by OMAR FINK
Sonny resumed walking and two human figures came into view. He described them, “Here are two of our current crew. Kaz is working on some of the automation controls, and specifically on security and safety in that area. Kaz, say hello to Mr. Lagoria.”
Kaz looked up, grinned briefly, then resumed what he was doing. His orange jumpsuit hung on a nearby hook labeled ‘SUIT-5’. He wore a gray space-suit that was mostly retracted, showing a white under-skin on his hands and neck.
Sonny remarked, “Kaz never takes many breaks from what he’s doing. And by the way, ‘Kaz’ is not his full name, but you don’t want to know the rest. He has some military experience, then was working on ocean drilling rigs doing security, and helped design and install some of the first security systems on the early tether platforms. He’s doing the same thing here for this crew ring, and will be designing and installing control and security systems for the mining platforms and factories we’re developing. The more automation, the less time we have to spend outside, the less chance for accidents.”
The second figure beside Kaz was dressed in the same retracted space-suit and white under-skin. He looked up, and grinned and waved at Sonny’s video points, “Hi, I’m Scotty. And since I just heard Sonny introduce Kaz, I’ll introduce myself. I worked with Kaz in the North Sea running a drilling crew, then went to the Moon base to help get that running, and now I’m here doing some of the same stuff, just as Sonny said, mostly with automated and remote operation machines and factories.” He grinned again.
Sonny said, “Thanks Scotty,” then he continued, “By the way, both Scotty and Kaz are wearing the new second generation under-skin under their space-suits. This skin is designed to increase the ability to retain and recycle oxygen and water, offer better hygiene, add integrated electronics, add resistance to strong impacts, and some level of self-healing. We’re just now beginning to test these functions.” Sonny paused, then continued, “So there you have it Mr. Lagoria. We need your help and support to make working conditions safer out here, as well as living conditions for everybody else too. Please let me know what you think, and of course ask any questions you may have. End of transmission.”
Marco leaned back in his chair, and entwined the fingers of his two hands together behind his head. After a moment, he leaned back forward, put his hands on the edge of the desk in front of him, “Answer v-mail from Lewis Barton. Start recording. Hello Sonny. First, my name is Lagori-O, not Lagori-UH, but you should just call me Marco as everybody else does. I’m sure you are aware of my reputation as a ‘space evangelist’ and you should know that I’ve been working on habitat designs and related issues for years before this current effort began. So we’ve always given some thought to the safety and rescue issues you are concerned with, but I’m sure you can offer some good advice on how to actually implement measures to resolve them. You have my full support, and you are welcome to offer me advice at any point that will be helpful from the design end. I also have considerable influence with funding and staffing issues although that is not directly under my control.”
Marco leaned forward a little toward the recording video point, and put his hands up in the air in front of him like he was holding a large ball, “From the beginning, we have built into our designs some considerations for security mostly, and some safety as well. You know the entirety of every ring environment is fully networked, and most areas have integrated video points throughout. The newer rings we’re building have an even higher ratio of video points to surface space, and I’m guessing eventually just about every surface will be fully vid-enabled. It’ll just be a question of what resolution level will be used. Every ring also has a central control center to enable security monitoring.”
Marco stopped moving his hands around and continued, “I’m going over the security functions because I imagine we can combine your needs into the existing security infrastructure, at least for the rings and for information management. You also said you need faster craft and I like your idea of using remote and automated craft that can move faster and supply emergency supplies like oxygen, water, and fuel. Start gathering specs and needs from your staff, and we’ll start working on getting you some answers.”
Marco waved one hand in the air like he was slicing something, “By the way, I’m talking to you from the San Marcos platform just off the coast of Kenya. This platform used to be part of the Italian space program, and I worked here previously. There is an entire engineering crew here working on problems very similar to what you are concerned about. And there is an elevator tether anchored here too. We can get implementations up into space pretty fast, although as you pointed out, most of our work just gets transmitted as design plans, and printed in space as needed. I’m attaching a publicity video piece that talks about the work being done here. It’s not important, but I thought it might provide good background for you.”
Marco leaned back, “Nice talking to you Sonny. Hope to hear more from you soon. End recording. Send.”
+3 years, 10 months, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
Ulrich Giger spoke to his team seated around the large round wooden table in the AGT executive conference room, “We’ve finished sixty space elevators. We’re lifting more than a million and a half people per month into space. Nearly eleven million have completed the lift and they have been transported over to some of the ten habitat rings we’ve built near Earth. Several more rings have already moved out toward Mars. These numbers sound impressive and they are. But we’re only just beginning, and we have to keep all the timetables on schedule. The task in front of us is daunting. We can’t afford to relax.” He swept his gaze around the table.
Giger continued, “Where are the biggest problems that still lie in front of us? We have a plan to aggressively increase the rate of all the numbers and in some cases, we still don’t know exactly how that will happen. We have assumed that we can find ways to strengthen the ribbon cables, so we can lift more people in less time, and we have not yet done that. Peter, can TYCHE help with this in any way?”
Peter Azaria nodded, “I’ll ask TYCHE to create a knowledge cluster on this and begin working on it.”
Giger said, “Thank you. We are getting excellent scheduling advice from TYCHE on the best way to shuttle people out into space across the stepping stone bridge of habitat rings we are building to reach the asteroid belt. But we still have too many breakdowns and other problems caused by normal people problems that the computer can’t handle for us. We need to get better at this. Our cyber coin program has been a spectacular success and it has funded our operations, but there is still about ten to fifteen percent of humanity that either has doubts or is just too anxious to decide they must emigrate into space or they will die here. We have no plan to address those who want to be left alone. Ten percent of eight billion is eight hundred million. Can we just leave eight hundred million people here to die? We may have no choice. Ultimately it’s up to them to decide they want to live.”
Giger sighed, then said, “We have to find a way to move faster, and to work more efficiently. We must do a better job of learning from our mistakes. We have to cut our losses quickly, and focus more precisely on efforts that are producing results. We need to find ways to magnify our successes.”
Giger paused, then finished with, “We’re just getting started, and while we are indeed off to a good start, there remains a long ordeal in front of us.”
+3 years, 11 months, LIBERTY HILL, TEXAS, USA
The Castilleja restaurant was a small, hole in the wall joint, that had once been a gas station, but now served home cooked country food. There was a huge covered patio and beer garden out back with a sign that said, ‘Live Music’. A bumper sticker in the window proclaimed, ‘Keep Austin Weird’. Another one right next to it announced the location as ‘Liberty Hill, TX, a safe distance from Austin’.
Zorba Omega put his fork down on an empty plate, “Couldn’t come to Central Texas and not get a country fried steak. And that jalapeno cream gravy was to die for.” He grinne
d.
Professor Morgan smiled back at him and offered, “Indeed.” The professor was a large man, but still managed to somehow maintain a mousy appearance with a scraggly beard and mustache, and a long graying pony tail. He wore a checkered brown and blue long sleeved flannel shirt that looked out of
place in the Texas summer heat.
Zorba asked, “Don’t you get hot in that shirt here?”
Professor Morgan replied, “Not really. There’s so much sensitive equipment in our buildings they keep the temperature and humidity pretty constant. It’s like working inside a big data center and it’s always cool.”
Zorba nodded, “As I told you, your assistant researcher, Genaro, and I have a long history. He taught a survival class I was in as a kid many years ago. When he told me you were working here in the Central Texas National Laboratory, I immediately got interested. It goes without saying they are doing some of the top materials research in the world.” He stopped and looked at the Professor as though it was a question.
Professor Morgan said, “Yes, but as I told you, unfortunately most of it is classified and I can’t talk much about it.”
Zorba replied, “I understand. And as much as I’d love to hear about what you’re working on, that’s not why I’m here. I want to talk to you about something you used to work on but have abandoned; the Directed Matter Junction, the DMJ.”
Professor Morgan raised his eyebrows, “Oh, Genaro told you about that, eh?”
Zorba said, “I’m sure it’s not classified or he wouldn’t have. He’s like that.”
Professor Morgan chuckled, “Yes, he is. And no, it’s not classified. Although, compared to all the things I am working on, that one is the one that really should be classified. It’s just that I can’t prove the theory, and they won’t even look at it until I do. And I can’t build a prototype without using a good lab, and they won’t approve that. It’s been very frustrating.”
Zorba said, “Well Professor, the reason why I’m here is to find out what you need to be able to finish your work. And I think you just answered that question. If I can get somebody to push through the approval for you to work on the DMJ, would that be helpful?”
Professor Morgan exclaimed, “Are you kidding? That would be fantastic! Can you really do that?”
Zorba responded, “I won’t make any promises, but I do have some connections with HU, and since just about everything is under them now, I might be able to reach somebody who can influence the command chain in your lab. If what Genaro has told me about the DMJ is correct, it should be in the best interest of HU to prioritize your work. I’ll make some calls as soon as I get back on my plane, and somebody will get back to you soon.”
Professor Morgan smiled widely, “I can’t thank you enough!”
Zorba looked thoughtful for a moment and then added, “I don’t pretend to understand the science of what you’re working on Professor, but do you need any large computing resources?”
The Professor responded, “Well yes, from time to time we run some fairly complex simulations to test ideas and new implementations. Why?”
Zorba said, “I also have some connections with a team developing one of the best computing resources in the world and if it would help, I’m sure I could arrange to schedule some time for you to get some access.”
The Professor smiled again, “Of course that would be helpful. Which one is it? I’m familiar with most of the supercomputer clusters.”
Now it was Zorba’s turn to smile, “You’re not likely to have heard of this one. It’s a private installation and has not yet gotten any publicity, and we prefer to keep it that way. But it might be the most advanced computer system on the planet. I’ll have our team get in touch with you.”
10 Migration
"Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers ... I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space."
— Stephen Hawking
+4 years, 2 months, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Music from “Higher and Higher” by the Moody Blues, welled up and a chorus rose in the background, then morphed into a song that told of a climb up from Earth. The song played through, then eventually faded into the background.
Gitane Levesque faced the camera and began to speak, “A huge stream of humanity is poised to begin flowing out into space, out into an unknown future. This event has no precedent. There has never been a migration that involved an entire species. The effort of moving eight billion people off of a planet, and into newly constructed living habitats can only be described as epic.”
He turned toward a second camera, “This mass migration is in fact a desperate grasping at survival, an attempt to keep on going, to live through an apocalypse that is coming straight toward us. And we are learning how human beings can accomplish amazing things when strongly motivated. In only a few short years, we have built scores of space elevators that never existed before, and are in the process of building hundreds of space habitats to house billions of people.”
Gitane continued, “These people are beginning to flow across the planet like columns of ants, being directed toward the bottom of the elevators, pouring into climber cars that move up the elevators around the clock, and then being directed out to their new homes in space. We are literally building a new civilization out of thin air, or rather out of thin space.”
He turned back to the first camera and offered, “There is a German word, ‘zugunruhe’, which describes an anxious, restless, behavior associated with mass migration. In birds, this may be described more accurately as animation than as agitation, because it seems to ready them for flight. The entire human race is now going through this form of anxiety, wondering what will come next and where we are headed. But regardless of the outcome, we are ready to move, ready to climb into space, and ready to face the future. Maybe we too are becoming ready to fly.”
He paused then closed with, “This is Gitane Levesque from Geneva, Switzerland.”
+4 years, 3 months, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Gitane Levesque frowned into his drink, and gripped the glass tightly.
Lee Martin said, “Gitane, you’re drunk again.”
Gitane looked up and his speech was slurred, “So what.”
Lee said, “Every time we’ve been together in the last few years, you’ve been drunk.”
Gitane looked back down into his drink and murmured, “You think you’re such a big deal.”
Lee replied, “Oh no, not this again.”
Gitane pursed his lips, “Oh yes, this again.”
Lee said, “This relationship is not any good for me anymore. And frankly, I don’t think it’s good for you either.”
Gitane said, “What relationship. You aren’t even any good in bed.”
Lee laughed. She looked around the room as though measuring what she should do next. Finally, she said, “Gitane, what do you want.”
Gitane said, “Give me a blow job.”
Lee said, “I’m serious. What do you want?”
Gitane, “I’m serious. I want a blow job.” The glass slipped from his hand as he tried to raise it and spilled most of the contents on the table.
Lee stood up, “Have a nice life, Gitane.”
+4 years, 4 months, SPACE ELEVATOR-3, OVER SAN MARCOS, KENYA
The voice of the climber cabin attendant came over the audio points in the cabin, “Hello everybody, this is Jammo, your cheerful attendant. We are now near the halfway point in our climb up into space. Our altitude is just over eighteen thousand kilometers from the surface of Earth. We left the San Marcos platform almost four days ago. By now, you should be somewhat used to the near total lack of gravity, and you should note that this will continue for the remainder of our journey. Please stay netted into your couches when you’re not moving about, and pay attention to keeping all food and drink containers placed firmly on the sticky pads. Thanks for your attentio
n. Jammo out.”
Marco Lagorio sat on the side of his couch with a netting strap draped over his shoulder. Three dark skinned Kenyan teenagers sat on the next couch, each either netted down or holding onto some piece of strap. Everybody in the climber was wearing the standard blue jumper. Marco smiled at the kids, “Well, you heard Jammo. We’re halfway there.”
The kids smiled back at Marco but nobody spoke.
Finally Marco added, “You said you had a question to ask before Jammo interrupted.”
One of the teenagers stirred, “We can see the wheel where we are going in the wall monitor over there. It looks small, but they say millions of us will live in that same wheel. How big is it, really?”
Marco grinned, “You are from Kenya right?”