Andromeda 22 was seen as a glowing ball of fire after it's sudden
and unexplainable appearence to the surprise of Earth's astronomers
and scientists.
You could barely see it as a small red spot with your eyes, but
through Earth's best observatory on the island of Lunai, not far
from Hawaii, it could be observed with careful and powerful
strength.
The Soviet republic and the United States of America had been
cooperating with space exploration for a long time, to reach
further together without unnecessary and often dangerous
competition.
When the space station SATCON 7 was built, the cooperation became
stronger than before. Seven Americans and nine Soviets now worked
together on the station, placed near one of Jupiter's many moons,
IO.
Steve Spingleman was one of the astronomers and scientists who now
had gathered at the observatory to, if not exchange theories about
A-22, to start a cooperation to get much closer to it.
China was the nation that had a space station closest to A-22,
right between the planet and Earth. The station, ZUR, wasn't manned
but was built to handle a crew of five. The distance was a major
factor. Journeys from the Earth to the station, whichever it would
be, would demand large amounts of money in transportation and
communication. If ZUR was to be used, the costs were cut to half
comparing to if they were to use SATCON 7, because it was placed on
the other side of A-22, between A-22 and Jupiter.
Communication was the second most important factor. If you could
cut the distance in half, you also cut the delay in time in half.
The delay was a major problem when working with these incredible
distances. Of course plasma energy was used which almost reached
lightspeed, but the delay could still be about two hours if they
used SATCON 7 instead of just one hour or less with ZUR.
The third factor was the crew. China had many of Earth's best
astronomers, but ZUR could only take five persons. SATCON 7 took
fifteen...
Fifteen minutes after I had put the phone down the error-test of
The Metro was complete. Through my home-built error-checking system
I found a small but not harmless fault. A quick change of the
vaacum-freezed number generator that handled the identification-
process with XX EXPRESS modems and everything seemed to work
allright.
A quick look at the watch told me that I wouldn't be able to try
The Metro the same day. "School" was about to start and with it an
essay which I'd forgotten. The subject was "Computer fear in the
20th century". Info Addict was bound to have what I was looking for,
so I called it up and started to go through the massive bank of
information.
Computer Anarchists, Computers & Cooking, Computer Evacuations, ah,
Computer Fear! A large file of 150 pages plus thirteen other files
covering subjects not close, but close enough to Computer fear.
I lazered them over and copied a little bit of each file into one,
made a few changes and ended up with an 80-page essay in six
minutes. Sure, it wasn't very honest, but when everything's already
written, and is accessible, why bother to write it again? You get
my point? Well, I fed my essay into the school-drome and got the
result 10 seconds later with an "A". The "School" took about two
hours, then it was time for dinner and after that, the beach party.
No, I hadn't forgot about Megan. That was exactly what I was
thinking about.
_______________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER THIRTEEN CHAPTER THIRTEEN
___________________________2 COMPUTERS, ALL IN ONE_____________________________
Spingleman's assignment was to build the computer that would handle
the journey, most of the observations and even be able to handle
the whole operation itself if it was necessary, but the time-delay
factor made it almost impossible, but only "almost". The computer
would need instructions from Earth and quick decisions was crucial,
the slightest mistake could ruin the operation. Human assistance
would therefor take care of that problem.
Spingleman could stake all his knowledge on that the computer would
manage all predictable and unpredictable situations even without
human help, but everyone didn't share his trust in computers, so
they decided on human assistance as a "safety net".
When Spingleman had been contacted by the WSA three weeks ago, he
had been working on the GCEC project, but had to drop that for the
new computer. Now three weeks later, his standard prototype,
connected with a couple of XX EXPRESS modems to the telephone net
back home had been upgraded so it contained both projects. His
customers were delighted to try out not one, but two new computers
at the same time, adding their wants and needs to their lists from
both computers.
Of course, this was only known to himself and his customers,
because no-one else had access to the prototype, or at least SHOULD
have access to it.
_______________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER FOURTEEN CHAPTER FOURTEEN
_______________________________BEACH PARTY PANIC_______________________________
Dinner was quickly finished and it was time to walk down to the
beach and the party. It had started about an hour ago, but would
surely last the whole night so I didn't need to hurry, and.. then
it was that thing with Megan..
Ten minutes later I was at the beach with a large drink in my hand.
I noticed my sister and her friends but not Megan. Maybe she'd been
held-up and couldn't come? Well, I managed to find a couple of my
friends and sat down to talk a bit. It was Rob (Robert, who shared
my interest in computers), Patrick, generally called The Professor
because he could always come up with the most unusual and hard-to-
get facts just like he had added another 20-Terrabyte HD to his
brain. Then there was Mimi, whom I had grown up with and her friend
Marcelline who I didn't know too well.
We sat there and talked about everything. The party, the latest
rumors, well, whatever came up. After a while we needed some new
drinks, so we decided to walk around and see what was happening on
the beach. A couple of bands played and we stayed for a moment to
listen, and then started to walk towards the big fireplace.
Right after the end of the meeting, the very impatient Dr Spingleman
was called to the WSA presidential's office. His office, placed at
the top of the magnificent SPACE COMMISSION building was The largest
office in the whole building, because it covered the complete top.
The building was described as a 220 meter high black building, made
of the material found on the Moon a couple of years earlier. The
material, called 'Lunar' was the latest word in strength and it
didn't reflect any light. The sunlight that hit the building was
absorbed and converted into pure energy. The building therefor
didn't need outside sources to get light, heat, or power for it's
massive amount of electronics. It was a magnificent sight.
Big black doors (in the 3m class) opened when the guard recieved the
word to let Spingleman in. Behind the doors, a man sat with his back
turned against Spingleman in a big black chair. The man seemed to
enjoy a good cigar of the latest artificial tobacco-free brands.
When Spingleman got closer he recognized the worried look of his old
friend, staring out a big black window, and seemed to be far away.
- Frank?, Spingleman said clearing his throat.
- Steve! I'm glad you could make it. Sit down, sit down.
Frank Stechnykov's troubled look vanished, replaced by warmth and
frankness.
- It must have been..., Stechnykov hesitated, 10 years? Well, time
really flies!
- No no, Steve said making himself comfortable in a big black chair,
it'll be 15 years next year, but you're still the same. The only
change I notice is that round...
- Hahaha, Stechnykov thundered, You know Jeanie's food is unresistable.
It's really good to see you again Steve, he said and commented
Spinglemans beard with just as much irony.
After they'd covered what had happened the last 15 years, Stechnykov
started to come to the reason why Spingleman hadn't been cleard to
attend the meating earlier that day.
- China wants to do research by themselves, and have no intentions to
let us in on it or to cooperate. He puffed a few rings of smoke before
he continued. The Operation must therefor be run from SATCON 7, as you
already know, which makes the whole thing much more complicated, plus
the competition that surely will be dangerous. It isn't just the
increased distance...
Stechnykov had that worried look again. He raised from his chair and
pressed a black button on his desk. Spingleman's chair rotated 90
degrees, facing a big black wall. Stechnykov went up to the wall and
turned to Spingleman.
- What you're about to see is classified and has top priority in
top security issues. This is, as you will see, a very delicate
situation. Everything said in this room from now on must stay here.
Spingleman nodded and Stechnykov pressed another black button. The
room was now totally black. Big black shutters covered the windows
and not a shread of light could enter the room. A big CCVS Screen
(Computer Crystal VideoScreen) lit up with a picture of SATCON 7.
A voice started to tell the story.
_______________________________________________________________________________
END OF THE BIG SYSTEM - VOL.2 - VERSION 1
_______________________________________________________________________________
Even more Questions, & more Questions
-------------------------------------
* What the hell is going on?
* What about that BIG system?
* Why didn't we get some answers about Marielle?
* What happens with Megan?
* Can you eat it?
* Smoke it?
* What is the number to Info Addict?
* Is this going to be another Space story?
* No sign of the missing Engineers?
* Why is Public Enemy simply The Best?
We can answer the last one right now: Because!
Get the next Volume of The BIG System, and you'll will have the answers!
ONLY from uXu - Underground eXperts United!
