A THOUSAND YEARS AFTER ARMAGEDDON
Bhaktananda meditated in a zen posture in front of a body of water, he was of Chinese blood, but the Sanskrit revival was the trend for monastic names. The dazzling white of his cotton dress was a diamond suspended between the emerald of the grass and the turquoise of the sky. When Sunyata is touched, time loses any importance, he had no memories or interest in his life before that moment, he could have been there forever, but he felt fresh as if he had just begun.
A noise, like a hollow log rolling down a slope, gently insinuated itself to crack the perfection, he opened his eyes and looked at the face reflected in the water, which was not his own.
"Honorable, I'm sorry to bother you ! But two fast corvettes are approaching the convoy, we spotted them when they activated the protective shields, no radio communication. "
Bhakti, unmoved, traced with his finger an ideogram on the water surface.
"Thanks captain, have you already loaded a pair of EMP missiles?"
" Yes sir ! "
The image on the rippled water had changed, the captain's face was relegated to the upper left corner, and most of the mirror now showed a portion of the space between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, the merchant convoy with the five-petals lotus emblem, the two strangers on a collision course, and slightly backward the ship of which he was tactical officer: the Southern Bird. This was a Mantis class light cruiser, designed specifically for hunting pirates and convoy escort. The design was typical of the Five Petal Lotus, armor and armament sacrificed for speed and stealth performance, it looked like a black swan, almost invisible against the starry background, with a rounded body, the negative wings curving like horns of a crescent, the long neck that held the hull at a safe distance from the head, where there was the laser destructor chamber, powered by the explosion of an H bomb.
For Bhakti all this was like a mandala which he understood in an instant of intuition, every element and consequence. A computer can analyze a situation and react in less than a moment, but only a man in deep meditation can sense things before they happen. That is why each FPL warship had three tactical officers who rotated in the meditation hall and took command in dangerous situations.
He uttered aloud a mantra, immediately recognized by the ship's computer, and with one gesture he left a trail of intricate lines on the water, there was in that figure all the information that would allow the two missiles to close the pirate ships in a spiral with no exit. In his mind he saw the bridge of command of one of the ships, the expression of the pirates to the appearance on their screens of two flashing points and then of the white swan that became visible, the polymers that covered the hull of the Southern Bird had switched from opacity to maximum albedo, to partially reflect the laser impulses that could strike it.
The corvettes attempted a useless evasive maneuver, to avoid a missile they allowed the other to explode between them, investing both with its electromagnetic wave able to zero any electrical activity and burn any unprotected circuit. Actually it was rare to find spaceships that were not shielded inside against this kind of attack, but on the outside their protection against lasers was constituted by a cloud of highly reflecting metallic dust, suspended in a magnetic field, that the EMP could disperse without difficulty.
Bhakti examined the stripped ships, one was elegant, the bow was carved like a hawk's head, the other was a heap of tubes and modules randomly attached together, they were the visible testimony of the diversity of views and conceptions that could be found between the hundreds of cultures scattered throughout the Solar System.
He moved his hand in the water and the Southern Bird meekly followed his movements, tilting to the right and slightly to the bottom, the great advantage of the liquid screen was in having the depth axis. After shooting the laser destroyer, even the best-trained crew could not replace the burnt lenses and set a new hydrogen charge in less than 25 minutes, there was only one shot available and it was the tactical officer's duty to make sure that it was not wasted.
The targets turned to ninety degrees just before the H bomb exploded and the magnetic bottle in the combustion chamber shaped all the energy into a blade of light. For those who watched the scene from the convoy, it was as if the pirate ships had dived at the last moment in front of the laser cannon and inside the laser beam, one invested in full exploded. With a shadow of regret Bhakti saw he had hit the beautiful one, while the shapeless pile continued to offend his aesthetic sense by existing, but at least no longer seemed intent on endangering his convoy.
"Honorable, one of the contacts is on the run ... I have a hunter missile locked on it .."
" Compassion captain! They don't shoot, we don't shoot. Let em go and we get away from here, so they can come back to retrieve their friends from the other contact, if some are still alive. "
No sense of guilt disturbed his quiet, but he sincerely hoped that there were survivors and could be saved, however he could not do anything, because after the emergency the command was returned to the captain. He took one of the sweets made of rice and banana that he kept in the wide sleeve of his robe, he felt that there would be no other dangers and he could relax, let his thoughts run before returning to meditation.
There could have been about forty people on the corvette that had detonated, apparently it was cruelty, but the right action comes from the inner clarity that takes things as they really are, not as it would like them to be. No one had forced those people to choose the ronin way instead of living safely in the colonies, and no one had forced them to attack his convoy. It would have been different in the past, during the terrible times that preceded the colonization of space, at that time it would have been people driven by necessity, hunger, drug addiction, and the authorities would have chased them without any compassion. That time was remembered by everyone as the Age of Gold, as the loaning of gold and currency was the base of the power that had enveloped mankind in an inextricable network of illusions, falsehood, bringing it to the brink of self destruction.
Men are constantly increasing in number, as is natural for every living species, but it had reached the point that the resources of planet Earth alone were not enough for everyone, the demographic pressure and the weight of industrial activities seriously threatened to compromise the ecological balance that allows the Earth to sustain life. But the worst was the lack of space, the ethnic minorities, political or religious, had no place to move, to escape the oppression of larger groups, so they reacted with violence and self-destructive behavior, the pre-colonization states had to spend more in weapons that in research.
In addition, the small circle that was preparing to establish a world government, had hidden many technologies that could alleviate the suffering of the populations and anticipate the conquest of space for at least a century. It was with the blackmail of the hunger and despair that the masters of gold intended to enslave humanity, and those who made discoveries that could open a way out were being silenced by corruption or force.
The snack was over, he stretched out on the grass, what had happened later made him regret not being born a thousand years before, to live those days.
In the city of Rome, under the obelisk of St. Peter's Square, a man appeared and began to explain the truth. No historian had been able to find out who he was, or what he had done in his thirty-three years before that time, but by common agreement the date of the Obelisk Sermon marked the end of the Age of Gold.
He had kept his name hidden, but he was remembered as the Savior. Like a true Bodhisattva did not ask anyone to change his mind, did not ask to be obeyed, but acted himself and whoever saw him could not help but imitate his example . People of all political and religious beliefs had followed him, and he had not favored anyone on the others. Before a year passed, they had overthrown a power that had been rooted for centuries, exposed all its mechanisms, and above all made public all the hidden knowledge. At last he was gone, before they could make him king or saint he had disappeared suddenly as he had arrived.
With the new scientific knowledge and the economy no longer chained by debts, it took little to transfer the industries out of the Earth's atmosphere, then the majority of the population, on a longer run the wounds of the Earth had been healed and made into one reserve of natural and artistic treasures that everyone could visit.
With the resources of the whole solar system available and the ability to build orbiting colonies at the Lagrange points around the planets, the hardships of that past time were no longer imaginable. Every colony was independent and could have whatever system of government it wanted, for example, the Five Petal Lotus was a commercial league of five Buddhist colonies located at different points in the solar system. Those who were not satisfied had only to move to another place of their preference, or to start a new settlement, or to become a ronin who travels to adventure without stopping anywhere.
Yeah, the ronin, this brought Bhaktananda back to the present and the pirate attack just happened.
For reasons not yet clear they had increased in number in recent years, and became increasingly aggressive. Even though they could live like everyone else out of their work, they preferred to rob the fruits of others's work, as happened in the past age, that was something to think about.
The Christians identified the end of the Age of Gold and the appearance of the Savior with the second advent of Christ, who according to their writings would have granted peace to Mankind for a thousand years, but at the end of that truce the forces that had animated the past age, the kingdom of Mammon, would have awakened and there would have been a direful new trial.
It was not long before the end of the millennium, if the Christians were right, Bhaktananda could experience interesting times in person.
Bhaktananda meditated in a zen posture in front of a body of water, he was of Chinese blood, but the Sanskrit revival was the trend for monastic names. The dazzling white of his cotton dress was a diamond suspended between the emerald of the grass and the turquoise of the sky. When Sunyata is touched, time loses any importance, he had no memories or interest in his life before that moment, he could have been there forever, but he felt fresh as if he had just begun.
A noise, like a hollow log rolling down a slope, gently insinuated itself to crack the perfection, he opened his eyes and looked at the face reflected in the water, which was not his own.
"Honorable, I'm sorry to bother you ! But two fast corvettes are approaching the convoy, we spotted them when they activated the protective shields, no radio communication. "
Bhakti, unmoved, traced with his finger an ideogram on the water surface.
"Thanks captain, have you already loaded a pair of EMP missiles?"
" Yes sir ! "
The image on the rippled water had changed, the captain's face was relegated to the upper left corner, and most of the mirror now showed a portion of the space between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, the merchant convoy with the five-petals lotus emblem, the two strangers on a collision course, and slightly backward the ship of which he was tactical officer: the Southern Bird. This was a Mantis class light cruiser, designed specifically for hunting pirates and convoy escort. The design was typical of the Five Petal Lotus, armor and armament sacrificed for speed and stealth performance, it looked like a black swan, almost invisible against the starry background, with a rounded body, the negative wings curving like horns of a crescent, the long neck that held the hull at a safe distance from the head, where there was the laser destructor chamber, powered by the explosion of an H bomb.
For Bhakti all this was like a mandala which he understood in an instant of intuition, every element and consequence. A computer can analyze a situation and react in less than a moment, but only a man in deep meditation can sense things before they happen. That is why each FPL warship had three tactical officers who rotated in the meditation hall and took command in dangerous situations.
He uttered aloud a mantra, immediately recognized by the ship's computer, and with one gesture he left a trail of intricate lines on the water, there was in that figure all the information that would allow the two missiles to close the pirate ships in a spiral with no exit. In his mind he saw the bridge of command of one of the ships, the expression of the pirates to the appearance on their screens of two flashing points and then of the white swan that became visible, the polymers that covered the hull of the Southern Bird had switched from opacity to maximum albedo, to partially reflect the laser impulses that could strike it.
The corvettes attempted a useless evasive maneuver, to avoid a missile they allowed the other to explode between them, investing both with its electromagnetic wave able to zero any electrical activity and burn any unprotected circuit. Actually it was rare to find spaceships that were not shielded inside against this kind of attack, but on the outside their protection against lasers was constituted by a cloud of highly reflecting metallic dust, suspended in a magnetic field, that the EMP could disperse without difficulty.
Bhakti examined the stripped ships, one was elegant, the bow was carved like a hawk's head, the other was a heap of tubes and modules randomly attached together, they were the visible testimony of the diversity of views and conceptions that could be found between the hundreds of cultures scattered throughout the Solar System.
He moved his hand in the water and the Southern Bird meekly followed his movements, tilting to the right and slightly to the bottom, the great advantage of the liquid screen was in having the depth axis. After shooting the laser destroyer, even the best-trained crew could not replace the burnt lenses and set a new hydrogen charge in less than 25 minutes, there was only one shot available and it was the tactical officer's duty to make sure that it was not wasted.
The targets turned to ninety degrees just before the H bomb exploded and the magnetic bottle in the combustion chamber shaped all the energy into a blade of light. For those who watched the scene from the convoy, it was as if the pirate ships had dived at the last moment in front of the laser cannon and inside the laser beam, one invested in full exploded. With a shadow of regret Bhakti saw he had hit the beautiful one, while the shapeless pile continued to offend his aesthetic sense by existing, but at least no longer seemed intent on endangering his convoy.
"Honorable, one of the contacts is on the run ... I have a hunter missile locked on it .."
" Compassion captain! They don't shoot, we don't shoot. Let em go and we get away from here, so they can come back to retrieve their friends from the other contact, if some are still alive. "
No sense of guilt disturbed his quiet, but he sincerely hoped that there were survivors and could be saved, however he could not do anything, because after the emergency the command was returned to the captain. He took one of the sweets made of rice and banana that he kept in the wide sleeve of his robe, he felt that there would be no other dangers and he could relax, let his thoughts run before returning to meditation.
There could have been about forty people on the corvette that had detonated, apparently it was cruelty, but the right action comes from the inner clarity that takes things as they really are, not as it would like them to be. No one had forced those people to choose the ronin way instead of living safely in the colonies, and no one had forced them to attack his convoy. It would have been different in the past, during the terrible times that preceded the colonization of space, at that time it would have been people driven by necessity, hunger, drug addiction, and the authorities would have chased them without any compassion. That time was remembered by everyone as the Age of Gold, as the loaning of gold and currency was the base of the power that had enveloped mankind in an inextricable network of illusions, falsehood, bringing it to the brink of self destruction.
Men are constantly increasing in number, as is natural for every living species, but it had reached the point that the resources of planet Earth alone were not enough for everyone, the demographic pressure and the weight of industrial activities seriously threatened to compromise the ecological balance that allows the Earth to sustain life. But the worst was the lack of space, the ethnic minorities, political or religious, had no place to move, to escape the oppression of larger groups, so they reacted with violence and self-destructive behavior, the pre-colonization states had to spend more in weapons that in research.
In addition, the small circle that was preparing to establish a world government, had hidden many technologies that could alleviate the suffering of the populations and anticipate the conquest of space for at least a century. It was with the blackmail of the hunger and despair that the masters of gold intended to enslave humanity, and those who made discoveries that could open a way out were being silenced by corruption or force.
The snack was over, he stretched out on the grass, what had happened later made him regret not being born a thousand years before, to live those days.
In the city of Rome, under the obelisk of St. Peter's Square, a man appeared and began to explain the truth. No historian had been able to find out who he was, or what he had done in his thirty-three years before that time, but by common agreement the date of the Obelisk Sermon marked the end of the Age of Gold.
He had kept his name hidden, but he was remembered as the Savior. Like a true Bodhisattva did not ask anyone to change his mind, did not ask to be obeyed, but acted himself and whoever saw him could not help but imitate his example . People of all political and religious beliefs had followed him, and he had not favored anyone on the others. Before a year passed, they had overthrown a power that had been rooted for centuries, exposed all its mechanisms, and above all made public all the hidden knowledge. At last he was gone, before they could make him king or saint he had disappeared suddenly as he had arrived.
With the new scientific knowledge and the economy no longer chained by debts, it took little to transfer the industries out of the Earth's atmosphere, then the majority of the population, on a longer run the wounds of the Earth had been healed and made into one reserve of natural and artistic treasures that everyone could visit.
With the resources of the whole solar system available and the ability to build orbiting colonies at the Lagrange points around the planets, the hardships of that past time were no longer imaginable. Every colony was independent and could have whatever system of government it wanted, for example, the Five Petal Lotus was a commercial league of five Buddhist colonies located at different points in the solar system. Those who were not satisfied had only to move to another place of their preference, or to start a new settlement, or to become a ronin who travels to adventure without stopping anywhere.
Yeah, the ronin, this brought Bhaktananda back to the present and the pirate attack just happened.
For reasons not yet clear they had increased in number in recent years, and became increasingly aggressive. Even though they could live like everyone else out of their work, they preferred to rob the fruits of others's work, as happened in the past age, that was something to think about.
The Christians identified the end of the Age of Gold and the appearance of the Savior with the second advent of Christ, who according to their writings would have granted peace to Mankind for a thousand years, but at the end of that truce the forces that had animated the past age, the kingdom of Mammon, would have awakened and there would have been a direful new trial.
It was not long before the end of the millennium, if the Christians were right, Bhaktananda could experience interesting times in person.
