NEW WORLD TRILOGY (Trilogy Title) (24 page)

"I know.  I just wanted to put something good together first."

"Fair enough."  Ikaros stares at the ceiling and considers the implications.  "This could prove to be, well … pivotal."

"It's proven to be for me."

"Apparently," replies Ikaros with a respectful grin.

Heinrich leaves him alone and goes back to his computer to continue researching a particular point about the topic that's still nagging him.

Ikaros proceeds to skim and scan through the fifty-odd pages for around fifteen minutes, reading a few sentences carefully here and there until he feels confident that he understands the main points and their significance to their programme.  Then, feeling the hunger pangs of a delayed lunch, he gets up out of his chair and goes into the kitchen, where he finds Sascha reading a novel, a rare moment of relaxation in an otherwise work-obsessed life.  She looks up to greet him.  "Hey."

Ikaros sits down opposite her.  "I think Heinrich's onto something."  He smiles.  "Actually, it could be what we've been looking for."

Sascha stops reading.  "You're not talking about doing more research are you?"

"Kind of … but it's more than that."

"I hope so.  Let's get on with writing the report and planning what to do next, then.  To be honest, this research thing is driving me up the wall.  We've gotta narrow it down and get productive."

"I know.  It'll come together soon, but we've got a bit to go yet."  Changing the subject he continues, "Do you want lunch?  I'll cook.  I'm starving."

"Yeah, sure, what are you gonna make?"

Ikaros considers this important question for a moment.  "Rice noodles with, ah … something in here."  He gets up and opens the fridge.

• • •

The fact that Ikaros was largely unaware of what was going on in space was typical of the times and was the result of a massive information-control effort that had been in effect and intensifying for the better part of the century.  Throughout the history of space exploration, the whole enterprise, no matter which countries and organisations were involved, was shrouded in mystery, obfuscated by propaganda and dis- and misinformation, and, importantly, high levels of secrecy; nevertheless, although this basic fact was well known by many in the twentieth century and the early years of the twenty-first, the details remained largely hidden from view and could mainly just be guessed at by those interested in trying to put the few available pieces of the puzzle together.

This situation changed as the twenty-first century progressed: people became so ill-equipped by the distance that the mediated reality of propaganda put between them and what was actually going on that only an increasingly small number of people were either close enough to the events or had access to a rare piece of good information so as to be able to make the appropriate connections and inferences.  Despite this, their ability to disseminate their findings and points of view were highly restricted, and often thwarted; thus, in the end, they had very limited success, even on the fringes.

Although the reporting of the plans, developments, and science of space exploration continued to be filtered through to the public as we entered the twenty-first century, the need for information control generally tended to intensify.  The factors that led to such high levels of secrecy and protectiveness were the usual suspects of economic and political instability, and social unrest.  However, it wasn't until several critical lines of R&D indicated particular capabilities would likely be achieved in the not-too-distant future that certain small, close-knit alliances of power holders took on a whole new era of secrecy and propaganda about space and its potential.

Propelled forward by the abundantly obvious threat of dramatic changes to the global climate system and the almost impotent science, technology and socio-political strategies, these often competing alliances made plans and timetables, and began steering space programmes towards populating and dominating orbital territories with a view to extending their reach to secure more regions within the solar system and, eventually, beyond.

Deeply aware of the global unrest, the fiercely competitive space alliances engaged in conflicts that were channelled through international corporations and the global institutions and governments and were played out on the surface of the planet in various theatres and using the full arsenal of techniques and technologies at their disposal, an instance of which included the Trans-Oceanic Sino-World War, its many battles and devastating consequences.

Behind the scenes, however, once technical limitations had been surpassed, the conflicts moved aggressively into space, resulting in a long series of assaults on space technology that often involved varying degrees of sabotage and occasional large-scale destruction in a self-defeating and short-sighted attempt to limit the progress of the opposing alliances in a vain and fearful struggle to achieve the lion's share of space power and territory.  Ironically, such a protracted conflict could only slow down the attainment of underlying objectives for all parties concerned, which, therefore, caused much frustration and consternation in those quarters desperately hoping that space would bring some kind of relief and salvation from the unsettling and worsening circumstances found on Earth.

After years of negotiating terms , it was only after the ceasing of such overt and brazen planet-bound and orbital hostilities between China and the Allied forces in early January, 2053 — while the Global Domination Corporation's report was being written — that there was any hope that space would provide an answer for the elite minority.  The peace treaty was made on pragmatic grounds due to the quantitative hindrance the war was having on the progress of the enemies' respective space programmes, which were becoming more significant priorities for both sides and had up until this point been severely undermined by the space-borne military activities of both sides; although tensions remained high and many subversive activities, including espionage, subterfuge and sabotage, continued to occur, years of political wrangling eventually resulted in a tenuously provisional agreement regarding the division of space into specific national and international territories and buffer zones, which were partly maintained with the assistance of heavy militarisation and political threats.  With a shared narrative for public consumption, which was only semi-formalised yet respectfully maintained due to the ever-present fear of having their own programmes exposed prematurely, this new-found 'stability' allowed space-aspiring independent nations and groups of allied nations to make the arrangements for the establishment of space-based communities, which were to be made up of powerful and wealthy members of networked secret societies and their families, all of whom were nevertheless required to pass a thorough selection and screening process before being allowed to participate.

By the year 2060, 4.2 million people were living in small and limited networks of space cities and towns, a figure that was only ever able to be estimated by those in the very inner circle of the various coordinating alliances, and completely unknown by the excluded general public.  Further, the isolation of populations within the space networks combined with specific information control techniques, which were put in place and enacted by authorities, precluded any community participant from being able to make a reliable or informed estimate of how populated space had in fact become; meanwhile, the propaganda machine disseminated the story that there were still only a few small groups of scientists, engineers and support staff that were stationed strategically in space to carry out state-sponsored science for the betterment of life on Earth with the prospect of eventually finding a way to allow members of the general public to populate space in large numbers.  The timetable for initiating this event was always vaguely positioned as being at some stage in the following century, which was supported by much discussion about the problems and limitations of the current and near-future capabilities and what still needed to be achieved before such a possibility could have any hope of becoming a reality, even to support a small population of settlers in conditions worth living in.

Being just one of the many oblivious victims of this unprecedented propaganda effort and its effects, and perhaps also because of his other interests that saw him more inclined to investigate and be absorbed by geo-socio-politics on the ground, Ikaros was all but completely unaware of these emerging events and was more than just a bit disturbed by his ignorance and quite angered by the long series of deceptions that had led to it.  Always looking for an angle, though, and immediately perceiving the significance of this area of enquiry and its potential, Ikaros began devoting considerable amounts of time and resources to researching the emerging events, hoping that sooner rather than later he would find a way in to disrupt the future forever.

• • •

The following is a quote written by Ikaros in the introduction to the Global Domination Corporation's report entitled
Future Prospects and Techniques for Change
:

What I
'
m interested in is the way societies change and develop social structures and modes of possibilities for their citizens, essentially the ways in which agency is created, structured, limited and made use of by individuals and those around them.  Moreover, regarding social action, I'm concerned with agents who engage in the creation of technologies, techniques and architectures in a cooperative manner with others who also hope to become established and take up a position within their segment of a highly competitive and political society, leading to all the social, political, economic, technological, and scientific consequences to which we have become accustomed, and many more possibilities that we haven't yet explored.  This historical struggle of agents with purpose can be broadly called 'organisationism' or 'organisational dynamics.'

Within this framework are the issues of free and unfree agency and the potential for substantive change despite the dominance of conservative mechanisms.  If anyone could be called free agents, it would be those who do their best to resist the narrow range of subject positions available within the dominant paradigms and find a way around all those techniques that aid the obdurate sustainment of power structures and the conservatism of the established organisations and institutions.  A free agent looks for breaks, ruptures and weak links in the circulation and use of power, and intervenes for their own purpose of displacement, subversion and, importantly, the creation of alternatives; they are thus change agents.  In extreme conditions, the pressure on systems of power approaches or surpasses its containment limits; it is then that the points of weakness are increased in size and number and the capacity to protect and repair is compromised, even entirely thwarted.  As events approach the extremes, free agency has gradually more opportunities to emerge as subjects find a growing number of opportunities to engage in ways that, in the past, others had only ever dreamed of, while still others had never had the inclination or even the chance to consider.  Despite the context, most efforts to become established will be undermined before the ultimate goal is reached; in any case, the opportunities to interrupt on a grand scale are only usually few and far between and, as expected, require that a free agent be in the right place at the right time to take advantage.  Despite the considerable risks and perils to themselves that are found all along such paths, free agents will always look for an opportunity, regardless, and when one comes along, they will more likely be in a position to identify it for what it is and seize it due to their special skills, knowledge and keen perception, all of which necessarily differs from the norm found all around them.

Such free agents will always exist in any society that isn't omnipresent and omnipotent; they are the inevitably unaccounted for, the inversion or the displacement of the dominating logic, the missed targets, the survivors, the ones who refuse to accept the limits of what's on offer when they have the means to seek and create alternatives.  They're the strange, the unlikely, and even the abominations, but yet they are the starting points of all future events of any significance and organisations of any clout, and are where possibilities are created and probabilities are reset and begin their process of normalisation.  My sole aim is to promote free agency and its potentials, thus increasing the prospects for change by fostering a more enhanced struggle for the future; this is a project that will usually have some significance due to the generally constrictive and domineering nature of most established organisational power structures.  In any case, it most definitely has significance today and will continue to in the near future given the uninterrupted path of current trends.

Chapter 20

Over the month that followed the release of the report, the Global Domination Corporation was refused its applications for the leasing of office space and the purchasing of commercial properties in Berlin, London, New York and, in rapid succession, seventeen other major cities around the world; moreover, twenty attempts to provide public presentations around Europe were prevented by local authorities, 'forcing' him to abandon such a pursuit and, instead, post a video series of privately held presentations on his website and others, which proceeded to gain considerable attention.  Although these frustrations, which mirrored the approach of the Chinese authorities, were only to be expected by that point, they provided the corporation with a certain small-scale cult status and sympathy as a political target that was in the process of being systematically suppressed; this status was only strengthened and consolidated by all the vitriolic and hostile reactions to the very existence of the corporation, the conservative majority who supported the restrictions, and vocal representatives of whom called for still greater levels of containment.