All characters are 18 years old or older.
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Greg and Rhea are off to a military base to make sure that Project Ares is going as planned. He meets some new people and makes a few new friends. He makes some discoveries of his own about Rhea and himself that will literally change the way he sees his world and the world at large.
We got our coffee, made it through security and boarded the corporate jet with time to spare. Our flight took off on time and we were headed for the recently refurbished military base deep in the Painted Desert. It was first established during the Cold War. But when the Berlin Wall fell this base and a few others became obsolete. But Project Ares had reawakened the corpse of the facility from its desert grave. We had a few hours until we reached our destination and I used it to try and crack the Ares corundum. I brought up the schematics of the Blink ring and continued to dissect its systems one at a time. Rhea sat nearby and watched as I brainstormed with my digital counterpart. I didn't see it as a separate entity any longer now it was just another part of my brain. I bounced ideas off it and when an idea hit the mark I got a green light. However, when my thoughts were off target it flashed a red one. I was getting a lot of red.
"Fuck it," I cursed. "Display the absolute basics. Show me the things that are absolutely inviolate."
A sticky note appeared and on it was listed the antiquarian's thirteen commandments. Most of them dealt with the function of the ring while a few others seemed more cosmetic. I brought up the elements I thought were trivial and looked them over one at a time. A gasp from Rhea and I looked over at her. She stood up and pointed at the third item. She told me it was an arcane symbol. It represented the space between spaces. That seemed to make sense to me. The ring created a fold in space that could be interpreted as a space between spaces.
"Maybe it's his signature," I offered and she made a face.
"I don't know," she said. "These other items sound like alchemical processes and magical formulae."
"Rhea, are you a witch?" I asked and she laughed. "Good because for a minute there I was beginning to wonder. How do you know so much about magic and alchemy?"
"I used to hang out with Sir Isaac Newton," she said quite seriously. "He was a closet alchemist and not a bad lover. I was his inspiration for his theory about gravity. No seriously, we were going at it one day and I was bent over holding onto the trunk of this tree. Well the vibrations of his thrusts knocked loose an apple and the rest is history."
"I guess you can't have the father of physics portrayed as a randy old man with a luscious young lover. History has to be dignified after all."
"True... and you can't have the theory of gravity being inspired by a romp outside at an apple tree." She said and then fell silent again. "I have to agree maybe that symbol is his signature. But the other things are straight out of an alchemical notebook. Maybe it his version of some kind of metallurgical recipe, what do you think?"
"I think you are onto something. It helps me sort out what I can and cannot do. Did you really sleep with Newton?"
"Yep... you're not jealous are you?"
"No, I may have some questions later on but for now, I have to focus on this."
"What exactly are you trying to do Greg?"
I showed her the working model of the six segments of the ring. It wasn't anywhere near completion but it got the point across. I went into the whys and wherefores of my logic. So the two of us continued analyzing the schematics and worked on isolating each stage of the ring's operation. This was going to take months if not years to segregate the components and rework the Blink technology. We weren't the only ones working on it but it took a decade to bring this to fruition and it could take another decade to understand it well enough to master it or not at all. There were no guarantees that what I wanted to do was even possible. But that wasn't going to stop me from trying. Rhea liked my idea but I told her it was hardly original. I had discovered that creating a plug and play ring had been early on in the developmental stages. Everyone involved kept all the other groups in the loop. I felt it was going to be a single domino that would create the solution. It would happen suddenly and after the first breakthrough the rest would hopefully fall. It helped to have a positive attitude.
"This reminds me of something," Rhea said and repeated it several more times but at different segments of the ring's operation.
Over the next few hours we attacked the Blink technology from front to back and from every angle we could think of. We were close to our destination when we sat down and watched footage of the successful test of the rings. I decided to examine every frame to see if anything unusual could be seen. We were on final approach when I found the single frame that stood out from the rest. I displayed it for Rhea and we stared at it and then at each other.
"What do you think," I asked.
"A space between spaces," Rhea replied.
"I wonder if anyone else has seen this."
"You'll find out soon enough. We are landing."
We buckled up as the aircraft made its final approach. The plane touched down and took up its position on the tarmac. The engines wound down and there was a sudden shudder as the elevator dropped down carrying the entire aircraft to the base below the surface of the desert. It took a few minutes to reach our destination and the elevator ground to a halt. We disembarked and were greeted by the base commander General Thomas Grant. We shook hands and introductions were exchanged as we got the VIP tour of the facility. I was amazed at what the Army Corps of Engineers was able to accomplish in such a small amount of time. I learned that there were still areas of the old base that were being worked on but the key components were finished.
But it was central operations that I was most interesting in seeing. It was the heart of the base and the location of Project Ares. I watched the General and he was everything you'd expect from a career military man with the blood of presidents in his veins. He was tall with wide shoulders and carried himself with a ramrod straight posture and a stride that was a bit of a challenge to keep up with. He had not softened in his old age he was still cast from iron and deserving of respect. He spoke with a clarity and power of a man used to having his simplest requests treated as orders. The last area we were taken to was central operations and not by chance. He had built up the tension throughout the entire tour.
I didn't miss the stunning redheaded Major at his side. She had the same steely exterior but I didn't miss the subtle looks she gave the General when she thought no one was watching. They were close friends at least and maybe a lot more. I loved the line of freckles accentuating her elegant nose and prominent cheekbones. I wondered how that full sensual mouth felt like when it was wrapped around a cock. Rhea elbowed me and I looked out from the control room that overlooked central operations. The ring was already under construction. It would be twice as large as the first when it was completed. It was the heart of Project Ares our unmanned mission to Mars. A robot piloted by a carefully chosen A.I. would go to the red planet and construct the second ring. Once that was accomplished we could step from one world to the other. That was why it was so damn important to be able to make the Blink technology modular. It would make the trip to Mars more likely to succeed. A full constructed ring might suffer damage from the vibrations from the launch into space or its landing on Mars. A modular ring seemed our best chance for success.
"The staging area is completely air tight and can have its atmosphere adjusted to fit the Martian configuration perfectly. Once the rings are aligned we can have our boys moved from one world to the other easily. I'll tell you what Greg I am damn excited. When I was a kid I always wanted to be an astronaut. This is the next best thing. Perhaps before I die I will get a chance to step onto the sands of Mars. Who knows maybe even you will get that great honor."
"Anything is possible," I said. "Your men are making great progress. Even if Ares is delayed we still have plans for the ring here."
"Really, well that is news to me. Can you share with me what Mr. Shaw has planned?"
"Nothing short of revolutionizing space travel," I said smiling. "Even as we speak another ring is under construction in a different facility. That one and a prototype fusion generator are going to be sent into orbit..."
"Genius, pure genius," the General cried out cutting me off. "Once the second ring is in space and functioning then rockets will no longer be necessary to carry payloads into orbit. Hell even Ares could be sent that way. That man never ceases to surprise me. Let's retreat to my office and we share a bite of lunch. I imagine you and your bodyguard must be famished."
He led the way without a word from either of us. I watched the Major walking ahead of me and received another elbow to the side from Rhea. The glare from her was half jealousy and half warning. She could be the General's lover. Rhea had picked up on it as well. The General's office was a perfect reflection of the man. It was austere bordering on the sterile. There were a few personal mementos on the walls and his desk but otherwise it could have been any other office on the base. Lunch was fixed by the General's personal chef. It was the only break from his iron clad personality. We ate in silence and I observed the way he ate and it was another sign about the life long soldier. Every bite was like a sacred moment and he savored every mouthful of food. The more I saw the more I like him.
"What is it like," the General asked suddenly breaking the silence.
"I don't understand." I replied and he chuckled.
"Forgive me. I make it a habit to find out everything I can about people I work with. I learned from your records that you have an A.I. implant. I have one in my watch but I was just curious about what it was like to have one in your head."
"A fair question," I said. "I used to see it as what I called my other half. But now it's more like another part of my brain. I see it just like my hippocampus or a temporal lobe. The interaction between us is seamless and invisible. I don't really even notice it that much."
"Amazing, you are our living breathing future." He said and turned to the Major. "What do you think?"
"I was offered the procedure and turned it down. But now I may have to change my mind." She said in her sweet southern drawl. "I was worried about invasion of privacy. Tell me Mr. Robinson, when you and it interact what does it sound like, in your head I mean?"
"The A.I. is programmed to mirror its partner's personality and voice. So for me it just sounds like me thinking to myself. Sure on occasion I get a message on my HUD but those have become rarer as of late. Does that answer your question?"
"You have a heads up display? How does that work?" She asked smiling brilliantly.
"Since you have the clearance I can tell you. Nick, Mr. Shaw I mean, developed eye drops with nanites in it. Once the drops are in your eyes the microscopic machines create an interface between the optic nerve and whatever technology you possess. Initially it was a wrist device like the General possesses. But now it links with the neck implant."
