See First Chapter of Indigo 5 below:
The Year 2167, planet Earth….
The meeting was to take place high above the city within the headquarters of the Alliance of Nations, otherwise known as the AON, but it was determined that it might attract too many unwanted eyes. So, it was moved to a secluded location concealed high in the Bavarian Alps. Hans Grietman knew the ways of deception and knew absolute secrecy was the key to their long-term plans. He was to meet with a few handpicked members of the elite class, made up of super powerful families who were the real authority behind the world’s shaky political system, along with some highly paid scientists and engineers, all of whom held key positions within the AON … thanks to Grietman.
The reason for these meetings was to discuss the discoveries that have been made by Grietman’s personal scientific team. A team put together, not for the betterment of mankind, but for the personal interests of Grietman and his colleagues. Two distant galaxies that were in relative proximity to each other, at least in space terms, had collided with one another in an uncommon meeting of cosmic neighbors. One of his teams, located at the Lowell space observatory in the mountains of Arizona, had been tracking the evidence of this cosmic event, and they believe it occurred several millennia ago. Due to its distance away from Earth, only now had it become visible to the Earth’s space observatories, but only if one knew where to look. Matter, in the form of broken up planets, moons and stars from this collision have been soaring through space ever since the collision and some portions of this debris have been surmised by Grietman’s team to most likely pass through the Milky Way in approximately one hundred and fifty years, with a high probability of Earth’s solar system being in its path. It is still undetermined whether the matter will be anything more than some insignificant space matter or possibly large enough to affect life on Earth. Grietman has decided not to take any chances.
With careful manipulation of both public and governmental perception regarding harmful effects of recent age-defying technologies that have surfaced, Grietman has managed to curb the tide of the masses lining up for their chance at immortality. Coercing AON officials to outlaw these drugs altogether as dangerous substances, he had discouraged the public from even wanting to experiment with the possibilities. This has allowed Grietman and his team to perfect these drugs without prying eyes, and of course, for the sole purpose of benefitting himself and a few select families. Planning for his survival long past a possible galactic collision seemed quite reasonable to Grietman. Immortality, as he saw it, was worth an immeasurable amount of his attention and his resources.
Grietman sat down and greeted his visitors, who had already taken their places at the table in front of him. “I apologize for our change in meeting locations, but I think you can all understand why we must operate in complete confidentiality. With the assistance of this select group of scientists that I have personally vetted for this project, we have finally derived a preliminary blueprint to assure our long-term goals.”
He stepped aside and the wall behind him became a view of the Milky Way galaxy. With over one hundred billion twinkling stars all swirling in a beautiful dance, it was an overwhelming sight to see. Utterly amazing, Grietman realizes, as he turns to face the group once again.
“What you see in front of you is our home… our beloved Milky Way galaxy. With the assistance of my personal team of scientists, and at great personal expense, we have been developing deep space probes that have been launched by the tens of thousands across space from a location just outside of our solar system. These probes have highly developed technologies that will allow them to capture images with incredible detail and relay that information back here for analysis. The information is relayed back to Earth through a series of stationary long range Laser Relay Dishes, LRD’s for short. Some of which are already in place, and others are still in route to their destinations. As you all know, the ultimate goal is to locate a planet that we can use and inhabit, long-term if needed.”
He looked around the room and saw mostly nodding heads and devilish grins.
“General Hassan,” Grietman asked, “what do you have to report on data that is being received from the last batch of probes? I believe the newest upgrades have been providing us with more accurate details. Please share your recent discoveries.”
“Of course,” answered the general. “We have several high-ranking AON officials on our payroll who have been working around the clock on this. We will be ready to retrieve the first batch of data from the new probes by the end of this week. Most of the latest probes are concentrating on an area called the Indigo sector. Our team has already been exploring this area (he pointed to an area on the screen), and we believe this sector has a wealth of potential planets.”
The image of space on the back wall narrowed down and then expanded back, showing an enlarged picture of the Indigo sector.
“Excellent, and how about the progress with the designs for the transport ships, General?” Grietman inquired.
“I have them up on the screen now,” said General Hassan.
A new image replaced the bluish-purple area of space, and a schematic of a ship appeared on the screen. Hassan motioned across the table and said, “Dr. Eckers has been leading our team on the research and development of the new ship designs.”
All eyes then shifted to Dr. Eckers, who had up to this point just been sitting there quietly.
Dr. Eckers began, “This design is preliminary; however, we feel that with a few minor changes, you are essentially looking at the final plans. The only area of real concern is with the engine designs since they are very experimental. They are essentially a much larger version of the propulsion systems that we have been using to propel our exploratory probes. That being said, we anticipate being ready to start initial testing of the engine designs within a decade or so….”
As General Hassan, Dr. Eckers, and the others continued with their reports, Grietman sat back in his chair, beaming from ear to ear. Only someone of my stature and influence could manage a project of this nature, he believed, and everything is coming together just as I have envisioned. Life is good… at least for me!