#i just love satellites so much. spacecrafts in general....

[automatonknight]

juice patch........

[tandytoaster]

Okay I'm ready to talk about it now, I have been thinking so much about the brave little toaster goes to mars and comparing it to our real life history of space travel

Under the cut because it's long. Like. Embarrassingly long

I KNOW WHAT YOURE THINKING. "Malaise! They got up there in a laundry basket powered by the ceiling fan and the microwave with cheddar popcorn!" YES, I KNOW,

But there's some things that are like. Almost true. And I liked thinking about that

LIKE VIKING 1. Viking 1 very much so is a real spacecraft that landed on Mars, but they call him a satellite ("The satellite?" "No, Viking 1 the bagel. OF COURSE THE SATELLITE") and he's not a satellite! The real viking 1 had an orbiter going around Mars aside from the lander, so the orbiter would be a satellite, but not the lander, and the appliances only spoke to the lander.

I think they're thinking satellite means "thing that relays back information to Earth", but a satellite is anything that orbits a planet or star. Like this is purely a semantic thing and even by a technicality you could consider a portion of Viking 1 to be a satellite but again they were not talking to the orbiter, who, if featured in the movie, I have reason to believe would be a different consciousness from that of the lander, given how appliance sentience seems to work

There was also a Viking 2. Who is not mentioned whatsoever. Not really a Problem or inaccuracy, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless

And I also want to mention the other satellites ('satellites') on Mars, I tried to see if there were any on Mars or sent there during the time the appliances would've been there (so, prior to 1998), I think Mars 6 has some similarities with one of them, but that's also me stretching. Like, they're definitely just generic spacecraft designs loosely inspired by real satellites ( Or maybe not I would love to be proven wrong here genuinely!!!!!) but I just wanted to see if there were any accurate real world equivalents like with Viking 1

SECONDLY,

Viking 1 claims that NASA cut contact with him on purpose which is also not true- it was a booboo, it was a mistake. What is true, however, is that there was no intention to bring him back to Earth. PERSONALLY, I think Viking 1 was convinced by the Wonderluxe appliances that NASA did that on purpose, seeing as the Wonderluxe hate humanity and believe humans are eager to get rid of their old electronics.

Then we have TINSELINA, MY BELOVED

I think its obvious there was no angel topper onboard with the real viking 1, BUT WHAT IT DID HAVE was a microfilm listing the thousands of people that worked on it. I personally think that Tinselina is a nod towards how NASA will put 'nonessential' symbolic things on their spacecrafts, like that list, or the golden records with the music and the greetings that are on the Voyager twins

Circling back to Viking 1's cut contact with NASA, when Tinselina leaves with the gang for Earth, she says she and Viking 1 can keep in touch via radio (side note idk if she meant like Radio radio or a different kind of radio). Perhaps in this canon, NASA did purposefully end contact with Viking 1, but I'm buying into this tbh because it's too sad to think about Tinselina and Viking 1 thinking they'll be able to still talk to reach other, only to find out that Viking 1 can't reach ANYONE, not just NASA. LIKE IT'S TOO SAD I CAN'T DO IT.

Tinselina also mentions that little Robbie was pulled up by the tractor beam in 'Noctis Labyrinthus', WHICH IS A REAL, NAMED PLACE ON MARS- Which I think is really cool to have been mentioned, but it's also really interesting because someone Obviously did their research!

This one isn't really an "Umm ackshually", but more of like an observation and theory. The Mars Hearing Aid, the Supreme Commander of Mars (previously), was picked up in the late 30's, early 40's (Earth Hearing Aid says it's been 60 years since they've seen each other, if the year is 98 then 60 years prior would be 1938) was left behind in Germany and picked up by some scientist, which is where Mars Hearing Aid learned to turn against humans, he only heard about weapons and war and destruction.

Now this is probably my biggest reach but I feel like I have ground to stand on with this too though, I want to believe this is mentioned at all as a nod to the unfortunate piece of space travel history that is the fact that it was the V-2 rockets designed and launched by the nazi's, that were the first rockets to reach outer space, even if that wasn't the intended purpose.

I feel like I'm making a lot of reaches here, because this is obviously a children's movie and was never meant to be scrutinized under the lens of someone dedicated enough to fact check these things. They're going to Mars in a laundry basket, of course it's not realistic or accurate to our world. BUT LIKE there seems to be a lot happening that was pulled from real life space history, just slightly altered either on purpose or unintentionally, instead of just making up their own thing and going with that

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Title: The Last Graduate

Author: Julia Edge

Rating: 2/5 stars

So, in the vein of, "I have been warned that writers have 15-word attention spans," I decided to go ahead and start a new book called "The Last Graduate" -- which, it should be noted, will not be written by a single person and which will be a longer work than even the long book I just finished.

The question is: what do I want to write about? I mean, I want to write fiction but I've never actually tried to do that and I have no idea how it's done or what it involves. So my task is "getting started" without a fixed plan.

At first I wanted to write the kind of story I like to read. That is, I was going to read a bunch of speculative fiction and try to reverse-engineer the kind of story that felt closest to what I usually like, then write that. You know, hard SF, kind of, with political intrigue and a hint of the eerie, some element of risk and suspense without being constantly mired in the gloomy nightmare of constant war. You know, just an overview of the solar system post-accelerationist society, starting with the ruins of Easter Island and moving gradually outwards to the distant planets. The themes will be man's hubris, man's absurd isolation from each other and from society, man's struggle to find a stable footing when the ground beneath his feet is always changing, and the problem of reconciling violence with civilization.

But as I thought about this, I realized there were going to be two big problems. The first was that I have nothing to say about the setting. I have not even read the Handbook of the Known Solar System and its Satellites. I know some interesting facts about Jupiter but I have no idea how big Jupiter is in relation to Earth or how it compares to Earth's other planets. And I only know those facts because they've been handed to me on a silver platter, ready to be used in stories about future civilizations that resemble the present, so that I can be like "ah, the Jupiter atmosphere is so huge and thick that only a very few spacecraft could ever pass through it, and these few are enormously valuable for their ability to circumnavigate the gas giant quickly." So, while this is all nice and interesting, it doesn't feel like something a writer had to say.

The second problem is the one raised in Shannon Love's SSC comment: where do we look for plausible future technology? Do we go for sci-fi predictability, saying "that's the way they'll do it in the future, for the same kinds of reasons that we have?" Or do we do it all with gadgets of the author's own invention that are only "plausible" according to some complicated sense of our own? Like, if I'm writing a story about the far future, maybe I should just reference a long list of SF movies and books, from Flash Gordon to 2001 to Space Seed to Start Trek: The Next Generation to Star Trek: Deep Space 9 to Total Recall to The Fifth Element to various Battlestar Galacticas to whatever sci-fi movie is in theaters right now. If I'm writing about the far future, or even the fairly far future, the technology should simply be similar in concept and nature to what we have now, it should just be as advanced. I don't need to sit around thinking about the details of how we could move a person from one place to another millions of light years away -- I don't know, it should just be there, it's the sort of thing that people in the future do. They're not living in a bad sci-fi movie, they're living in a good sci-fi movie. You don't need to think about the technology of warp speed or suspended animation, you just need to think about how the society would deal with it.

So then I tried to answer the question "what do I like, speculative fiction-wise?." I said, okay, I like novelty as much as I like "predictability." And what is it that we get with novelty in speculative fiction?

Well, if you look back at a lot of SF, it has terrible covers. Just terrible. Lots of terrible, black and white art that looks like it was done by someone's dad, depicting a sort of retro-future that doesn't make sense. And, like, I'd rather get something that's a little bit wrong than something that makes perfect sense if it's 30, 40, 50 years old. You can't just, "look back on 2012 and make it look plausible," you can't do it. (In fact, I would go as far as to say that authors who try this are failures, unless they do it for the sake of humor -- there's a whole genre of depictions of the 1960s-1970s era future, complete with love-in parties and duck-and-cover drills.)

Specifically, what I want is SF that is plausible in a certain sense, that seems like it could've actually happened and has no glaring anachronisms. But has some sense of novelty, of excitement, some sense of suspense and mystery, and an element of fun.

And, so, what SF has this? Well, the Foundation series is good at it -- it's plausible, but it has a sense of mystery and weirdness. Which means the theme is "the world is weird and things are not what they seem." Like, you have a character named Daneel who is a robot, and he's the second person who talks to you in the story, and it's like, uh, what the fuck? (After you get over the awe of talking to a robot for the first time, you are struck by the total surreality of the situation: the guy is almost entirely dependent on his memory, and the only way he really seems to know anything is because he has the great advantage of a very short memory, and you think to yourself, yeah, I'm gonna have trouble with this guy, because we're gonna have this conversation a few times and in the later conversations, he's not gonna remember anything he's said the previous time, and my conversation with him the previous time isn't really gonna mean anything to him, all that was will just be gone from his memory, which isn't a very good way to think about anything, and you think to yourself, this is like having a conversation with a machine that's got a really short memory, it's strange, what's up with that)

The Foundation series has this, but it doesn't have a sense of mystery or suspense and so on. It has the sense of novelty in the form of "when will the robots win?" In a different SF story, this sense of novelty might be in the form of "is this all in the mind?" And I don't care if it's in the mind -- I don't care if it's literal or if it's metaphorical, so long as there's something that feels like it could literally be "in the mind." I want a novelty that feels in the spirit of Ubik. (Which I haven't read, by the way.)

On the other hand, The Last Graduate has this sense of novelty in the form of "when will the robots win?" It has the mystery of "when is the last man born," which I don't care about, but it also has the mystery of "when will our planets explode?" And it never answers these questions, and it feels like, yeah, this is a good thing to do, to ask these questions about something people care about, and not have the answers, and use the questions to introduce a lot of fear and anticipation and wistfulness, and it seems like this is something that SF can do, rather than the other thing, "have robots win."

And there are other things which are similar to The Last Graduate, like A Canticle for Leibowitz -- which is more like The Last Graduate than likes like Iain M Banks. (Because they both have a plausible future of the kind I talked about above, and then there is something weird in the story that changes the entire story, it's mysterious, and the novelty isn't "wow, there's a bunch of robots" but "wow, is this

[universe-on-her-shoulders]

What if the Doctor decided to put Missy's vault and teach at Luna University instead? Could you fit a drabble with that?

"This is very sweet, you know," Missy drawled. She was sprawled across the top of the piano in what was probably meant to be a seductive pose, if you were interested in that sort of thing. He made a mental note to ask Bill if women laying atop pianos were generally deemed to be 'sexy', then thought about the short-circuiting it might cause in her brain, and resolved to ask her anyway. She might get a kick out of the idea.

"What is?" he asked, not looking up from his book. A satellite scudded across the artificial ceiling, which was programmed to reflect the literal space outside. He might've nicked the idea from a wizarding school... or maybe the wizarding school had nicked the idea from him. Either way, at least it gave Missy something to look at when he wasn't here; stars, satellites, the occasional spacecraft, and there in the distance, the green and blue marble that was Earth. It still took his breath away each time he saw it, though Missy seemed determinedly unmoved by the vista.

"That you think that putting me on the Moon is going to force me to confront the things I've done as I stare down at the planet you love so much and feel contrition."

"That's the general idea, yes."

"Why would gazing down at Earth make me feel bad?" she asked with sincerity. "Why not just put me on Earth?"

"Because looking at it like this, it's beautiful."

"It's not on fire."

He put his book down and looked over at Missy; she was staring at the representation of Earth with a dreamy, far-away expression. "Are you serious?" he asked her, genuinely unsure whether she was jesting with him or not. "Fire? That would make it beautiful?"

"Fire makes everything beautiful," she said quietly, her fingers flickering back and forth in front of her face like flames. "It destroys and it clears and it brings new life. It's destruction and rebirth all at once."

"Things can be beautiful when they're whole. While they're intact."

"They decay," she shook her head slowly, raining her fingers down to her sides. "They age. They wither. They fade."

"Even you," he pointed out, a lump forming in his throat. "Even me."

"Fire can't touch us," she said breathlessly. "You and I, we could make that planet burn."

The Doctor got to his feet and lurched out of the Vault, unable to find the words to tell Missy that everything about the idea repelled him, and loathing himself for being unable to make her see sense.

[gumnut-logic]

Hi Nutty. I span the random whump generator and this is what I got. Character = Alan please 😁

I dunno if there was much whump in this, but there was something :D I hope you enjoy it :D

Spin the wheel and send me a prompt :D

-o-o-o-

Well, this just sucked.

Alan fiddled with the restraints holding him to a bulkhead. Nope, not a thing he could do about it.

Other than him, the room, more a cargo hold than anything else, was empty except for an airlock door on the far side.

Why couldn’t he be kidnapped by an idiot? These ones had actually removed his baldric and his helmet, effectively cutting him off from Thunderbird Five.

Except for the tracker in his wrist, but they didn’t need to know about that.

The nerve, though. He was out here to help. He had thought he was saving a private space yacht that had engine trouble and was making a good attempt at colliding with a satellite or two.

But no, it had all been a trap. Probably to get a hold of his ‘bird.

Why couldn’t the bad guys make their own Thunderbirds and stop messing with theirs.

Oh, yeah, technology and all.

Then go invent your own technology, you assholes, and leave us alone.

Alan gave his restraints another tug and grunted as they bit through his uniform.

Of course, the astronaut in him was having a mild fit. He was stuck in an unknown craft of unknown safety specs with people who undoubtedly did not have his best health in mind, and he had no helmet.

He might as well be naked.

No, don’t give them ideas, you idiot.

Okay, focus. He had his training.

And he had his brothers.

While he had no wish to worry said brothers it was kind of reassuring to think exactly what those brothers might do to the persons responsible for this. If there was one thing he could say, it was that he was ever so proud of his family.

Scott would be pissed. That had both its positives and its negatives. There would likely be tactical scenarios in the future to prevent this from happening again. Scott was all about prepared and strategic readiness.

Couldn’t blame him really. The list of incidents in his brother’s resume was extensive. No doubt, Scott had learnt the hard way.

Now Virgil, Virgil was the softy. He smiled to himself. His tank of a brother was almost as much a worry wart as their eldest brother. He was less likely to get angry, but when he did, the whole house knew about it and avoided him. Only Scott and occasionally John would weather a Virgil snit, simply because it was terrifying. Add the list of equipment the engineer had at hand and buildings had the potential to be reduced to rubble. Nah, you didn’t want to piss off Virg.

But then there was John. No one, just no one dared rankle his middle brother. Alan snorted. John was the quiet one, and that fooled a lot of people. To their detriment. Gordon...it was always Gordon...had once taken a step too far and his music streaming still hadn’t recovered...six years after the incident. There was still whining. John just raised an eyebrow and smiled that gentle smile of his and flickered out.

Bit hard to chase a brother down who was literally thousands of miles away, yet had access to every personal detail, ever digital print, every part of your life.

Not that he didn’t trust John. No, he trusted him with his life, but hell, you did not want to piss him off.

The ship around him suddenly shook and Alan found himself thrown against the bulkhead. A grunt as his suit armour took the brunt, along with his shoulder guards.

These guys were really starting to piss Alan off, much less his brothers.

The ship stilled again and he was left wondering what the hell was going on. What did they want?

He pictured his next eldest brother beside him and the smart ass grin that came with the image. Gordon. Alan couldn’t help but smile. Gordon could be an ass, but he was an ass who was always on your side. The two of them had done so much...often to the ire of the above three brothers, but that just made it more fun.

Alan found himself grinning and he wondered if the assholes had a camera on him. Good luck to them if they did, because Gords was always going to make him smile.

His fish brother was amazing. Alan had seen him go through absolute hell, but his spirit was ever so strong. Alan admired Gordon. He was a role model.

That had him snickering. Scott’s frown at that thought was hilarious. 

But it wasn’t the pranks - though they were hilarious - it was Gordy’s view on life. His ability to keep smiling, stay in the positive, even when everything was absolute shit.

That was a thought for right now. Chained to a bulkhead in a strange ship, possibly abandoned, possibly kidnapped. What would Gords do?

A snort. Put jello in their knickers before kicking their asses out into space.

But Gords wasn’t a fan of space, was he? But his bro was brave and would kick ass anyway.

That was Gords.

Alan swallowed. Would Gords be as scared as he was at the moment?

Possibly.

But he would kick ass anyway.

Like Kayo.

Kayo.

You never pissed off Kayo and lived. Again it was Gordon who had tried exactly that. At the time, Alan had thought his brother was upset. That could be the only reason for tempting death.

He’d been partly right.

The dye in Kayo’s shower rose had prompted her focussed attention. She had cornered Gordon and the next thing Alan knew she had thrown his brother so hard around the spar mat he had bruises.

Which led to a Scott lecture of epic proportions. The smile on Gordon’s face had said so much more.

Alan still questioned his fish brother’s sanity.

And admired him for his bravery.

The whole ship shook around him and Alan startled.

The door on the far side of the bay stayed closed.

Scott, where are you?

And there was the truth of the matter. Scott had been his go to for so long, he was the default he yelled for when he needed help.

He would love to see him walk through that door.

Hell, he would love to see any and all of his brothers and his sister put a fist in these assholes’ faces and set him free.

Honestly, it wasn’t a matter of if, more of when. You don’t piss off a Tracy.

Any of them.

Because they would all kick your ass.

Even the littlest. 

Alan straightened where he floated. Yes, he would kick necessary ass anytime. He may be the littlest, but he was a damned astronaut, he knew stuff.

The restraints were still too damned tight.

The door on the other side of the room suddenly hissed and cracked open.

Alan spun and readied himself. He was not going down without a fight.

A familiar blue helmet peered through the door. “Alan?”

“Scott!”

And his big brother was there. A laser cutter and he was free and enveloped in a strong hug. “Hey, Allie.”

Before he knew it, he was being towed towards the door.

“How? Who?” He swallowed as Scott shoved the door wider and pushed him through. “What?”

But the answer was there before him.

Virgil was hovering in the space version of his exosuit, monitoring a forcefield over a massive hole in the side of the spacecraft’s cockpit.

Gordon and Kayo had three men hanging upside down from the ceiling wrapped in so many restraints, breathing appeared optional.

And John was muttering to Eos as he hovered over the controls of the craft. There was snarling.

Oh, dear.

“Here, we found these.” Scott’s hand hadn’t left his shoulder, but his other hand suddenly had Alan’s baldric and helmet hovering in front of him.

“I...”

There was a hum as a scanner was whisked over him from the direction of Virgil.

Scott’s eyes questioned the engineer, but he must have received the info he needed because a second later those eyes were once again trained on Alan.

As Alan took his baldric and snapped on his helmet, both of Scott’s hands landed on his shoulders. “You okay?”

There were so many eyes trained on him at the moment.

Alan straightened. “Yeah, I’m good.”

One of the bad guys whimpered and Gordon prodded him.

Blue eyes flickered but didn’t leave Alan. “Three is secured, though John is not happy.”

Another snarl issued from his red-haired brother.

Alan arched an eyebrow.

Those hands squeezed his shoulders. “Let’s get you home.”

Alan stared at his four brothers and his sister and smiled. 

“I’m driving.”

-o-o-o-

[aion-rsa]

Space Sweepers and the History of Working Class People In Space

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This week saw the release of Space Sweepers, Korea’s first big budget special effects space movie extravaganza. There are a lot of interesting things to say about this movie, but one of the things that makes it stand out is it’s an excellent portrayal of people in space who are skint.

See, I hate to break it to you, but you’re probably never going into space. Unless you’re a highly trained technical specialist (well done!) or a billionaire (pay your taxes!), your best shot at seeing Earth from space within your lifetime is the development of realistic-yet-cheap VR headsets.

And the thing is, a lot of the time this holds up in sci-fi as well. Space travellers are either living in a post-scarcity utopia, are part of the military, or are some kind of genius scientists.

Even where we see supposedly salt-of-the-Earth relatable types, like Han Solo or Mal Reynolds, their scruffy outfits and roguish ways can’t quite cover for the fact that they own and live in the equivalent of a massive luxury yacht or private plane. Serenity may look like a rust bucket, but it’s far from the equivalent of a white van, and while Mal is constantly complaining about the costs of fuel and repairs, that doesn’t change the fact that he seems to own the ship outright, and in “Oxygen” he appears ready to buy the ship for cash.

As for Han Solo, leaving for a moment his humble origins and that he won the ship in a card game, within the Galaxy Far Far Away the ratio of space travellers to non-space travellers doesn’t seem that different from the one on Earth. Yes, there are lots of smugglers and Tie-fighter pilots and interplanetary bounty hunters, but for every one of them there are millions of Tusken sand raiders, Jawa scrap merchants, moisture farmers and Corellian street rats. Spacecraft might come and go from the spires of Coruscant as regularly as buses, but the population density is such that most people on that planet will be lucky to see sunlight, let alone the stars.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the chances of an ordinary person getting into space even in the foreseeable future vary between Willy Wonka Golden ticket level lucky, or truly dystopian. On the one hand, Elon Musk has announced the first all-civilian mission to space, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman (so, not what you’d call an everyman), two seats given to people who have won a place by donating to St Jude’s Hospital (it probably won’t be one of the smaller donors), and finally, one lucky front-line health worker.

But Elon Musk wants to colonise Mars, and sadly billionaires still need people to clean the toilets, so Musk has other ideas for how ordinary people might get into space. Unfortunately that idea is indentured slavery, demonstrating that the most prescient science fiction writers of our generation are the writers of first-person shooters.

This is why, outside of post-scarcity-fully-automated-luxury-space-communism, and the military, science fiction is always oddly quiet about money. With a few honourable exceptions.

We Just Work Here

The first and most obvious reason why any ordinary working-class person would end up in space is “they’re paid to”.

Pretty much the codifier of working-class people in space is Alien. The crew of Nostromo aren’t scientists, they’ve not got The Right Stuff. Nobody on that ship is getting a high school named after them. The crew of the Nostromo are basically truck drivers who venture off the highway and run into something nasty. Yes, ironically they show a great deal more competence, professionalism and intelligence in encountering an alien threat than the actual scientists in the prequel movie, but the first conversation these characters have when they come out of hyper sleep is about money. From the outset, these are people in a place of work.

It’s a model that set the format for gritty-industrial-working-class-people in space movies going forward for better or worse. Event Horizon just lifts Alien’s aesthetic completely for the rescue ship Lewis & Clark, as does the videogame series Dead Space, like Alien, set aboard a mining ship.

Away from the horror genre, Outland sees Sean Connery play sheriff in a final frontier mining town that could have taken place in the same world as Alien.

And of course, Red Dwarf, which not only made good use of the Alien aesthetic, but also cast the colony commander from Aliens as their Captain, to tell the story of chicken soup repairmen in space.

Across all of these stories, and of course the aforementioned videogames, the life of the blue collar space traveller is an unpleasant one, exploited by a company that not only controls your life while you work, but also owns all of your food, water and air. Indeed, it’s not rare for them to go further. In Moon, another film where the spacemen-to-earthmen ratio seems not far what it is now, Sam Bell’s employer decides to save the cost of training employees and ferrying them back and forth from Earth to the Moon by taking one employee and filling a cellar full of his pre-programmed, short-lived disposable clones.

Space Sweepers

Public Transport

But maybe you don’t want to work for “the Man”, not an unwise call given the Man is probably trying to feed you to something horrible in the hope of creating a new bioweapon. One surprisingly under-utilised method of getting into space is public transport.

In The Fifth Element, Bruce Willis plays a special-forces-operative-turned-cab-driver who, as part of his cover, wins a ticket to go on a space cruise. Although looking at the sets and the extras in this movie, as well as the packed-in-as-tightly-as-we-can apartments back on Earth, one gets the impression this is not an option open to the majority of working joes.

Perhaps the best example of this is in the shockingly under-loved 2018 flick, Prospect, featuring future Mandalorian Pedro Pascal.

In Prospect, the spaceship is little more than a rotating framework filled with cargo containers in front of a massive engine. The father and daughter prospecting team are on board a lander that resembles nothing so much as an old Apollo Lunar Lander on the inside, and as the mothership approaches their destination the ship doesn’t even stop, it just releases the lander, tells them when the ship is going to be passing back that way and warns them the line is being terminated, so there won’t be another ship passing that way.

This is a model it would be fantastic to see more of. The landing module is small enough that it’s entirely plausible that even these not-very-well-off characters could buy, hire or rent one. Rather than having the freedom of the space ways like Mal or Han, their travel options are entirely restricted by what destinations are profitable for large shipping companies and whether they’ll let you tag along. And while on the surface the aesthetic looks a bit Alien, in truth it feels far more like it’s cobbled together from relics of the actual space age.

Borrow Your Way Into Space

And finally, of course, there’s the Elon Musk solution. Borrow your way into space. One of the early places to use this idea was Gateway, by Frederik Pohl. Frederik Pohl in particular is fantastic at writing science fiction worlds where people actually have to worry about money. In Gateway and its sequels humanity has discovered Ancient Aliens left a space station nearby, stocked with a lot of spaceships. Being alien technology, humans can’t control the ships accurately, they’re limited pretty much to pressing the “Stop” and “Go” buttons, and when the ship flies off it might land on a world of fabulous riches, or it might chuck you into the heart of a star.

Prospectors who want to try their luck in these ships have to take out a loan to get to the station, and throughout the novel the protagonist is constantly aware of how many credits are in his account.

Which brings us back around to Space Sweepers. At first glance the Space Sweepers set-up might seem similar to that of the Millennium Falcon or Serenity – an extremely “used” looking ship run by a rag-tag bunch of misfits. But the first time we see the protagonist, Tae-ho, he’s in a pawn shop. As soon as he gets back to the ship we learn the crew are still paying off the cost of the ship, as well as the costs of repairs and parts.

We see an awful lot of “Space sweepers” throughout the film, junk collectors gathering up salvage from Earth’s orbiting collection of derelict spacecraft and defunct satellites. But these people don’t seem like roguish space pirates, the impression they give is more akin to app-based gig workers.

This is compounded by another issue – that to work in space you need a visa, with citizenship limited to the wealthy few who are able to afford a place on the deluxe orbiting space habitats.

Everything in Space Sweepers is driven by money, whether it’s Tao-Ho’s attempts to raise enough money to find his daughter, the robot, Bubs, and her attempt to get a humanoid body that reflects her gender, and of course, the $2 million reward for “Dorothy” which drives the whole plot.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Often space-based sci-fi is about the fantasy of freedom, of exploration. Even shows like Star Trek give us characters whose job isn’t much more than to fly around having adventures. But there is rich storytelling to be done about the people who have to clean the space toilets.

Chris Farnell’s novella series, Fermi’s Progress, is about a ship whose FTL drive vaporises planets, and features at least one space traveller who isn’t a scientist, super soldier or billionaire (although to be fair the other three characters are exactly that). You can find part one here.

The post Space Sweepers and the History of Working Class People In Space appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/375jTzb

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “Man of Steel (2013)”

In anticipation of Zack Snyder's Justice League, I decided to rewatch Zack's previous two DCEU entries. I remember watching this in theatres in 2013 and loving it despite all the criticism when it came out but 9 years have passed and I wondered if I would still have the same feeling after watching it again? The premise is "With the imminent destruction of Krypton, their home planet, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and his wife seek to preserve their race by sending their infant son to Earth. The child's spacecraft lands at the farm of Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha (Diane Lane) Kent, who name him Clark and raise him as their son. Though his extraordinary abilities have led to the adult Clark (Henry Cavill) living on the fringe of society, he finds he must become a hero to save those he loves from a dire threat". So is it still as great as I remembered it?

Firstly, the casting of Henry Cavill was a perfect choice. He perfectly embodies all the qualities that I expect from a Clark Kent and a Superman. He is incredibly charming in the role and it is clear he is enjoying it as well. Amy Adams as Lois Lane is also excellent casting as she captures the smart, feisty yet brave nature of the character. Michael Shannon as Zod is another great casting as he projects the malice and determination that the character contains in the story. There are also some other great casting for supporting characters like Kevin Costner for Jonathan Kent, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, Antje Traue as Faora-Ul (who is surprisingly better than I remembered), Christopher Meloni as Col. Nathan Hardy and Russell Crowe as Jor-El. All of them give a good performance for their respective roles as well.

One thing I think that Zack does well is the visuals. There is some great cinematography by Amir Mokri and some gorgeous shots. The action scenes are "visually" pleasing to look at and honestly Superman punching someone has never looked so great. The Smallville action scene is still one of the best Superman action scenes I have ever seen. I also really loved how they changed Krypton by making it feel like a completely different world with its own rules and ecosystem instead of just being a place of giant Crystals. Hans Zimmer score for Man of Steel is phenomenal with its use of choir, drums, trumpets, violins and piano. It captures the essence of what makes Superman great. It's triumphant, hopeful and inspiring that makes every scene feel epic.

The story works fine but because it's an origin story it, unfortunately, suffers from the glaring slow burn of the first half where it's just setting everything up. Due to that, there is a lack of exciting things happening post-Krypton destruction for quite a while. I also found that it was difficult to connect with much of these characters as most of them do feel one-note and lacking in any depth or optimism. Even Superman feels kind of bland as a character as there isn't much of an arc for him. I also found the romance between Superman and Lois very weak. The movie doesn't have a lot of intimate moments between the two so when they end up kissing near the end, in front of Lois's boss as well, it comes across as awkward and unearned. The third act goes into generic territory with the flashy beam in the sky and end of the world stuff that you see in many blockbusters.

I also disagree with some choices Zack made, for example, the handling of Jonathan Kent's death. His death in Christopher Reeve's movie was from a heart attack and that showed that despite all of Superman's power, he can't save everyone and to me, that is a really important lesson for his character. In this movie, he dies from a tornado that Superman could have easily saved him from and it just doesn't hit the same way as the Christopher Reeve version. Plus it looks really silly in my opinion.  My big issue is that the final fight scene between Superman and Zod is not as great as the Smallville fight. In Smallville, Superman is punching people but also saving people which is what I expect from Superman. However, the final fight scene has him punching people through buildings without any thought instead of attempting to take the fight outside of Metropolis. Although he kind of did by taking it into space then they went crashing back into Metropolis and caused even more damage which I still find odd to this day. The controversial neck snap is honestly something I have no issue with. It's an emotional moment for the character and is why he will have a no-kill rule in the future. However, the impact of the moment doesn't last enough to convey the importance of the scene as a minute later Superman is all fine and crashing down expensive satellites for a funny moment.

Overall, I still enjoy it even after rewatching but I am more aware of the flaws. I think it has stunning action, a beautiful score and gorgeous visuals but the writing needs a lot of work and that is why I have a big love and hate feeling towards Zack Snyder. Man of Steel is not as terrible as people gave the movie when it came out but it is still far away from the perfect Superman movie. Hopefully, Henry Cavill gets a second chance at another solo outing.

[comparatist]

Here's my updated and edited version of Kalpana Chawla's article!

Kalpana Chawla: The First Indian In Space

It’s almost 14 years since Kalpana Chawla left us, but her memory still resides in the heartbeats of millions of Indians. Her sudden demise was a matter of shock for the whole nation as they were waiting with bated breath for the landing of ‘The Colombia' but their wait turn into a moment of horror when the spaceship met with a terrible accident on the re-entry into the earth killing 6 crew members and Chawla in 2003.

• Childhood: Kalpana was born in Karnal, Haryana in the family of Sanjyoti Chawla and Banarasi Lal Chawla on 17th March 1961. She was the youngest child of her family and was affectionately called Montu. Her family were refugees of the partition, therefore faced tough times while trying to bring stability in the financial area, often opting for various fields of business, even sale of clothes. At last they tried their hand in the tyre manufacturing which turned out to be successful.

Kalpana did her primary education from the Tagore Bal Niketan in Karnal at a time when girls were found more in kitchens than in classrooms. In those times girls made up nearly 10% of the class strength. Her regular attendance and penchant for sketching aeroplanes during art classes from an early age, didn’t get unnoticed by her teachers.

Long before she actually dreamt of navigating the sky, her fascination lay in the vastness of the sky and marvellousness of the stars, she used to gaze at, while lying all down on a cot in the courtyard on summer nights. In an interview with India Today, she said, “The sense of awe for the heavens started here.” When her father noticed her love for flying, he took her to a local flying club, where she got to taste her dream for the first time and that fuelled the passion all the way more.

• Early Education And Obstacles: She completed her bachelors in Aerospace Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. She had decided of pursuing engineering when she was only 10 years old. When her father got to know about this, he advised her to think about taking up a field which is more ‘feminine' like teaching or medicine to which her response was, “This is what I really want to do.” When she got admitted in the college her teachers too discouraged her from taking the field which was still considered as one of the many domains reserved for the men and got answered by the same set of words. Attending the college in Chandigarh meant moving out of home, another milestone in the era of the normalisation of women ‘settling down' without receiving proper education.

• Shifting To The US: Since she saw no further hope for the Masters in Aerospace Engineering in India, in 1982 she flew to USA to continue education from the University of Texas, Arlington and received her Doctorate Degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1988. Her love was primarily for aeroplanes and chasing horizons through the air, goals always been to work on designing and building high-tech planes. Wanting to become an astronaut was a dream that developed much later.

• Joining NASA: After the completion of her Doctorate course, Kalpana got a job at NASA’s Ames Research Centre, California(ARC). ARC focused on astrobiology, supercomputing, roboting lunar explorations etc. all of which help in NASA’s space missions. Her specific area of research was computational fluid dynamics(CFD) where her job was to devise methods to accurately predict the pattern of air flow around an aircraft. In 1990 she was naturalised as an US citizen. The Challenger Disaster in 1986, where the space shuttle broke apart within 73 seconds after its launch killing all its crews couldn’t discourage Kalpana from applying in NASA space programme. In 1994, she got the opportunity to be a part of their upcoming 16-day microgravity mission. The STS-87 mission abroad the space shuttle Columbia began on November 19th, 1997 with a 6 member crew.

Her duty there consisted of operating a robotic arm to deploy the Spartan satellite used to study the sun in collaborator collaboration with SOHO(Solar and Heliospheric Observatory), a NASA/European spacecraft. Apart from being the mission specialist, she was also responsible for heading several microgravity experiments while on board the spacecraft. The STS-87 orbited the earth 252 times covering 6.5 million miles in 376 hours and 34 minutes.

She talked about the amazing experience she had in this piece upon her return, “When you look at the stars on the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from a particular piece of land, but from the solar system.”

• Columbia Disaster: Her second mission to space as a mission specialist on STS-107 Columbia was on January 16th 2003. The 7 member crew managed to conduct 80 microgravity research experiments on their 16-hour mission clocking in 24 hours a day by working in shifts. When the mission ended, the space shuttle preceded to return back home to Kennedy Space Centre, Florida. During the launch, a piece of shield that protects the spacecraft from heating up on the re-entry came off the wing of the shuttle. On 1st February 2003 on its way back, the heat generated when passing through the earth’s atmosphere destabilised the shuttle and caused it to break up into many pieces. All crew members were instantly killed. With the two missions Kalpana had travelled a total of 30 days, 14 hours and 54 minutes in the space.

• Legacy: “The path from dreams to reality does exist. May you have the vision to find it, the courage to get onto it and the preserverance to follow it.”- Kalpana Chawla. She was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal Of Honour, The NASA Space Flight Medal and The NASA Distinguished Service Medal.

Her trajectory of achievements finds no parallel, which is probably why her life inspires so many woman to navigate the space and continue to influence them in the fields of science.

[sciencespies]

Kepler’s decision to build its own cubesats surprises manufacturers

https://sciencespies.com/space/keplers-decision-to-build-its-own-cubesats-surprises-manufacturers/

Kepler’s decision to build its own cubesats surprises manufacturers

Planet felt like it didn’t have a choice. When the Earth-observation startup began launching cameras into orbit in 2013 and 2014, manufacturing lines weren’t churning out cubesats by the dozens.

That’s no longer the case. Blue Canyon Technologies, AAC Clyde Space, GomSpace, NanoAvionics, Tyvak and several others are ready and willing to build cubesats en masse. So it came as a surprise to many cubesat manufacturers when Kepler Communications announced plans in January to manufacture its constellation of 140 Internet of Things satellites in-house.

Kepler is poised to become one of the world’s largest cubesat operators once its constellation is fully in orbit, a target set for the end of 2022. Only Planet currently operates a fleet that large.

Instead of formally soliciting bids from a wide range of cubesat builders, though, Toronto-based Kepler turned to the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) for help setting up its own manufacturing line. Kepler also received 1 million Canadian dollars ($760,000) from the Canadian Space Agency to mature its bus design and production techniques, leading some observers to conclude national pride could play a role. Through Kepler, Canada is establishing a robust cubesat manufacturing capability.

Exhibit A

As startups announced plans for cubesat constellations in recent years, companies expanded manufacturing lines to meet the demand. Denmark’s GomSpace scaled up manufacturing to fulfill a large order from Sky and Space Global that was suspended last year when the Australian Internet of Things startup struggled to raise enough money for a 200-cubesat constellation.

Blue Canyon Technologies is preparing to open a manufacturing plant this spring capable of producing multiple cubesats per week, according to CEO George Stafford.

Cubesat builders, such as Blue Canyon Technologies, say they are ready for bulk orders — if they ever materialize. Credit: Blue Canyon Technologies

Stafford and GomSpace CEO Niels Buus said both their companies have the capacity to build a Kepler-sized constellation. Even manufacturers that lack the means to build 140 or more satellites today could quickly scale up to churn out batches of identical satellites if given the chance, said Arnoldas Pečiukevičius, a systems engineer at NanoAvionics of Lithuania.

In spite of all that capacity, manufacturers aren’t getting the chance to bid on large orders of identical cubesats. Companies continue to order cubesats in ones and twos, said Craig Clark, AAC Clyde Space founder and chief strategy officer. If someone said to a cubesat builder, “can you build 100 satellites like the one you just did, they would bite their hand off to do it,” Clark said at the SmallSat Symposium in Mountain View, California, earlier this month. “But they’re not being given a chance to do it.”

Clark wasn’t talking specifically about the Kepler order but the market in general. Nevertheless, Kepler’s decision can be viewed as Exhibit A. AAC Clyde looked like the obvious choice for Kepler’s constellation because the firm, based in Glasgow, built three prototypes for Kepler’s. When it came time to bid on the full constellation, though, AAC Clyde couldn’t offer the right mix of “price, schedule and technology” for the constellation, said CEO Luis Gomes.

Manufacturers worry cubesat constellation operators have unrealistic price targets.

“Cost is only one variable,” Stafford said. “We encourage the idea that affordability, speed to market and on-orbit performance must all work together to achieve success.”

Due in part to the lack of volume orders, cubesat prices are closer to those of $400,000 performance cars than of $1,000 smartphones, Clark said. Even at those prices, manufacturer net profits tend to fall in the range of 5-10%, he said.

In the long run, some constellation operators may spend more to produce their own cubesats than to buy them from a dedicated manufacturer, said GomSpace’s Buus, since dedicated manufacturers can achieve higher volume production. “If you need 100 satellites a year, it will always be less expensive to build 1,000 satellites a year,” he added.

Pumpkin President Andrew Kalman said his company is not the right fit for cubesat buyers looking for the cheapest components.

“The industry is in a period of substantial influx of capital, looking for investment vehicles, and NewSpace companies are making convincing pitches to secure big money,” he said. “Because of the frenetic pace, I suspect objective assessment of quality, real lead times, design flexibility and design headroom, and a variety of other design, manufacturing and production metrics are sometimes lost in the excitement of dreaming about building the next big thing.”

NewSpace ethos

Kepler CEO Mina Mitry is confident, though, that vertical integration is the right approach for the firm’s Internet of Things constellation. Manufacturers aren’t ready to build Kepler’s constellation of 10-kilogram cubesats quickly, affordably and reliably enough, Mitry said.

Kepler evaluated around 10 potential manufacturers through a process that involved bids, on-site visits and technology reviews before deciding to build its cubesats in-house, Mitry said. “The evaluation criteria was price, performance and volume,” he said. “Finding that combination was quite challenging.”

Cubesat manufacturers who have invested in manufacturing facilities haven’t necessarily been handsomely rewarded, Mitry said. Without volume orders, they’ve stuck to their historical business models centering “around one-off contracting, subsystems manufacturing and that type of bespoke nature of development,” he added. “That hasn’t really allowed them to mature.”

Astrocast is building 100 satellites in-house (like the five shown here) to keep a closer check on cost, development cycles, testing, and other aspects of manufacturing, according to CEO Fabien Jordan. Credit: Astrocast

Mitry declined to name the manufacturers Kepler considered. GomSpace, Blue Canyon Technologies, Pumpkin and NanoAvionics said they were never contacted to bid on Kepler’s constellation.

SFL Director Robert Zee said Kepler’s approach is “typical of a NewSpace company,” which he defines as firms that provide services and manufacture their own satellites to keep costs low. SFL is designing and building the first cubesat in Kepler’s operational constellation and helping Kepler set up a facility to mass produce its remaining satellites. “The dimension that we bring is the experience, the heritage, the technology, [and] the high-performance satellites at low cost,” Zee said.

Kepler also is getting help from Canadian component supplier Sinclair Interplanetary, which granted Kepler a license to mass produce reaction wheels for its constellation.

To vertically integrate or not

Kepler’s case notwithstanding, some cubesat operators say they’ve struggled to find manufacturers to meet their needs.

Swiss startup Astrocast is building its 100-cubesat constellation in-house using 50 meters of lab space and five of its 40 employees, CEO Jordan Fabien said.

“Fully integrating our satellite production is the only solution we found to keep our development cycles as short as possible and make rapid and continuous design improvements,” he said.

In March, Astrocast will move into a new 350-square-meter facility to build as many as 30 satellites a year, he said.

Planet, with about 140 satellites in orbit, remains unconvinced dedicated manufacturers would serve it well.

“I’ve always said that if there are people who could build our satellites faster and cheaper than we could, we would absolutely prefer to buy those satellites from them and put our focus elsewhere,” Chester Gillmore, Planet vice president of spacecraft development and manufacturing, said in 2019 at an Aerospace Corp. event in Florida.

While Planet frequently updates its cubesats, it would prefer to outsource if a vendor could build its satellites without sacrificing Planet’s cost targets, service level or spacecraft quality.

“The industry would really have to advance to a high degree of maturity before that really becomes viable, but we would love that,” he said. “There is so much about what we’re doing that I would love not to have to do.”

In contrast, radio-frequency-mapping company HawkEye 360 and Internet of Things startup Kinéis chose to outsource their constellations, but not without difficulty.

“The bottleneck isn’t launch right now, frankly, it’s the manufacturing capacity here in the United States,” John Serafini, chief executive of HawkEye 360, said at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event in December. “American manufacturers of microsatellite buses [are] relatively paltry. Most of them are [research and development] type facilities. There aren’t many set up at scale.”

SFL is currently building HawkEye 360’s next 15 radio-frequency-mapping cubesats, which the Herndon, Virginia, firm expects to launch by the end of 2021.

Kinéis, which is based near Toulouse, France, chose bus supplier Hemeria and payload provider Thales Alenia Space to build 25 cubesats partly because of their local proximity. “They are about a 20-minutes drive from our headquarters,” CEO Alexandre Tisserant said. Plus, Hemeria and Thales Alenia Space have built earlier Argos location and data-collection hardware that is the basis for Kinéis’ constellation. Kinéis employees also have more experience with designing applications than building satellites, Tisserant said.

“Maybe on paper it would be economically more viable to do it by ourselves, but with the state of the knowledge and the people we can find and we have in the area of [Toulouse] France, I think this is definitely the best choice.” he added.

There is a healthy ecosystem for the new actors building one or two cubesats, said Chris Boshuizen, a Planet co-founder who now works as an operating partner for Data Collective, a San Francisco venture capital firm. “Multiple vendors have similar products with varying price levels and features,” he added. For new companies, “buying stuff is absolutely the right idea” because “it will get you started quickly.”

The calculation is different, though, for large constellation operators. They have to look at the cost of every component from radios and reaction wheels to thrusters and processors. If the constellation operator has the in-house expertise to build satellites with more capability at a lower cost than what it can buy, it makes sense to vertically integrate, Boshuizen said.

For now, cubesat manufacturing is “a healthy boutique market, not a thriving large-scale manufacturing industry,” Boshuizen said.

The question is how will it become a large-scale manufacturing industry unless companies place large orders.

This article originally appeared in the Feb. 24, 2020 issue of SpaceNews magazine.

#Space

[virmillion]

Ibytm - T minus 7 seconds

Masterpost - Previous Chapter - Next Chapter - ao3

Words: 3,964

Logan cracks his knuckles, his elbows propped on the arms of a chair near the middle of the presentation room. Across the table from him, Joy doodles absently in the margins of her notebook. Logan is pretty sure that if Cassidy weren’t there to subtly turn the page for her, the flowers and floating eyes would crawl off the pages and etch themselves into the surface of the table. Director Gazebo paces at the head of the room, smacking a remote against his palm and muttering under his breath. It’s been something like five minutes since he last successfully switched slides, and all delusions of focus and interest have completely melted away. Even Miss Katie-Lee, who was helping hand out papers and fill in pieces of information for the director, is playing something on her phone with vague disinterest. Logan wonders whether she might just fall asleep right where she stands.

Logan, on the other hand, absolutely cannot force himself to look disinterested in anything the director does, ever. Not with that meeting from a couple weeks ago still weighing on his mind. Instead, he does his best to look like he’s taking detailed notes in his pocket notebook, glancing around the room as if deep in thought. He takes careful stock every few seconds of the impossibly high number of important people in here. The absolutely quintessential ‘who’s who’ of this branch—Joy and Miss Katie-Lee, of course, but also Mx. Oatmeal, Cassidy and her independent focus advisor, the directors of the individual satellite branches floating nearby, those inexplicable people in nice suits that follow Director Gazebo everywhere, even the notoriously good-looking folks that are always sweeping in and out of Miss Katie-Lee’s office. Oh, and who could forget Roman?

Logan could.

Logan would love to do that, in fact.

He’s taken multiple steps to prove to the director just how much he wants this, despite how wrong it feels to be slacking off to improve—talking about non-work things with Cassidy and Alex, getting to know the fifth floor interns (even though they aren’t technically on the fifth floor anymore), helping those same interns with their work and genuinely enjoying it rather than it being revision out of obligation, even trying to be more open with Virgil about what’s going on inside his head. He hasn’t quite gotten the hang of that last one yet, but it’s not like the director ever sees him do it—or not do it, as the case usually tends to be. He tries, though. They both do.

The biggest risk—talking to Roman—is one he really isn’t looking forward to. He hasn’t even tried yet, actually. Probably explains why Roman is in the far back corner of the room, whispering with Alex.

Logan isn’t doing very well at pretending to be taking notes, in case that wasn’t obvious.

Finally, the remote in the director’s hand buzzes to life, shuffling the presentation to the last slide. Miss Katie-Lee moves next to him and peers over his shoulder, pointing at one of the buttons and nodding. A sigh of relief (or maybe it’s annoyance—Logan isn’t great at gauging that sort of thing) ripples through the room when the slideshow cycles back to the top, displaying a picture of a rocket preparing to launch.

The director gives Miss Katie-Lee a smile and nod before turning to address the room. “What craft was this?”

Logan doesn’t bother raising his hand, merely calling out the name in unison with the rest of the room. “Vanguard TV3.”

“And on what historic date did this craft fail two seconds after launch?”

“December sixth, nineteen fifty-seven.” It’s more of an automatic response on Logan’s part than a concentrated effort to access the trivia from its overflowing file tucked away in a secure corner of his mind. The director nods his approval and moves on to the next slide, and Logan is pretty sure the better part of his room-sweeping gaze centers on him. He sits up straighter.

“Good start, folks. Now, back to basics—roughly how long would it take for a spacecraft to reach the moon?” Wow, really back to basics. He wasn’t kidding.

“Three days.” Even Logan has to admit, it does sound just the slightest bit creepy, everyone answering in monotonous unison like this.

The director clicks over to the next slide, which proudly declares the words ‘speed round’ in times new roman. The font yanks Logan’s thoughts toward Roman without his consent, and he again thinks about how unjustly cold he’s been to the guy lately. Hardly a word between them, aside from the usual obligatory greetings. Maybe that ought to be his next risk, resolving that whole situation. Certainly one of the more unnerving ideas he’s entertained.

“Alright, everyone, speed round time. How many miles to the moon?”

“240,000.”

“In kilometers?”

The briefest of pauses. “386,400.”

“Largest crew aboard a spacecraft to date?”

“Eight.”

“Why do we want to minimize travel time for human astronauts?”

“Space has harmful radiation.” Okay, so that one wasn’t quite so perfectly in unison, and various other answers tried to break through, but the general idea does manage to echo around the room.

“Of the nearly two hundred planet-orbiting moons in our solar system, in which place is our moon with regards to size?”

“Fifth largest.”

“Latin word for its highlands?”

“Maria.”

“Meaning?”

“Seas.”

“How many nations have landed on the moon?”

“Three.” The word five also bounces around, but Logan is in the former party.

“Okay, who did it first?”

“The United States.” This, too, has a second answer making a valiant effort—Neil Armstrong, obviously. Again, Logan is in the former group.

“When?”

This one, interestingly enough, prompts two very distinct answers. One sizeable group, to which Logan is party, gives the predictable answer of July twentieth, nineteen sixty-nine, but one (much smaller) group says something incredibly different.

“Wow, I didn’t realize this very important meeting was just gonna be a history lesson.”

Not a valid nor correct answer, in case that wasn’t clear.

Logan, along with pretty much every other superior in the room, swivels in his seat to stare at Roman, who still leans against the wall at the far back of the room. Beside him, Alex looks like they’re doing everything they can to feign not having heard him.

Roman shrugs and raises his eyebrows, tilting his head toward the director. “It’s a valid question. Nobody in this room’s an idiot, we all passed our college courses, gen eds and otherwise, we all took the entrance exams, we’ve all done the work to get here. Not to step out of line or anything, but this is all grade school stuff. Seems kinda dumb to be quizzing us on stuff anyone with a working internet connection could figure out.”

Logan debates whether this would be a good time to work on one of those risks he’s been dealing with by striding to the back of the room and smacking Roman across the face. The director stiffens, but Logan can’t tell whether it’s agitation or impressed satisfaction.

“Does anyone else agree with Roman’s perspective?”

There’s a few quiet mumbles and the odd cough or sniffle, but no one speaks up. Logan flinches when the director’s eyes land on him, but again, there’s something behind those eyes he can’t trace. When the director doesn’t look away, the idea of screaming crosses Logan’s mind. Risk. Risk. You are not special simply for doing your job. You need to go above and beyond if you want to achieve the dream you claim you have, despite all evidence pointing to the contrary.

Logan clears his throat and raises his hand, and honest to god, the room falls silent. Even Joy’s scribbling pen halts. The director nods at him to speak, at the same moment that Logan finds his heart standing at the edge of a bottomless pit. It jumps over.

“He makes a good point.” The director lifts his chin, but says nothing. “We already know all of this information, given how easily we can answer it on a dime, and you’ve gathered up most of the higher profile people in this branch, not to mention the ones around it. It seems counterintuitive to waste their time with the basics when they could be working toward something more concrete, rather than an eighth grade science test review.” Logan literally bites his tongue when he closes his mouth, belatedly realizing he just told the literal head of his career that his meeting is a waste of Logan’s time. Too big of a risk, perhaps, but there’s certainly no taking it back now. He also belatedly realizes his arm is still in the air, so he yanks it down with his other hand.

There’s a beat of silence, where not even Joy dares look at Logan. Logan swallows and turns his eyes toward the ground, feeling Roman’s gaze burning daggers into his back. Does this count toward resolving the little spat he never bothered explaining to Roman? Hell, Roman might not even know Logan was mad—for all he’s been told, Logan just decided out of nowhere to start talking to the interns. Logan should’ve just kept with the mediocrity, should’ve stayed within arm’s reach of his safety net, should’ve learned to grit his teeth and bear it while Roman prattled on, completely oblivious to how much better he was than Logan.

“Roman and Logan,” the director finally says. “You two stay. Everyone else, you’re excused.”

The remaining people cannot possibly get out of the room fast enough. It’s concentrated chaos as they scramble to gather their respective belongings and rush the door, a bunch of space enthusiasts who would probably rather be on literal Neptune right now than in this room. Come to think of it, Neptune doesn’t sound too bad to Logan, either. He sinks back into his chair and wills himself to be smaller, wills Roman to ignore him and just stay—

Roman takes the seat directly beside Logan. “Thanks for the assist,” he says under his breath, elbowing Logan gently. Logan smiles weakly at his own fists, clenched tightly in his lap, and wonders if this is the last time these hands will be employed by NASA. Wondering if this is finally it, if the director has had enough of Logan’s pathetic attempts to take risks, has finally decided to do away with Logan entirely, to let him fade into obscurity as some guy who coded a coffee delivery app with a gimmicky name.

Director Gazebo stares long and hard at the both of them, and probably has been for a while now—not that Logan would know the difference, having only just looked up from his hands. There’s something behind the mask of calm in the director’s face, just like there always is, and just like always, it’s something Logan can’t quite comprehend, something he isn’t sure he wants to comprehend. When he opens his mouth, Logan’s heart finally finds itself at the bottom of that bottomless pit.

“Are either of you aware of how long it would take mankind to reach Neptune?”

An unexpected starting point, to be sure, but at least it’s something Logan is prepared for. “It took Voyager 2 about twelve years in the eighties.”

“Voyager 2 was unmanned,” Roman adds. “None of that extra weight for people or provisions, so that probably maybe definitely influenced that time.”

“Why?” Logan asks. It’s always been one of his favorite questions, to tell the truth. He wonders whether the director feels the same. Then he wonders whether the director realizes he means ‘why ask about Neptune,’ not ‘why would weight influence travel time.’ Then he wonders whether the director knows he wonders this.

“As only Voyager 2 has managed to make it that far—and beyond, in fact—there is still a good deal of things we’ve yet to learn from Neptune, like why it has such high winds, or why its magnetic field is offset, not to mention that there’s been another Great Dark Spot since the one in eighty-nine.” Okay, so at least it was clear what Logan was asking.

“I’m still not totally clear on why this matters,” Roman admits. Logan sighs quietly, relieved that someone in this room had the nerve to voice the general fears floating lazily through the air. “I mean, it’s got nothing to do with the moon, which is supposedly why you called the meeting, right?”

“It’s got everything to do with the moon,” the director corrects. He steps away from the projection screen and begins pacing the room, waving his hands about like frantic hummingbirds to emphasize his points—provided he actually makes any. “The moon is the closest celestial body to our planet, so everything with a greater distance than that can be expanded upon based on its relative distance and size compared to the moon. If we learned to walk with the moon, we can run with Mars, and we could fly with Neptune.”

“I’m not sure I follow,” Logan says, feeling like it’s been a little too long since he’s spoken up. Regardless, his words seem to roll off the director’s hunched shoulders as he continues pacing, unperturbed.

“Twelve years is a long time, not to mention the additional weight for the food and crew, and the emotional and mental tolls on the passengers and their families, as it would be a minimum twenty-five year round trip—that’s a quarter of what a layman considers his life span. But if we could cut that down, shave off a few years from either end, move from here to there as if we were taking but a single step…” The director trails off with his hands frozen in front of his face, fingers not quite touching, so stiff they almost tremble. “Imagine how much we could gain from that. Just—just imagine it.”

“Do you mean in terms of Einstein’s and Rosen’s theory of general relativity?” Logan’s voice is laced with disbelief. Einstein-Rosen bridges, wormholes, whatever you want to call them, it’s all theoretical, and all just the slightest bit terrifying. Two mouths at either end of an imaginary throat, from point A to point B in moments, microscopic and unstable. Just imagine it? Sure, just imagine the likelihood of the wormhole destabilising under the effect of exotic matters and spitting out the passengers to who knows where.

Logan, if you couldn’t tell, is not particularly fond of the idea of wormholes, much less black holes. His concerns are usually (to his relief) unfounded, since whoever is crazy enough to look for wormholes hasn’t been successful in their endeavours. Not yet.

“But that’s only assuming you actually can fold the space,” Roman protests, yanking Logan out of his own mind. Apparently they didn’t care to wait for Logan to process the absurdity of it all before continuing the conversation.

“But who says we can’t? ” Director Gazebo shoots back.

“Who said anything about we?” Roman’s voice is incredulous and maybe, just maybe, a little bit excited. Good excited or bad excited, though, Logan has no idea.

“Well, me, just now, for one.” The director starts pacing again, ticking off numbers on his fingers as he goes. “Katie-Lee also vouched for the idea, as well as some of the directors at the floater branches—most of them report to Kennedy, anyway, so I’m sitting pretty high and dry here, and they all went for the idea. Logan, any valuable input here?”

Logan blinks, not prepared to be included. Not yet. “I, um, no?” Then he wonders whether the director heard ‘I, um, no,’ or ‘I, um, know.’

“Well, you can hardly fault me for asking. I mean, after that presentation you gave, not to mention the increasing quality of your work lately, I assumed you’d be desperate to make your case for this mission.”

“What mission?”

Roman shoots Logan a look, and Logan wonders just how long he was tuned out of the conversation. Too long, apparently.

“Why, Mission Neptune, of course.” At that, Logan is viscerally reminded of the conductor from that time Virgil forced him to watch The Polar Express. The director, at least, doesn’t seem put off in the slightest by Logan’s mental absence. He whips out a pen and scrawls something on his forearm, mumbling under his breath, “We really need to come up with a better name for that.”

“I—you’re planning a mission to Neptune?” It’s not even worth it for Logan to try to keep the shock out of his voice.

Roman, miracle of miracles, recovers much quicker than Logan. Probably because he’s been paying attention. “Okay, cool, but why did you still say we? Why did you only keep me and Logan behind?”

“Logan and me,” Logan murmurs. At least if his basic conversational skills continue to fail him, he’ll always have ironclad grammar to fall back on. On which to fall back, whatever.

“You want to go into space, do you not?”

“Absolutely.” In sharp contrast with Logan’s immediacy and certainty is Roman’s loud silence. Logan gives him a quizzical look.

“I’m not saying I don’t,” Roman finally huffs, “but I’m not saying I do, either. There’s way too many things that could go wrong for this to be a spur of the moment hell yes type response, y’know?”

Logan tries very hard (by which he means a normal amount) not to look smug as the director stares at Roman in shock. So much for a guy who’s great because he broadens his horizons. As soon as the prideful thought crosses Logan’s mind, he shakes his head to get rid of it—tearing down his friend won’t do anything for his own career, much less his own humanity. Another, much scarier thought crosses Logan’s mind next: He just internally referred to Roman as his friend.

Logan really ought to start paying better attention when conversations are happening around him between very smart people who don’t think to wait for him to catch up.

“Just keep an eye on your inboxes, alright?” The director stops pacing at the door and tugs it open, gesturing for the two to take their leave.

“Give us a minute,” Roman says, remaining firmly in his seat. The director purses his lips and wrinkles his nose, but he does go, leaving the room blissfully empty in the absence of his commanding presence.

Roman turns to Logan and cocks his head to the side. “Alright, my dude, I’ve known you for basically a lifetime now.”

“Five years, max.”

“Same difference. Anyway, I’ve known you a while, yeah? So I know what your face looks like when you’re zoning out, ’cause you’ve got way too much going on up in that head of yours. How much do I need to fill you in on, so you aren’t totally out of your depth when Gazebo brings it up again?”

“A basic rundown would be stellar. I heard that he’s aiming for Neptune, and he’s trying to employ some Wrinkle in Time mechanics to do it. We haven’t even spotted a wormhole yet, Roman. Those things are so small, too, what is he thinking?”

“Probably that he should’ve had Katie-Lee give that promotion to someone who knows how to listen.” Roman laughs as he ducks to avoid Logan swatting at his head. “Hey, hey, this is neutral territory! Anyway, he said he was stuck on the moon stuff with his presentation ’cause he doesn’t want to go talking to the whole building and company and all about it, but he thinks he found a way to straight up manufacture a wormhole, and he wants to test that with an outwardly routine trip to the moon. Manufacture his demon wormhole or whatever, and if it works, great, and if not, well, it’s just the moon, so we won’t be too far, anyway. Doesn’t really add up that he’d call it Mission Neptune if he’s trying to hide it, but whatever.”

“And he told us this why?”

“Because I’m such a motor mouth that most people have learned to just tune me out by now, or assume I’m spouting total nonsense. You, on the other hand, he knows you’ve got your whole deal with that lifelong dream of getting off the planet or whatever, so obviously you wouldn’t go spreading the details, not at the risk of someone else taking your spot on the ship.”

“He told you all that?”

“Context clues. I’m very smart.”

Logan blows a puff of air through his nose and stares at his hands again, picturing them at the helm of a literal console in a literal rocketship on its way to literal Neptune. “Be pretty hard to cover up supplies for a mission to Neptune when you want it to look like a routine trip to the moon.”

“Why else would he hint at sending follow-up emails? Not to mention, if the wormhole situation shortens the trip, we wouldn’t need much more than a normal moon mission, anyway.” Roman scoots his chair closer and pushes his face right up into Logan’s. “You’re really off your game today, y’know that? Is it ’cause you suddenly decided to start talking to me again?”

“Something like that.” Logan checks his watch, weighing the merits of continuing to talk here versus returning to their desks. If nothing else, the director hasn’t returned to yell at them yet, so that’s something. Logan inhales a couple seconds longer than he needs to, blows it all out in one big breath, and explains to Roman the situation regarding his new risk-taking self. He even adds how, all along, Roman has been the true superior, much as it shreds Logan’s heart to say it. At least now Roman has proof that he’s as good as he thinks he is. What use is pride if left uncorroborated, right?

“Okay, well that’s dumb, so we’re not gonna talk about that nonsense garbage ever again,” Roman says, shaking his head. “I mean, really? Me better than you? Obviously I’m just socializing, and that definitely shows in the few papers where I’ve actually tried. He probably just wanted to push you over the edge so you would be more involved and engaged, more likely to help with his whole Neptune shebang.”

“That’s a good mission name,” Logan mumbles. He expertly ignores everything else Roman said. “Neptune Shebang.”

“No, it really isn’t. Do you even want to do it?”

“I mean, obviously I do, it’s all I’ve ever wanted, ever , but there’s still…” Logan lets his voice trail off, picturing Virgil’s face. Picturing Virgil sat on the couch in front of the television, watching Logan blast off the planet in a storm of fire and gasoline, leaving Virgil over two billion miles behind him, in the plain old Earth dust. “I don’t know. I used to know, but I think what I knew changed somewhere along the way.”

“Makes sense.” Roman pushes his hands against his knees and bounces to his feet, then crooks his elbow to the side. Logan accepts the gesture, rising with Roman’s assistance and following him to the door. “I mean, it’s not like you have to know if you’re going right this second. You don’t even know if you’ll get chosen for it. Maybe they switch around the requirements or knock down the capacity or something, and they just bump you out of the running because you’re needed on Earth or they’re afraid you have the measles or something. Hell, they could deny the mission request altogether. Whatever happens, you definitely don’t have to make any major decisions about it just yet.”

Logan nods to himself as the door clicks shut behind them. Eventually, he very well have to make that choice. But not yet.

[lizabethstucker]

The SFWA Grand Masters, Volume 2

Edited by Frederik Pohl

A selection of short stories and novellas from the second group of five authors named Grand Masters by the Science Fiction Writers of America:  Andre Norton, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Alfred Bester, and Ray Bradbury.  The stories are science fiction and fantasy, some a mixture of both.  The styles may be different, but all of these authors captured the imaginations and loyalty of readers throughout their decades of writing.

 Pohl has selected a decent group of stories, five each except for Asimov who only has four.  Each author’s section has a short biography and an overview of their writing career.  Pohl also provides a list of suggested books.  Overall, this is a solid 4 out of 5.

 Mousetrap by Andre Norton

There are strange sand monsters on Mars, ones that are highly desired by museums back on Earth.  Unfortunately, they are too fragile to capture for transport, dead or alive.  Until prospector Sam Levatts is approached by hustler Len Collins.  Part tragedy with a hopeful ending.  This was a sad read and yet very satisfying in the denouement. Incredibly short, yet tightly written. Norton was a favorite of mine in middle school once I actually started reading science fiction.  I much preferred her science fiction stories to those with a more fantasy bent at that time.  Despite being marketed to children, her stories didn't pull any punches in regard to violence, depression, and even suicide.  Some of her works haven't aged well, but then you'll come across something like this and remember just why she was so very popular among all age groups.  4 out of 5.

 Were-Wrath by Andre Norton

Lady Thra of Laniat flees deep into the forest after the last of her liegemen is killed.  She stumbles across a hut, a cat who speaks telepathically, and an unfinished carving on an armoire.  Then the man-creature appears.  Soon Thra will be forced to face a greater evil than any of the were.  One of the things that Norton was best at was how she gave life to outsiders and how strong her female characters were.  Thra, once a lady, now a woman who has been stripped to a fierce survivor.  Farne, abandoned by his birth family, finds love with a mother-figure until she was taken from him.  There's magic and a hint of romance at the very end, an enthralling fantasy.  As I stated earlier, Norton's fantasy wasn't something I cared for when I first began reading her works.  That changed by the time I hit high school, thanks to Tolkien and Fritz Leiber, among others.  Makes me eager to dive back into the author's fantasy works.  4.5 out of 5

 All Cats Are Gray by Andre Norton

Steena was known by many free spacers, a quiet woman who gathered knowledge through listening and a photographic memory.  Her peculiar knowledge had helped many of the men around her, never accepting any reward.  Until she's given Bat, a cat, by a man whose life she saved.  Now she helps another free spacer hoping to get control of an abandoned pleasure spacecraft with a dangerous reputation.  Creepy, cool, and another story with an important cat character.  Steena could resonate with those young girls with a thirst for knowledge, that lived in our own type of gray world, filled with acquaintances and friends rather than lovers.  This is an unusual portrayal and use of an extreme type of colorblindness.  A good read.  3.5 out of 5.

 Serpent’s Tooth by Andre Norton

Seeker Modic chooses Rentarn to guide him and his group into the Questionable Lands.  Modic is determined to find the city of Lonscraft, long deserted, hoping for treasure despite the danger.  But as he says, the treasure isn't the kind Rentarn might think.  The legends and myths learned by all who live in the Between Villages may be Rentarn's only hope of survival.  That and his genetics.  More a novella than a short story, Norton has an interesting treasure hunting quest that mixes fantasy with a tinge of science fiction, leaning heavily toward horror with the mysterious events in Lonscraft.  Who the blue men in the heart of the palace might have been is never truly answered, the reader only receiving hints.  The intriguing possibilities are never confirmed.  A fascinating story.  4.5 out of 5

 Rescue Party by Arthur C. Clarke

When the crew of the exploration survey ship S9000 is notified of an inhabited planet's sun going super nova, they rush there to save as many of the inhabitants as they can.  As the increasing heat has already begun to decimate the surface of the planet, it is difficult and dangerously time-consuming to search for any possible survivors.  Defeat followed by surprise followed by a hint of more to come makes for a tightly written story.  And it is an interesting viewpoint, even if filled with old-fashioned science fiction tropes, from tentacles to collective minds.  This is the first story written by Clarke, done in 1946.  A decent enough start for a newbie.  3.5 out of 5

I found it amusing and telling that Clarke’s nickname in fandom was “Ego”.  I doubt if it was entirely friendly.  Despite his constant bragging that he solely invented satellite communications, that wasn’t entirely true.  Yes, he wrote about it in a trade paper, but he wasn’t the only one working on the concept, nor was he the only one who published.  I never cared for Clarke, mostly for his extreme arrogance and weirdness portrayed in interviews, both written and filmed.  I don’t know if this affected how I reacted to his work or not, but he was rarely on my reading list.  There were a couple of stories that I enjoyed, but mostly I veered away from him.  

 The Secret by Arthur C. Clarke

Henry Cooper, a science reporter, has been sent to the moon by the United Nations Space Administration in an effort to generate support for the Pluto City base.  He has been there before, so he is aware of how things operate.  But this time there is something off.  He contacts an old friend, currently the Plato City Police Department Inspector General, to ask what is going on.  The answer is nothing he could've expected.  *sigh* This is the type of crap that turned me off of Clarke's stories.  It's a great setup but had no real payoff in my opinion.  Yes, we're told the answer to the mystery, nothing past that.  This story was published in 1963, long before the moon landings.  Clarke's views were very pessimistic of that event.  Vastly disappointed, yet not really surprised.  Hopefully the next few stories are better.  The setup helped squeak this rating to 3 out of 5.

 Reunion by Arthur C. Clarke

Aliens are returning to the Earth that they claim to have colonized millions of years ago.  They became aware that the change in the planet's environment had led to mutations in some of the colonists.  Not a problem, they can help fix anything!  While the ending may be trite, almost expected for a story published in 1971, it doesn't make it any less fun to read.  A remarkably tight story for two pages.  4.5 out of 5.

 The Star by Arthur C. Clarke

A deep space survey vessel is exploring the Phoenix Nebula, a sun that went super nova centuries earlier.  On the planet farthest from the now dead sun was found a vault that contains the records of the people who died in the blast.  One crew member, a Jesuit who is their Chief Astrophysicist, finds his faith stuttering by what he discovers.  This is actually a good question; can religious faith survive deep space travel?  Yes, I knew instantly what the core idea would be, but in 1952 to deal so directly with faith and science in a science fiction story would've been very brave of the publishers to put out there.  It is also a subject much discussed by both non-believers as well as more scientific-minded believers.  In fact, it was a subject discussed at great length by my Episcopal Middle School Bible Study class with Father Alex Boyer, a man who would've been a Jesuit if he had been Roman Catholic.  This story could be a great discussion starter as well as a good read.  3.5 out of 5.

 A Meeting with Medusa by Arthur C. Clarke

Howard Falcon had been seriously injured while piloting a test flight of the Queen Elizabeth IV thanks to a news camera platform that crashed through the dirigible.  Doctors had put him back together, giving him some extras that will come in handy with his next adventure:  a trip to Jupiter, the first gaseous planet to be explored by man.  If this type of story was more Clarke's usual output, I might be able to understand why he was considered one of the Big Three in science fiction.  The sense of adventure is neatly woven into the story, particularly the suppositions made by Clarke about what might be found on and above Jupiter if we continue with ever closer flybys that can delve deeper into the atmosphere.  I will say that the extent of Falcon's "enhancements" took me a bit by surprise, making me wonder just what was left of his physical self.  Best guess would be his brain and nothing else.  Fascinating and disturbing in equal measures.  4.5 out of 5.

 The Last Question by Isaac Asimov

As mankind's computers expand in knowledge and abilities, there is one question that is asked over the ages that doesn't receive an answer other than "insufficient data".  But as the millenniums pass and the Galaxy fills with life, immortal life, the question becomes ever more urgent.  How can you reverse or stop entropy?  The ending!!  I should've seen it coming, but surprisingly I didn't.  I really enjoyed the glimpses into how man and computers evolved over the trillions of years, yet both still struggled with the basic question of survival of that which provided power and life no matter how both learned and adapted.  Asimov, in this publication date of 1956, postulates solar power and mankind's increasing reliance on super computers, not to mention increasing overpopulation driving exploration even more than curiosity.  4.5 out of 5.

 Ah, Asimov.  So much incredible talent and so much wide-ranging interests he had. Surprisingly I’ve only read a few of his works, particularly the Foundation series and his I, Robot series, as well as some of his short stories.  I was more likely to read his non-fiction works, from science to the bible, or the short story collections he edited.  I would devour his introductions even more than the stories themselves. I’ve found the introductory biography on this author to be more enjoyable as Pohl had a lifetime friendship with Asimov, giving it that personal touch.

 It’s Such a Beautiful Day by Isaac Asimov

The day that the Hanshaw Door failed to operate was the day that 12-year-old Richard Hanshaw Jr. began to avoid using it to go to school and back home again.  Nothing his mother tried could deter him other than on rare unexplained occasions. Yet Dick didn't seem to mind using the Door to visit New York or Canton, China.  His mother reluctantly agrees with his teacher to take him to a psychiatrist for probing.  Asimov has provided a most prophetic story about how technology can cause people to withdraw from experiencing the outdoors.  The reasons and type of technology might be different, but the results wind up the same.  Video games, the internet, television, and other media all do the same. Thought-provoking.  4.5 out of 5.

 Strikebreaker by Isaac Asimov

Sociologist Steven Lamorak visits the first asteroid world in order to gather facts about Elseverse's society.  While there he learns it exists under a strict caste system. Igor Ragusnik's family has overseen waste reclamation for generations.  Unfortunately, this makes the family outcasts, unable to meet with nor interact with the rest of the community.  Igor has decided to go on strike until his family is accepted, although the leaders of Elseverse are determined to not give in.  The consequences for the community are dire if something isn't done.  Intriguing as well as an echo of other Earth-based castes such as the Untouchables in India.  A very disappointing solution by Lamorak.  And, frankly, I think his estimate as to how long changes would occur was out of line.  And, as a sociologist, Lamorak should know better.  3.5 out of 5.

 The Martian Way by Isaac Asimov

Earth is getting testy about the amount of water used by the Martian colony, especially that used for propulsion by the scavengers who catch shells discarded by rockets launched from Earth for their metal content.  After a year of politicians pontificating, a ration is set up, one that will essentially stop all scavenging.  Certain of the scavengers understand that this could be just the beginning of Earth’s hold on the colonies tightening.  The newest of the scavengers, Ted Long, encourages them to look elsewhere for their water, cut ties with Earth.  Long’s idea?  A newer source of water, the rings of Saturn.  The idea of using water for propulsion purposes in low or no gravity situations really isn’t that far-fetched, but as shown here it would require having a virtually endless supply available.  Asimov has another valid point.  For any colony to be truly valid, they must be self-sustaining.  3.5 out of 5.

 Disappearing Act by Alfred Bester

General Carpenter is leading the War for the American Dream, directing good citizens to become sharply honed tools.  His motto is “a job for everyone and everyone on the job”. After all, how else can they defend the American Dream of Beauty and Poetry and the Better Things in Life? Then a perplexing mystery appears in Ward T of the U.S. Army Hospital that requires an expertise not readily available in Carpenter’s America.  This was beyond a hoot!  And all too possible, at least in regard to a country so involved in a long-term war that they focus their attention on specific talents needed, not the softer interests.  I have little actual knowledge of Bester’s works.  I’ve always known the name, but somehow missed reading anything from him. This story tells me just what I’ve been missing, so I’m looking forward to the remainder of his section in this collection.  5 out of 5.

 Fondly Fahrenheit by Alfred Bester

James Vandaleur and his android are on the run after the android kidnaps and kills a child, something previously thought impossible. I don't know how to describe this. It is a confusing narrative with multiple fluid viewpoints.  Fluid as in it can be hard to understand who is narrating, whether there is two or three present during certain scenes.  Once farther into the story it gets easier to understand what Bester is up to.  But despite the initial confusion, this was an intriguing psychological story.  As Mr. Spock would say, fascinating.  4 out of 5. There's a short commentary following the story itself in which Bester discusses his writing process in general and regarding this particular story.  A nice glimpse into how the sausage is made.

  The Four-Hour Fugue by Alfred Bester

Pollution and a lack of great quantities of fresh water for bathing and cleaning has led to an increased use of perfume in the urban jungle slum of the Corridor.  When Dr. Blaise Skiaki's latest product development slows almost to a stop, the company he works for begins an investigation as to the reasons behind it. Mystery and romance over-layered with almost supernatural aspects.  More fantasy than science fiction in my opinion.  I also found the ending a bit rushed, but still adequate.  What I didn't like much and almost turned me off were the racist overtones, especially for a story published in 1974.  For example, the use of the term "gook" and the statement "slitty eyes that would need careful watching". Perhaps Bester was merely implying that the two characters involved with racist, but it was still bothersome to me. 3.5 out of 5.

  Hobson’s Choice by Alfred Bester

Addyer is a statistician by day, dreaming fantasist by night, wanting to live in another time period.  When he finds that, despite the ongoing war and the effects of the atom bombs, the population appears to be increasing, he pinpoints the epicenter to be in Finney County, Kansas.  Directed to go there, what Addyer finds is not even close to what he expected.  An interesting look at those who long to live in another time, with some reality checks regarding the differences that might be encountered.  As the immigration man says, every time is the Golden Age to someone other than the one that they live in.  3.5 out of 5.

  The City by Ray Bradbury

The City has waited for twenty thousand years for this moment.  A rocket filled with explorers from Earth has arrived.  The City awakens, at long last able to fulfill its programming. Creepy.  Very creepy tale of long forgotten actions that resonate with the hapless Earth men.  Short and sharp story.  3.5 out of 5.

  The Million-Year Picnic by Ray Bradbury

Timothy was no fool, even as young as he was.  He knew this sudden vacation was more than a fishing trip.  His mom and dad seem nervous.  To keep his younger brothers calm, Timothy plays along, waiting for his dad to explain. This short story turned out to be the first installment into what became THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES.  What this story did was setup the reason why the Mars community ever started, why the original colonists fled Earth.  THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES is one of my favorites and the first Bradbury book that I ever read.  This has me itching to read it again.  Sounds like a trip to the library is in my immediate future.  4 out of 5.  

  All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury

Venus only stops raining for two hours every seven years. The children don't remember it from the last time the sun came out as they were too young. Margot is the exception. A frail young girl whose appearance appears to be washed out with the constant rain, she desperately wants, needs to see the sun again. Children are brutally cruel, something Bradbury has shown in horrible prose. The ending was so horrible, yet so simple. Quite possibly one of the saddest stories I've read in quite a while, even if realistic. It made it hard to rate. 3.5 out of 5.

  There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury

A smart home continues its daily routine, from cleaning to cooking to announcing important dates, for days and days.  Doing its programmed tasks to empty rooms.  Talk about gut-wrenchingly sad.  That view outside the house can rip your heart out. And the dog.  4 out of 5.

  The Affluence of Despair by Ray Bradbury

The lure, the addiction of publicity, of seeing ourselves on television.  Not for our accomplishments and successes, only for the bad and the tragic.  A little over two pages and published in 1998, this is anything but fiction.  Take a good look at yourself, world.  4 out of 5.

[hereticaloracles]

TNO Watch: Arawn

Helios– Ladies and gentlemen, we have a brand new player on the cosmic scene! Let me introduce him to you

The Astronomy: 15810 Arawn is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) from the inner regions of the Kuiper belt, approximately 83 mi in diameter. It belongs to the plutinos, the largest class of resonant TNOs. It was named after Arawn, the ruler of the Celtic underworld, and discovered on 12 May 1994. Arawn is unique in that it has been observed at a much closer distance than most Kuiper belt objects, by the New Horizons spacecraft, which imaged it a distance of 111 million km (69 million mi; 0.74 AU) in April 2016; this and its other observations have allowed its rotation period to be determined. Arawn is moving in a very stable orbit, likely as stable as Pluto’s. This suggests that it may be a primordial plutino formed around the same time Pluto itself and Charon came into existence. It is unlikely to be relatively recent debris originated in collisions within Pluto’s system or a captured object.

The Myth: In Welsh mythology, Arawn was the king of the otherworld realm of Annwn, appearing prominently in the first branch, and alluded to in the fourth. In the First Branch of the Mabinogi, Pwyll mistakenly stumbles into the realm of Annwn and finds white hounds with red ears feeding on a stag. Pwyll chases the hounds off, only to learn that the hounds belonged to Arawn, ruler of Annwn. To pay for the misdeed, Arawn asks Pwyll to trade places with him for a year and a day and defeat Hafgan, Arawn’s rival, at the end of this time, something Arawn has attempted but has been unable to do. Arawn, meanwhile, takes Pwyll’s place as lord of Dyfed. Arawn and Pwyll become good friends because when Pwyll wore Arawn’s shape, he slept chastely with Arawn’s wife.

In Welsh folklore, the Cŵn Annwn or “Hounds of Annwn” ride through the skies in autumn, winter, and early spring. The baying of the hounds was identified with the crying of wild geese as they migrate and the quarry of the hounds as wandering spirits, being chased to Annwn. However, Arawn himself is not referred to in these traditions. Later the myth was Christianised to describe the “capturing of human souls and the chasing of damned souls to Annwn”, and Annwn was equated with the “Hell” of Christian tradition.

Some writers have written of an incident in which Amaethon steals a dog, lapwing and a white roebuck from Arawn, leading to the Cad Goddeu (Battle of the Trees), which Arawn lost to Amaethon and his brother, Gwydion. The standard text of ‘Cad Goddeu’ in the Book of Taliesin makes no mention of this, but the Welsh Triads records the Battle of Goddeu as one of the “Three Futile Battles of the Island of Britain…it was brought about by the cause of the bitch, together with the roebuck and the plover“, while Lady Charlotte Guest notes in her Mabinogion an account in the Myvyrian Archaeology that the battle “was on account of a white roebuck and a whelp; and they came from Hell, and Amathaon ab Don brought them. And therefore Amathaon ab Don, and Arawn, King of Annwn (Hell), fought. And there was a man in that battle, unless his name were known he could not be overcome; and there was on the other side a woman called Achren, and unless her name were known her party could not be overcome. And Gwydion ab Don guessed the name of the man”.

Why He Matters: Okay, we have a lot to go through here, and its complicated and contradictory, BUT I DON’T CARE BECAUSE I’M SO EXCITED! This guy was just given a name last month, and that is a big deal in the minor planet astrology world. I already feel strongly engaged with him, just like I did with Orius. Now, as a Plutino he is an underworld figure, but it is clear that he is very intimately connected to the big guy, due to his proximity and mimicry of Pluto’s orbit. In fact, astronomers originally postulated that Arawn was a quasi-satellite of Pluto, but that was debunked by New Horizons (god I love that little guy).

So, what does he mean for us? Well, early guesses are to equate him to the sublime ecstasy of death, aka heaven. He is not quite an underworld god, but more of an “Otherworld” feel, meaning an altered state of consciousness. Other astrologers like Zane Stein go so far as to liken him to the “Land of the Lotus-Eaters” from the Odyssey, with that kind of transcendental state. He is not a punisher, rather he rewards us. Honor is a big thing for him, but not in the severe and ruthless way it is for Orcus– he seems to be more like a masculine version of Vesta. He knows the way things are meant to be done; He follows the rules, and enforces them so that everyone else will too. He is also a master of magic and trickery, and keeps many secrets, specifically the arcane secret that knowing one’s true name gives power over them. Negatively he could be indicative of escapist and addictive behavior patterns, avoidance of reality and the truth, liars, tricksters and con men. Positively, he could relate to those who ease our suffering in this life, a call to aid the less fortunate; Doctors Without Borders, charity workers- any kind of humanitarian goal falls under his umbrella.

To find out where he shows up in your chart, go to astro.com, put in your birth details and in the extended options, all the way at the bottom of the next page, there will be a menu of additional objects. Under that is a blank space where you can enter the number 15810, for Arawn. Once you have it entered, generate the chart! Where does Arawn affect your life? Let us know in the comments below!

TNO Watch: Arawn was originally published on Heretical Oracles

[ispani-world]

“Unprecedented”                  “UNPRECEDENTED” (He does not die at the gate, he recovers and go’s to a country that will protect him from extradition. He will then grow his cult and strive to overthrow the USA. He will declare himself the leader of the country in exile.   FADE IN: EXT. ATHENS GREECE - SEPTEMBER TWENTY FIFTH 2016 -  THE FESTIVAL OF CRONIA.OVER FESTIVAL SCENES: The festival Cronia honors the Greek God Cronus, the ruling Titan who came to power by castrating his father Uranus. To ensure his safety, Cronus ate each of the children as they were born. This worked until his wife Rhea, unhappy at the loss of her children, tricked Cronus into swallowing a rock, instead of Zeus. When he grew up, Zeus revolted against Cronus and the other Titans, defeating them, and banishing them to Tartarus in the underworld of CroniaGreeks in various ancient garb, parade a statue of the Greek God Cronus through the streets. The worshipers arrive at the temple of Cronus, and enter. The statue is placed on a high pedestal. Worshipers kneel and then place their foreheads to the floor. The indistinct sounds of people praying. CAMERA PANS AND STOPS ON AN INDIVIDUAL MAN DRESSED THE SAME AS THE OTHERS. INDIVIDUAL MAN Almighty Cronus, in the name of my father, Dionysius, who you loved and protected, destroy my enemies and grant me the power to rule in your name. EXT. TEMPLE OF CRONUS The Individual Man exits the temple and is met by VADIM and VIKTOR. Vadim is the new head of the KGB, Viktor is his young assistant. The men walk away.EXT. SPACE A spacecraft orbits the earth. SUPER TITLE - 3a.m. EST November 4 2016 INT. SPACECRAFT A three person crew performs tasks. Dialog in Russian with English subtitles. CREW 1 Well where are we now with the program? Crew 2 Almost. Crew 3 I have them and they are waiting. EXT. SPACE The spacecraft passes over Greenland. CREW 2 (V.O.) It’s ready. CREW 3 (V.O.) Victory, victory. On my count. 9, 8, 7, 6, ... EXT. SPACE Camera POV above the satellite as it flies over the eastern seaboard and heads west across the middle of the United States. As the satellite moves east to west across America, small green laser lights beam down to the middle of each state. They flash four times and then stop. FADE OUT. INT. TELEVISION STUDIO - NEWSMAN NEWSMAN Candidate Mark Davilla has conceded. Dionysius (Dion) Dodge will be the next president of the United States. INT. OFFICE OF SENATOR MARSHAL JEFFERSON Senator Marshal JEFFERSON sits at his desk. His aide AARON Clements stands in front of the desk. AARON I think the other side of the aisle will secretly cheer his win. JEFFERSON Of course, he will destroy our party. AARON Then why did you vote for him? JEFFERSON I didn’t, and you never heard that. AARON You didn’t vote for the party candidate, I can’t believe that... yes I can. JEFFERSON You too? AARON Yes, and because I’m loyal to the party. But this man... there is something wrong in his world. Do you know he prays to an ancient Greek god. What will we do, what can we do? JEFFERSON But he’s a Christian, he say’s he is. You’re right, his world... Jefferson shakes his head, stands and walks to his window and peers out. EXT. CAPITOL BUILDING A large group of people of all ages and colors are demonstrating carrying assorted placards that read: We refuse to accept a fascist America - Cult Leader of hate - The Dion, White Supremacist. Some show The Dion as Hitler, Mussolini, a raging insane face. INT. OFFICE OF PRESIDENT ELECT DIONYSIUS (The Dion) DODGE - NIGHT   (It is now revealed that the Individual Man from the temple of Cronus is, The Dion.) THE DION enters his office. He is mid-sixties, overweight and wears an outlandish toupee. Waiting are his two closest advisors, Les BENSON and SANDY Sully. Dion walks to his elaborate desk and sits on one corner facing the advisors sitting together on a couch. THE DION What happened today that I won’t like? BENSON An angry demonstration at the Capitol. THE DION How many? SANDY Not large, a couple of hundred... THE DION Couple of hundred, good. Soon they will love me so much, they'll invest in my new Vodka products. BENSON Vodka product? THE DION I bought out a vodka distillery in Saint Petersburg. SANDY They make vodka in Florida? THE DION Russia. And when I import it here, it will become the biggest selling vodka in America. SANDY You can’t do that. THE DION Why. SANDY You will be the president of the United States in two months. THE DION Please! I can do whatever I want, who’s going to stop me. Beside my people support me in whatever I do. So just go out there and look pretty and say what your told to say. SANDY I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to question you... Benson stands, moves away from the couch. BENSON Ah, you have a meeting with General Lindsey in one hour. THE DION Call him and tell him I want to meet at Brussels for dinner, I forgot I have a date with Annie. SANDY Your girlfriend is going to sit in on a meeting with the general. THE DION I’ll be marrying Annie after I’m in the White House. Need a First Lady and Annie is smart and loyal. Plus a royal wedding will be good press. BENSON And the most beautiful woman in Washington. THE DION Thank you. (Turns to Sandy) Don’t you agree? SANDY In the world! Sandy quickly turns and as she walks away, she removes her cell phone. THE DION I might even invite the Taco wagon loser. Close-up Sandy talking. She has a couple of tears forming. INT. SPACE COMMAND CENTER - KOSMICHESKIE VOYSKA ROSSII People sitting at various computer monitoring screens. Two men stand and talk, VIKTOR Guskov and VADIM Trukhin VIKTOR Success is a wonderful feeling. VADIM Agreed. Two more phases and the assassination will be done. A WOMAN at one of the monitors turns in her chair to face the two men and waves them over to her monitor. WOMAN Excuse me, we have an anomaly. They walk over and stare at her screen. VADIM What does it mean? WOMAN All information may revert back to the original. VIKTOR It makes no difference, it’s over. VADIM Maybe, but if there is a paper trail recount... INT. HOTEL ROOM Two men are in the room, retired army Lieutenant General John MITCHAM and retired Admiral LINDSEY McMillan.   LINDSEY John, I understand you have four Majors and one Colonel on board. Their all retired, right? MITCHAM Correct. LINDSEY We need more active duty guys onboard... MITCHAM I’m talking to a Lieutenant Colonel now, and he say’s he has a couple of Captains with Iraq experience with him.   LINDSEY Good, we will need some down-line officers when it happens. Let’s break this up for now, I have a meeting with our boy. Lindsey’s cell phone rings, he listens. LINDSEY OK... With his girlfriend? He snaps the phone shut. LINDSEY Loose canon is a polite term. EXT. SMITHSTONIAN MUSEUM   The two men exit and begin a slow walk down Constitution Avenue. They are KILLJOY and BO NELSON KILLJOY The assassination will happen. BO NELSON When? KILLJOY Not sure, but I’m thinking soon after the inauguration. We have till then to get our plans in working order, and then call a meeting of our people to give them their final orders. BO NELSON So we're looking at early March for our final briefing.   KILLJOY Yes, we have men loyal to the cause in law enforcement all over the country. We will identify every possible location that may have a significant demonstration. There should be a minium of three of our people in these locations. BO NELSON Amazing that so many are ready to do this. KILLJOY They must follow orders to the letter to guarantee the results of the demonstrations go according to our design. BO NELSON Are we getting everything we asked for? KILLJOY As soon as he is installed in the White House, every National Guard division will be ordered to supply the weaponry. BO NELSON Some governors will resist. LEWIS We have more governors then they do, the states that won’t cooperate will be covered by our states. The two men continue down Constitution Avenue, then turn right on ninth street toward the mall EXT. THE MALL WASHINGTON DC Drone shot of Killjoy and Bo Nelson walking toward the Washington Monument. BO NELSON (V.O.) I wonder what George would think about a new founder of the country? KILLJOY(V.O.) Interesting thought because in the beginning, as commander in chief, many considered Washington as a king. BO  NELSON (V.O.) But Washington resigned as commander-in-chief, rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. KILLJOY (V.O.) A true patriot, wonder how he would feel in today’s world. They stop at the foot of the monument, and both look up to the top at the same time. Camera pushes to the top of the monument. EXT. MILITIA CAMP FLORIDA EVERGLADES Small house on poles with steps down to the ground. A group of men in Camo clothing sit and talk. All have assault type weapons. The leader of the group is Bert ULSTERMAN. ULSTERMAN The day we have all dreamed of is coming. We’ll be shipping boatloads of them back to where they came from. The white race will rule again. He lifts his fist and screams white power. All the others do the same. ULSTERMAN OK, OK, now we get to work building bombs, lots of bombs. INT. HALLS OF CONGRESS Jefferson walks down the hall reading some papers. Aaron from behind jogs up and grabs Jefferson arm. Jefferson turns while pulling his arm fee. JEFFERSON What the hell is this... AARON I’m sorry sir... Metcalfe is pushing for a re-count. JEFFERSON That’s not going to happen. My office, twenty minutes, better bring that computer GEEK we just hired. Jefferson hurry’s through the hall. INT. OFFICE OF SENATOR MARSHAL JEFFERSON Jefferson is standing at his desk with his lap top open. His Secretary enters. JEFFERSON Make a reservation for three at the Grill, tonight, eight... SECRETARY Yes sir, you know that’s about an hour away in Strasburg. JEFFERSON Make the reservation. She leaves. Jefferson takes out his cell phone and punches in a number. JEFFERSON CARL, this is urgent, meet me at the Grill restaurant in Strasburg, eight tonight. He listens. JEFFERSON Cancel it, this is more important than you can imagine. Yes, I know about Metcalf asking for recount. Jefferson snaps the phone closed. He walks to his window and stares out. Anti-The Dion protestors march. Aaron enters with the GEEK Jefferson turns from the window. JEFFERSON (To Geek) How does an electronic re-count work? GEEK A couple of ways, they can prompt the machines to re-calculate the digital vote, or just do a paper trail where they have them. My guess they will first re-Calculate, it’s quicker. JEFFERSON How can the electronic vote be altered? GEEK Basically it can’t, the equipment has built-in safeguards. I have no knowledge of any program that can over-ride that. JEFFERSON So it’s impossible! GEEK I didn’t say that... JEFFERSON Then say what the hell you mean. Is it possible? GEEK Yes... but not probable. JEFFERSON Damn. Aaron and the Geek exchange glances. JEFFERSON OK, that’s all. He waves them out. They exit. INT. BRUSSELS RESTAURANT - NIGHT Lindsey is being escorted to The Dion’s table. Brussels is a very elegant European style restaurant. They reach The Dion’s table. Seated with The Dion is ANNIE Weston, a super model look with long strawberry blonde hair, and when she stands she is nearly six feet tall. THE DION General Lindsey. ANNIE Good evening General. Nice of you to join us. Waiter approaches. Lindsey Bombay Sapphire, extra dry, straight up. Waiter looks to The Dion. ANNIE We’re fine. The waiter leaves the table. THE DION I assume you have everything in order. LINDSEY Going well except we are going to have problems with some of the governors. THE DION Buy them! LINDSEY We’ll try. THE DION Everyone can be bought. LINDSEY You heard, Metcalf is demanding a re-count. THE DION Believe me, that won’t happen. LINDSEY I don’t know, he has a lot of friends in congress. ANNIE Wasn’t he recently divorced? LINDSEY Something about an affair with his assistant. The Dion looks at Annie with a big grin on his face. The waiter arrives with Lindsey’s drink. THE DION Go ahead and order, we have. Lindsey picks up the menu. THE DION Tell me about your meeting in Beaufort. Lindsey looks at Annie. THE DION Your meeting in Beaufort. EXT. National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Washington DC Two men stand and talk next to lion statue. They are FBI agents Jake FELDMAN, mid-thirties and Tony RUSSO, mid to late twenties. Both are from Jewish families. Feldman’s great grandmother, a survivor of the Holocaust, And Russo’s great grandfather, an immigrant from the Jewish ghetto of Rome Italy. FELDMAN Anyone else know about this? RUSSO No, I stumbled across it when I was checking out a closed file on Martin Luther King. FELDMAN Closed file on an assassination plot, how old is the report? RUSSO That’s what caught my attention, last month. FELDMAN Who would close a file in one month? RUSSO The DEPUTY DIRECTOR. FELDMAN Oh, oh... RUSSO Covering somebody’s ass... FELDMAN Why cover-up an assassination conspiracy? RUSSO Pretty sketchy, huh? FELDMAN What do you want to do? RUSSO I don’t know, talk to Daniels, maybe nothing. Let’s go get some coffee. They walk down the path away from the lion statue. INT. GRILL RESTAURANT - NIGHT Jefferson, Aaron and Carl sit at a table. CARL (A little loud) Come-on Marshal, an assassination? That’s a daily rumor. JEFFERSON Lower your voice. (He whispers)I don’t know who, but someone is going to kill Dion. I have my computer guy trying to trace the E-mail. When we pinpoint the time, we’ll see if any cameras at the library can spot who sent it. AARON This is serious, an assassination of a president elect. CARL (Smiles) and we want to stop  it... JEFFERSON Not funny Carl, I hate the son-of-bitch too, but... CARL Is this why we are having dinner way out here? AARON There are thousands of ears everywhere in D.C. We must find out who and stop it. CARL Did it say the word assassination? JEFFERSON Clearly mentioned assassination, but no name. CARL Then how do you know it’s Dion? JEFFERSON I don’t know for sure, but who else could it be? AARON In the subject box it said ancient Greek despot. That’s Dion Dodge, who else do you know that fits that character? You’re an expert on Greek history... CARL Ah yes, Dionysius. The Dion’s given name. Dionysius’s, the very worst of a despot-leader. JEFFERSON And? CARL After Syracuse fell he was made supreme leader. He was given six hundred personal mercenaries, to guard him. After faking an attack on his own life, he was able to increase his guard to one thousand. He consolidated his power and established himself as a tyrant. JEFFERSON Could that be what he’s planning? CARL Get real Marshal, that’s La-La Land stuff. But, I can believe, someone really wants to take him out. He’s made a lot of enemies.   AARON Then back to the original thought, do we warn him? JEFFERSON Not just yet, let’s make sure it’s not one of our friends. AARON And if he’s killed in the meantime... JEFFERSON We have enough time to find out. We handle this ourselves, and keep it top secret quite. CARL OK, but I still think it’s LA LA land stuff, Seven Days In May. AARON Seven Days In May??? CARL A movie, rent it... The waiter arrives with their food. INT. HOME OF THE RUSSO FAMILY - PHILADELPHIA - NIGHT Russo sits at the family table with his father MICHAEL and younger sister LELA as his mother, SARAH fills their plates with pasta. She sets the bowl down and takes a seat at the table. Michael twirls his pasta on a fork, stops and looks around the table. MICHAEL I thought you were making garlic bread... SARAH It’s in the oven, I’ll get it. She stands and heads to the kitchen. MICHAEL I hope it not burned. SARAH I turned the oven off, maybe it’s OK. LELA Catch any bad guys lately? RUSSO Nope. MICHAEL Why not, the country is full of them. Thank god we have a new president. RUSSO You voted for him? MICHAEL Of course, you think I would vote for that crook Templeton? Didn’t you vote for him? LELA I didn’t! He’s a racist, misogynist, self serving hypocrite. And he hates Jews. MICHAEL You have to quit hanging out with all those libtard friends of yours. Sarah returns with the garlic bread. SARAH Who you talking about, the Dion? RUSSO I didn’t vote for him either. He is all the things Lela said, but I believe he’ll plunge our country into isolationism and start wars with every country that disagrees with him. Sara places the garlic bread on the table and sits. SARAH I think that’s a little harsh. We must give him a chance. LELA Mother, I can’t believe you voted for him. SARAH I talked it over with your father, and... LELA We’re Jews, he hates... MICHAEL Many of our friends are not aware we are Jews, they see our Italian last name... SARAH Italian Jews, it is a bit strange to them. MICHAEL They never heard of the Ghetto in Rome! RUSSO Let’s change the subject. How do you think the Jets will do this year? They start eating. MICHAEL They have a good team, some really good rookies. Should kick the butts off of the Giants. Lela stands. LELA Thanks mom for another great meal. SARAH You’ve haven’t eaten... LELA Enough, I’m still on that diet. So a little pasta goes a long way. SARAH Eat a little more... LELA I have to go, my roommate and I are looking for a new stereo system and Macy’s is having a sale on them. She leaves. MICHAEL Her roommate. How come we never meet her roommate? Russo and his mother exchange glances. Russo stands. RUSSO I need to get back to DC tonight. Thanks mom. Love you guys. Russo exits. MICHAEL Is her roommate a man or a woman? SARAH I don’t know, she never mentions. MICHAEL God I hope it’s not a woman. SARAH Why? Michael slowly moves his head side to side and hold his hands up in prayer. Sarah shrugs, stands and removes plates from the table. EXT. FAIRFAX VIRGINIA - SHOPPING MALL - NIGHT Feldman and his wife, NIKKI stroll through the mall. NIKKI Let’s go to Tiffany’s. FELDMAN And do what? NIKKI Oh, just look around, we‘re killing time until the movie starts, right. FELDMAN We could look around just as well at Penny’s. NIKKI Not is much fun... Anything interesting you can talk about? FELDMAN Not really, Russo and I are working on that serial killer case in Georgia. NIKKI Never mind, I don’t want to hear about that. Look. Nikki walks over to a Bed, Bath and Beyond window. EXT. SEA GULF PIER ON CHESAPEAKE BAY Russo, Feldman and a third man, JONATHAN KAUFMANN. Kaufmann is a fraternity brother of Feldman. They walk along the pier carrying fishing poles and tackle boxes. They stop at a spot far away from the few other fishermen out on a cold and cloudy day. Each man begins to prepare the poles for a day of fishing. RUSSO It must be fifty below zero today. FELDMAN Forty five, above, and that’s too cold for me. RUSSO Then why are we here... FELDMAN Ask my brother. RUSSO Right you guy’s were fraternity brothers at Duke. Heard you belonged to some secret Society, which one. KAUFFMAN You know, if we told you we would... RUSSO Have to kill me, really which one? FELDMAN No Jonathan, I like him, I want to keep him around. KAUFFMAN OK. So who’s going to win the Superbowl? Russo’s face shows a big surprised look. RUSSO Ah, um, Jets, no doubt about it. FELDMAN Redskins, whoops, I mean Washington. KAUFFMAN Both wrong, Seattle. What can I do to help... FELDMAN We can’t go poking around, the Deputy Director will get wind of it and... RUSSO We think it’s for real, and if he’s covering it up, it has to be orders from the director. FELDMAN It sounds nuts, but I’m scared and I don’t scare easy. RUSSO You’ve been working deep for years, and you only report to the director. Nobody is going to question your interest in the matter. FELDMAN Maybe the Deputy Director, but who is going to go to him about your activities. Hell they're not even supposed to know you exists. KAUFFMAN Do I have everything you know? FELDMAN Yes. Kaufmann casts a line out into the bay. EXT. BEAUFORT COUNTY AIRPORT SC A Beach King Air outside a hanger as two men walk around the aircraft. They are Killjoy and THOMPSON. Killjoy is doing a pilots pre-flight inspection. KILLJOY You have to be kidding, Bo Nelson, a plant? THOMPSON My men were undercover attending an anti-Dion meeting. They were instructed to photograph some of the leaders. When we reviewed the photos, we noticed a face in the background of one of the photos that looked familiar. We enhanced, and it turned out to be BO Nelson. Have you confronted him? THOMPSON No, we wanted to get your advice... KILLJOY Hold off, he may have also been undercover. I’ll talk to him and see if I can bring up some of his investigations. Maybe he’ll mention that meeting. THOMPSON If he’s a bad guy, he knows too much to stay alive. KILLJOY I know. Want to go for a ride? THOMPSON I think I'll pass, I’m running late for another appointment. They shake hands. KILLJOY We need to know about Bo Nelson. INT. A GULFSTREAM G650 - MAIN CABIN Bo Nelson is sitting in the main cabin alone. He turns to stare out the window. Sandy enter hands a beer to him. He takes the beer and starts to drink out of the bottle. SANDY Would you like a glass? BO NELSON Nah, where’s The Dion? SANDY Up front talking to the captain. And you should call him mister Dodge, or mister president. Bo returns to the window and then turns back to Sandy. BO NELSON I bet he likes that. It’s really big. SANDY What is? BO NELSON Lake Michigan, were flying over it. SANDY Oh. I’ll be right back. She leaves the main cabin. Bo turns back to the window. INT. A GULFSTREAM G650 - COCKPIT AREA Sandy approaches The Dion, who is leaning in talking to the pilots. SANDY Excuse me. The Dion turns. THE DION I’ll be right there, keep him entertained for a couple more minutes. INT. A GULFSTREAM G650 - MAIN CABIN Bo is standing as Sandy enters. SANDY Need a refill? Bo holds up the bottle. BO NELSON Not yet. Sandy moves to a window. SANDY Where are we now? BO NELSON Just crossed over Chicago, saw the Sears Tower. The Dion enters. THE DION Sheriff Nelson. They shake hands. They sit. THE DION Exterminate any criminals lately? The Dion laughs. Bo Nelson’s face say’s... what? THE DION A joke Bo, you were in the exterminating business before you ran for sheriff, right. BO NELSON Oh yea, right. Only for a couple of years. THE DION What did you do before that? BO NELSON In the Army, an MP. THE DION So you do have police experience? BO NELSON Yes. THE DION Sandy, a drink, Bo, another beer. Bo now holds up his empty bottle. Sandy exits. The Dion leans toward Bo’s ear and whispers... EXT. FLATHEAD LAKE- NEAR THE BORDER OF MONTANA AND IDAHO Two men fishing. They are Montana Senator, Dusty BINGHAM and Idaho Senator Norbert QUILL. Both are retired Army generals. Several yards behind them are four men, body guards of the Senator’s. Quill’s rod bends. QUILL I got one. Feels like a monster. Quill battles with the fish on his line. Bingham moves over to their fishing gear and grabs a net. As Quill is reeling the fish in, he steps into the water, slips and fall into the two feet of water. Bingham rushes over and helps him up. Quills continues to reel the fish in as he steps out of the water. The body guards have rushed over to assist. Quill lands a big lake trout. Bingham scoops it up in the net. Quill holds his arms up in triumph. His bodyguard steps forward and Quill hands him the rod and reel. Bingham holds out the fish to Quill. They stand together as Quill holds up the fish. Another bodyguard snaps a photo with his iPhone. The group moves toward two SUV’s parked a short distance away. INT. RESTAURANT OVERLOOKING THE LAKE Quill and Bingham enter followed by the bodyguards. Quill heads toward the reastroom sign and disappears around a corner. Bingham heads to a table and sits. The bodyguards take a nearby table. A waitress approaches Bingham’s table with menus and a pitcher of water. She places the menu's on the table and pours water into two glasses. The waitress walks back to a counter for more menu's and a pitcher of water that she delivers to the bodyguards table. Quill approaches the table with Bingham, drying the top of his head with a paper towel. The waitress approaches with a regular towel and hands it to Quill. He sits and continues to dry his head. Bingham picks up a menu and studies it. Quill finishes drying his hair and hands it to the waitress who just walked to the table. Quill picks up his menu. QUILL That was some fish. BINGHAM Compared to the one I caught, your’s looked like Moby Dick. QUILL I love fishing. BINGHAM Yep, and we are very lucky to live in two states with some of the best fishing in the country. What are you having? QUILL The Ruben, it’s the best thing on the menu. The waitress returns. BINGHAM Two Ruben’s and two bottles of Coors. It looks like Metcalf is going to get his re-count. QUILL Don’t think so. BINGHAM Why’s that? QUILL He’s broke, his ex-wife walked with most of the money. BINGHAM So... QUILL As The Dion say’s... Waitress arrives with the beers. EXT. OPEN SEA - NIGHT A GULFSTREAM G650 cruises over a calm sea. INT. A GULFSTREAM G650 The Dion, Sandy, Benson and Lindsey. Sandy is serving drinks. As she walks back to the bar, Lindsey checks out her body. He gives The Dion a little wink and smiles. The Dion smiles back. Benson eyes are glued to his laptop. BENSON Victor Guskov and Vadim Trukin will be there. I couldn't find out who else might be there. LINDSEY Vadim is the new KGB boss. BENSON Took over after Akim Koslav disappeared. Premier Konstantinov, say one thing against him... THE DION People should learn not to insult their leader. SANDY I heard he only disagreed on a new government project. THE DION A good way to disappear. Annie enters the cabin and sits next to The Dion. THE DION I’ve arranged for you to see your mother Annie smiles. A FLIGHT ATTENDANT approaches from the cockpit area.. FLIGHT ATTENDANT Half hour mister president. Flight Attendant leaves. THE DION I like that more than I thought I would. SANDY What? THE DION Mister President. I’m a president now of a world wide corporation, but soon... BENSON Of the United States. THE DION And Dion Industries, I’m not giving that up. SANDY We may have a fight on our hands if... I’m sorry, I’m not disagreeing with you. Um, I, I... THE DION Go fix me another drink, and one for yourself. Calm down, it’s OK, I still love you. INT. RESTAURANT HAVANA CUBA Vadim and Viktor sit at a table. VIKTOR You do know he’s insane! VADIM That is why we can not trust him, completely. Konstantinov indicated he will do as told or... VIKTOR If they succeed in forcing the re-count, who would replace him... Vadim points with his chin. The Dion, Benson and Sandy enter and walk to their table. Two of The Dion’s bodyguards follow and place themselves on either side of the doorway. Benson and Sandy are carrying briefcases. Sandy pulls a chair out for The Dion, and he sits. Benson and Sandy sit. VIKTOR Annie, where is she, I’m anxious to meet the next first Lady THE DION She’s having dinner with her mother and other members of the family. VADIM Very nice gesture, no wonder everyone loves you in America. BENSON I didn’t know Annie was Cuban, she looks European. THE DION A Russian family that settled in Cuba after Castro took over. BENSON Oh. Benson opens his briefcase and passes two large envelops to Viktor and Vadium. BENSON Lists of office holders that are not with us. Senators, Congressmen, Governor’s, mayors etcetera. THE DION Find ways to marginalize them. Some information to have them removed from office. BENSON Arrested... VIKTOR Arrested? THE DION Bribery, racketeering, embezzlement, hell think of something... pornography, child pornography, just do it. We need to be prepared if the re-count happens. VIKTOR Can’t you make it happen again. BENSON The recount doesn’t work that way, the system only affects electronic votes. The paper trails are the problem. SANDY That’s enough states to change an election... THE DION I’ll make sure that never happens. The Dion stands. Benton and Sandy stand. VADIM You’re not joining us for supper? The waiter arrives. THE DION We’re meeting Annie and her family. The Dion turns to the waiter. THE DION I love the Cuban people. No one loves the Cuban people more than me. Believe it. They leave the restaurant. Vadim and Viktor watch them exit, both shaking their heads. INT. HAVANA RESTAURANT At a large table, eight people are having dinner. A band is playing a mambo. Annie is dancing with a young Cuban man. The Dion enters with his body guards. He surveys the room first POV is of the large table. An elderly woman waves to him, its Annie’s mother ESMERALDA. He approaches the table and gives Esmeralda a kiss on the cheek and looks around the table. THE DION Where’s Annie. The music is very loud. ESMERALDA What? The Dion looks toward the dance floor and sees Annie with a young man her age. THE DION What the hell is she doing... ESMERALDA Oh, relax, its her cousin ARTURO. The Dion walks out onto the dance floor. Annie sees him and breaks away from Arturo and grabs The Dion and starts dancing. The Dion is not a very good mambo dancer. THE DION Your cousin. ANNIE Yes, Arturo and I grew up together. They continue to dance. INT. HAVANA HOTEL BAR Benson and Sandy sit at a table. The Dion enters with his bodyguards and approaches their table. THE DION Better get some sleep, we’re leaving at five in the morning. SANDY Where's Annie? THE DION Staying at her mothers tonight, we’ll pick her up on the way to the airport. Sandy and Benson stand and leave with The Dion. Body guards in front and back. INT. THE DION’S HOTEL ROOM - LATER The Dion is on his laptop. He hears a knock at his door. He walks to the door and peers through the peephole. POV, Sandy’s face. He opens the door and she steps in closing the door behind her. She puts her arms around his neck and kisses him. SANDY Miss me, or is Annie all you can handle? Moon over Havana. INT. THE DION’S HOTEL BEDROOM He and Sandy have wild sex. Moon over Havana INT. BEDROOM DOORS TO A BALCONY A breeze is stirring the curtains to reveal the moon over Havana. ANNIE (O.C.) Si primo, mi primo favorito. Subtitle reads, Yes my cousin, my most favorite cousin. Annie and Arturo in bed. Arturo rolls over and begins licking Annie’s body. He starts at her breast and then down past her bellybutton. Close-up on Annie’s face as she moans. ANNIE Mi primo favorito. INT. INT. OFFICE OF SENATOR MARSHAL JEFFERSON - MORNING Jefferson is on the phone when Aaron enters. JEFFERSON I need to go, yes tonight. And next time call on my secure line. Jefferson snaps the phone shut. JEFFERSON What do we have from the GEEK? AARON Not much, even tho the computer stations are covered by security cameras, there are times that people block a view to different computers. JEFFERSON Any other way we can trace that e-mail? AARON We’re running the video footage through a face recognizing program to see if it brings up anyone we know. JEFFERSON Check out the outside cameras too. AARON Right, didn’t think of that. JEFFERSON Anything from the other side on this? AARON No, nothing and I find that strange. JEFFERSON Why’s that? AARON If the they don’t know by now, or if they are ignoring it, they're behind it. Maybe we need to confront Langford... INT. OFFICE OF PRESIDENT ELECT DIONYSIUS DODGE The Dion is at his desk typing into his laptop. The clock on his desk shows four AM Thompson enters. THE DION Ah, Rocky, just a minute, I’m on Twitter. Have a seat. Rocky Thompson sits and stares at the walls covered with memorabilia. Camera pans the walls: On one wall there is a giant painting of The Dion. Surrounding the painting are photos of The Dion and world famous people. With Ronald Reagan, both of the Bush presidents, the Beatles, Hilary and Bill Clinton, Pope John, Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin. Another wall filled with The Dion posing in front of his many business enterprises. Hotels, Country Clubs, Casinos, wine racks. The third wall, The Dion with many different beautiful women. The fourth wall, behind his desk is all glass, with a view to a grand garden. Much like a palace would have. The Dion closes his laptop. THE DION Sorry to get you here so early, but I do my best work at this time. THOMPSON No problem, I’m up every day at five, workout for an hour, then go have coffee with the locals from my town. THE DION They love you? My people love me more than anything, you can take that to the bank. THOMPSON I’m pretty well liked, in fact... The Dion cuts him off. THE DION Bo nelson, what’s the problem. I like Bo. THOMPSON He was seen at an anti... you, meeting. THE DION I was told about that and I talked to Bo, he assured me he was their doing surveillance on who attended. That’s good work for me. So you can just forget the idea that Bo is a threat to us. Believe me. THOMPSON OK, I trust your judgement, that’s why I voted for you. THE DION Thank you. About the election, you know, Metcalf is demanding a paper trail recount. THOMPSON I know. THE DION We don’t want that. THOMPSON Will it produce a problem... THE DION Oh no, I won by a landslide, but we can’t take any chances with my enemies. THOMPSON They need to be rounded up and sent back to where they came from. THE DION I understand your thought, but many of them were born here. THOMPSON So put them somewhere that keeps them quite. The Dion stands and walks toward the door between two of the walls. THE DION Come with me. He opens the door and waves Thompson inside. Thompson enters the darkened room. INT. OUTER OFFICE OF PRESIDENT ELECT DIONYSIUS DODGE Sandy is sitting at her desk as Benson enters and heads toward The Dion office door. BENSON I need to talk to him. SANDY Not now, he’s in the secure room with Rocky Thompson. BENSON What’s going on? SANDY Who knows. INT. OFFICE OF SENATOR JUSTIN LANGFORD - DAY Close-up on television screen, BREAKING NEWS - BREAKING NEWS. Face of NEWS ANNOUNCER with video of woods in the background. NEWS ANNOUNCER This just in. The body of Senator Conrad Metcalf found early this morning. Langford sits at his desk facing the television. His jaw drops and an anger covers his face. LANGFORD Them sons of bitches. Langford’s assistant, OWEN Andrews, burst through the door. OWEN Did you hear? LANGFORD I’m watching it now. Close-up television screen. NEWS ANNOUNCER Metcalf, recently divorced father of three, apparently killed himself with a pistol found at his feet. LANGFORD Never, he would have never killed himself. I know the man... he was a fighter. He was murdered because of the re-count demand. INT. FBI OFFICES WASHINGTON DC - ASSOCIATE DEPUTY DIRECTOR DANIELS       Associate Deputy Director DANIELS looks up from his desk as Russo and Feldman enter. DANIELS Good morning, have seat. They sit. Daniels opens his desk drawer and removes an envelope and places on the desk. DANIELS You’re being taken off of the serial killer case. I’m assigning you full time to the Metcalf’s death. FELDMAN The bureau thinks there is something there? DANIELS Let’s just say, I would like you to look into to it. Good. Daniels pushes the envelope toward the men. Feldman picks it up. RUSSO Good. The men exit the office. INT. FBI OFFICES Feldman and Russo walk and talk. RUSSO You think he’s doing this on his own. FELDMAN Not sure. Doesn’t make a difference, he’s our boss. RUSSO Just following orders, right. Montage: Feldman and Russo searching the area around Metcalf’s death site. Searching his office. Removing his computer. Questions his staff. INT. HOME OF METCALF’S EX-WIFE - KITCHEN Metcalf’s ex-wife MRS. METCALF is serving coffee to Feldman and Russo. MRS. METCALF Connie and I divorced after a year long separation. We reconciled a couple of times, but then realized it was better to divorce. Our children are adults, and we have been basically leading separate lives. Politics was Connie’s love. RUSSO They claim he took is own life... MRS. METCALF I don’t believe that, it was not in his nature to give up. The two men stand. FELDMAN Thank you for your time, I know it’s not easy losing a loved one. MRS. METCALF Yes, I never stopped loving Connie, even after... She begins sobbing. INT. FELDMAN VAN Feldman driving, Russo in passenger seat. FELDMAN I think we do a full court press into The Dion. RUSSO We better get Daniels OK on this. INT. OFFICE OF PRESIDENT ELECT DIONYSIUS DODGE - NIGHT The Dion, Sandy, Benson and Annie, watching television. THE DION It will be official today, but I’ve felt like the president for weeks now. Annie reaches out and gently squeezes The Dion’s hand. Close-up on their hands coupled. Close-up on the TV, NEWS ANCHOR reading a sheet of paper. Flashing on the screen, Breaking News, Breaking News. Benson picks up the remote and turns up the volume as the News Anchor begins to speak. NEWS ANCHOR I’ve just received an incredible new update. For the first time in history the Electoral College has rejected the election results and have given the election to Mark Ramon Davilla. Son of Cuban Immigrants. Davilla was born in Miami. At age eighteen, his parents immigrated to Israel  when he was eighteen. Davilla refused to leave with his parents. Close-up on The Dion’s face. THE DION He’s a Jew? NEWS ANCHOR Graduated from Sanford and received his law degree from the University of Chicago... Close-up The Dion THE DION No, no, I’m the president, not this two bit taco pusher. (Screaming) No, they can’t do this, I’ll sue them, I’ll sue all of them. The Dion becomes unhinged, he throws things, upends a table, repeatedly kicks the office couch. Annie rushes to him. ANNIE Please calm down, they can hear you in the outer office. The desk phone on his desk beeps. Benson picks it up, listens and then replaces it. Annie is continuing to calm down The Dion. Several beats later he collapses onto the couch. Benson approaches. BENSON Media people are in the outer office. ANNIE Already? THE DION Of course, I’m The Dion. (To Benson) What do I say. Sandy approaches. SANDY You tell them this is not over, the Congress still must agree, and that won’t happen because the Congress knows you’re the better candidate and you won. THE DION I need to go on the network talk shows. SANDY Alright, I’ll go out there and deliver your comment about its not over yet. THE DION No, let Benson do that. But go with him, and give me some privacy for awhile, I need to pray. Sandy’s facial expression at that comment shows utter bewilderment. She leaves and closes the door behind her. The Dion walks to a wall, drops to his knees and places his face on the floor. THE DION (In prayer.) Almighty Cronus have mercy on your soldier, who was born from the flesh of Dionysius, your faithful and loyal subject. My enemies grow strong, send me the plan to destroy them. INT. OFFICE OF SENATOR JUSTIN LANGFORD His entire staff is in his office milling about. Laughing, shaking hands. Celebrating. OWEN The tweets were insane, and he did them at four am. The staff burst out in another fir of laughter. JUSTIN LANGFORD Doesn’t make up for Metcalf, but it helps. OWEN The Congress will re-install him. JUSTIN LANGFORD I know, but let’s enjoy it for now. OWEN You have a meeting in one hour. INT. OFFICE OF SENATOR MARSHAL JEFFERSON Aaron enters. Jefferson facing the window. AARON You heard... Jefferson does not turn around. AARON People are saying he’s completely unhinged. Ranting Tweets, threatening to sue the entire Electoral College. Jefferson turns around wearing a huge smile on his face. Aaron at first is stunned, then he begins to giggle. Jefferson try’s to hold it in, but then erupts in laughter. Both men laugh hysterically. Slowly their laughter subsides. Jefferson walks to Aaron and puts an arm around his shoulder. JEFFERSON Ah, that felt good. The jackass had it coming. But, it won’t last. AARON Of course, but it was fun. Jefferson walks to the liquor cabinet and pours two glasses of bourbon. He hands one glass to Aaron. JEFFERSON A toast to the Electoral College, true patriots. They raise their glasses. INT. FBI OFFICES WASHINGTON DC - ASSOCIATE DEPUTY DIRECTOR DANIELS OFFICE. Feldman and Russo stand before Daniels desk. FELDMAN Pretty shocking... RUSSO And very courageous... DANIELS Courageous, in what way? RUSSO I mean it’s never been done before... DANIELS You know it won’t stick. But I agree, it was courageous. Feldman and Russo exchange glances. DANIELS I believe we are on the same page, I hope we are, because I’m about to confide in both of you, my fears about a Dodge presidency. FELDMAN We’re on the same page. Sir. DANIELS Have either one of you heard anything about an assassination? FELDMAN Yes sir, we think there is a plot to assassinate The Dion. DANIELS I’ve uncovered some information that its not about assassinating The Dion, a Senator or any one person. It’s about the assassination of America, our democracy. RUSSO I don’t understand... DANIELS My gut feeling is The Dion’s plan is to become president for life, with the help of the Russian government. FELDMAN Whoa, that’s crazy... DANIELS The plans of a Machiavellian mad man. Do we agree that there is something inherently wrong with The Dion? Feldman and Russo exchange glances again. Together they nod their heads in the affirmative. EXT. MONTAGE STREETS IN VARIOUS CITIES - MOBS Armed men and women marching carrying signs declaring support for The Dion. The Dion our hero. The Dion, our savior. The Dion, our Commander and Chief. Rise up, support The Dion. Kill all Electoral College. The Dion will send them back to where they belong. Electoral College members watch your back. INT. OFFICE OF PRESIDENT ELECT DIONYSIUS DODGE The Dion, Annie, Sandy and Benson watch the news. COMMENTATOR Lawmakers are calling on The Dion to calm down his supporters before people are seriously hurt. THE DION Seriously hurt, if the congress doesn’t reverse this, people will be seriously dead. Cronus will act. SANDY What, Cronus? The Dion ignores Sandy’s questions. BENSON Let’s make an attempt to quiet things down. THE DION OK, Sandy, this is what you do best. Go out there and make me look good. I’m doing the Sunday talk show circuit. ANNIE Don’t do that. THE DION Excuse me... INT. TELEVISION STUDIO - SUNDAY TALK SHOW - CHUCK WHITE HOST Chuck White, The Dion, liberal panelist, Fillip ORTEGA, conservative panelist, Eric ROLLINS, and Journalist Penny PATTERSON. HOST Some are saying your reaction to the Electoral College decision was too harsh. THE DION They can’t do that, I’m the president. ROLLINS Yes, The Dion was elected president... ORTEGA You're not the president yet. The Dion lunges for the man. Camera swings away from the scene. INT. TALK SHOW PANEL - LATER Host TODD Smith and four panelist. PANELIST ONE He was right to remark he was not yet sworn in… PANELIST TWO It was not smart to bring up, he knows how The Dion reacts to negative things said about him. PANELIST THREE Wait, are you saying The Dion can't control his temper. PANELIST TWO No, he controls it very well, but now with the Electoral College refuting his win, that's big… PANELIST ONE As president of the United States, he will face much harsher criticism, how will he react then. PANELIST TWO The media, this network, is blowing this out of proportion. Nobody cares, in fact many applaud his actions, Ripely is a very aggressive interviewer, other guest on his show have reacted hostile to him during their interviews. TODD But attack, well we will soon find out how this all will end when Congress votes. PANELIST TWO (Laughing)We know how it will end since our party controls the house. And god is on The Dion’s side. PANELIST THREE Not my god... INT. TELEVISION STUDIO - EMPTY NEWS DESK As crew prepare the set for the show, the newsman Todd and the shows PRODUCER stand to the side of the news desk. PRODUCER You find it very disquieting. TODD I do, look how quite it is in here this morning. PRODUCER I know. Crew member motions to Todd. He steps up to the news desk and sits. Lights. TODD The unprecedented move by the Electoral College has been reversed by the congress. The next president of the United States will be Dionysius Dodge INT. OFFICE OF PRESIDENT ELECT DIONYSIUS DODGE The Dion at his desk shuffling papers. Benson and Sandy shuffle papers. The Dion stands and begins to pace waving his papers. THE DION General Mitcham, Admiral McMillan and General Skip Wilson. That’s my JOINT CHIEF OF STAFF. BENSON You need one more. THE DION He must be of Greek heritage... SANDY Why? THE DION Soon you will know, soon the world... He stops mid-sentence, lowers his head in thought. THE DION General Linus Nikias, get him. INT. OFFICE OF SENATOR MARSHAL JEFFERSON Jefferson and Aaron. JEFFERSON Department of Homeland Security, Bo Nelson... AARON Surprised everyone. JEFFERSON Rothbury Michigan? Sheriff for one year? AARON He does have some police experience from his Army days. The word is that The Dion thinks Nelson is the best man for the job. JEFFERSON Right, no brains, just follows orders. Anything else. AARON Attorney General, Lamar King. JEFFERSON Oh my god, he’s not even a lawyer anymore. He was disbarred for embezzling. AARON But never indicted. JEFFERSON Nothing more, please, I can’t take anymore. The other side must be... AARON They are. Jefferson walks to the window and peers out. EXT. THE CAPITOL BUILDING Camera pushes in to the swearing ceremony of the new president of the United States, Dionysius (The Dion) Dodge. The Dion taking the oath. EXT. PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE Thousands of protesters. Rocky Thompson, out of uniform, stands on a corner, cell phone to his mouth. THOMPSON Where the hell are our people. No, I’m on Pennsylvania and Constitution. All I see are fucking liberals. Get them off the busses and walk the rest of the way. Thompson pushes his way through the crowd of protesters. Thompson crosses the street. At mid-street a young woman carrying The Dion - Fascist Pig signs, hands one to Thompson. Thompson takes the sign and crosses the rest of the way. Thompson standing on the corner holding up the protest sign and talking on his cell phone. THOMPSON Killjoy, can you hear me. I’m on Pennsylvania and Constitution. Crowds of protesters heading toward the Reflection Pool. I’ll wait here. Where are you? EXT. INDEPENDENCE AVENUE Killjoy standing amongst a crowd of people. Protesters shouting anti The Dion messages. KILLJOY I can hardly hear you. OK, but don’t wait there. We’re on Independence, passing the Library of Congress, meet us at the Grant memorial. How many with you. Good, I have thirty five, with your twenty, we will get it done. Yes, we have signs. Killjoy begins walking, a crowd of men walk with him. Thompson and his men reach the Reflection Pool. Thompson holds his sign high, twenty other protest signs go high. The twenty one men with their signs held very high move toward the Grant Memorial. Both groups of men reach the Grant memorial at the same time and begin to circle it. Thompson and Killjoy move off to the side to talk. THOMPSON Who has the smoke bombs? KILLJOY Lewis and Booker. THOMPSON Have them wait for about twenty minutes. My guys will start to rile up the anti-The Dion protestors. On my signal, set off the smoke bombs. Then everyone start yelling like the National Guard is moving in. KILLJOY My guys are waiting to bash some heads of these fucking liberals. THOMPSON Do it in the middle of the smoke. INT. TV STUDIO Close-up on Commentator Todd Smith. TODD Violence erupted today as President Elect, Dionysius (The Dion) Dodge was sworn in. Thousands of protestors disrupted traffic all across the Washington DC area. But things got out of hand at the Reflecting Pool. Montage of Thompson’s men causing violence. INT. TV STUDIO TODD Dozens of protesters were hospitalized. Some with serious injuries. Blake Barnside was at the site. Here is his report. INT. THE WHITE HOUSE - OVAL OFFICE The Dion, Benson and Sandy watch the news report. THE DION That’s just the beginning. Close-up on Sandy’s face shows shock. THE DION There is an event at the Partridge House in my honor. It started an hour ago. Call my driver and notify the agents that I will be leaving in fifteen minutes. INT. TV STUDIO NEWS ANCHOR cups his hand over one ear with an earpiece in it. NEWS ANCHOR This is real breaking news, ah... President Dodge has disappeared following a dinner at the Partridge House. The president dismissed his Secret Service security team saying his private security force would take over for the remainder of the night. Now the president’s whereabouts are unknown. INT. WHITE HOUSE SECRET SERVICE OFFICE Head of the president’s secret service bodyguards, Clint CHRISTOPHER, is speaking to two Secret Service AGENTS. AGENT 1 They boarded a Challenger 650. AGENT 2 Owned by Christian ORLOV, dual citizenship, here and Russia. He owns mining operations in Belarus. AGENT 1 We pressed the fuel tech, he heard Minsk mentioned. CHRISTOPHER Find out who Orlov knows in Minsk. INT. FBI OFFICES - ASSOCIATE DEPUTY DIRECTOR DANIELS OFFICE. Daniels, Feldman, Russo and Kauffman.   Russo shaking Kauffman’s hand. RUSSO Glad to see you back. KAUFFMAN We now have someone on the inside. RUSSO Who? Kauffman glances toward Daniels. DANIELS Very close to  our man, both of you will be told after Feldman gets back from Minsk. FELDMAN I’m going to Minsk, why? DANIELS The Dion is going there, and he is going alone. FELDMAN No Benson... DANIELS Nor Sandy. Kauffman will meet you. Here is the contact information. Daniels hands an envelope to Feldman. RUSSO What about me? DANIELS You will be having a meeting with a favorite of The Dion’s. INT. CAFE TANDOR - MINSK BELARUS RUSSIA Two waiters carry plates into a private dinning room. INT. PRIVATE DINNING ROOM The waiters enter with the food and place it around the table. Sitting at the table are The Dion, Vadim, Viktor and a RUSSIAN ARMY OFFICER. VADIM (To The Dion) You will love the way the mutton is cooked. THE DION I’m not a big fan of mutton. RUSSIAN ARMY OFFICER (Heavy Russian accent) A special Indian way of cooking, very tasty. THE DION (Turns to Vadim) All I heard was, “a special way of cooking. Vadim, I know you and Viktor speak English. VIKTOR The general said it is cooked at an extreme temperature inside a little oven. The Dion takes a bite. THE DION This really good, I think I will like Russian food. RUSSIAN ARMY OFFICER (In Russian) It would be wise if you would learn to love it. Ha, ha. The Dion looks at Vadim. VADIM He said there is much to like in Russia. EXT. CAFE TANDOR PARKING AREA The area is filled with vehicles. A small van pulls in and parks near the rear of the restaurant. INT. SMALL VAN Kauffman, Feldman and a third man, PERCHIK. PERCHIK This is good. FELDMAN But we don’t know where they're sitting inside. KAUFFMAN This is new. We downloaded The Dion’s voice. The equipment then searches the building for a voice match. PERCHIK Then we verify just by listing to it. FELDMAN It’s no bigger than a cell phone, we don’t have anything like that. PERCHIK When we’re done, I sell you this one for fifty thousand Euros. FELDMAN I might be able to arrange that. INT. PRIVATE DINNING ROOM Waiters are clearing the table. The Russian Army Officer raises a glass of vodka. RUSSIAN ARMY OFFICER Na zdorovie.   Viktor raises his glass. VIKTOR To your health. THE DION Is this the vodka company I bought? VADIM You bought a vodka company, which one. THE DION Dmitry, it’s made in Saint Petersburg. VADIM Sorry to say, but it’s made in China. They sell it here in Russia to American tourist. The Dion ignores this statement. THE DION The next phase is in place and ready to executed. RUSSIAN ARMY OFFICER Details please. THE DION Can we talk freely here? VIKTOR The restaurant was swept just before we arrived. It will continue... VADIM Proceed. THE DION There will be violent demonstrations across the country. VADIM You are arranging that? THE DION The demonstrators will be calling for my head. Some will be threatening to storm the White House. The national Guard will move in to break up the riots. People will be killed. There will be an attempted assassination on my life. I will increase my private security force. INT. SMALL VAN All three men listening to The Dion describe the next Phase. FELDMAN That’s all we need, let’s get out of here. KAUFFMAN Hold for another minute. INT. PRIVATE DINNING ROOM THE DION Once Marshal Law is in place, the military will take over. It will be called a Junta, but only until they re-install me as president for life. I will form a relationship with Russia, and our two countries will... A KGB MAN burst into the dinning room. KGB MAN Stop, stop, no more talking. We picked up a... Vadim jumps up. The Russian Army Officer leaps to his feet knocking the table over. VADIM Find them. VIKTOR They must have heard everything. The Russian Army Officer runs out of the dinning room. Vadim follows him. Viktor gets to the door and stops. He turns toward The Dion. THE DION They can not get away. INT. SMALL VAN KAUFFMAN Go, go, go, they have us. Perchik slams the gear into reverse and jams on the gas pedal. EXT. CAFE TANDOR PARKING AREA The van speeds away from the parking area. A black GAZ cargo van is right on their tail. Both vehicles speed down a street. From around a corner, a black Mazda sedan joins in the chase. MONTAGE: LONG CAR CHASE SCENE THAT ENDS IN THE COUNTRY WHERE THE VAN IS FORCED OFF THE ROAD OVER A CLIFF CRASHES AND EXPLODES IN A FIERY BALL. (STUNT COORDINATOR) EXT. COUNTRY ROAD The GAZ and the Mazda are parked on the side of the road. Five men observe the crash scene which is still burning as two more cars arrive. Vadim and the Russian Army Officer exit one of the cars. Viktor and The Dion exit the second car. INT. FBI OFFICES - ASSOCIATE DEPUTY DIRECTOR DANIELS OFFICE. Daniels and Russo. RUSSO No word yet? DANIELS Last was just before they set up outside the restaurant. RUSSO That’s what, three days now? DANIELS Kauffman’s the best we have. He’s been under for seven years, that’s longer than any other deep cover has ever been. Keep the faith. INT. WHITE HOUSE OVAL OFFICE The Dion, Benson and Sandy. BENSON Were you happy with the distillery? SANDY Bring any samples back. THE DION The deal never went through, I’m suing... I want you to set up a meeting with Senator Quill, Bingham and Jefferson. BENSON Jefferson? THE DION He’s not on board yet, Quill and Bingham will fix that problem. Have Quill and Bingham arrive one hour earlier than Jefferson. EXT. FBI OFFICES Russo exits as his cell phone rings. He listens. RUSSO Minsk? Today? OK, in the morning. INT. OFFICE OF SENATOR JUSTIN LANGFORD - NIGHT Langford is on the phone. LANGFORD He just showed up at the daily briefing like nothing happened. Minsk, Can we prove it? Only his private guard, I see. I will have a lunch with Jefferson, he won’t like this. EXT. RURAL MINSK ROAD A CAR is parked on the side of the road near the fatal accident involving Feldman, Kauffman and Perchik. INT. CAR Abram SOKOLOFF, early twenties, speaking into his cell phone. SOKOLOFF Yes, look for my car on the side of the road, white... Sokoloff looks in the rearview mirror. A car approaches and stops several yards behind him and Russo exits the car. Sokoloff exits his car. Russo approaches Sokoloff. RUSSO Shalom. SOKOLOFF Shalom. Follow me. Sokoloff walks a short distance and then climbs down hill adjoining the road. Russo follows. The two men descend through the trees. RUSSO Is this where the car went over, why didn’t the trees stop it? SOKOLOFF No, this is an easy way down, then we cut across. The car landed at the bottom of a steep cliff. They continue down through the trees. They arrive at a spot where Sokoloff turns. Russo follows him through the trees until they emerge from the trees at the base of a cliff. Russo looks up toward the road and then back to the bottom of the cliff. RUSSO The car? SOKOLOFF Everything was collected and transported to a place where they went over the entire pile of debris. You can see where they even collected the soil. Sokoloff points to a cleared area. RUSSO So what do you expect to find? SOKOLOFF Probably nothing, but we look. After, I have a piece of equipment, the same that Perchik was using, you are to take it back with you. Montage of the men begin combing the area. Much later they stand exhausted. SOKOLOFF We go to town, have dinner. In the morning you will be picked up at a small abandon airport. Russo starts climbing up the cliff facing searching. SOKOLOFF What are you doing? Russo continues his search. INT. WHITE HOUSE - OVAL OFFICE The Dion, Jefferson, Quill and Bingham. The Dion approaches the door to the security room, he opens it and waves the three men in. They enter. The Dion stands holding the door open until they enter, and then closes the door and walks away. INT. OFFICE OF SENATOR MARSHAL JEFFERSON Marshall and Aaron. Daniels enters. Aaron closes the door. Daniels You asked to see me? JEFFERSON You have been investigating the Metcalf death. Daniels (On guard) Yes. But I can’t discuss it, it’s ongoing. JEFFERSON That’s not why I asked you here. I need advice on how to handle a threat against a Senator and his family. Jefferson waves Daniels to a chair and then sits at his desk. Daniels sits and then turns to look at Aaron. JEFFERSON Aaron knows everything. Daniels What is everything... INT. TELEVISION STUDIO - SUNDAY TALK SHOW Host TODD Smith and four panelist. PANELIST ONE CIA Retired General King, FBI General Booker. And he’s considering General Hokes for Department of Defense. PANELIST TWO Well of course you would want a man with military experience to head DOD... PANELIST THREE That’s three retired Generals, isn’t there a non Army individual... PANELIST TWO Yes, he will appoint retired Navy Admiral Norquist to head the FBI. Navy... PANELIST ONE This is insane, it looks like a military junta. Panelist Two smiles. PANELIST TWO You’re blowing this out of proportion. TODD We’ll just have to leave it at that. Let’s move on. Big game this Sunday, what are your picks. INT. WHITE HOUSE - OVAL Office - NIGHT The Dion, Sandy and Benson. THE DION Sandy, make it official on the Norquist appointment. Benson, arrange a meeting with General Vincent regarding the Secretary of State appointment. Annie explodes into the room screaming. ANNIE They have arrested my cousin Arturo. He was brutally beaten and thrown into the Ariza prison. You must help him. Do something, now. Annie sobbing hysterically. ANNIE Please... THE DION (Cold) He insulted the president. ANNIE (Harsh) Everyone insults the president. THE DION There is nothing I can do... ANNIE You made it happen. You know, don’t you. You know about Arturo and I... THE DION No, why don’t you tell me... Annie storms out of the office. Sandy smiling. BENSON Can she hurt you? THE DION I never tell her anything important. She’ll get over it, she loves the lifestyle I give her. She’ll learn to never insult Cronus. SANDY Who? THE DION Back to business. I need a military man for the NSA. EXT. RURAL MINSK ROAD A black sedan pulls off the road and parks behind Russo’s car. Two KGB men get out and walk down the road and peer over. POV, two men: Russo and Sokoloff climbing up the cliff face and searching. EXT. CLIFF FACE Russo stops, kneels down and brushes some rocks aside. Close-up on the ground reveals the recording device. Russo picks it up and examines it. Sokoloff steps over and looks at what Russo found. SOKOLOFF Its the recording device, it must have left the van as it rolled down. Russo looks closer at the device. Close-up on the device shows it has been damaged. Russo takes his eyes off the device and looks up the cliff facing . Russo’s POV, the two men above now have pistols out and are pointing them at Russo and Sokoloff. KGB MAN 1 Hold still... Russo bolts for the trees with Sokoloff right behind him. The two men fire their weapons. Russo is hit and tumbles into the line of trees on the side of the cliff facing. Sokoloff dives into the trees. KGB Man 1 begins to climb down the cliff facing, slips and falls to the bottom, landing on a large rock breaking his back. KGB Man 2 turns and runs back toward Russo’s car. EXT. RURAL MINSK ROAD KGB Man 2 finds the path down the side of the mountain that Russo and Sokoloff used and starts down. EXT. CLIFF FACE Camera pushes into the trees. In the trees, Sokoloff is helping Russo to his feet. Russo cries out and grabs his waist area. Sokoloff examines Russo, he lifts his shirt. Close-up Russo’s waist area is bloodied. Sokoloff closely looks at the wound. SOKOLOFF It passed right through. Doesn’t look like it hit anything but flesh and came out the back side. Here... Sokoloff removes a light jacket he is wearing and ties around Russo’s mid-section. RUSSO I can hear them coming. SOKOLOFF Sounds like only one man. I heard a scream and crashing noise from the cliff.   RUSSO Which way. Sokoloff takes Russo by the arm and moves downhill. Montage: A chase down the mountain side. EXT. MOUNTAIN MEADOW Russo and Sokoloff exit the trees. They stop to catch their breath. SOKOLOFF I know this place. On the other side of the meadow there is a small dirt road that hunters use to a camp. They move out, Russo struggling to keep up. EXT. SMALL HUNTING CABIN Russo and Sokoloff arrive. Sokoloff checks Russo’s wound. SOKOLOFF The bleeding has stopped. Rest for a minute, then continue down this road, it meets the highway in about a mile. RUSSO What are you... SOKOLOFF Just go, go now. When you get to the highway, stay hidden until you see a green van, show yourself, it will be a friend. Sokoloff gives Russo a friendly shove to start him. Russo slowly jogs up the road. Sokoloff quickly moves to the door of the cabin and kicks it in. Sokoloff enters. Several beats and KGB Man 2 lumbers up, stops. Breathing heavy. He sees the broken door and quickly moves to the wall and stands to the side of the door. INT. CABIN Sokoloff searches and finds a gas lantern. He shakes the lantern and hears liquid inside. EXT. CABIN KGB Man with his back pressed against the cabin wall. KGB MAN 2 Give up, I have more men coming. Why die for the American. He listens. SOKOLOFF (O.C.) I have a gun. KGB MAN 2 You would have used it. All I want is the device. Throw it out and I will leave. A couple of beats, an object sails out through the door and lands several feet away. KGB Man, smiling and with his eyes on the door, slowly backs up toward the object laying in the grass. He turns his head to look behind him, stops and quickly turns bends over and picks up the object. Close-up on the object reveals it is a cell phone. He angrily throws the cell phone back through the cabin door and charges the cabin. As he enters the cabin, be rapidly fires his weapon. KGB MAN 2 (Screaming) Now you both die. He disappears into the cabin and continues to fire his weapon. Sokoloff appears from behind the cabin holding the gas lantern. He snaps a cigarette lighter and lights a rag wick stuffed into the fuel opening on the gas lantern. He throws the jury rigged Molotov cocktail into the cabin. The cabin explodes in flames. SOKOLOFF No, now you die. INT. RESTAURANT 1 Langford and Jefferson eating. JEFFERSON You know this, how? LANGFORD There are good people in government... JEFFERSON Who? LANGFORD For now, let’s just say and agency with three letters in its name. JEFFERSON It’s Daniels, isn’t it. He’s a good man, in fact he is helping me with a problem I’m having with The Dion. But, Minsk can be a big game changer for those who are not enamored with him. So... Carl approaches their table. JEFFERSON Ah Carl, join us. Senator Langford would like to hear about Dionysius the Elder. Carl grabs a chair from a nearby table and sits. EXT. WASHINGTON MONUMENT - DAY Platform set up with a podium for the President of the United States speech. A large crowed waits for The Dion to arrive. EXT. WASHINGTON DC 17th. STREET ENTRANCE TO THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT The President’s motorcade stops at the sidewalk leading to the monument. Six Secret Service agents exit one SUV and join up with several other agents that are already stationed there. Six private security guards exit another SUV. A third SUV drives up and onto the sidewalk leading to the monument. The Secret Service agents jog along one side of the SUV and six of The Dion’s private security detail, jog along the other side of the SUV as it moves toward the monument and the speakers platform. EXT. WASHINGTON MONUMENT The presidents SUV stops at the rear of the speakers platform. The Dion exits and then is surrounded by his security people as he climbs the steps to the speaker platform. The crowed begins to clap and cheer. The people clapping and cheering are Thompson and his crew we saw at the demonstrations. The Dion reaches the podium and raises a fist, but then quickly opens his hand and makes the victory sign. He adjusts a microphone on the podium and begins to speak. INTERCUT WITH CROWD CHEERING. THE DION I stand here today humbled by the history of George Washing and his battles to create a new country. But I also stand here with a strong resolve to follow his lead. Our country has been in turmoil, we have suffered at the hands of our enemies, foreign and domestic. It is time again to create a new country. A new country free of the fear and unknown that has paralyzed this great nation. It is time for a leader, a fearless leader, to change all of that. That is why you have chosen me to lead you. And I intend to lead with strength. I will let no man, no group, no weak political party stop me. The Dion raises both arms in triumph. The crowed cheers. The Dion pumps his fists. A shot rings out and a security man next to The Dion falls backward. The other security people surround the Dion and rush him off the podium. The crowd scatters. People running for their lives. The Dion shoved into his SUV. The SUV moving through the crowd of people slowly. Secret service agents video taping the crowds running from the monument area. INT. OUTER OFFICE OF SENATOR MARSHAL JEFFERSON Aaron is talking to the secretary as Jefferson exits his office. JEFFERSON (To Aaron) Come with me. INT. WHITE HOUSE - OVAL OFFICE The Dion, Thompson, Killjoy. THE DION That went well... KILLJOY One of your private guy’s died. THOMPSON What, how. He was wearing a vest. KILLJOY The round went high, hit him in the neck. THE DION Too bad, I thought you said your guy could hit a dime at five hundred yards. THOMPSON He’s that good, I don’t know how it happened, but I’ll find out. THE DION Don’t bother, it works better for me. We’ll push the idea that it could have been the president. Thank God it was not. Nice huh... KILLJOY He had a wife and a couple of kids. THE DION I’ll donate funds for his kids college education. Nice huh. Benson and Sandy rush in. SANDY Oh my god, are you alright? The Dion laughs. THE DION I’m invincible. You should know that by now. BENSON The agent that was hit died. THOMPSON That we didn't expect. Sandy glances at Benson. Benson looks away. The Dion puts his arm around Sandy and walks her to the other side of the room. THE DION None of us wanted that to happen. SANDY You planned it... THE DION It was for the cause... Sandy pulls away. THE DION The cause you support... Sandy puts both of her hands to her face and begins to sob. THE DION (To Benson) Take her home. Benson takes Sandy’s arm and walks her out. The Dion walks to the bar and pours himself a drink. THE DION Get a drink. Thompson and Killjoy pour themselves drinks. THE DION To the cause. They lift their glasses and then drink. INT. UPSCALE MEXICAN RESTAURANT - MIAMI - EARLY MORNING The restaurant is being prepared to open. Kitchen staff. Dinning room staff. Bar people. In a quite booth at the back of the restaurant two men talk. Mark Ramon DAVILLA and Daniels. DANIELS This is a very beautiful restaurant. DAVILLA Yes it is, I have four more, two here in Florida and two in Los Angeles. And now that I will not be in the White House, we’re opening a third in Dallas. DANIELS You know The Dion calls them a string of taco wagons. DAVILLA And now I can keep my taco wagons. How can I help you. DANIELS I understand you have contacts in the Cuban government... A STAFF PERSON approaches their table. STAFF PERSON We’re ready to open, shall we wait? DAVILLA No, no... The staff person turns and leaves. INT. PRIVATE HOME - LIBRARY Thompson and Killjoy. Thompson reading from a sheet of paper. THOMPSON Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, New York, Jacksonville Florida, Dallas/Fort Worth, Milwaukee and DC. KILLJOY That will set off others all over the country. THOMPSON That’s the plan. INT. WHITE HOUSE - OVAL OFFICE The Dion, Sandy and Benson. THE DION We’ll leave for my ranch in Montana first thing in the morning. No announcements. BENSON Only your private security... THE DION The Feds, will stay here and pretend they are protecting the president. If we can go and come back without anyone knowing... SANDY I can make a statement that you were here directing the troops. THE DION I’ve ditched them before and I will do it tomorrow. EXT. MILITIA CAMP FLORIDA EVERGLADES Ulsterman and his men. ULSTERMAN Tomorrow is the day. Our orders are for Miami Fort Lauderdale corridor. The more violence we can create... I’ll be very proud of you. He points to a stack of crates. ULSTERMAN You’ll find flash grenades, concussion and shrapnel. But don’t use the shrapnel until you are ordered. Everyone have their family off in the boonies some where. The men confirm in various ways. INT. OFFICE OF SENATOR MARSHAL JEFFERSON Jefferson and Aaron. AARON It’s whispers, but serious. JEFFERSON Who’s behind it? AARON Don’t know for sure, but we think it started from a militia group in Florida. JEFFERSON Demonstrations, marching with weapons. They can do that, it’s not against the law. AARON Not anymore... JEFFERSON I’ll talk to Daniels and see what he knows. Talk to the people you know in Langford’s office. Aaron turns and leaves. Jefferson opens his cell phone and taps a speed dial number and puts the phone to his ear. JEFFERSON Daniels... INTERCUT BETWEEN JEFFERSON AND DANIELS. INT. FBI OFFICES WASHINGTON DC - ASSOCIATE DEPUTY DIRECTORS OFFICE Daniels on the phone. DANIELS Yes, but I don’t think it going to amount to much. Local authorities can handle it. I do have something you may like. JEFFERSON Really, when will you hear back? DANIELS In a couple of days. His contacts are high up in government. JEFFERSON Are you keeping Langford up to date? DANIELS He’s convinced... JEFFERSON So am I now... DANIELS It’s a pretty scary vision. INT. OFFICE OF SENATOR JUSTIN LANGFORD Langford and Owen. LANGFORD It would be a treasonous offense. OWEN You could call for hearings. LANGFORD When I have a few more ducks in a row. INT. OFFICE OF NATIONAL GUARD GENERAL General FLINT and two other officers. FLINT You must have your troops in pace by noon. As soon as the announcement is made, you take control. INT. THE DION’S RANCH - PLACID LAKE MONTANA - NIGHT Seated at the dinning room table: The Dion, Annie, Sandy and Benson. THE DION Enjoy the caviar, a special reserve of Ossetra. This bowl cost three thousand, and there will be plenty more where this comes from. ANNIE I love Russian caviar... SANDY A little to strong for me. THE DION Keep eating, you will develope a taste for it. I did. BENSON When will go back? THE DION When I call for a State of Emergency. SANDY You are going to declare Marshall Law? THE DION State of Emergency. And only in Washington DC, and a few other dangerous places. BENSON Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City... THE DION And more if needed. Close-up Sandy, shock and fear. ANNIE Oh my god, what is happening? THE DION Not until tomorrow, oh, and I’m sending you to Cuba to be with your mother. You can visit your cousin in prison. The Dion smiles. SUPER TITLE MARCH 15TH. 2025 INT. TV STUDIO At the anchor chair, Todd is describing events. Background screen montage of his descriptions. TODD It started at daybreak in Florida. Hundreds of armed militia groups marched in Miami. Their spokesperson gave their reasons for the march. Here is the interview. EXT. MIAMI STREET CORNER Surrounded by men in Camo gear with  military style weapons, Ulsterman speaks with REPORTER 1 ULSTERMAN Yes, this is a threat to all who oppose our leader. Our combat ready patriots will patrol the streets of America. When we find anyone, anyone that might pose a threat to The Dion, they will be arrested and jailed. REPORTER 1 You have no authority to arrest people... ULSTERMAN Citizen arrest for traitors of our leader. And we will use deadly force if necessary... Close-up on the Reporter 1 face, dumbfounded. TODD Our producer contacted the Miami police department regarding this action. Their spokes person would not comment. Anti The Dion demonstrations are now just starting. EXT. 16th. And H STREET - WASHINGTON DC Armed militia march along H. A small group surrounds REPORTER 2 Reporter 2 facing the camera. Camera POV REPORTER 2 The men here claim that the president’s private security force has given them permission to be here with their weapons. We have not been able to speak to anyone with the private security force to confirm that. But seeing no show of force here from the White House... INT. TV STUDIO TODD This is an unprecedented situation, and more of the same is happening in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and right here in New York City... Montage of the violence. Todd cups his hand over one ear and listens. TODD Gunfire has erupted in Miami between the militia forces and anti-The Dion groups. EXT. MIAMI - SOUTH MIAMI BRIDGE OVER MIAMI RIVER A group of armed militia men led by Ulster is trapped in the middle of the bridge, taking fire from armed men from both sides of the bridge. In the group we see Ulsterman. They are using abandoned cars and trucks as cover. Eight non- militia shooters are firing their weapons from behind a UPS truck. Ski hats and sun glasses disguise their faces. One man is hit in the shoulder and falls to the ground. Another man bends down and pulls off his ski hat to reveal it is Thompson. THOMPSON (In pain)Use the grenade and let’s get out of here now. The man removes a grenade from his jacket pocket, pulls the pin. He stands a tosses the grenade toward the middle of the bridge. The grenade explodes among the militia men. INT. THE DION’S RANCH - PLACID LAKE MONTANA The Dion, Benson, Sandy and Unidentified man. All are watching the news reports of the rioting. THE DION OK General, its time for the National Guard to restore peace. The man opens his cell phone and punches in some numbers. INT. FBI OFFICES WASHINGTON DC - DANIELS OFFICE Daniels is on the phone. DANIELS I want agents in everyone of those locations to observe the guard units tactics. INT. OFFICE OF NATIONAL GUARD GENERAL FLINT GENERAL FLINT I want some of our people in every unit deployed. You have your orders. For the cause. He holds up a clenched fist. The others hold up clenched fists. INT. OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY Bo Nelson and his Chief of staff Myron WICKLIFFE. WICKLIFFE I don’t understand, you want our people out there protecting demonstrators? BO NELSON I don’t want citizens indiscriminately attacked. WICKLIFFE But that’s the National Guard’s duty. BO NELSON To keep the peace, not attack civilians. WICKLIFFE Anarchist. BO NELSON If they have weapons and are using them, yes. But if its peaceful demonstrations... WICKLIFFE Yes sir, but the violence is getting out of hand. INT. WHITE HOUSE - OVAL OFFICE The Dion enters with Benson. Benson turns on the television. Close-up television screen showing violent riots. THE DION Call an emergency press conference. Benson leaves the room. INT. WHITE HOUSE - PRESS BRIEFING ROOM Media is jammed into the room. The Dion arrives and steps to the podium. The media begins shouting questions. The Dion holds up his hands. The media quiets down. THE DION Ladies and gentlemen, these are unprecedented times. What I’m about to tell you pains me more than anything. Our country is facing acts of violence and civil disobedience unlike never seen before. American patriots are dying in the streets, being murdered by gangs of unpatriotic, no, terrorist, terrorist from abroad and many who have gained citizenship through our immigration system riddled with holes. Today, March fifteenth two thousand and twenty five, I’m declaring a State of Emergency in various cities across our great land. You will be handed lists of what cities and areas. A VOICE FROM THE CROWD 1 VOICE FROM THE CROWD 1 Is Washington DC one of the cities? THE DION Of course, we must protect the seat of government. That’s all, and thank you. The Dion steps away from the podium. A Voice From The Crowed 2 VOICE FROM THE CROWD 2 You’re declaring Marshall Law? THE DION (Angrily) No, a State of Emergency. VOICE FROM THE CROWD 2 (Mumbling) Same thing. The crowd of media rushing out of the room. INT. FBI OFFICES - DANIELS OFFICE Daniels and Annie. DANIELS We will protect you. Daniels cell phone rings. He picks it up and listens. DANIELS Thank god... INT. HOTEL ROOM Daniels, Jefferson, Langford, Davilla and Russo. DANIELS With Zeus back, you’ll have enough to start impeachment proceedings. JEFFERSON Zeus? DANIELS I’m sorry, Zeus is the code name the agent that was sent to Minsk. INT. WHITE HOUSE - OVAL OFFICE The Dion and Benson. THE DION Where the hell is she? Did you send someone to her apartment? BENSON No idea. They even went inside. Her bed was not slept in. THE DION She’s off somewhere sulking, she’ll return when she remembers where her future lies. BENSON Can we trust her? THE DION Of course. Use the secure phone and get me Vadim. INT. KGB OFFICE - MOSCOW - NIGHT Vadim is on the phone. Viktor listens. VADIM Yes, you are a genius. So all is well. Vadim continues to listen for several beats and then hangs up. VADIM He’s declared Marshall Law, he foolishly calls it a State of Emergency. VIKTOR The American army? The coup? VADIM There are special units that he controls, they are being activated as we speak. VIKTOR Yes, and we will have successfully assassinated democracy in the United States. The two men hug and then shake hands. INT. TV STUDIO TODD An unprecedented, I seem to be using that word everyday. An unprecedented move by the Congress in the middle of the night, a closed door hearing, has voted to start impeachment hearings against the president of the United States, Dion Dodge. Senator Jefferson explains why. INT. HALLS OF CONGRESS Senator Jefferson on camera. JEFFERSON Members from both sides of the aisle agreed that there was enough evidence to start the proceedings. The president will have the opportunity to refute the charges through his attorney. But he will have to answer questions during the proceedings. INT. IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS CHAMBER. The Dion and his LEGAL TEAM converse. LEGAL TEAM 1 Of course we will use the fifth on dangerous issues, but we believe most of what they have is hearsay. THE DION Can’t be anything but hearsay, I’ve been very careful who I take into my confidence. The Senators take their seats. Senator Jefferson bangs the gavel. JEFFERSON Before we begin, I wish to read excerpts from our founding fathers regarding Impeachment of a sitting president. The Framers vested the Senate with the sole Power to try Impeachments. Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, trust or profit under the United States. But the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, a trial, judgment and punishment, according to Law. My CO/chair, Senator Langford will now begin. LANGFORD Mister president, you are aware that you are under oath during these proceedings? THE DION Of course. LANGFORD Please answer yes or no. THE DION Yes. LANGFORD Are you acquainted with VIKTOR Guskov and VADIM Trukhin? THE DION No. LANGFORD Did you meet with, in Cuba, these men. THE DION No. LANGFORD Have you ever met these men... Legal Team 1 places his hand over The Dion’s hand and whispers in his ear. The Dion shakes it off the hand. THE DION No. Senator Jefferson and Senator Langford exchange glances. The Dion smiles. INT. TV STUDIO TODD Today’s impeachment hearings moved very quickly as the president’s answers were short and quickly answered with a No. After, the president made a statement that all of the evidence was hearsay and a witch hunt. This may be over soon, and in the presidents favor. INT. OUTER OFFICE OF SENATOR MARSHAL JEFFERSON Jefferson and Langford. LANGFORD No sense having Annie testify. They'll just claim hearsay and lovers quarrel. And we expose her to the danger of being killed by one of his people. He is capable of that. JEFFERSON How did we get to this point? LANGFORD Historian’s will have to make that judgement. Tomorrow won’t be so easy for him. JEFFERSON It will still be he said, he said, but they won’t be able to use the lovers quarrel spin. The telephone rings. Jefferson answers and listens. JEFFERSON You can’t do that... He hangs up. JEFFERSON That was King, the CIA will not let Bo Nelson testify. National security excuse. He’s been deep undercover for years. They don’t want to expose him. LANGFORD Sure, that’s The Dion’s appointment. There is nobody in government we can count on... Daniels, we can count on him. INT. IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS CHAMBER Jefferson and Langford stand and talk. JEFFERSON They can’t find him. He never returned home last night. His wife is hysterically. Said he called around six thirty and said he had to go out of town. She said he sounded frightened. LANGFORD How could they have found out about Daniels testifying. JEFFERSON He was investigating the Dion’s threats against me. LANGFORD What? JEFFERSON I wouldn’t join his cause, as he called it. He threatened my family. LANGFORD We can’t take anymore chances, we have to call for the closed door private session. Will your people go along. JEFFERSON I hope so, its our only chance. INT. WHITE HOUSE - OVAL OFFICE The Dion, Benson, Legal Team 1. LEGAL TEAM 1 Daniels is missing, did you have anything to do with that? THE DION What? You’re my defense counsel, not the prosecution. No, of course not. LEGAL TEAM 1 What was he investigating you for? THE DION More hearsay bullshit that he couldn't prove. (To Benson) Where is Sandy? BENSON We still don’t know. LEGAL TEAM 1 Can she be a problem, because if they have her hidden... THE DION Forget her... What about tomorrow? LEGAL TEAM 1 Depends. FBI OFFICES WASHINGTON DC - DIRECTOR KING King, Jefferson and Langford. KING I don’t believe you, it has just been a lot of hearsay... JEFFERSON Where’s Daniels? KING In his office, I presume... LANGFORD He has not been seen, since he called his wife last night and said he had to leave town for awhile... King picks up his phone and punches a button. KING Have Daniels come to my office. King hangs up. KING Look, I know he is a little bit of a loose canon, but he will make the country better. JEFFERSON Daniels believes he is a traitor and is working with the KGB in a plot to overthrow our government. KING Are you mad, that’s... King’s phone rings. He answers and listens. KING Send people to find him. Now... LANGFORD We’re afraid he’s dead or hiding... KING Dead, are you... alright talk to me. JEFFERSON For starters, we have proof he faked the assassination attempt. LANGFORD And his assistant will testify to that. JEFFERSON And a Secret Service agent died during that... fraud. KING Prove that and I will guarantee you he will be charged with murder. JEFFERSON It will be his word against his assistant, but we have more evidence, solid, but it would require a closed door hearing with only members of the NSA committee. LANGFORD Both of us are members of that committee, but we would like to avoid that if we can. If you can find Daniels... INT. IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS CHAMBER The panel is seated. The room is packed with spectators. Jefferson bangs his gavel. Legal Team 1 stands. LEGAL TEAM 1 Senator’s, since there has been no evidence presented other than hearsay, we ask that this committee stand down, and let the president focus his attention on the myriad of emergencies the country is facing. LANGFORD I’m afraid we can’t do that sir... A Senator HOKES, one of The Dion’s supporters interrupts Langford. HOKES I agree, these accusations against president Dodge is nothing but a witch hunt. Unless there is a witness to support these hearsay accusations, I vote we close this hearing. JEFFERSON Director King. King moves to a table with a microphone. KING I strongly advise that the select NSA committee convene a closed door hearing regarding these accusations. The Dion jumps to his feet. THE DION I’m the president of the United States, and I am declaring this over. I have important things to attend to. With that The Dion leaves the room. Camera pans everyone in the room dumbstruck and silent. Then pandemonium as everyone rushes out. INT. WHITE HOUSE - OVAL OFFICE The Dion, Benson and Legal Team 1 LEGAL TEAM 1 You can’t do this, you will have to return tomorrow. THE DION (Agitated and shouting) Where the hell is Annie? Where the hell is Sandy. They love me, why are they not here when I need them. BENSON Sandy is still missing, and we have word that Annie is in FBI protection. LEGAL TEAM 1 Mister president, I must have any information that those women have that can be used against you. THE DION (Screaming) Get out, both of you, get the hell out of my office. They leave. The Dion moves to the bar and pours a drink. INT. PRIVATE CHAMBERS - NSA OFFICE Jefferson, Langford, King, Daniels, Annie, Sandy and Legal Team 1. Director of NSA Herbert WELKINS sits at his desk. Two NSA assistants stand on either side of the his desk. WELKINS So far you have introduced nothing that would be of national security concern. Legal Team 1 glances one by one the faces of Daniels, Sandy and Annie. LEGAL TEAM 1 And they will not be able to do that. JEFFERSON (To Daniels) Has he arrived yet? Daniels shakes his head, no. LANGFORD (Exasperated) We need a little more time. LEGAL TEAM 1 You have had over a week. This nonsense should be stopped now. WELKINS I agree, the trial should proceed in the normal fashion. JEFFERSON You are letting him get away with treason... Welkins rises and walks to the door. He opens the door and with a sweep of his hand, invites them to leave. Legal Team 1 heads for the door. As he steps out he bumps directly into the chest of Russo. Russo holds up the recording device. DANIELS (To Legal Team 1) Say hello to agent Russo, code name Zeus... INT. HOME OF THE RUSSO FAMILY - PHILADELPHIA Russo, his mother Sarah and his father Michael are sitting at the dinning table. SARAH I put everything back in the oven to stay warm. MICHAEL What’s holding her up? SARAH She had to pick up her roommate first. MICHAEL The mysterious roommate. RUSSO Not mysterious, she was just not ready for you guys to meet. MICHAEL While we wait, tell us how you brought this terrible man down? RUSSO You mean the man you voted for. MICHAEL (Reluctantly) I made a mistake RUSSO A big one. I can’t tell you much because most of it is classified. You heard the news reports. MICHAEL Yes, he’s to be removed from office... RUSSO He’s already out of the White House. Next week he will be indicted, along with several of his friends on numerous charges, including murder. The sound of the front door opening. LELA (O.C.) We’re here. MICHAEL Here goes... Lela enters the dinning room with her roommate. He is six foot six and in perfect physical condition. LELA Hi guys, this is my roommate DOUG Winooski.   Everyone greets Doug. SARAH Sit. Sit, I’ll get dinner. LELA I’ll help. The two women leave the room. RUSSO How long have you been roommates? DOUG Two years now. MICHAEL When Sarah and I were dating we didn’t live in the same house. Sarah and Lela enter carrying supper. LELA We have been engaged for a year now. SARAH Wonderful... LELA And we will be getting married in the spring. Sarah joyfully hugs her daughter. RUSSO Congratulations Sis. MICHAEL And why did you wait so long to tell us? LELA I was afraid you would be angry... SARAH He’s not Jewish. DOUG I’m Jewish, my grandparents came from Poland. MICHAEL Sounds all good to me, so what would I be angry about? LELA Doug is in football. DOUG I’m not a starter yet, but I think I’ll start next year. MICHAEL What could be better, my daughter getting married, to a Jew, who is a professional football player. Why would I be angry. Close-up on Michael’s face shows an Oh no look. MICHAEL Don’t tell me... LELA Yes, the Giants. INT. TV STUDIO TODD Impeached president Dodge has not been seen since last Tuesday when he was removed from office. Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s office is preparing indictments that can lead to Dodge going to prison for decades. It could also result in the death penalty. INT. OFFICE DIONYSIUS DODGE The Dion and Benson. The Dion is on the phone. THE DION What do you mean, Vadim does not know me. We are brothers in arms. Put him on the phone, he knows me, he loves me... The Dion slams the phone down. Then picks it up and hurls it across the room. Benson ducks as the phone travels over his head. The Dion paces around the office talking to himself. He stops and turns to Benson. THE DION Take me to my office. BENSON But, you’re in your office. THE DION This is not my office, my office, the Oval Room. BENSON Mister Dodge, this is your office... THE DION What are you talking about, and you will address me by my title, Mister President. Now take me to my office at the White House. BENSON But they won’t let us in... The Dion reaches into the desk drawer and remove a pistol which he points at Benson’s head. EXT. WHITE HOUSE GATE - NIGHT Benson drives up. The Dion is in the back seat holding the gun to Benson’s head. At the gate, the guards refuse to let him enter. The Dion screams from the back seat. THE DION Open the gate or I’ll have you thrown in jail for refusing an order from the president of the United States. The guards draw their weapons. Benson is backing the car away. The Dion jumps out of the car, opens the drivers side and pulls Benson out and dumps him on the street. INT. THE CAR The Dion climbs into the car, turns it around aiming for the front gate. The Dion floors the gas peddle. The car rockets toward the gate. Inside the car, The Dion is screaming. THE DION I'm the president, I am the president. CORONUSSSS... The guard's open fire. The windshield shatters from the gun fire. The car rams into a concrete barrier and flips over and lands behind the barrier. Benson is up and running to the car. He disappears behind the barrier. Several beats and the car explodes into a fiery ball.   INT. OFFICE OF THE KGB- MOSCOW Vadim and Victor. VADIM He became unhinged at the end. VIKTOR At the end, he was born a madman. It was unbelievable that we succeeded in getting him elected. VADIM The country was ready for a man like that. And he uncovered the evil in many. The vice president will take over, but he's a weakling, so we start over with a new and different model that will appeal to the same kind of people.   VIKTOR Four... eight years, and then. FADE OUT. EXT. OUTSKIRTS OF MARRAKESH MOROCCO - SUNSET A white SUV turns off a main road onto a newly paved winding driveway. Several beats later it approaches an giant wall of steel slats twenty feet high. The pavement continues on to a large steel gate that slowly opens to allow the SUV to pass through. INT. SUV Two men sit in the back seat, they are dressed as Moroccan dignitaries in fashionable robes and headdress. The SUV passes rows of date trees lining both sides of the driveway. The vehicle enters an elaborate circular driveway and stops at the entrance to a magnificent mansion in the style of a Virginia plantation home. Armed guards stand at the entrance. The two men exit the vehicle and walk toward the door which opens as they arrive. They enter. INT. MANSION A man dressed in a dark business suit escorts them down an hall and into a large solarium style room. Directly ahead is tinted glass wall that extends from the floor to the ceiling. Through the shaded glass lies an expanse of green lawns, palm and date trees. In the center is an enormous pool with cabanas. At the end of the pool area is a manicured golf course. On one side of the room a door opens and through it enters a man in all white golf attire carrying a club. It’s the Dion. THE DION Welcome gentlemen to the new White House of the exiled Monarch. I will return to my former domain in due time. The two men stunned with their wide open in shock, slowly back out of the room. The Dion in uncontrollable insane laughter screaming I am the King. 

[biofunmy]

SpaceX to Launch Starlink Internet Satellites Tonight After Postponement

SpaceX, the private rocket company founded by Elon Musk, will try again on Thursday evening to launch dozens of satellites at once.

Wednesday’s attempt to launch Starlink, the company’s bid to get into the space-based internet business, was postponed because of strong winds high in Earth’s atmosphere.

Mr. Musk’s goal is to one day send people to Mars, an exorbitantly expensive venture. And SpaceX, for all its successes, is still a fairly small company, with thin profit margins on its rocket launches. To make enough money for interplanetary journeys, the company hopes its Starlink satellites would provide high-speed internet access all over the world.

“This would provide connectivity to people who either don’t have any connectivity today or where it’s extremely expensive and unreliable,” Mr. Musk said during a Wednesday news conference.

[Sign up to get reminders for space and astronomy events on your calendar.]

When is the launch and how can I watch it?

A Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida as early as 10:30 p.m. Eastern time. If there are any delays because of weather or technical glitches, the launch can be pushed back as late as midnight.

SpaceX’s webcast of the launch is to start about 15 minutes before liftoff.

This will be SpaceX’s sixth launch of the year. The company will land the booster stage on a platform named “Of Course I Still Love You” floating in the Atlantic Ocean.

What is the rocket carrying?

SpaceX — which usually ferries cargo to orbit for NASA or private companies — is its own customer this time. And the Falcon 9 rocket is not carrying just one satellite, but 60 identical ones.

Mr. Musk posted pictures of the Starlink satellites on Twitter.

The Starlink satellites will eventually form a constellation of satellites that are to offer internet to almost anywhere on Earth.

Last year, SpaceX launched two prototype satellites, called Tintin A and Tintin B.

The payload on this launch, at more than 30,000 pounds, is the heaviest ever launched by SpaceX, Mr. Musk said. He added that these satellites would be able to relay information by bouncing the data off a ground station. However, they lack a component planned for future versions: lasers that would allow the satellites to relay information to each other.

Each of the flat-panel satellites weighs about 500 pounds, powered by a single solar array. They are to be deployed about one hour after launch, steadily moving outward from a slowly spinning core. “It will almost seem like spreading a deck of cards on a table,” Mr. Musk said.

The satellites are to be switched on two to three hours after deployment.

Mr. Musk sounded a note of caution to tamp down expectations. “There is a lot of new technology here,” he said. “It’s possible that some of these satellites may not work. In fact, it’s possible, a small possibility, that all of the satellites may not work.”

Isn’t there already internet service from space?

A number of companies provide satellite internet using geostationary communications satellites 22,200 miles above the surface. At that altitude, the time for the satellite to complete an orbit is exactly one day and thus it remains over the exact same spot on Earth as the planet rotates at the same rate.

That makes it straightforward for one satellite to provide internet for a swath of the surface below, but current services have drawbacks. They are not available everywhere and they are usually fairly expensive.

Because the data signals have to travel up 22,200 miles and then back down, the performance can be laggy. That does not matter if you are watching a movie on Netflix, but it becomes excruciating when playing an online game that relies on fast reflexes.

What’s different about Starlink?

The Starlink satellites will orbit much lower — between 210 and 710 miles above the surface. That reduces the lagginess, or latency. SpaceX has said performance should be comparable to ground-based cable and optical fiber networks that carry most internet traffic today. Starlink would provide high-speed internet to parts of the world that currently are largely cut off from the modern digital world.

Because the satellites are lower, they travel faster. Thus, Starlink must provide a constellation of satellites whizzing around the planet. When one satellite moves away from one of its customers, another one must come into view in order to provide a continuous internet connection.

Mark Juncosa, vice president for vehicle engineering at SpaceX, said that with 12 additional launches, SpaceX could provide good coverage over the United States; 24 launches would put enough satellites to cover most populated areas; and 30 would cover the entire world.

If Starlink is successful, more satellites would be added to send and receive greater volumes of data.

Are other companies also looking to launch constellations of internet satellites?

Starlink’s competitors include OneWeb, Telesat, Iridium and Blue Origin, the rocket company started by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.

Why is SpaceX, a rocket company, going into the internet business?

For Mr. Musk’s dream of sending people to Mars, he is developing a giant spacecraft called Starship. He noted that SpaceX’s rocket launching business might grow to about $3 billion a year. By contrast, internet revenue could bring in $30 billion a year for the company, Mr. Musk said.

“We see this as a way for SpaceX to generate revenue that can be used to develop more and more advanced rockets and spaceships,” Mr. Musk said. “We think this is a key steppingstone on the way to establishing a self-sustaining city on Mars and a base on the moon.”

Mr. Musk acknowledged that history is full of companies dragged into financial ruin by attempting to build ambitious constellations of communications satellites.

“I believe none have successfully gone into operation without going bankrupt,” he said. “I do believe we will be successful, but it is far from a sure thing.”

What about orbital debris?

There are about 2,000 operational satellites around Earth. That number will multiply as constellations like Starlink are deployed.

“A majority of the satellites in orbit will be SpaceX, if things goes according to plan,” Mr. Musk said. “That is a big if, of course.”

The worry is what happens when satellites die. The proliferation of satellites will greatly increase the risks of collisions, and the many pieces of debris would in turn pose danger to other satellites. Mr. Musk said each Starlink satellite would possess data on orbits on all known pieces of space debris and automatically steer away from any that might cross its path.

With so many satellites, there will also be much more debris falling from space in the coming years.

SpaceX said that 95 percent of a Starlink satellite would burn up on re-entry, but that would still mean that about 25 pounds of debris — in particular, an iron thruster that is part of the propulsion system and steel reaction wheels that keep the spacecraft pointed in the correct direction — would reach the surface. In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission on March 13, the company said that it had changed the design so that future versions of the satellites will be entirely destroyed during re-entry.

The chances of any one crashing satellite hurting or killing someone is small; the danger to you individually is negligible. But adding up the risks of tens of thousands of satellites to the 7.5 billion people on Earth, the probability of someone being hurt somewhere become more significant.

Sahred From Source link Business

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[planetary-motions]

Space

I’ve been into space stuff since I was a kid. I’d look through my ChildCraft encyclopedia volume 4 (all the sciencey stuff) all the time. Some of the first things I was interested enough to look up in the regular WorldBook encyclopedia were the Sun and the planets. I liked Legos, but loved the early space sets. When I was about 9, Star Wars came out, as did Star Trek, and one of my all-time favorites - Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The Voyagers were launched to checkout some of the outer planets. I was so overwhelmingly interested in how they calculated their trajectories - using gravity to slingshot from one destination to another. I was amazed at how NASA was able to thread the needle so precisely... six times over their mission. I can’t remember when, but there was a big square Nat’l Geographic book that came out that was all about the Solar System and beyond. It looked like a big coffee table book, but was full of big illustrations and info about everything. My first big ‘essay’ in 8th grade was all about the planets... at least it started to be all about them. Then I saw there was so much to talk about I limited it to the innermost four. Then again, had to cut it back to only Mercury because I was generating so much.

My big high school term paper ended up being about the space shuttle Challenger explosion. I think I only got a A-. I didn’t exactly put my all into it. Senior year, my plan was to go into astrophysics. It was dreamy. Physics was my major at Purdue University, though I never graduated. Life got in the way. Apathy. Disillusion. Fear. Personal challenges.  But my interest in space never waned.

Now in my 40′s, I’m not in any space related field. But we put up the Hubble Space Telescope, the International Space Station, and hundreds of satellites around Earth. We’ve put rovers on Mars. We measured and poked and prodded Saturn and it’s moons for over a decade. Recently we’ve flown by Pluto (Pluto always seemed to be my favorite planet - I think because I loved Disney’s Pluto as a kid.).  We’ve landed on and sampled the soil on comets, asteroids, and moons. We’ve developed satellite launch rockets that can autonomously return to land on the surface to be reused. We’re sending out solar sails. We’re sending up smaller, more efficient, and less costly CubeSats. Water has been discovered on the Moon, Mars, and other planets and moons. We’ve just sent out the Parker probe on a mission to skim the surface of the Sun... and we’re about to flyby our very first Kuiper Belt object. Rockets are being built and tested to send the next astronauts to the Moon and Mars. And there are plans to send spacecraft to a moon of Jupiter or Saturn to dig deeper for possible signs of life! 

It’s an amazing time for space.

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Saturday 30th June 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader….  Yesterday was very windy, we went to the beach and ended up with sand in places I didn’t know sand could go…… This morning the wind seems to have abated a little and it’s just a gentle breeze rustling the leaves of the trees and blowing the trash bags around, making playthings for Bella as she frantically chases them, as they spiral and climb high into the early morning sky… The end of the month is with us, the halfway point in 2018… only six more months to the end of the year, seems like only six months ago, since we started this one…  

STUDY: FLIGHT ATTENDANTS HAVE HIGHER RISK OF ALL CANCERS…. Maybe the skies aren’t so friendly. A new Harvard study of over 5,300 U.S. cabin crew members showed they had a greater risk of a range of cancers compared to the general population. That includes a 50 percent higher risk of breast cancer and as much as a 300 percent higher risk for some skin cancers. The cause isn’t known, but the authors’ theories include exposure to high-altitude radiation and disrupted sleep, which has already spurred the flight attendants union to demand better regulations and working conditions.

LONDON COURT OVERTURNS UBER MORATORIUM…. They’re on their way. Reversing a previous citywide ban, a judge has ruled the ride-sharing service can operate on a 15-month license in the British capital. Uber will have to provide an independent audit every six months, notify authorities of all serious safety complaints, offer training to drivers, and keep regulators informed about any policy changes. Still, Tuesday’s decision is a major success for CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and the embattled firm — which has been tainted by reports of serious driver offenses — as Uber prepares to go public next year.

DEATH SENTENCE OVERTURNED FOR TEEN WHO KILLED ALLEGED RAPIST….  A Sudanese appeals court has found Noura Hussein, who was forced to marry at 16, guilty of manslaughter for killing her husband after he allegedly raped her. She was sentenced to five years, reversing a previous sentence of death by hanging. Her case sparked global outcry, drew celebrity support from activists like Emma Watson and Rose McGowan, and collected a million signatures on petitions to save her life. Hussein, now 19, said, “When I get out of here, I want to study law to defend other oppressed people.”

SPACECRAFT LAUNCHES ON TEST MISSION TO CLEAN UP JUNK…. It’s taking out the trash. Currently around 750,000 objects larger than 0.3 inches are orbiting Earth at 24,800 mph, and physics professor Minna Palmroth told The Daily Tulip that there are 19,000 near misses every week, endangering satellites and crewed missions. The EU-funded $18.7 million RemoveDEBRIS craft, recently launched from the International Space Station, can use nets, harpoons and 3D mapping technology to round up space junk in low orbit. Starting in September, it’ll perform a series of experiments to test the tech before cleaning up after itself by deorbiting.

EUROPEAN COUNTRIES TO LAUNCH JOINT MILITARY FORCE….  Is their best defense a good offense? Wednesday nine nations, led by France, Germany and the U.K., agreed to create a collaborative military force to boost border security outside the EU framework. Without help from NATO, the European Intervention Initiative — which includes Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Spain and Portugal — will independently respond to “crisis scenarios,” while also serving to keep the U.K. involved in European security affairs after Brexit. Euroskeptics have panned the initiative as unnecessary, while other analysts see it as a vote of no-confidence in NATO.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today are very colourful to say the least....

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Saturday 30th June 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #News #Blog #Love #War