The Diary of Man (Sci Fi)

I completely forgot I've written so much of this. Forced myself to bring it to some kind of a stopping point. I keep meaning to write stories within this setting, but I never get around to it. Seriously, this thing has been around since early 2002.

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The Diary of Man

From the diary of Albert Drexler
Luna Colony 2097:
Ragnarok

   After piecing together the remnants and clues left over after Ragnarok, we were able to figure out this much:

   Ragnarok occurred early in the year 2024. Back then, nobody was sure who started it. We think we know, however. It was all the result of a computer virus. Perhaps Cosmic Irony is responsible for little and seemingly insignificant things becoming so deathly important. A businessman takes a different route to work, and is hit by a car. A foreign exchange student is violently ill, and misses his flight home, on a doomed plane that suffers massive mechanical failure and explodes in a fireball. A micrometeorite hits a Stovetop shuttle, and the resulting hairline fracture expands to destroy it. And a thirteen-year-old “script kiddy” wanna-be hacker released a virus onto the Internet, which caused the end of civilization on earth, throwing us back to a virtual stone age. He didn’t consider the eventual results of the virus.

   It really was a clever virus, cobbled together from bits of code the hacker grabbed from various illegal websites. It was sent out as a hidden attachment to an email, the subject line of which was “Emergency: from your mother”. Practically anyone whose mother wasn’t already dead or otherwise accounted for opened the email. They expected it to be from their mother, who perhaps couldn’t reach them any other way. Once opened, the virus was automatically downloaded onto the user’s system. It slipped past anti-virus programs like they weren’t even there, and once in, performed two operations before deleting itself. First, it sent itself to any address in the user’s address book, and also to any address that had email to, or been emailed to, by the user over the last 3 months. Then, it locked up the user’s system, resulting in a custom error message entitled “Noobs suck! An yore komputir’s bin hakked by the niteVipr!” which duplicated itself constantly until endless annoying error messages filled the entire monitor. It then deleted itself completely, leaving the error messages and a frozen system. Shutting off the computer, and restarting it again was the only way to get rid of the virus’ messages.

It spread like lightning, and was in the military computers of countries all around the world before an hour had passed. And here was where things really got ugly. Over the last few months, the global scene had been heating up. Diplomatic incident after diplomatic incident resulted in a whole lot of saber rattling. A handful of military advisors in many of the nuclear powers developed the “Lockdown Attack” theory. They believed that, with so much of the nuclear defense program controlled by computers, an enemy nation might try to hack into the computers and lock them up, thus leaving that country helpless before an assault by its enemies. This idea gained popularity, and a few changes were made, chiefly in the Chinese and Russian militaries. If the computers suddenly and inexplicably locked up, the missile crews in their silos were to assume that this was a precursor to invasion, and launch immediately. Once American intelligence agencies learned of this development, they decided in shadowy meeting behind closed doors that the country’s enemies might fake a hacking attempt on themselves, and use that excuse to launch against the U.S. With that theory in mind, the defense community decided to launch a nuclear strike at the first sign of an enemy launch.

As could be expected, when the "Noob" virus hit Chinese and Russian computers, they assumed because of its (admittedly poor) English that it had come from either the United States or Britain. Which, in a way, was true. The Russians and Chinese military increased their threat postures in preparation for the inevitable American attack. The Americans, seeing this, increased their own threat posture, even going so far as to put bombers in the air, and warm up the silos. Russia and China saw this as proof the Americans were just about to attack, and decided to launch a pre-emptive strike. Then it got ugly.

The Russians and Chinese had never really trusted each other, and the U.S. didn’t trust any of them. So the Russians launched long-range nukes from submarines and silos against the U.S., and medium-range nukes from bombers and mobile launchers against the Chinese. The Chinese launched long-range nukes against the U.S., and medium-range nukes from cruise missiles against the Russians. The U.S. launched long-range nukes from silos at the Chinese and the Russians, and followed those up with long-range bomber strikes. India and Pakistan panicked, and launched nukes at each other. The British and American Navies, who were performing exercises in the Persian Gulf, launched nuclear cruise missiles against the Chinese. The Iranians, who were understandably alarmed by the nuclear cruise missiles flying over their country on their way to China, launched a few of their own missiles at the British and American navies. Iraq panicked then, thinking that Iran might use this as a reason to nuke them, and they launched pre-emptive short-range strikes on Iran, who had just barely enough time to launch against Iraq. The rest of the Middle Eastern nations then destroyed Iraq, who might have turned on them next. The Israelis, who saw the sudden military mobilizations around them, but were unaware of the Iran/Iraq destruction, then panicked and nuked the countries around them. The mid-East peace process was made forever irrelevant when Islamic terrorist organizations concealed in Israel, who had suspected for a while that Israel would do something like that, set off a number of old suitcase nukes that had been concealed in Israel for some time. And that was pretty much the end of it.

To be fair, the entire world hadn’t been destroyed. The EMP pulse from the thermonuclear explosions was large enough to affect the entire planet, and it rendered anything with unshielded circuitry or magnetic recordings useless. Most of Asia and North America was glowing rubble, and the prevailing winds brought the massive fallout clouds into Europe and Africa, killing off pretty much everything there that had escaped the clash of titans. There were scattered survivors in isolated mountain communities across those continents, and Switzerland escaped entirely, as the mountains kept virtually all the fallout out of their country. But Switzerland, at the first sign of trouble, had blown the mineshafts, and they weren’t going anywhere until they were sure the coast was clear. South America was the only continent that remained virtually untouched, except of course for their having a lot of fried technology. The fallout from North America had been dispersed over the oceans, and from around Panama down, everyone was pretty much in good shape. In addition, South America was spared, by the northward blowing of the Gulf Stream, from the nuclear winter that struck the rest of the world when the dust of obliterated civilization rose in the air. And so South America, which had never really been very loud on the global scene, was now suddenly the most prosperous and advanced region on earth. As such, the task of rebuilding the world and ensuring the survival of humanity fell on their shoulders. They, however, weren’t interested. Luckily for humanity, SoPreK was prepared for such a contingency.

From the diary of William Drexler
3 years after Ragnarok day:
The Project

We were smart. We saw this coming, and prepared.

I have decided to write a diary for a number of reasons. First, the story needs to be told. Secondly, SoPreK believes that knowledge should be preserved, both before and after the nuclear catastrophe.

SoPreK, the Society for the Preservation of Knowledge, was widely considered before Ragnarok to be nothing more than a group of harmless kooks and survivalist loons. Composed of about a hundred people, many of whom hailed from careers in science and engineering, they had long expected something like Ragnarok would happen. SoPreK was formed almost 20 years before Ragnarok. It was just five people then, five people who decided that, come what may, they wouldn’t let what Earth had learned through the centuries be forgotten.

For 5 years, as SoPreK gained members of similar mindsets, they brainstormed, trying to think of how they could achieve their goals. Finally, in 2009, they realized what they should do. Dubbed simply “The Project”, it took another 5 years to design and build. Finally, 7 years before Ragnarok, it was complete, and it was put into use.

The Project was a massive underground complex, located in a remote region of the Rockies. During its construction, it was jeered and mocked as being a fool’s errand, and was considered the work of a bunch of paranoid alarmists. After its completion, the public lost interest, and it was essentially forgotten, except by the diligent members of SoPreK. The Project was a full ½ mile beneath the surface, with its subterranean levels extending for another 20 floors below that. The area it was constructed in had a great deal of naturally occurring lead and iron, and addition lead shielding was added to increase protection from radiation. It was designed simply as a self-contained repository for knowledge of all sorts and on all mediums, complete with living quarters for the “librarians”. Gigantic computers with memories measured in Terabytes contained all of the world’s literary works, and they automatically updated themselves daily. There are massive storerooms devoted to CDs, mini-discs, DVDs, videos, books, newspapers, magazines, and even cassette tapes. Any equipment or medium of information that could be harmed by an EMP (like the EMP that screwed the rest of the world) was kept in shielded containers, just as the books and newspapers were kept in hermetically sealed waterproof boxes. Blueprints and design instructions for virtually all the inventions Earth had seen were stored on data disks, including all information pertinent to humanity’s space program. The only things missing from The Project is information on weapons. From swords and clubs to missiles and nukes, and just about everything in between, SoPreK decided it would rather not rebuild civilization only to destroy it again.

The Project does, however, have massive oxygen-producing hydroponics gardens, as well as a small (very small, in fact) zoo of the animals most useful to humanity. This chiefly means one bull and 5 cows, one ram and 5 ewes, one rooster and 5 hens, a pair of sheepdogs, a pair of cats, and even a few species of fish in carefully controlled breeding ponds.

Power was provided by, ironically enough, a small nuclear power plant. The fusion power plant was built into a foothill near the Project’s entrance, creating a visual effect similar to a steaming volcano. A single well-shielded tunnel connected the plant to the Project, and a second tunnel led from the plant to a site well away from the Project, where any radioactive waste from the plant was stored.

It was a massive undertaking, but after finally setting everything up, SoPreK's members cheerfully moved in and shut the door behind us. While we maintained contact with the outside world, we mostly devoted themselves to self-improvement. We had all the knowledge of humanity locked in with us, and many of us are qualified college-level teachers and professors. In addition to learning “book smarts”, we also used the information they had on martial arts to develop their bodies to their fullest. Not only that, but if a SoPreK member needs entertainment, he has all the movies in the world to choose from, and a virtually unlimited selection of music as well. And when those became tiring, there is always the freedom of the 5 Holo-Rooms.

The SoPreK project had plenty of room to grow, so the act of procreation was not restricted. The married couples haven't had a lot of kids, but it is important to have some. Our children's children will be the ones to repopulate the world, whether it is our world or another. A number of us brought children with us as well. As an added precaution, we are storing sperm and ova from our species and others to use, when and if they are needed.

So for about 6 years, SoPreK sat underground, as its members became some of the smartest, most knowledgeable, and most physically fit people on Earth. Every so often a small team would head out for supplies, as SoPreK considered it best to conserve its resources until an actual emergency arose. That emergency, once unthinkable, happened on the day of Ragnarok. We had just enough time to seal the doors and get below, before all contact with the outside world was cut off. Before, we had had access to television, radio, and the Global Internet. As we watched horrified from half a mile underground, the television feed from L.A. went out, followed shortly by San Francisco, Washington D.C., New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and then every screen became static as the EMP rolled in an instant over the country. Shocked, the hundred or so members of SoPreK turned off our radios and televisions for the last time, and elected to stay sealed underground for the next five years. After five years, we decided, we can send teams out onto the surface and survey the extent of the damage. For the time being, our job is to protect the knowledge of Earth. Afterwards, we can work on re-building it.

So I continue my day-to-day grind, of both caring for the animals and teaching General History. And, like everyone else in The Project, I eagerly await the Fifth Year. Just two years left.

From the diary of William Drexler
4 years after Ragnarok day:
The SoPreK Project

Today, Jonathan Cole, Project Leader, stood up to address a gathering of the SoPreK team members. The following is an excerpt from his speech.

“We are now one year from Exit Year. As we know, most of the nuclear stockpiles before Ragnarok had radioactive elements with a fairly short half-life. By the fifth year, virtually all the harmful radiation should be gone. Outside of that, we have no real idea what to expect. It’s safe to assume that, due to the lethal destructive power of pre-Ragnarok nuclear weapons, an overwhelming majority of life on earth is gone. The only place where it may remain in any abundance, according to our best estimates, is in South America. That is where the first survey teams will go.”

From “Humanity’s Recovery and Expansion”, by Theodore Drexler (Phobos Press, 2157):

Meanwhile, in South America, sweeping changes had occurred since the day of Ragnarok. The countries of South America, after seeing what happened to the rest of the world, came together in horrified unity. Country lines were dissolved, and an interim government for the entire continent was formed, while a method of self-government was deliberated upon. Finally, three years after Ragnarok, the New American Congress was established. It took three years for the interim government to divide the continent into districts with equal representation.

The general mindset in New America, 4 years after Ragnarok, was that the EMP pulse that destroyed their technology was an “act of God”. They believed that mankind’s arrogance and lust for more and better technology was the reason the world was “cleansed” in the nuclear fires. They believed that God (or the gods, depending on whom you talked to) had, for reasons unknown, spared the people of South America. The EMP pulse was a divine act to further drive home the point that technology was evil, and to be avoided and rejected. From time to time, wooden scout ships set out from the coast, to see if any humans were left in the world that had also been spared. Few returned, and those that did told fantastic tales of sea monsters; Undoubtedly genetic mutations that resulted from the radioactive fallout. After a while, the people of New America settled into a primitive, idyllic life, returning to the ways of their forefathers of old. They could not suspect that soon the SoPreK project would open up, and even if they knew, they would not have been terribly interested.

When the SoPreK scouts of our forefathers first left their underground sanctuary to explore the ruined world, they weren’t sure what to expect from the survivors. It is certain that the casual uncaring indifference they received was the least likely expected response.

From the Diary of William Drexler
4 years, 11 months after Ragnarok; Opening Day preparations:
The SoPreK Project

A month before Opening Day, final preparations were being made. It was decided to send an exploratory survey team of seven volunteers in radiation gear onto the surface. I have decided to go on this mission, as I must document first-hand for History what is found on the outside. We will take the horses, until such time as we find a working automobile. The others on the survey team are Ted Green (Electrician), Joshua Robinson (Nuclear Plant Maintenance), Timothy Gatton (Doctor), Glen Perrigo (Pilot), Kiyoshi Takei (Martial Arts), and Joel Norden (Mechanic). We will take readings of residual surface radiation, and see if the predicted nuclear winter has occurred or is occurring. We will also search for survivors, of any species.

From the Diary of William Drexler
5 years after Ragnarok
The SoPrek Project

To commemorate Opening Day, a plaque has been made, listing the names of all adult members of the Project, including those that reached maturity while in the Project. The plaque will list also their jobs, and the names of the Project’s child members. I am including for posterity’s sake a printed version of the plaque to be placed outside the Project’s entrance:

Nos Supersto - We survived
Adult SoPreK members (including those that reached adulthood during the Closing):
Anderson, John; Genetics (Specialty: Animal Genetic Engineering)
Atkins, Michelle; Astronomy
Baker, Linda; General Botanist
Bailey, Ronald; Advanced Computer Sciences
Bozeman, Tyler; (Computer) Network Administrator
Bryant, Simon; Nuclear Plant Operator
Bryant, Kellie; Teacher (4th – 12th grade)
Chen, Li; Chinese Martial Arts Instructor
Chen, Zhan; Botany (Specialist: Grains)
Cohen, Abraham; Computer Construction Professional
Cole, Jonathan; Project Leader
Cole, Samantha; Advanced Social Sciences
Cole, Nathan; Robotics
Cole, Jessica; Physics
Dimmick, Scott; Structural Engineer
Dimmick, Leslie; Botanist (Specialty: Hydroponics)
Dimmick, Cynthia; Data Entry
Drexler, William; Historian
Drexler, Elizabeth; Food Prep
Du, Xiang; Nuclear Plant Maintenance
Du, Ling; Teacher (Preschool-3rd grade)
Everett, Jacqueline; Astrophysics
Fairchild, Samuel; General Botanist
Fairchild, Alyssa; Agriculture
Fugita, Hiroshi; Robotics
Fugita, Chika; Software Programmer
Gatton, Timothy; Doctor
Gatton, Emily; Advanced Biology
Gatton, Theodore; Genetics (Specialty: Cloning)
Gatton, Amanda; Radiation Shielding Expert
Gavigan, Jonas; Nuclear Physicist
Gavigan, Alexi; Genetics (Specialty: Cloning)
Gavigan, Allison; Genetics (Specialty: Plant Genetic Engineering)
Green, Ted; General Mechanic
Haberland, Joseph; Electrician
Haberland, Sophia; Botany (Specialty: Grains)
Jaramillo, Daniel; Construction
Jaramillo, Melissa; Astrophysics
Knapp, Thomas; Waste Disposal
Knapp, Stephanie; Librarian
Malewitz, Andrew; Thermodynamics
Malewitz, Rachel; Doctor
Malewitz, Isaac; Electrician
Malewitz, Sheila; Food Prep
McAllister, Paul; Software Programmer
Miller, Ryan; Plumber
Nichols, Erin; Computer Systems Maintenance
Nobes, Adam; Construction
Nobes, Kaitlyn; Botany (Specialty: Hydroponics)
Norden, Joel; General Mechanic
Norden Alicia; Agriculture
Parker, Hannah; Computer Systems Maintenance
Perrigo, Robert; Nuclear Physicist
Perrigo, Rebeka; General Botany
Perrigo, Glen; Pilot
Pulaski, Sarah; Rocket Science
Robinson, Joshua; Nuclear Plant Maintenance
Robinson, Ashley; Plant Operator
Salvador, Rodney; Computer Construction Professional
Smith, Jennifer; College-Level Education Guide
Smith, Martin; Rocket Science
Taggart, Matthew; Advanced Mathematics
Taggart, Megan; Software Programmer
Takei, Kiyoshi; Japanese Martial Arts Instructor
Takei, Hataru; Horticulturist
Wardner, Irvin; Waste Disposal
Zamenski, Dmitri; Nuclear Plant Structural Engineer
Zamenski, Sandra; Physics
Zhao, Chin; Robotics
Zhao, Mei; Botanist (Specialty: Hydroponics)
Our future, our children:
Bryant, Keagan
Chen, Yin
Cole, Elissa
Cole, Laura
Dimmick, Susan
Drexler, Michael
Drexler, Alice
Du, Chang
Fairchild, Anna
Fugita, Chikako
Gatton, Milton
Gatton, Amber
Gavigan, Bruce
Haberland, Brad
Haberland, Laura
Jaramillo, Phoenix
Knapp, Ethan
Malewitz, Reuben
Norden, Katherine
Norden, Mary
Robinson, Tim
Robinson, Natalie
Smith, Xavier
Smith, Bridget
Taggart, Winston
Taggart, Jasmine
Takei, Akira
Zamenski, Titus

From the Diary of William Drexler
5 years after Ragnarok, Opening Day events:
Outside the Project

We left with a minor amount of fanfare. After donning protective gear, a crowd gathered before the freight elevator to watch us enter and ascend to the surface. As the doors closed, we heard clapping and cheering. The freight elevator doors opened again, this time a half mile higher then they were. We were in the Project freight entrance, a large double-walled metal vault. It even has an old metal wheel on the large heavy door that must be turned if the door is to be opened. Glen pushes the elevator button, and it goes back down to get our rides, which are being sent in the elevator 2 at a time. After the elevator descends, Kiyoshi took a deep breath, before spinning the metal wheel to open the door. Slowly it hinges outward. With our Geiger counter, we take a reading of the radiation. There is much less then expected, and not enough to cause a health risk. At least, not directly outside the Project. One can only guess what we will find later. The first thing we really notice is how cold it has become. Despite it being late summer, there is already app 8 cm of snow accumulated outside, and the sky is gray and overcast. Perhaps there was some truth to the nuclear winter theory.

Before long, all the horses have arrived. We feed them their radiation antidote pills, lead them outside, and mount them. Timothy Gatton, the unofficial leader of our team, decides to go south, as he remembers a closed-down Air National Guard base being within 40 miles of the Project. He speculates that there may be unharmed surplus trucks and jeeps, of such an age that the EMP pulse would not have severely damaged them. There is a dirt road leading south (the one used when the Project was being built, but it has mostly fallen into disuse), and we take it.

From the Diary of William Drexler
Opening Day +5
Rockies ANG base

Tim’s hunch paid off. After traveling south slowly, taking samples and notes the whole time; we found a road leading to the old Guard base. There we found a wealth of equipment. Among our finds were a few surface tanks still full of fuel, several 2 and ½ ton military freight trucks (“Deuces”), a few Korean War era Jeeps, and an actual plane (found in the small military museum on the Base). Admittedly it is an antique, a WW2 era P-51, but it is in good shape. Our mechanic thinks he can get it operational in a few days, and then Glenn will use it to scout the land much more efficiently then we could on horseback. We decide to clean the facility up, and use it as a surface base for exploration.

From the Diary of William Drexler
3 months after Opening Day
SoPreK Surface Exploration Center (old ANG base)

Twenty of us now are staffing SoPreK-SEC. We have established fiber-optic cable communication with the Project, and Glenn is conducting daily scouting trips in the P-51. Nathan Cole and Hiroshi Fugita have moved into SoPreK-SEC, and have built a small-scale robotic factory. The Science Team is reviving research begun in the late 20th century concerning nanite technology, but for the time being our small robotic plant does the job. Finding a source of power wasn’t easy. The local grids, of course, are down. The Solar Generators, thanks to the haze of dust and frequent winter storm clouds, aren’t terribly effective. We want to conserve our stores of gasoline, so the gas generators on the base are out as well. Windmills would produce some power, but not as much as we need, and we don’t have time to build them. The same is true for hydroelectric power. On top of that, we don’t have access to coal or natural gas. That leaves nuclear power. We scavenged power cables from the surrounding mountainous countryside, and set up a power conduit between the Project and the SEC. Now we have plenty of power, at least for the time being. The nuclear specialists and the electricians are trying to design a small, safe, powerful, and portable nuclear plant. It is ironic that nuclear power, the force that destroyed humanity, may also turn out to be its salvation. If we are lucky.

A camera built by the robot factory records Glen’s scouting trips in the P-51. When he gets back, our computers, to locate probable resource stockpiles and even survivor enclaves, analyze the images. So far we have located a few supplies, but no sign of any life. Even the trees are slowly dying, those that were sufficiently concealed by the mountains to avoid being destroyed in the first fiery blasts. So far we have only found a few living animals, and even those show dangerous mutations that will soon result in the extinction of their species. Like so many others. Between the lethal doses of radiation received by anything on the surface during Ragnarok, and the lack of light due to the dust cloud, and the slowly encroaching glaciers, North America will soon be un-inhabitable, a frozen empty wasteland.

In the post-Ragnarok rush of tumultuous weather, a significant portion of the Artic Ice cap (and maybe the South Pole’s as well, we haven’t gone that far south yet) melted quickly. This precipitated a rapid increase of the glaciers creeping down the globe. It soon re-froze, but by that time the glaciers had scoured most of Canada, and across the border into what was once Montana and Idaho. Now it seems that the glacial shelf will continue south because the weather keeps growing cold. During the late 19th, 20th, and early 21st century, the hydrocarbons being released into the air by “big industry” made mean temperatures too hot for the glaciers to get very far. It appears now that Humanity’s willingness to pollute was the only things keeping the ice pack at bay. Now Humanity is gone, and the dust cloud has lowered the temperature sufficiently. The glaciers are having a field day, and are marching steadily south at a frightening rate at a rate of 8 miles each year. SoPreK has about 40 years before the glacial shelf covers the Project, and we will need a new home well before that time.

The P-51 flights have found a few locations where it seems that a handful of people survived the blast. Sadly, the grain crops have died, most food stores were irradiated, others spoiled, and the food animals are dead. As such, those survivors starved to death or committed suicide inside of a year after Ragnarok. We have to find some way out of the ruins of the United States, or our group of a hundred holdouts will become a memory as well. Some of the scientists have fed the problem into the computer, and it appears that South America may have survived the worst of Ragnarok. There is a chance that it remains habitable. We will work then on organizing an expedition southward. Always southward.

   From the Diary of William Drexler
   2 years after Opening Day
   SoPreK-SEC

   The power problem will no longer be an issue. The Portable Nuclear Fusion Generator (PNFG) has been tested successfully and has been proven to provide a MW of power from a 3’x3’x3’ cube. This will make things much easier for us. The Robotics teams believe they are making progress with programmable nanites, and expect to have the technology polished within the next 5 years. We have few resources, but we have enough, and we have the intelligence and cunning to use them well. With the PNFGs completed, and the foldout personal shelters complete, we believe we are ready to begin the exploration south. A few more of our children have reached adulthood, and the mating restrictions have been loosened, if not lifted. We will need as many able-bodies adults as possible. The Hydroponics bays are being expanded into the living quarters of those who have moved onto the surface, thus allowing more food to be produced for more mouths. The Robotics team has had to borrow help from other teams, but they are working overtime to re-configure the robotic factory to produce Land Crawlers. Luckily, finding metals to work with isn’t a problem for us. There is plenty of worthless scrap metal left all around the countryside since Ragnarok, and the robotic factory recycles those metals to build new and more useful things.

   From the Diary of William Drexler
   3.5 years after Opening Day
   Southern Colorado

We completed the Land Crawlers, and began slowly rolling south. As we went, we scoured the ruined landscape for anything useful. Every little bit helps. We took the P-51 with us, after building drop tanks for it and adapting it to use them. This will greatly increase the range of the old WW2 workhorse. Glenn and Joel work on it almost every day, ensuring it stays operational and at peak performance. It’s really incredible, considering that plane must be 75 years old. When we get to what was Mexico, we’ll look for a deserted airstrip. The maps indicated that a promising one was near the southern border of New Mexico. From there we will launch the P-51. Glenn will fly south until he reaches the halfway point for his fuel supply, or until he finds life, whichever comes first. We expect to reach the airstrip in the next few days. While we’re gone, the science teams will continue work on the nanite project, and also on a flying machine project.

From the Diary of William Drexler
3 years and 7 months after Opening Day
Southern New Mexico, the Lucky Ace Private Airport

We found human life today. Glenn reported that the dust cloud peters out over El Salvador, and life begins on the south side of Panama, continuing into South America. He said that South America appears untouched by Ragnarok, except that nothing technological is operating. All he saw was a few primitive towns and village, and scattered farms. We also had something of a more unusual visitor today, from the SoPreK Project to the north. It looks like our scientists (and many of SoPreK’s members are scientists) have successfully finished a flying machine that operates off of a PNFG. Called the V-MAT, or Variable Mode Air Transporter, it has a number of ways of flying. It’s about the size of an old cargo helicopter, but it is slightly wider. It has rotors on top and can fly like a helicopter, it has wings and can fly like a plane, and it has hovering jets, to let it move across the ground, hovering at speeds up to 50 mph. It also, of course, has VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) capability, so it doesn’t need a runway. The pre-Ragnarok militaries would have loved to have one. Jet turbines permit it to travel over 125 mph in helicopter mode, and at speeds approaching Mach 1.5. It can carry ten people, and some equipment. The V-MAT makes the P-51 even more obsolete than it was, but Glenn plans to keep it operational for sentimental value. Tomorrow, the aging Project leaders will come here by V-MAT. The day after that, we will go to South America, and see if there is a government there that we can speak with.

From “Humanity’s Recovery and Expansion”, by Theodore Drexler (Phobos Press, 2157):

My ancestor went south with the SoPreK leaders, to speak to the South American government. In Old Panama, they saw on the ground a patrol of mounted troops. The troops became very excited when they saw the V-MAT, but they were afraid as well. To them, technology was a greater evil then any other they could imagine. The great Jonathan Cole was able to calm down their leader enough to find out what the state of things was, in South America. He found out about the New American Congress, and that it’s headquarters were in Rio de Janeiro.

It took the V-MAT only a few hours to get there. After locating a building that looked about right, the V-MAT set down, and discharged its envoy of SoPreK leaders. A fearful crowd surrounded the V-MAT, but all were afraid to come very much closer. It is a lucky thing that all members of SoPreK were multilingual (I mean, what else were they to do for 5 years?), and they spoke fluent Spanish. They were reluctantly granted admittance to the New American Congress, and they prepared to entreat that same Congress for a new home for SoPreK.

The meeting was a failure. Jonathan Cole and the other Project Founders were told, in no uncertain terms, that New America had no use for the evils of technology. Argument with them was impossible, and the SoPreK envoy left in frustration. Of course, SoPreK was sufficiently advanced that they could have simply created weapons of war, and stolen the land for themselves. However, this would have been against all they believed in.

A dejected envoy team returned to the SoPreK project, and a much more unhappy team began the slow return by Land Crawler. However, happier news met them halfway, and their course (and at the same time, Humanity’s course) was changed. Upon news of the failure in New America, searches had begun by computer for another way out of North America. A way was found off the dying planet Earth. And hope, yet again, sprang eternal.

From a brochure for “Industrial MetalCorp Solar Mining Industries”, dated 2022 (2 years before Ragnarok)

Here at MetalCorp, we believe in preserving the precious resources of the world. We also believe in humanity’s destiny, to expand into its own solar system. It’s not like there’s anyone else to claim it, right?
There is enough iron in an average size asteroid to provide the Earth with enough iron for decades, maybe even centuries. And there are other metal elements in the asteroids as well, and quite a few on the moon. MetalCorp is the only corporation on Earth to take a serious interest in mining the asteroids. In fact, we are currently working with civilian and government space agencies to build a robotic plant on the Moon, for processing the ores mined. But that’s not all! Here are just a few of the things that MetalCorp is doing for the future of humanity:
A Lunar science base, complete with hydroponics, research facilities, and living barracks
Funding for improvement of the space stations already in orbit, to serve as halfway points between Earth and the Lunar Base
Privatization of spacecraft construction and space travel
A ready supply of SSTO VTOL (“Stovetop”) –type shuttles, for cheap, easy, and environmentally sound transportation of people and cargo between Mother Earth and the Lunar Base
Prototype “Ore Bugs”; massive quick-moving freighters for mining and hauling metal ore from the asteroids to the Lunar Base
Robotic ore processing facility on Lunar Base
Robotic factories on Lunar Base
Metallurgical labs on Lunar Base
A safe and quiet Earth-side “space base”, in South Dakota; from which Stovetop shuttles can be stored and launched, all from our underground bunker. All the area residents need see is the metal doors of the launch facility, and the beautiful trail of fire as a Stovetop streaks towards orbit
Research towards the colonization and terra-forming of Mars, led by top scientists hired from NASA after it’s closure
As you can see, MetalCorp is the leader in Humanity’s future in the stars. And you too can be a part of it. Invest in, or apply for a job at, MetalCorp! Do it today, we may be in space tomorrow!

MetalCorp: Abscedo Terra, Accedo Astris - From the Earth, to the Stars

   From the Diary of William Drexler
   4 years after Opening Day
   Old MetalCorp base in South Dakota

   It seems that MetalCorp kept itself fairly under wraps, until its IPO in 2022. At this time we were already shut into the Project, and not paying much attention to the automatically recorded day-to-day things being written into the hard drives of our computers. It did surprise us that we had forgotten it so completely, but in retrospect, we were apparently too engrossed in the Project. Cynthia Dimmick found the brochure, with the aid of a search algorithm designed by Fugita Chika to find anything that may help us leave our dying Earth. The Land Crawlers, returning from New Mexico, detoured to South Dakota to investigate. What we found may well have ensured the future of the human race.

   It was all as the brochure said. The launch facility was intact, underground, and shielded against any radiation that may damage the precious avionics of the Stovetop shuttles. All it required was a power source, which we provided in the form of PNFGs. The base required a lot of cleaning, but when it was done, we were ready to send a scout team into space. Personnel not needed at the Project and SoPreK-SEC were given crash-courses in becoming an astronaut. As a Historian is hardly an essential job, I was among those chosen for the space expedition.

   The original prototype Stovetops ran on a mix of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen (LOX). MetalCorp made things even simpler. Since the two elements needed for shuttle propulsion were hydrogen and oxygen, and since those elements are readily found in water, all a Stovetop needed was water and JP-4. It is, on a larger scale, a replica of an experiment I did as a child. Splitting the hydrogen and the oxygen is a simple matter, involving only an airtight container for the water and an electrically charged piece of metal. Then (and this is what the JP-4 is used for) a turbo-expander, a miniature jet engine, compresses the hydrogen and the oxygen until it is liquefied. The MetalCorp base had plenty of tanks on hand, filled with water, liquid hydrogen, LOX, or kerosene. Not only that, but, as efficient as MetalCorp was, each Stovetop carried within it the mechanisms needed to convert water to liquid hydrogen and LOX. Kerosene was the only ingredient that a Stovetop could not easily provide for itself. Kerosene, being a petroleum product, simply requires crude oil for its production. We took the V-MAT on a flight over Texas, and found that many of the old oil wells there, which had fallen into disuse in the years before Ragnarok, were still functional. All we need is to build a small refinery, and that will only become an issue after we run out of kerosene, which will only be an issue after we run out of liquid hydrogen and LOX. So, according to our best estimates, we have a great deal of time still.

   My son, recently married to Chen Yin (Li and Zhan’s daughter), will also be accompanying us. I advised him not to leave his pregnant wife, but neither of them would here anything of it. He is sharp and quick, there is no doubt he’ll be a valuable asset.

   “What they found in space”, an essay by Billy Drexler
Miss Dimmick’s 4th echelon class
   March 25th, 2134, Phobos colony

   About 100 years ago, my ancestor, William (who I’m named after) and his son went into space to visit the stuff left there after the nuclear war. They found a bunch of bodies and stuff. William got sick and threw up in his helmet, which was then all gross and he had to wash it out. They found that MetalCorp had left a bunch of stuff in orbit and on Luna. Stuff like the Ore Bugs my daddy works on, and even more Stovetop shuttle then were found at the MetalCorp launching place on Earth.

   The old space buildings were still sturdy and stuff, but they needed to be cleaned, and the electricity had to come back on, and the air had to get made again. It took a bunch of years, but they got it done eventually.

   Since the glaciers were about to cover the Project, which had all sorts of genetic stuff and plants and animals and machines and books and all that, the Survivors had to take all that up into space so it’d be safe. They loaded everything up onto shuttles, and sent it into orbit. They put the plants into the special plant-growing buildings on Luna, and used the nanites to quickly build places for the animals (before they brought them up, of course). The stuff like books and videos and CDs they stored in big vaults. Since books don’t got to breathe, William Drexler and the other Survivors didn’t bother to pressurize those vaults. That also helped preserve the books.

   After a few years, the glaciers went and covered over the old Project on Earth. That didn’t matter though, because everyone was already in orbit. But after a while, people started having babies again, and they realized they needed to colonize more places. The Ore Bugs were bringing back metal from the asteroids. The Survivors used that metal to build more Ore Bugs, until they had plenty.

   And so, even though their old home was all cold and icy, the Survivors from SoPreK were able to get settled in space. Not only that, but we may be able to make Mars like Earth was, and soon! We already have homes on Phobos (like mine!) and Deimos, and the scientists are working on it all the time. And maybe someday we’ll go even farther, and get to meet aliens from other planets really really far away! That’d be great, I think!
The End

From the journal of Michael Drexler
Luna Colony, October 3rd, 2045

   We have finished nanotech research. It is truly revolutionary. Well, we may not have finished it per say, but the first generation is operational and ready to go. We will keep improving the technology, as will the nanites themselves.

   There are a number of things we intend to use them for. They’ll aid the terra forming of Mars, they’ll be used for medicine, and plans are in the works to include them in our interstellar travel program. We will also use them for fast construction and repair of our spacecraft, and for repair of our habitats. In fact, there is virtually nothing we can’t use the microscopic little workhorses for.

   However, nanites also have risks. If their programming is garbled for whatever reason, they may accidentally destroy a habitat instead of repairing it. They may kill someone instead of healing them. To that end, it has been decided that all further nanotech research will take place in a hollowed out asteroid designed and built for use as a research facility. If it is ever destroyed mysteriously, we will have a good idea of the accident’s cause.

   There are also plans being formed at this time for an interstellar FTL or relativistic near-FTL form of spacecraft propulsion. So far, the most promising choice appears to be a combination of Traversable Wormhole theory and Diametric negative matter drives. Both plans require negative matter, which we have (up to this point) only found rarely and in small amounts.

From the journal of Michael Drexler
   Luna Colony, February 19th, 2050

   The Glaciers rolled over the old Project today, where I grew up. We, the displaced technophiles of Earth, watched sadly from orbit. All of us (except the youngest children) spent over a decade of our lives there. Now it is gone, locked beneath the glacial shelf with a frightening permanence. To be sure, we didn’t lose much. We had plenty of advance warning. Two years ago, we finished bringing the last remnants of the Project up, and we shut down the reactor for the first and last time as we left. Everything we could, we salvaged from the Project. Everything is precious now.

   Between the Ore Bugs and the occasional Stovetop flights to Earth, we are virtually autonomous. Plans are in the works to, within a year, mine the comets as they pass by. This will provide for us all the water we could need, for the Stovetops, the plants, the animals, and ourselves. The only things we don’t have enough of is living space. While we have enough room now not to be crowded, we would like to again “be fruitful and multiply”, and for that you need a planet. We’ve been researching for some time the feasibility of terra-forming Mars. We think that may soon become a reality. Well, the start of the process anyway. We believe we can build giant machines for synthesizing atmosphere (and the appropriate gases therein that Earth life needs), but the process would take many years. The nanites may make that quicker, we haven’t tested them on a planetary scale.

Currently, the plan is to set up moon colonies on the Martian moons. The only difficulty with that is their size, as the largest (Phobos) is only a third the size of Luna. They are hardly better then asteroids, in fact, they are asteroids. Long ago they were captured from the asteroid belt by Mars’ gravity. Still, it will be good practice for us, as we will probably set up permanent mining and research facilities in the asteroid belt before too long. We will probably make our temporary home on Phobos, as it is the only one big enough. Even then, it is barely a fifth the size of the old Earth city of Phoenix. It will be little more then a home for the families of the Ore Bug pilots, and for the people involved in the terraforming project.

   It has, of course, come to our attention that we do not have a government of any sort. Instead, we are all driven by a desire for mutual survival. There has been talk of forming a government, based not on any country’s model from the past, but on that of an old Earth University. Certainly, with only about 200 of us out here, and all of us well-educated, it would not be difficult. While Ragnarok was a great tragedy, something that can be said for it is that it eliminated pretty much all the undesirables; the thugs, the dictators, the tyrants, the unscrupulous. Instead Humanity is being rebuilt by a group of puffed-up intellectuals. Well hey, at least with government grants a thing of the past, we don’t have to worry about funding. Instead, we are able to devote virtually all our energies to research and survival. The following projects are in progress:

Stovetop improvements
Ore Bug improvements
Nanotech improvements
Nuclear Fusion Technology improvements
Space-borne habitat improvement
Element restructuring
Negative Matter harvesting and synthesis
Martian Terraforming
FTL drive
Molecular re-structuring and reforming (thus enabling a pound of rock to be turned into a pound of food, and vice-versa)

These projects, if successful, will ensure Humanity’s survival. Perhaps we will even expand out to the stars.

SoPreK has made some changes to itself. First, it changed it’s name, from the Society for the Preservation of Knowledge, to the Organization of Displaced Earth People, or ODEP. ODEP then replaced it’s old motto, Nos Supersto. We have adopted instead MetalCorp’s abandoned motto, Abscedo Terra, Accedo Astris. We have also adopted a seal, or symbol. Of course, we don’t know who we expect to see the seal, but it will give the painters something to keep themselves busy. The seal of ODEP is a Stovetop shuttle, Hydro/LOX engines thundering, as it moves past a Lunar background. I think it looks quite nice.

From the journal of Michael Drexler
Phobos Outpost, 2055

We have sent down the first terra forming engines to Mars. In addition to the mighty atmosphere conversion machines, a number of nanites have been sent down. The nanites will do ground-level preparation, while the atmosphere conversion machines will create an artificial greenhouse effect (warming Mars) and also synthesize the other gases essential to breathable atmosphere. Preliminary projections are hopeful. Work was also completed on the Research Wing asteroids.

The hollowed out Research Wing asteroids will provide a setting, safe for the rest of humanity’s remnants, where research into hazardous technologies can be performed. Nanotech Medicine, molecular re-structuring, negative matter propulsion drives, and wormhole space travel will all be among the things studied there. Meanwhile, work continues on Luna Colony, to try and develop a reliable form of AI. This will be essential for deep space scout drone missions, when a scout drone will not be able to contact us.

From the journal of Michael Drexler
Phobos Outpost, 2057

I received word today from my sister on Luna Colony that AI v2.5 was completed today. Called the “personality image artificial intelligence” (or PIAI, or just PI), it duplicates a mind and creates an independent computer AI program in that mind’s image. Thusly, I could make a personality image of myself, and use him to handle my finances. It is not a new idea, and was covered quite a bit in sci-fi novels of the last century. However, it has taken us this long to get the bugs of the programs worked out. It is believed that the P.I. process could be combined with nanotech, to create a hive mind capable of acting independently (within a few restrictions, of course) that would use nanites like we use fingers.

My son Samuel returned from an Ore Bug mining mission today. He tells me that the Research Wing scientists have a prototype space-craft, equipped with a Diametric Drive, that they plan to test-fly soon. For this experiment, since they aren’t quite sure what the Diametric Drive will do to space around it, they will take themselves and the prototype, on a special refit ore-bug, out to somewhere between the orbits of Neptune and Pluto.

The Diametric Drive, as I understand it, has a fairly simple concept. The actual technical details are much cloudier, but the basic theory is as follows: A Diametric Field creates a local gradient (slant, slope) by combining two diametrically opposed forces across the space-craft. This then pushes the space-craft through space at incredible speeds, possibly meeting or exceeding Light Speed. There is a good chance that a PIAI will be used to pilot the prototype craft, in case there are any negative effects to life forms that we haven’t foreseen.

From the journal of Samuel Drexler
Research Wing remote facility, Charon, 2057

Today we had the first test flight of a Diametric Drive equipped spacecraft. It was a partial success. A cloned monkey was used in place of a human pilot, and the ship was remotely flown from the Charon research facility.

The Modified Ore Bug made .7 light speed, and was far out of remote control radio range before we could order it to return. Fortunately, we had pre-programmed the onboard computer to return if something like that happened.

There were no negative effects on nearby space, except for a brief rippling distortion that would pose a serious risk to any craft behind. The distortion quickly cleared up after the M.O.B. passed, and it was determined that the effect can be likened to the wake of an old Earth boat.

The problem with the Diametric Drive is with it’s effect on life forms. The Diametric Drive creates incredible amounts of EMF radiation, which cooks any life forms like a microwave, but doesn’t damage the ship itself, or its onboard circuitry. The monkey was toast. We are continuing to research a solution to the EMF problem. However, it looks like the easiest answer will be to combine Diametric Drives with Traversable Wormholes.

From the journal of Joshua Drexler
New Chicago, Dragonteeth (Draconis system)
2160

It has been a century now since the onset of the Great Expansion. The Alpha Centauri system, closest to Earth, was the first to be colonized. The CM Draconis system followed, and then Upsilon Andromedae after that. Now that Humanity has the spaceborne facilities in Sol System, and three habitable planets to live on, the expansion has slowed down somewhat. Birth rates, however, have shot right up, as humanity endeavors to fill the gaps it’s ingenuity makes.

So far, we have not found any other intelligent life in the universe. The relative similarities of the 3 systems we inhabit to our own have led us to believe that Earth really isn’t the rarity that scientists 2 centuries ago thought it was. Even though Dragonteeth, in the CM Draconis system, is simply a large moon orbiting the gas giant that orbits its star, it still has familiar type life forms. The mammals may typically have 6 appendages instead of 4, and the birds are egg-laying flying lizards, but the animals breathe oxygen, and plants breathe carbon dioxide. However, there is nothing more advanced on Dragonteeth then a local primate that resembles a 6 legged howler monkey. Perhaps the intelligent life killed itself off, and the planet is older then ours, or else the planet is younger then ours, and intelligent life hasn’t had time to evolve yet. Maybe, with us here, intelligent life will never evolve. That can’t be helped, we have just as much right to survive as anyone else, and we can’t help it if they aren’t intelligent “yet”. Perhaps after we move on, or destroy ourselves, or evolve further, the monkeys here will get their chance. That’s the way it is, I suppose.

ODEP continues to send out scouting and exploration missions. It has become known that, at some point, we may need to set up a system of government. The peculiar social makeup of spacegoing humanity, as a result of SoPreK’s original membership being a group of academics, means that we will has a social paradigm unlike anything seen before in history. We are driven by survival, and motivated to work for survival and the good of the community. We haven’t had time, what with survival and all, to set up a monetary system. We don’t have a class system yet either, as the industrial jobs of the onetime working class are now handled by robot labor. However, the reborn human race is not so idealistic that we don’t believe a class system will ever return. Chances are that some day, as we drift further and further from our roots, eventually society will stratify. Some will go to the top, others will go to the bottom. When that happens, we will need a government, and it will be for the best if we already have one set up.