STAR OF EPIPHANY

by OMAR FINK

  Nabith said, “It’s like watching a swirl in water.”

  Delize said, “Yes, that’s an apt description.”

  Nabith said, “Maybe we can use the same math that engineers use for fluid dynamics. I think it’s mostly differential equations.”

  Delize asked, “Can you do that? I have no idea what that is.”

  Nabith responded, “I think so. The math is actually not that difficult. The hard part will be defining all the pieces of the problem, and setting the parameters right. But that’s usually the case. Once we get the problem correctly set up, it becomes almost trivial to solve it. And in this case, I’ll be writing a program to do that, so we can go over many different possible solutions, and tweak the optimization parameters to find the solution we want to go with.” He smiled at Delize.

  Delize looked sharply at Nabith and asked, “How old are you?”

  Nabith said, “Seventeen.”

  Delize said, “My son is twenty, and he studies famous soccer matches. You are plotting how the future pathway of humanity will take form. You are an amazing young man, Nabith.”

  Nabith said, “Thank you, Mrs. Delize. My mother always says the same thing. But what we’re working on is really just the way of righteousness, or Dharma. Dharma involves the cosmic law that makes everything work, and righteousness involves becoming aware of those principles, and moving in accord with them to create harmony in our lives.”

  Delize murmured, “That sounds very much like Aikido.”

  Nabith responded, “I’ve heard of that but don’t know much about it. Can you teach me?”

  Delize smiled at Nabith, “Maybe I can.”

  Nabith smiled, “Great, and if your son can teach me about soccer, I can teach him about differential equations.”

  Delize chuckled, “Wouldn’t that be something.”

  +4 years, 8 months, HABITAT-22, NEAR-MARS-ORBIT

  Keel O’Donnell shook the hand of Lewis Barton, and sat down outside a cafe on the wide boulevard to share coffee and conversation. While they waited for the bot to bring their coffee, Keel said, “Well, I started out getting trained as an Air Force para-rescue jumper, but injured my knee, and had to change directions. Next I did some drone pilot work, then was recruited to fly pod clusters for first the Moon base project, then the first hab construction project, and now I’m headed out into the asteroid belt like most others on this habitat ring.”

  Lewis said, “You and I have a lot in common Mr. O’Donnell. I also have a special forces background, in the Army Green Berets. And I also have been doing various forms of piloting, some shuttle work, some construction, some whatever. I have a proposal for you.”

  Keel said, “Okay. I’ll listen.”

  Lewis said, “You may have noticed that as we’ve moved out into space, we still have accidents and when we do, they are far more often life function critical than they were back on Earth. It is becoming important to have some form of rescue service, which currently does not exist.”

  Keel raised an eyebrow, “You’re right.”

  Lewis continued, “If you’re interested, I think we should submit a proposal to form a rescue operation team, and work to expand it across the space being occupied by humanity.”

  Keel said, “I’m in. Let’s do it.”

  Lewis reached his hand across the table to offer it to Keel, “By the way, you can call me Sonny. Everybody close to me does.”

  Keel shook his hand, “Sonny. Got it.”

  The bot arrived with their coffee and both men took a sip.

  +4 years, 9 months, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

  Peter Anderson was talking to a display labeled ‘TYCHE’. On the display was the image of a woman with gray-white hair and wrinkled brown skin. The face wore no makeup and the hair was drawn back, creating a plain appearance. She wore a simple burgundy blouse that went well with the gray-white-brown colors in her hair and small dangling turquoise ear-rings as an accent. The face was not quite smiling, but something in the posture of the lips and slight squint in the eyes conveyed a positive attitude. Peter smiled at the face, “We’re having a problem grabbing hold of rocks in the mining process. Or I should say the miners out in the asteroid belt are having this problem. Small rocks are easy to grab. But large rocks often require some kind of drilling or fracking process to get inside them to the valuables we need. Drilling into a surface requires anchoring both the drill and the object to be drilled. In zero gravity, neither is anchored by gravity as they would be on Earth. So the miners work with adhesive pads and suction pods and a variety of traction hold devices. They all work to some degree, but not well and only on specific surfaces. Since we often don’t know what type of surface we’ll be drilling at first, it takes time to select the right tool and that’s time wasted. What we need is either some way to quickly and accurately assess the surface type and select the right tool to grip that surface, or some new tool that can easily attach to almost any kind of surface.”

  Peter said, “TYCHE, do you understand this problem?”

  TYCHE responded, “Is there more data available on what has already been tried? What is the desired output of this consideration?”

  Peter smiled, “Of course. I will get you the data, but it’s mostly details on what I just told you: stuff about drills and drilling force and different scenarios under minimal gravitational force. Do you already have any information in this area that might help us?”

  TYCHE responded, “There have been some interesting investigations into gecko foot pods but that seems to involve mostly lateral traction. If enough lateral traction can be applied, then force against the lateral direction can create a holding traction that is mostly perpendicular to that.”

  TYCHE paused for a few seconds as though waiting to see if Peter had any response, then added, “However, the first area we should investigate involves using nano-foams. A nano-foam can penetrate rough surfaces and then solidify, creating strong adhesion. In most cases, the rougher the surface, the more adhesive force is available. We’ll need to take a close look at how different combinations of techniques can be used step up from light traction to firmer grips to strong braces that can support actual drilling.”

  Peter asked, “Anything else?”

  TYCHE responded, “More information is needed. However, it’s worth mentioning that many similar automation techniques are finding benefits in smaller form factor designs in combination with swarm programming.”

  +4 years, 10 months, PIRAEUS, GREECE

  Zorba Omega touched his ear, “Hello Mr. S.”

  On the other end of the line, Billy Street said, “Hello Mr. O.”

  Zorba said, “I have received your final report. Congratulations on a job well done, Mr. S.”

  Billy replied, “Thank you Mr. O.”

  Zorba said, “Please initiate your shutdown procedures, then contact me using normal channels.”

  Billy replied, “Will do, Mr. O.”

  Several minutes later, the phone on Zorba’s desk rang, and he touched his earpiece to pick it up. “Hello Billy.”

  Billy said, “Long time no see.” and chuckled.

  Zorba said, “Remember, on this channel we won’t discuss anything regarding our previous conversation.”

  Billy said, “Got it.”

  Zorba said, “I have a new job offer for you.”

  Billy said, “Okay.”

  Zorba asked, “How would you like to go out into the asteroid belt?”

  Billy said, “Wow. The asteroid belt? Sure, I’d be willing to go. Aren’t we all going there?”

  Zorba said, “Presumably, at some point. But I want you to go now, and take on a new long term job for me. This one will be quite different from your other assignments.”

  Billy said, “Okay, what’s the job?”

  Zorba replied, “I want you to lay the groundwork for the creation of a new banking organization in the asteroid belt that focuses on making loans for private construction.”

  Billy replied, “I don’t know much abo
ut banking or loans.”

  Zorba said, “That’s okay. I know that. What you are best at is reading people and collecting information and producing concise, accurate reports and that’s exactly what I need you to do. In your previous assignments, you did this for me with the group of scientists in Geneva, and also with a variety of other business sectors where we had some interest. This is the same thing, just in the area of banking instead.”

  Billy said, “Okay, I guess I can do that.”

  Zorba said, “Our relationship can continue basically ‘off the books’ as it is now. I’ll have Artie set up a cutout foundation to fund you. That way you can act as an independent agent. I’ll need you to scope out the demand for private funding, and then find some key players out there we can use to create a new organization. When the time comes to actually start making loans, there will be people in place who have experience with that, and you’ll move on to your next job.”

  Billy said, “I’m liking this. I can do it.”

  Zorba said, “I’m too cash rich after divesting most of my holdings to HU, and I need to find other areas of investment. You’ll be able to sprinkle money around liberally to get things started. If you’re game for this, I’ll have Artie set up travel arrangements and an outline of what I want you to accomplish. Oh, and I assume, as you said earlier, this will be a one way trip and you’ll stay out there. I fully expect Artie and I will be following you soon.”

  Billy said, “I’m in. Let’s go.”

  +4 years, 11 months, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

  Ulrich Giger said, “Here’s where we stand now. By the end of this month, we’ll have completed one hundred and seventy-six elevators. We’ll have lifted seventy-two million people into space. We’ve built thirty habitat rings capable of holding one hundred fifty million people, and they are being moved around the Solar System to create a means of moving people out into the asteroid belt. That all sounds pretty good but it’s not.”

  Giger looked down at his tablet screen in front of him. He looked back up, “We currently have the ability to lift around three hundred tons per cable per day. Given all the new developments we have in the pipeline, we are assuming we can increase this to five hundred tons per cable per day in about fourteen months from now. Carrying that maximum out to the ten-year limit, we’ll end up with a thousand cables and fifteen hundred habitat rings capable of holding over eight billion people. But by the time the comet train returns and destroys Earth, we’ll only have lifted three billion of them into space. The other five billion will be doomed to stay here and die.”

  Giger looked tired. He spread his hands out, “We have no answer for this problem. Any suggestions?”

  There was silence for a moment, then Tony Azaria spoke, “A little over a year ago, Zorba Omega presented to me a proposal to divert funds to a researcher in Texas working on a project he calls the Directed Matter Junction or DMJ. The theory behind this device seems to be solid and if it works, it might revolutionize our ability to produce new kinds of fibers, including the elusive diamond nanothread. It’s still all theory, but several good scientists have suggested if it works, it might double or triple our lift capacity. I’ll ask Professor Morgan to send us an update immediately and find out if this is worth prioritizing even more.”

  Giger responded, “That’s excellent, Tony. Anybody else?”

  Peter Anderson said, “There is still one guy from the original IISS team who insists that we should be working on trying to move the planet instead of evacuation. Everybody just assumed he was a nut. I’ll make some inquiries, but I’m guessing it’s too late to change tracks even if he’s got a good case.”

  Giger said, “You are probably correct, Peter. Anybody else?”

  Bill Decker sighed, “No news that can help, but the folks that call themselves ‘the Resistance’ are becoming more of a problem. They have grown steadily for several years and expanded their sphere of influence. The core of their platform is that the threat from the comet train is either exaggerated or a complete fraud, and the HU response is actually an attempt to take over control of the entire world in a bloodless coup.”

  Bill clasped his hands in front of himself and continued, “As preposterous as this sounds to those of us who have worked so hard to make these things happen, and at the same time take measures to divest changes in control and power unless they were absolutely necessary, this is what they believe. They seem to be quite devout in these beliefs, and that level of conviction often metastasizes into violence. This is a serious worry.”

  Bill entwined his fingers and seemed to be exercising them, almost wringing his hands. He said, “The Resistance has a surprisingly large contingent inside the United States. At least it’s surprising to me. They come mostly from libertarians and constitutionalists and anybody who believes in small and limited government. They see what has happened as a complete detour around the sovereignty of the individual and the states, and the protections against that offered by the U.S. Constitution. In fact, they are correct. That doesn’t change the fact that we had to do what we did, there was no other way to accomplish it, and it was the right thing to do. They seem to just ignore all those arguments. There is also a smaller contingent of people in under developed countries that embrace the Resistance. This can only be attributed to ignorance considering how much they will gain from the education and health care and stupendous improvement in their standard of living that we offer them. Finally, there is group of despots and tyrants who just don’t want to lose the power they currently embrace.”

  Bill sighed again, “That’s the brief on the Resistance. But more important is what we should do about them. Any use of force will simply reinforce their beliefs. Anything short of using force is likely to have little effect. I’m open to suggestions.” He spread his hands out welcoming advice.

  Giger looked over at Bill, “Please stay on top of this. We can’t afford any delays.”

  11 Not Enough

  “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

  ― Calvin Coolidge

  +5 years, 2 months, HABITAT-34, NEAR-EARTH-ORBIT (NEO)

  The face of Lee Martin appeared on the screen, “Hello. This is Lee Martin, reporting for you from Habitat-34, the latest new habitat ring built in space near Earth. I’ve gone through the emigration process of health and education screening, and enjoyed the spectacular views from climbing up a space elevator, and now I’m going to live on this new habitat ring for the next year while it moves out toward Mars. I won’t know where I’m going next until I get out there, but it’s safe to assume that most of us will be living in the asteroid belt at some point in the coming years.”

  The screen showed a diagram of the inner Solar System with the orbits of Earth, Mars, and Jupiter clearly highlighted, and a gray ring of dots representing the asteroid belt in the large gap between Mars and Jupiter. A white line showed the projected trajectory path of Habitat-34 from Earth orbit out to Mars orbit.

  Lee explained, “We don’t know exactly where Hab-34 will end up because the orbit trajectory assignments out beyond the next year are still in flux. We know where we need some resources, but there are a lot of variables involved, and things keep changing. Our eighteen year old math prodigy, Nabith Mehra, has done some remarkable programming, and developed a tool that is being used to help optimize the flow of habitat rings and people from Earth out into the asteroid belt.”

  The view returned to the face of Lee, and she continued, “One thing you need to know about the asteroid belt is how far apart the rocks are out there. In many of our popular fiction videos, areas containing fields of asteroids are depicted as zones where many rocks are right next to each other, creating obstacles that require zigzag navigation to get through them. In real life, however, the rocks in th
e asteroid belt are spread so far apart that you’ll rarely be able to see two of them at the same time. While it’s true that there are many rocks out there, the space they occupy is so much larger that they are spread out with huge distances between them.”

  Lee turned to face another viewpoint and kept talking, “Over time, the rocks in the asteroid belt have been shifted and moved by gravitational forces that affect them. This is mostly the influence of the giant planet, Jupiter, which orbits just beyond the outer edge of the asteroid belt. There are some harmonies in this interaction over millions of years that have resulted in some interesting gaps in the orbits of the rocks. These gaps were first noticed by an college professor named Daniel Kirkwood.”