2119 there were three hundred and thirty-one. In the Kuiper Belt one hundred and eighty-six objects at least twelve hundred kilometers in diameter had been discovered. Further in the dark expanse of the Oort Cloud several dozen icy worlds were discovered, some of which were as large as the earth.

  And that was only the beginning of the discoveries of the twenty-first and early twenty second centuries. The interstellar space around the Earth was discovered to be not quite as empty as once believed. Red Dwarfs and Brown Dwarfs were familiar objects to scientists in the twentieth century but their faint luminosity made them difficult to detect.

  A late twenty-first century project named Firefly was instituted using the latest equipment available and co-opting the deep space telescope in orbit around Jupiter. Within the first year hundreds of unknown Red and Brown Dwarfs were discovered. Most of these were many light years from Earth but the scientific community was most abuzz about the two Brown Dwarfs located within two light years of Earth.

  One was less than a light year away and mankind was temporarily infatuated with sending a probe to investigate our nearest neighbor. But budgetary minds prevailed and most of the talk became theoretical there afterwards. The experts pointed out that the best proposal submitted would take two hundred and fifty years one way and cost ten trillion dollars in research money, which wasn’t available in any case.

  No corporation would even consider it because there would be no return of capital and, even if there were, it wouldn’t be realized for the equivalent of five lifetimes. Even after it was discovered that the nearest Brown Dwarf contained a planetary system in the theoretical habitable zone there was very little interest at any level other than the scientific community. The decision makers moved on to other things but the public was still enamored of Steagall 1607 and its planets.

  Steagall 1607 was found to be a relatively high mass brown dwarf with probable lithium and deuterium fusion ongoing in its core. At 59 Jupiter masses the dwarf gave off sufficient heat to have a theoretical habitable zone.

  Nicknamed Twilight because of an artist’s conception of what the magenta colored non-star would look like from the surface of one of its planets, the failed star became a celebrity in the media and public perception. It was often spoken of as the nearest stellar neighbor to Earth, a statement that invariably drove astronomers to drink and distraction. They stated often and loudly, that a Brown Dwarf was a failed star that had not accumulated enough mass to sustain hydrogen-1 fusion reactions in its core, but because of its size, lithium fusion was suspected. This only led to further confusion by using the word star and fusion to describe an object that the speaker maintained was not a star and had not achieved fusion. Even though a panoply of astronomers were trotted out before the media and interviewed and corrected the misconception often, the misconception became the reality in the public eye. The public perception was further strengthened because of the alleged planetary system and the reference to its’ theoretical habitable zone. In the end astronomers threw their hands up in disgust and bowed to the inevitable and the Brown Dwarf was dubbed Twilight.

  A very faint Red Dwarf was also discovered just over three and a half light years away making Steagall 1874 Earth’s nearest stellar neighbor (except in the public forum) dislodging Proxima Centauri from that title. This system was also discovered to have planets in a theoretical habitable zone.

  These discoveries revived certain twentieth century theories of leap frogging to the stars. Some scientists acknowledged the possibility that the Oort Clouds of stellar systems may actually overlap. And further, that it was possible that a ship would never be more than a quarter of a light year or less from a celestial body from which it could refuel and refurbish. Icy bodies in the Oort Clouds and Brown Dwarfs with planetary systems could provide valuable stopping off points along an interstellar journey. If one factored in the rogue planets and the very elusive sub-Brown Dwarfs, the void between suns was looking more like a pond with stepping stones branching in many directions rather than an impassable, desolate wasteland.

  But all of these discussions were me
rely theoretical and would bear no fruit much to the disappointment of the dreamers who yearned for star flight. Mankind was slowly expanding out into the solar system. Humanity was taking the necessary evolutionary steps that a species must ultimately take in its journey.

  The people of Earth in the twenty-second century no longer doubted that extraterrestrial life existed due to the discoveries on Mars, Europa, Ganymede and Enceladus. Granted, with the exception of Europa, the life discovered was mostly microbial. Even Europa’s strange discoveries were simple creatures of the kind found around the myriad of volcanic vents in the Earth’s teeming seas. Exotic and alien they might be, but in ways that were vaguely familiar to human eyes. It seemed that life existed in the most unlikely of places and further discoveries were bound to be made in their own solar system. It was proof positive that life was not a freak cosmic occurrence but a natural imperative. Most people were confident that intelligent life would one day be discovered. But the overwhelming majority believed it would not occur in their lifetime. As later events unfolded the majority turned out to be correct but not for the reasons they thought.

  So, it was with an uplifted spirit that mankind entered the second decade of the twenty-second century, confident in its ability to expand its realms. By 2119 there were thirty one bases and colonies throughout the system of Sol and more that were in the early planning stages. Mankind was grappling with the harsh environment of space and overcoming its myriad of problems.

  Artificial gravity was finally becoming a reality, albeit at far less than the one gee of mother Earth’s surface. Electro-magnetically induced field gravity up to one sixth that of earth was being experimented with in the asteroid belt. Although it was promising, there were serious problems with human exposure to electro-magnetic fields that had to be overcome. The system required huge super conductors that came at enormous expense to the corporations.