HRVST, Ch. 13: A Self-Fulfilling Fear Became Part Of The Future
HRVST, Ch. 13: A Self-Fulfilling Fear Became Part Of The Future
Fear can drive us straight onto a path we avoided, into a future we worried about
Fear can drive us straight onto a path we avoided, into a future we worried about.
In 1936, a young MIT engineer was recruited by Theodore von Karman of Caltech.
von Karman, a legend in the history of flight, said this of the engineer:
"he was an undisputed genius whose work was providing an enormous impetus to advances in high-speed aerodynamics and jet propulsion"
Hsue-Shen Tsien, mathematician by training, experimented with a young technology, rockets. It involved materials that were volatile and dangerous. The research was so risky, the Caltech group was nicknamed the "Suicide Squad".
The “Suicide Squad” would later become the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
During W.W. II, Tsien worked in the Manhattan Project.
He co-authored a document, the first to use the name "Jet Propulsion Laboratory", proposing that the U.S. should build rockets to counter Germany's V2 rocket weapons.
The U.S. sent Tsien with the rank of Colonel to Germany. There, he investigated German labs and interviewed its scientists, including Werner Von Braun (who later led NASA's landing a man on the moon).
After the war, Tsien worked on early designs for a space plane, a proto-Space Shuttle.
In 1949, with von Karman's recommendation, Tsien was going to become the Goddard professor at Caltech, destined for life as an academic.
By 1951, he was under house arrest as a national security threat.
The U.S., without intending it, helped create China's space program.
The Cold War changed everything. Tsien didn't want to help build bombs against China, and he wasn't good at being diplomatic about it. All his past contributions were forgotten as a new front in the Cold War emerged - in outer space.
Overnight, Tsien was classified as a national security threat and put under house arrest. Stuck at home, he wrote a textbook, "Engineering Cybernetics". In 1955, Eisenhower made a deal, Tsien was exchanged for 11 U.S. Korean War POWs.
After resettling in China, Tsien became the founder of China's missile program, and later one of the fathers of its space program in 1992. His research led to China's first rocket, "Long March", which was used for the "Shenzhou V" mission, China's first manned mission to space.
In 2003, Tsien watched the launch of “Shenzhou V” from a hospital bed. About 20 years later, China launched its first space station.
Luna, Aitken Basin, Shackleton Crater, Hyperion Project, Space Cooperative
“Sir, the upload was successful, formatting underway in the Pygmalion Chamber.
The gestation has been completed, the nanos will continue the process. The initial render is finished. They have serviceable bodies which will complete themselves.”
“That’s wonderful. At last! Someone should say, ‘congratulations, it’s a boy”, I should pass around cigars, shouldn’t I? The Harvest is inbound and we have time for family.
This is welcome news after what happened at Grissom Hall. All those people, and they did it to themselves. Senseless. Listening to malcontents or worse, their fears. Haven’t I done everything for them?
My son, returned to the world, whole in body. His mind will follow, I know it. All thanks to the “Harvest”, just enough entanglement, sipped from the Sun itself, to do this. A small taste of what we can do. If only they believed in me and didn’t panic. It’s too late to bring them all back but not for others.”
“Yes, sir, of course. Anytime you are ready, they’re coming around, but they will be disoriented. We don’t know how the ledger… I mean, your son… what his state of mind is like, we know it will be, for now, altered mental status, with pockets of clarity.”
“It will be fine, he has this place, us, and most of all, he has me. Someone to help me.
Lead on, it’s time to greet my son. I want to welcome him home.”
Shackleton Crater, Hyperion Project, Pygmalion Chamber
BRIGHT WHITE LIGHT fades into focus, of a room with no sharp angles, a dome whose color alternated between off-white matte finish and dull grey steel.
Albert’s and Zephyr’s eyes open and they try to move but it is difficult.
It’s as if they woke up from a long fitful night filled with a kaleidoscope of dreams.
Albert turns on one side and pushes himself up so that he’s sitting on the floor. Above him is a curved ceiling, a dome, glowing brighter and darker in a slow rhythm of light.
A faint voice, far away, says, “lower the platform.”
The floor doesn’t seem to move but what looks like a dome of stars overhead recede. At the curved rim of the floor, another floor, outside the curve, seems to rise until they become one new circular floor with one circular wall wrapped around the room.
Light comes in through a door-shaped hole opening in the wall.
A man walks through it.
At that moment, Albert realizes he’s standing and staring as the man comes closer.
Albert stares at a face that reminds him of his own but it has wear and years on it. He looks over in Zephyr’s direction, who’s also standing. At least he thinks he’s looking at Zephyr, she doesn’t look like before, but it’s hard to remember. He feels it’s her, like he feels he’s himself.
Zephyr is looking at him. Her mouth opens a little as if to speak but she is quiet.
The man walking towards them and stops in front of them. His expression is blank for a moment but begins to laugh, and extends a hand in greeting, and grabs Albert’s right hand to complete a handshake. Albert looks at the handshake, and then back at the man.
"Welcome, Albert. This must be Zephyr. Welcome, Zephyr, it’s so nice to meet you.”
The man with his other hand grasps Zephyr’s hand. She almost pulls back but doesn’t.
Alberto makes his mouth move, as he looks at the man. He doesn’t know what he’s going to say but words come. He doesn’t know why he says what he says, he just does.
"Hello. Zephyr, this Albert L'Orleans Necker, former Chief Financial Overseer of the Space Cooperative, former senior member of the Board of Directors of the Cooperative. My Carbon Model. My father."
Albert L’Orleans Necker laughed and held Alberto by the sides of his shoulders.
"Welcome to Luna."
Author Notes:
For those who feel like they’ve been dropped in the middle of things:
You are reading a chapter for the end of a book I began writing a few months ago.
This chapter picks up the action from the last chapter of “VIBE”, an earlier 30 chapter series and from the prologue of this current final series, “HRVST”.
In “VIBE”, an amnesiac “Sentient Ledger” named Alberto, escapes the world of “The Verse” to the moon, Luna, straight to his creator, his “father”, Albert Necker.
Ai Lexica Prompt
1
portrait of a futuristic and stylish astronaut, pen and ink, intricate line drawings, by craig mullins, ruan jia, kentaro miura, greg rutkowski
2
interior shot of large curvilinear organic space made from glass, dramatic lighting, dramatic contrast between light and dark, light rays, james gurney, katsuhiro otomo, james paick, cinematic lighting, artstation, vibrant nature, anime style, craig mullins, greg rutkowski, pete morbacher, tuomas korpi, tekkon kinreet, volumetric light, artstation, octane render, redshift render, low angle camera
The story about Tsien and the founding of the Chinese space program is a great example of what happens when the political winds change. It's interesting how small events like that can have last effects in the long run.
Yeah, kind of a self-own to turn a friend into a rival through fear and suspicion!