Monday, November 01, 2004
Chapter 1 - Warming Up
Alpha Kentaurus, four light years from planet Earth is a place of mystery. No human has ever set foot there. It's closest to Earth, and yet still far from our reach. It would take four years at light speed to make the journey. Planets orbit Alpha Centauri in a strange pattern, totally unheard of for a solar system with just one star.
Reaching Alpha Centauri was impossible until it was discovered that space could be warped in such a way that no one would ever have to leave the surface of a planet in 2037. Using advanced particle accelerators, it was possible to make a portal that could travel to any world or any point in space. With enough power, large spaceships could fly through the portal. In order to return home, the portal would have to be reactivated to open a hole to another destination. This had downfalls and advantages. It would be impossible for an invader to travel through the portal and strike without warning, but if the technology were to fall into a dangerous forces' hands, they would be able to tesselate to any point in space, making defense impossible.
The portal has other disadvantages... objects can only travel to a point in this universe. Any attempt to travel across boundaries into the multiverse led to disasterous results. In one mission, several human explorers went through the portal to another universe and instantly vaporized as they touched the molecules in the other universe. Forced to explore within their own universe, the explorers deployed outposts on far-off world, none of which were even heard of at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Opening this door to the heavens forced the people of Earth to band together into a single organization known as the United Earth. A United Earth spent much of its resources exploring these new worlds for minerals and other valuable resources needed back home. Massive trade vehicles were constructed to transport these valuable goods home, and soon the one portal wasn't enough to keep everyone connected. Portals were soon located in major cities all over the globe. They could be used to transport from city to city, as well as off-planet.
New innovations sprung up almost daily as the human population ballooned off-planet. People were cooperating in a way not seen in the entire history of man. Aftet tesselating to many planets, it was assumed that man was alone in the universe, and that in order to be happy, he needed to be with others of his own kind. To be alone meant the death of the organism, and extinction. In the year 2127, the human population quickly grew to more than forty billion people all over the universe, all connected to Earth instantaneously.
This became known as the Age of Exploration, a time when anyone could become nearly anything they wanted. Explorers staked out entire new worlds, and many became very rich doing so. Money, being the root of all evil, quickly corrupted the richest, leading to the destruction of several inhabited planets when owners would not compromise with their inhabitants.
Old religions died when it was realized that there really was no God controlling them, leading to turmoil among all of the human settlements, even on Earth. A new explanation had to be found to explain the fundamental question, "Why do we exist?" The roots of the theology that would lead to wars using the new portal began over a century earlier, right after the discovery of the meaning of life. This theology could explain it all, but to believe in it meant being humble, something that the richest most powerful people in the universe were anything but. Thus, it would spark a war to last centuries.
To those who believed in "The Universe", it did not matter if there were unbelievers, as they simply didn't understand that the God they spoke of was not above them, but all around them, and everywhere else too. The unbelievers would have none of this, and thus portals all across Earth were seized or destroyed to cut off those who believed in the new religion. They would exterminate it, even if it meant genocide. Only two portals remained in the control of the United Earth, and one was used to transport the other off-planet to a safe haven. As they escaped through the portal, the believers destroyed the other portal, hopefully buying them time in the war.
As with every other tool humans have ever made, the portal could be used for both good and bad. As with every other new significant advancement, it was corrupted to be used as a wartime weapon; unstoppable and capable of helping to decimate entire worlds. This war would be a long hard one, and to win it, the Universals would have to redesign their portal, at great risk, to go back in time and bring the founder of their religion forward, Kenneth Lynn. Only with his help would they be able to win against the superior unbelievers... ¶ 2:58 AM
Alpha Kentaurus, four light years from planet Earth is a place of mystery. No human has ever set foot there. It's closest to Earth, and yet still far from our reach. It would take four years at light speed to make the journey. Planets orbit Alpha Centauri in a strange pattern, totally unheard of for a solar system with just one star.
Reaching Alpha Centauri was impossible until it was discovered that space could be warped in such a way that no one would ever have to leave the surface of a planet in 2037. Using advanced particle accelerators, it was possible to make a portal that could travel to any world or any point in space. With enough power, large spaceships could fly through the portal. In order to return home, the portal would have to be reactivated to open a hole to another destination. This had downfalls and advantages. It would be impossible for an invader to travel through the portal and strike without warning, but if the technology were to fall into a dangerous forces' hands, they would be able to tesselate to any point in space, making defense impossible.
The portal has other disadvantages... objects can only travel to a point in this universe. Any attempt to travel across boundaries into the multiverse led to disasterous results. In one mission, several human explorers went through the portal to another universe and instantly vaporized as they touched the molecules in the other universe. Forced to explore within their own universe, the explorers deployed outposts on far-off world, none of which were even heard of at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Opening this door to the heavens forced the people of Earth to band together into a single organization known as the United Earth. A United Earth spent much of its resources exploring these new worlds for minerals and other valuable resources needed back home. Massive trade vehicles were constructed to transport these valuable goods home, and soon the one portal wasn't enough to keep everyone connected. Portals were soon located in major cities all over the globe. They could be used to transport from city to city, as well as off-planet.
New innovations sprung up almost daily as the human population ballooned off-planet. People were cooperating in a way not seen in the entire history of man. Aftet tesselating to many planets, it was assumed that man was alone in the universe, and that in order to be happy, he needed to be with others of his own kind. To be alone meant the death of the organism, and extinction. In the year 2127, the human population quickly grew to more than forty billion people all over the universe, all connected to Earth instantaneously.
This became known as the Age of Exploration, a time when anyone could become nearly anything they wanted. Explorers staked out entire new worlds, and many became very rich doing so. Money, being the root of all evil, quickly corrupted the richest, leading to the destruction of several inhabited planets when owners would not compromise with their inhabitants.
Old religions died when it was realized that there really was no God controlling them, leading to turmoil among all of the human settlements, even on Earth. A new explanation had to be found to explain the fundamental question, "Why do we exist?" The roots of the theology that would lead to wars using the new portal began over a century earlier, right after the discovery of the meaning of life. This theology could explain it all, but to believe in it meant being humble, something that the richest most powerful people in the universe were anything but. Thus, it would spark a war to last centuries.
To those who believed in "The Universe", it did not matter if there were unbelievers, as they simply didn't understand that the God they spoke of was not above them, but all around them, and everywhere else too. The unbelievers would have none of this, and thus portals all across Earth were seized or destroyed to cut off those who believed in the new religion. They would exterminate it, even if it meant genocide. Only two portals remained in the control of the United Earth, and one was used to transport the other off-planet to a safe haven. As they escaped through the portal, the believers destroyed the other portal, hopefully buying them time in the war.
As with every other tool humans have ever made, the portal could be used for both good and bad. As with every other new significant advancement, it was corrupted to be used as a wartime weapon; unstoppable and capable of helping to decimate entire worlds. This war would be a long hard one, and to win it, the Universals would have to redesign their portal, at great risk, to go back in time and bring the founder of their religion forward, Kenneth Lynn. Only with his help would they be able to win against the superior unbelievers... ¶ 2:58 AM
