AGORA ONE - A SPACE ADVENTURE - SLICE 4

Tequi and Raw begin the trek to Earth.

In the months that passed while zipping to Earth, here is a smattering of what happened on board Tequi's ship, as well as some highlights from the Space Agora as well.

Tequi had been tempted into some 5-tier poker, and regretted it shortly thereafter, losing a handsome sum to his cohorts, especially Raw.  Raw literally patted himself on the back afterwards, having won nearly enough to pay for his round-trip passage on Tequi’s vessel.  Tequi found a bright side and a bit of solace in this, however, as Raw, not needing the cash, canceled his comedy shows that were planned while on board.  

Tabe was putting away copious amounts of tequila, and after many requests from Tequi to slow down, finally relented, putting himself into self-induced hibernation for over a month.  Raw went into stasis for a few weeks as well, mostly for his own benefit, as it was the only way he could get away from Dans’s desperate romantic overtures.  

Masher, a 500-year-old, Artificial Intellect, that was made of trillions of nano-particles that could be reshaped at will, also joined the group as well.  It spent most of its time in the form of a colorful cloud.  

Fost, a six-eyed, floating furball from Ducled, also joined the adventure.

Masher and Fost conversed among themselves a great deal of the time, recounting stories and debating various ‘what-if’ scenarios, had things been different on their respective planets in the past.  What if Ducled had had a warmer climate? Would Ducleds still have been furballs? Or so deeply contemplative and logical? What if humans had never made it off Earth in the first place? Or invented A.I.? They traded stories and theories contentedly, sometimes for days on end.  

Masher and Raw also had some extensive exchanges regarding Earth history.  Raw was endlessly curious, and Masher was over 500 years old, and was one of the first to leave Earth with the first human anarchist space pioneers. He talked about how small groups of anarchists on Earth had first resorted to the oceans to find freedom, forming a loose society called “The Sea Agora.”

And he also told about his first best friend, nearly 500 years ago, on Earth, a young man called Setarcos.  Setarcos had discovered how to safely split the dark matter and energy material that is found so commonly throughout the universe.  It could only be done with Anahata, also known as heart energy particles.  Not just from humans, but from any sentient life form that had a heart.  

It was this technology that had powered those early anarchist pioneers into space.  It not only gave a near limitless energy supply, but also enabled the acceleration device now found throughout the Space Agora, the SPEED (Stable Particle Energy Ejector Device).  This allowed for interstellar travel at speeds of many thousands of times the speed of light.  Speed that allowed for intergalactic travel.  Speed that required a new classification, and Setarcos had come up with the measurement of KLYPH (Kilo Light Years Per Hour).  The top speed during Agora One’s time was 10 KLYPH, which certainly not all ships enjoyed.  

Masher also relayed to them how the first trip into space had been barely over the speed of light.  This was because a velocity as high as one KLYPH would destroy any known materials on Earth, natural or man-made.  So new materials had to be found and developed before crossing the Milky Way was a real possibility.    

They had passed a dizzying array of celestial objects, but none that were out of the ordinary for the passengers.  They’d passed two black holes, a supernova, a hyper-quasar, and countless star systems and planets.  They had been approached by some passing Altaveans wanting to trade.  They rejected the offer, however, due to the hurry of their trek.  They had passed the universally-renowned Intergalactic Juice Bar on Hollow Star 3, much to the chagrin of Raw, who wanted desperately to make a pit-stop and get some highly acclaimed juice, which was made with fruits and veggies from over 100 planets.  

Agora One had hosted a martial arts tournament.  Over 200 individuals had taken part, and Zay had finished second, losing in the championship match to a full-blooded Songardian.  

Shortly thereafter, Agora One had gone to Apapacho to enjoy some fun in the triple sun on that galactically-famous vacation planet.  

Lastly, Zay’s father Noc had received a most unwanted and secret transmission, from someone he regretted ever having dealt with in the past.   

Finally, after 88 Earth days, Tequi’s diamond-shaped starship “Turbo” made a slow approach to the little blue spinning marble.  The diverse occupants of the craft looked at the large 3D holo-viewer in one of the roomy lounges.  Tequi was on the bridge manning the craft, busy punching holo-buttons and squabbling with his ship’s core A.I. over where to establish their orbit.  “Tequi, I’m not parking that low.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Don’t be coy with me.  You know why not.”

“Aw, you afraid of a little space junk?”

“You call that a little? Do you want to know how many tons of..”

“No, I don’t want to know how much it is.  You’re bulletproof, so what’s the big deal if a defunct satellite accidentally gives ya a tap?”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Damn semi-sentient machines.”

“Oh, sure, blame it on my sentience.”

Tequi threw his hands up and conceded to let the ship park itself for the moment.  “Ok, Turbo, do whatever the hell ya want.” He walked bitterly to the observation lounge to join the others.  

Raw, amused, commented, “Your ship really needs an attitude adjustment.”

Turbo cut in, “I can hear you, ya know.”

“I know, that’s why I said that out loud.”

Tequi rubbed his neck, “Ok, let’s look at some ground images and get some readings.  Turbo, please look for life signs.  Also, try and find some irregularities in surface and atmospheric conditions based on a comparison with all historical data.  When you find something, put in on holo-imager.”

Fost said, “You’re pretty smart for a tequila salesman.”

Tequi looked at the floating furball on the other side of the lounge.  “Thanks, furball, that means a lot coming from you.”

“There are too many irregularities to show, just on the surface," Turbo announced.

Raw and Tequi glanced at each other.  “Really?” they echoed.  

“Give me an example.”

“Enveloping holo or visual only?”

Tequi said, “Let’s be adventurous.  Enveloping.”

Suddenly, they were surrounded by life-sized holographic projections of a proportionate size of the surface.  Dans freaked out, “Oh no, not enveloping.  Please, I don’t want to be surrounded by this.  This is awful!  What were you thinking, Tequi? I can’t stand the sight of this! How..”

Tabe chided the fast-talker, “They’re just holo-projections.”

Tequi’s jaw was nearly on the floor.  “Dans, get a grip or take a hike.”

Fost said, “Fascinating.  This is a first for me.”

“Are they all dead?”

“Affirmative.”

“Are there any still ticking on the planet?”

“I regret your word usage, and no, there aren’t.  There are no signs of surviving A.I. on planet Earth. Or any other lower type robotics, for that matter.”

“Cause of destruction?”

“It appears that most of them were destroyed due to massive electrical overload.  They were fried to death, basically.”

“Fascinating,” Fost repeated.

Tabe scoffed, “I personally don’t find mass extinction fascinating.”

“Is it extinction if they’re just machines?”

“Watch your tongue,” Turbo said harshly.  It continued, “They weren’t all destroyed by overload, however.  It appears that some of them died in battle.”

“Battle?”

“With each other.” 

“Ok, let’s move on to the next irregularity, please.”

An ancient pyramid, speckled with white and a snow-capped apex appeared before them.  

“Oh, my,” Masher exclaimed.  

“What is it, Masher?”

“That pyramid is, er, was, in one of the hottest, dryest climates on Earth.  That’s the Giza Pyramid in Egypt, is it not?”

Turbo confirmed, “Yep, that’s the one, and now it’s freezing.  There are remains of what appears to be a fairly extensive weather control system, most of which is outdated by hundreds of years.”

“Yes,” Masher continued.  “When I was there in the 21st century, A.I. controlled governments were manipulating the weather to a large extent.”

Raw paced around, eyes fixed on the frozen pyramid, “And so those outdated systems finally went awry, and this is what remains?”

“That is part of what happened, it is nearly certain.  However, simple environmental catastrophes cannot account for the extent of the damage.”

Tequi said slowly, “Ok, here’s the big question.  Are there any humans alive?”

“There are two humans alive on Earth.”

“Only two?”

“99 percent certainty there are only two, based on all current data.”

“Where?”

“In a subterranean structure in the western mountains of the continent formerly known as North America.”

Raw’s eyes got huge.  “Let’s go!”

“Hold on now, just a minute.  Let’s think this through. They could be hostile, and they’ll definitely have skewed morals, based on what we know of the previous society.”

“True.  And we can’t all go down to the surface.  Don’t wanna have all our eggs in one basket, so to speak.  Gotta have someone watching the ship, too.”

“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“Dans, how about you stay here on board? You’re the most familiar with the ship and have great self-defense skills.”

“Oh, why thank you.  You’re really so kind, Tequi.  I’m honored that you have so much confidence in me to..”

Tequi cut off Dans ramblings, “Any objections to Dans staying behind and guarding the ship?”

All agreed enthusiastically.  Anything to avoid listening to more rambling.  Tequi continued, “Ok, I’ve got a dozen solo pods in the away bay.”

“Away bay?”

“Yeah, basically a cargo-slash-docking bay, but with a snazzier title.”

Raw grimaced, “Sure...snazzy.”

Masher asked, “What kind of supplies do you propose we bring?”

“Each pod has basic food supplies to last for three days, plus a med kit, backup communicators, and some firepower.  I assume everyone has their armor, right?”

All nodded except for Masher and Tabe.  Masher, being a shape-shifting entity, was more than capable of dodging bullets, among other things.  Tabe was naturally bulletproof due to his dense, metallic anatomy.  

“And everyone knows how to fly a basic interplanetary pod?”

Raw looked at the floor and shuffled his feet.  Tequi giggled and showed teeth, “Your girlfriend hasn’t taught you how to fly?”

Turbo spoke up, “Hey, you don’t want me to guide all the pods down myself?”

Tequi laughed, “Now where’s the fun in that?”

Raw looked at him sourly.  Tequi sighed, “Oh, all right, you bring us down remotely, Turbo.  We’ll have some mercy on the comedian here.”  He paused and took a quick glance around the room at his companions.  “Ok, let’s be on our way.”

“Wait a sec,” Fost said.  “What’s our objective in going down there? What do we do if we meet up with these last two Earth humans?”

“Figure out what the hell happened.”

Slice 5 Coming Soon!

Thanks for your time and attention!

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Please note:  While Agora One can be read as a standalone, I recommend finishing the James Bong series first, and reading SeAgora second, as Agora One is the final installment of a loosely interlocking trilogy.