Sorry for the late update, and I apologize for any further late updates of the course of the next few weeks. I'm busy moving from state to state for my new job.
Anywho, today I continue the Blue Peril [Working Title] series with a new character, James, a young man raised in a cult liken to the Amish today. I don't really know where he fits into the story yet, nor most the characters really, this is my attempt to do a short story like George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. With lots of characters from from different points of view coming together, something I find fun and challenging.
The Earth rotates at just over a thousand miles an hour,
that’s faster than the bullet train in Japan and a Boeing 747 jet combined, but
from geosynchronous orbit the planet looks like its racing grass grow, and is losing. As breath taking as the globe sized Earth looked, James was underwhelmed
after seeing so many globes spin much faster down on the surface. He wanted to
see every major city wiz by like bikes at the track racing against each
other to cross the terminator line first. He could hear the announcer from his
races in his head calling out each of their names as they crossed: Here comes New York in first,
leading the race as usual, Atlanta is riding up on its tail, with Miami no so
far behind it. This is going to be a close one folks! Instead it appeared
the bikes were replaced with snails at this distance.
This
thought only crossed James’ mind for a brief second until he remembered
something: he is in fucking space! Millions of people depart the Earth’s
gravitational well a day, but not until now could James afford to leave the
needy pull of the Earth. Ticket’s for interstellar flights weren’t expensive,
just a few hundred bucks to get from Earth to the moon, James just never had
the time or interest until recently, mostly due to his parents.
Having
been raised by two Millennia parents he was indoctrinated to believe that space travel
and any technology more powerful than an early twenty-first century smart phone was nothing more than a luxury not a necessity. Millennia is a movement, as you all know, that is a
subset of the Techno movement which in turn is a subset of the Earthling movement. Each movement,
or cult as most choose to see them, dedicated to living a fulfilling lifestyle
of which cannot surpass the technology of the early twenty-first century. The
followers, or cultist, can choose a life style from any time period of human history
they want, from the ever popular Victorian Era with their fancy cloths and cola
based tech (an industry only still alive due to this movement), to the easier life’s
of the Early 21st century (typically for those who want to live
within an earlier time without trying too hard), to the wheel-less Paleolithic
era (for the hard cores and hippies); totaling in ninety eight mid-sized city
camps, or compounds, and two million followers across the globe. Anybody could
leave when they want, there was no penalty at all, yet most didn’t.
Brainwashing a child from birth is easier than correction facilities.
James
continued gazing upon the green and blue orb outside the window, his disappointment
of the speed had disappeared and his sense of adventure and freedom had
returned. Oh the journeys he pictured himself having. Goodbye Earth, and hello
new worlds.
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