The OverFile
The Story of the Spherit
Anen Kel had been an astrophysics teacher for the past ten years, prior to which in his early twenties, as a college student himself, he had been an ardent reader and viewer of all material related to the various interactions StarProbe had encountered with the Anomaly. Since no independent astrophysical study had ever been able to reproduce the Anomaly’s unique image in their monitors, Anen assumed that the image would arrive only as super-powerful tacyon transmission beams were targeted to strike and reflect off the object’s outer, unknown energy boundaries. And that is why he had hoped for years to work his way into the company of those high-ranking StarProbe officers who made the administrative and operational policy decisions at the top level: He wanted to convince them to allow him the opportunity to install and initiate the TMI Plan.
Anen was a powerfully built man in his early thirties, with thick, shoulder length black hair, deep-set eyes the color of cinnamon, and a square jaw line. He had been lovingly raised by his mother and father after the embryo from which he was born was implanted in her womb. The law forbade him from knowing his true genetic donors, but his genetic make-up was said to be truly unique. In addition to his father’s genetic material, special enhancements were made to provide him with a superior intellect. He thought he looked very much like his father, though far taller. His parents had always been there for him, to provide guidance, teach him right from wrong, and to instill the values of Unition within him.
From: Chapter 8 Tech Lt. Anen Kel
Thirdday’s dawn was rising in a long orange slant across the top of Dome 1128. The central artisun began dimming in synch with the rise of the natural light intensity. The city, which had been sleeping in the dim shadows of its controllable nightlight, awoke anew.
The Kel family was up at 0630. Nari had slept in Trena’s room. Without speaking to Anen, Nari readied herself and Trena and then quietly left for work, dropping Trena off at daycare before she walked to the tubeway.
At 0700, Anen walked out of their apartment, gym bag in hand, and went to the Level 1 Ring 4 fitness center for a brief workout and shower before he went to his meeting with Nemm. After he returned to the apartment, he dressed casually in the collarless tan shirt and jacket, loose fitting pants, and loafer shoes ensemble that he normally wore to the university. He then took an elevator to the surface level, stepped onto the radial elewalkway to the tubeway terminal, and walked on through the tubeway terminal to the central hoverguide terminal. He stopped at one of several two-meter high kiosks and spoke to an automated dispatcher who called a lo-rider to come to his location. When the dispatcher stated the price of the fare, Anen asked Isis to send a few infrared pulses of coded credi information into the dispatcher’s waiting lens collector. The lo-rider arrived within three minutes.
* * *
The lo-rider, or low earth orbit vehicle, was a 6-m long, 2.5-m wide, sleek-looking four turbine, nine passenger magnencraft. The craft currently held two other passengers who were seated in the rear of the vehicle, apparently also en route to StarProbe Centradome. He nodded to them and they to him as he stepped off the boarding platform onto the outside edge of the stably hovering lo-rider. He stepped into the craft through its open right sliding door, and sat in the front left seat area. The door slid shut behind him. After the lo-rider car verified that he was belted into his seat, it quickly accelerated to nearly 600 kph. The lo-rider promptly merged at a safe distance with the other passenger and freight vehicles currently within the hoverguide elehighway system. It continued traveling nimbly through the electronic guidelines of the multilanes and wide arcing cloverleafs until it was deep into a straightaway through a completely rural area. The lo-rider sped across uncounted kilometers of Wilder farmland toward StarProbe Centradome’s main hoverguide highway terminal, 150 kilometers away from Anen’s home domeset. Anen was briefly fascinated by the view of the automated farms he was flying over, but then spent the remainder of his fifteen minute travel time querying Isis about unresolved StarProbe protocol issues.
Although he knew little about Domer architecture, Anen had always marveled at the engineering of StarProbe Centradome’s highly praised, extended canopy, which effectively made it the largest dome in the world. As the lo-rider reached the StarProbe domeset and whizzed between the outer residential dome rings, it ultimately entered into the circular area between the innermost domeset ring and the huge StarProbe Centradome in the distance.
* * *
Anen felt a genuine sense of awe as he viewed Centradome in its entirety through the front windshield of the lo-rider. Centradome was truly higher and wider than any dome in the world. The lo-rider suddenly decelerated and was swallowed into the structure through the HGH terminal portal.
Anen exited the lo-rider and looked about himself. People and droids of every type were moving everywhere around him. From the peripheral edge of the great overhead curvature of the vast dome looking inward and upward, he momentarily felt dwarfed into insignificance. Regaining his composure, he transferred over to the nearest radial elewalkway at the HGH terminal. The sights, sounds and scents about him were familiar, and yet not at all like any office complex in which he had ever been. He deboarded the elewalkway near the intracenter of Centradome and walked his way outward until he found the inner office ring.
He was calm and in a serious frame of mind when he arrived at Nemm’s office at 0930 hrs. Nemm’s secretary, whose nametag read Ann Rosen, rose from behind her desk, leaned forward and greeted him with an open hand that he shook gently. Ann was an older woman, slim and short, with wavy dark hair that fell in tiny curls across her forehead. She smiled politely, sat back down, and said, “Good morning, Mr. Kel. Won’t you please sit down?”
Once Anen sat down, she continued, “As it turns out, First Overseer Nemm is not available for this morning’s meeting. Commander Ath will be meeting with you shortly, once we take care of the essentials.” She then gave him a briefing on what to expect during his first days at StarProbe. And then she methodically collected his background data memgrid, took his picture, and issued him his StarProbe Identification card. She told him that it was also her duty to record his statement of the Oath of Allegiance to StarProbe.
He looked at the ID card briefly and thought it odd that at the bottom it said Psyband Certified. Then he realized that the Oath that Ms. Rosen was referring to was written on the back of the card. He looked it over and then said, “How do we do this, Ann?”
She said, “Tell me when you are ready and I will start the recording.”
He said, “I’m ready.” She nodded and touchwaved a switch on her desk. He then read aloud, “It is my solemn promise, as O is my witness, that I will do my best to preserve the integrity of the institution of StarProbe and to uphold its principles at all times. If I fail in this promise, I will accept full responsibility for my actions.”
Before he could ask why, Ann handed him a data implant grid address for a later Interweave connection, and said, “Relax, Mr. Kel. Implant this tonight, and tomorrow you will understand all there is to know about StarProbe employment policies, regulations, and so forth. For now you should go out to the hallway and turn left. Go down two doors to the one marked, StarProbe Second Overseer, Commander Dorn Ath. He will be your immediate supervisor.”