Truth is, Life is the Art of God, and the mirror of illusion reflects us all so far © - Updated October 6th, 2015Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 1 Post Mortem August 23, 3165 "Alas!" was the cry, or it may have been a more primitive expletive, my memory fails me now. Either way, the apocalypse had begun. When it came to foreign policy we helped out where we could, however, more often than not, before the apocalypse we were mostly defending our own position. --- At a distance, in another constellation, the Junk Yard Dog (JYD), after what seemed like a lifetime of caged living, canned food and digital sex, had managed to escape through a vulnerability in the surveillance security system, and was making a dart for freedom, for something good, for something really, really good. Fortunately for those whose best interest is was to curtail JYD's escapades, the vulnerability was noticed, and several search forays later, the runaway JYD was discovered, shivering, cold and wet, hiding in a dirty room concealing mother nature's engine. JYD was re-acquainted with his former abode, and sadly he fell into the familiar surroundings of his destiny, his hell in heaven on earth, on this particular satellite, in the year 3165. The toxic fumes from the harsh environment deeply penetrated JYD's internal, metabolic systems, no doubt forever imparting their irrevocable effects upon his person, and scarring the architectural structure of his very being. If this was the price of freedom, then JYD would have to be better prepared should he ever attempt such a leap of fate again. --- Meanwhile, back at Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5, the orbitals were out scouring the network... Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 2 Post Mortem August 24, 3165 The apocalypse couldn't be better described than in the biblical book of Revelation as the complete final destruction of the world, any world, or world like structure orbiting a sun or star or other galactic or inter galactic structure. And the orbitals were out, scouring the terrain to make sure it stayed that way. Small enough to examine every crevice and orifice the surface would lay exposed for penetration from friendly visitors or alien marauders, the orbitals were quick at recording their findings, and even quicker at jumping to conclusions based upon nothing more than a whim or fancy, leaving poor apocalypse survivors to perish from toxic inhalation of chemical laden air, if air was the appropriate name for the mixture of chemicals presented for gas exchange at the human / environment interface. The apocalypse survivors were living death, a slow, slow death, where everything they consumed simply prolonged their agony. Avoiding the orbitals was a skill many believed they mastered, but in fact, none escaped the stare of the orbiting eyes, and even worse, the orbitals seemed to relish the malevolence, ill will, and vindictiveness they were able to muster while surrounding and encircling the naive and helpless apocalypse survivors, whose resilience by now was dwindling to its lowest depth in a long time. The orbital's propaganda was relentless, and after hearing the same lines over and over and over again, many survivors began to believe the propaganda and gave themselves up to be re-cycled, like the tins and plastic bottles we used to throw away but then were forced to re-cycle because of the way we were poisoning the earth. After the great intersectionality in the Northern Hemisphere, many believed we had discovered a way to, "get along." But the strike against us was vicious, and rife with monkey business. We were beaten before we knew we were in a fight, mated before we knew we were in a game of chess, and that is the saddest reality of all. The great intersectionality brought with it an additional gift, immortality. Not just for the survivors but also for the great power that emerged to contain the survivors and maintain the toxic environment, and causing the survivors to suffer to the end of their existence... --- JYD was at peace, for now, reacquainted with his familiar surroundings. But he knew he had seen some things that maybe he shouldn't have seen, then again, maybe he hadn't? Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 3 Post Mortem August 25, 3165 JYD rested his aching and warn out limbs. The effect or outcome from the impact of the hurtling stardust with organic matter had resounded through out the universe during the great intersectionality, which occurred in the northern hemisphere of what was once a tiny cluster of elements, but which had by now replicated for longer than anyone could fathom. The pressure was increasing with every replication... It turned out the affect on the root elements during the time which has become known as the great intersectionality, had caused the emergence of apparently different forms, at least at the surface, yet all maintained a nuclear base by which they all remained eternally connected. JYD slept on, twitching occasionally as the chemicals from the brief spell of freedom dissipated and diffused through his body. Which of the 88 constellations JYD's satellite was orbiting in while he slept, was still unknown to him. Some astronomers had defined boundaries long ago, dividing the sky into portions, with each portion traditionally named for its resemblance with a mythological figure. But to JYD it was simply, "The Sky." He could have been on Andromeda or Vulpecula for all he knew... --- The great intersectionality pitted time against space, Color TV against black and white, conscience against science, traditional communication against subliminal communication, nucleic acid based organisms against machines and machine-like organisms. The future was now too far off to speculate upon any outcome prevailing over another; we'd all just have to wait and see how it turns out. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 4 Post Mortem August 26, 3165 Survivors devoured the remaining nutrients when they were forced to or had no other alternative, replenishing what they were able to when the opportunity presented itself. The land was toxic to many survivors, whose life expectancy was controlled daily, weekly, monthly, annually, by the decade and at every order of magnitude deeper to the surface of theirs and our sensibilities, by the intersectionlity effect. Being controlled by the intersectionality effect, or simply, what had commonly become know as, "The Great Intersectionality," wasn't, nor has it emerged to be for the feint of heart. No sir, not a bit. Adapting to an evolving or developing era, a long and distinct period of history, whose particular features embodied the characteristics of the emergent culture during the time span, wasn't easy either. Also, being told what to do and where to do it was prison-like at best, and God alone knows what at worst? Whether it was from ancient writings found in the public domain's wealth of optically recognizable characters, or it may have been a mystic revelation, no one knows for sure, but there was an adage that emerged or showed up, "Life is a prison, on one side of the bars are prisoners, on the other side of the bars is Democracy," and while we had long since forgotten the original author's name, the adage, seemed to be a short statement expressing a general truth. The Great Intersectionality was indeed an apocalypse to many survivors. Some even said intensifying the complete final destruction of the world as described in the biblical book of Revelation by as much as 1000 times, still came no where near to describing, "The Great Intersectionality." A new era was upon all of us nucleic acid based organisms, and had been for quite some time... Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 5 Post Mortem August 27, 3165 The four day work weeks were a God send even the great power hadn't reckoned on, no Sir, no way. But today was a day off work. A day to reflect upon the memories of the past, a day to dream about the future, and maybe, just maybe, spend some time with the spirit of the moment too. In some constellations, the inhabitants spent their time discussing public policies, policies derived from historical documents but modified to suit contemporary and local problems. Others took the time to upgrade their skills so's to be available to compete in crafts of the day. The vast majority spent their time gambling and fornicating, sadly. Personally, I gave up on sex when I learned that women didn't really want an intimate, passionate, respectful and committed sexual relationship, but simply wanted a good lay that they could boast to their friends about. The job and the car didn't create any lasting impression either, mind you, there were a couple of times when it was bitterly cold outside, with sleet and hailstones belting down, that we did celebrate, what can only be described as a sudden discharge of accumulated sexual excitement during, a sort of frenzied response resulting in rhythmic muscular contractions in the pelvic region, which typically characterizes the upmost in sexual pleasure. That was decades ago. Now its work and rest only, no distractions, must keep focused, keep my eye on the ball, so to speak. There was more under the rug than there was under the hood, but again, these were lures for smarter sleuths than I was ever going to amount to. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 6 Post Mortem August 28, 3165 "It couldn't have happened to a nicer person" was what the slogans said, so that it didn't mater what happened, the person at least felt some value, and believe me, we all have value. The great power may have given us connectivity at the nucleic acid level, but it was taking some time to get the message through to all the nucleic acid based organisms, especially with the communication breakdowns. Most people figured a message in a bottle was as much use as the writings on the wind screen that appeared whenever caution was required, because no one ever listened. As usual on any day off, the weather was grey and overcast, with rain pelting down. I awoke and paid homage to the giant, one-eyed serpent that the great power had authorities install in every community. At least that's what we called the communication towers, because they represented the only way that communications were facilitated into and out of the region. Good, bad or indifferent, everyone needed the communication towers to survive the endlessly long days spent alone. And there were lots of us in that position. So we would log in, scribble our lines to those we held dear, then log out. It only took a few minutes, really, only a couple of minutes, and it seemed like an eternity was lifted from our shoulders when we received word that someone we held dear, someone who we may say that we even loved wrote back to us. Then there were the lost souls. No one ever spoke of the lost souls, no one dared. I'm almost terrified to myself... Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 7 Post Mortem August 29, 3165 Most people abandoned the Health Care and Social Services because of all the jiggery-pokery going on. And evidence of treachery was abundant in the public domain. The violation of trust and betrayal that lonely and abandoned residents of the state became subject to was for the most part ignored. Even though the numbers of the "Silver Hairs in Time" were growing. And very quickly I might add. The "Silver Hairs in Time" or SHiT were growing so quickly that various filtering systems for screening out the "un-clean" were devised and tried out by the Great Power. Experiments or procedures were undertaken to discover and test the many hypothesis the Great Power were coming up with for the SHiT, until a carefully adopted course of action was devised. And while the degree of certainty of achieving the purposeful outcome expected after following the course of action was unknown, the outcome still would be determined by sticking to the following simple plan: 1. Formulate a hypothesis (a tentative idea or explanation).
While all the time being cautious that there is no flawed, or corrupt evidence. It was risky business and we were under the microscope all the time. No guts, no glory may be all well and good for some folk, but for us it was an interminable fate. The Great Intersectionality created many social stratum, pardon me, social strata, because there were many layers, and as you can imagine, the SHiT were the lowest of the low, the scum of the Earth, the tornado bate and the trailer trash types of the Universe, the undesirable niggers in the woodpile, and a cause of trouble and inconvenience. They were disposable, and were being disposed of. What a headline to come to terms with when a person wakes up, "Euthanasia Special, 50% off." Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 9 Post Mortem August 31, 3165 Communications with one of the major connectivity ports was lost indefinitely as far as we knew? The port had been under attack for quite some time, however, no significant response was mounted because no significant casualties were taken to date. The current viscous attack was much bigger, and had brought with it a loss in our ability to communicate with family. With no resumption of service in the forecast, we were left to figure out for ourselves simply how best to move ahead. And so we have some ideas for sponsoring our own, personal communications; if only we knew how? ... "I'm on top of the world and I know it, and I feel fine" isn't an expression we hear every day, and the fact of the matter is, we haven't heard that particular version of the expression for a long time, have we? Not in this neck of the woods at least. JYD lay motionless while these thoughts were occurring to him. So long had passed since he'd tasted something thirst quenching and appetizing that he'd chosen to idle his time away dreaming of his mother, who was a product of her times, as was his father. All he inherited was their instincts he thought to himself, because he had no knowledge of who they were, apart from Nucleic Acid Data Banks (NADB). Whichever of the planets or orbiting spheres in whichever constellation JYD's satellite found itself was irrelevant now, JYD was stuck with his lot. NADB hadn't been trusted since the great intersectionality, when pretty near all data became corrupted in the hands of the great power. If life were the art of God, then it seemed some shapes were made out of easily manipulated material... Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 10 Post Mortem September 1, 3165 Even though life was a genetic lottery, with our existence determined by our Genus and Species type, many were going about their daily routines as if it wasn't. Tremendous pressure seemed to squeeze some of us from our comfort zones, forcing us to adapt to a symbiotic relationship with our environments. You know, give what you can, take what you need sort of attitude? Some of us were loosing on the roundabouts but were recovering on the swings, so to speak. No one seemed to know exactly how long circumstances were like this before the great intersectionality, but it was like that at the moment. Looking back was a luxury earned by those of us diligent enough to carefully and steadily maintain our perspective, by reading whatever literature we could find about the universe and its contents, but we were few. We had all learned that the great power was ubiquitous, all over the place, everywhere, but no one seemed to know exactly when it started or put up a perimeter, and there were some depths of perception people didn't even know existed; the great power was there too. Knowing where to look was half the battle, and knowing what lens or eye piece to use played a role when it came to optics? Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 11 Post Mortem September 2, 3165 Self-actualization is a dream some of us realize everyday in simple tasks, deeper to the surface of what we tend to think of as normal or commonplace, everyday occurrences. And a sort of autonomous, self-starting series of processes does occur without us ever being aware of them for quite some time, if ever. Fortunately for all of us, the great intersectionality brought with it a tremendous wealth of knowledge, information everyone could use when the communication towers gave access to the web of information out there in the libraries, bookstores and other data warehouses. With the knowledge came a sense of our fallibility, or ability to be erroneous and make mistakes. Most of us however simply strengthened ourselves from what we learned to date. Our sustenance otherwise was meagre, with us rarely stopping to re-energize ourselves from the, often abandoned, nutrition supply storage facilities. Trading was even more precarious or risky, as the value of energizers was often inflated, pumped up like a bicycle tyre so to speak, with the true worth rarely on display, that's for sure. Some thought God had abandoned us altogether, even quantum neurobiologists had reached the nadir of despair, the bottom of the hole, a void or complete emptiness. It was indeed a sad day for some. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 12 Post Mortem September 3, 3165 JYD slept most of the time, stirring occasionally, peacefully oblivious to the notion that in the days to come he'd face health related issues that were irreparable, that could not be rectified or made good, ever. We all face issues we never imagine we will, and in times of stress and difficulty, we turn to people we trust, and local communities were emerging based upon this founding principle. Many communities sprung up and continued to work toward common goals. We prayed this phenomena was ubiquitous, and occurred everywhere? ... The history books were full of what humanity was capable of. "Don't look far up your family tree, there is stuff up there you don't need to see" had been heard and was being echoed in my neck of the woods. In other regions, people were clambering to discover their genetic lineage, or family tree, by the millions. And for reasons we never will learn about, some institutions took DNA by force! ... I went to the bar to get drunk and laid. I met a girl, and I'll bet you any money she didn't know what she was getting into? How could she, I didn't know for sure myself. But she fell for me hook, line and sinker, the full deal. I said to her, "If the circumstances facilitated consensual sex, would you say yes to me?" She dropped everything she had in her hands and I believe she was about to begin undressing when I blurted out, "It's only a question. I've got an essay to write for an English exam, and I'm practicing how to write succinct, concise, albeit complete statements that leave no room for misinterpretation. I thought I'd try one out as an experiment, forgive me for seeming too forward or precocious?" She looked at me and she said if we did, then it would have to mean something. I thought to myself, "If only life came with a road map, or at least, a road sign." Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 13 Post Mortem September 4, 3165 Surprisingly, and much to our astonishment, the great power had arranged for a 90 day circus to criss-cross the land. We weren't expecting to hear our lords and masters telling us how things were going to be, because we usually thought of them as wheeling' dealing' thieving liars, but somehow their words seemed to rain truth. I said, "Joan," because Joan was the woman's name, "Joan, I don't know what you'll be letting yourself in for, because evolution is always changing with new developments going on all over the place, and I'm probably not going to deliver to you the dream life you are expecting." "Jet" she said, because that was my name, we had at least introduced ourselves and exchanged names and our hometown. "Jet, I love you, but it may take a while for me to fall in love with you." ... JYD slept and snored. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 14 Post Mortem September 5, 3165 Jet had developed a repugnant, disgusting, filthy and unhealthy habit, Joan thought to herself as she watched Jet roll up a smoke. Why on Earth he'd harm his lungs in such a way was way beyond her scope of imagination? Jet knew what she was thinking because sometimes while it appeared as if he was just sitting around, smoking, sometimes he would sit and smoke and think; and this was one of those times. Jet's memory would drift into another world, a world or awe and wonder at how everything got here? How he got here? He knew his parents were a product of their time, as were everyone else's, pretty much, nevertheless, he would sometimes wonder how it all got started? Jet looked up at Joan and began to weigh up the risk of spoiling, what looked like maybe a good friendship starting up, and was wondering what to say to take the relationship to the next level? Jet thought he could love Joan, in fact, deep down he thought he'd fell in love with her from the moment he set eyes on her. But what if circumstances change because of an accident, for example? How could Jet ensure that Jane and any babies that may turn up, would be insured against harmful circumstances? The Great Power had that angle covered. Every so often the Great Power would "adopt" or take as their own, some of the undesirables, and turn them into orbital commanders. It was truly a case of deal or be damned, cursed forever, so to speak. ... JYD probably wasn't concerning himself in the slightest over Jet and Joan's family affairs. He'd busted through the security screens again and was AWOL for a time. Data warehouses were drowning in statistics twice over about the probable outcome of a successful marriage. And the results weren't good at all. But still, no one knew Jet and Joan's limits, especially not JYD. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 15 Post Mortem September 6, 3165 JYD didn't think for an instant, a moment or a jot when he took his second chance to escape and get away again, to go it alone, to find out for himself if he was made of more than instinct, fortified with environmental nutrition and adages, proverbidiums or well determined outcomes derived from quality controlled, peer reviewed experimental procedures. All JYD had to go on was what he had learned from careful observation, trial and error, and every once in a while, when he was really, really stuck for a clue, he'd read the product inserts or operators manuals to find out how some things worked. Some things never change. JYD had been known to take a few training courses in his prior life, and in fact, he'd attracted some recognition in some circles and cloistered groups. But that was in the past, and at this very moment, this instant, JYD, pulse racing all over the place and a stab of tension and fear dominating his senses, he knew he was free. Free at last. Now all he needed was something to eat, somewhere safe to sleep and maybe, maybe if he got lucky with another runaway, he'd be able to make a fresh start all over again? Wherever JYD was, he was making a fresh start all over again. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 16 Post Mortem September 7, 3165 Turns out, constellation names were always changing, and its only since about 1930 A.D. that standard naming practices were adopted by the International Astronomical Union in our Galaxy. And what was even more remarkable was that JYD's satellite was making a stopover for refuelling on a planet called Earth, a planet in a solar system in the Milky Way Galaxy. For the sake of brevity, or to cut a long story short, JYD escaped from the satellite and found himself some new acquaintances in a world he never even imagined existed. Things went abruptly awry, and JYD found himself on a street corner, with no fixed abode, again. JYD decided to phone a friend, but there was no reply. Then he sat back in his chair and wondered, oh how he wondered if they were friends or more, much more, or much less? He was on foot and the only vehicle he could drive looked like it had recently been involved in an accident, and would be stopped by traffic controllers. He decided to do nothing until something turned up to help him decide how to move ahead. He'd develop a new perspective of his situation, he'd have to, then he'd do what he'd always done, and hope that even with one arm tied behind his back, so to speak, he'd be able to find a balance between his needs and the needs of his new environment, and maybe, just maybe, he'd develop the habits he'd need to become an acceptable figure in the community? He'd need food and shelter imminently, right away or before nightfall at least, that's for sure, so he'd need some kind of project plan or guidance if he didn't want to spend the rest of his days exposed to the elements. JYD found himself sitting at the railway station, heading for some destination away from where he was. With his suitcase and guitar in hand he knew he'd be slow, so he looked to some strangers for help. He left his suitcase with them and followed their directions to a distant location by the name of, "Camden Town." Which in turn was situated in London, UK, Earth, as he found out after he made the escape from the satellite. It was here that he met some strange creatures. So strange that they could only be part of what was once known to most God fearing creatures as, "The Underground." If God wouldn't take him, then the devil must he thought to himself as he squatted on the floor with his cohort of runaways. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 17 Post Mortem September 8, 3165 JYD sat down next to a pair of chancers. You know the kind, those who take advantage of the vulnerable or those in a weakened position, and quick to exploit and opportunity? Well anyway, they had stolen their mother's cheque book and were living the high life on Mammy's money, wherever some poor, unsuspecting, gullible cashier at a register would accept a cheque. And how could anyone believe these darlings were deceptive? It seemed from the way they were talking, that they had run out of cheques and were dreaming up a scheme to get more when I interrupted them and caused them to stop talking. Their eyes focused intently upon my person as I sat down. A shiver ran up my spine and I remembered the words from an old song I'd heard, or maybe a few lines I'd read on a web site somewhere, "Those who walk this life alone, find themselves far from home, good luck on your road from misery to happiness today," and said to the pair as much in truth as jest, "You two will end up in prison if you carry on the way your going, haven't you heard of CCTV?" The pair hadn't realized that they were on closed circuit television every time they cashed a cheque, and that all the police had to do was match the face on the recording to the many faces on social media, and voila, suspect is nabbed. The pair looked at JYD and JYD looked back. He'd seen from previous experience where they would end up, and where he would end up if he joined the pair on their capers. JYD had seen people end up in the darkest, dingiest, most rancid smelling tips or middens he'd ever seen. He thought he'd better leave this pair to their own demise. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 18 Post Mortem September 9, 3165 JYD made an excuse that he had to go to the toilet for a wee-wee, and when he returned to the room, he moved closer to AA, as the the tall character lacking distinctive or interesting features or characteristics, was known by, and thought to himself before he said anything. JYD found the acronym "AA" amusing. He knew the acronym, "radar" was a word formed from the initial letter in the phrase "RAdio Detection And Ranging" used by the United States Navy, but he could only presume the abbreviated name, AA made this runaway a bigger arsehole than the others. He'd have to be cautious. Turned out AA was a bank robber, a thief and a pimp, but JYD didn't know about any of that just then. He only knew AA was a runaway needing food, cloths and shelter, pretty much like he did, and it was only after JYD had moved out of those lodgings into his own accommodations, a single room in an apartment building, that AA visited him and "introduced" his "sister" to JYD. And that's when all the pieces of the jig-saw came together. The downside of the underground was increased likelihood of infections, OD's and death. But the upside was something else, something else indeed. The streets of London were paved with gold and everyone was having a gay old time. JYD would sing his songs in Piccadilly Circus, Leister Square and the Strand, at least until the cops moved him on. He usually found himself in Earls Court at the end of the day, to eat, before heading home to his place between Notting Hill Gate and the Portobello Road. He stopped associating with the runaways and arseholes, and even AA's sister went back home to live with her parents. He only saw her one more time, and though he loved her, he pretended that he couldn't be bothered with her. It seems her parents were wealthy, and she was to marry a movie director in the near future. All JYD had was a six-string, flat top guitar that he'd bought in a second hand store. He'd only bought it because the plastic bag that protected the guitar from the elements was inscribed with the name of one of his favourite and one of the most inspiring musicians of all time, Johnny Cash, but he knew he'd need more than a guitar and a dream to compete with wealth, fortune and Hollywood. JYD had turned his life around, or so he thought until one night some controllers knocked at his door. To cut a long story short, JYD was framed, imprisoned and at his wits end with nowhere to go. A head full of dreams, itty-bitty living space, Yikes! Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 19 Post Mortem September 10, 3165 Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 had been hurtling through the voids and filaments of the Universe for quite some time, eons in fact, and was in need of replenishing the non-finite or perishable, vital elements, that had been used up on the journey so far. Turns out, the giant Starbase was in the Milky Way Galaxy, same as JYD, and those in charge were planning on travelling to Earth to re-stock. Despite the polluted atmosphere, the aerospace industry on Earth was advanced sufficiently to facilitate an easy transfer of goods to the Thermosphere region, about 80 kilometres above the Earth's surface.The lower regions were too polluted for the Starbase to enter! The Mesosphere and the Stratosphere, the closest two regions to the Thermosphere, and between about 20 - 60 kilometres above the Earth weren't too polluted, but the Troposphere, the region rising to 20 kilometres above ground level was manky at best or dirty and toxic at worst, depending upon who you listened to. The atmosphere needed a good clean up before inter-galactic visitors were routinely received at ground level. Reports had been coming in from all over the place about pollution on Earth, but nothing much had changed. Massive industry based civilizations emerged from raw materials on the one hand, while on the other hand, knowledge and wealth were recorded and stored on some tiny electrons, sequestered away on some digital storage device, hidden somewhere in the bowls of the Earth, go figure? And it seems the energy transfer process was polluting the planet, and leading to the extinction of nucleic acid based organisms of certain species types? What went on during this energy transfer process was called Democracy, a balance between opulence and despair, with people fleeing machetes, bullets, bombs and poisons in some regions, while other regions were known to be occupied by creatures more in balance with nature and their surroundings. Starbase commanders exercised caution on their approach... Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 20 Post Mortem September 11, 3165 JYD couldn't believe how he had been set up. First AA pimping his sister onto him, then the cops "found" contraband in his room. What else could go wrong? Whatever was going on was beyond his control, and he was beginning to wonder what lay ahead for him if circumstances or his environment remained the same or changed? ... Because of the imminent vital element transfer between Earth and Starbase, crews of expendable labourers were being selected and trained for the process. And you've guessed it, JYD was chosen to work in one Earth based group while on Starbase Futurecast-Centruy1.5, Jet and Joan, unbeknown to them at this time, were going to be adopted as orbital controllers and assigned to Vital Element Transfer Patrol (VETP). We'll never know how the coincidence occurred? So far we only know it all took place in a region of the galaxy know throughout the Universe as, the Milky Way. ... It seems strange that technology advances some species, while many other species become extinct? The middle class often find themselves somewhere between these two extreme circumstances, and so it was for JYD, Jet and Joan, who all eventually found themselves on the same Vital Element Exchange Crew (VEEC), albeit playing very different roles. How the massive exchanges took place was unfathomable to ordinary people, and probably more confusing than a Tyneside shipyard I imagine. But where these three protagonists were going to meet was anyone's guess? Information and Mis-information flooded the social media networks. Some people even believed Earth was being invaded, while naive, artless or unworldly people believed it was the deliverance of a supreme being from space, Yikes! Some people even believed there would be a big time collision leading to the mother of all catastrophes. Few knew the truth, and even fewer witnessed the truth after what happened next. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 21 Post Mortem September 21, 3165 Between sitting in his prison cell, and making his first trip to Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5, JYD had a lot of time to pass, a lot of time. He ended up working with some knuckle draggers, and surprisingly, managed to hold his own for the most part. He was forced to study Automotive Mechanics, a disgusting trade leaving many a poor wretched soul covered from head to toe in bitumen extracts of various descriptions, most of which found there way deep into a person's pores and other crevices. JYD was surprisingly efficient at his designated labour, and after studying for many, many years, arduously and strenuously pitting his wits against the baffling technological explanations of how things worked, he successfully completed his first certificate of competence. Once he got the first one under his belt, he went for the second certificate of competence, then a third, then he pretty much had enough for a whole diploma, to go along with his handful of years experience on the job. He was well tooled, and competent across continental divides too. Some of the scraps he got into were ridiculous to say the least. One knuckle dragger actually ran him into the wall with a motor vehicle, can you believe it, ran him into the wall with a motor vehicle. But JYD kept his cool, one on one in your own back yard is one thing, but one against 6 in someone else's back yard is ludicrous, as I mentioned above. Another guy actual rigged a vehicle up to drop on JYD, what a jerk. Took all the engine mount bolts out and had the whole thing held up by a whimsy cherry picker. The whole thing collapsed while JYD was explaining why he wasn't going underneath, another jerk. But this is the price any foreigner has to pay when working away from home, and desperate to earn enough money for food cloths and shelter. But I suppose the old man who owned the place gave me a start in the business, so what can you say? Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 22 Post Mortem September 22, 3165 JYD lived with some refugees from a war torn country, where one species was pitted against another in the most vehement and forceful way. Many had died as a result of surprise explosions or shootings, under apparently benign, peaceful circumstances. Bitterness ran to unparalleled depths at home. Few, if any words were spoken, and even then, only the minimal to convey needs / musts, and the like. Fortunately for JYD, the family enjoyed music, so a truce of sorts was called, so one species could teach guitar to the other. The uncanny truce lasted for some time, until alas, the children were cloned by popular music of the time, which frequently employed cunning linguistics. JYD taught himself to drive a car, he had to, no one would go near him because of his lineage and genealogical species type. He had a drivers license and was getting himself ready for his road test and exam. He loved to go joy riding around the city streets of London. Luckily he was never involved in an accident, nor stopped by the police before he got his full licence, because that was the first thing that happened right after he passed his drivers test. And luckier still, he never lost any children to intoxicated drivers. JYD moved on to his next job and newest accommodations. He didn't know it now, but not to far down the road he was going to experience the Ferrari Daytona, a V12 engine with six, I repeat, six twin choke webber carburetors. He almost wet his underwear, there were less than 1500 in the whole Universe and they were worth a fortune The scoundrel who hired JYD to repair the vehicles, including the Ferrari Daytona was making a fortune also. He'd take the vehicles in on consignment and punt them on at a considerable mark up. The Ferrari wasn't going anywhere until JYD rethreaded one of the spark plug's threads in the cylinder head. JYD disconnected the plug wire, then withdrew the cold spark plug by hand. The engine was cold too, and the piston was at top dead centre when JYD filled the combustion chamber with margarine, so as to prevent he metal chaff and metal chips from falling into the spark plug hole as he cut the new threads. Once the threads were cut, the metal cuttings were vacuumed out of the combustion chamber along with the margarine. Quite easily done, and the Ferrari was back on the road, full throttle on all 12 cylinders. Next, JYD got a break, he needed one. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 23 Post Mortem September 23, 3165 Joan and Jett met under the most coincidental of circumstances. As I mentioned above, they simply bumped into each other. They probably never realized at the time that there would be more remarkable coincidences in their relationship, but there were. In fact, the pair of road warriors established a relationship that spanned several eras, periods of time spanning noteworthy events. But right now, right at this moment they had been adopted. As I mentioned earlier, Starbase controllers were orchestrating, or organizing Vital Element Transfers between the pretty much dilapidated Futurecast-Century 1.5 Starbase and Earth. Joan and Jet were assigned to transfer "Core" energy. Core energy was a newly discovered inner energy, and much deeper to the surface than can be detected by our five senses, sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste. Core energy worked at the cellular level, the molecular level and at the atomic level. I'd even go so far as to say that relationships emerge at the quantum level, but I'd only be guessing. Core energy was deep, and to many, unfathomable. Transferring core energy wasn't easy, despite the energy transfer examples science books taught us about. A periodic table, or tabular arrangement of the chemical elements had been started many years ago in 1869, when Dmitri Mendeleev published the first table of elements, but that information wasn't much use to Joan and Jet. They quickly discovered that the language of the elements was strange to them. They had never heard of molecular biology, physics, chemistry, never mind learned how to understand the language of such subjects. How would they move ahead? Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 24 Post Mortem September 25, 3165 Jet knew Joan wanted their relationship to mean something, but he also knew his life would be tough. Not as tough as some people's lives, but a lot tougher than others of the same ilk as him. Tying the knot was easy. Some guy he'd never met before, along with his best pal at the time, uttered a few words, respect and empathy, and along with the Serenity Prayer, "Give me the Grace to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can and the Wisdom to know the difference," Joan and Jet were set for a life together that neither of the pair imagined they would embark upon. Core energy transfer was vital, so how this pair got such a plumb number was anyone's guess. Anyway, a whole other chapter was written about Joan and Jet, several chapters in fact, but suffice to say for now that the pair were aligning their resources more strategically, just in case a chance to escape became an option? Core energy was, and still is, confusing to many, many nucleic acid based organisms, and for easily understandable reasons. But Joan and Jet knew what they had to do, and it turns out, only they knew how to do it. Explaining core energy was easy enough, but getting people to understand what was going on was a bit more difficult, simply because it all kind of happens at once, kind of like, one minute you're thinking for yourself, next minute you're doing what you're told, but both at the same time, sort of. Atoms are like that, so to speak. One minute we may be reading a description of their properties in a text book, while at the same time being ourselves, a compilation of atoms doing just what it is we are reading about in the text book. As you may imagine, there are a lot of voices saying the same thing and many voices speaking in different languages (you may recall that I mentioned above that different languages are required at the different orders of magnitude that our existence spans?) Either way, finding a needle in a hay stack is much easier using a magnet, than it is trying to find a needle in a hay stack without one. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 25 Post Mortem September 29, 3165 "The Quantum Origins of Space and Time" and the micro-architecture of the Universe were once described on the YouTube phenomenon by the eminent scientist, Renate Loll from Utrecht University's Institute for Theoretical Physics, back in June 24, 2011, and if you are lucky, you may still be able to find the Earth link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fv2gBjQ8xIo Mind you, it seems to me, and forgive me if I'm incorrect, but it seems to me that at any given moment, nucleic acid based organisms emerge into the galaxy only at the post atomic region? And indeed, we only appear to be held together under pressure. A simple enough example can be demonstrated when we pump up our bicycle tyres, thus creating a greater pressure inside the tyre that causes the tyre to expand, and in turn, decrease the size of the external universe, albeit, only a tad ; ) How the first nucleic acid based organism emerged into the galaxy has been puzzling students of phylogenetic tree analysis for decades at least. And despite the surprising finding to some, but not so surprising to others, it turns out all nucleic acid based organism are connected pretty much. All trying to "fit" in, so to speak, kind of like that old saying, "Survival of the Fittest" as Charles Darwin had been noted to state during the course of his life, 1809 - 1882. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin How Joan and Jet were going to get their heads around all this information was anyone's guess? If only learning new information was a simple as reading text. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 26 Post Mortem October 3, 3165 Olivia was a feisty young woman, but with two world wars in the span of 30 years, and losing her home time after time after time to bombs, and tending to the dying and wounded, it wouldn't be hard to imagine this now middle aged woman had been left with post traumatic stress disorder when she adopted her son into her life. Her life was soon to meet with more trauma and disruption, when shortly there after she would first lose her husband to illness, then her home to poverty. Now all she had was her son and her suitcase to meet life. Starbase Futurecast-Century1.5 log, Day 27 Post Mortem October 6, 3165 Do you ever think to yourself while you are watching a movie or a documentary or some kind of TV show, that you "have done" or "would like to do" what it is that you are watching? eh? Then you do the same thing with the next movie or documentary, then the next one and the next one, until pretty soon you think to yourself that you could replace the protagonists or lead character in many of the shows you've watched? Or are you too busy, dissecting the micro-architecture of the stories you are watching, determining how the plot is constructed, where the notions or ideas for the stories emerged from or came to mind? Busy, looking around in your neighbourhood to see if anyone's life parallels or runs in the same direction as the protagonists in the shows, or, runs in an entirely different way? kind of like a new cliche? Joan was practicing these lines over and over and over in her head, but she was still not sure where she could find a safe and secure environment where she could pose these questions to Jet, then she thought, she'd just do it. Right then, Joan and Jet were called away to an emergency response. All they had to do was get a working vaccine to Afriza and set up the lab, leaving enough time to get home for supper. Unfortunately it all want ape-shit, big-time. The pair discovered that the original crew assigned to the job had been ripped-off, robbed or whatever, and in fact, one of the previous crew had been buried alive. It was said the original crew member's screams could be heard for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles. And his blah blah would appear, as if out of nowhere, on digital recordings in the public domain. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, months turned into years, and just over a decade passed before the first viral video of Miley Cirus twerking turned up on YouTube to distract everyone's attention from the walking, "Ghost of Himself." It was said he even rose from the dead once, long enough to play a couple of tunes on an obscure radio show, early one morning, just as the sun was rising in the northern hemisphere. But because the performance was never replicated, some people believe it never happened. Either way, Joan and Jet had to ship the vaccine STAT, people's lives depended upon the shipment reaching the destination before fear of a universal epidemic created hysterior, terror, dread or worse in susceptible populations. To be continued... Creative Commons Copyright - Mike Garbutt - Please feel free to share : )
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