Past Prologue
The room lay quiet, save the rolling of waves on the beach and the sound of the news.
"—gather in Sanc to discuss the future of solar energy development. The meeting of the Advanced European Union Parliament comes this year as we approach the eleventh anniversary of the death of the Simurgh. The purpose of the meeting is to finally hash out an agreement on a plan to begin construction of an orbital elevator."
The world could change in a moment. It wasn't any one thing. It was many, all coming together at a particular point. An axis as it were, on which a thousand moments that followed would all turn.
"Here, Relena Peacecraft arrives in the newly reformed Kingdom of Sweden. She is expected to speak at a round table after the parliamentary session on the ongoing controversies concerning labor and resource allocation in Africa. The struggle of picking an exact location for the base has plagued the AEU since the Trilateral Pact was signed in 2015."
"Africa has consistently been pointed to as the only viable location for the 'keystone' third pillar of the proposed orbital solar array, which has been complicated by ongoing instability on the continent."
"You're right, Hutch. The meeting will also coincide with an event ten years in the making as Veda prepares to deliver the first of five orbital space colonies, which she promised to build and provide at no charge more than a decade ago. With more on the way."
It all built up to yet another moment on which the world would turn. A million lives making a million choices every day. It bore a life of its own. A momentum that carried the world as a whole forward from one instance to the next.
"You know I was in high school when she made that promise, Manda?"
"You've told me before, Hutch."
"It's just really surreal. At the time all anyone could think was—Holy shit. The Simurgh is dead. Holy shit the Simurgh is dead. And I know I'm not supposed to curse on the air—"
"I doubt anyone will hold it against you."
"I hope not. It's just surreal to me seeing this moment finally arrive. Veda's been streaming the construction and now the transport of the colony for the past ten years. We've watched this process on and off since it began."
All the paths led to one inevitable crossroad.
A point of no return.
"In a joint conference given to legislators from around the world last night, Veda reiterated her intent to leave it up to the world to decide the fate of the colonies which has become an increasingly hot topic as some jockey to be the first to get there and others try to say no one should go at all."
"Since the refounding of the international space station in 2019 and the establishment of plans to expand the structure into the orbital base for the orbital elevators last year, all eyes have turned skyward. How far do we go, and what do we do when we get there?"
"And look how far we've come."
It couldn't stop here. Not yet. It was too soon for complacency.
There was still a ways to go.
And the girl rose and took up her mask.
Next time: Dream of Eden