The twentieth is regarded by many as the true flowering of human civilisation and ingenuity on the mother-planet. After millennia of painstaking progress in the areas of science and communications, mathematics, medicine, transportation and technology, there was a sudden explosion of knowledge and invention that has never since been duplicated.
What occurred was a rapid transition from the mechanical to the electronic, from the local to the universal; a technology and communications revolution which had, within a few decades, rendered the old concepts of nationality – and even race – obsolete.
Viewed through the glass of history, it is easy to see the dangers inherent in such a rapid social evolution. The new world order was built on an old world foundation of inequality – a violent history of classes and castes, of haves and have-nots, and artificial divisions of nationality and religion. It would have been naive to expect that the benefits of the new prosperity might be shared equitably; that technological progress might also mean an end to poverty and disadvantage.
In fact, what occurred was a hardening of the existing divisions – a widening of the poverty gap, as industry and agri-technology fell under the sway of the multinational conglomerates, and profitability replaced divine right as the organising social principle.
Though dizzying technological advances were being made on every front, economic power and influence became concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, while for the swelling mass of the population at the base of the triangle of privilege, the situation just grew steadily worse.
The Development of ‘Ether-Warp’ Travel:
(Edited crossload [c.2/9/969] from archival thought-sphere 727.231.564.Sci/Phys – Beyond DeBortelli by R.T.P. Hyslop)
The theories leading to the development of a new post-DeBortelli physics grew, in part, from the third-century researches into instantaneous long-distance communications, undertaken in the warp-communications laboratories outside New Geneva – which was, at the time, the capital of the Republic of Deucalion.
From as early as 2022AD, Earth Standard (101BS), when DeBortelli first published his Grand Theory of Sub-Dimensional Physics, scientists began asking questions about the possible existence of other sub-physical dimensions, dubbed ‘the Ether Dimensions’ by the DeBortellists – because it was believed that they would have to co-exist undetected within and between the known dimensions.
Many attempts were made to develop this multi-dimensional model, but without concrete observational proof, they were all doomed to failure, and the attempts gradually ceased, as interest in other lines of research became more fashionable.
Then, during the period of enforced quarantine following the Crystal Death on Deucalion, experiments in instantaneous faster-than-light warp-communications showed results that suggested the existence of dimensions beyond even the DeBortelli. In the end, as history shows, the new communications became a fact, but the hidden dimensions remained hidden, as the scientific imagination retreated again to other fields.
Forgotten for generations, some of the early observational data came to light on Casia 3 at the turn of their fifth century (c.735AS), a time when the Neo-Technology Movement (NTM) was growing in power and influence.
Developing new experimental criteria, Lomas and Narella set in motion two generations of trial-and-error observation, using the amazing sensitivity of the gravitational wave detectors in geo-stationary orbit around the huge gas planet Casia 6.
Within fifty years, the results were conclusive. Parallel to the known dimensions, tiny, but significant gravitational oscillations were detectable that had no explanation in the universe of DeBortelli physics.
After almost seven centuries of speculation, the observational proof had been found. The ‘Ether Dimensions’ were a reality, and, from that point, faster-than-light passenger transportation, using the ‘Ether-Warp’, was only a matter of time.
Also in this series by Brian Caswell
Deucalion
Across light years of space millions of settlers have come to the planet Deucalion to escape their past and build their future. Deucalion is a source of great wealth, and offers a chance of a new beginning. But what does this mean for the Elokoi, who lived there first, or for the children of Icarus, who made the journey for a different reason? And why are people dying mysteriously?
Brian Caswell effortlessly takes you on an excursion into future-history, merging fact with fantasy that will leave you wanting to read the whole series.
ISBN 978 0 7022 2865 0
Also in this series by Brian Caswell
The View from Ararat
One hundred years after the Revolution, Deucalion is a model society and life is good. But all that is about to change. Death arrives one day on the C-ship, Pandora, and suddenly no one is safe. Overnight, the old rules no longer apply. When every breath and every decision is a matter of life and death, when every friend is a potential threat, and the only one you can count on is yourself, how deep does your civilisation really run?
In the sequel to the multi-award-winning Deucalion, Brian Caswell takes us a century further into his vision of Humanity’s future. Once again, he merges fact with fantasy in a gripping read for young adults and lovers of speculative fiction alike.
ISBN 978 0 7022 3067 7
First published 2013 by University of Queensland Press
PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia
www.uqp.com.au
© Brian Caswell 2013
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Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
National Library of Australia
Caswell, Brian, 1954–
The Dreams of the chosen / Brian Caswell.
For young adults.
Science fiction.
A823.3
ISBN 978 0 7022 3605 1 (pbk)
ISBN 978 0 7022 4853 5 (pdf)
ISBN 978 0 7022 4854 2 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7022 4855 9 (kindle)
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Dreams of the Chosen Page 32