STAR OF EPIPHANY Read online

  STAR OF EPIPHANY

  by Omar Fink

  This book is dedicated to Sharron and Ramar – thank you.

  Copyright © 2019 Omar Fink

  All Rights Reserved

  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover art by Omar Fink

  Table of Contents

  I PROPHESY 3

  1 New Star 3

  2 Alternatives 30

  3 Plan Exodus 46

  II MIGHTY WORKS AND WONDERS 75

  4 Humanity United 75

  5 Magi 118

  6 Moonbase 136

  7 Stairway to Heaven 153

  8 Living Space 172

  9 First Angels 193

  10 Migration 218

  11 Not Enough 237

  12 Resistance 256

  13 Diamonds 275

  III EPIPHANY 296

  14 Jubilation 296

  15 Billiards 313

  16 Choices 329

  17 Consequences 339

  REFERENCE 355

  Inner Solar System, Asteroid Belt, and Kirkwood Gaps 355

  Asteroid belt distribution across Kirkwood Gaps 356

  Asteroid Belt and Cities 357

  City Class List: 358

  Books: 359

  Music: 360

  I PROPHESY

  1 New Star

  “You'll wait a long, long time for anything much

  To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud

  And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.

  The sun and moon get crossed, but they never touch,

  Nor strike out fire from each other nor crash out loud.

  The planets seem to interfere in their curves

  But nothing ever happens, no harm is done.

  We may as well go patiently on with our life,

  And look elsewhere than to stars and moon and sun

  For the shocks and changes we need to keep us sane.

  It is true the longest drought will end in rain,

  The longest peace in China will end in strife.

  Still it wouldn't reward the watcher to stay awake

  In hopes of seeing the calm of heaven break

  On his particular time and personal sight.

  That calm seems certainly safe to last to-night.”

  — “On Looking Up By Chance At The Constellations” by Robert Frost

  -8 months, SIDING SPRING OBSERVATORY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA

  The drive up to Siding Spring Observatory from Coonabarabran in New South Wales, Australia normally took about 30 minutes. Lee Martin was pushing her 1970 vintage Ford Mustang convertible to the limits of the narrow two lane road. Her blond hair was being tousled by the wind, mixing up the softly shaded streaks of platinum and silver and pale yellow. In contrast, the Mustang was a shade of yellow close to orange with a thick black racing stripe down the middle.

  As she drove, music floated out of the stereo and was blown away in the rush of air. Soft guitar notes accented the lyrics at the beginning of “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin. The song spoke of a woman buying a stairway to heaven. The music continued, and Lee leaned forward and turned the volume up a little and stepped on the gas, pushing the Mustang even harder into the corners. The tires complained but the song explained of new days and laughter in the forest. Lee ran her fingers through her hair blowing back in the rush of air and listened to the story of whispering wind and things turning to gold. The car wound through the hills, climbing up into the mountains as the song finally finished up with the refrain line of buying a stairway to heaven.

  Several hours later, as Lee was sipping coffee from a large mug and staring at a computer screen, a soft beeping noise drew her attention. The scanning software popped up a notice that it had found a difference between a new image and the reference image for the same frame of sky. A quick glance showed a small fuzzy blob in the newer image where there was nothing but empty space in the older reference image.

  Lee brought up an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) window on her computer, located the directory entry for “Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, (LSST) Chile” and clicked on it to initiate a connection. A chat window popped up labeled “Warren, LSST” and his typing appeared in the window, “Hello Lee, what’s up?”

  Lee started typing back, “I’m monitoring the images from your last pass and it looks like I’ve found a live one. Can you have somebody there confirm it?”

  Warren responded, “Sure, Lee. I’ll get one of your astro-buddies on it right away, and we’ll get back to you shortly. Gimme the reference number.”

  Lee typed the image number into the chat window, left it open and picked her mug of coffee back up.

  About twenty minutes later, the chat window beeped and the name, “Rick — LSST” was added to Warren in the label. Rick wrote, “Lee, are you still there?”

  Lee: “Ya”

  Rick: “Live object confirmed from this end. Any idea what it is?”

  Lee: “Nope. At this point, I’m just looking at the same undefined blob as you are.”

  Rick: “OK, I’ll pass on the word and have this location put on the special focus list. We’ll keep you guys updated on what we see.”

  Lee: “Thanks. I’ll do the same here.”

  Warren: “Before you go, Lee, how about that date you keep promising me?”

  Lee: “LOL, I told you last time, Warren, any time you’re down under, I’ll buy you dinner and drinks.”

  Warren: “:)”

  Lee closed the chat window to Chile and opened another one inviting some astronomers from her site in Australia, so she could notify them of her find.

  -7 months, ROME, ITALY

  Just outside the cafe window, a wildly colored column of masked and costumed dancers twisted and hopped and marched down the Via Del Corso. They were interspersed with other colorfully clad figures on tall stilts and an occasional cluster of musicians and drums banging out a cacophony that sometimes resembled music.

  Marcello Lagorio flashed a wide grin at his companions that highlighted his perfect white teeth and wrinkled the corners of his eyes just a bit, “Did I not tell you this place has the best cappuccino and cornetti in all of Rome?” He raised his cup to accentuate the question and also raised one eyebrow under his dark hair.

  Samantha smiled back and replied, “Marco, we never doubted you.” Her brown eyes sparkled under her short brown hair, and she raised her cup to meet the one Marco still held up. They both turned to face Gregor Manz.

  Gregor chuckled, “Okay, okay, when in Rome.” He raised his cup toward the others and all three tapped briefly in the middle, then they drank another sip and put them back down on the table.

  Gregor picked up the crescent shaped pastry that was sitting on a saucer in front of him and looked at it. He asked, “What makes this so special? It just looks like any other croissant.” He frowned.

  Marco answered, “Ah, but wait until you bite into it.” He smiled like he knew a secret.

  Gregor looked over at Marco, then bit into the cornetti. He chewed twice, then began smiling. Without swallowing, he spoke around the corner of his mouth full of pastry, “Chocolate?”

  Marco smiled and nodded silently and sat back in his chair.

  Gregor swallowed and picked up his cappuccino but before he drank he said, “That is amazing!” Then he took a sip of the coffee. Gregor said, “When we were in Zurich, Marco always seemed to find the best coffee and pastry there. I had no question that he would be able to do the same here on his home turf. I’ve already told you about how we met there while attending the University, but Samantha, I’d like to hear the
story of how you and Marco met each other.”

  Samantha said, “Please, just call me Sam. Everybody does.” She waved a hand through the air, “Well, I grew up in a small mountain village in the Alps and Marco grew up in a small mountain village in the Abruzzo Mountain region not far from here. We first met in a ski lodge while we were both on skiing trips. Then we met again at the San Marco space range platform off the coast of Kenya. I was in the astronaut program, and he was serving his apprenticeship as a new space engineer. That must have been shortly after his stay in Zurich where you met. Then later, he was working here in Rome at the Space Agency, and we kept bumping into each other. That’s pretty much it. We just kept bumping into each other. And now you know my life story.” Again, she waved a hand through the air and smiled and a dimple appeared in one cheek, and she cocked her head slightly to one side. Then she picked up her cup and took another sip from it.

  Gregor looked back toward Marco and asked, “And what of all the rumors about an active romance going on between the two of you?” He grinned at his friend.

  Marco seemed to pull back a little behind his classic Italian good looks, but he kept smiling and replied, “Of course, I can neither confirm nor deny any such rumors while the investigation is still going on. Let’s just say we are close friends and leave it at that.” He turned his palms upward as though to apologize, “You know, during all those years when Sam and I kept bumping into each other, we had many long conversations over various forms of coffee just like today. And we seemed to find some resonance in our basic beliefs.”

  Sam laughed, “That just means I don’t reject his ideas that he calls ‘space evangelism’. It’s easy to command his attention if you just pretend to be listening.” She smiled slyly.

  Marco burst out, “Pretend? Pretend! You were not merely pretending. You took an active part in our discussions.”

  Sam smiled again, “I’m just teasing you Marco. Of course, I did. And I even agree with you every now and then.”

  Gregor asked, “How come I’ve never heard of this space evangelism? What is it?”

  Marco replied, “Because when you and I knew each other in Zurich, I was just beginning to form my ideas in that area.”

  He shrugged and continued, “Basically, it’s the idea that Humanity needs to move off this planet and learn to live out in space. I believe it’s a fundamental necessity and part of our destiny. We need the protection of spending our first months of life inside a womb, and likewise we have needed the protection of living inside the atmosphere of a planet during the beginning of our civilization. But just as we had to leave the womb in order to mature toward adulthood, we also need to step off the planet and learn to walk in space in order to mature as an intelligent civilization.”

  Gregor raised his eyebrows, “Don’t you mean go live on the Moon or Mars?”

  Marco shook his head and waved his hands around, “No, no. Once we’ve figured out how to climb up out of a steep gravity well, why would we want to go back down into another one? We can live in space just as easily as we can on the surface of a planet and in fact there are a lot of reasons why it’s better. Each kind of location has some risk associated with it, and they are different and not easy to compare. But planets have more limitations than wide open space. It’s obvious that space has more wide open territory than any planet can. But space also has nearly unlimited resources of air, water, energy, building materials, and even rare metals. It’s not apparent at first, but in fact they are just floating around everywhere and once you know how to access them, it seems obvious. We don’t use most of these resources on our own planet, only skimming into the surface layer. The biggest difference of all is that the resources in space are already out of a gravity well and don’t need to be lifted up off a planet to be used in space, and they are also much more available. Think about this. On a planet, you often need to dig tunnels into mountains to find valuable metals and spend a lot of time and effort extracting them. In space, there are many mountains of rock just floating around, waiting for you. And you won’t be digging tunnels because we’ll just use the entire rock. It’s actually much easier.”

  Gregor looked puzzled, “What about air and water? What about food?”

  Marco smiled, “Many of the rocks in space contain frozen volatile gases, including water. Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen. All the air and water we’ll need is just sitting right there in the rocks. Once we have air and water, it’s easy to grow food in hydroponic gardens. By the way, we’ll also have plenty of nearly free light and energy from the Sun.”

  Sam interrupted, “I should have warned you. If you let him, he’ll go on for hours.” She nodded her head wisely.

  Gregor nodded back, “I’m beginning to understand.”

  Sam said, “I’m getting hungry. Should we look for some dinner?”

  Marco said, “Hey, I just happen to know a great place that serves one of the best dishes of pasta Amatriciana in Rome.”

  Gregor chuckled, “Of course you do, Marco. And pray tell, what is that?”

  Marco answered, “It’s a traditional Italian tomato sauce based on a cured pork cheek, pecorino cheese from Amatrice, some white wine, and some pepper.” He kissed some fingers, “You’ll love it!”

  -6 months, PARIS, FRANCE

  Tony Azaria pushed the large leather chair away from his big desk and stood up. He was short and thin, with a head that was bald on top with patches of closely cropped white fuzz on both sides and in the back. Thin wire frame glasses bracketed his eyes. He pulled the dark gray pinstriped business suit jacket off of his shoulders and hung it carefully over the back of his chair. He loosened the dark gray tie around his neck but left it in place.

  He walked slowly and deliberately around the edge of his office space which was surrounded by glass, clear at the top, but frosted blue in a gradient that darkened to nearly opaque at the bottom. He completed the circuit of his office and stopped at his chair and removed his tie completely and hung it over the back of his chair on top of his jacket. He began rolling up one of the sleeves of his white shirt and pushed a button on the phone on his desk. He said, “Jackie.”

  Jackie responded, “Yes Tony.”

  Tony was rolling up the other sleeve, “I need a research and correlation report done please.”

  Jackie said, “Okay.”

  Tony continued, “I need broad sketch outlines for the subject areas of aluminum futures, bauxite mining, transparent ceramics, and a correlation study across those areas.”

  Jackie said, “I’ll get several of the research associates on it right away.”

  Tony said, “Thanks Jackie.” He pushed the button on his phone again to end the conversation and resumed walking around the edge of the office.

  He stopped for a moment to gaze out the window, then returned to the desk and pushed the button on the phone, “Jackie.”

  Jackie replied, “Yes Tony.”

  Tony said, “Please call Arnot Guillemot and confirm that he’ll be at the conference tomorrow and ask if I can get fifteen minutes of his time in a private meeting.”

  Jackie said, “ The President of the EU Commission?”

  Tony replied, “That’s right.”

  Jackie said, “Will do.”

  Tony continued, “Yesterday I asked you to have the finance department consolidate some free funds to make thirty million dollars available for a new transaction. Please have them up that number to fifty million.”

  Jackie said, “I’ll do that. Is that all?”

  Tony replied, “Has Zorba Omega replied to our invitation yet?”

  Jackie said, “No, he has not.”

  Tony smiled to himself and said, “Thanks Jackie. You’re the best.”

  -5 months, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, USA

  Keel O’Donnell folded his napkin and put it on the restaurant table where his plate had been, and explained to the man sitting on the other side of the table, “My knee was injured during a training jump. I had to have re-constructiv
e surgery on my ligaments and I’ve completed ten months of physical therapy. I can now walk normally, but the doc won’t certify me to return to my para-rescue jumper training. He said the damage was so severe that it might not be fixable if I get injured again. They are trying to get me to switch over to drone pilot training, but they’re also willing to give me a medical discharge. So, it seems I have a choice.”

  The man across the table from Keel smiled, “The Air Force has an extreme shortage of drone pilots and to fill their lack of pilots, they’re hiring contractors. Since you’re still active in the Air Force, and have the clearances we need, my company can put you through an accelerated drone pilot training program and can also pay you more for your work than the Air Force.” He paused, then added, “And it’s a lot more.”

  He picked up his glass and took a sip of water. When Keel asked no questions, he continued, “If you’re interested, we can sign a provisional contract with you to protect your interests, then when you complete the discharge process, your employment with us will go live. You’ll be paid during the training process and get a large bonus when you complete it. Our benefits match what you have in the Air Force, our salaries are much higher, and you’ll have better limitations on your working hours and more future career alternatives.”