Chapter Bare Boulder

Old GC Book - Beginnings

Chapter Bare Boulder

BARE BOULDER- MINING COLONY – THE FRINGES Year 5512

Of all places he had to be stuck here! The Bare Boulder Mining Colony on VLA-467 was about as far away from Terra as one could be. The maps called this region of space the fringes as it was where the Terran Empire ended and unexplored and unclaimed space begun. Of all places it was here where his malfunctioning Subway Initiator had to bring him. Of course he could actually be glad that it wasn’t in the middle of a Sun or somewhere far beyond any Terran colony, but he had important business 934 light years from here. While he was sitting here in the only bar, nursing a Tox-Brew and waited for that damn gate-calibrator part to arrive, Nuuk-Ta one of the most dangerous criminals in the entire Galaxy would be able to further cover his tracks and disappear. He had hunted that murdering extortionist scum for more than 3 years and he was so close. Wulf Starr cursed silently and looked through the viewport that was next to his table. Outside was the stark rocky landscape of Very Large Asteroid 467, without an atmosphere as cold as space itself, it slowly rotated and in a few hours the local sun would brighten it with glaring light and temperatures would rise to almost 800 degrees. He also saw his own faint reflection in the unbreakable Diamo-Plast window and he toasted his reflection. “We’re screwed, you and I.” Wulf Starr was human and he was from Earth. He was tall for a Terran at 199 centimeters and there where quite a few ladies and South Pole lovers all across the Galaxy who found him extremely handsome. He was actually born that way, he had received very little appearance adjustment and most of his looks were genetic. Of course the Department of Terran Law Enforcement made sure all the necessary Gen Code Adjustments had been made and the DNA donors of both parents had been triple checked before they allowed a New Enforcer to be conceived. He had chestnut hair, perma cut and nano arranged in a fashionable short masculine hairdo matched his dark brown eyes well. He had a straight nose and pronounced jaw lines. Wulfs body appeared to be in peak athletic condition, and it was in the most perfect state modern medical science could put a human body. All his muscles replaced or augmented with Nano Mylar Intelli-Fibers. His bones had very little in common with the natural calcium based skeletons humans had naturally. They were out of the same material as the bars windows, Diamo Plast, nearly unbreakable but with an added factor of elasticity and embedded nano weavers that could repair most damage in a few minutes. Like every Privileged he had of course a BUB (Back Up Brain) but his had all the added software of a warrior and Law Enforcer. His BUB also controlled all the in body offensive and defensive Cyber-systems. From the Forced Energy projector in his right arm to the Battle Nanite Sprayers in his finger tips and of course the extendable Diamo-Plast Monofilament nails. While he had these and other offensive and defensive systems, he preferred his Mag-Enforcer. The heavy Tri beam gun he carried in the auto eject holster on his right outer thigh. It was along with the small Earth and Sol Symbol on his chest clear signals to anyone that he was a Law Enforcer of the Terran Empire. Most Enforcers were feared by the population and their enemies alike, a reputation carefully guarded and reinforced by the Department but Wulf was very unique as he was actually liked and celebrated like a Hero by many and they called him Star Wolf and it was this name he was known by most. His hero status came from his dedication to actually catch real criminals and protect the weak and the peaceful just as the old Mission Statement of the Department commanded. That he fought with bravery and valor in the last big war against the Kerm, was also not forgotten. Well except here on Bare Rock. The barkeep seemed to recognize his badge emblem but other than a short stare there was no real reaction to his arrival. His BUB interrupted his sulking.” Suit sensors detect an unusual Anti- tachyon emission. It was a weak but sudden spike.” “Anti-tachyons, are you sure?” “I might be only the Back Up but I can interpret sensor readings.” Only Temporal Manipulation Devices generated Anti Tachyons and TMDs were outlawed for over 2000 years by all Galactic Governments. These super exotic particles did not exist in this plane of existence and needed to be artificially generated. Wulf got up, he wanted to go to the ship to use its better sensors to do a detailed scan, just then BUB with its faster reflexes activated the Multi Dim Shield of his Enforcer Suit and then everything went black. -- “I am rebooting ocular implants.” BUB said the second Wulf regained consciousness.”There we go!” He blinked and looked around. He stood in the middle of a desert. His right hand still held the Tox-Brew mug. There was a single yellow sun in the sky and from the spectral data played into his optical nerve, a GIII type and in every detail exactly like the Sol. The air was breathable and gravitation was exactly one Earth standard Gee. “Where the nucck are we?” Wulf said out loudly “If I interpret all the data correctly, then we are on Earth, North American Continent. “ Wulf took his gun and fired a Multi Task Micro Satellite drone into the sky. The little sophisticated drone would map the planet and also check the stellar data by correlating known Pulsars to his current position. It took only a few moments and the results came in and BUB said in with his silent directly to the hearing center wired voice.” Geographical Data, Stellar Data and all other scanning results confirm we are on Earth.” “If this is Earth and we are on the North American Continent we should be in New York City. I don’t see any buildings. Not that this could be Earth since it is 4321 light years away from Bare Boulder!” “The Satellite data confirms it, and after checking on the Constellations we are on Earth and the time is somewhere in the early 21st century. With the Planets alignment I am able to narrow it down to about 2010-2015” “Time and Location shift? Isn’t that impossible? Even if someone made some illegal time experiments on Bare Boulder that still does not explain why we are on Earth!” “I don’t have enough data to be certain but I just unpacked the Tempo Physics library and went over the papers. I speculate that someone has targeted us with a Saresii Time Ripper Warhead. Highly illegal, highly unstable and unreliable as you know.” “Yes I know the Saresii stopped the research on them. They were supposed to generate fast vibrating tempo fields exposing a target to 5 million years time effect in 5 seconds real time. They never worked right.” “Exactly and since they did mine Quadronium Crystals on that mine and we activated our Multi Dim Shield we might just triggered a Chaos-Murphy Effect and ended up here! This is of course all highly speculative and based on theories.” Wulf sighed.”Let’s verify on local sources that we are indeed on Earth and in this time. Then we work on a way to get back. What do you know about this time in Earth History?” “There isn’t all that much data I have available and I never bothered to upload any historical libraries, but I think they were still in the Caveman state at this time. “