The Story of Mobius
A Prequel by Chris000
Chapter 1: PrologueEarth 2190 CE
1045 years before the current dateā¦
Matthew Mobius was a bright young man. At age 12 he had constructed a miniature particle collider that won him first place in a local science fair. At age 15 he had successfully applied to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a PhD in Quantum Mechanics, Astrophysics, Computer Engineering, and Geneology. At age 21, he delivered a idea for a interstellar warpgate. He entitled it, the "Mobius Gateway".
He presented his design to a highly respected astrophysicist of the United Nations Space Command Office of Naval Intelligence, or ONI for short. After much deliberation for about 3 years about the design, Matthew was awarded a grant to continue research on the gate, seeing as it was deemed 'possible' by the ONI spooks. Now 27, Matthew oversaw the construction in space just outside the moon's gravitational pull. He stood on the catwalk of a space station patiently waiting for the day his childhood dreams came true.
Matthew stared at a window. Just a few hundred thousand kilometers away stood his warpgate. The tip of his thought and possibly humanity's best hope for colonizing the outer systems. He mulled silently in his head that the two Japanese Astrophysicists Shaw and Fujikawa were working on their own Faster Than Light travel. However, at the pace Mobius was working, he would complete the warpgate much sooner than the other two scientists. It was going to be better, stronger, faster. It used accelerated neutrinos and dark matter to rip a hole in two simultaneous locations using the power of microscopic black holes barely wider than a pinhead that ripped matter apart, reassembled it at an accelerated pace in transit, disassembled it again, then reassembled it once more and ejected it through white holes at the end. Pure brilliance. Of course, resources to build a second gate would be used to construct a second gate at the other end.
The door behind Matthew opened. Matthew spun around to see who entered. I was an ensign by the name of Patricia Aaron. "What can I do for you, ensign?" The doctor asked. "Admiral Fredrikton wants to see you in his office on Deck 12." Mobius nodded. He always had his eye on Aaron ever since the project started. She was quite beautiful. Her red hair was shoulder length and she had dazzling blue eyes. Matthew decided to get on task and go see the Admiral. He took another look at the nearly completed ring and turned and entered the elevator.
Mobius punched in Deck 12 and felt the elevator go up. He felt the gravitational rush as it left him and then returned. In the center of the space station the UNSC had something absolutely nobody knew about: a miniature gravity generator. This was a major scientific breakthrough. It was commissioned by Section 0 of ONI. There were strict penalties for leaking information about this. Whenever a new operative was seated in the desk at ONI's educational facilities, the first thing they were told about this was 'any leak in intelligence that is discovered by the Office of Naval intelligence carries the punishment of execution.' No questions asked. Matthew exhaled. Even in the 22nd century mankind has still carried on with its dictatorship. Why couldn't people look more to discovery and knowledge and less towards conflict that ends in violence and several billion dollars lost every now and then? He then thought that unfortunately, some conflicts couldn't be solved, and war was unfortunately the last resort. He thought back to the Frieden and Koslovic war a few decades back, how drastic situations have been between the UN and the Neo-Communists.
He didn't get to think much of it since the elevator pinged and the door opened. Up ahead, he saw that the door automatically opened. Fredrikson had been expecting him. He took a few steps and walked into the Admiral's quarters on the station. It had fine oak paneling and pictures of sea ships lining the walls. The Monitor, the Dreadnought, the Bluenose, and the USS Enterprise. All fine vessels of Earth's oceans. Now it was time for Mankind to explore the vastness of the ocean of space.
"Doctor, I've been expecting you." came a voice. Admiral Fredrikson walked into the room from a side-passage. He was buttoning up his uniform, which suggested he was returning to duty. "You wanted to see me, sir?" Matthew asked. "Yes, I did. Sit down, son." Mobius did as ordered and made himself comfortable, relishing the silkiness of Martian fibers in the seat and back. "I wanted to talk to you about test flights. The time has come to give this baby a spin. The gate itself is already completed and we want to see if she's in fit sate to transport one all the wires and things are connected."
Mobius thought about it for a heartbeat. "Sir, with respect, how do you plan to do that?" Fredrikson told him. "The UNSC is short on cash. Ever since the whole Jovian Moons Campaign ended a little while ago, we've been spending every single dollar getting our fleet back to being the best in the solar system." Matthew's eyes darted back and forth. "Are you suggesting an unmanned flight?" The admiral shrugged. "More or less. We're thinking of starting by sending electrical signals or wavelengths through the gate to see if it will transmit them somewhere else. We've targeted a sector where habitable planets may be. We certainly have a few reports of one or two. However we have no idea how far away they will be from your drop-off point." Mobius thought about this for a few seconds. What happens if it doesn't work?" Fredrikson leaned back and sighed. "Then we'll have to scrap the entire project." Mobius gave a slight, joking smile. "Well, that's no pressure for me then." Fredrikson gave a small laugh. "Right, no pressure. Well doc, I guess this is where all those long years of work will be tested."
