hellsgate
Commodore
"I Want To Believe"
Story By Jason K. Hauck
Based on "Star Trek" by Gene Roddenberry.
Chapter One
August 12 2262
The spires of the newly rebuilt San Francisco awed Jacob Bucannon. He'd just spent three days on the mag-lev from (geodesic dome habitat) 'New Orleans' on the south eastern edge of what used to be called 'The United States'. There were few windows on the mag-lev, but he'd been fortunate enough to get a seat in the ceiling dome with a three hundred and sixty degree view during some meals.
Despite help from Vulcan and other extraterrestrial benefactors, there were still gaping craters in the landscape where Earth's cities or military bases once stood. Cars no-one had gotten around to recycling were still overturned by the sides of crumbled tar-and-gravel roads with stubborn faint yellow lines that the elements hadn't managed to entirely scrub away. Dilapidated barns and empty fields checkered the landscape. Every few hours, they'd pass a security checkpoint and have to submit to random searches of their person or their carry-on luggage --- often at riflepoint.
The weather modification net had just come online in the last few months.
As a result, there were fewer days when he woke up to mornings tainted with reddish-brown sunrises or potent thunderstorms. Over frequent instant breakfasts from the protein resequencers, Jacob noticed smaller coastal towns with people working outside without a breathing aparatus and radiation guages. Children playing on tricycles and their parents going about business as usual.
Within the last 48 hours, he'd made final preparations to move into delegated Starfleet housing and said his goodbyes to loved ones. Life in the domes was boring and regulated to within an inch of a person's life. He'd been a service-person in a diner for most of his young adult life and gotten good grades. His only other choice was a far harsher life outside New Orleans' habitat in 'The Desert' where young political incorrigibles or idealists either left of their own volition to fend for themselves or were forcibly deposited.
Jacob had models of all the latest starships. He'd studied all the ships' different angles, mostly from videocaptures downloaded from the internet and made-up the rest on-the-fly. He wanted to study engineering and fly the latest shuttles. His dad was a shuttle pilot and flew the ramjet to Luna Colony.
His mom had died of leukemia when he was sixteen. He was unprepared for the loss, even though they'd known about her cancer since he was eight. His long-time boyfriend, Richard, was unhappy at the idea of Jacob leaving but let him go anyway. He left Richard his cat, Gord, a black shorthaired male with a sloth-like personality.
Richard even went as far as to look up places on the internet to go on dates in San Francisco and made Jacob promise to e-mail him more promising venues. Jacob's dad left a message for Jacob on his laptop, saying he'd meet him at the spaceport in San Francisco near the water reclamation plant at the foot of the Golden Gate bridge.
Story By Jason K. Hauck
Based on "Star Trek" by Gene Roddenberry.
Chapter One
August 12 2262
The spires of the newly rebuilt San Francisco awed Jacob Bucannon. He'd just spent three days on the mag-lev from (geodesic dome habitat) 'New Orleans' on the south eastern edge of what used to be called 'The United States'. There were few windows on the mag-lev, but he'd been fortunate enough to get a seat in the ceiling dome with a three hundred and sixty degree view during some meals.
Despite help from Vulcan and other extraterrestrial benefactors, there were still gaping craters in the landscape where Earth's cities or military bases once stood. Cars no-one had gotten around to recycling were still overturned by the sides of crumbled tar-and-gravel roads with stubborn faint yellow lines that the elements hadn't managed to entirely scrub away. Dilapidated barns and empty fields checkered the landscape. Every few hours, they'd pass a security checkpoint and have to submit to random searches of their person or their carry-on luggage --- often at riflepoint.
The weather modification net had just come online in the last few months.
As a result, there were fewer days when he woke up to mornings tainted with reddish-brown sunrises or potent thunderstorms. Over frequent instant breakfasts from the protein resequencers, Jacob noticed smaller coastal towns with people working outside without a breathing aparatus and radiation guages. Children playing on tricycles and their parents going about business as usual.
Within the last 48 hours, he'd made final preparations to move into delegated Starfleet housing and said his goodbyes to loved ones. Life in the domes was boring and regulated to within an inch of a person's life. He'd been a service-person in a diner for most of his young adult life and gotten good grades. His only other choice was a far harsher life outside New Orleans' habitat in 'The Desert' where young political incorrigibles or idealists either left of their own volition to fend for themselves or were forcibly deposited.
Jacob had models of all the latest starships. He'd studied all the ships' different angles, mostly from videocaptures downloaded from the internet and made-up the rest on-the-fly. He wanted to study engineering and fly the latest shuttles. His dad was a shuttle pilot and flew the ramjet to Luna Colony.
His mom had died of leukemia when he was sixteen. He was unprepared for the loss, even though they'd known about her cancer since he was eight. His long-time boyfriend, Richard, was unhappy at the idea of Jacob leaving but let him go anyway. He left Richard his cat, Gord, a black shorthaired male with a sloth-like personality.
Richard even went as far as to look up places on the internet to go on dates in San Francisco and made Jacob promise to e-mail him more promising venues. Jacob's dad left a message for Jacob on his laptop, saying he'd meet him at the spaceport in San Francisco near the water reclamation plant at the foot of the Golden Gate bridge.
