HRVST Ch.11: A Story That Launched An Age
HRVST Ch.11: A Story That Launched An Age
The most powerful people in country waited for the most powerful man in the world to tell a story
1962 Texas, Rice University Stadium
The dignitaries melted but he stayed cool under the Texas sun.
The most powerful people in country waited for the most powerful man in the world to tell a story.
John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the U.S., gave a speech about one of Mankind's oldest dreams. The speech at Rice University Stadium was also a message to the leaders of the Soviet Union, which had an early lead that looked hard to beat. The cost and uncertainty was great but the risk of not accepting the challenge was even greater.
Kennedy told the Soviets: We're going to the Moon first. This is how, why, and when.
“We Choose To Go”
"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things,
not because they are easy, but because they are hard,
because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills,
because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept,
one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win...."
Choose, admit past failure and future uncertainty, then look ahead.
"We have had our failures.
To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time.
But we do not intend to stay behind we shall move ahead."
"I realize that this is an act of faith and vision,
for we do not now know what benefits await us."
Choose, commit to the cost, then move ahead.
"We're going to do it, and we must pay what needs to be paid.
And it will be done before the end of this decade."
Kennedy did not live to see Apollo 11's mission land on the moon in July 1969.
The choice was made years ago, the commitment was fulfilled.
Why do we choose to go, to do the hard things, the impossible?
The answer can be as simple as the reason George Mallory climbed Mount Everest, despite the risk and danger. When Kennedy asked him why, Mallory's answer was, "Because it is there."
We choose what follows "because".
NOTE - For those who just read this and 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 post is a chapter of “HRVST, the final part of a book, “Ledger Domain”, a mashup of history, mythology, and Sci-fi. Each first half is history/myths, and the second half is sci-fi - connected by an idea, theme, or emotional states.
It is being shared as it is written daily.
You do not have to know or read what “happened” to get something out of it.
For the first third of “HRVST”, we learned about the mythology of moon and sun. It was also a SciFi story, set in real places on the moon. Yesterday, Chapter 10 came out, and it was a mighty beast.
This second third of “HRVST” will focus on recent history. Over 10 days (actually 9).
The backstory of “HRVST” was written in Part 1 and Part 2 of “Ledger Domain”. Part 3 featured what the “captain” was looking for. Each part was 30 chapters in 30 days.
At the same time, in between, I will write pieces about the past and the future.
(Such as deep piece I wrote about a historical connection between today’s A.I. Art to William Blake, Da Vinci, & open source “Web” in “You’ve Got That Infinite Feeling”.
I shared it with an acquaintance, Jim, an exec. chair on Stability AI’s board. He liked it and shared it with the founder and others, which inspires me to pursue AI Art.)
And now for the SciFi part of this Chapter. First, this chapter’s music for a vibe.
The last chapter, “Moonlight Inspires Longings” closed with the POV of the antagonists, below is the protagonists’ (i.e. good guys) side of what happened.
Luna, Aitken Basin, Armstrong Core, The Square
“Are we intercepting whoever these people are, Sir?”
“We are not going toe to toe with them.”
“If we’re not taking care of these minders, muscle hired by the project, then what is the plan?”, asked Tommy. She picked up a device, broke it down, and reassembled it.
“We’re going to kill the loved ones the minders are looking for.”
“Excuse me?” Tommy put the device back on the rack. She stared at the Captain.
“Who else can we bring in, TwoTwo? Tommy said you could bring them in. We’ll need them all.”
TwoTwo looked at the captain, and studied his eyes.
“I’ll get everyone.”
“Good. Have everyone fall in, at some place new, tonight. I need to talk with Tommy.”
TwoTwo looked at the captain, and then Tommy one more time before leaving.
Tommy waited for TwoTwo to leave.
“What are we doing here? Edward, I didn’t leave the shipyard to kill innocent civvies. You do remember why I got my discharge but no pension, right?”
“I do remember, I’m the reason you’re here and not in a cell for the next 20 years. Yes, I know you hate being reminded of that.
Tomassina, the people watching and looking for the families of Hyperion workers don’t know about us. We’re going to keep that advantage for as long as we can.
We’re going to make the people watching these civvies are going to run for it.
Let me show you.”
The captain pulled a board from the shelf, pushed a pile of clothes and half-empty food cartons off a table, and laid the board flat on it.
A map of Armstrong glowed over the board.
“This is Armstrong’s grid.
We’re going to set up a gathering of everyone holding these black “Harvest” cards, including their families, loved ones. They didn’t realize what they signed up for when they joined the Hyperion Project with promises of the good life.
There’s a building in the outer boros, Grissom Hall, it has some interesting features, including a landing deck.”
“And what, we evac all of them off the deck? I can get a ship from the yard but hired muscle, security from Hyperion, will stop it before it takes off.”
“Tommy, we’re not going to evac them off the pad at Grissom Hall.
See this rail line that runs from Armstrong? It passes through the outer boros, with a depot right under Grissom Hall.
We’re going to hijack 2 trains that run on the rail line underneath Grissom.
One is going to be packed with civvies, and we’re going to send them where nobody expects them, right here, The Square.
The Square is covered with emergency shelters, and TwoTwo’s crew can watch over them and hide them in his hideouts and bolt-holes all over Armstrong.
You, me, and a few others are going to take the other train and go in the other direction, away from Armstrong. You see where this line runs to?”
Tommy half-guessed the answer but checked the map.
“Where ever Hyperion is.”
“That’s right. The Hyperion Project is perched on Shackleton Crater. They’re busy getting ready for their ship, the ‘Harvest’, to return from its pilot test at the Sun.
We’re going to Shackleton before the ‘Harvest’ lands.”
“You said we need a ship for Grissom. If we’re not evac’ing the civvies on it, why?”
“Aleksander, the administrator, will get the word to certain people about this meeting of all the families of HRVST workers at Grissom Hall.
The truth is the meeting place is the rail depot under Grissom.
That message about the meeting will be leaked to Aleksander’s Hyperion minders.
After Hyperion finds out, they will send its security muscle to Grissom, and when they see a ship headed to the deck, they’ll think the civvies are going to use it.
They’ll move to grab the civvies at the deck. They will chase fake heat signatures we will scatter inside the Hall, leading to the deck. We’ll draw Hyperion’s muscle into the stairwells and shafts leading from the Hall to the deck.
Then, we’re going to box the hired muscle in, and drop a ship on top of them.
Before we drop the ship, those families and workers are riding back to Armstrong.”
Tommy smiled at the captain.
“This is why you found me at the shipyard and got me to find TwoTwo and the others.”
“I told Aleksander that nothing was going to happen to his family, or to the others who got sucked into working on Hyperion.
I still have to find out what happened to the Ledger, the original reason I’m up here.
Let’s get to work.”
A note for those who are still here, after reading another detailed chapter and post.
It’s amazing that 99% of you haven’t hit unsubscribe (yet). I’ve broken all the rules we all agree that we hate but that we all seem compelled by.
First, you’re wonderful. Second, below are words that mean something.
Here’s a reminder for me, you, and anybody who’s in the game of breaking rules.
It comes from David Senra who posted a quote from Kobe Bryant.
Senra devoted years of reading and talking about the books he read, about founders and history’s oddballs who do the “thing”, whether anybody cared or not.
Maybe you have something in your life, with someone or something you care about or love, even if nobody else does, and you go hard.
Bless you, you chose.
So, I’m going back to work on this book.
I have 19 chapters left, out of 30 planned. 19 days.
I’ve written the last 90+ chapters this way.
Soon the real work begins, editing and printing it.
You know what it’s like, when “we choose to go”.
Let me tell you, you must do it for love.
This is what it takes to do anything. It’s for yourself.
I don’t do pithy trendy tiny shiny stories. A beast is inside me, and it compels me to write. The result is when I got into it, I went hard.
I have my reason “because”: life is short. I got reminded of that for 3 years leading into and then on January 2021.
I knew what I was going to choose because I felt it.
If you’re still here, thank you, if you only knew how much that means to me.
END NOTES
The “captain”, was introduced in Chapter 1, “The Goddess of Night” as “Edward S. Lawrence”. The character’s name is the combination of the names of 3 real heroes, astronauts, Edward J. Dwight, Robert H. Lawrence, and Guion "Guy" S. Bluford.
AI Art Lexica Prompt:
1
A full portrait of001 Space Odyssey Astronaut, intricate, elegant, highly detailed, digital painting, artstation, concept art, smooth, sharp focus, illustration, art by Krenz Cushart and Artem Demura and alphonse mucha
2
beautiful illustration of a hong kong street in the rain and fog, trending on pixiv, artstation