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| Tsv-02-100 The Illusive R-Wing Chapter 1: Treezine Agent Chapter 2: Lisa Chapter 3: Unexpected Visitors Chapter 4: Knowledge is Power Chapter 5: A Piece of Sky Pie Chapter 6: The DGP Governor Chapter 7: Point Kapex, Lunaside Chapter 8: The Scenic Route Chapter 9: The Temspace Refraction Chapter 10: The Age of Aquarius Chapter 11: To Ride the R-Wing Chapter 12: Effects of the Tuniverseo |
Chapter 12. Effects of
the Tuniverseo
After returning to Earth, Madkro found a message on his machine from Querzo. "Meet me at the Rocky Pt. on the seventh of 2002." Madkro relaxed with Lisa for the New Year, and had no problem meeting the Rocky Pt. to see Querzo. "Alright," Querzo admitted, "we've given it enough time. Let's go uptime and see the effect." They went up 100 years again, to January 7th, 2102, and looked out across the land. Querzo magnified the sensors and zeroed in on Reno, or what it had become. It now consisted of 3 or 4 large Biosphere domes. To the northeast of these huge city-domes were 2 other domes, over the R-wing Aerospace Port. The larger one had a tower ascending high over it. As they watched, an R-winger shot up and away from it, heading high into the atmosphere. "Good," Querzo decided, "they've got sats in orbit. I'll try an uplink for info." "Those domes," Madkro said, "appear to be biospheres. We'd better make an atmospheric check." "Agreed," Querzo said, and did so. A minute later, he said with relief. "Amazing, it's remarkably clean, considering. Apparently; oxygen, hydrogen, helium, carbon-dioxide, are all within safe levels." "Why the domes?" Madkro said, with interest. "Why not?" Querzo decided. "Shade from desert heat, for one thing, the ultraviolet rays, another." A minute later, he made a sat-link, and received video reception. He adjusted different stations, with everything from pet commercials to the latest in 'Tri-Vee' Interactive Programs. When he located a news-report, he let it stay set, and they watched and listened with fascination, as an 'avatar' in the upper left corner of the screen reported the world-news, and the other 3 quarters of the screen were devoted to all kinds of information, everything from the weather-patterns and the lunar-cycles to the latest popular programs and Corporate quotas on the R-wing market. The screen with the news-reporter began to show pictures from around the world, including Aerospace Ports, dome-cities, and Jet Ports. They learned that somehow, after about 20 years of disputes, the R-Wing Corps and the Jet-Corps came to an equitable compromise which acted to solve the problems between the 2 divisions. The compromise included, along with the ‘DGP' governor and other mandatory limitations, an equal share in the Lunaside project for Alternate Methods of Space-Travel. "After all," the R-Wing representative said, "The Jet-corps got the original program going, the Jet Corps got it off the ground. Jets are a vital part of R-wing tek. There's no need to fight over rights. The Jet Corps and the R-Wing Corps, under complete support and agreement with Lunaside, are equal members of the Lunaside Project." "It appears to be running like a smooth oiled machine," Querzo said. Then the screen went back to the news-reporter, and what appeared to be a lighter side of the present. The view-screen showed the 'Posine Vega' R-wing Space Port, in Hawaii, where a celebration was occurring, with that exotic Hawaiian flair of colorful flowers, a musical band, and lots of fancy, exotic foods. There were 2 pictures on the wall behind a table of food. To their surprise, one was Madkro. "What's this?" Madkro said. Querzo stared at the picture, and said, "Look in between the 2 pictures. See the colorful symbol, with all those flowers about it?" "Yes, yes of course," Madkro said. "It's one of the symbols from the learning-mechanism. This is interesting." The screen went back to more festivities, and then returned to the news-reporter and a review of Jet-corps and R-wing corps progress on the Moon. Querzo flipped through the channels, found 2 more 'celebrations', one in Vegas and another in Japan, and another in India, and France. They learned, eventually, that January 7th had been made into a holiday to commemorate the introduction of the 'Tuniverseo' learning-mechanism to the world, and the 2 people given the credit for it. Z. Rem and R. Madkro. According to the reports, Rem and Madkro were considered scientific martyrs, accredited with increasing the average IQ of the common human from 90 to 125, and the peaceful settlement of disputes between the United States, China, Russia, India, and the Mid-east. "This is incredible," Madkro said with awe. "It looks like the learning-mechanism had a positive effect. What about the ozone?" Querzo checked and had an answer a minute later. "It looks alright," he admitted, "Much better than the last time." "The mechanism worked," Madkro said again, with wonder. "It really did work." "Well," Querzo nodded to agree, "We’d better check uptime to 2200, just in case we're missing something." At that, he turned to the temspace controls, and reset the tem-gauge for 2202, January 7th. A minute later, the engine was engaged, and they zoomed through the decades. |
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