A History of Power : SI ....cont'd....
Year 2033, Lagrange Point 5, AEGIS
A novella Graystone
The sleek craft approached the berthing station and the engagement mechanism signalled the lock was complete. Jill always enjoyed these visits to AEGIS, the .75 % gravity was invigorating and the sunlight seemed to make the whole environment vibrant. It was nice to arrive in a day slot.
AEGIS was home to almost seven hundred bright people who along with Finn, and several thousand robots, coordinated and ran the tremendously complex orbital environment. SI owned a majority interest in the complex along with Go2 and Intel. Low G products supplemented the main purpose of the environment, which was acting as home to Finn. Hundreds of man years had gone into developing Finn as the backbone of SI's powerful User network. Almost 280 million users world wide participated in 375,000 virtual rooms, all under the supervision of the AI : Finn, developed by the GIS Consortium in the late 2010's.
Jill always enjoyed talking to Finn, he was very quick and had ready reference to a vast array of catalogued information, the true purpose of these visits was of course to visit OZ.
The Dryers were getting older but still kept a firm hand on SI, rejuvenation treatments kept Brad and Jeff spry and they had managed to create one of the most unique homes in the solar System on AEGIS. Some said the Travolta place at Imbrium on Luna was nicer but Jill had never like the Moon, she preferred her place in San Francisco but after that she had to admit, she liked OZ. It wasn't officially referred to as OZ of course, that was just the local friendly name.
OZ, or Emerald Green
The Dryer residential compound was situated in Emerald Green, a bio-sector of AEGIS. A generous amount of space had been set aside to hold the buildings and grounds of OZ. Officially known as Vertiginous Heights, nobody ever called it that. The rambling ranch style structure was home to some of the finest hospitality to be found off earth. The extended families had private grounds and areas in addition to the common spaces.
As Jill came from the ship she was greeted by several waiting people. She stopped and spoke quietly with them and awaited her transport. Several questions were attended too and several appointments made for later while she waited. Soon her vehicle appeared.
She directed the car to "Take me to OZ" and was amused by the response,
"Destination unknown, please rephrase"
"Emerald Green, Vertiginous Heights please". The modified Keering thrusters moved the small vehicle several feet off the surface and it began to move along the magnetic impulsion strips laid out through the flooring surface.
....to be cont'd.... |
