The Great Agora Space Race - Episode 11

in #anarchy4 years ago

SpaceRace2Pikist.jpg

Scene 1

Archon is having a discussion with Oscuro.

Oscuro: A former operative of mine has reemerged and is seeking to integrate back into the hierarchy.

Archon: The defector?

Oscuro: The one and only. He is willing to trade secrets of the sea dwellers.

Archon: And in exchange, what does he seek?

Oscuro: He prefers a war position, but any government post is agreeable to him.

Archon: Where is he now?

Oscuro: Being examined at military base 187 in the Rocky Mountains.

Archon: What do you think of him and this gesture?

Oscuro: He was an excellent operative, very efficient. Add to that the possibility of getting inside information on the sea dwellers, and I think it’s worth the risk.

Archon: Yes, quite risky. If he is to be readmitted into the hierarchy, we must be very cautious. When our order-follower team is finished examining him, I want the results immediately.

Scene 2

There is a small meeting of about twenty space technology scientists taking place in the SeAgora, 33,000 feet deep in "The Pit", also known as The Mariana Trench. They’re seated in a circle, discussing a plan for the first large scale, manned space mission from The SeAgora.

Indie (still nursing a black eye from her attack at the hands of statists): As far as I’m concerned, the experimental stage here on earth is over. I’m ready to head for the stars. The situation here is more uncertain every day because of the statist aggressors swarming us more and more, day by day.

Many nod in agreement.

Setarcos: Many of us have worked independently for years, and we’ve also had moments of cooperation. I think now is the time for a bigger project, that involves more of us, teaming up to escape the statist threat on earth once and for all. We have the technology.

A young woman from the Fuente Team named Diamante speaks: Even with the technology, it’s still highly risky at this stage.

Rob Rainbow: Exploring the stars will always be risky. At least out there we might not face a giant mob of violent authoritarian order-followers.

Crowd nods and murmurs in agreement.

Ion: The gang with fancy titles and billions of their mind-controlled slaves are coming after us. It gets more dangerous here on earth every year. Indie and I are gonna make our escape to the stars, with or without you. We prefer many of you to come with us.

Indie: If you don't want to join us, that's ok. We understand. But we’d like to share what we have in mind.

Cascade: I’m all ears.

Setarcos: The ship would hold between 100 and 120 human passengers. That’s about the most your life support system design can support for seven years, right Diamante?

Diamante: That’s the maximum for a ship, at the moment.

Setarcos: And the new transparent nano space suits are tested and ready?

Diamante: Yes, each suit tested has shown to support human life for an average of 3 years.

Indie: Ok, so we’ve got 10 years to play with. Rob Rainbow, what is the highest speed your navigation system can safely function at?

Rob Rainbow: Safely? 1,000 times the speed of light. Less than safely? (shrugs) About 3,000X.

Ion: So we could navigate safely for 1,000 light years per year.

Cascade: Should be enough time to find a suitable planet or moon for us, right?

Masher is floating nearby and interjects: I don’t like using “should” in questions of scientific accuracy.

Setarcos (smirking at his friend Masher): Thanks, Masher. Neither do I, but we will face more uncertainties than we can possibly imagine out there on the frontier. I won’t let that stop me.

Indie: Another thing we have going for us is our first experimental floating garden had it’s first harvest at planet K2-18b.

Rob Rainbow: Will someone please give that thing a better name?

Group laughs.

Rob Rainbow (laughing, flailing arms): No, I was serious!

Diamante: How much food did it produce?

Ion: Enough for 10 people for one year. And by the time we’re ready to launch, we project it’ll have enough to sustain 100 for a full year. And there is plenty of water on that planet, so we’ll have a great water source as well while we’re in that zone.

Indie: Last, but not least, our A.I. team constructing that project estimates that permanent floating habitats for humans will be ready in the next five years, so some of us, if we wish, could conceivably start a community on K2-18b long before our ship’s life support runs out.

Rob Rainbow: I got it! K Hub! I'm gonna call K2-18b "K Hub"!

Indie (smiling mischievously at Rob Rainbow): Sounds good to me, Rob Rainbow. I might call it K Hub myself. Thanks.

Diamante: It all sounds so good, and so tempting, but if any one system would fail….

Setarcos: That’s why triple-redundancy will be built into everything.

Ion: And smaller, emergency escape vessels, with all the same life support systems would be available as well.

Cascade: Count me in, but how do we decide on just 100 people?

Indie: Well, all those who help build the ship get first priority. Some won’t want to go, of course. A.I. can handle 90 percent of the operational duties on board, so a minimal human crew would be necessary. Some family members of the human crew could go, but….

Diamante: Some would be left behind.

Ion: There would be some tough choices to make. Another piece of good news is that this is only the first mission! One of my greatest hopes is that many others from The SeAgora use the technologies at their disposal, make an even bigger and better ship, and go exploring the stars as well!

Masher: Which I’m sure would happen. It only seems logical, especially considering the perilous social climate radiating out from the land-based peoples.

Indie: So there it is, the opportunity for the adventure of a lifetime, to be space pioneers! Or to stay here on earth and risk being overrun by the violent, mind-controlled masses.

Rob Rainbow: It’s a shame we can’t help them see the Truth.

Indie: It’s each individual’s choice to learn the Truth, or to ignore it at their own peril. They have to help themselves. Like each one of us did, or like our parents and grandparents, who created the SeAgora did.

Scene 3

Archon is having a private meeting with Zune.

Archon: Do you know why I am speaking with you?

Zune: No, please enlighten me, great Archon. It is an honor.

Archon: You are to prove your usefulness to me. You lived for years with the sea dwellers. How am I to trust you? How can I know where your true allegiance lies?

Zune: First of all, I trust that I passed all of the exams your security team put me through?

Archon: Yes, of course. We wouldn’t be speaking if you hadn’t.

Zune: Great Archon, through my actions and the veracity of the information I give you, will you know where my allegiances lie.

Archon: And what information can you give me regarding the sea dwellers?

Zune: Locations of various ships. Defensive quantum scrambling techniques.

Archon: What about their space ambitions? You must have had access to technologies in that sphere.

Zune: Indeed, Archon. However, please be advised, I had very limited access to their plans, designs, and systems. They are a very suspicious bunch. They had a hard time accepting me. Therefore, I was put to work on something vital to their space ambitions, but nothing that would be of use to an A.I.

Archon: What do you mean? What did you work on for them?

Zune: I worked on life support designs. Food, water, and air systems for long-term space travel. However, Archon, as I said, I know some of their defensive techniques, locations, and also weaponry. This, I argue, is more vital to you at the moment. If you can penetrate their defenses at sea, then you may strike them at the root, and the rest will naturally follow.

Archon: Very well. You’ll give us information. If it proves accurate, I may admit you back into the hierarchy.

Scene 4

2 weeks later, Masher and Symphy are cruising at a depth of 3,000 feet through the mid-Atlantic on Symphy’s ship.

Masher: Remind me, Symphy, why we’re doing this again?

Symphy: We are doing, what they call in the game of chess, sacrificing a pawn.

Masher: With two perfectly good racing ships?

Symphy: They’re small, empty, nearly obsolete, and devoid of all life. A small price to pay for Zune to gain the government gang’s trust. I might add that if this fails, they will put Zune to death.

A holographic image pops up in front of Symphy’s face. It’s ten statist ships, cruising on the surface and also various depths down to 15,000 feet. There are also 5 drone jets zipping at low altitudes above the water. Symphy and Masher are 500 miles from the statist ships.

Symphy: They’re early.

Masher: Fifteen vessels to our two. Talk about overkill.

Symphy: Yes, statists have a history of not fighting fair, because they’re cowards. Go ahead, Masher, let’s see how much juice those old racing boats have left.

Masher begins to remote control the racing ships, and the statist ships pursue. Meanwhile, Archon, Mach, Oscuro, and Saturn are watching from one of Archon’s command centers in Washington, DC.

Oscuro: Zune’s information was accurate.

Archon: The first piece, anyway. Let’s see how things progress.

The aggressive swarm of extortion-funded statist ships pursues for a few minutes, slowly gaining on the two racers.

Masher: I’m gonna split them up, make things interesting.

The two racers veer away from each other in opposite directions, forcing the statist ships to do the same. The pursuit continues for a couple more minutes, and then the immoral aggressors get within close enough range for various weapons to become options.

Archon: Time to test the accuracy of Zune’s information again. Send frequency to disable their engines.

Statist ships send the signal, the racers' engines shut down, and they begin to come to a stop. They are soon swarmed by statist ships, boarded, and taken control of.

Mach: Congratulations, Archon. Two of the sea dwellers’ patrol ships have been captured.

Archon: And now we have a key to unlock some of their secrets. Zune will not only be spared, but put to work immediately. However, under one condition.

Mach: What’s that, sir?

Archon: I want Zune monitored double the amount of a typical worker of his class.

Oscuro: You still don’t trust him?

Archon: Just hedging my bets.

Episode 12 coming soon!

Thanks for your time and attention!

Just say "NO" to slavery!

Top image is from pikist

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