2330


    Alexander was born in the city of Athens. His world appeared normal to him and to


    the people around him, but to humans before Osiris, it would feel like a prison. It had


    been nearly sixty years since the administration of COD, and society’s population


    had managed to decline. With nearly zero newborns and quite a few suicides, Alex


    grew up in a world where everything moved slowly, where what was once considered


    depression seemed normal. At the age of five, he began to show the first signs of his


    natural leadership abilities.


    Since having a child was a very rare event, he and the


    very few children were mentored by the best possible teachers in the most ideal


    environments. His development began to show a lot of promise, and his interest in


    the cosmos seemed to be growing, the more answers he was getting. Although he


    was very easily distracted and more often than not caught daydreaming while


    studying, he managed at the age of sixteen to join the scientific community of


    astrophysicists and cosmologists.


    “There are still satellites with telescopes and other instruments floating in


    space. I insist, repairing those satellites should be one of our top priorities” said Alex


    to Martina, one of his supervisors.


    “How will spending all those resources to repair a few satellites, none of


    which are meant to monitor Earth’s climate, going to help us now? Even if we detect


    another Osiris coming, there is nothing we can do now either way,” answered


    Martina.


    Alex composed himself. He took a deep breath and thought, You have


    practiced that. Speak slowly and pass the message. He let a couple of seconds go


    by, and then he explained.


    “There are no miracles that can happen now to fix the


    environment fast. But there are still areas we can learn from. Science is hitting dead


    ends in all directions. We need astrophysics to be tested so our hypothesis can take


    the right track. This has always been the case. All science works as one.”


    Martina remained silent. She placed her hand on the side of her head and


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.said, “What you say is not wrong. Make the calculations for a launch bay that can be


    reused, and then we will talk again. We can’t use single-use launch pads. We know


    the missions will be plenty.”


    “Of course not,” replied Alex. “I will need a couple of people to help me with


    the calculations.”


    Martina smiled at him. “You can request a small team, and if it is not overly


    ambitious, I will make sure you get approval.”


    Launching and landing rockets often meant that a new launch site had to be


    built. An area with extra-thin ice that could be removed, revealing the stable soil


    underneath was found. A few kilometers off the dome city of Abuja, a new launch


    base was beginning to be built. After the first couple of satellites were repaired, Alex


    began using them in idle times without the proper documentation. He thought, It’s a


    waste of time. It takes me more time to fill out forms and wait for approval than to


    actually use them.


    2332


    Jain was born in the dome city of Tehran. She had a hard time with other kids around


    her. Her competitive nature and incredible mind meant that she topped everything


    she set her mind to. From gymnastics to mathematics, she would excel at everything.


    Her tutors began paying special attention to her and giving her increasingly difficult


    tasks in every field, in an effort to test her limits. That caused the few kids around her


    to distance themselves from her. That did not seem to bother her for too long, since


    the society she was in seemed to follow a distancing pattern either way. She grew up


    independent, and that made it hard for her to work with others. The few friends she


    had around her would worry. She was too young to be suffering from apostasies, but


    it seemed like she did. She would only be fine when she worked on something hard.


    She began working for a while on the Earth Revitalization Program or ERP. In her


    work there, she met people from all over the fields of science, and she ended up in a


    leading role.


    One day, while gathering data from the satellites, she noticed that their log


    had entries during times where the systems should be idle. Someone is using the


    satellites during their idle time, she thought. It looks like the keys are from one of the


    admins. She curiously searched deeper to see who and what were they used for.


    “Who is Alex? Could this be the Alex?” She called for a meeting with the user named


    Alex to question him about the authority under which he was using the equipment,


    along with the nature of data he was collecting. She was quite sure this was


    someone using the name of Director Alex to avoid questions.