Janus 5
The Heavens above: Chapter 1
When the sun sets in the evening and darkness emerges, it allows you to see the stars of faraway galaxies. We can’t imagine what goes on out there in those distant places. In fact, light from those stars you’re seeing originated hundreds, thousands or even millions of years ago. The stars you’re looking at are completely different at this moment than the twinkle you’re seeing in the night sky right now. Some of those stars might not even exist. Closer to earth people feel secure in the knowledge they go to sleep at night and know what is happening on this big blue ball and even in the heavens above it. You think you do because of constant news coverage, social media, satellites and video cameras everywhere. There are even X’s and Facebook videos being posted from astronauts on the space station. However, the frontier of space still has a limitless quality to it. The entire planet will be amazed after reading this. Within the last eight years science fiction has become reality. The world of fiction hasn’t come up with what is happening overhead. The project I’m going to tell you about is completely secret and must be kept under wraps for the protection of humankind as we know it. Once I write this story and put it before the public I could be liquidated. That probably won’t happen though because the organization running this project figures no one will believe the story. Only a small, select group of people are supposed to know what’s going on as I’m writing this. I will tell you later how I know about it. The story will eventually get out to the public so you might as well read it now. God help me.
The public perception of the United States in space is one of NASA as a floundering organization, dependent on Russian rockets to lift our astronauts up to the space station. Once our people are at the space station, they work in conjunction with other astronauts from various countries to perform mundane experiments to show the world we care about earth issues such as climate change and how fast the polar ice caps are melting. There is more going on, however. The private sector has always been the United States strong suit, and now, it’s re-emerging in space in a most unbelievable way.
I guess I’ll just start at the beginning with the story I know, and you decide what you think. Here it is: On Saturday March 21st, 2023, at about 2:00pm local time, a group of four men and two women meet at the Wyndham Oceanside Pier Resort in Oceanside, California. This is the core group for the project I’m telling you about. The people meeting in this room are the perfect storm of crazy genius, money, regular genius, and great organizational skills. They have brought a team together that has developed a mechanism to change all of mankind and the way we think about things on this earth and the entire universe.
The man heading the meeting is multi billionaire Mike Davis. He’s associated with Google, Amazon, space X, and other high tech companies. Nobody has heard his name because he’s an expert at flying under the radar. He’s a computer geek that earned his chops working with computers in garages before the masses knew anything about desktops, laptops, the Internet, or phone apps. He has quietly predicted most tech trends for almost twenty five years and has invested his money wisely. He’s amassed a fortune worth more than almost anybody you can name, and the people you can name that have more money than Davis are very close friends with him.
Two of the other people in the meeting are the most extraordinary physicists of our time. They too have flown under the radar because they’ve been considered crackpots for a while and no one has taken their work seriously, until now. Their names are Dr. Mark Goldman and Dr. Daniel Hepwater. They’re participating in this meeting because their ideas have led to an amazing discovery in the field of quantum physics. Goldman and Hepwater have turned the world of space travel upside down, and no one knows it. They’ve discovered an ingenious way to travel to another galaxy in mere seconds using quantum entanglement. Albert Einstein said quantum entanglement is the spooky element. Einstein could never figure it out. Well, the spooky element is the answer to unlimited space travel, apparently. The rest of the world is stuck trying to get to Mars with regular propulsion. It seems unimaginable, but it has happened.
Another member of the staff at the meeting is Simon Olinick. He’s a space engineer that was well respected until he began having drug and alcohol problems. His drug problems along with a few outlandish theories made him easy to shun by his contemporaries, but he’s the perfect person for this job. Olinick has solved problems that remain perplexing to the general science community at this time. The most important thing is he’s solved the engineering issues around Goldman and Hepwater’s transportation system. However, his drug and alcohol problem continue.
Then we have Janice Miller. She’s a computer engineer that because of Goldman and Hepwater’s experiments has developed a quantum computer. She has also worked artificial intelligence into the supercomputer. This is the type of machine needed to make Goldman and Hepwater’s transportation system functional. For several years now quantum computers have been the holy grail of the geeks, but Miller has found it. Other companies are on the verge of producing quantum computers and the general public will soon learn of this technology. It’ll change everything. For now though, Davis’s team has sole access to this technology.
These amazing discoveries are the reason for the sixth member of the group. This person is one of the top Physicist/philosopher’s in the world. Physics has reached such a level as to being able to explain major situations in humanity such as life and death, and time delineation. Therefore, a need for someone who understands physics and can relate it to the common person and our world in a practical manner is needed. That would be Professor Jana Powell, a philosopher in physics. This is a relatively new field Powell has pioneered and will be essential to this project.
Davis stands before the small group in a large suite on the top floor of the hotel, “Ladies and gentlemen, I think it’s time to move on to the final phase of our project preparation. We are ready to go. I believe within a week this project will be under way. To that end, I’ve invited a man here I think will be able to head up this great voyage. We’ll talk with him today and you can ask him any questions you want. We’ll evaluate him and decide what course of action to take. His name is Colonel David James Bowie. He was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He attended the University of Texas in Austin. He went into the Marines as an officer and was part of a Marine reconnaissance company. He received distinguished honors at the position in Afghanistan. He then managed to transfer to pilot training. He became a Harrier pilot and flew numerous missions over Afghanistan. He flew right up till the end of the war. His leadership was so evident he became a squadron and then group leader. He led many attacks against terrorist strongholds for the Marines on the ground saving many lives. On one mission he had an engine flame out. He had to eject. Before he ejected, he was supposed to push a button that would destroy the plane so the enemy couldn’t get a hold of information about the Harrier. He had the fore thought to push the button before he ejected. He ejected into enemy territory and somehow managed to elude them through the desert and mountains for seven days. He found his way back to friendly territory. He’s now retired at age forty six and I believe you will truly find him an amazing man.”
As Davis was explaining the Colonel’s credentials, he looked at each member of the group. He could see concern and questions on their faces. The craggy, frail old man, Goldman, said in a weak voice, “What’s a Harrier?”
Davis quickly came back with, “The Harrier jump jet. It’s a Marine fighter jet. It can land and take off vertically. It’s a difficult plane to fly. Bowie had to be a great adapter and leader to work in the Harrier community.
Goldman contemplates the information and is satisfied for the time being as he slowly sits back and looks at his new smart phone trying to figure out why it just made a beeping noise.
Davis then notices Powell with a big smile on her face as if she’s about to break out in laughter, “So this gentleman is named after a rock star and a hero at the Alamo, and is from San Antonio? That’s very interesting.”
Davis smiled as he looked down, “When I talked with him, he told me his friends all call him Jimmy. Apparently, he got teased a little when he was a kid about the whole David Bowie thing.”
She nodded as if she understood, “Well, fortunately not too many young people know about both David Bowie the musician, and Jim Bowie the hero of the Alamo. Although, in San Antonio there might be quite a few people that know about Jim Bowie. I’m guessing his parents had a sense of humor.”
She now got a more serious look on her face, “Anyway Mike, I have a concern about a military person for this position. This is a scientific project. I think we need a scientist to head this up. There shouldn’t be any aggressiveness or militarism in this program.”
Davis stood there a second, he then looked up taking a deep breath, “Jana you are one hundred percent right. This is a scientific expedition with totally peaceful intentions. The sole purpose of this mission will be for discovery and scientific advancement. Whoever heads up this project will have to understand that. The reason I think we need a military person of this caliber is because we don't know what we’ll run into. I think we need somebody who can think fast in very stressful life and death situations. There is a possibility many decisions will have to be made that could affect the entire universe as we know it. Now, do you know of anybody else that fits that profile?”
Jana stared into his eyes and wasn’t sure what to say at first, “I just don’t want this to turn into a mission of conquest. We should be exploring not conquering.”
“And that’s what we’re going to do. The commander of this flight should pretty much be a nonfactor and defer to the different scientific disciplines sent to do the exploring. However, if something comes up, we haven’t anticipated, I think we need someone that can handle extreme and stressful situations. Who better than a military person that has seen some crazy things in life. The people we send out on this mission must come back. We need to know what happens to them. On later voyages we might be able to send just scientists, but right now I think we need a few military people to ensure its successful return. Do we agree?”
All five scientists sat there for a second and then started nodding their heads in agreement. Davis added another bit of information, “We also have four Marine special forces soldiers going. Just for defense. They will be under the command of whoever heads up the mission. These military people will be strictly for defense. The mission leader will understand the military option should be inconsequential and only used in a last ditch effort to get the ship back safe.”
Now the room got quiet. Davis continued, “Look, let’s just talk to the gentleman, then we can confer and decide what we need to do. He’ll be here in a few minutes, and we’ll see how it goes. Until then just relax and enjoy some refreshments.”
The confab settled down after that and began eating the nacho dip and drinking pre-mixed Margaritas. They ate, drank, and made small talk for a short time when Davis’s cell phone began to vibrate violently on the wooden coffee table. He quickly grabbed it and checked the message. He put the phone back down on the table and announced to the group, “Ok, he’s here. I’m going to bring him in, and we’ll ask him our initial questions. If we proceed beyond the preliminary inquiries, you can ask him any questions you want. Anything is open for discussion.