Beyond Kuiper: The Galactic Star Alliance Read online

  Contents

  Loved Ones

  Thank You

  Other Formats…

  Foreword

  UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

  1. Dear Edwin

  2. The Voidwhisperers

  3. Project Pegasus

  4. Suite 11021

  5. Counterparts

  6. The Kepler Institute

  7. K.I.N.G

  8. Extra Bacon

  9. Enduring Governments

  10. The galactic Star Alliance

  11. Owl Post

  12. Redacted

  13. The Distant Zones

  14. The Anador

  15. The Council of Worlds

  16. M.C.D

  17. Creators of Space

  18. The Nexus

  19. In The Shadows

  EARTH HISTORY

  GALACTIC TIMELINE

  PLANET DESCRIPTIONS

  About the Artists

  About the Authors

  BEYOND KUIPER

  The Galactic Star Alliance

  ©2020 MATTHEW MEDNEY & JOHN CONNELLY

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the authors.

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  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.www.aethonbooks.com

  Published digitally by Aethon Books LLC.

  Editor: Stefan Petrucha

  Cover & Chapter Illustration: Utku Özden

  Aethon Books is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  For the fully illustrated experience, purchase a hardcover, Published by Heavy Metal Entertainment

  “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”

  — Carl Sagan, 1994, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

  “These words sparked our curiosity and excitement about the unknown. John and I were writing the lore for Beyond Kuiper for three years, looking for the spark to dive into the pages. That day came, August 1st, 2017. John and I were on a call discussing the Cosmos, The Great Filter, and the Kardashev Scale when he recited the above Carl Sagan quote. Its emotion, it’s excitement, and the reminder of how small we are, compelled us to explore the inner workings of our curiosity.

  Thank you, Carl, for your ability to expand one’s curiosity even in death.”

  — Matthew & John

  Loved Ones

  A journey is never complete without the reflection of one’s path. Creating a world, a way of life, an environment for people to imagine in, takes no prisoners. One’s ability to identify true love and devotion becomes apparent during these experiments. Whether it be family, loved ones or friends, drawing up economic doctrines, government ideologies and languages comes with its sacrifices. To my great love, Alexis Leon, thank you for your constant support, your never wavering resolve in your compassion and conviction of my creative prowess. Your love is etched into the life-blood of this novel, your beauty dashes across the ethos of these characters and your brilliance is mapped in the perfection of these pages. For pushing me harder and demanding the best at all times, I love you.

  — Matthew

  Tony, this book is for you. For putting up with all of my craziness, mania, loud noises, louder conference calls, dishes piled in the office, and all the missing pens. For the times you read me Ray Bradbury. For all the times you let me write in a room for hours while you cleaned the entire house and cooked. For the literal days of editing FaceTimes when I wasn’t around. For stealing your laptop when mine was dead. For accompanying me to Ad Astra. For working late, and extra, so I didn’t have to. For your endless love and patience, encouragement, and support. Thank you, from all the depths of my heart. There is so much time that you sacrificed, for us, so I could pursue my passion. You are my loving partner in crime, my P’tit Grobis. I could not have accomplished this monumental endeavor of three years without you. You gave me the space and power to dream. While occasionally perplexed by my strange love for sci-fi, you understood how much creating this story meant, and you never doubted for an instant that I could see it through. Your love gives me the strength to do impossible things, and your fervor for art in all its mediums inspires my creativity. I love you to Kramer de la Ku.

  — John

  Thank You

  We would be remiss to forgo acknowledging the indispensable guidance along this journey. Like Q to Picard or Yoda to Luke, these mentors pushed our limits and dared us to be better than we were. From Pete “Voodoo Bownz” Russo with your imagination and gall, you never let an idea go unchallenged. We could never imagine a better partner to creative direct this world. To Utku Özden, what can we say? You took our words and brought them to life in ways neither of us could have imagined. You are family, and as long as we are all breathing, no one else will touch the pages of Kuiper’s art. Stefan, you pushed our story into a new light. Your analytical and thoughtful editing took this work to a height we only dreamed of; however, the Yellow Challenge questions have scarred us for life, ha! Kyle Perrin, your ingenuity and imagination with regards to musical composition is astounding. Your vision for what an audiobook should be is the new benchmark. Pushing the boundaries and imagining a better experience like no one else could have.

  — Matthew & John

  David Erwin, my partner at Heavy Metal. I revere everything you stand for, everything you do. Every conversation with you makes me a better person, a more creative inspiration to myself. Thank you for pushing me to be more critical and more analytical. You take the last 10% of anything and make it the difference between great and magical. Lastly, Morgan Rosenblum, 5 years ago we met and you ignited a creativity in me that was dormant. I will always love you for unlocking that potential.

  To A Mander on A Mission of Fun for always showing me that creativity and emotion could tell a story far better than any education could teach. I love you.

  — Matthew

  My dear friend and libr
arian, Rachel Robinson, thank you for inspiring me every day of the joy and importance of reading, for the necessity of editors, and for reminding me to always ask, “what story am I telling?”

  — John

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  Foreword

  Curiosity is the spark to all exploration. Are we alone in the universe?

  Difficult to say.

  We acknowledge the vastness of time, the cyclical nature of civilization, and the obscurity of our own history. When we began debating, “Why hasn’t sentient life been found in our galaxy?” all those years back, we were among the era of exoplanets. Every week, it seemed NASA would announce a new outpouring of worlds all vastly beyond reach, but each recalculating the likelihood of potential Earths. But to us, the numbers seemed staggering; compelling. Surely there are others.

  So if our galaxy is full of sentient life, we thought of a simple, logical reason why no one has said hello: no one wants to.

  Stepping back and casting an objective eye on ourselves, it seems painfully obvious that humans lack a fundamental respect for their planet and each other. They possess extremely short memories and long grudges, and the idea of giving them the motivation or tools to hasten their expansion seems downright foolhardy.

  That being said, who are these judges?

  From that simple notion birthed a million questions. How is faster than light possible? Could you have cohesive interstellar civilizations without it? How could you even govern a coalition of not different countries, but of species? Each question only created another, and each answer built our world piece by piece until it spanned thousands of answers and millions of light-years. As for the title, from where would our judges watch us?

  UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

  Time

  Human: Second | GSA: Nolaprike

  1 Duprike = .605 Seconds

  1 Second = 1.653 Duprikes

  1 Nolaprike = 100 Duprikes

  1 Nolaprike = 1.008 Minutes

  1 Minute = .992 Nolaprikes

  1 Trike = 10 Nolaprikes

  1 Trike = 10.08 Minutes

  1 Drike = 10 Trikes

  1 Drike = 1.68 Hours

  1 Prike = 10 Drikes

  1 Prike = 16.8 Hours

  1 Fike = 10 Prikes

  1 Fike = 1 Week

  Human: Year , GSA: Turn

  1 Turn = 1.3304 Years

  1 Turn = 692 Prikes

  1 Year = .75 Turns

  - The Turn is equivalent to the orbital

  period of Mijorn.

  Distance

  Human: Meter | GSA: Tradon

  1 Tradon = 3 Meters

  1 Meter = .333 Tradons

  1 Rudon = 1000 Tradons

  1 Rudon = 3 Kilometers

  1 Kilometer = .333 Rudons

  1 Nolaendon = 1000 Rudons

  1 Nolaendon = 3000 Kilometers

  1 Endon = 1000 Nolaendons

  1 Endon = 3000000 Kilometers

  1 Sadon = 1000 Endons

  1 Sadon = 3.0 X 10^9 Kilometers

  Distance from the Sun to Uranus

  1 Kulon = 1000 Sadons

  1 Kulon = 3.0 X 10^12 Kilometer or .317 Light Years

  1 Light Year = 9.461 X 10^12 Kilometers

  1 Light-turn = 12.615 X 10^12 Kilometers

  1 Light Year = .75 Light-turns

  1 Light-turn = 4.204 Kulons

  1 Kulon = .238 Light-turns

  - The Endon came from the mean radii of the orbital

  distance of Azoeleo, with an eccentricity of only .000007

  Light Intensity

  Human: Candela | GSA: Balon

  1 Balon = 11.6 Candela

  1 Candela = .086 Balon

  Temperature

  Human: Kelvin | GSA: zorn

  Conversion: 1 Zorn = .9105 Kelvin

  Conversion: 1 Kelvin = 1.098 Zorn

  Conversion: 273.15 Kelvin = 300 Zorn (Freezing Point of Water)

  Faster Than

  Light Speed

  Patch 0 = 300 Light-turns/Turn

  - Out of repair or antiquated ships, smugglers, pirates, or those avoiding the law. Ships travelling at this speed have an undetectable flowspace tracking signal unless within 1 endon of scanners.

  - Older ships, the economically lower classes, and those travelling between relatively close star systems.

  Patch 2 = 25000 Light-turns/Turn

  - Standard GSA private and commercial ships.

  Patch 3 = 100000 Light-turns/Turn

  - Maximum a private citizen or business is allowed to have for interstellar travel. This is the standard GSA government ship speed.

  Patch 4 = 175000 Light-turns/Turn

  - Standard for GSA Military, Policing, Investigation, and Disaster Relief ships.

  Patch 5 = 300000 Light-turns/Turn

  - GSA Special Military Operations, Voidwhisperers, COS, interstellar crime syndicates, and GSA top tier government officials.

  Mass

  Human: Kilogram | GSA: Klant

  1 Kilogram = .5882 Klants

  1 Klant = 1.7 Kilograms

  - The klant originated from the mass of 1 Rakillaegg, which are always the same size, never varying by more than 1000 silicon atoms in mass.

  Electric Current

  Human: Ampere | GSA: Char

  The Char is defined as a Naxar per Duprike, where the charge of an electron = 1 Xar

  1 Naxar = 1.0 x 10^19 Xar

  1 Char = 2.65 Ampere

  1 Ampere = .377 Xar

  Amount of Particles in Substance

  Human: Mole | GSA: Entz

  Entz = 7.22 X 10^23 particles

  1 Entz = 1.2 Moles

  1 Mole = .8 Entz

  One

  Dear Edwin

  “As I sit here, realizing the dreams of humanity are within reach, I’m humbly taken aback by just how small we are. Excitement courses through me, for we are like the explorers of old sailing for an unknown horizon, fueled only by the hope of a new world.”

  June 10, 2091

  Bernard Hubert put down his journal and gazed at the Moon. Mining ships with precious cargo zoomed away from the pale lunar aura, sailing across the firmament, back to Earth.

  “To think we would settle for this.” Bernard sighed while looking over the vast space engulfing his existence. His rocket, soon to be launched, carrying the hopes of humanity and a frontier only just beginning to be explored.

  After the war, the main facility had to be moved. Unfortunately, massive land regions had succumbed to depopulation from the rising heat, while the preferred stronghold of Florida had been lost to the rising sea.

  Now a volcanic crater cradled his soon-to-be launched rocket. The construction mandates set forth by the World Council being utterly insane, he took immense pleasure in his team for accomplishing the impossible. The pad had been completed in just two months, the concrete still setting.

  A neat pile of organized notes and papers sat on his desk. Bernard sifted through, searching for a particular letter, one his great grandfather, Edwin, had received from the legendary astronomer, Carl Sagan. Finding it, he gently lifted the crinkled and yellowed paper.

  My Dear Edwin,

  Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

  Never forget, no matter how great we be
come we will always be small. Yet despite being infinitesimal, we can always find our purpose. I am immensely impressed with your contributions to the fields of astrophysics and cosmology.

  Yours truly,

  Carl Sagan

  Bernard repeated, “The history of our species lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.” Then, with a pen in hand and a smile on his face, he added two words:

  Until now.

  After a gentle knock, a service woman poked her head in. “It’s time, sir.”

  Bernard gently placed the letter in an empty box, piled the remaining papers atop and then closed the lid. He cracked his knuckles, stood, stretched, and turned off the light.

  He considered the strength of his legacy. Henry Hubert, his father, was the most revered MIT professor to ever walk those halls; his great grandfather, Edwin, author of the seminal Fantastical Stories of Stardust & Rock was a thought leader in cosmology and friend to Carl Sagan. That lineage led him here, to this mission, all the work done — and yet to come.