Prologue:

The ship's micro-fusion reactor had been running for 500,000 years of its expected 110,000 year operating life.

The travel-weary Torumnaachii astronauts were making the last preparations for their return trip back to Torum - their home planet and celestial eponym for the Torum Nebula.

The whole 6-person crew didn't feel good about arriving home from a failed mission - no planet to colonize, no exotic bounty, just losers coming home empty-handed.

But suddenly, JaiChai - the sarcastic and often disrespectful, quantum computer array powered, AI that literally "IS" the ship, loudly announced, "Gentlemen...and Captain? Hahaha! Stow your ©ocks and grab your socks! You're going on shore leave! Land Ho! I say again, schweet 99.9% Torum-compatible Land Ho!"

Shocked, happy and extremely relieved, they quietly splashed down on the sparkling aquamarine waters and just stared at the pristine landscape and the two glowing stars in the sky.

...and it was magnificent!

IJCH - Inside JaiChai's Head (Meaning: My Warped, Personal Opinions and Musings)

From the Author:

Salutations.

I am JaiChai.

And if I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance now.

I invite you to interact with everyone, learn, and have as much fun as possible!

For my returning online friends, "It's always great to see you again!

image source

Standard Disclaimer for Fiction

This is a work of fiction.

Any resemblance to persons, places, things, global monetary policy and governmental financial management is purely a coincidence.

Special thanks to Mike Maloney from goldandsilver.com and Philip K. Dick.

Mike Maloney's work on the Stages of Empire was the monetary model used to write this story.

And PKD's "Ships-as-sentient AIs" brilliant creations is what "JaiChai -The Ship" attempts to mimic here.

The Torum Chronicles, Book I: The Torumnaachii, Real Money and the "7 Stages of Empire"

Over 450,000 years ago, the progenitors of the human race, the Torumnaachii (meaning: Teachers from the sky - the Torum Nebula) taught early Man the complexities of becoming civilized.

Everything we know about civilization - and I mean everything - came from the Torumnaachii.

Our present day mathematics, spoken and written language, plant cultivation, animal husbandry, legal contracts, marriages and divorces, astronomy, science, the 60-second minute and the 60-minute hour, etc. is the result of the intentional transfer of knowledge and technology by the Torumnaachii.

Arguably, the most significant idea that they gave us was the thing that literally put the "civil" in "civilization": the concept of money; specifically, the role of "real money" in local, regional, cross-border and international commerce.

Having eons of experience in planetary terraforming, DNA manipulation and empire building, the Torumnaachii explained in detail how monetary policy and practices affect the "7 Stages of Empire".

Etched on thousands of Torumnaachii cuneiform tablets is this simple, yet ominous warning:

"For many reasons, the demise of all empires begins with the insidious erosion of 'real money'. And when real money no longer exists, the death of the empire is inevitable."

The 7 Stages of Empire

#1 The Real Money Era; a time of progress in all aspects of the empire. The economy is rock solid. People are industrious, accumulating wealth and happy.

That's because financial transactions are done with "Real Money"; that is, money possessing the following characteristics and functions: durability, portability, acceptability, limited supply, divisibility and uniformity; serving well as a medium of exchange, a store of value, a unit of account, and a standard of deferred payment.

(This is when empire hubris kicks in.)

#2 Escalating Social Programs, public monuments and the creation of thousands of labyrinthine and kafkaesque bureaucracies take big bites out of the empire's Treasury.

#3 Massive Military Growth is implemented for further expansion.

#4 Perpetual War is not only prevented but instigated with covert "Black Flag" operations.

#5 Debasement of its currency to fund the social programs, public buildings and of course, continual wars soon becomes the norm.

#6 Eventually, the horrible economy resulting from decades of deficit spending leads to empire-wide distrust of its currency, mass hysteria in every business sector, bank runs and riots, cascading shut-downs of all stock and bond markets and finally, total financial collapse.

#7 Death of the empire.

If the people and planet survive the aftermath, potentially there will be a global financial reset, a new monetary system and a savage free-for-all to become the next dominant empire.

But if the planet is no longer habitable, only those with the foresight and extreme wealth will board the "Galactic Noah's Ark", search for the nearest planet hospitable to human life and hopefully, play the role of the new Torumnaachii in "Genesis 2.0".

(^images by author and @alwimc - Torum.com)

May you and yours be well and love life today.

In lak'ech, JaiChai.

"Really Appreciate You Stopping By. Truly hope to see you again!"

And if you liked my post, kindly Upvote, Comment and Follow.

This is YOUR TORUM INVITATION!

image by author

About the Author:

Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life – while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic.

In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he performed high altitude, free-fall parachute jumps and hazardous diving ops in deep, open ocean water.

(image source)

After 24 years of active duty, he retired in Asia.

Since then, he's been a full-time, single papa and actively pursuing his varied passions (Writing, Disruptive Technology, Computer Science and Cryptocurrency - plus more hobbies too boring or bizarre for most folk).

He lives on an island paradise with his girlfriend, teenage daughter and three dogs.

(image source)

(JaiChai 4-5-2021. Simultaneous multi-site submissions posted. All rights reserved.)