Author name: gardensofhansen@hotmail.com

In excerpt 5 of Demeter we find out why Ryder and his friends have been kidnapped, or rather conscripted. Rebecca raised her hand and asked, “So you’re taking us to teach us the truth so we can restore the original vision to Earth?” “Sadly, no,” Miss Li replied. “Earth was lost for millennia. The war between the galactic arms has continued all this time. The focus within the Orion Spur is on the three systems containing the way stations, rather than developing planets. Even self-sustaining ships need refueling and repair, so control of the way stations has always been critical to the battle between the arms. In this sector of the Spur, Demeter is the way station that was controlled by the Per-Sian League for several centuries. About eight hundred years ago, the Sagittarius League began the process of retaking Demeter, which has changed hands several times over the millennia. As you can imagine, the logistics of a military campaign covering thousands of light years is difficult to maintain.” Mr. Small interrupted. “The shift in power in the region has always been more of a battle of logistics than a battle of ships. The last actual battle I was involved in was about sixteen years ago, and that was more a skirmish than a real battle. I remember I thought I was a goner when Shadrack and his brother swooped in and—” “Roger! No war stories!” Miss Li interrupted, staring sharply at Mr. Small. She turned to Ryder and his friends. “Once he starts telling war stories, he doesn’t stop.” Joel looked at Miss Li, “What is logistics?” “It’s the process of moving personnel and materials from the staging area, in this case the Sagittarian worlds, to Demeter. Not only do they have to move ships, but they also must have all the supplies needed to support those ships. Of course, the navy itself is easy, they had control of the second station, Haumeah and could build forces there. But typically for every thousand fighting men or women, you have another thousand support personnel. The Sagittarians began exploring a less expensive means of supporting the invasion of Demeter.” Mr. Small took over, with millions of stars and tens of millions of planets in the proximity of Demeter, the Sagittarians began looking for potential developing world’s where they could recruit their support staff. Having studied the archives I know that they spent over a hundred years looking for viable candidate worlds and in all that time they found a total of two: Earth and Cryella.” “Cryella?” Cynthia queried. “We’ll talk about Cryella and the Cryellians another day,” Miss Li continued. The Sagittarians rediscovered Earth as it searched for potential colleagues. We were not advanced enough to approach as partners, so they began conscripting people from Earth, or Terrans, to help retake Demeter nearly eight hundred years ago.” “Wait a minute. You mean we’re draftees?” asked Randy, with ire again sounding in his voice. “Well, in a manner of speaking, yes,” Mr. Small responded. “However, if you read your agreement for the “year abroad” program, you will notice that it clearly states that you ‘will have a culturally enriching educational experience and be provided the opportunity to offer service in your host community. Your host community is Demeter, and I guarantee it will be culturally enriching. You also signed a confidentiality agreement, that prohibits you from discussing details of your experience with outsiders. We’re very serious about that.” “You mean you would kill us?” Joel asked defensively. “You’ve been watching too many science fiction movies,” Miss Li said. “No, we wouldn’t kill you. But it is relatively easy to discredit anything you say and make you look like one of those UFO nuts. Of course, not all of them are UFO nuts. Several of the most vocal ones actually served a year on Demeter.” “On the bright side, you will learn a lot,” Mr. Small added. “Twenty-five of the richest people in the world are our former students. Many technological breakthroughs going all the way back to Leonardo da Vinci can be attributed to experiences on Demeter. Our foundation has also helped over a hundred of our alumni become heads of state. The experiences you have on Demeter are better than any college degree you might earn.”

The silent film era had a number of outstanding science fiction movies, but I am more interested in the syfy films of the talkie era. Considered by many to be the best science fiction film of the 1930s, “Things to Come” (1936) has an eerie accuracy regarding the following hundred years. It predicts a second world war, but suggests that it lasts decades. This is an interesting film to watch from the perspective of what did Wells get right, what was wrong, and what was just off a few years in his efforts as a futurist. H.G. Wells struck again with “The Invisible Man” actually filmed in 1933. One of two films suggesting that science inevitably runs amuck. This is a very watchable film, and mesmerized me as a pre-teen, while black and white was still the standard on television. The other film that is a classic for science running amuck and the panic that often ensues by the unenlightened is Frankenstein. I always thought of this more as horror, but science is fundamental to the story line. The heyday for square-jawed Buster Crabbe was in the 1930s and the movie serials. Serials were produced in much shorter form, usually 20-25 minutes for each episode, which inevitably ended with a cliffhanger. In the 1950s and early 1960s these 1930 serials were often used at the beginning of Saturday matinees to hook young viewers into coming back to the theater the next Saturday whether they liked the main feature or not. Buster Crabbe starred in two of these serials portraying both Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, produced by different studios. The main difference in the stories and the actor was the color of his hair: blond in Flash Gordan and dark haired in Buck Rogers. Classified as science fiction, although I’m not sure why, is the classic 1933 King Kong. It s a great movie and stars Fay Wray, who dated my father-in-law before she went off to Hollywood. It is a great movie, but I still quibble about calling it science fiction. One more film I’ll mention that has made the list is “Air Hawks” (1935). The film includes Ralph Bellamy and Wiley Post, but is most interesting to me as it creates an EMT device (although its called a death ray) but interesting twist on a future weapon. Okay, the 1930s weren’t great for science fiction movies, but there are a few worth viewing to see the path those films have taken. I have omitted some such as sequels “Son of Frankenstein” and one that I don’t really fits no matter how I twist it, “The Wizard of Oz”

I was asked recently about world building when I write my stories. How do I come up with an alien world? Right now I’m working on a new novel where part of the action takes place in Enceladus (a moon of Saturn). Another part will take place at a base inside a moon. Reflectively, Demeter is also a world inside a world or dead planetoid. Paragon is the one setting I have used so far that is more of a traditional surface world. Enceladus fits well into to follow-up story I’m writing as a follow-up to Salt of the Earth (not yet published). The current science makes it an interesting potential setting as we have discovered that Enceladus has a vast ocean under a frozen surface. So reading science articles about what is happening in the Solar System awakens my creative juices on “what could it be like”. The model for Demeter was the asteroid in our Solar System, Ceres. If you think about mythology it makes some sense that the Greek God for Agriculture is Demeter and the Roman God for Agriculture (lifted from the Greeks) is Ceres. Ceres is a large asteroid in the Asteroid Belt about 1,000 km in diameter. It is like a very small, very dead planetoid that is seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Demeter likewise is set in a desolate, but strategically valuable point in Orion’s Spur. It is a light year away from any Sun. To put this in perspective the Kuiper Belt 2.0 is about 90 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Sun. (Note: If you’re not familiar with the term AU it is a unit of measure that is the distance of Earth from the Sun.) One light year is 63,241 AU. Using Ceres as a model, and thinking about such stories as “Journey to the Center of the Earth” I started thinking about the problems I had with the concept of Jules Verne’s story based on science. The interior of Ceres became a challenge. The interior world of Demeter was not natural, but a matter of terra-forming. This occurred over an undefined time. Some of the mysteries of Demeter is who formed it in the first place? How was it discovered considering its remoteness. The war that surrounds Orion’s Spur had been going on for over 10 millenia. The root cause of the war is a thing of legend. Even who built the buildings and infrastructure is a point of contention. This part is revealed to be more of a surprise to the protagonists, although there is enough foreshadowing that it is not a major surprise to the readers. In Chapter 7 we get our first glimpse of Demeter: Demeter looked like a small planet, although Ryder knew that it had a diameter of only about half the size of the Earth’s moon. For him, it would be better to think of it as a large asteroid. It was basically round, although elliptical like an egg might be more accurate. The surface was heavily pockmarked. In fact, there seemed to be craters inside craters and then more craters. It was very uninviting, increasing Ryder’s sense of foreboding and concerns. The world of Demeter edges on paradise from a topographical perspective. It is primarily a large ocean world, supported by ice fields on the polar region of the interior of the world. As the eco-system is artificial, the systems are maintained through technology. It rains every night, but the days are always clear. The lighting inside the world is created through technology in a world that is a natural geode that has been terra-formed. There are numerous green islands, but the bulk of the population resides on what would be the sides of the world with what appear to be mountains, but is actually the inner wall of the planetoid. Ryder and his friends get their first glimpse of the interior of Demeter after traveling through a number of locks From the side portals, they could see the sheer face of a mountain wall rising on either side of the lock. As Ryder followed the line of the jagged obsidian cliffs that rose out of sight, he saw patches of chartreuse vegetation struggling to survive on the glassy surface. The sky was difficult to read. They could not see any clouds, but it felt hazy as if twilight were approaching. It was obviously daytime for this world, but Ryder could not locate a central source of the light. As the Pegasus continued to move forward and exit the final lock, a pale aqua surface mirrored below. It wasn’t until a large creature of some sort broke the surface that they realized it was water. “The Sea of Demeter,” … Once I had created the world of Demeter, I worked to explain how the world could possibly work? How could you keep it warm? What about atmosphere? Gravity? Weather? Agriculture? How did you feed the population? Why even bother? Now for the downside of world building. It takes away from the action. I’ve been told that the first book is a great story, but a little slow in the first half of the book. That is unavoidable from my perspective to set up a good story with a good world that has its own uniqueness, its own alienness, its own mystery. Books 2 and 3 of Orion’s Spur focuses more on action as the world is already constructed. Books 4 and 5 take us to two new worlds and cultures. Does the story slow? Not so much as we have a point of reference already developed in Book 1.

In the 1960s I eventually moved on from Robert Heinlein’s juvenile science fiction to his YA/Adult Science fiction. One of my favorite novels during this period was Starship Troopers. I was certainly moving into my military science fiction fandom era. I even considered ROTC in college (my dad talked me out of it… said I’d wind up in the stockade as I wouldn’t follow orders… he was probably right). Starship Troopers follows a young man through coming of age. He was a spoiled rich kid, and things look dim until the “Bugs” attack Earth and affect his own family. The storyline connects citizenship with service. Not a bad notion. It did limit citizenship to military service, but frankly I think some sort of volunteer service between high school and college would be a good idea. Sadly, Director Paul Verhoeven took it well beyond service turning it more into fascism, and giving the political views of Heinlein a negative twist. It also turned an excellent movie that could have approached “Edge of Tomorrow” for a more animae type version that served RoboCop well but not this particular story.

When I was in elementary school we thought of the solar system as being the Sun and nine planets including: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Mercury. We also learned that there was a mysterious ring of asteroids between Mercury and Jupiter called the Asteroid Belt. We also knew that there were some moons out there around some of the planets. We never discussed yet another belt, the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt is no secret but there was no thought of it existing until after Pluto was identified in 1930. In my own mind the Kuiper Belt is like the asteroid belt but further away and of necessity bigger as it surrounds the solar system starting about 30 AU from the Sun (an AU is the astronomical unit of measure of the average distance of the Earth from the Sun). Putting this in perspective, our fastest man-made probe travels at roughly 430,000 miles per hour. At that speed it would take nine days to reach the Earth from the Sun. It would take that same ship 9 months to travel to the edge of the Kuiper Belt. So what’s in the Kuiper Belt? Again something I wasn’t aware of when I was younger was that the Kuiper Belt might seem to be a good sized junk yard if it was on Earth. It has trillions of objects, but thinking in terms of something of size, it is estimated that there are over 100,000 objects over 62 miles (100 km) in diameter. In our Asteroid Belt they have discovered about 200 objects of that size. Of course the Kuiper Belt covers a lot of ground. Remember AU? It is about 100 AU in diameter. So what we know so far about the solar system is pretty limited, with knowledge of the Kuiper Belt only being in our history for less than a hundred years. Now they have discovered a second Kuiper Belt even further out. What do we know about it? Not much yet, other than it is out there. We know there is a sizable gap between Kuiper Belt 1 and Kuiper Belt 2.0 and it is between 70 and 90 AU from the Sun. The number of sizable objects, if we extrapolate from Asteroid Belt to Kuiper 1 Belt, would suggest millions of sizable objects and even more icy objects.

It was a fun day for me. I was interviewed about the Orion’s Spur series and Demeter today on Alternate Futures podcast. In addition to talking about the books we discussed what the future might look like, and why more people aren’t interested in going into space. It should be available in mid-October.

SyFy – Excerpt 4 follows Ryder and friends on their trip to Europe. Rebecca Creer noticed some unusual issues as they were boarding their airplane at O’Hare International Airport. This excerpt takes our characters to a rude awakening. Two hours later, he put down his book and looked out the window. It was nice to be able to have the window seat for a change. They had passed over the last of the landmass. They were now crossing over the Atlantic. Off to the side, he saw another plane that looked a little more familiar in style than their own. He thought they were awfully close, as he could make out the plane ID, J-773. Wait a minute, he thought, the tail of our plane was J-773. That’s when things really started to get strange. The ping of the announcement system went off, and the pilot’s voice came back over the intercom. “Please be sure that your restraining devices are firmly in place. We will be accelerating in one minute.” Miss Li got out of her seat, as did Mr. Small, and checked everyone’s restraints. “Looks good up here,” called out Mr. Small. “We are clear back here as well,” responded Miss Li. After the teachers were reseated, Ryder could feel the pressure as they accelerated and angled sharply upward. The crushing sensation continued for several minutes, and Ryder’s ribs started to ache. The sky began to turn purple, then finally black, and for a moment, Ryder thought he was passing out. The stars, I’ve never seen them so bright, he thought. Wait a minute, what are we doing up here! He then panicked and tried to get out of his seat. The securing system was locked. They were trapped!

An article recently caught my attention, and it has reemerged several times now. It is about the idea that Earth has multiple moons. Another version of the story suggests multiple quasi-moons. Great click bait, but what does it all mean? It kind of depends on who you ask. For purposes of this discussion, let’s refine the term as a large object that orbits a planet. Okay, that is interesting, we have millions of satellites and space junk orbiting our planet, so are they all moons? Let’s add to our definition that it needs to be naturally occurring. Within our solar system, all classified moons are rocky. We do have planets that are mainly gas giants such as Jupiter, but defined moons in our solar system are all rocky. What about size? Let’s see, the smallest classified moon in our solar system at this moment is Deimos. It is roughly seven miles in diameter. There are some objects now being referred to as shepherd moons in Saturn’s belt that may be classified as moons that are even smaller. When I think of a moon I start with Earth’s moon. The moon is 2,159 miles in diameter. By comparison, Pluto (no longer classified a planet) is about 1,476 miles. Mercury, which is classified as a planet is 3,031 miles in diameter. So, the Moon is pretty close in size to be categorized as a planet. But it is not because it is locked into orbit around a planet… Earth. Let’s get back to the quasi-moons of Earth. Quasi-moons can rotate around a planet. We have seven identified quasi-moons that have elliptical orbits around the Earth. The largest of the quasi-moons that has been identified is Kamo’oalewa or 2016 HO3. It could be as large as 328 feet in diameter and has a fairly stable orbit. Another quais-moon that was recently discovered is 2023 FW13, about the same size as Kamo’oalewa. What is the difference between an asteroid and a quasi-moon. That’s probably the better question as these large rocks really are nothing unusual when considering asteroids. The main difference is that they orbit around the Earth as we both orbit around the Sun. Some of these quasi-moons will stick around for thousands of years, others will wander off if another gravitational source disrupts our partnership. For me, the question now is the storyline for another good science fiction story. One is rattling around in the back of my mind. I just can’t make up my mind if it’s a novel or a short story.

Aloha – In the first two excerpts I shared from Demeter, we are introduced to three of the central characters: Ryder, his younger sister Debbie, and a girl on whom Ryder has a crush, Cynthia Flores. The book starts up with a real incident dramatized for the story of Ryder getting beaten up at a school dance, and Debbie and Cynthia getting into it with the school bully. All three are transferred to another school where they meet Ms. Lee, and soon to follow, Mr. Small from their previous school. There timing is great as they are invited to a year abroad in Europe. Bread crumbs along the way suggest a bit of a mystery but nothing they are concerned with. Then we get into things heating up. What’s going on? According to the clock on the wall, they arrived at M-23 ten minutes after the flight was supposed to leave, but it was still there. They checked through the counter in a rush and ran down an empty jet bridge. Ryder caught glimpses of the plane through the porthole-type windows as they entered the plane’s threshold. It looks a little odd, he thought, then rushed in behind Debbie and bumped into Cynthia. “I’m sorry,” he said panicky. “I’m not,” Cynthia quipped, breathing hard from the run. The interior of the plane was different. It was black with brown leather seats. The black reminded Ryder of a Japanese jewelry box his mother owned. What was that called? Lacquer, that’s it, he thought. The aisles were wider, with only two seats on each side. The seats were even larger than first class on the previous flight. He didn’t have to bend over to walk down the aisle or even when he slid into his chair. The overhead compartments were harder to reach, but deeper than the previous plane. Along with his backpack he could have easily placed his two suitcases in the space. Ryder also noticed that he did not have to stand in a line inside the plane to get to his seat. He figured that was just because they were late. “Wow, this is the way to fly. I wonder if all international flights are like this,” he mumbled. Rebecca Creer was sitting next to him. Debbie and Cynthia were across the aisle. Ryder knew two things about Rebecca: she would read the entire way, and she wouldn’t say a word to him. Debbie once counted, and announced to Ryder, that Rebecca had only spoken seven words all day in class. Rebecca turned to Ryder. “Something is not right with this. I’ve traveled to Europe twice before, and this just isn’t right,” she declared. Ryder was in shock. “What did you say?” he asked stupidly. More surprised that she had spoken to him than by what she had said. “The planes for international flights are more crowded and uncomfortable than domestic flights. When my family and I went to Spain last year, I could barely hold my book up without having my arms go into spasms. This is bizarre,” She declared. There was a doorbell-like ping, and the pilot announced that they would be leaving shortly, and to fasten their seatbelts. Ryder looked for the carlike seatbelt and was immediately confused. “Miss Li, I don’t have a seatbelt,” he complained. It was at this point he noticed something else: there was no flight attendant to ask for help. Miss Li walked to the front and immediately had everyone’s attention. “You will probably notice that this is a private plane, as opposed to a regular airliner. You’ll need to fasten your safety equipment. Sit back in your seat and press the blue button on the arm rest. But be sure you are sitting back as far as you can in your seat when you push the button.” She then sat down quietly, as if to demonstrate, and pushed the blue button on her console. There was a faint purr, and several restraining devices automatically deployed, firmly securing her to the chair. Ryder heard several other purrs and clicks. He looked at Rebecca, and then pushed the button. A moment later she did the same.