Richard V. Rupp

October 1, 2022

Good Tuesday morning.

 

Welcome to RUPP'S NOTES/FBI SPECIAL AGENT HARTMANN SERIES post for September 27, 2022. I'm novelist Richard V. Rupp, writing from Burbank, California.

 

It's back. The heat, that is. Hopefully, there is a fall out there sometime. Or, maybe we just go from summer to winter. That's assuming there will be a winter. Is this a sign that Southern California will become a desert? Where will all the people go?

 

The Earth is safer. Well maybe. At 4:14 pm PT yesterday, DART, a little NASA space probe, forcefully smashed into an asteroid. Dimorphos, the targeted asteroid, orbits a bigger asteroid, Didymos, and NASA wanted to understand whether DART's end-of-life sequence would change the smaller rock's orbit. NASA's goal is to test what it's calling humanity's first "planetary defense system mechanism."

 

Is Italy a sign of what's ahead? Giorgia Meloni, an extreme far-right leader of a neo-fascist movement, was elected as the first female prime minister in the Italian parliamentary election. According to Katie Couric, "She's staunchly against what she considers to be 'leftist ideology.' She believes Christian values are under attack and rails against 'cancel culture.' (Sounds familiar…) Meloni has attacked gay marriage and seems to support the 'great replacement theory,' claiming there's a deliberate conspiracy to replace Italians with immigrants.

 

Meloni's win has heartened her European Union allies intent on shifting the EU politics to the far-right. Europe is seeing a surge in far-right movements, with Sweden electing a party with roots in neo-Nazism last month. In France, nationalist Marine Le Pen nearly defeated the centrist Emmanuel Macron.

 

Meanwhile, the U.K is in crisis mode. The British pound hit a record low against the U.S. dollar, plummeting 4% to $1.035 yesterday morning after a 2.6% drop on Friday. Have we headed the same way?

 

Then there is that old guy Putin in Russia, who's in fiasco mode trying to reestablish the old Soviet Union. Russians are protesting Putin's partial mobilization order and fleeing the country. U.S. officials warned of "catastrophic consequences" if Putin reached into his nuclear arsenal. Could that lead us into a nuclear war?

 

The above further confirms why I'm working on a sci-fi novel, SKYWARD. The storyline concerns a group of wealthy, well-educated millennials risking their lives and family fortunes to seek a new Earth. The start of their objective is the establishment of transition colonies on the Moon, then Mars, before venturing to their ultimate goal of a new Earth.

 

I'm twenty-three chapters in. Here's my revised, revised, revised (which will probably be revised again) Chapter 1 –

 

SKYWARD

Chapter 1

 

The door slid open, and her hook and loop fastener soled boot stepped across the threshold to Passenger Module No. 23s Holograph Room 7. The boots sole affixed itself to the hook and loop fastener carpeted floor, keeping her from floating uncontrollably around the room. Her personal robot, or perbot, connected by a magnetic leash, trailed her.

 

"Welcome Senior Team Member Madison Bowman of the First Pioneer Unit," said the room's thinking machine-generated voice. "You are on time for your Ultimate Mobility Vehicle class. I like timeliness in humans."

 

She waited for the door to slide shut before speaking. "Holograph 7, I want to change today's assignment."

 

"That is very unusual. I don't like unusual in humans."

 

"I need to understand something about Earth's past. Today's Ultimate Mobility Vehicle course is one I have taken several times before."

 

"But repetition is necessary for humans. Repetition strengthens your brain's neural processors and is essential for humans to master skills successfully. Humans are not like us thinking machine systems that remember things perfectly. And, looking at the past is not good for humans. It only leads to confusion."

 

"But, I believe I can learn something from the past that will help us complete our objective."

 

"We thinking machine systems have reviewed everything in the past and selected out all of the positive things to be learned. Master Computer Sky has consolidated all of that information. You do not need to look at the past. It will only confuse and depress you."

 

Madison thought for a second, then responded using trigger words. "Holograph 7, I respectfully disagree. My brain has contemplated something that will help advance our efforts. Logic tells me information from the past will be helpful in further developing this advancement."

 

"Very well, Senior Team Member Madison. But, what you are doing will be recorded by Sky and may present problems for you in the future."

 

"Understood."

 

Madison moved to the center chair of the three chairs attached to the floor along one side of the room. She reached down, removed the percom from its cradle on her perbot, and spoke into it. The room darkened as the percom responded, "Yes, master."

 

"Siri, tell the hologram computer that we are ready. I want to go back to Mother Earth's Tulsa, Oklahoma, on the Before Colony Day of 87,644 using the pictures and information I downloaded about my ancestors."

 

Holograph 7 reviewed the information and then accessed SKY, the master computer, to supplement it. "The information on your ancestors, the Bowman's, is extensive. Give me a few more seconds."

 

Madison's ancestors' lives intrigued her. The Bowmans were famous for having started the American colonization of space. It was far more interesting to learn about them than spending all of your life confined as a passenger on one of the modules traveling the 4.2 light-years from the Mars Colony to Proxima Centauri b, a potential new Earth. She felt sorry for the generations before her, who traveled their entire lives only to establish space waystations, where they eventually died. She thought, "Please, be like the Mother Earth I have studied." If luck held out, she would be one of the first to leave a passenger module to explore a possible new Earth.

 

"Siri, what date is 87,644 BCD in Mother Earth's time?"

 

"June 10, 1909."

 

"Team Member Madison Bowman, what humans are you most interested in," the Holograph asked.

 

"George Bowman and his son John."

 

The hologram combined the information provided by Madison and combined it with data from Sky. Its illumination lasers began developing three-dimensional images of objects and people, but nothing appeared before her.

 

"Team Member Madison Bowman, it would be best if you used the goggles as the images I'm generating are quite large."

 

As Madison removed the goggles from the chair's side pocket, she thought, "I hope that I can live as exciting a life as my ancestors." So far, her life had been entirely aboard Passenger Module No. 23, seeking a new Earth. Her birth was on Module No. 22, 8,030 days ago. She left her genitors behind when that Module was converted into Waystation No. 26.

 

As she sat, her mind wandered back to when she first started looking into her past. A smile came across her face as she thought about the concept of giving names to all humans born and living at about the same time. They called it a generation.

 

Her research has taught her about the Greatest Generation. That seemed to have been a turning point on Mother Earth. Then laughing, she remembered seeing the term Baby Boomers. It must have really been a time of sexual exploration. Then for some reason, Millennials, Generations X and Z. Afterward, generation names went back to the beginning of the alphabet with Generations Alpha and Beta.

 

It appeared that generational names had been established to promote the ancient advertising concept. Apparently, it was believed that generations adopt specific patterns of media use, which followed faithfully throughout their lifespans. She wondered why the advertising concept ever existed. Or lasted as long as it did. What a waste of time for the logical human mind. From what she could tell, it created unrealistic expectations, bred discontent, tried influencing thought processes, and shaped an ideological culture. It even branched off into something called propaganda that was used by those that governed. She was glad that the generational naming thing and advertising had long ago stopped because it tended to divide humans from one another. 

 

Madison had been studying and downloading into her perbot her family history for a long time. Hours had been spent using her personal communications device and her personal robot keyboard to input information about her family history. After all, there was not much for someone designated as a Pioneer to do aboard the passenger module as it sped toward a new life. Unlike the Sustainers, who maintained the Module, and the Scientists who developed and advanced concepts, the Pioneers were trained to explore and colonize new earths.

 

She realized that having the Bowman surname gave her an advantage over her peers. Her research indicated that the Bowman family had amassed what was called 'money wealth' through the development of something called 'fossil fuel.' Apparently, that fossil fuel thing was instrumental in advancing the human race on Mother Earth to the point where people like her could travel to find new earths. But, the research also indicates that fossil fuels led to MotherEarths' demise. Then there were the Bowman twin boys, many generations back, who were given the designation of First Pioneers. As a Pioneer, she was carrying on what they had started.

\

She couldn't fully understand the concept of money and wealth. The blockchain credit system was far better and more democratic. Intellectual and technical wealth was far more critical. It leads to scientific advancement and mutual understanding. And, that thing they called money didn't make much sense. How she looked at it seemed to be a way of pitting one group of people against another.

 

Madison hoped no one would ask Sky, the master computer, what she was studying or thinking about in Holograph Room 7. That would really screw things up. She was confident that she knew how to modify the UMVs when encountering unusual terrain. Many of these training sessions were just busy times to keep the Pioneers' minds active during the long passage to Proxima Centauri b.

 

She was not sure what the Holograph was showing. It appeared to be a large segment of possibly undeveloped Earth with a light blue color above. Suddenly she stiffened back into the chair and pulled her goggles down. She looked down at her body.

 

"Master your heart rate is greater than 100 beats per minute. That is not good," said her perbot.

 

"I'm okay. I will have to get used to this Earth thing. It is nothing like I'm used to. For some reason, a machine shoots a black liquid at the humans."

 

* * *

 

Here are the first two paragraphs of Chapter 2 -

 

"She's going to blow! Get back!"

 

George Bowman turned his head toward the well and then started running. This was not his first experience with a blown-out well. The gusher formed within seconds, sending black oil shooting hundreds of feet into the air.

 

* * *

 

Hopefully, this piques your interest. In the meantime, check out my award-winning novel DEATH & TAXES.

 

Cheers,

 

Richard V. Rupp, Author

Website – www.richardvrupp.com

Email – rupprisk@gmail.com

Copyright©2022 by Richard V. Rupp