Guardian Stone 1: Stone Genesis (7 page)

"I think that is about as far as we need to go today. I would like you all to think over the issues we discussed today and start working on the plans each item requires. You are my principle advisors so if you think there is something I should know, tell me. You are all familiar with team environments so lets use those principles."

"Josh, Rose, Bill, Joann, George and Miriam, would you join Sam and I for a few minutes, we want to show you something." He then thought to Barana, <
Is there some place in the military training area where no one is likely to be watching?
> 

<
There is a hard surface road at about RM 3 on deck 22 and that location is not currently occupied.
>

<
Good, we'll go there when I give you the ok, thanks
.
Oh, I will also need seven stop watches, a loaded .45, an automated firing stand with a life sized target 25' away, and two tables set 1/2 mile apart with a hand calculator on the most distant table.
> He then sent a thought to Sam to let her know what was coming and then addressed the others, "Ready?" They nodded assent, he said "OK" and then the eight of them vanished without a pop.

The group of them arrived at the place Barana had suggested about 50' from the table with a USMC issue 1911 Colt 45 caliber handgun on the table and 7 stopwatches next to the hand gun. "I said up in the meeting that I wanted to show you something. Actually what I had in mind was more of a demonstration. There is a table exactly 1/2 mile down this road. On that table is a hand calculator whose purpose I will explain during the course of the demonstration. First I want you to each pickup and test a stopwatch. I will give a signal for you to start them and I will give you a signal to stop them. If you wish, you can use the stopwatch function on your smart phone, that is OK. Ready, Set, Go." After a pause he said, "Stop, 15.5 seconds." They all checked their stopwatches and were amazed to see that it matched his announced time lapse precisely.

"What will happen next is not intended to show off and there is a point that I will explain at the end of the demonstration. When Josh gives me a start, you will each start your stopwatches, I will run to the other table and retrieve the calculator and return to this table with it. When you hear the calculator placed on the table, stop your watches and I will announce an elapsed time. Please stay back about 10' from the table. Barana will not be providing any assistance during the demonstration. Ready when you are Josh."

"OK," said Josh, "Ready , Set, GO."

Hank took off in a blur. They realized he was moving so fast that it was difficult to follow with their eyes and understood why he wanted them to use the sound of the calculator hitting the table as their trigger to stop the watches. In a short time the calculator clicked on the table and Hank said, "25.75 seconds." The watches generally matched that time and those that did not were due to a reaction failure. They could just not believe that anyone could move that fast. "OK, who is good with the calculator? How fast was my average time over that 1 mile course?"

Bill took the calculator and did the calculation, "Good Lord, 140 miles per hour. That is not possible."

Hank went on, "the next part was difficult for me to accept but seeing is believing. Bill would you please check the weapon, the loads, announce the number of rounds loaded, then prime the weapon and insert it in the firing stand. It is a 1911 Colt 45, standard Marine Corps issue." "Roger that," said Bill, "It has 8 rounds, one in the chamber and seven in the clip. The weapon is hot, I repeat HOT." "Thanks Bill," said Hank as he walked to the target and stood in front of it, "Now please do not panic at what you see next, I have no death wish. Please, everyone in back of the firing line. Target stand, eight rounds only, commence firing." he said. Sam watched in horror and Hank thought to her, <
I'm OK Hon, I'm not in any danger, I'm OK, see.
>

As the rounds stopped 12 inches in front of him, he quickly plucked them out of the air before they could start to fall. He then walked over to the table and placed all eight bullets on it. Sam, walked over to him and punched him on the arm. "Ow, what was that for."

Sam responded, "You do that again and I'll shoot you myself. You scared me half to death."  The others all laughed.

"OK, I probably should have explained that part or done a better job of forewarning you, but I wanted to test the shield so I would be comfortable with it. I was comfortable with the fact it would work. Barana told me it would. This whole demonstration is to show you some of what the command level enhancements can do. I want you all to have them emplaced starting sometime in the next two weeks, but the sooner the better. We will each be spending quite a bit of time, some more than others on planet. Once we go public and become associated with the stations in the public eye, there are radical groups out there who would like nothing better than to get a shot at one of us. Not everyone will get all of the enhancements but all of you here now will. Getting acclimated to the changes is not so difficult. It took me six weeks to adjust to all of it. The enhancements include strength, speed, agility, a clock in your head without even thinking about it and a very effective shield. There is lots more, probably the most exciting is life span and health. You will never again have to worry about being sick and you will likely live to see the next millennium. Each enhancement will be thoroughly explained. Trust me, Barana can do thorough."

<
Yes, I can.
>

"The treatment actually includes lessons on how to use and apply the various enhance features. Initially everything except the shield will be damped down until you have mastered them. I really want you all fully functional and protected ASAP. Does anyone have a problem with any of this, please let me know now or privately but soon. These enhancements are not something we advertise or flaunt, but when they are needed, they are there. You will find that you have vision acuity up to about 25x. If you are a birdwatcher, you won't need field glasses to do that anymore. Meanwhile, Sam and I have some honeymoon time of to catch up with. Just let Barana know where you want to go next. As part of the command team, you have use of her instant transport system at all times. We can start the enhancement process immediately for those of you who are ready to give it a go."  With that Hank and Sam disappeared. Everyone else told Barana that they were ready to start immediately including the Reevers.

George and Miriam were already discussing what they needed to do to move to the station. Their quarters were more attractive and spacious than those at home and the view of the mountains was awesome. They felt that the move could be smoothly done in about three months including helping his employees to transition to whatever they wanted. He expected that many would want to come to the station.

General

There are three types of Antoran Starship/Stations, Types 1A, 1B and 2. Technically, these vessels are starships, however they are so large and their functions so all encompassing that the term Starship/Stations seems to be a better descriptive fit. They are referred to as Stations for brevity.

The motivation for the construction of the Type 1A and 1B classes of vessel was the impending Glarin invasion of Antor discovered in the year 1498 AD (Earth calendar) about 15 years before the arrival of the invasion fleet. The Antoran people determined that their best course of action for survival was to evacuate the planet.

The challenge before them was how to evacuate 1.5 billion persons to a location sufficiently distant to allow for their survival and to do so in the time frame with which they had to work. They also had to transfer as much of their technology base as was possible. This led to the conceptualization, construction and use of the Type 1 stations. They succeeded in moving their entire civilization to Antor II in the Tau Ceti System, a distance of 3,162 light years from Antor. Tau Ceti is about 11.9 light years from Earth. In the process they removed everything of potential use to the invaders, particularly their technology and stores of the super metal Herculenium (closest English translation).

Two operational Stations were built and outfitted. The first of these was 260 miles in length and was the prototype Station One. The second was shorter at 200 miles in length. The decks that in the future would be the warship flight decks and the military training decks were utilized to house food supplies sufficient to feed their population for two years. A sufficient number of dwelling units in the inner habitation zones were converted to stasis storage units similar to those now found on all stations to transport 90% of the population in stasis. This helped to reduce the food and oxygen requirements for those managing the evacuation. A third hull was built, also at the shorter 200-mile length but the farm and habitat sectors were not installed. Instead, those spaces were fitted with numerous temporary decks to warehouse as much equipment and material as was possible to load into the vessel. A large commercial freighter was connected to the inner hull in the core. This was then linked to the power systems of the vessel and used to maneuver and operate the vessel. The journey was expected to take six months, so this temporary arrangement was workable. The last of the 1.5 billion Antoran population was removed about two months before the arrival of the Glarin.

Currently, 20 Type 1 Stations (one Type 1A and 19 Type 1B) are fully operational and provisioned but not fully occupied. The construction of these stations was completed in 1548 at Tau Ceti and efforts were then shifted to construction of the Type 2 stations. It was argued that the smaller stations were needed for several reasons. The first was that the area of space that could be covered by more of the smaller stations would increase dramatically. The second was that too many people would be exposed to harm if the continued to build only the larger Type 1B stations. Eighty of the Type 2 Stations were built and placed in operation. Aside from their size, the stations are not going to win awards for appearance since they look like an overgrown cylinder with a hollow center core running its length.

All stations utilize the same diameter, 60 miles. This allows for some uniformity in the structure of some sectors of the stations. The military sectors and the storage sectors are the same for all stations. Habitats in the outer zone are identical for all stations. The inner zone Habitats are the identical on the Type 1A and Type 1B stations while the Type 2 station does not have an inner zone Habitat.

The sheer size of the stations is the feature that tends to stagger even the most imaginative of those viewing it. The 60 miles diameter of each station and length varying from 90 to 260 miles certainly contribute to this impression. The core area or center, is eight miles across. Physical access to the interior of the station is through airlocks dotted along the surface of the core area starting ten miles from either end of the station. The Station's offensive capabilities were not operational when the inevitable attack came but the Antorans were able to leave without incident. Upon arrival at Tau Ceti, the Antorans exercised an ambitious construction program to build what they believed would be a fleet sufficient to counter the Glarin invasion. They then proceeded to seek persons with appropriate skills to assist in manning defenses.

The station's most unusual feature however was not just its size. The entire outer shell of the station and its internal supports were one continuous construct of Herculenium the strongest alloy known then and now with no bolts, fasteners, welds or other connectors apparent. The construction of station components was accomplished through use of a fusing process. Programmed fabricators were also used extensively, particularly in the construction of habitat components such as the dwelling units. These processes left no trace of joining down to the molecular level. The alloy has a very low expansion/contraction coefficient and was ideal for this application. It also did not exhibit metal fatigue common to other construction metals. The exterior part of the hull that was integral to the station was two feet thick. The Antorans were able to reduce the construction facility to components that fit in the core of the prototype and its sister ship when they left Antor. The prototype initially carried 25 additional hull layers that were each two feet thick and could be used for the construction of additional stations. This was also done to avoid leaving this valuable material behind for the Glarin to utilize.

The outer hull of the station is "down." Each deck has its own gravity generator that can be varied depending upon the function and use of the particular deck. This is achieved by artificial gravity at each deck. The flight decks use varying levels of gravity from 0.25G to 1.0 G. The storage areas use lesser gravity. Training areas can be brought all the way down to 0 G if needed. The station is intended to be a livable habitat. It has amenities not generally considered for space stations.

The total dwelling units on a station vary by the number of outer zone and inner zone habitat there are on the station. The dwelling units are designed for occupancy of 4 persons. Average occupancy of a unit in use is 3 to 4 persons but is quite comfortable with up to 6 persons in a unit. 

General

None of the stations are close to full occupancy nor are they expected to become so. Food production is substantially in excess of maximum population expectations. For example, population capacity at 4 persons per unit is about 13 billion. At this point, about 2 billion Antorans live on stations and an insignificant number of other races. There is substantial room for growth.

The stations are partitioned into sectors and zones. In all cases there is an inner zone and an outer zone. Each zone is nine vertical miles high. The outer zone starts at Radius Mile (RM) 25 and rises to RM16. The inner zone starts at RM 15 and rises to RM6.

Each sector has a designated purpose. These include the flight deck and military sector at either end of the station, the storage sector, the farm and food processing center and the habitat sector

Sectors

Except for the habitat sector, the zones and sectors contain numerous decks that are subdivided by bays. The number of decks in a sector is governed by the sector's use and function. Each Bay is roughly a mile wide at the "floor" deck level. The bay walls run in a lengthwise direction throughout the station. In the habitat sectors, the bay walls do not exist but areas are assigned bay numbers on one-mile increments as though the physical walls did exist.

As might be expected, locating a specific place in the station can be somewhat daunting. Accordingly, locations are identified by the sector in which it located, its deck number stated in distance from the center of the core of the station or Radius Mile (RM), its distance from the zero end of the station or Length Mile (LM) and the bay number. 

These coordinates are then expressed as in the following example:

7-20.0625-183.45-37

This translates to a position that is in Sector 7, on deck 20.0625, 183.45 miles from the zero end of the station in bay 37. In this way, every location on the station has an address. Inhabitants routinely wear a voice activated destination wristband that records destination, displays a visual of the location and its coordinates, and signals when the specified destination is reached. Wristbands can be replaced with a subcutaneous implant at the wrist for those that prefer it.