posted 01-11-99 09:16 PM ET        

The four generally accepted rules of writing:

1. No killing other posters characters (or Faction leaders).
2. No starting wars without the agreement of the other factions.
3. No significant alterations of Faction policy without the other faction posters agreement.
4. The Final and Greatest rule should be "when in doubt, ask in the comments thread."

If you try to keep that "feel" you'll get from reading the other posts, you'll probably do fine.

The Unity has travelled across the vast reaches of space to its new home, and is close by when the soon to follow events happen.

posted 01-11-99 09:42 PM ET         

It was the inside of a cryocell. The gently swirling cryotoxins were leaving my bloodstream, and I shivered at the cold needed to maintain the near-death state. Slowly, my body convinced my mind to wake up, and I suddenly remember what I was doing.

My name was Dr. H. Aveer. I had been one of the tiny fraction of the population of the earth to escape what could only be described as a nuclear holocaust. After studying records of fossil life on Mars, I was one of the few people who had any knowledge of xenobiology. Fewer now, actually, now that how many... eighty? years had passed.
For a moment, I stood in the cell. The cold revitalized my mind, and was like gently waking up from a sleep. There seemed to be a gentle throbbing in my ears. Not surprising, I had slept longer than any human being before. Slowly, it became more distinct. I began to recognize the pattern.
(Remember, the briefing instructor had told me, if you ever hear the distinctive pattern of the ship's alarms, get to safer areas immediately.)
The noise! I pressed the release button on the cryocell and stood in the dark, ominous passages of the starship.

posted 01-11-99 10:17 PM ET            

{Note: The events described here occur slightly before Giant Squid's post}

From the Memoirs of Alasair Legrand

I thought conciousness would return slowly when I got into that cell, but let me tell you, as soon as you realize you are alive again, you snap back to conciousness and fight to stay alive immediately. What is worse is that even with the electroshock treatment to your muscles, you are dreadfully weak those first few moments, not strong enough to break out in an emergency without the strongest will. So I was incredibly relieved that my cell had functioned properly and I had gotten out.

I go out my nearby lockbox, and dressed myself; then I prepared to go to the rendesvous location on the Bridge. As I calmly walked there, I saw Santiago, Mr. Aemora, and one of the other high officials crowding around the central computer.

"It's simple. Simply activate the Plan I prepared earlier, and eliminate all the notable leaders of possible opposition right now. We will be the only ones left, and the rest will follow us as we build our great new soceity." This was the aggresive Mr. Aemora, the former head of the Americas wing of the Spartan Federeation.

"It's not quite that simple, though. After a long enough life in our soceity, at least some of them can be succefully integrated as the best and brightest of all Spartan soceity. And your fears are groundless, since in our rule, we shall give them nothing to revolt about. And that is final." Santiago seemed pretty adamant.

"But... never mind."

It was then that a terrible tremor shook the ship, that only knocked us off balance at the time, but I soon realized the consequences of it- "Did that trigger the automatic wakeup of the crew?"

All havoc broke loose upon the Spartans as the full meaning of this hit them. Mr. Aemora shouted to kill the leaders now before they awoke. Others wanted to hide. Only Santiago going to the middle and speaking loudly settled the chaos.

"Remain calm. You, you and you, organize Group B and head for the Weaponds Bay, which we will unlock from here. I will be heading for one certain leader's cryocell who does need to be neutralized. I will also leave a few aces up my sleeve in the main computer before we abondon the bridge. And you, Legrand-" she looked at me here- "I have a special task for you."

posted 01-12-99 12:38 AM ET         

As soon as I woke up from the cryocell, into my mind appeared a dream that would remain burnt into my brain forever. It was simply a fresh take on a scene happening long ago, when there was still hope for Earth.

My fellow xenobiologists and I were attending a conference discussing a new Martian fossil find, F. Xenus. It seems to have covered far more area and survived far longer than any other known specimen. In the search for an explanation, a young professor who also happened to be a neurobiologist told the group that the tendrils sticking out from the Martian fungus were somewhat like the dendrites of human neurons. Perhaps this fungus could communicate, and form a mind? The idea was shouted down in favor of a more conservative one, involving a new protein molecule.

posted 01-12-99 12:58 AM ET            

"Don't exert yourself, Doc. You'll come around in a minute, but ya' gotta adjust after forty years in the sack... All hell's broken loose. Some kind of meteor or something hit the ship, and we'll be lucky if we end up on the planet alive. On top of that, some kind of terrorist group is running around the place, causing all kinds of trouble. We would have woken you up sooner, but you're not 'essential personell'," he said with a smirk. "Yang wants you to head down to landing pod number three, and start getting things together there. We need to be ready to hit the road when the time comes, and Yang says number three's our ticket."

posted 01-12-99 03:40 AM ET            

"Watch you language!" snaps the nurse.

With a quick smirk Zorloc quips, "It's a little hard to watch a thought or a vocalization."

"You know what I mean! I thought one of Miriam's subordinates would know better. Now that you have decided to try to breathe air instead of the cryo-gel..."

"It's not my fault, I never got any training on how to come out of cryo. Jesus Christ, I was only on Unity a couple day's before I was put under."

A stern look from the nurse told Zorloc that she knew that his blasphemy was probably intentional. "Never mind. Because the entire crew doesn't accept the leadership of Our Lord, everything here is out of control. There are rebels killing people. Mr. Morgan as in Morgan Industries seems to have stowed himself onboard. Miriam wants those that believe in her to prepare Pod Five for landing on Planet."

"Is the Captain, OK?"

"Yes the Captain fine. Why do you look so suprised?"

"I don't know, I guess I figured that the only way for things to get out of hand would be if the Captain didn't make it out of cryo." --Damn, things fell apart quicker than I expected.--

"Well never mind that. Run along and gather your equipment, for planet fall."

--Yes Mom--

--------------------------------

"OK, Vader display the mission status."

"Hmmm...This looks pretty bad."

"Affirmative sir. Zahkarov's estimates of our chances are probably optimistic. On another front, I have spent most of my time working on society dynamic models. Unfortunately, much of the sorting that I did turning the travel here is now moot, because of the presence of Morgan."

"Yea, I figured that. He is a definate possiblity for a leader. But that is not my worry. Just speaking to people, you can see the factionalization, but with the command structure intact the separation will be really messy. How much of the crew survived?"

"5419 people are currently alive."

"Damn. With a factional situation we are going to need every person to make it. If all 7 pods go their separate way that is only 770+ per faction. We need to implement 'ex uno plures'."

"Confirmed. Activating keeper"

"Oh...Vader. So which faction looks the strongest to you?"

"Well including our peronal bias, I believe we need to relocate to pod 4."
-----------------------------------------
"Yes, lieutenant?"

"Half of the equipment has been transfered to pod 4, the rest should be there with in the hour."

"Good, anything else?"

"Professor Zorloc showed up at the pod asking to relocate his belongings to our pod."

"Zorloc? The Historian? I am thinking that this is a very good sign. Please, allow him to board. We can always use another scientist."

"Yes Sir."

posted 01-13-99 12:08 AM ET            

From the Memoirs of Alasair Legrand

I really have too small a record of the events on the Unity. Perhaps later in my journal I shall flash back to these memorable hours, when I had absolutely no time to write on them.

I came to Morgan's cryocell, and began the opening process. Morgan was needless to say surprised (and a little embarrased, I might add) that he was being woken up at the moment, and I had a good story for why we were up early- an emergency had happened, I didn't know what, and someone had woken me up, and my first free action had been to come to help you.

I lied well. My new found hatred for my boss, as well as my natural adeptness in business, allowed me to convince him that I was telling the truth, at least if I judged him correctly.

Events were happening fast. I found an excuse to leave for a moment, and quicklinked to Santiago. Apperantly a capture attempt had been made on Yang, and it had actually succeeded, but the rapidly-forming security patrols had beat the tiny Spartan force back. We desperately needed our reinforcements in the nitrogen cells that weren't opened yet, and weren't to be until we got closer to Chiron. Santiago had apperantly moved her forces back from the weapon bay as well- which I thought was sheer luncacy, until I learned that the weapons they could't take with them were booby trapped to high-heaven. It looked like the security staff would be confined to using only shredder pistols, unless they wanted to get blown up by their own armor slathered in nitroglycerin. Santiago, if she eventually ran out of room to run, was about to test whether a small but well trained force can hold off a much larger continegent- much, much larger group. I really needed to get our comrades still in nitrogen cells out to help.

I walked over to the bridge, confident that my commlink would not be traced to Santiago.

Most of the important crewmembers were there. Yang was absent, surely hunting Spartans at the very moment, but Captain Garland was there, as was Pravin Lal, Chief Engineer Zakharov, Chief Xenobiologist/botanist Deidre Skye, and Chaplain Miriam as well. I noticed that I, a mere businessman who was supposed to be in a nitrogen cell, was out of my league with this group. But I had to try.

Skye and Zakharov were arguing fiercly over the allocation of the engineers. Zakharov wanted to use them to work on the engine and insure that the Unity would land safely. Skye wanted them to work on resealing the areas weakened, but still sealed in the hydroponics module.

"We have a reasonable chance of landing- and even if we do not, we have the landing pods to take us down to Planet. The farming pods, on the other hand, are absolutely invaluable to our initial effort when we land."

"If we land. You are far too optomistic. Work on the fusion core to insure its stability are key- and in any case, those pods which you so firmly rely, have the basic materials for what we need anyway."

"What you fail to realize is-"

Captain Garland cut her off. "It's simple. We'll split it both ways, a good resolution to the confilct. Send some engineers to help reseal the damaged sections to insure that further damage to the weakend module does not occur, but you may keep the bulk of them on the fusion core."

Neither Skye nor Zakharov looked terribly happy about this. At this point Miriam noticed the man who had been waiting patiently for a chance to speak, and asked what my business was here.

"We need to start getting the people out of cryo now, sirs."

"Why???," about 20 people seemed to ask at once.

"If we do need to take the colony pods down, god-forbid, the people will need to get on board. And with 7 different pods to choose from, they might need to get that time now, if we put a different leader in each pod."

"Hey, that's a good idea..." Zakharov said. The others started thinking about it and nodding, though Pravin Lal and Captain Garland were clearly annoyed at me. I took my cue to leave and let them debate this, but I was confident they would wake everyone up in the end.

I now realized a fine new strategy for Santiago. There were 7 colony pods that could be sent down to the Planet if the Unity could not land. All we had to do was secure one of them, and then drive the engineers from the fusion core to insure that our enemies would not land united, but in six different groups, which with luck we might be able to defeat some of individually before the reaming ones re-unify to come and crush us. Things did not look so good. As I was walking down the hallway to go to my safe-cubby hole to tell Santiago of this, I saw another man walking quikly in the direction of bay four. It was Zorloc, a social scientist who had done some work on how people reacted under stress.

"Tell me Profressor Zorloc-" he stopped at the mention of his name- "I've been worried about the possible factionalization of the people on board this ship. How could we best prevent that?"

"Simple," he laughed, "have fewer leaders and more followers on this ship. That is the main problem."

"Anything else?"

"Loyalty to the Captain is absolutely essential in keeping a ship together. But our Captain was murdered, and Garland was a replacement who had a mere two weeks to earn the loyalty of his crew. That is already a tenuous thread, but factionalization is by no means assured under these circumstances as old Earth values might keep the many leaders on this ship loyal. But with the removal- even temporary- of the Captain, the potential leaders in our officer corps might realize that they have the potential to shape humanity's future. If the Captain disappeared magically, factionalization would almost be assured."

"Wow. How about civil war? Could that happen as well?"

"Doubtful, with so few people left on board. Someone told me there were only 5000 in the regular ctyosleep left."

"Really? You must truly be a pessimist. No way that many people could have died. I estimate we have 35,000 left."

"Oh. Still, civil war is more a possibility after planetfall, with the weapons on board the ship now, even the assisination of an opponent could cause mass anarchy among the people on board and would end in the downfall of the ship, just when she is so close to Chiron. That's too much a risk for most people to take. I still doubt it."

"Thanks for your help, by the way. Scary stuff."

posted 01-13-99 02:37 AM ET            

Zorloc watched his questioner walk away, --My wasn't he curious about breaking away. Wanted to know the weak link. Good, the stronger the break the stronger each of the factions will be. 35,000 people what the hell was wrong with Vader. Got to get back to the pod--

--Where the hell am I? I really need to pay more attention to where I am heading. Hmm... Access to Pod 3, that's not right.--

--That looks like Zale...Hmm...So he is setting up with Yang. Oh, well I'll still give him the primer I promised him.--

"Excuse me Zale."

"What it is, oh Professor, are you going to be bording Pod 3?"

"Ah...no...I will be taking another ride to Planet. But your...ah...advise was useful." The Professor pulls out a small datablock and places it in Zales hand, "Here is my preliminary work on the leadership dynamic that may take place on Planet. It may be helpful as you your new society."

Zale's jaw dropped, "Are you saying what I think you are?"

"Just watch. I hope we can collaborate in the future Zale. Until then..."

"Until then..."

------------------------------
[later, once Zorloc figures out how to get back to pod 4]

--Ok where did I stash that damn computer, ah here we go,-- the profesor yanks out the black case and opens it.

"You seem upset professor"

"Damn right Vader, you stupid computer, Five thousand, I was just informed the number of expected survivors is seven times that."

"Sorry Professor, but my records indicate that I reported 35,419. Your hearing has suffered some rather significant damage from the concerts you attended on Earth, and then cryo could have posed an additional temporary limit..."

"Yea Yea Yea, whatever. Has the keeper been able to issue the orders without being noticed?"

posted 01-14-99 08:18 PM ET            

Planetfall had been uneventful. The landing pod had set down near the somewhat oddly named "Mount Planet". Pod number three had all of the heavy mining equipment that had been brought on the Unity. Instead of utilizing the traditional base design, as the experts back on Earth had suggested in their "guide to mission parameters", Yang decided to use the mining equipment to burrow underground, and to create a tunnel system to support the colony. The natural defenses provided by this design, Yang explained, would be important since they did not know what to expect on Planet. Lt. Irving pointed out that the underground design would have difficulty collecting solar energy, and there was no obvious enemy that the defenses would be useful against. Zale, who had known Yang the longest of anyone on the mission, was as surprised as anyone when Yang responded. Since he had been expecting a technical explanation, a snippet of wisdom, or even an old Chinese proverb, "Better safe than sorry" came as a complete surprise.

The underground construction of "the Hive" (Yang's suggestion had seemed as good as any at the time) made a lot of the material that had been brought on the colony pod useless. Lt. Irving (who's grudging acceptance had grown into enthusiasm) quickly discovered, however, that the Plasteel (TM - "another fine product from Morgan Synthetics," as the ads said) panels that were supposed to be windows could be molded extremely easily with a laser-cutter set on its second lowest setting. Several of the colonists proved to be exceptionally adept at this task, and soon furniture and other niceties could be easily obtained to outfit the base.

Zale sat on his transparent chair at his transparent desk (he was still getting used to the Plasteel (TM) furniture) reviewing a speech that Yang was going to be delivering that evening. Abundant mineral deposits on Mount Planet had been found by scouting parties, and the huge, tracked "colony pod" that had been brought from the Unity was all set to roll up the mountain to start a mining encampment. Yang was going to give a speech at the sendoff. Zale quickly realized, however, that this was more than just a "good luck" speech. Yang's words, with their Wilkes-notation accents, showed that he had something much grander in mind.

<smile>. My friends, we've accomplished a lot together since Planetfall. We have a lot to be proud of. <pause|reaction>. We've all worked <emphatic>hard</emphatic> to secure our place on Planet. <personal>But there are those who would tell you that we should stop now, that we've built all we can build.</personal> <pause|silence>. I say that they are wrong! <pause|reaction>.

<big smile>. My friends, what we will build next goes beyond mines, or tunnels, or solar collectors. <pause|silence>. What we will build next is a <emphatic>society</emphatic>. <pause|silence>. But not just <emphatic>any</emphatic> society. A <emphatic>new</emphatic>society. A society that continues in the spirit of cooperation that has made "the Hive" possible! <pause|reaction>. This society will not be like any that you are familiar with from Earth. The societies of the past have failed. That we were even sent on this mission should be proof enough of that. The failed politics of the past involved catering to every passing fad and any fool's whim. The Earth lies in ruins because they realized to late that in order for a society to prosper, it must demand that its members display discipline and responsibility, and that they must work <emphatic>together</emphasis>, for the <emphatic>common</emphatic> good, instead of their own <emphatic>selfish</emphatic> enterprises. <pause|silence>.

My friends, many of you regard me as an exceptional man, a man of many capabilities. Many of you chose to join me in landing pod number three because you felt that <emphasis>I</emphasis> was your best hope for a future. I do not hide my achievements, but neither do I hide that fact that I, alone, would be helpless on Planet. I rely on <personal>each and every one of you</personal> to build a better life for myself, and for our entire society. Each one of you should look around, and decide for yourself if you think you can brave the perils of our new home alone, or if you want all of the rest of us on your side, knowing that we will back you up, that we will <emphatic>do all that is in our power</emphatic> to make sure that you survive on planet. <pause|silence>. Yes. I say that we will build a new society, a society founded on the three pillars of <emphatic>cooperation <pause|silence> efficiency <pause|silence> and discipline <pause|silence></emphatic>. We see inspiration for this society in many places. Look, for example to the insect world�

A knock at the door disturbed Zale's review. "Come in!" he called to the man in a sergeant's uniform he could see through his office door's window.

"Hello, Dr. Zale," said the sergeant, who, it could now be seen, was holding one half of a large metal cube, about two feet on the side. He backed into the office, and he and the soldier helping him to carry the cube set it down. "We found one of the supply pods that the Unity sent down before we landed when we were out on patrol today. We thought you might be interested in this little piece of equipment, so we brought it right over after we got off duty�" the sergeant said with a grin.

Zale stood up and approached the cube. His initial impression had been incorrect, the cube had only a few metal sides. On closer inspection it appeared to be a small portable cryo-cell, with its own independent power-source. Zale moved even closer and saw a piece of synth-gold plate, with words etched onto it: "Certificate of bio-diversity. Chief Botanist Deirdre Skye authorizes this animal�". As Zale got even closer, he could see through the semi-transparent side of the cube.

"Stanley!" he exclaimed.

"We thought you might want your pet octopus back," said the sergeant, who didn't often have a chance to make people this happy.

posted 01-15-99 01:48 PM ET            

The electronic orders had been sent out to all remaining functioning cryocells: ***Emergency Revival Sequence Activation***
Unfortunately for the occupant of cryocell UNSU7-022251-BZ, this unit was assembled in Morgan Conglomerate Industrial Park #10, a notorious sweatshop squeezing extra profits from shoddy materials, safety violations and overworked and under-trained laborers. The Quality Control inspector without running the specified diagnostics on its automated "wake-up" module passed this particular unit. The module silently failed at the time of the meteor collision. The occupant slept on during the last evacuation of Unity.

Location: 100 kilometers above Chiron
Time: 1 minute before impact

posted 01-19-99 12:19 AM ET            

A vocal minority of people were very excited about Yang's ideas. Several spontaneous demonstrations had broken out in the makeshift cafeteria that had been set up. Most of the people in them had been former citizens of the Christian States of America, all too familiar with the capricious nature of majority politics, and ready to accept a sensible government. A few others had been witnesses to the Citizens for Survival and Spartan Confederation terrorist acts on the Earth and on the Unity. They felt that it was time that a little bit of order got reinstated in their lives. Almost everybody else was still confused.

Zale himself was confused. The Governing Committee had tasked him with explaining the Human Hive to the people, and building popular support. People were ready to accept Yang's leadership readily enough (most of them viewed him as the only sensible officer on the whole mission) but weren't ready to climb on board the bandwagon of a new government. And if Yang really meant what he said, more than a new government. A new society. People were confused. Zale was confused.

There had been no opposition to the Hive yet. Zale regarded that as a temporary situation. Even if some of these new governing principles seemed palatable on the surface, many weren't ready to accept them. Too many of the colonists had been raised in countries where freedoms were taken for granted. Pointless freedoms. Freedoms to the point of absurdity. If you told some of them that they'd no longer be allowed to exchange polaroids of orange polar bears playing volleyball, some of them would resent it on a subconscious level. The trick, thought Zale, was to make them WANT it on a CONSCIOUS level.

Zale pressed the button on the communicator on his desk. "Kowalski, Leonard" he said. The computer cogitated for a moment, and then connected him to the line he wanted.

"Leonard Kowalski," the voice on the other end answered, matter of factly.

"This is Dr. Zale. Could you come to my office, please?"

"Sure thing. Be there in a few."

Zale pressed the button again, closing the channel. Kowalski was a good man. He had worked in advertising until he got fed up with trying to convince people to buy useless products that they didn't want. He got a job in public relations with the UN. He enrolled in some night classes in neuro-biology in order to qualify himself for the Unity mission. He came out of cryo-sleep in the middle of one of the firefights with the Spartans, one of the primary reasons that he sought the safety of Yang's pod when everything kept sliding further downhill. Zale had selected him as one of the staff of Psych Services.

Kowalski poked his head in the door. "You wanted to see me, Steve?" he asked conversationally.

"Yeah, Leonard. Have a seat. Have you ever heard the expression 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't know'?"

"Sure, but I fail to see how it applies in this situation," he chuckled.

"You, my friend, are about to become a vocal opponent of Chairman Yang's plan for the Human Hive, a rallying point around which all opposition can gather."

"I am?"

"Sure. If you're doing it, we'll know when, where, and how to counter all your arguments. We'll be quite persuasive."

"Oh."

"Don't pretend that you're not going to enjoy this," smiled Zale. "You've always wanted to be a firebrand, you've just never had an issue to get behind. Not a problem anymore."

The guilty look on Kowalski's face turned into a smile. "But it's not so much fun if you know you're going to lose," he answered.

posted 01-19-99 02:23 AM ET            

Pod 4 was modularized. Instead of the domes that most pods would have setup, pod 4 setup a dozen towers in the foot hills of some massive mountains. Each of the towers contains habitation, manufacturing, research, ecological, and power generation sections.

The view from the top of Tower Prime was breathtaking. The mountains to the East and South. The great ocean to the north. The interior sea to the northwest. The spires arround had the look of wizard's towers, although instead of conjuring, illusion, and necromancy they were chemistry, physics, and medicine.

Tower Prime, the tallest of the towers, is the center of the base. Then three slightly smaller towers surround Tower Prime at a distance of about half a kilometer. Beyond Towers Two, Three, and Four are the remaining towers froming a larger circle.

It is in Tower Prime that Zahkarov has setup his offices. Zorloc is a bit nervous about his meeting with the "Provost" especially since Zorloc has not been able to find out what the meeting will be about. But before their meeting, Provost Zahkarov is going to speak to the city, perhaps his speech will provide a few clues.

"Professor, if you would come away from the window and have a seat. I believe the Provost's speech will begin shortly."

--Yes, Yes, Yes.-- Ever since he was informed the day before, the cute young woman that brought the invitation, had been acting as if she were his personal assistant. --Probably just sent to keep an eye on me.--

<from the monitor>...This is a special presentation of Hyper-channel 1 Government Access. Your connection with your government. From out studio in Tower 4...Shannon Campbell reporting.

"In just a moment Provost Zahkarov will be giving a speech, H-C One has just completed a new poll of the towers: 78% of the population supports a radical change in how our new society will function as opposed to the failed societies of Earth. Additionally...wait, I am getting word that the speech is about to commence."

--That poll was sure convenient.--

"Greetings fellow citizens of this new planet. We have made an excellent start building the physical infrastructure for our new lives on Planet. In the short period of time since landing, we have survived the initial hostility of this planet and pulled together to get all twelve towers up and running.

"But now we have a greater challenge. Here on this planet we have an opportunity...no, an obligation to avoid the same mistakes made on Earth. But simply not making the same choices is not enough, because that was never the problem. The failure of Earth was the failure to make decisions on a rational basis, the failure of ancient superstisions, the failure of societal structures that don't look to the future.

"We will change all of this.

"I have been speaking with many of the citizens of this new city, and I have heard your voices. Each of you are seeking a better way for us to live our lives, but not an unproven ideology or archaic mythology. You want a proven way for us to work together and build the future to together. I have a few believe I know how we can do this. But no society can rely on one man, so I will be gathering the brightest and most experienced to form a new scientific society.

"I will leave you with a few words that have helped me strive for excellence.

'Though we are not now that strength in olde days that moved Earth and Heaven, that which we are...we are. One equal temper of heroic hearts made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yeild.'"

posted 01-19-99 04:42 PM ET            

I look up. All is hazy. My body and appendages feel curiously sticky. It's too much effort. I pass out again.

That was my first concious experience in about 4 long weeks. I'm only well enough now to restart writing my journal about all I've missed- about a week after that experience. I had been struck down by a particually violent case of cholera, of all things- not some exotic new disease, merely our old microbes travelling with us, and the water purification system in the equipment taken from the Unity apperantly wasn't working quite to satisfaction. I had managed to maintain my bearing and keep up the work on patching up a problem in the initial thin dome supplied to keep air in- not enough to create a controlled enviornment, which would allow greater energy and mineral production, or to stop the sea, but enough for air. I was trying to insure it didn't completely fall apart, as the engineers seemed nowhere to be seen. But since I was feverish and horribly dehydrated, I think others realized I was sick when I collapsed. The next I woke up was the scene I just described for you. Later, I next woke up in slightly better shape, but with the same sensation in my body, as well as my balance being off from the feeling of lying on my back, and seeing the ceiling in front of me, and yet not feeling anything really holding my back up. Almost nauseating when you have no clue what it is that's causing it. Then I managed to work up the strength to turn my head a little, and noticed I was lying in a vat of clear goo, with only my face out of it. Apperantly my head motion had not gone unnoticed; there was some movement in the people above. My vision was clearer now then before, and after about a minute of waiting, none other than Morgan himself came in.

Morgan? We're already there? Ah yes, my apologies dear reader, I haven't finished my accounts on the Unity or planetfall yet. I just know that I had so little free time after planetfall that I only got part of the Unity's story down on paper before being stricken with illness. A story for another time, perhaps- some of the events there might show their relevance later. In any case, I am now a member of Morgan's soceity, and as I secured a colony pod for him, I had hoped he would repay the debt by giving me an important job. Which is what I'm coming to now.

Morgan, and one of his cronies- I forget his name- came up next to my vat. "I hope you're feeling better."

I managed a weak reply, surprising myself- "Yes."

"Well, you were pretty close to the edge there for awhile. In fact our doctors were at a loss on what exactly to do about it. It seems to have been some kind of mutated form of cholera. Resistant to the medications we have here.

In any case, our doctors decided to try something different. You'll notice this lovely medical lab we have here. Do you remember how you secured us Captain Garland's pod #1? Pods 1 and 2 were designed to set up nothing but cities and hence had the best medical stations to serve as hospitals, rather than the undereqipped medibays on the others."

I thought to myself on the pods- they were designed to set up 2 cities and 3 outposts. Pods 1 and 2 were nearly identical, with the big city setup, except Pod 1 was slightly more extravegeant since it was expected that it would house the officers and leaders, and Pod 2 slightly more practical. I was worried, in fact, that the kind of people who would join Morgan would abuse this facet of our initial pod and expect to live in what passes for luxury on a hostile planet in other cities as well. Pod 3 was expected to set up an industrial outpost, with heavy mining equipment, over an area found with high amounts of minerals. Pod 4 had all the science equipment, as well as the rudimentary housing and living neccisities that went with all the pods after 2. It was actually meant to join up with pod 1 and form in the same city, but ideally it was self-sufficient, as it had all the basic materials of the other outposts. Pod 5 was meant for a native-life study outpost, and contained all the advanced hydroponics equipment neccesary for tampering with the enviornment. Pod 6 was similiar to pod 4 in that it was meant to team up with pod 1 and add it's housing to the great city that was to be the center of Earth civilization on Chiron. Its datalinks contained much of the collected culture of Earth, as well as the recreation equipment to keep the colonists happy. If Pods 4 and 5 contained all the hard science, then 6 had all the liberal arts. Pod 7, which my friends the Spartans took with my help, was a security outpost, if worst came to worst. As such it had the entire wealth of knowledge on military tactics in its datalinks (not that most of all these fields aren't on most datalinks), as well as a Unity River in working condition. Yang probably would have preferred that one- but maybe not, hmm.

My train of thought on the colony pods was interrupted by Morgan's resumed speaking. "We had the equipment to try something new. The scientists decided they needed to buff up your body's natural defenses, which were getting beaten. They decided to try to make you... young again."

I managed a weak laugh. "I sure don't feel it."

"Well, maybe not younger in appearance, but younger on the inside at least. We used an old sample of your DNA and managed to cook up this gel you're lying in. At great expense, I might add. We figured that even if it didn't work, you'd contribue to the research of this treatment- which is revolutionary, I might add."

I was a gunieau pig. Joy. I'm glad he helped me for such unselfish reasons. Sigh, I suppose medical research is valid, and if I had been concious I would have consented.

"In any case, it takes about 3 weeks of soaking in this stuff to get the proper effect. More to the point, we've found that this gel has to be electrified at very, very high voltages in order to keep the DNA in a high enough solution to exchange with your DNA and osmose into you. The most important thing is that your new, which is actually older DNA before you aged, has to reproduce and slowly replace the DNA you had while you were sick. That's why it takes at least 3, preferably 4, weeks of submersion in this stuff. Sure enough, with the improved defenses of your youth, your body is fighting what medicine can't.

"Whoa- let's go back a bit. Just how much power does it use anyway?"

"Almost the entire output of the solar collector that came along with our pod, as well as the energy coming from the town's fission plant and rooftop solar collectors."

Wow, I thought to myself. Does all this science require that much power these days?

"Well worth it though. Which I'll get to now. This procedure grants the closest thing to immortality that we can get, despite it's prohibitive expense. So I can only afford to give it to myself and a few top advisors. You've well proven your worth in the events of late, Legrand. You would have been in management sooner if I had noticed you. In any case, I'd like to offer you a position as top advisor. Many of my former advisors have decided to seek their own fortunes by starting their own companies. I will need a few men like you to keep a steady hand on the economy, as well as... other matters. I'm telling you now, so you have plenty of time to think about just how you'd like to help us."

"Thanks. One question. Did you get a message from Pravin Lal, or anyone else, on reuniting the pods into the original plan?"

"Um... no. We're too spread out- apperantly the officers had decided to spread the colony pods, instead of keeping them in close formation, to better insure the survival of at least one."

A relieved look crossed my face. I had been the one who planted that idea in their minds and gotten them to start thinking that way, and I was glad it had succeded. Now each leader would go their own way, and the Spartans would stand an excellent chance against 7 divided factions.

posted 01-22-99 03:19 PM ET            

Well, I feel better now after some time away from our little fountain of youth. Time to go to work.

Morgan was out. I was an assistant, but I had no field to work on. That was fine with me, as I needed to find out what the heck went on during the last three weeks, aside from the standard Building of Plymouth Plantation type things. I needed to know what else.

The scouts hadn't gotten as far as I had hoped in their reports, but that could be expected; precious few people could be expended for that at first. We only knew roughly the area around Morgan Industries, our rather oddly named first city. We had the ocean right next to us, and it looks like it extends down south as well. And just my luck that as I was looking over it, the news came in that on the latest scout's find. Apparently Morgan was on the streets, getting ready to give a speech to the ammassed crowds gathered. With so few televisions, public speeches were once again the best way to communicate information with pictures short of computers (though even in this early time almost everyone did have quicklinks on them, the modern equivalent of a 20th century pager). This was not expected to last too long, though. I decided I mine as well go there an listen to it while I had a chance.

It was a bit less crowded than I would have expected- virtually the entire population of the city seemed to be there, but the large quantities of people at work on the perimeter or other outer areas were a bit too far away to come or hear about the triumphant news. Well, since I could only guess what exactly the scout's report was, I was glad that the speech was scheduled to be given in 5 minutes.

"Friends, I bring you great news. The Unity seeded the surface of this planet with supply pods, as I'm sure you all know, and already we have found one of the small Unity seacraft packaged along for the trip. This foil can help us extend our reach along the sea waves now, and as the British before us knew control of the sea is everything. We shall remember this day as an important leap forward for us at an early stage. That is all for now."

Some of the people, disappointed that it wouldn't be some more practical benefit, started to protest, asking what importance the control of the sea was when we were all supposed to reunite with the other pods. But Morgan's men were already dispersing the crowd, saying that the show was over.

posted 01-24-99 01:44 AM ET            

Kowalski increased the level of his rhetoric, and denounced Yang as a fool, too scared of the competition to debate him man to man. Yang finally consented to the debate, on the condition that Kowalski "stop disrupting the smooth functioning of The Hive".

Zale and Kowlaski had been planning the night's performance for hours. Kowalski had taken several mild stimulants, and now his jitters made him look manic and a bit unbalanced. He wore a heavily insulated shirt under his regular clothes, and he had broken out in a mild sweat. The desired effect was to make him look a little too close to the edge for comfort, and Zale thought they had hit the nail on the head.

The "debate", of course, had been carefully scripted. Kowalski, for his part, spent most of the evening rehashing the same tired rhetoric he had been preaching at his many rallies. Yang was prepared for him on every front with facts, figures, and philosophy. Yang, with his supreme confidence, looked to be wearing the increasingly frazzled Kowalski down.

"We're all in this together," said Yang. "We all depend on each other, to reject this unity of purpose now because of some antiquated notions you hold onto from Earth is ridiculous. I work for him, and her, and him, and him, and her," Yang said as he pointed to different members of the crowd. "I provide my skills and expertise, just as I know they will utilize their skills and expertise for my benefit."

Kowalski gripped his podium with both hands, and his eyes looked as if they were about to bulge out of his head. This was his big finish. He sure hoped he didn't blow his lines...

"You," he hissed, "expect ME to work for THEM? Those SHEEP? Those mindless drones who should rightly be serving ME? You expect ME to work for THEM? ME?"

A few of Kowalski's supporters, who were holding signs over their heads, became visibly distressed. How exactly does one distance oneself from someone who's name is emblazoned on a 1-foot by 3-foot sign that one has been waving over one's head? A few of his supporters, though, actually applauded. It quickly died out once they realized what he had really said.

"Yes, Mr. Kowalski, I do expect it. These 'sheep', as you call them, have been working night and day to provide for our safety, our security, our comfort. They've been working to provide these things for all of us. They've been working so that you've had time to annoy us with your frivolous politics, and your personal ambition. The time for that is long past. We left it behind forty years ago on a dying planet. Your kind, Mr. Kowalski, are not welcome in the Hive." The crowd cheered.

-------------------------

"So, Leonard, how does it feel to be the last politician ever?" joked Zale.

"It'll feel a lot better when people stop throwing things at me," he chuckled. Kowalski had left the debate amid a shower of boos, hisses, and whatever projectiles the crowd could lay its hand on. "I guess everybody's pretty much on the Hive bandwagon now, huh?"

"Well, not everyone, of course. But the dissenters are probably bright enough to keep their mouths shut. Nobody wants to be another Kowalski."

"It's good to know I'm loved."