“You think it possible to reproduce son, I mean without an Aggie involved?”
“There is no doubt dad that the speed at which the Aggies can operate and make decisions was a factor in what they were able to do. We may have to use a multitude of Ems or quantum computers to accomplish it. But remember the proof of concept has already been demonstrated.”
His dad nodded his head in agreement.
There was a brief pause in the discussion when Burgess said, “Even though the Aggies stopped Belinus I think the Earth Aggies are in trouble. The infighting has revealed their Achilles heel. I wonder how much longer the Aggies will be allowed to manage Earth for the governments.”
“That's true,” said Arn. “My information is that before they were able to stop the renewed attacks quite a few people were killed. And that doesn't include the metizens that were lost. The numbers will be in the billions on Earth and millions here.”
There was silence for a moment.
“But without Aggie management I'm not sure the Earth can continue with its current prosperity,” said A.C. Kepler.
“That's true too,” said Arn. “And I will make a prediction that the government around here doesn't continue in its present form.”
“Oh, you mean we now can look forward to political unrest here?” asked Elias' mother somewhat distressed.
“Possibly,” said Arn.
“That's terrible, think of the babies.”
“I understand what you are saying Mrs. Mach. But I think that for the sake of the babies and their future we had better have a government that has the resources and the drive to protect them. And I'm sure the people on Earth feel the same.”
“That may be true Arn,” said Al. “But give a government too much power and we won't need an enemy like Belinus.”
“True Al,” said Arn. “It's always a balancing act between safety and freedom.”
“A balancing act we will have to be up for,” said Burgess. “We owe it to those that died, that sacrificed to stop the killing and we owe it to the babies.”
There was general agreement.
“Dag,” said Elias. “speaking of the future. You are the only one in the room that was there so you have more insight than anyone. What do you think is really happening on Belenos?”
“Well sir I would say that in my brief time on that planet I can only describe what I saw and heard as distressing. Everything is overly gigantic, to the point where all else is subsumed into this general ethos. And that ethos or culture if you will is subservient to one entity and one entity only, the one we knew as Mason. I think that he will give new meaning to the term megalomania before he is through.”
“But as long as we maintain our freedom I think we have more than a fighting chance to resist such a maniac,” said Elias.
“I think you are correct sir,” said Dag.
Just then the twins were heard crying. Burgess and Dag both moved to comfort them.
AFTERWORD
Several books were useful in the writing of this story.
Making Starships and Stargates by James F. Woodward gave me the idea for the wormhole generator. Time Travel and Warp Drives by Allen Everett and Thomas Roman was a strong antidote to Woodward's book as the authors pointed out the difficulties involved in wormhole creation. The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne was useful in that its many figures were very helpful in visualizing some of the effects of wormholes especially the visualization of the mouths. Colonies in Space by T. A. Heppenheimer, a book first published in 1977, had a large amount of technical information about large space habitats.
This book is set in the same universe as my previous short story collections, From the Earth V-1, and V-2. As mentioned in the front matter it is a sequel to my novel Mach's Metric Book 1 but may be read as a standalone story. Mach's Metric Book 1 goes into the actual development of the wormhole generator in more detail. The story in this book takes place a few years or so after the first novel.
Some readers may wonder about the lack of virtual augmentation (technology augmented humans). It seems to be a guarantee that we will see it in the next few years and certainly by the time in which this story is set (several centuries on), so why does it not appear here? I can pretend (similar to Frank Herbert outlawing “thinking machines” in his novel Dune) that after a flirtation with the technology humans basically decided to not pursue it but this is probably not a realistic stance.
I can only say that augmentation doesn't interest me as much as physics and so I haven't bothered to work it into my stories (except just a little, here and there). I'm afraid I didn't enjoy the concept that much when used in other books I've read. If you prefer you may think of the Emmies as being embedded into the human body and providing augmented abilities.
Next In The Future Chron Universe:
Mach's Metric Book 3
The appearance of the shining globes at first was a nuisance but after causing people's deaths they became a threat.
The famous physicist Elias Mach and his great-great granddaughter, Emmy Gibbs, began investigating. The investigation led to Mach's death and his granddaughter's desperate attempts to prevent worse from happening.
And the worse came.
This is hard science fiction, old-school.
Other books and stories by this author:
Future Chron Universe:
Story Series: Novelettes & Novellas
Whatsoever You Do
War Through The Pines
Vigilance
To Tend And Watch Over
Union
Circle Of Retribution
Freedom From Want
Break Up
Kuiper Station
The Cloud
First Interstellar (Novella)
First One Hundred
First Dark Ages
Second Dark Ages
Path Of The Long March
The Star Hopper
Story Series – Collections:
From The Earth V-1 (Volume 1):
Whatsoever You Do
War Through The Pines
Vigilance
To Tend And Watch Over
Union
From The Earth V-2 (Volume 2):
Circle of Retribution
Freedom From Want
Break Up
Kuiper Station
The Cloud
First Interstellar
To The Stars V-1 (Volume 1):
First One Hundred
First Dark Ages
Second One Hundred
Second Dark Ages
Path Of The Long March
FTE: Complete
(All eleven Future Chron From The Earth stories with timeline)
Novels:
Mach Series:
Mach's Metric Book 1
Mach's Metric Book 2
Mach's Metric Book 3
Spin-Two Series:
Spin-Two Book 1
Spin-Two Book 2
Spin-Two Book 3
Novels – Collections:
Mach's Metric Complete
(All three Mach novels and interlinks)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
futurechronology(dot)blogspot(dot)com
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