[TerranC]

It has been a full cycle since Fallon heard the proposition: now he is commanding the ship Aaóuane 1, and he is now one of the decorated officers of Federation Space Agency.

The Last ten months have been eventful.

After Ms. Cealto left, Fallon thought hard and hard. He was all for the abandonment of all space travel technology, but he could not get that phrase out of his mind.

After getting a long sleep, he took a T-cab and rode down to the FIS building.

The building was an enormous structure, which seemed to have rivalled the Gillana Shipyards Control center, Federation Spaceport, and the Gillana resupply depot, which were all in orbit above his planet; all facilities were controlled by planetbound facilities, which were immense like the FIS building.

He met an officer at the main foyer, and was asked to follow him.

He followed him into a corridor, which was filled with art and photos all in digital hifi frames. One photo that was of particular interest was the controversial photo of the Tainor building, a millenium structure, after it was reduced to rubble.

The officer lead him into a conference hall, and told him to take a seat. The officer left a short while after talking to his own communicator.

The conference hall was extremely large. Judging by his vision, it seemed to be the equivalent of a large lecture hall multiplied two times, and them some.

There were many desks, all with a computer terminal. It wasn't strange; computer terminals were commonplace in Gillana, with many toddlers are now learning how to work computers after they learn how to speak, and develop more refined motor skills. What was strange whoever, was that a computer terminal had been left on, with windows open. Computer terminals are turned off immedeatly turned off automatically when lectures or conferences are done; in order to save energy.

He sat down, and accessed the terminal.

An article was left on about the possiblity of space travel, dated 20 years ago. Mediocre journalism at best, it was very repetitive about the use of nuclear engines to propel ships into incredible speeds; about 10 parsecs per month.

Fallon, even though with his skepticism about Ion engines, was horrified at the idea. Both at the Scientific inaccuracy and possiblity of an engine breach.

"Enjoying the article, Mr. Fjornika?"

"Excuse me?"

"I said, are you enjoying the article?"

A person who seemed to be a doctor, or a professor, or some proffesion affiliated with science called out to him, in a mannerly voice. He guessed at his profession for his choice of apparel.

"To be frank, no, not really."

"Why?"

"It is repetitive, it is mind-numbing, it is scientifically incorrect, and it is ridiculous that a nuclear engine could propel a ship for 10 parsecs a month."

The old man let out a laugh.

"I wrote that article, you know."

"My name is Dr. Zurike. I am the head of the Federation Space Agency research and development. You could say that I am the mad scientist trying to pollute Gillana of space."

"Sorry Doctor. I didn't..."

"Don't worry. I dismissed that myself as heresy, 10 years ago. Nuclear engines won't even lift off a probe in the world without some kind of fallout."

"That is why I invented Ion engines."

"You invented Ion engines?"

"Yes. Through a miraculous accident, I saw ionized xenons being the next fuel for space travel."

"What happened?"

"One of my colleagues decided to create Neon signs without the proper equipment."

They both laughed to heart's content.

"Pleasantries aside, Let us get down to business."

He got onto the conference hall into the podium, an started to lecture about the nature of Ionized gases and particles, Ion engines, how they work, how you take care of it, and how it uses supplies. After about an hour and a half; he got off the podium and said to Fallon:

"We're going for a ride. Follow me."

They took the train to the spaceyard control station and went inside.

Fallon had never seen anything like it.

Enormous screens filled the room, more like a hall than a room, showing the progress of the newest ship created for Federation space travel.

Majestic shots from orbit transmitted via satellite linkups and G5 technology showed Fallon the beauty of space. He was then lead into another conference hall and met Mr. Namuko; head of design.

Fallon, Dr. Zurike, and Mr. Namuko all talked about space travel for many hours. After Fallon understood the need for CSMs and safety of Ion engines, he accepted the job of captain, despite reservations.

Fallon then asked the question that has been plaguing his mind:

"When I spoke with an FIS officer, they said that Our race's survival depends on this mission. Why did she say that?"

Mr. Namuko explained the question.

"Despite what you may hear about prosperity in Gillana and how it is becoming a space age Utopia, the Federation knew that there was a problem."

"You see, Gillana's population is expanding rapidly. we are ar 4.8 billion as of right now, and there are no more room for increase in the world population."

"The colony ships that was bound for Gillana 3 and 4 were just shuttles attached with a large colony modules, so that it would give us a breathing space."

"It is a temporary solution, and more colony missions are scheduled, even though our... unreadiness."

"We are also running out of resources in Gillana. Even with massive renurturization programs, the damage done will never be repaired, and we are holding steady just barely above the 100% mark."

"We need to explore the galaxy using that ship, to look for other races for technological advancement and habitable, breathable planets."

"You and your crew, using your ship, will explore the galaxy with these, what we dubbed, Warp points, that we believe links other systems, as it seems that they are very sensetive to gravitons and open up a warp point."

"Gaping holes in space-time that we can use to travel."

"We have done simulations to determine whether if the Aaóuane will stand up to the spacetime pressure, and it seemes to be working."

"The Aaóuane series will be up and ready a month from now."

Sure as sunrise, the Aaóuane 1 was finished.

Fallon recieved angry letters from his former friends and colleagues, some of them labeling him as a traitor and accuses him of destroying Gillana, but it didn't matter to him. He knew that they were short-sighted, and didn't give much thought into them.

A space elevator shot him into space, into the shipyards and then into the vessle.

His crew was already there, and everything was finished and installed, even carpets for the bridge.

As he stepped in, he sat in the bridge, and gave the order to launch.

The ship slowly came out, and the ion engines propelled the ship out of orbit and into space.

It was a marvelous sight to see Gillana from orbit, and see everything at one glance.

The thought of being higher than the birds, higher than planes, higher than everything gave him a thrill, and a sense of importance.

He then recieved the order to go through the warp point.

It was a special feeling, to go into a massive distortion in space, feeling yourself stop almost suddenly, then reappearing again in the blink of an eye several light years away from his home system.

He then set course to explore, after giving a communique to space control, and jumped again.

5 months later, The Aaóuane 1 alrady 2 systems, made contact with two sentient races, The Zion Free Hempire and the Lerconian Collective and has established contact for the Federation and set a trade agreement with the Zion Free Hempire.

News from home has been enlightening.

A new chassis have been developed, that has much more capabilities than the Escort chassis that Aaóuane 1 is based on, which has been christened Frigate.

Miniaturization techniques have improved the price of Ion engines, making them more cheap to produce.

A project was launched in one of the research labs in Gillana in order to manipulate energy fields to create some kind of shiled for ships.

A new class of ships were made called Abercorn that is purely created for exploration.

The opposition group is now disbanded, due to some fanatics that tried to take over as leader after Fallon left.

Fallon retired to his quarters after entering and mapping the Kolos system, and retired to a bright view of the future.

TerranC - Everybody likes a happy ending.