Chronicles of Tomorrow: Echoes From the Future Ep.4
Recap( Ep.3)
Vladivostok, the space station orbiting Venus confirmed the approach of the vessels after 50 minutes of launch and recalibrated their trajectory. The time for them to decelerate was approaching fast and precision was of essence. The ships approached their drop points, approximately midway between the orbits of Venus and Mercury. Mercury, has a short period of revolution around the Sun and hence, the choice of orbit.
After the carriers aligned themselves in five stable orbits, they would deploy their respective payloads, thirty million mica filled silver plate capacitors, each about ten kilometres long, folded over each other like the steel in the blade of a samurai sword to decrease their length. The capacitors were guarded by prótégo coated high carbon steel plates with one face connected to solar panels.
These plates were to form 5 elliptical rings which would form sections of a sphere. These rings had enough gaps between them to allow enough solar radiation required to maintain the brightness in our star system. They would revolve around the sun according to modified Kepler’s laws without disturbing the balance. Planning it was not a walk in the park. The calculations took months and a team of five people headed by our brilliant mathematician, Irene.
I always found mathematics beautiful and it was a treat to the eyes watching those mind-boggling equations come into play while those thirty million massive plates unfolded to form the five rings.
dyson_sphere_construction_by_spar-d6v1on7
The solar panels blazed up to give a bright bluish white color. The sight was literally and figuratively out of this world. Why wouldn’t it be, the rings are my brainchild.
The whole process took 6 hours to complete. It was the biggest achoevement since the discovery of petroleum and also after the depletion of petroleum reserves. I still remember the day when it was announced that the rock oil reserves have been depleted. Riots spread like wildfire killing thousands on the very first day. It took over a month to bring everything under control during which thousands of cities were destroyed. It was a symbol that destruction caused by man can be as severe as caused by nature. Even though it was more than 300 years ago, the memories are still fresh like an open wound. I lost Martha in those riots, it was the last day for my dwindling hope in humanity.
I got back to my quarters after a long and unnecessary loud celebration. I never understood why any kind of celebration has to be loud for people. Centuries of technological innovation and yet the party culture never died down.
Husky ran down to greet me as soon as I drove down the garage door. We had a nice dinner and then I sat down to write the journal, my first journal after the war got over.
To be continued…
