Chapter 01: The Beginning?
At the right place, at the right time
The year is 2132; the thermo nuclear war between the United States of Europe and the Peoples Democratic Republic of East Asia is in its second week. City-States in both countries have been decimated. The North America/Africa/Australia Coalition, satellite of the USE, had been destroyed in the opening three hours of the war. The South/Central American Populist Group, allied with the PDR-EA, has been hurt badly, is reeling, and is no longer a threat to the USE. The MidEastern/Israeli/U.S.S.-Ukraine/India Bloc has been knocked out of action; is no longer effective as a fighting force; and has agreed to supply the PDR-EA with foodstuffs if and when it wins the war.
Deep within the bowels of a mountain in central USE, two scientists huddle nervously, feeling the mountain tremble as nuclear weapons pound the territory immediately around their sheltered area. They know that it is just a matter of time before the missiles zero in on their bunker.
They are sitting in a large metal sphere, eighty feet in diameter. The ExoSphere is both laboratory and residence for these two, Steev Banks and Cherl Carter, scientists who, between them, have a long list of academic degrees. Those degrees will not be of any help when the hydrogen weapons find them.
The floor they are on is the diameter of the ExoSphere. The hemisphere below them contains a large amount of machinery and scientific equipment. The top hemisphere is a lab and living quarters. Surrounding the ExoSphere is a cavernous hall that is also home to a vast array of technical equipment.
They have been attempting to look back in time to the Roman era when that state was a world power. They and their fellow scientists have had some success and their screens, while blurry and flickering, have shown life in the Italian countryside surrounding and including Rome. They had realized, prior to the commencement of the war, that their power supply, although enough to supply a large city, was not adequate to produce the results they had hoped to have.
One hundred and seventy three other scientists, technicians, clerical staff, and utility workers have left to be with their loved ones. Steev and Cherl have stayed behind, having no immediate families or significant others, in the belief that they are safe buried deep within the mountain. In an attempt to keep their minds off the nearing disaster, they work hard to reestablish the faint connection with ancient Rome.
They feel the smashing force of a direct hit above them, the lighting dims, brightens, and all is quiet. Forty five year old Steev and thirty-three Cherl cringe waiting for the mountain and their lives to end. Nothing. ALL is quiet. They no longer feel the missiles striking the countryside.
Steev opens the iris door of the ExoSphere and finds dirt up against the ExoSphere. He surmises that the mountain has collapsed around them; the spherical shape of their habitat has withstood the pressure. He is stunned thinking there is no way out of their dilemma.
The ExoSphere has self-sustaining life support and a brand new 2132 replicator. They can live in the ExoSphere for six to seven weeks without new supplies, but then ... Steev closes the iris door thinking it will keep dirt out of the ExoSphere.
Strange ideas pop into one's head at a time like this. Steev laughs to himself as he thinks about being stranded on this desert(ed) isle with a lesbian. Good going Steev. Good choice of a companion. The powers that be have played a practical joke on them.
Well, she wasn't really his choice. She had decided to stay with him for safety sake. She realizes that all of the people who left are most likely atomic particles by now. She also thinks and is amused by the fact that she has been stuck alone with a heterosexual male.
Life is funny. She will spend the time left to her -- sexless. Not a happy situation. She smiles and shakes her head. Maybe he would go down on her while she closes her eyes and pretends he's another female. Not hardly, with beard stubble rubbing on her inner thighs. No, her sex life is over. She wonders if she should bite the bullet and allow Steev to use her body; she shudders at the thought.
They check out their supplies and the brand new, unused, untested replicator that was given to their team to be guinea pigs. The machine's egress chute is four by four and so, not large enough to replicate a boring machine to dig their way out of the collapsed mountain. Steev laughs again and thinks of replicating hand shovels. It would probably take only one or two hundred years to dig their way out.
He wonders if the large number of rep-cards includes shovels. They probably do as the producers of the replicator tried to think of all possible necessities. In any case, the output could be a bit larger than a breadbox. He wonders what a breadbox is.
Inserting a needle sized card bearing specific formulation into the pertinent slot and filling the hopper with any organic or inorganic material and pressing the appropriate buttons would cause the replicator to change the input material into its basic atomic structure; the machine would use the information on the card and then "paint" the article with the atoms now on tap. Steev thought the machine was a big joke. Not being an atomic physicist, he couldn't imagine this thing actually producing an article. Now if the machine could reproduce a heterosexual, gorgeous, stacked babe. No. He recalled that the machine supposedly only reproduces inanimate objects -- nonorganic, not even foodstuffs. When their food runs out, they starve.
He muses that as he and Cherl 'run' out, they could put themselves through the replicator and leave statues of themselves here for all eternity or until the mountain erodes away. Steev thinks he may be losing it.
However, they have plenty of raw material for the replicator to use: the entire mountain.
The following day, to amuse themselves, the two open the iris door, and using a small container, scoop up dirt and put it in the replicator hopper. They locate the catalog rep-card for a shovel, push the button to insert the miniscule item, and press the large green button marked 'start'. A flashing yellow screen shows, "Inadequate material for this item." They scoop more dirt into the hopper until the machine starts humming. A few minutes later, the shovel appears against the restraining fence in front of the output chute. It works! The machine works!
Laughing, they fill the hopper again and make another shovel. Filling the hopper again, they look at the catalogue item list on the screen wondering what else they can replicate. When they attempt to replicate an item with moving parts, the machine's screen reads, "Processing -- please wait." Finally after a few minutes have passed, the machine ejects a pistol. They think that when things get really bad, they will take the quick way out.
Now, they need ammunition for the pistol and open the iris door to dig some more dirt. Cherl pushes her shovel into the dirt, but as she does, the dirt begins to shift and slide and she quickly closes the portal.
Waiting for the movement to subside, they eat lunch. When they go back to the portal and open it, they are shocked. Through a small hole in the dirt, they see light streaming in. They think they have opened a way to the larger hall that the ExoSphere is in. Then they realize that there cannot be power to the lighting system. The missile had to have destroyed the main generator. The only power left is the auxiliary generator inside the sphere.
Being aware that more digging may cause a further collapse, they cautiously begin, dumping the dirt into the replicator hopper to make bins to hold more dirt.
They realize that the light is sunlight and begin digging faster. Eventually, they manage to excavate a hole big enough to crawl through. They emerge into a pristine landscape. There is no sign of bomb craters, burned out buildings, and other widespread damage.
Looking back at their capsule, they realize that it is more than half buried underground and inside a hillock covered with grass and flowers. Where the devil are they? Where is the countryside they were expecting to find? They return to the ExoSphere, change to walking shoes, put the now loaded pistol into a portfolio and start off to explore. Steev realizes that the ExoSphere is wide open and may attract people or animals. He goes back and closes the iris door from an exterior switch and shovels dirt into the hole they had dug to get out. They start out again.
A few kilometers from the capsule, they find a road built with flat stones. Following the road, they see a man coming toward them. He is dressed in an odd fashion; he is wearing a toga and leather sandals. As he approaches them, he raises his hand and says, "Ave." They repeat the word to him and wait for him to speak again. As he speaks, they realize he is speaking latin.
Thank heavens for their Latin classes and the language they often needed in some of their studies. After stumbling along in that language, they get across to the man that they are strangers who have come to find trading partners. He asks them if clothing like they're wearing will be included in that trade. When Steev says it is, the man invites them to his home for a repast. He says he is a local merchant and would very much like to enter into a trade agreement with them.
Steev and Cherl are stunned when he takes them to his home which is a large beautiful gardened estate two kilometers up the road. They have a light meal brought to them by two young, very pretty women dressed in chitons that they recognize as the dress of ancient Greece. They are now extremely curious as to their location. They try asking surreptitious questions of their host, but he is too involved in asking them about their clothing and other possible trade goods to answer their queries.