Systems In Chaos: Dissention

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A shrouded figure hunched over his desk in the darkness of his room. The only light illuminating his face was being emitted from his terminal screen. His brown eyes were blood shot, strained from both the lack of sleep and staring at the near-holographic computer in front of him for hours. He had two bags under his eyes, which attested to his tiredness. His figure also gave away the state of the man, with a hunched back and a low hanging head. Titan Galvin El’Fin had been awake for almost three straight days and he was a wreck.

As sluggish and as drained as he was, mentally and physically, he couldn’t get any sleep. He had tried but his head would always keep wandering to thoughts he did not want to think about. As long as his mind was occupied those thoughts would stay silent in the back of his mind, so he decided he would simply stay awake until his body could handle it no more.

He sluggishly moved his finger over to the screen and opened a folder. Several images scattered across the holographic screen allowing him to see which files were what. He thought about opening one of the files but he couldn’t be bothered moving his arm again.

“Open Early 23rd Century history,” he commanded, however quietly. Responding to the voice activated command, and without delay, the screen cleared all the images of the files and replaced it with a history e-book containing text and 3D pictures.

“Galactic Expansion,” he commanded again. The text quickly flicked over to the history section of its reader’s choice.

Reading history was always one of Galvin’s favourite pass times. He had read almost every major and significant event in human history. Events dating from what had only happened just a few weeks ago, in the year 2543, all the way back to the ancient Aztecs and dinosaurs of Earth.

He began by reading how the human race expanded beyond their solar system. It was fascinating. By the late 22nd century the human species had colonised several planets and moons in their home system, ranging from the Moon and Mars to Europa, Jupiter’s moon, and even Pluto. The state of natural resources on Earth had become so bad that, for over thirty years, every country in the United Nations had put together their only available resources to develop the technology required to settle other planets. By the end of the 21st century they had been successful and within that time to the year 2120 more than one quarter of Earth’s population had been relocated to the Mars or the Moon colonies. By 2190 Pluto and Jupiter’s moon, Europa, had been colonized as well.

Technological advancements, once corporations and governments had access to the resources of the Moon and Mars, went by quickly. They developed spacecrafts that could reach Pluto from Earth in just six days. The space tourism company Spread Galactic developed a metal out of a, previously unique, ore found on Mars - dubbed Marsonium - to create living complexes that would protect the occupants from the cold of space as well as create and trap heat, allowing Pluto to be colonised.

During the mid years of the 23rd century plans were being made to expand throughout more star systems. With the five colonized planets and moons, the abundance of resources, and, for the most part, interplanetary peace, the prioritized space research progressed overwhelmingly fast. It was said that back in the early 21st century people were amazed that in the time period of sixty years man had accomplished so much, including flying and going to the moon for the first time in the previous century. In just half that time humanity expanded to the far reaches of their home system. By 2296 ships were ready to travel to a new star system, but the expansion mission did not go ahead until mid 2297...

Groaning and pushing away from the desk he left it there and stumbled over to his bed. Exhaustion was starting to take over and he was asleep before his face hit his pillow.