Welcome to Gaia! ::

So this is the story I started for NaNoWriMo, but was forced to abandon after a day or so due to stress. Unfortunately, it hasn't been, and probably won't be, edited. My first attempt at sci-fi:

Introduction

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said the chairman, Mr Robinson. “I'd like to begin this meeting by introducing James Morgan, who would like to engage your attention for a moment. Morgan?” Mr. Robinson resumed his seat at the head of the white oblong table. The other members looked down at their meeting notes, then glanced up, puzzled.

James Morgan stood. He cleared his throat and pushed his index finger against his glasses. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have known for some time, that space travel to other stars, other planets, other worlds is completely impossible,” James paused. Several of the people were nodding. “It is a well known fact that matter in its original state cannot exceed the speed of light and even if spacecraft could come close to such speeds, g-forces alone would demolish any life aboard. Added to this is the sobering fact that the nearest star, Alpha Centari, is over four light-years away.”

“Get to your point,” grumbled a man towards the middle of the table and drummed his fat, hairy fingers on the tabletop.

Morgan nodded to him and continued, “And since any experiments with changing the frequency of matter have shown it to be hostile to life, people have given up on space travel, exploration, and colonization.”

“So?” a woman asked. Her voice was shrill, her hair pulled back tightly into a bun, and her features sharp. “We know all this,” she said and fluttered her hands.

“Well,” James said, “Allow me to demonstrate something.” He placed his briefcase on the table. The clack of the clasps opening punctured the quiet and the hush of whispers. He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. The he closed the briefcase and stuck it back under the table. His audience looked at each other. The corners of his mouth twitched. “I know what you're all thinking; a pen and paper?” he said. “But please let me prove my point.” Then James bent over his paper and drew two dots on the paper. “Now,” he said, “What is the shortest distance between these points? Draw it if you will,” he tossed the pen down carelessly onto the paper on the table.

“Why, a straight line of course,” declared the fat man.

“No, no,” the shrew said, “a curved line because the Earth's surface is sloped.” She raised her chin and her thin lips twisted into a smile.

Mr. Robinson moved forward in his chair.

But James just smiled. “The shortest distance between these dots,” he said clearly, pausing between each word, “is if one folds the paper like so.” And he bent the paper so the dots nearly touched.

“But that's impossible for space travel,” protested an elderly man at the far end.

“Anyone could have done that,” said another.

“Then why didn't you say so?” James said. “If it's that simple, then why did not someone suggest it? And no, this is not exactly how I propose space travel. This was just a demonstration to show how obvious, yet how overlooked, a solution can be. In fact, I predict that in the next three centuries, space travel will be as common as our air travel and our colonies wide spread throughout the known universe.”


Chapter One

Corbett took another swig out of his mug, then sniffed the liquid. The bar tender eyed him.

“Are you going back out?” he leaned over the counter.

Corbett looked up. The bar was a typical dingy, poor-lit place common to any planet with a major spaceport. He traced a circle in the grim on the table. “Definitely,” he answered at last.

The man leaned even more, his bald head shining in the dim, red light. “Interested in taking a passenger?”

“No.” The chair squeaked as he pulled it back and stood. “Charge to my account,” he ran his hand under the swipe. The machine beeped.

“Have it your way,” the man looked away.

Corbett pushed his way out through the battered aluminum door. A cold breeze picked up and swept dust from the desert into the orange sky. K-23 was a rotten planetoid revolving around an equally unimportant M-class star. It had one tiny asteroid moon, which was high and luminescent in the sky at the moment. K-23 would have been deserted, ignored had it not been en route between Astrolopolis and Chyrsis.

Corbett walked across the road to the hanger. He slipped in past the glass doors and walked over to the departure desk. The clerk looked at him, her eyelids sagging. “You want to file a departure order?” Her voice was toneless.

“No,” he pulled out a slip of paper, “I've a return that just needs to be signed.”

“Oh sure,” she took it and scrawled a signature across it. She brushed her mousy hair from her face as she handed it back. “If Jed is late, I'm going to kill him.”

An official was standing near his craft. Corbett held out his paper and the man nodded him past.

Corbett typed his code into the num pad and the clear half-dome bubble opened silently. He slipped into his leather chair, its comfort seeping through his enviro suit. He adjusted the straps and plugged in the wires to his gloves and the main support cable to his suit. He glanced at the paper again. “Portal number 7. My lucky number,” he stuffed it away and ducked into his pilot helmet. He stretched around in his seat. The wires, cable, and straps made it difficult to move. His visor tinted the world around him in shades of blue.

“Number seven,” he said to himself as he hit the option. The computer beeped as it sent the information on. He felt the craft move as the hanger gear maneuvered him into position.

“Take off in 10, 9, 8.” Gases infused into the air. He would be conked out all the way out against g-forces. “7, 6.” His eyelids closed. “5, 4, 3.” His head, propped by the straps and supports, drooped forward only a little. “2, 1, take off.” The little craft zipped up the elevator and was flung far out to space. . .

Thanks. Yeah, I think it's pretty typical of sci-fi to have an introduction set in the past.

me too ._.