The Radius | Book 2 | Living In The Radius

by Muga, D. M.

  Wow, it’s actually happening. People from Earth Two are actually here. And wow! Is that Leviathan ship huge! It's like a small town of its own, up there… in the sky.

  “Where do you think it’s going? Where do you think they are going?” She asks Steven.

  “Not sure… but it looks further than Lake Arrowhead.” Steven replies. “Hey, didn’t Alexander say something about Big Bear Lake being dried up, since the Blue Hole Radius opened back up?”

  “Huh?” Eileen says in a daze, following the large spaceship in the sky, heading eastward. “Yeah, I think so… why?”

  “Because that may be a good spot for something that large to land out here in the mountains.” Steven replies. “Unless they plan on going outside of the Radius and landing out there.”

  “Out there?” Eileen asks.

  She hadn’t really thought about what was now outside of the Blue Hole Radius. The way that Alexander had explained it, there wasn’t much out there at all, aside from the vast amount of nature that has retaken the world.

  “Never mind.” Steven says. “Looks like they are going to use the dried-up lakebed as a landing zone. Let's see if we can’t get there in time to see these futuristic humans from Earth Two.

  Futuristic humans from Earth Two… Does that make them aliens? Eileen wonders.

  “Hold on, Eileen.” Steven says as he presses the accelerator, resulting in the old Blazer speeding down the windy old Highway 18, toward the spaceship called Leviathan, landing in the dried-up lakebed of Big Bear Lake.

  11

  Abraham Jackson

  Abraham stood at the bridge of the Leviathan, his ship, awaiting to take the transport to the top of the ship to address the humans from Earth One. Or as he referred to them, the cretins and barbarians of E1. His predecessors from the Einsteinian Paradigm were of no comparison to him and his evolved human species, both physically and cognitively.

  Abraham thinks of what he has planned to say to the cretins, to ensure that they don't pose a threat to his plan, his plan for the future of Earth One, and his followers known as the Federalists.

  It had been over two months, in Earth Two’s time, since Captain Abraham Jackson had left his home planet for their species' first planet. In Earth One’s time, it had been nearly two months since they exited their slumber from the first Blue Hole Radius.

  Abraham and his fellow humans from Earth Two had come to call their home E2, for short since there were now three Earths claimed by the human species. Earth One is located in the Sol Solar System, and where the Blue Hole Radius survivors are the last of the known humanity on the planet. Earth Two, formerly known as Kepler 452B, is located in the Kepler 452 Solar System, which is roughly 1,402 lighter years away from Earth One.

  Earth Two’s similar to Earth One in several ways. Both planets have a similar star. Both Planets have similar temperatures. More importantly, both planets can sustain human life. It had taken years for Abraham’s predecessors to locate planets that actually were able to sustain human life.

  Kepler 452B was discovered during the time of cretins and barbarians in 2015, prior to the Harris Paradigm. Not to Abraham’s surprise, it took close to a century to find out any real details about the exoplanet, his home, and others similar to Earth Two... hence Earth Three or E3.

  The human-occupied interstellar spacecrafts, also known as the Exodus crafts, that had left Earth One in 3110, and survived the journey through the stars and 1,402 light years, arrived on Earth Two in 3118. With one million souls able to travel on each interstellar spacecraft, only one-hundred-thirteen Exodus ships successfully reached Earth Two… with two-hundred-twenty Exodus ships having left Earth One.

  Some of the Exodus ships’ fates were known, whether it was a malfunction, rogue asteroid, or even simply human error. On the other hand, there were still a great deal of Exodus ships that were unaccounted for during the voyage, and that of which Abraham and his people still didn't know what happened to those people aboard those interstellar spacecrafts.

  From an early age, Abraham was taught that space was a dark and dangerous place, and not be taken lightly. Having lost his companion ship, the Renaissance and it’s full 107 souls, Abraham knew this truth all too well.

  Luckily for Abraham and his crew of 101 souls, now 92 souls, the Leviathan made it to Earth One, relatively unscathed.

  Whereas, there are distinct similarities between Earth One and earth Two, there are also distinct differences. For starters, Earth Two was much larger in size and in mass, relating to their orbit and affecting their yearly calendar. This forced the people of Earth Two to modify their calendar to stay on the same years as Earth One.

  The people of Earth Three were instructed to do the same, but Abraham was not sure if they ever followed those orders. He doubted it, considering that they were a planet filled with deviants and had become wayward from the way of life that Abraham and the other people of Earth Two had become accustomed to. Hence why they were exiled to Earth 3.

  Secondly, in distinct differences between E1 and E2, the sun of Earth Two, Kepler 452, had to be modified to produce less illumination, and therefore, heat, based on its age compared to Earth One’s Sol. Once this technology was developed and perfected in 3030, probes were sent to Kepler 452, to prepare Kepler 452b for inhabitation. By the time the first settlers of Earth Two had arrived, the temperatures had been normalized and the planet had regained a good amount of the liquid water on the planet’s surface.

  The Pandemic of 3020, with the mutated strand of MRSA-TB, combined with panic, war, and other pandemic related variables, had resulted in the drastic decrease in human population of Earth One by 21,780,000,000 people, or 99% of the human species at the time. This forced the remaining 220 million humans to look to the stars to survive.

  The third major distinct between Earth One and Earth Two was the comparison in gravity. The first humans on Earth Two had to discover the heavy way just how much the difference in gravity actually was. Scientists had predicted that the gravitational force would essentially double your weight on Earth Two, compared to Earth One... and those scientists were extremely close to accurate.

  The change in mass and weight was adapted over time and over a few generations, alongside scientific breakthroughs with anti-aging and tissue rebuilding technology. To better assist the humans of Earth Two to adapt and survive the harshened gravitational increase, humanity relooked at the scientific breakthrough and the black hole paradox, leading to the time stalling Blue Hole Radius. After several experiments, some of them being horrible failures, mankind found methods to extend the human lifespan through tissue regeneration, which had a side effect of slowing the natural aging process of humans.

  The average lifespan of humanity, prior to their discovery, was 70 to 80 years old. It may not have been his generation’s discovery, but it was in the generation of his grandparents being born that it had occurred, those who were considered the first generation of natural born citizens of Earth Two, roughly 300 hundred years ago. Therefore, it was his birthright, and a foundation of pride for his people.

  The new and improved lifespan of the human species could reach upwards of three times the previous lifespan. Abraham’s grandparents, on both sides, had lived well into the 230’s. Abraham could still remember them vividly throughout his childhood years, and even into his early academia years. His parents had expired roughly two months ago, when he had left Earth Two to rebuild Earth One... as it should be rebuilt.

  His father had expired at 155 years old and his mother had expired at 153 years old. Abraham was their sole child and felt pain and guilt for their early expiration. However, he had known that all wars have casualties, and mostly blamed their naivety and nostalgia for their early expirations.

  Captain Abraham Jackson was rather proud of himself, having reached Earth One, and having successfully defeated his opposition to his cause and his vision for the future of humanity.

  In all actuality, Abraham had ascended quickly in his Global Defen
se career. At the young age of 73 years old, he was a Captain of his very own interstellar spacecraft, the Leviathan. He certainly utilized these accomplishments in his recent years leading up to the Grand Global War.

  He had found the obvious flaws in the Utopian ways and sought out to make them not the ways of his new world, on Earth One. He was a third-generation citizen of Earth Two and it had become apparent that the first generations had lost sight of true progress. The Utopians were more focused on ensuring the survival of everyone, regardless of their moral elasticity and wayward tendencies.

  Whereas, the near-extinction level event that occurred two months ago had also nearly claimed his own life and aspirations, he was sure that he could rebuild both E1 and E2 in a better, more sufficient and satisfactory image. He was unsure as to how many of his opposition had survived back on Earth Two, but he had figured it to be extremely minimal. If their casualties were a mirror image of the Federalists’ casualties of the Grand Global War, then there were likely no survivors from the Utopian Union’s side.

  As far as Abraham knew, the 92 souls, 74 men and 18 women, aboard the Leviathan were the only survivors from Earth Two. Whereas, he felt it to be unfortunate that he had to execute six females and three males on the trip to Earth One, he knew it was a necessity that had to transpire. This was mainly due to insubordination and plausible mutiny, because they had second thoughts about what happened on Earth Two.

  He was no stranger to thinning the herd and the casualties of war. Just a few months ago, Earth Two had a population of over 800 million citizens. Now, Abraham thought it likely that E2 had a population of zero or very close to it. But at least the great Commander Yang was destroyed along with the Icarus.

  Despite the considerable setbacks, and current minimal number of sleepers left in his arsenal... Abraham was still very optimistic and self-assured of himself that his plan would come to fruition. The Leviathan only had one sleeper left in its arsenal, having used 28 of them back on Earth Two, and one already on the first landing on Earth One.

  Despite the Leviathan only having one sleeper left, with a spread radius of 500 miles, the Leviathan still had plenty of dozers… with the interstellar spacecraft variety (CSDs), the STARUs with their SSDs, and of the handheld variety (IMDs on the MECCUs). He also had a great deal of ammunition for all of them. There was also the likelihood of viable and operational sleepers still left to be found here on Earth One, along with long-lost ancient weapons.

  His numbers may be greatly reduced, and his plan may not have gone as it should have, but he still had the upper hand, both literally and figuratively. In Abraham’s mind, these cretins and barbarians were no match for him and his Federalists.

  Even if they still have the starting amount of close to 9 million souls, here on Earth One, they still don’t stand a chance. Abraham thinks to himself as he ascends onto the platform atop of his Leviathan.

  “Lieutenant Meads. Is everything prepared for my address to these barbarians?” Abraham asks the man to his right.

  “Yes, Captain. Everything is prepared. However, you may want to refrain from calling them barbarians in your speech.” The Lieutenant answers.

  “Yes, rather good point, Lieutenant Meads. Does it say that in my speech?” Abraham asks the Lieutenant.

  “No, sir. I made sure to edit out any vulgarity in your speech. Especially with what happened at the first landing point of Earth One.” The Lieutenant replies.

  “Right. Good for you, Lieutenant. It’s greatly appreciated, and rightly so.” Abraham responds.

  The Lieutenant nods in acknowledgement and Abraham shifts his attention to the man to his right. “Staff Sergeant, is the barrier up and running to full capacity this time? We would not want another debacle like we had to deal with on the morrow of yesterday.”

  The Staff Sergeant quickly nods. “No, of course not, sir. The barrier is up and running. You will be as safe as humanly possible, sir.”

  “I should hope so, Staff Sergeant. Considering that I'm your commanding officer, the Captain of the Leviathan, leader of the Federalists, and soon to be Supreme Commander of Earth One.” Abraham lectures the man to his left.

  “Right. Once again. My sincerest apologies for the first landing point on Earth One, Captain Jackson. I had not thought these primitive humans to be a threat to us.” The Staff Sergeant replies.

  “Understood, Staff Sergeant. If I’m being honest, I did not think of them as a threat much either. Nonetheless, we know better now. They may be primitive humans, dating back to the Einsteinian Paradigm. However, we must not underestimate these cretins and barbarians again.” Abraham admits and explains to his subordinate.

  He then addresses both men on the platform that’s rising through the opening on top of the Levitation. “Remember, gentleman, we need the cretins and barbarians to ensure our survival. In all actuality, we really only need about half of them. The half of them that can reproduce our future generations of Federalists, and the ones that we can reeducate.”

  “Yes, sir.” The Lieutenant replies.

  “Right, sir. We’ll follow you to the end, sir.” The Staff Sergeant replies.

  The dome of the Leviathan opens enough to allow the levitating platform to rise above the Leviathan by roughly 50 feet. Abraham Jackson, Lieutenant Meads, and Staff Sergeant Lee are suspended in the air above the interstellar spacecraft, looking down on the cretins and barbarians of Earth One.

  Abraham can see the barbarians and cretins beginning to crowd and assemble alongside the edge of the dried-up lakebed.

  Look at them down there, milling about like animals. It truly is a shame that I need them. That we need them to ensure the survival of our species. This would have been so much easier if only Commander Yang and the rest of the Utopians saw reason and logic. To think that he wanted to simply give these barbarians our technology… just like that. To infer that they somehow deserved it, simply because it existed and they are humans.

  Abraham chuckles to himself at this thought.

  Humans… barely. Without us, most of them will be dead long before they reach my age. And from what I know from my studies, the timeframe that these humans came from were asinine times. This very region nearly destroyed themselves, according to my memory bank. He thinks as he searches his recall memory banks.

  He does a full circle, scanning the area while his memory registers his prepared speech that he had read earlier this morning. As he sees it form in his mind’s eye, he looks it over to ensure that there won't be a repeat of the first landing.

  I only have one sleeper at this current moment and time. Whereas, that can be rectified, if I end up using it, all that will be left is my remaining Federalists… and we need many more than 74 men and 18 women to repopulate E1, and eventually E2. He reminds himself.

  Since the first landing, Abraham had taken the advice of Staff Sergeant Lee... who had advised him with speaking from the heart and minds approach. Staff Sergeant Lee had reminded him that these people from this time period were easily misled and did well with promises of grandiose, no matter how far-fetched they were.

  When Staff Sergeant Lee had mentioned this, Abraham had double checked his recall memory bank, and confirmed that these primitive humans thought themselves to be highly intelligent but were guided by fear and false hope.

  “Instead of saying that you are going to fix them, sir… why don’t you simply say you are here to help them? Our medical advancements and technology must seem relatively similar to fiction to them. If we show them what we have to offer, and if they join us… it’s likely that there will be much less loss of life and we may even be able to re-educate some of the adult males.” Staff Sergeant Lee had politely pleaded with him earlier this morning.

  Abraham remembers this conversation now, to help with his deliverance of his words.

  Adult males? He laughs to himself.

  Their adult males are like our children back home. They know nothing of sacrifice and determination. We were not considered to be adult
s until we were of 50 years of age. Up to that point, it was mostly academia and civil service to the common good of E2. Then, once we finally attained the status of adulthood, we began again, in our careers… from the bottom, each and every one of us.

  He grins, remembering his youth and all of the hard work and dedication that led him up to this point.

  Yes, you primitive cretins and barbarians. There’s hope for you still. Whereas, my original outcome for your kind was a swift demise. It appears as though I need to salvage as many of you as possible… thanks to the Grand Global War and the shortsightedness of Commander Yang.

  Abraham shrugs. Just as our forefathers and foremothers used to say with best laid plans, and all... The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. No matter how carefully a strategy is outlined and is planned, something may still go wrong with it.

  It appears as though many of you will be allowed to live in our new world. You will just need to be re-taught and re-educated, which should not pose as too much of an obstacle. Our forefathers and foremothers did so upon reaching E2, and we will do so upon reaching E1. Remaking and rebuilding it into something more sufficient and of aggrandized excellence than the human species has ever seen.

  He surveys the growing crowd around him, and he vaguely hears Lieutenant Meads advise him that he has confirmed that many of the primitive humans are armed.

  Hearing the distant voice of his Lieutenant, he’s brought away from his recall memory banks and brought back to the present.

  “Yes, Lieutenant. Thank you for the update. I don't see it as a complication. If anything, it will display our superiority if they attempt to utilize their ancient weapons.” Abraham replies.

  “Very good, sir. Are you prepared to speak publicly? Should I activate the external comms and the visual projectors?” Lieutenant Meads asks.