Insignus
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- Posted: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 07:26:17 +0000
This task of writing this story(That of a first-person account of space exploration, fairly broad) was assigned as a pre-requisite task prior to becoming a Knight in Heaven's Guardians. Enjoy.
Production time: 3 hours or so.
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I'm involved in a test. A test of abilities. A contest between man and nature.
Since his beginnings, man had known light. He created it, he needed it, and upon occasion, worshipped it.
But he had never set himself equal to light, that mysterious and versatile energy. Until now.
As I waited for the Faster-Than-Light test to begin, these thoughts ran through my mind.
A comm light blinked on my console. It must be control.
"Star Glider 1, this is Battery Park station, our capacitors are at 100%, we are ready to attach the conductor lines. A corvette is being dispatched to the test sector now, ETA 30 minutes."
I opened the channel, and signaled a quick affirmative.
It was a simple idea, with a complex implementation. I don't have the slightest clue as to how the prototype engine is supposed to work. It could fizzle out and blow me across the galaxy for all I know. The project was coming under heavy criticism. After 20 years, and countless failed and destroyed experiments, the public outcry was intensifying. The project was about to come up for budget renewal, and the prospects didn't look that great.
It wasn't that the science was unsound. Faster than light of travel was a monumental task; That much was understood. The public, however, was more than content with relativistic travel. Evolutions in cold-sleep technology, combined with a wide social gap between the wealthy and the poor, created a small portion of wealthy, powerful few controlling the fates of a vast majority. The rich could easily afford the best and fastest ships, the best in age-slowing equipment. To them the current system worked. And they exerted a great deal of influence. And they saw a middle class as a risk. The poor were relegated to using the slow ships, and the cheapest of technologies. Thus, there was often a risk of suffering from a life-shortening disease called Degenerative Cryo-stasis Disorder. Life spans were cut short by decades, the afflicted suddenly going into horribly fast degeneration and aging. A healthy looking man could turn into an old man over the weekend, all the while experiencing extreme pain and a host of other violent systems. Risk prediction put the average chance of contracting DCD at .1% for the most complex systems, bu for the more common cryo-tubes, the rate was as high as 50%. Stories and urban legends abound surrounding entire groups of people, who were aboard the same ship, suddenly up and dieing a painful, agonizing death. And the wealthy see nothing really wrong with preserving the status quo.
But the FTL Project is underfunded. The funds are so low that the budget for office supplies is strictly enforced. Powerful lobbying groups, on both sides of the socio-economic spectrum, want to cut the funding. The wealthy want the money, to consolidate their coffers. The poor want to use the money for more social programs. But a handful of dedicated supporters, many of whom have put their entire lives into the project, have kept it afloat. A small sector of space on the outer edge of Sol had been assigned to the project. Several thousands of destitute people had pegged the project as their last hope. They sought to help as much as possible, in any way possible. They had even built a space station out of various space junk. Thats how they made their living. They paid no taxes, and followed no laws. But everytime the government showed up to arrest them for loitering, they ran straight to the FTL project, who covered for them, declaring them as project labor resources. Conservative hardliners hate the project for this. The neo-leftists decrie it as slavery. But thats politics for ya. Everyone has an opinion. But that's not really important now.
"Star Glider, this is CRV Rampart, our teams are going EVA to attach the conductors now."
The concept is to have a large stationary power supply dump energy into the experimental FTL drive. But power generation technology was nowhere near the level at which a ship could supply enough power. It would take something bigger. Hence, Battery Park Station was built. Long superconductor wires are strung to a harness, which links up with the back of my ship.
As for me, the reason that I'm here, instead of a professional test pilot, is that I need money.
And thats I'm out here. Thats why I've strapped myself to the most dangerous engine in existence. And I'm about to get shocked by the largest battery in existence.
Production time: 3 hours or so.
=============================
I'm involved in a test. A test of abilities. A contest between man and nature.
Since his beginnings, man had known light. He created it, he needed it, and upon occasion, worshipped it.
But he had never set himself equal to light, that mysterious and versatile energy. Until now.
As I waited for the Faster-Than-Light test to begin, these thoughts ran through my mind.
A comm light blinked on my console. It must be control.
"Star Glider 1, this is Battery Park station, our capacitors are at 100%, we are ready to attach the conductor lines. A corvette is being dispatched to the test sector now, ETA 30 minutes."
I opened the channel, and signaled a quick affirmative.
It was a simple idea, with a complex implementation. I don't have the slightest clue as to how the prototype engine is supposed to work. It could fizzle out and blow me across the galaxy for all I know. The project was coming under heavy criticism. After 20 years, and countless failed and destroyed experiments, the public outcry was intensifying. The project was about to come up for budget renewal, and the prospects didn't look that great.
It wasn't that the science was unsound. Faster than light of travel was a monumental task; That much was understood. The public, however, was more than content with relativistic travel. Evolutions in cold-sleep technology, combined with a wide social gap between the wealthy and the poor, created a small portion of wealthy, powerful few controlling the fates of a vast majority. The rich could easily afford the best and fastest ships, the best in age-slowing equipment. To them the current system worked. And they exerted a great deal of influence. And they saw a middle class as a risk. The poor were relegated to using the slow ships, and the cheapest of technologies. Thus, there was often a risk of suffering from a life-shortening disease called Degenerative Cryo-stasis Disorder. Life spans were cut short by decades, the afflicted suddenly going into horribly fast degeneration and aging. A healthy looking man could turn into an old man over the weekend, all the while experiencing extreme pain and a host of other violent systems. Risk prediction put the average chance of contracting DCD at .1% for the most complex systems, bu for the more common cryo-tubes, the rate was as high as 50%. Stories and urban legends abound surrounding entire groups of people, who were aboard the same ship, suddenly up and dieing a painful, agonizing death. And the wealthy see nothing really wrong with preserving the status quo.
But the FTL Project is underfunded. The funds are so low that the budget for office supplies is strictly enforced. Powerful lobbying groups, on both sides of the socio-economic spectrum, want to cut the funding. The wealthy want the money, to consolidate their coffers. The poor want to use the money for more social programs. But a handful of dedicated supporters, many of whom have put their entire lives into the project, have kept it afloat. A small sector of space on the outer edge of Sol had been assigned to the project. Several thousands of destitute people had pegged the project as their last hope. They sought to help as much as possible, in any way possible. They had even built a space station out of various space junk. Thats how they made their living. They paid no taxes, and followed no laws. But everytime the government showed up to arrest them for loitering, they ran straight to the FTL project, who covered for them, declaring them as project labor resources. Conservative hardliners hate the project for this. The neo-leftists decrie it as slavery. But thats politics for ya. Everyone has an opinion. But that's not really important now.
"Star Glider, this is CRV Rampart, our teams are going EVA to attach the conductors now."
The concept is to have a large stationary power supply dump energy into the experimental FTL drive. But power generation technology was nowhere near the level at which a ship could supply enough power. It would take something bigger. Hence, Battery Park Station was built. Long superconductor wires are strung to a harness, which links up with the back of my ship.
As for me, the reason that I'm here, instead of a professional test pilot, is that I need money.
And thats I'm out here. Thats why I've strapped myself to the most dangerous engine in existence. And I'm about to get shocked by the largest battery in existence.
