Intro
The images of the green beaches of Azalon Freeworld fade from my eyes as
my far too cheery calendar pops up in a corner of my vision. "24 hour warning: Report back to base command at 1500
hours Earth Central Time" she reports me happily. The last day of
my well deserved holidays, only twenty four hours left. I suddenly
remember that I have been staring into space through the huge window of
the civilian space terminal in orbit around Jupiter. The only things
that can be seen from this view are a small part of the planet below us,
the jumpgate and a military transport slowly moving towards it. Even
though Jupiter is mainly a Military base, people from Earth and other
outworlds still come to visit and see the majestic gas cloud formations
on the surface of Jupiter. Ever since we have been inserting
Jupiterjuice into the atmosphere in 2193, the clouds have been getting a
certain amount of glueyness and shine that give an awesome view. People
look at me strangely as I laugh at myself. A highly guarded secret given
such a simple name, because we cant pronounce the seventeen syllable
one. I quickly let my dictionary run over the word in a useless attempt
to ever be able to pronounce it.
The background buzz of the jumpgate fades into nothingness as the
military transport disappears through the ring. I have always been told
that there is no background buzz to the jumpgate technology and that
sound does not travel through space. But somehow I have always been able
to feel the wormhole behind it. As if it truly is a living entity that
has chosen to give man its time and attention to travel the depths of
its being. No scientist has ever been able to explain what I feel when
the jumpgates are active and I have never met anyone that feels the
same. The doctors say I am imagining it; my mates sometimes tease me
with it. But I cannot deny what I feel and one day I will find out what
it is.
I look at the time above the calendar and sigh. A three hour wait for
a 42 minute flight, even after all this time it seems man cannot make
time schedules.
I start to close my eyes again as suddenly the buzz starts up again.
I uninterestingly look at the gate at what might appear through the one
mile wide gate. I raise my eyebrow as the activity lights of the gate
stay on all clear. Nothing is coming through the gate but I can feel a
wormhole trying to pinpoint the space somewhere near us to create an
insert point. Suddenly I am almost blinded by a flash of light a little
way of to the right of the ring. I stare in awe as I see one of the
biggest creations man has ever made. An exploring Rimship appears where
the flash of light was just a second earlier. Two and a half miles of
slick metal alloy. One of the few exploring ships that travel to the
edges of explored human space to search for new resources and new places
to colonize. More than three quarters of the ship hold the main engine
which allows the ship to travel through wormholes without using the
jumpgates. Though it is rumored that a new technique has been created
that allow any size ship to travel this way, I do not truly believe
this. We have been stuck on this size for many decades. Not many people
ever see a wondrous ship as this one, as most of the time they stay away
from Earth for years before they come back to share what they have
found. As a military researcher for the Eurasian Confederation, I have
been stationed at Jupiter many times and even for me this has only been
the second time I see one.
Many people crowd towards the glass to have a good look at the one of
the highest forms of human technology as the ship slowly drifts toward
Jupiter to refuel. This probably means more delays in travel schedules
today. I turn around and wade through the crowd towards my connection as
the buzz of the wormhole slowly fades away again.
Some General info
It's the year 2364 in Earth years. Humanity seems to be the sole
sentient life form alive in the galaxy today. Technology has come far.
Ships can fly at sublightspeed towards any goal they might want to visit
within a star system and jumpgate technology has enabled humans to
travel to other nearby star systems.
Traveling on the more civilized and further developed worlds is done by
either an extensive on-demand public transport-system or by using fast
hovering and flying vehicles. The more recently settled worlds make do
with only the privately-owned flying and hovering transport
vehicles.
Brain and other human enhancements are widely available, though the
more sophisticated technology is only for the more wealthy part of the
human population. Almost all diseases have been cured by the widespread
use of nanotechnology. Robotics is introduced in many facets of life,
ranging from human-controlled military exo-skeletons to a major
replacement of traditional manual labor. Although artificial
intelligence research has continued for many years, real awareness still
remains reserved to humans.
Asteroid mining and fuel extraction from for example Jupiter are
major businesses. Many other planets have been colonized to expand the
human race. Though many a planet has chosen to have a separate
government, most of them are united under the Earthen Flag of
collaboration. Earth is united under one bigger government, but the
different parts still make most of their own decisions and laws. Though
officially no wars exist in our galaxy, the military still gets enough
money to make and equip huge battle cruisers and orbital defense
systems. Trade by both large corporations and smaller traders is a
constant fact between worlds.
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Character descriptions
Space Odyssey: 2364