STAR OF EPIPHANY

by OMAR FINK

  Tony asked, “Any questions?”

  There were none, so Ulrich said, “Peter?”

  Peter Anderson said, “We currently have sixteen elevator ribbons in operation. The extrusion process in space is going better than anticipated because of the vacuum and low temperature. All the cables are already complete down to the anchor, but we’re still running augmentation climbers up them to thicken them in between the live loads of passengers. We’ve lifted just over one million people up into space, and have three habitats in various stages of completion. It goes without saying this is a huge milestone, but we have much farther to go.” Peter paused to catch his breath, and take of sip of water from a glass.

  Peter continued, “The mining base on the Moon is operating smoothly, supplying the building resources to the habitat construction site. The first rotating wheel ring has the superstructure finished, and is undergoing interior furnishing and testing. Two more rings are following closely behind. Shortly, we’ll have living space for fifteen million people, and should be able to handle the flow from the elevators. Speaking of Nabith Mehra, his best contribution to our effort has been his program to optimize habitat distribution across the Solar System. Once again, we had anticipated this, and our engineers had a program to help with trajectory placement, but the program Nabith wrote creatively utilizes extra dimensional factors in his arrays that makes it easier to see good solutions. Our engineers can try different patterns four or five times faster, and that means they’ll end up with better solutions.”

  Peter hesitated, “Oh, backing up. If you’re not following this, we identified a need to spread our construction efforts out across the space we’re migrating into, for both reasons of congestion and resource availability. The program helps us design a plan to push habitats out into various orbits that return back to Earth or Mars from more distant points on a regular schedule, and pass by asteroids that can be captured and used for mining resources. Because these orbits typically finish a full cycle in several years or more, we’ll need many of them to create the stepping stone ladder out into space. And more importantly, the optimum distance between the habitats when we need to transfer people outward has pointed out the need for some smaller rings to be used as local shuttles. By smaller, I mean a ring that holds several hundred thousand people in more spartan accommodations for a few weeks in transit.”

  Peter paused, then resumed and added, “And we should offer Nabith Mehra a contract as some kind of engineer pretty fast. He’ll be well worth any compensation we can give him.”

  Tony Azaria said, “Amen.”

  Ulrich said, “Noted. Peter go ahead and do that. Do you have anymore?”

  Peter replied, “Nope.”

  Ulrich said, “Sam, you’re next.”

  Sam Hoffman said, “Our politicians and business leaders have all tipped over just like we planned. There are a few holdouts, but nothing to be concerned about.”

  Tony interrupted, “Such as?”

  Sam replied, “A small handful of predictable tin pot dictators who pretend they have weapons that don’t exist and emperors with invisible new clothes. In the business world, there were also a few holdouts but if they went too far, the shareholders decided it was time to change management, so they didn’t last long. Everybody wants their own pile of HU coin since it has appreciated so well. A nod of thanks and acknowledgment to Peter for seeing that well before anybody else.” He nodded toward the camera.

  Sam thought for a moment, “That’s all I’ve got, unless there are any questions?”

  No questions were posed, so Ulrich said, “Bill, you’re up.”

  Bill Decker said, “I’ve been working with Sam, and he already covered people. But I’ve also been digging into a new area. There is a growing opposition movement to HU called ‘The Resistance’. They are convinced that the comet is a fake crisis, that HU coin is fraudulent, and that HU is trying to take over the world with a stealthy con game that is really a coup.”

  There were several groans, but Ulrich interrupted, “We anticipated some form of this. Bill, please continue.”

  Bill said, “They are mobilizing via social media, and pumping out volumes of propaganda against us. We don’t have good numbers yet on how much real support they have, but we need to keep our eyes on them. I’m done.”

  Ulrich Giger said, “Thanks Bill. I agree we need to watch them closely. But in the meantime, even though we are making excellent progress with the elevators and habitats, we need to constantly remind everybody of the basic principles of HU. We are doing what we’re doing because we have to in order to survive. Everything is being done on a purely voluntary basis. We anticipate the opportunity for everybody to get rich in the process by sharing in the incredible increases in production and efficiency that are being brought into human civilization in a short ten-year period. You’re all doing an excellent job, gentlemen. Please continue.”

  9 First Angels

  “Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, grow.'”

  — The Talmud

  +3 years, 1 month, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

  Lee Martin took a sip of water from her glass then said, “I’ve explained this to you a dozen times, Gitane. Everything will be better in space than it has been here. Most of the limits we’ve been operating under here are being blown away. It will all be different.”

  Gitane put down his wine glass, “I know you’ve told me, I just don’t believe it can all be true. I mean, it just sounds like some kind of fairy tale, too good to be true.”

  Lee smiled, “It does sound like a fairy tale, complete with a magic beanstalk into the sky and soaring castles and wizards creating new worlds to live in, and no shortages of anything because the fairy godmother takes care of everything, right?”

  Gitane interrupted with, “And that’s just not real, is it?”

  Lee replied, “Gitane, it is indeed real, and all you need to do to see it is open your eyes. Maybe if you drank a little less.”

  Gitane interrupted again, “Oh, don’t go down that tired old path again. I don’t have a drinking problem. You’re just getting stuffy in your old age.” He scowled at her.

  Lee laughed and leaned back in her chair, “Stuffy? Me? That’s funny.”

  Gitane said, “So, I guess this means when you get a chance to go out into space, you’ll be the first in line.”

  Lee said, “Yes, I will.”

  Gitane replied, “Well, I won’t.”

  +3 years, 1 month, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

  The EAP news logo faded and the face of Gitane Levesque appeared on the screen. He said, “Hello world, this is Gitane Levesque with Europa Alliance Press. Today I’m interviewing Lee Martin, the famous astronomer, about living in space. Lee, Humanity United tells us the first people will be ascending space elevators in a few months, and will be the vanguard of a vast migration into space. With all humanity following in the next few years, eventually we’ll all be living in space. How do you feel about that?”

  Lee Martin flashed a big smile, “I love it. It’s the most fantastic thing that’s ever happened.”

  Gitane looked over at Lee and interjected, “Do you worry about anything? I mean, are you afraid that it might be dangerous? Are you insecure about where the air, water, and food will come from? And what will you do for work? Will you miss going to the beach or mountains on vacation? Won’t it be cramped in a space habitat?” Gitane looked back into the camera, “These are just some of the questions we are getting from our viewing audience.”

  Lee responded, “Of course I worry about things. That’s just normal, and I worry about things here on Earth. But it’s sorta silly to think it might be dangerous in space when we already know it will be so dangerous here on Earth in a few years that nobody at all will survive. The engineers who have designed the habitat environment have provided for all of our needs for air and water and food. The designs are public knowledge, and anybody can look over them to satisfy any insecurities they may have. Can yo
u say the same for our critical infrastructure right now here on Earth? I think not. And yet, we take these things for granted now, and don’t worry about them.”

  Gitane said, “What about work and play and general life style? Will there be telescopes where you live? Won’t you miss being able to go ‘outside’?”

  Lee said, “Of course there will be telescopes, and without an atmosphere obscuring the view, they will be fabulously more effective and exciting. It’s a misconception that living in a space wheel will be cramped. In fact, unless you’re a hermit living in the wilderness, it’s likely to be more roomy and spread out than the way you live here on Earth. In terms of square meters of living space, each individual will have more in a space habitat than we do here, and when you consider how much public area will be shared and available to everybody, the idea of going ‘outside’ and wandering around will continue to be part of our lives. You’ve got to remember how rare and valuable prime real estate has become here. In space, more living area is free for the taking. Construction materials are cheap and lying around everywhere in the rocks. So is the supply of air and water you mentioned earlier. Solar energy is almost free. We can build as big as we want, as often as we want, and as extravagant as we want. ”

  Gitane interrupted, “That has to be an exaggeration.”

  Lee replied, “No, it’s not. Most people will probably like the comforts and security made available by living in a large city cluster of habitat rings with millions of other people, specially considering how spread out we’ll be. But if you don’t like that, if you are the hermit type who wants to go live in the mountains or on a desert island, you can do that. You can obtain a small habitat ‘crew ring’ size craft and some mining machines and go find your own asteroid to claim and build your own castle. Literally. Everybody will have the opportunity to live like a king in their own kingdom.”

  Gitane frowned, “That would take a lot of money wouldn’t it?”

  Lee said, “Yes, it will. But most of us will be far richer than we are today. And bankers will be willing to make loans to anybody willing to go mine an asteroid, and bring back the valuable things, like air and water and valuable metals. The bankers will make excellent returns on their loans, and the person or group doing the mining will get fabulously rich. It won’t be like the old gold rush where most panners and miners went home broke. In this case, the chances of success are almost automatic, and the returns will be large.”

  Gitane started to speak, but Lee interrupted him, “And don’t forget that the most amazing thing about all of this, at least in my opinion, is that the standard of living for everybody who migrates out into space will be dramatically improved. There will be some, no doubt, who can afford a higher level of luxury than others, but we all will be living at some level of luxury compared to Earth standards.”

  Gitane asked, “How can that be. We are the same people here on Earth that will be moving out into space. Where does all the wealth come from?”

  Lee answered, “This project dwarfs anything ever attempted in human history. It is a landmark, a turning point, a tipping point, whatever you want to call it, where we have dramatically increased the manufacturing and production capacity and efficiency of all of human endeavor, and when this effort of getting eight billion people off the planet and out into space refocuses from an emergency operation into normal living, we’ll all be living at a new level.”

  Gitane shook his head, “I don’t know how that works. I hope you’re right though. We’ll all be finding out in just a few years.”

  +3 years, 2 months, HABITAT-4, NEAR-EARTH-ORBIT (NEO)

  Delize Naidu sat at a small round table with her two children, now young adults, Zoey and Lincoln. A robotic serving machine that looked like a short pillar with a flat top had just delivered three coffee drinks to them, and was retreating back inside the cafe. The cafe was located on a broad avenue outlined with rows of blank white panels filling frames that looked like future locations for other shops like the cafe. At both ends of the avenue, the floor gently curved up to meet the ceiling overhead. Where they sat the ceiling was about thirty feet over the floor, but that was not constant. An atrium like area just down the avenue had ceilings soaring to fifty or sixty feet high or higher, and some areas on the side of the avenue had ceilings only nine feet high. In both directions there was a vanishing point where the floor curved up to meet the ceiling several hundred yards away.

  Zoey pulled a cup of coffee closer to her, and squeezed it to feel the temperature, then asked, “Why is everything here so white?”

  Delize said, “Just think of it as a canvas that is white because nobody has started painting on it yet.”

  Lincoln said, “I like it. It’s clean and abstract. They should keep it like this.”

  Delize smiled, “See all the color and artwork they’ve put into the front of the cafe? I can imagine hundreds of shops all up and down the avenue, each with its own art and color scheme. It might become quite beautiful here over time.”

  Zoey frowned, “It’s too antiseptic now.” She took a sip of her coffee. She swallowed, then added, “And when will we get new clothes? I’m so tired of this blue jumpsuit. Do we have to keep wearing the under-skin?”

  Delize said, “As soon as they get the fabricator online in our quarters, you can print your own clothes. I think you get to design them yourself if you like. Or you can copy some other design too. All this is on the mesh network.”

  Lincoln said, “I like the under-skin. It feels good and keeps me smelling fresh even when I don’t take a shower.”

  Zoey grimaced, “Ew, that’s gross. Too much information. Just take a shower, Linc.”

  Lincoln chuckled, “I like the blue jumpsuit too. It looks kinda like a uniform. I can imagine I’m a professional astronomer in it.”

  Delize said, “You’re nineteen now. You will be a professional soon. And Zoey, I think it’s better to keep wearing the under-skin. It’s designed to support a full space-suit. All the pod pilots and construction workers wear them all the time. There’s probably a good reason.”

  Zoey frowned, “Or not. Maybe it’s just a habit.”

  Lincoln asked, “Why do they call this place ‘Habitat-4’? I’d think they could come up with a better name than that.”

  Delize answered, “Because there will be millions of people moving through this habitat for several years before the population begins to stabilize. Remember, most people will be migrating. That means moving from one place to another, and in this case, from one habitat to another.”

  Lincoln said, “Oh, I get it. They want the final group of people to be able to select their own name for the city. Right?”

  Delize smiled at Lincoln, “That’s right son.”

  Zoey sipped more coffee, then said, “I know there are other people here, and I know we were some of the first to come up the elevator, but isn’t this place supposed to be crowded? When will all the other people get here? It seems awfully lonely at times.” She frowned again.

  Delize responded, “Actually, they went to great lengths to make it seem spacious and roomy here. That’s why we have the high ceilings and wide areas like this. And you have to remember, this one ring can hold several million people. How many hundreds of thousands do you think could spread out here and still feel lonely?”

  Zoey pouted, “All I know is I do my studies in our quarters, and it’s just the three of us there, then I come out here to relax and enjoy other people, and it’s still just the three of us here. I’ll be glad when I finish the basic training, and can start doing actual work in the algae farm.”

  Lincoln interjected, “I’m down with that. I know I have a lot more study to get through than you, but I’d love to be able to break it up by actually working in the astro-navigation center.”

  Delize said, “Patience, son. You’re only nineteen years old, and at that age few young men have had the opportunities you have, and there’s much more in front of you. Balance.”

  Lincoln groaned,
“No Aikido lecture Mom.”

  Delize smiled then sipped her coffee.

  +3 years, 3 months, SPACE ELEVATOR-15, THINADOO, MALDIVES

  Nabith Mehra was wearing a blue jumpsuit, just like everybody else in the climber car. He turned to his Mother, “You know they’re calling us ‘first angels’.”

  His Mother said, “What does that mean?”

  Nabith said, “It just means we are some of the first of humanity to ascend into a bright new future living in space. In fact, there are already nearly two million people who have made the ascent and are now living in the first habitat ring. But they were all selected for specific skills and other reasons. The wave of humanity they are calling ‘first angels’ is the beginning of the general migration of the entire population of the planet.”

  His Mother said, “And we are here at the beginning of this because of you Nabith.”

  Nabith replied, “Yes, Mother. And because you taught me to seek the path of Dharma, the way of righteousness and harmony with the universe.