It’s easy to go down into Hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide. The light of progress hindered like a fire depleted of its oxygen. But, to climb back again, to retrace one’s steps to the upper airs of recovery and beyond – therein lies the problem, therein lies the task. For if done incorrectly, the fool will wander the catacombs of hell, believing they are in Valhalla.
Chapter 1
In the late 22nd century, after the colonization and teraformation of much of Mars, human technological achievement slowed to a halt. For every major breakthrough in technology throughout human history, there was always an equal or greater ability to power the inventions. As time went on, new inventions and technology needed greater power to work. Computers needed more electricity and rockets needed better fuel. Clean renewable energy was essential while innovation was dead. In the year 2193, a thick oily liquid with an orange red color resembling the old red dirt of mars was discovered in large quantities in ancient Martian caverns. It was named Apla. At first, Apla was considered useless. Shortly after its discovery, a poor scientist named Chris Winterfield began testing the Apla in many conditions. He analyzed the makeup of the substance and found that the Apla was comprised of many of the same elements of organic life. Early biological tests on Apla concluded that it was not a living thing, but simply a natural liquid mixture. Despite its classification, Winterfield hypothesized the Apla to be drug for rejuvenation. He believed the chemical makeup would respond well when fused with wounds. Through years of trials he stumbled upon an unbelievable breakthrough. When Apla is fused with human blood inside of the body, it creates and temporarily sustains unbelievable amounts of energy. Merely one pint amount of Apla injected into the body would instantly fuse with an equal number of blood cells by volume. Once the fusion is complete, the body would have anywhere up to twenty megawatts available to expend. All of the energy would flow through the body while the person can comfortably sustain the energy. It seemed as though a powerful, renewable, and safe energy was found.
A week after the true power of Apla was discovered, trials were conducted on thousands of people. The Earth governments reached out to Winterfield and Martian leadership, claiming to back the trials with billions. Word spread quickly back to earth and the Quad Earth Satellite (QES) colonies. Major contracts were being drawn up, Apla drill mines were being created, the Alpha trials of Apla were producing thousands of megawatts of clean energy, and all of this happened by the second week.
But something terrible happened in just two weeks following. All 1563 candidates for the Alpha testing died. Every single one of them died from radiation poisoning, deadly tumors, or cancer. The majority of the candidates were sent to hospitals as soon as the first fatalities were reported, but they died regardless. At the start of the 22nd century, a way to fix the effects of radiation was found, but it was not a cure. Arcs (A.R.C. Anti Radiation Cells) could be injected into an area of the body where it was known to have radioactive parts, and be able to kill the radioactivity before its heated effects could kill parts of the body. In cases where cancer or tumors had already formed from radiation, the brilliant medical technology of the time could perform quick surgeries to remove the threats. However, in many cases, the illness, whatever it be, would have spread too much and there was no way to stop it once it enough time to damage important organs.
At first, it seemed like the new way of energy would crumble. But the risk of cancer and death of a few people was not enough to draw the government from a cheap and near infinite supply of energy. And anyone important to the government could easily stop use of Apla before the radiation spread too far. Hence, the drilling of Apla exploded all over Mars making trade between Earth and Mars great. However, because the planets are only close enough for space travel about every 2 years, trade and travel was not always possible. During the one month where space travel is economically possible, the two planets open up the orbital buildings in the major cities for easy landing and distributing of Apla to earth and goods and minerals to Mars. This month is the most important trade month over the course of the two years. Apla had immense power. There was nothing stopping the rapid expansion of its use. It would power the newest computer grids and the biggest space stations. It would power the QES colonies and the newest technological innovations. It would change everything from space and air travel, to ground fuel, to powering cities. But most importantly, it would change war.
