College Life

 

Students bustling with life seemingly appeared from nowhere and the wide corridor was soon crowded to choking point.  The serenity punctured by a cacophony of sound created by innumerable small conversations.  It was everything that I had dreamed of – a world full of beautiful classy women and men that I could have an intellectual conversation with.

 

Then just as fleetingly the crowd disappeared and I was back looking at the dull wall opposite.  This is University College Dublin, UCD; the Arts/Commerce Building in particular.  The year is 1997.  The campus was mostly constructed during the Sixties with the modern architecture of the time.  However, an unloving eye would point out that it looks more like an airport than a university with its rectangular concrete buildings.  It is the largest university in Ireland with a population of at least twenty thousand students, located in the leafy suburbs of Dublin 4.  The Arts/Commerce Building known more commonly simply as the Arts Building is one building among many.  It has seven levels but most of the activity occurs on the ground floor which houses all the lecture theaters; the largest of which can hold over two hundred students at a sitting.  As its name suggests this building is where the lectures are held for those studying Arts or Commerce courses.

 

My name is Alan,  I’m the young man driving up and down the corridor in his wheelchair.  Today is a day of elation because against all the odds, I managed to make it to college and am now in the third day of my first week in college..  This would be quite an accomplishment for the ordinary guy but for a quadriplegic it is something special.  Born eighteen years previously to a sense of sorrow, it took many operations to make my body take a familiar shape but alas they could not give me the ability to stand alone or to raise my arms enough to feed myself.  Fortunately, the only obvious clue that my disability was congenital was my claw shaped hands.  Harder to notice my twisted hips & impossible to see the metal bar wrapped to my spine to stop my body slowly collapsing onto itself.

 

This was indeed a good day and I falsely thought that it was as exciting as my life would get.  In a few minutes from now, I’m due to meet to meet the Access Officer of the University.  Nervous but not over awed I ponder what I’m going to say.  I have PAs otherwise known as Personal Assistants organized to look after me but I’m not sure yet how to organize notes of the lectures.  The area for wheelchair users is a platform that juts out at the very back of each theater.  It gives you a panoramic view with the lecturer and the rows of students below. However, if I was to put a table in front of me so that I could write, it would totally block my view of what was happening. Adding to my difficulty, I am unable to write fast enough as well.  The PAs generally are not very educated or patient and it would be a disaster to try and get them to do it.

 

As I reach the exit door to the building, I estimate it must be getting close to the time of my appointment and I hurriedly turn around and head in the direction of the office of the Access Officer.  As I drive onwards I notice that there is one group of students still hanging around.  They  are situated at what I’ve already found out to be known as “the wall”.    It is a raised area just off the main corridor.

 

Almost instantaneously I can tell that they are gamers.  The dark clothes and the obvious excitement over cards strewn on the floor are obvious signs.  It is mostly fellas but there are two girls; one of which is quite attractive with long long black hair and a slim build.  I make a mental note to meet them later in the day, being an occasional gamer myself.

 

It only takes me two minutes to reach the door of the Access Office.  It is away from the main corridor and quite quiet.  A woman’s voice coming from the office is barely audible.  Driving horizontally to the door, I use my good hand to knock on it three times.  I hear a shout from inside that she will be out in a minute.  Of course, this was Ireland & a minute more closely meant shortly rather than any actual measurement of time.  Frustrated I drove away from the door and waited.

 

I knew that it was important to start off this relationship on good terms so I tried to think of important things that I needed to say and make sure boredom didn’t crush my freshness.  I had spoken to her previously on the telephone and she had seemed helpful and concerned.  Hopefully that was what she really was like and I wasn’t just getting some standard response she gave to people she never actually thought would make it to the college.

 

After waiting a couple of minutes I hear the door opening behind me and my name being called.  As I turn around the wheelchair I am pleasantly surprised.  The Access Officer who promptly tells me her name is Lucy is wearing a short dress revealing attractive long legs and has short curly blonde hair.  It is also immediately apparent due to her cross eyes that she has a visual impairment.

 

The office is small and cramped and she barely manages to close the door behind me and get back round to her desk.  After apologizing for the small office which she openly admitted wasn’t very wheelchair friendly, she smiled broadly and with excitedly asked me how my first week in college was going and how I was getting on with my PAs (Personal Assistants).

 

It crossed my mind to say that it would be even better if I had a PA as attractive as her but decided that it would be better to keep things on a professional basis and my thoughts turned back to business.

 

I informed her that I was getting on quite well apart from a few teething problem.  My PAs whose names were Patrick and Leanne were lovely people and I was getting on well with them fine so far.  There was a thrill to being in college where so much seemed to be constantly happening and that my main area of concern was in relation to getting notes from the lectures.

 

Now her demeanor and tone became more serious as she informed me that I would need to speak to the lecturers myself to see if I could get notes from them.  She continued that there were simply too many students with disabilities for her office to organize notes for everyone and that anyway, now that I was in college rather than school I needed to learn to look after my own affairs.

 

This was obviously a standard response stated over and over every year to new incoming students.  The fact that I had a severe disability with only limited use of my arms didn’t seem to make me any more deserving of attention than the standard dyslexic that the office would deal with.  Finding her response less than impressive my confidence in the Access Officer was waning.

 

She then turned back to her smile and cheery tone informing me to contact her if I was having difficulties with the flat and also that it was important to contact the office in the run up to the exams in order to meet my needs.

 

Even though my confidence in her had waned, I made sure that I kept smiling.  She held an important tactical position and it was important to build a good working relationship in case I needed her in the future.  These cold calculations came easily to me from growing up with a disability.

 

On leaving her office I decided that I would make my way back to Patrick who hopefully would be diligently waiting for me back at the apartment I was renting with another student on campus.  It was ideally located close to where my lectures were to be held and just as importantly it was also near the Student Bar which was the social nerve center of the university.  It was my plan to enjoy the full college experience as well as get a degree which would open options for the rest of my life.

 

It would only take me two minutes to get back to my apartment.  On the short journey I wondered if Patrick, my PA would still be looking out the window waiting for me.  It was an unusual thing to request of him but if he didn’t see me I would be stuck outside as I wasn’t able to open the doors to get in.  Otherwise I would have had to bring him with me and I preferred to spend some of the time on my own rather than having somebody constantly beside me.  It only was also a lot easier to talk to new people when you didn’t have someone standing mute a few feet behind you.

 

I had only met Patrick the previous day and still wasn’t quite sure what to make of him.  It was a great relief to find someone willing to do the work though.  But he was quirky and at times seemed unsure of himself.  He dressed shabbily and his fringe had been cut dead straight giving him a somewhat simple appearance.  Not that any of that bothered me.  I had an objective of getting a degree and was prepared to work with just about anyone to help me achieve that aim.

 

Within two minutes I had reached the exit door of the building.  It looked dreary outside and suddenly the threat of rain loomed large.  The method for getting in and out through an exterior door is simple and usually quite effective – patience.  Another student would eventually come along and open the door for me.  Usually you wouldn’t have to wait long.  This time it was only seconds.

 

A petite female student who was entering the building kept it open for me.  Only a quick glancing smile was exchanged between us.  I thought to myself that I must think of something witty to say in these situations so that I can get chatting to all the cute girls who open doors for me.

 

It is pleasantly warm outside with only a light breeze.  But the dark sky hinted at a rapid change.  I immediately sped down the ramp beside the steps that everybody else used and began the short journey back to the flat.  As it was now time that lectures were in full swing the paths were quiet and I didn’t meet anybody on the path.  It would take some time before I would adjust to the place being so crowded and then everybody just dissipating.

 

As I saw the apartment block where I presumed that I would be living for the next few years I grew a bit nervous wondering if Patrick would be looking out the window.  My flat was on the ground level.  The other two floors were inaccessible; there was a stairs but no lift.  Even the ground floor of most of the other apartment blocks had at least one step into them.  At least I could see a few students in the distance and I could ask them to ring the bell if all else failed.  Moments later came the moment of truth.

 

As I peered in the window much to my relief I could see Patrick sitting on the TV watching television.  He spotted me after just a few seconds.  I nodded at him to open the door and he leapt up and headed towards the door.  There was actually two doors to open; one for the apartment block and the other for the apartment itself.

 

As Patrick opened the door I could tell from his smile that something had made him particularly happy and I wondered what it was.  As I entered the apartment I asked Patrick to make me a cup of tea.  The apartment consisted of a combined kitchen/living room, a short hall, bathroom, shower room & two bedrooms.

 

The larger bedroom was mine and the other belonged to the other flatmate who I still hadn’t met and knew nothing about.  The demand for accommodation on campus far exceeded supply and it was given out on a lottery basis.  However, people with disabilities were given preference.  This was entirely appropriate in my somewhat biased opinion as nearly all if not all the accommodation off campus was wheelchair inaccessible.

 

Patrick couldn’t contain his excitement for long.  As he started to pour the tea he grinned and told me that he had some interesting news.  I wondered what it could be and even if it was interesting in only his weird mind.  It was however something of note.

 

He had met my flatmate for the year and it was a woman.  I was a bit surprised but almost instantly thought that this could make my first year in college very interesting.  Her name was Lucy and she has a visual disability.  My calculating mind told me that it was more than mere coincidence that two disabled people were put in the same flat and it was probably the result of a policy I hadn’t known about.

 

Patrick seemed to be very taken by her and told me with excitement that she was studying music.  She had gone to the shop and would be back any moment.  Now I wondered if he had glanced out the window to see if he could see her coming rather than see if I was outside.

 

He lifted the cup of tea to my lips but continued talking and I wondered if I would think as highly of this girl as he did.  I imagined that Patrick with his simple ways probably didn’t get much female attention and perhaps could be easily influenced.

 

Then I heard keys rattling in the door.  For the first time I felt a tinge of nervousness feeling that I should try to make a good first impression but was not quite sure how.  Then the door opened with a bang and in she came and a loud “hello” in an accent that I couldn’t quite place.

 

She had long flowing red hair & was slightly overweight.  Her visual impairment was immediately apparent due to her being noticeably cross eyed.  Overall she was of medium attractiveness.  But I supposed to an older man like Patrick she was probably like a model.

 

Immediately with a large smile she started telling me everything about herself.  For instance, she was repeating her second year in college, that she loved music, her favourite programme was “Sex & The City” and that she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do when she left college.  Her course was only starting the next day which was late compared to most students and that was why she was only arriving now.  The fact that her name was Lucy only came towards the end.

 

In my more terse reply often interrupted by a still excited Patrick I told her that I was in my first year of a business degree, that I was delighted to be in college and that I would do any medium paid job on leaving.

 

Overall I was quite happy to have her as a flatmate.  The fact that we both had a disability should mean that we could support one another I reckoned but I knew that only time would tell.  After all I didn’t actually have any friends with disabilities so there could be a few holes in the theory.

 

The lively conversation came to an abrupt end when Lucy informed me that she had to go into her room for a few hours to unpack.  I informed Patrick that I needed to go to the toilet.  This had similarities to a military exercise.

 

First, I would drive into my bedroom which was quite large even with two beds on each side; there was plenty of room to manoeuvre.  Patrick then got the sling and put it around my body before driving the hoist over and hooking the sling onto it.  It was a manual hoist and Patrick had to move the lever up and down in order to raise me off the wheelchair. Then by pushing and pulling it, he would reverse the hoist out of the bedroom and then forwards into the bathroom.

 

Then there was just enough room to pull my pants down and hover me over the toilet for me to do the business.  Patrick would then leave until I called him.  Sometimes my mind would wonder and I would enjoy the solitude.  However wait too long and the sling would gnaw at my leg leaving a cutting pain that was only relieved when it was taken off.  My leg would also be numb for a minute on sitting back in the wheelchair.

 

My mind was now turning to later, after I had attended my final lecture for the day.  This evening I planned to meet up with Eric, a friend from my secondary school days and go to the Student Bar where we would meet up with more old classmates from my home town of Mullingar.  There were two bars for students on campus; one was the Students Bar which was by far the busiest and run by the Students Union.  The other bar is called the Sport Bar because it is part of a sports complex which has a gym and where indoor football can be played.

 

In truth I was hoping to meet up with new people during my time in college but there was no harm in keeping up with old contacts.  The exception was Eric who I was always happy to meet.  He had a superb intellect and I could talk at length about science and politics with him.  In fact he had been due to go to a different university but I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that he had changed his mind at the last moment.  I was due to meet him at eight o’clock

 

But now it was time for another lecture and my mind turned its concentration to that.  Shortly I would be asking Patrick to open the doors to the apartment once again as I ventu

Sexual Awakening

 

Lance finally took his eyes off the pages.  He was entranced by the excitement of it all.  Nothing exciting ever seemed to happen to him.  It seemed his life was filled with nothing but intellectual conquest.

 

His heart throbbed with thoughts of nuclear bombs, war, Mullinarians and interstellar travel.  He pondered how such a thrilling universe could turn into such a boring one and if the humans or even the Mullinarians realised how fortunate they were.

 

He reaches for his exoset, places it on his head and inserts the cable into the connection in the rear of his head.  He is one again connected to the array.  He decides to do a scan of what has happened since he was last connected.

 

Through a myriad of headline he subconsciously selects the headline “Oscillations getting longer due to increased energy capture”.

 

The concept of an oscillation is based on the old concept of measuring the length of time it took a planet to orbit its star.  However it is different to previous Eras in the past because there are no stars to orbit.  It refers to the period when the power is turned on over the planet Europeous.  Night refers to when the power is greatly reduced.  The cyborg population enters capsules which freeze their bodies, entering them into a cryonic state.

 

A three dimensional video by the Europeous Energy Corporation plays before Lance’s eyes –

 

It begins by explaining that Europeous consumes a vast amount of energy when it is fully operational and then continues…  However, the Universe unlike in the past when civilization could naturally evolve has no natural energy source.  Therefore it is necessary to almost completely shut Europeous down & let it recharge its batteries through a process called “Void Energy Capture”.  Energy cannot be created or destroyed.  However, as every Europeousian knows the void of space is not completely empty.  Phantom quantum particles of matter and antimatter come in and out of existence countless times every split second.  Even though individually their effect is negligible, it was the gravity that they created which drove dark energy that led to the lifeless universe that currently exists.

 

In “Void Energy Capture”, through the use of advanced physics, spectrum quantum electro entanglement we separate the matter & the anti matter components.  The matter component is changed to energy through fusion while the anti matter is flung into the vast void of the Universe.

 

Naturally, this method of generating energy is extremely slow.  Each “oscillation” lasts 5 trillion years.  Of course, in a largely frozen empty Universe time has almost become a conceptual idea.

 

However, the Europeous Energy Corporation is delighted to inform its customers that each oscillation is becoming 2% longer.

 

Lance is fascinated and ponders how they could be making such huge energy gains with each oscillation.  He has heard about the Europeous Energy Corporation previously.  They only the employ the best & the brightest, that they’re employees tend to be quirky even by Europeousian standards and that they are zealous in their zeal about energy production.

 

Lance is then startled by a mail message from Zoe 452.  It flashes before his eyes on the exoset.  It simply reads “meet me at 45847 423865 354 6:24”.  He is intrigued.  It is unusual for him to receive a message but it is exceptional for him to receive a personal message sent only to him.  Normally, it would be a global message set to every citizen of Europeous.

 

The first three numbers relate to a set of coordinates on Europeous.  Never before has another human requested to meet him at a certain location.  The idea was both absurd & perplexing.  Instant communication through the exoset made one’s location irrelevant.  However, Lance’s curiosity is sparked.

 

He runs a search for Zoe 452 through his database.  It turns out that she is in his class “Beginning of Interstellar War & its Consequences in the First Period”.  Maybe she wishes to discuss the book he is reading.  This would be troublesome for Lance as he would like to let the story unfold rather than hear about the ending from a third party.

 

He decides to look up her picture on cosmicface.  It has a photo of every ci-human on Europeous, constantly updated each time the exoset is activated.  She is a tall female with the telltale clear complexion of a cyborg with brown hair protruding from her exoset.

 

A strange quiver goes through his spine as the thought goes through him that she is almost as pretty as Lucy.

 

In order to calm himself he accessed the advanced physics course on his exoset to keep his mind occupied.  The thought of the meeting had completely gone out of his mind, replaced by quantum dynamics when a message displayed in front of him – “Time for Meeting – Do you wish to automatically transport or cancel?”

 

With trepidation his mind selected the option of automatic transportation.

 

Startled, he found himself in another person’s cell.  It looked almost identical to his, except that the cryonic capsule and chair were in the opposite part of the room to his.

 

Zoe 452 was sitting in her capsule and directed him to sit on the chair beside her, which he did.

 

Feeling awkward he enquired why his presence had been requested.

 

“It is something I hacked into,” she said in a monotone voice while looking vacuously at a bare wall.  She then continued, “And I wish to discuss it with someone.”

 

Hacking was a serious offence and Lance pondered what to say.  In the end, his natural curiosity won out and he nervously enquired about what she had found.

 

“I will send the file through to your exoset”.

 

Lanced accessed the file and then played it.  He was startled.  Before him in a 3-D holograph, there were two naked middle aged bodies, in a capsule rocking back and forth against each other.

 

After just few seconds, he stopped the program.

 

“Where did you get this?” he asked incredulously.

 

She replied that she had hacked into the main public server and had found many other similar occurrences.  It was the ancient form of human reproduction and seemed to be a pleasurable experience.

 

“And why did you show this to me?”

 

“Because I thought we could try to do it”, she said in the same monotone voice, except this time looking straight into Lance’s eyes.

 

Lance could feel his heart pounding and knew he was breaking out into a cold sweat.  His mouth seemed to be jammed closed and he could feel himself trembling.

 

Unsure what to do, he panicked and did an instant transport back to his own cell.

 

After a while he could feel himself returning to normal.  He went over what happened again and again in his mind.  He felt himself getting aroused thinking about the naked woman he had seen and wondered would Zoe 452 really have gone through with it.  Would he have been able to go through with it?

 

For hours these thoughts ran continuously through his mind.  He resolved that he would learn more about this ancient form of human reproduction and seize the next opportunity if one ever arose.

 

In order to get his mind off what had happened he decided to return to reading about Malthus` exploits.

The beginning

 

Lance transports into his cell at the allotted time.  The chess games & physics had left him uninspired.  Chess was too predictable & the styles of his opponent’s play defensive and austere.  He tried to play with ambition, maybe even risqué but he could not overlook the computations of his exoset enough to make it interesting.

 

The physics was still too simple.  It bored him & he could do nothing but anticipate more advanced classes.

 

Maybe his assignment from his history class – “Beginning of Interstellar War & its Consequences in the First Period” will give him a measure of some intrigue.  A video from his exoset plays in front of his eyes reminding him that it must be disengaged.  It is a replay of his Professor stating that the assignment must be read the ancient way, exoset unaided.

 

Lance laughed to himself thinking that only in History class would he be given such odd instructions.

 

He opens the first page of his assignment…

 

Malthus, a thirty year old man of slight build with long black hair lies face down asleep on his double bed.  Here he is the emperor, a destroyer of worlds.  Nobody challenges his wishes & all the most beautiful women are his.

 

The room is a mess with clothes strewn across the room.  His T5 laser lies on the table beside his bed.  Then suddenly the serenity is destroyed by the sound of a loudly ringing alarm.    Malthus wearily opens his eyes.

 

He picks up the alarm off the side of the table & it reads “Code 5”.  It is coloured in a bright red and the searing sound continues.

 

Malthus now trembles, for he has never seen a “code 5” before.  It was the highest alert of the Galthusian Army.  He pondered if Martan would be the next planet devastated by a World War.  Maybe Venetia or Aridia has launched a nuclear strike!  He knew that tensions had been increasing in the last few months but it still seemed improbable.

 

He quickly turned off the alarm and began to dress himself.  Peering out through his window he saw nothing except the usual red dust punctuated by the occasional island of plant life against the backdrop of the purple sky.  It was a landscape that rarely changed.  There was no night or starset, because the planet was tidally locked to its star & the vegetation growth was so slow, it felt like even the mountains changed more rapidly.

 

Deciding to skip breakfast he quickly grabbed his furry coat and his trusted journal; he would need the furry coat for the cold environment outside and the journal to record his experiences, which was a habit he got into when he was young.  He knew that he must make it to Fortress Delta as quickly as possible.

 

There in front of him was the pride of his life – The Venetion T5 Rapid Movement Hover Motorbike or just “Jane” to him.  She meant more to him than any woman ever could.  Her long slender turbo thrusters & perfect handling led to her being a joy to drive.

 

He mounted her & pressed the ignition.

 

It rose off the ground & started to move forward.  Slowly at first but it gradually accelerated to a great speed.  Malthus appreciated the magnificent mountains around him as he quickly sped through the valleys.  He pondered if this would be the last time he would view such beautiful sights.  Also he regretted never leaving the planet to see other worlds & the various aliens that inhabited them.

 

Then as if to cheer him, he saw some chinews on the slopes of the mountains.  Indigenous to this part of Martan, they were the huge herbivores of the ecosystem, with long necks & massive bodies.  They had been in danger of extinction due to over hunting but conservation efforts had saved them from the brink.  There was always hope Malthus thought.

 

It took him an hour to reach Fortress Delta.  In front of him stood a sheer, red, dusty cliff face similar to what he had seen many times on his journey.  However, he knew that this was one of many secret entrances to the fortress.

 

Dismounting his hover bike & removing his helmet, he called out the secret password –

 

Delta Omega Hornipheus 456794379pb.

 

A loud noise sprang from behind the dust & a small opening appeared.  Malthus entered, pushing his hover bike just inside the entrance in to a waiting parking space as the opening closed behind him.  In front of him there was a long dimly lit tunnel, clearly made of concrete.  Malthus ran down the tunnel.

 

After running for 15 minutes, Malthus approaches a lift, which he enters.  Pressing the down button it swiftly brings him a further three miles underground.

 

As the lift door opens he is hit with a barrage of noise.  It is also much warmer so he leaves his coat on the hanger revealing his grey uniform.

 

Before him in a large dome like enclosure stood a bustling crowd of high ranking soldiers, engineers & pilots.  They were busy vociferously talking to each others.  Monitors & computers covered the walls.

 

Malthus spotted his friend Socrates in the distance & Malthus quickly joined him.  Socrates was a mid ranking pilot with a penchant for liquor & prostitutes.  He liked his liquor strong & his women middle aged though he himself was barely in his thirties.  He was pale skinned, had long blonde hair and his white uniform was always exquisite.

 

Socrates was bristling with excitement and anticipation.  He had always dreamed of a real war rather than doing the tedious training exercises.  In truth he had never really settled on Martan, being from a neighbouring star system.  He was a mercenary, hired because of his skill at atmospheric fighter flying.

 

However, after work he was always the centre of the party cracking jokes and drinking a voluminous quantity of spirits.

 

“What’s happening?” queried Malthus hesitantly.

 

“Man, you are not going to believe this.  The Mullinarians have attached Venetia.  Like seriously, the place is blown to shit.  Its cities have been hit by nuclear warheads, not sure about its military installations yet” says Socrates with nervous excitement, “like shit man how the fuck did they do that?

 

“But why? – this planet’s gravity is too high & the oxygen content is far too low”, states Malthus assertively.

 

Then abruptly and in a sharp stinging voice –

 

Engineers to holding Bay 1

 

Malthus leaves his friend and joins his comrades in Holding Bay 1.  Due to the sheer size of the base it takes 20 minutes walking down a dark dimly lit corridor to reach it.

 

Holding Bay 1 is one of 7 hangers that contain atmospheric fighters.  The Zenith 12 is the mainstay of the Galthusian Air Corps.  Although highly manoeuvrable & agile, it is not able to reach low Martan orbit.

 

The Zenith 12 is sleek, black with two wings, rear rockets and a scramjet underneath.  There is seventy zeniths strewn across the hanger but they are interconnected by the conveyor belt that will bring each of them to any of the five launching sites.

 

The crowd gathers in the centre of the hanger in front of a podium.  As the Senior Ranking Engineer, Malthus escapes the jostling & goes onto the podium where two generals stand.  They are wearing the traditional green uniform but Malthus sees fear in their eyes.

 

One of them stands forward & shouts:

 

“Quiet.  As you are all by now aware the Mullinarians have attacked Venetia.  The first city was attacked approximately two hours ago.  The Venetians have suffered considerable casualties but have started to launch a credible defence.

 

As things stand Galthusia remains neutral.  The Mullinarians have stated that they were provoked by Venetia & will not attack on any other nation on Martan.

 

However, we must remain on high alert.”

 

At this point the other general nodded at Malthus to follow him and they walked into a side room, closing the door behind them.

 

It was a small and dusty room.  The general sat down behind a desk which had a computer & old papers resting on it.

 

A table light shone onto the director’s face.

 

Malthus could now see that his face was covered in scars, with one very prominent scar running down the left side of his face all the way from his chin to the little grey hair that he had left on his head.

 

Then he spoke clumsily to Malthus “I hear you’ve worked with the, the interstellar X125 ion engine?”

 

“The XY124 interstellar y drive engine, sir”, said Malthus confidently.

 

“Was this during your time in Venetia?”

 

“Yes sir, at the Royal University Cambridgeon, Venitia city”.

 

The general then said solemnly “You have been assigned for a top secret mission.  The Venetians have the only interstellar spaceship called “Meridith” currently on the planet.  As you may be aware it contains the ion drive engine that you are familiar with.  Seemingly, this ship was on the verge of being decommissioned due to a problem with its ion drive.  All the elite Venitian Engineering Corps had been reassigned to a clandestine research project.

 

Fortunately three orbits ago, the Venetian Emperor Considine ordered it go into secure storage, while they waited on its successor from the Gutan system.

 

They now plan on using “Merideth” to reach the reach Ciesta system to request reinforcements.  Unfortunately, it appears that all the other engineers who were familiar with this system died in the first wave of nuclear strikes on Venetia.

 

It should be clear you by now that Galthusia is not as neutral as officially stated.  A permanent Mullinarian presence would not be acceptable for moral, political and military reasons.”

 

Then angrily he sighed “Martan is a human world.  Ultimately we cannot concede it to another species.”

 

Then regaining his composure “Your mission is, with the pilot of your choice to fly on a Zenith 12 to the Venetian base where Merideth has been stored and to make her capable of interstellar travel.

 

Who do you wish to be your pilot?”

 

“Socrates, from Elite Squadron X”, Malthus said nervously.

 

“Go to holding Bay B, he will be waiting for you there.  Be ready to depart in ten minutes.”

The Professor

 

 

Emptiness…  There is nothing except this, darkness & cold nothingness.  That is unless you call phantom particles, coming in & out of existence every square light year for but a brief microsecond something.  Where once the universe thrived with glistening stars & mighty black holes has thanks to those beloved laws of thermodynamics turned into an endless uniformity.

 

But there stands an oasis, a remarkable world.  It is the last refuge of those who refused to leave to the unknown multiverse of the most advanced civilization to have emerged during the near eternity of time since that moment of creation.

 

Its citizens decided to take the form of the original species – humans.  Speciefication had occurred over the infinity of time, caused by home worlds with varying gravitational pulls and atmospheres.  However, as the era of black holes ended it was decided that the remaining should take one form & it was the only form that was easily agreed upon.  For similar reasons an ancient, extinct language called English was resurrected from the dead.

 

The last remaining world called Europeous contains a massive population of 120 billion human cyborgs or ci-humans.  It is surrounded by a sphere which contains its atmosphere & light shines from it unto the world below.  It is a city world except for a great forest in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

Skyscrapers dot the skyline, joined up by walkways.

 

Lance7154N (Lance for short), a dark haired & pale skinned sixteen oscillation old of slim build awakens as the shutters of his cryonic capsule automatically open at the allotted time to let the artificial light from the biosphere shine through.  He moves from side to side in the capsule cursing his luck, his limbs still tired.  Nan bots flow through his blood making sure both body & mind are at their maximum efficiency.  However, they let him feel tired, even sick to ensure that he conserves precious energy.

 

His room is austere containing only a plastic chair beside the capsule and a drawer where Lance kept his clothes.  No posters are on the wall and the room lacks any personal touch.  Instead the wall & two doors are a cold light blue colour.

 

Grudgingly he takes off his pyjamas & changes into his clothes; the white uniform customary to all inhabitants of this world.  However, he still feels naked & light headed.  He goes into the bathroom & looking into the mirror, puts on his Exoset, a large metal helmet that covers one of his eyes & plugs into the back of his bald head.

 

Immediately the holographic array appears before his eyes.  His mind opens the “Schedule” folder & sees that he has a history class called “Beginning of Interstellar War & its Consequences in the First Period” starting in ten minutes.

 

Lance knew that the First Period related to the Stelliferous era , a period when stars still shone.  It will be his first time studying such ancient history.  He ponders what it would have been like to live in such a backward era, when life still needed nature to survive.

 

He pondered if he should use his transporter or instead go for a stroll through the walkways.  He decided that instantaneous transportation would be too fast today as he detested waiting.

 

The walkways were quiet with only the occasional passer-by.  He laughed quietly to himself, pondering that he was the oddball walker.  He loved to look down at the side of the walkways to the floors below.  He wondered to himself if they went on forever.

 

Lance reached his classroom with 34.5678 seconds to spare, his exoset keeping him abreast of every minute detail.

 

The class was being held in the usual auditorium A7789.  It was a large lecture theatre & could hold 600 ci-humans, most of who were now zipping into their seats through transporters.

 

Lance could see the professor below.  Old, ragged with long white dishevelled hair flowing out by the side of his exoset, he must have been over one thousand oscillations old.

 

Nervously Lance notices that Lucy is in the seat below him.  She is tall with blonde hair and good feminine features.  Lance has never directly communicated with her but it is her form that he uses for company when he is in the holographic array.  He ponders what it would be like to actually touch her rather than merely have visual stimulation.  Next oscillation he may discover during “Humanity & Relationships” class.

 

The class started with a white flash in the exoset.  Immediately Lance senses the consciousness of the net.  There are billions of voices, a hive in a netherworld.  His senses close in on the Professor’s communications.

 

“You are here now but you shouldn’t be.  This Universe should have died naturally a long, long, long time ago.  But intelligence & ingenuity has long altered its course.  The atoms that we are made of did not come from the moment of creation but rather from transmatterification.

 

The energy that fuels your exoset comes from cold fusion.  We are all an artificial construct.

 

Even the “gravity” that is keeping our feet on the ground is invented – neuronisation.

 

But it wasn’t always so.  There was a time when atoms from the moment of creation existed, energy was plentiful from stars & what’s called Newtonian Gravity existed.

 

Imagine what it would have been like to live during this period.  You could stand on some planets’ surfaces and not even require a biosphere.

 

This is what you all know as the Stelliferous era , now I know that most students prefer the Degenerative Period or The Enlightenment but imagine what it would have been like to have to rely on natural occurring processes in the Universe.-“

 

Lance was entranced by what a wonderful Universe it must have been.  To be free from everything having to be so precise, for the Universe to actually provide you with what you needed to survive.

 

“There was no need for oscillations, energy was abundant.

 

The Civilization from which we began started in very ancient times in an unknown Solar System in what is known as the Milky Way Galway.   Galaxies were very large collections of stars with a massive black hole at their centres.  The Milky Way Galaxy was just one among billions.   It may be of interest to note that in the Early Stelliforous Period our ancestors would not have known the true extent of the Universe due to their limited technology & the speed of light.

 

It appears that Space colonisation and exploration began in four different solar systems in and around the same time in this Galaxy.

 

The four major species that came from these systems were to play a major role in the Early Stelliforous Era.  These were Humans, Zeyons, Laftonians & Mullinarians.

 

You will learn about Humans & Humanity in separate classes & I will leave it till then.

 

The Zeyons were a fully robotic militaristic civilization.  It appears that they turned on their biological creators, turning them into a slave class on their own world.  They then began to search the cosmos in the search for resources obliterating anything that stood in their way.

 

Laftonian civilization was geared towards technological & spiritual progression.  Although not well understood, their devout devotion to their God Loftus & the spiritual leader Lethus who gave Loftus’ directions, led to their name.  Lethus appears to have survived for billions of years.  It is speculated that he spent most of his life travelling at light speed, thus surviving for a very long and extended period.

 

Physically they were smaller but significantly stronger than the average human.  This is because the homeworld of the species had a relatively strong gravitational force.

 

Mullinarians were an insect species.  They came from a unique homeworld with an oxygen rich atmosphere, which led to their large relative size.

 

Physically they had six legs, two of which they normally used for object manipulation.  Fully upright they stood at twice the height of the average human.  They had a significant disadvantage in that even on habitable worlds; they needed biospheres to increase the oxygen content.  This led to their colonisation efforts spreading more slowly.

 

However they were superb at reproduction with each queen able to produce millions of eggs during her lifetime.  Normally this ability was suppressed through contraception, but it was very useful when new worlds were prepared for colonization or at times of war.

 

Space Colonization generally occurs in four different phases

 

1. Different planets within the original system e.g. Pluto in the Martian system.  At this stage colonization is carried out by planetary governments & then corporations.  As the distances & journey time involved are short with relatively advanced ion drives, the colonizers are mostly selected by skill set.  In other words they were specialists in engineering, mining, science and industry.  The spaceships of this time were small but highly manoeuvrable.

 

2. Neighbouring Solar systems – Carried out by corporations for profit. Genetic selection of potential colonisers started to play a much greater role.  In particular females who have a high probability of having large families were heavily selected for.  These females have a genetic predisposition to pregnancy as their bodies would make them feel euphoric. The Colonisers originally would have been transported in “long ships”.  These were large vessels built for endurance rather than agility.  In the beginning when ion drives were used colonisers would have been transported in the form of frozen fertilised eggs, which would then be implanted into surrogate wombs on nearing the destination.  This was due to the very long time it took to travel between stars.

 

Later with the invention of the Higher Gravity Drives, this became obsolete as it was advantageous to have fully grown humans on arrival.

 

3. Frontier Exploration & Colonization – The inhabitants of the outer worlds then through a mixture of immigration and high birth rates then have their own populations to move outwards. They create their own “long ships” and repeat the process. Over a few hundred thousand years the number of inhabited systems vastly increased.

 

4. Eventually the frontier would meet a barrier. Towards the centre of the galaxy there were impassable collections of neutron stars and black holes.  At the other end of the spectrum, there were the massive voids between galaxies which were an impassable barrier for millions of years.

 

However, the most common barrier occurred when different species’ civilizations collided.  Pressure would mount on the frontier as immigration & high rates of reproduction at each border would lead to agitation for war.

 

Later in your cells you will be doing your assignment, which is to read unaided by exoset, a ghost written account of the first interstellar war by Malthus.  You will find your copies on the desks in front of you.

 

Malthus was the senior ion drive engineer for the Galthusian Army on the planet Martan.  Martan was a frontier world whose star system was bordering Mullinarian space.

 

Martan did not require a biosphere & it had an atmosphere that was just barely conducive to human breathing with an oxygen content of 4%.  It was tidally locked to its star, a small red dwarf.  It had a mass similar to that of Earth in the original Martian system.

 

Unlike in the class today, all the inhabitants were pale skinned.  This skin colour was selected for when the first colonisation ships departed because of the very poor luminosity of its star.

 

There were two other inhabited planets in the system – Phobos (the most outer planet) & Zenith (closest to parent star).  However, these two planets had no atmosphere & the humans lived underground in small mining colonies.

 

It must be borne in mind that at this time there were no federations of stars & very few planetary governments.  Martan itself had ten different regional governments.  Prior to the war, although covering by far the largest area, the Republic of Galthusia would have ranked third in relation to military & economic might.  It had a large central mountain range covering two thirds of its area.  Most of the population lived in dense mega cities close to the sea.

 

Its economy was dependent on exporting mining products to neighbouring countries.  Relatively speaking this was an unproductive agricultural planet as plant growth tends to be slow around Red dwarf stars.

 

The communications from the Professor then abruptly stopped.  Lance then surveys his classmates rapidly transport out of the chamber.

 

The communications had only taken a few seconds.  He lodged an entry in his exoset to the required reading in ten hours.  He thought about how different & primitive ancient times were.  He felt a strange emotion, possibly excitement thinking about it as he put his assignment, which looked like a few hundred pages into his inside jacket pocket.  It seemed so dynamic compared to the austerity of his existence.

 

He had an hour to spare before his next lecture.  Maybe brush up on his physics or play some 3D chess over the exoset.  Chess was a useful way to whittle away the odd hour so he logged on.

Welcome to my blog which I will be using to promote my writing.  All my novels are available on the Amazon website.  Just search for the author “Mark Ahern”.

Writing has become my favourite pastime.  It’s a way of exploring different possibilities and scenarios in my mind.  To date I have written three novels.  My first was science fiction and called “Chronicles of Martan”.

Then I had at least a temporary change of tact and wrote “Not the Usual Suspect”.  This was inspired by some experiences I had in college and as a person with a disability.  It follows the story of “Alan” who sets out to avenge the murderer of his beloved sister.  Only recently have I completed my latest novel “Paradigm” which is more of a thriller  but still a follow on to the previous one.

In order to promote my writing I will be making the first few chapters of each available on this site.

I also intend to blog about my next novel which I think at the moment will be about hunting down a serial killer as well as about whatever takes my fancy.