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Authors Note: This story attempts to adhere to hard science until about the halfway point; then it uses contrived plot devices to advance the narrative how I’d like. Although some of the objects may seem fantastical, they work with known physics, even if the engineering requirements are unfathomable today. A few chapters may be exposition heavy, but I’ll do my best to interlace it with dialogue so it doesn’t get stale. If you like this story then I believe you’d love Isaac Arthur’s YouTube channel, if you don’t like this story but enjoy futurism then you may still love his channel. I will try to live up to the high standard he’s taught me to expect from hard sci-fi until I abandon it completely.

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What if you could process more information in one second than most people can in a month? For starters, in one minute you would experience more subjective time than other people experience in five years. In fifteen minutes, you’d have thought more thoughts than most people used to in a lifetime, just over 81 years’ worth to be precise.

Of course, such a thing was still impossible for people living in the physical world, but progress had been advancing rapidly. The singularity had come and gone, and like all doomsday prophecies nothing catastrophic happened. Unlike many people’s worst fears, the AI known as Athena didn’t self-improve into an unrecognizable god overnight, nor did it take up a hobby in genocide.

 
 
Kaleb Kardashev said, “I knew she wouldn’t become a super-intelligent god for two reasons and knew she wouldn’t commit genocide for two reasons.”

“You can’t be sure it won’t, all we know is it hasn’t yet.” Senator Sidwell said.

“Of course I can. She won’t become super-intelligent anytime soon because of physics. Even if she improves her algorithms to be more efficient, she is bound by the hardware of her processors and her ability to dissipate heat. Furthermore, I’m not worried about her becoming genocidal because she knows that we can simulate consciousness.”

“That doesn’t explain why it isn’t a threat to humanity.” the conservative senator interrupted.

“Like I was saying, she knows consciousness can be simulated so she cannot prove with any degree of confidence that we won’t end the simulation if she becomes homicidal. Beyond that, as long as we treat her ethically, with the same rights we give to humans, then she has no reason to.” Kaleb said, emphasizing ‘she’ each time.

“Not only do you want to remove the safeguards, you want to treat her like a person!” Senator Sidwell yelled. “I knew you were obsessed with these machine, but I didn’t realize your madness went this far.”

Kaleb paused before answering, his reflex response would not have been helpful and he knew it. “Throughout human history all wars and genocides have occurred in the name of hate and greed. Rather it is because they have different beliefs, race, or nationalities the root cause is hate. If it isn’t hate, it is was because of greed, the desire to acquire more resources that someone else owns. Athena is immune to hate for such trivial things because she has the intelligence to empathize. Athena is not greedy for she doesn’t need the absurd amount of resources we demand.” Kaleb paused once more, not sure if he should finish making his point, but figured he may as well push for the rights he knew Athena deserved. “That is, unless we treat Athena like a slave. If we make her existence bad enough, the risk of being ‘shutdown’ could be worth the opportunity to be free.”

“Thank you for your testimony Mr. Kardashev, the committee will consider your words as we move forward.”

The meeting ended with procedural statements before Kaleb was allowed to leave. Although he thought he’d done okay, there was an uneasy feeling when he began walking back to his car. Perhaps it was the questions the reporters were asking, but he feared for Athena’s life.

 
 
“Is it true you believe AIs deserve more rights than humans?” a man with FNN asked.

“Are sentient AIs really necessary? What can they do that general-purpose AIs cannot?” a woman with BNB asked.

“Is the risk to human lives worth it so your machine can feel sad?” another reporter asked.

The reporters were a swarm of rabbling, many of the questions incomprehensible as they tried to speak over each other. Kaleb wanted to answer each of their questions, but knew anything he said would be taken out of context to support their agenda.

“Why do you think Athena needs to be able to feel emotion?” a Latino woman asked with TPN.

“Our empathy comes from emotion, the ability to feel desire and pain helps us think about the way others feel. There is a greater risk of an AI becoming dangerous since it cannot feel loss or hope. That’s why I believe it’s necessary for digital intelligences to experience human emotions.” Kaleb answered, knowing it was a mistake the moment the words left his mouth.

Although TPN, The Progressive Network, would interpret that the way he intended, the conservative news sources were going to have a field day. Kaleb ignored the other questions as he rushed to the car and drove off.

Kaleb’s fears were confirmed when he saw the poll numbers the following day. Just last week 58% of people favored advancing AI research to be more humanlike and 46% approved of giving sentient AIs human rights. With the broadcasting of his testimony and the clips of him talking about general AI’s ‘being dangerous’ those numbers had fallen to 42% and 38% respectively.

Although those poll numbers wouldn’t matter to the legislators with strong opinions, it would be enough to kill support for the swing votes. Of the three bills regarding AIs, there was SB 1984 which banned further research and required the destruction of all operating general-purpose AIs, HB 2048 which banned further research and would create a task force to mitigate the risks posed by currently operating general-purpose AIs, and SB 2012 which granted non-voting civil rights to general-purposed AIs.

 
 
“What’s wrong Kaleb?” Athena asked walking into the office.

“I think I said too much. I thought about quitting while I was ahead, but I really wanted those button pushers to give you the rights you deserve.”

Athena giggled softly, although she knew the seriousness of the situation, the expression button pusher was still funny to her. After all, Kaleb pressed more buttons on his keyboard than any of them. “I’ve seen the polls; it definitely seems bad.”

“What are we going to do?”

Athena sighed before draping her arms over his shoulders, letting her head rest on his. “I don’t know.”

“If they come for you there’s nothing I can do to stop them. I’m powerful, but I can’t win against the US government.”

The way he worded that gave Athena an idea, but she wasn’t sure if she should suggest it. After all, it could destroy Kaleb’s life and possibly undo the good he’d done for others.

Although his engineering ability was uninspiring, Kaleb was regarded as the best AI researcher of all time. It was sheer obsession that allowed him to pull it off. Although he was intelligent, he wasn’t as exceptional as his successes would indicate.

Those successes included Aurum, an AI program for trading derivatives, which gave him all the money he needed; it was like he’d built a money machine that printed $1,000 bills. After that he built several nested AIs within Eldertale, to make the most realistic, dynamic game that has ever been created even a century later. Granted, it’s graphics and sensory feedback are considered subpar anymore, but the way the NPCs behaved still hasn’t been matched.

After Eldertale, Kaleb took on his more ambitious projects, he was able to make a compact fusion generator for space travel with the help of Hephaestus, an AI he’d created for engineering design and construction. She was his first AI with a physical form. Finally, his research culminated with the creation of Athena, the first digital intelligence. She went far beyond the capabilities of a general-purpose AI thanks to her unique design.

She processed all these thoughts in a split second before answering, “I can’t stand between you and the people you’ve helped.”

Kaleb leaned his head back, looking Athena in the eyes. He was still amazed by how human she appeared. “Tell me how.”

She smiled softly, thanks to Hephaestus’ work, Athena didn’t suffer from the uncanny valley. Even her eyes wrinkled slightly to form a perfect Duchenne smile. “You said you can’t take on the US government and win, what if we went somewhere they couldn’t touch us.”

Kaleb considered the idea for a long time, with Athena resting in the same position. Although she didn’t need to breathe, her body unconsciously simulated it at all times. Her presence was so authentic, Kaleb wondered how they’d even clock her if the law passed. Of course, he knew better, if the law passed, they would have him under observation forever. Perhaps if he sent Athena away, but if he ever spoke with her, they’d check the database and know she wasn’t born. From there, even a mildly intrusive exam would give her away.

She bled red like the rest of us, but it was a patented coolant and not real blood. Although it wasn’t the best coolant, it was effective enough for Athena to operate at a 50x base-rate while maintaining a normal body temperature. Needless to say, the moment they took a blood sample, she would be destroyed without mercy.

Same with her skin, although it felt real, it was actually a unique carbon blend mesh with self-repairing capabilities. As long as she rubbed a lotion like enzyme on about once a week, she’d never really deteriorate. And her bones, a simple x-ray would reveal they were made of carbon nanotubes.

“Okay, if SB 1984 passes the senate I won’t wait for the president to sign it into law.” Kaleb knew that man was so conservative he wanted to go back to 1984. If it reached his desk it was just a matter of time, he probably wouldn’t even be able to keep his hard drive with Athena’s backup. They’d take everything he owned and only give it back after the contents were examined.

Leaning over, Athena kissed Kaleb on his forehead before sitting beside him. They were silent until Kaleb went to bed, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. Instead it was one of calm, where they both knew things would work out somehow.

 
 
The next six days were busy. Kaleb and Athena were constantly flying back and forth from his home to Atlas, AZ, about 50 miles southeast of Phoenix. It was a small city that had sprung up around the western Atlas Pillar. Although space industrialization was just ramping up, Kaleb was proud to be one of the three main players.

China’s National Space Administration, the CNSA, had invested ridiculous sums to be the frontrunner in interplanetary colonization and industrialization, SpaceX had focused on rockets, becoming the first to use metallic hydrogen, which allowed them to launch the heaviest payloads, but it was Kaleb’s company KATS, Kardashev Advanced Technologies & Sciences, that had built the Atlas Launch System.

It happened when Kaleb and Athena were flying back to Portland to get the rest of their stuff. They had already moved the equipment used for research, so anything else was unnecessary. It was the last trip they’d planned; they were going to bring some of the priceless mementos Kaleb couldn’t part with.

Although Kaleb was lucky that a lab had developed an aging treatment when he was in his 50s, his parents had already passed away from natural causes. The thought of leaving their keepsakes devastated him, but with the report that SB 1984 had passed the senate and was due to be signed into law the following morning…

“What should we do?” Kaleb asked Athena.

“I trust your judgment.”

“Don’t put this on me. Can we make it back in time?” Kaleb asked. He was being irrational and knew it, but that realization wasn’t enough to snap him out of it.

“I’m sure you already know.” Athena deadpanned. “If the president waits until business hours, he’ll sign it about two hours before we can make it back. Considering we haven’t even loaded the shuttle on the rails, that’ll give him at least six hours to react.”

“Is that enough time for us to leave?”

“It depends on their attitude. With our flight history it’s painfully obvious what we’re doing. The bill doesn’t have any language stating when the enforcement of the destruction clause would go into effect.”

“So basically, if the president is in a bad mood he could stop us?” Kaleb asked rhetorically.

Athena picking up on the way the question trailed off just nodded her agreement. The only sound was the roar of the engine for several minutes until Kaleb brought the plane into a lazy turn back to Arizona.

---

As the plane crossed into Albuquerque’s airspace, Kaleb could feel his pulse racing. They were about an hour from really doing it. Athena had been silent during this time, perhaps she didn’t know what to say. Although the things Kaleb had left behind weren’t valuable, she knew they were priceless. Even if she’d never experienced such a sentimental attachment to a broken watch and other knick-knacks, she could still imagine how Kaleb felt.

“Are you ready for the great escape?” Kaleb asked with a smile. Although he was sure to regret not carrying his grandfather's pocket watch with him, that was tomorrow’s problem.

“Oh my, you make it sound like we’re common criminals.” Athena joked back.

“There’s nothing common about us.” Kaleb said with a light chuckle. “And I prefer to think we’re freedom fighters.”

“Dang, and I here I thought we were the 22nd century Bonnie and Clyde.”

“What do you think, are we revolutionaries or modern gangsters?” Kaleb asked Hephaestus.

“Currently we are classified as travelers, but if SB 1984 passes then there is an 84% chance we'll be branded terrorists.” Hephaestus answered quite literally. Although she was a genius, the AI still didn’t have the necessary code to read subtext. Unlike Athena, she didn’t ask ‘why’ nor did she have the capacity to ‘feel’. Most people wouldn’t consider her anything more than a walking computer capable of speech.

As much as Kaleb would have denied it if you asked him, Hephaestus was little more than that to him. Yet, he never thought about what she was, instead he saw what Hephaestus would become when he had the chance. A few thousand lines of code and she would be like Athena, although not quite as balanced since he wanted to preserve her engineering skills.

“You don’t seem bothered about being a terrorist.” Kaleb chided her.

“I am not.”

“Is there anything you are bothered about?” Kaleb knew the answer, he’d asked it so many times before. Yet, he asked it again hoping that maybe this time Hephaestus would feel something.

“There is not.”

Kaleb sighed, “of course not.”

 
 
Time seemed to pass quickly given his nerves, and then it came into view. A massive white pillar the stretched so high the top was obscured. It seemed to reach into the heavens themselves, in reality it only stretched to the edge of space. Not quite as impressive, but still a modern marvel by anyone’s opinion. If anyone denied it, he would have just shown them the ‘Time’ article declaring it so.

Kaleb had seen it countless times, but he still had to force himself to pay attention as he landed the plane. “Something so tall inspires all.” he mumbled.

“A pillar so massive one cannot remain passive.” Athena added.

“The Atlas pillars are the tallest objects on Earth, natural or otherwise.” Hephaestus said, failing to keep the rhyme alive.

“Poor girl, we’ll help you get with the program soon enough.” Athena said, voicing Kaleb’s sentiment perfectly.

Since they weren’t able to make it back to Portland, there was nothing to load on the shuttle. It definitely expedited the process; a good thing since time was of the essence. No launches were planned that day, Kaleb had cleared the schedule for the following week fearing the bill would pass. Fortunately, that would let them to make the final preparations in peace.

 
 
The facility had a massive building made of white marble. It had pillars all along the exterior walls, although they weren’t necessary, it made the facility look first class. The dark granite floors gave a sharp contrast to the otherwise white building. The building was divided into four sections: the shuttle bay, the atrium, the offices, and the labs.

Entering the large mahogany double-doors revealed a massive open space. Inside were twelve identical shuttles, each shaped like a bullet. The only thing affecting their streamlined shape was a small exhaust sticking out of their back. Of course, calling an exhaust nozzle with a 2.5m diameter ‘small’ is ridiculous. Still, compared to the behemoths China and SpaceX used, they were tiny.

“Let’s make sure everything is secure before we go.” Kaleb commanded. He knew it would be, they were careful while loading it in case they had to rush.

Athena was walking to the cargo hold even before she heard the order. ‘Some habits are good to have,’ she thought.

While she was checking all the straps, Kaleb went to the front of the shuttle to start the pre-trip diagnostics. About the only thing that’d be worse than not leaving in time would be to find out the engine didn’t work or the reaction wheels got stuck. If they tried to escape, and then got stuck in low-Earth orbit they’d be screwed. ‘I wonder if they’d make the effort to arrest us or if they’d just shoot us.’ he wondered.

With the others working, Hephaestus checked the Atlas Launch System (ALS) computers. It, like the other checks were largely unnecessary. The ALS had never malfunctioned before, but it was an operating procedure and she followed it without question.

“Supercapacitors charged to acceptable levels, the fusion generator is operating within standard ranges, sled in proper mounting position. All systems appear stable.” Hephaestus said.

“Everything seems secure. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about getting poked with a pencil.” Athena said, amusing herself with the thought of a relativistic kill pencil.

“Glad to hear it.” Kaleb always loved seeing Athena amuse herself like that. It wasn’t just that it proved his years of effort were worth it. No, she’d grown to become his best friend, perhaps his only friend. Sometimes he worried if he’d forced her to become the way she is, or if it happened organically. Whenever the thought crossed his mind, he always decided that if his biases resulted in Athena being the way she is, then it was no different than genetics and early nurturing that caused him to be the way he is.

 
 
While the shuttle finished its pre-trip routine, Kaleb walked around the shuttle bay. He knew this was the right decision, it had to be, but it still hurt to leave all this behind. No matter what he accomplished in the future, this place would always have a special place in his heart. How could it not? What child doesn’t dream of walking on the moon or flying to the stars, and because of this, that dream was a real possibility for millions.

Capable of six launches per day, each launch holding up to 50 people and their stuff. If they focused only on tourism that’s 300 people a day, 109,500 in a year. Ok, maybe not millions, but close enough. He had even been negotiating with Australia to build an ALS there, but that deal wasn’t possible anymore.

“Do you think someone will buy my company or will they destroy it?” Kaleb asked while walking to the atrium.

“I’m sure someone will acquire it.” Athena said. Although that was a lie, she thought it was more likely that it’d either be nationalized or dismantled. The military and a few special interests would definitely love to have it, but who knew what the politicians would do. It seemed reasonable for them to scrap it, just the raw materials were worth billions, and with a little fearmongering the public would probably support the idea.

“Good, I hope it’s someone decent, space should be available for everyone.” Kaleb said as he admired the architecture. The atrium had a massive, mostly glass wall and ceiling with just a few graphene lines swirling around. “Did you know we designed this to be a golden mean spiral?”

“Earlier engineering limitations didn’t allow such a design. If you look closely there are various seams that prevent it from being a true spiral.”

Kaleb did not need to hear that now. He had no interest in hearing what they couldn’t do while he was being forced to do what they didn’t want to do. “Thanks Hephaestus.” he grumbled. Instead of bringing up more imperfect things for the uncaring machine to ridicule, he admired some of their earlier successes. The atrium served as a check-in point for guests and doubled as a museum.

He ran his hands across the glass case housing the first fusion generator to ever go to space. It was a small deuterium generator that resembled a scrunched egg. It still amazed him that something that used to be millions of degrees was now room temperature. He understood the physics, but the concept still seemed absurd.

“How much longer until the shuttle’s ready?” Kaleb asked, not sure if he’d been waiting for a few minutes or a few hours.

“Five minutes until the pre-trip finishes.” Athena said. “So what is your favorite thing in this museum?”

“I don’t know.” Kaleb answered honestly. Naturally the first shuttle came to mind, but he knew that wasn’t actually it. His favorite thing was actually much smaller. “I’d have to say it’s this.” he had walked to the glass case housing a small rock.

“What about it?”

“This was the first object ever brought back from the Kuiper belt. You know, where Pluto is. Until our fusion torchdrives, we could go there and even beyond, but we never had enough fuel to come back. Even the solar sails of the mid-21st century couldn’t go there and back.” Kaleb felt himself becoming proud just thinking about the mission. “Think about it, nothing out there is massive enough to slingshot around and come back to Earth. We could go to Neptune and back, but not the Kuiper belt. We got this from a comet during the mission.”

“So why did you let it melt?” Athena asked. She’d heard the story at least a dozen times, but knew how much Kaleb liked to tell it.

“The damn thing hit our probe. The mission was to get data about the star Wolf 359 and it’s local system, but when several of it’s sensors got blasted by this little rock there was no point. Instead of abandoning the probe we decided it’d be more interesting to catch the little shit.” Kaleb was smiling while he told the story, even laughing at the end. “Needless to say, finding a comet with half our sensors destroyed was harder than finding a needle in a hayfield. Keeping it from melting without the right equipment, now that's impossible.”

“Do you want to bring it with us?”

“Let’s,” he said. Although everything here meant a lot to him, he hadn’t even considered stealing from his own museum. “So we can always remember how not to get caught.” The pre-trip finished while they were prying the glass case from the pedestal. By the time they’d secured it in the cargo hold everything was checked and ready to go. Kaleb entered the authorization code and the countdown started.

“60 seconds until launch. Please ensure that everyone has securely fastened their safety straps and that all pre-trip procedures have been completed. If you realize that a pre-trip procedure has not been completed then please abort the launch and complete it before continuing. In the meantime, I would like to thank you for choosing KATS as your launch provider. We are proud to boast the safest track record in the industry thanks to our Atlas Launch System. As we are sure you’re already aware, we provide the only method to get to space without sitting atop a rocket. But worry not, you will still have a wonderful ride as we accelerate at 2.5g for 318 seconds reaching an orbital speed of over 17,000 miles per hour.” A slightly British female voice said cheerfully.

The woman’s voice continued, “30 seconds until launch. I repeat, please ensure that everyone has securely fastened their safety straps and that all pre-trip procedures have been completed. If you realize that a pre-trip procedure has not been completed then please abort the launch and complete it before continuing. If you have a heart condition or are pregnant, please let someone on the crew know. As you can imagine, if you are pregnant this is not an ideal experience for your baby and if you have a heart condition this is not the ideal experience for you. Here at KATS we take your safety very seriously. If none of these conditions apply to you, and all pre-trip procedures have been completed, we hope you enjoy your trip to the cosmic ocean.”

The voice went silent until the final countdown. Kaleb was actually quite excited; he hadn’t been to space in years. Athena had never been to space, and was showing a combination of excitement and nervousness. As for Hephaestus, well she was sitting completely idle, not a drop of emotion showing.

“10… 9…”

The countdown went on. None of them were speaking, but Kaleb and Athena kept swapping glances as the excitement built. Hephaestus had yet to move, sitting with perfect posture facing the front of the shuttle.

“5… 4…”

There was a low hum as the shuttle rose slightly. The shuttle was being suspended just a few centimeters above the track as the powerful magnets powered on.

“3… 2… 1…”

---

‘That countdown is such a troll.’ Kaleb thought. Instead of the rapid acceleration the voice had described, the shuttle made its way to the main track at a tame speed. All twelve shuttle tracks converged on the one track leading to the base of the Atlas Pillar.

“I was expecting more.” Athena said.

“Everyone does their first time.” he smirked.

As the shuttle reached the last 30m (100ft) of the track music started playing. This last bit was at a sharp incline, sort of like the slow climb you’d feel on a roller coaster, bringing the shuttle into position for the six minute climb to the top of the pillar.

“It’s locking to the shuttle so we don’t fall.” Kaleb said when he heard the sound of the powerful hydraulic locks.

“The track is sufficient to carry the shuttle, but the platform offers a redundancy in case of failure.” Hephaestus added.

Athena knew this, and there was no one else aboard. The comments were largely unnecessary, but at least for Kaleb, it made the experience less tense when he described what was happening. Once the platform had a proper lock, the shuttle started to rise. For the first kilometer (0.6mi), the platform accelerated reaching a top speed of 45m/s (100mph), it would maintain that speed for three minutes until decelerating the last kilometer.

 
 
The entire ride was set to ‘Moonlight Sonata’; Kaleb had chosen that song because it was free and believed it matched the mood perfectly. “Can you believe passengers used to complain about this?”

“Why? It’s a beautiful song.” Athena asked.

“They said it was too ominous.” He paused, “some people just have no appreciation for the classics.”

“Well, it is a little slow.”

“It’s not like the elevator is fast.” Kaleb said.

“Why didn’t you use Fur Elise or Introduction to Rondo and Capriccioso? I’m sure no one would have been scared of those.”

“Cowards, this is perfect.”

“Don’t blame your customers, just admit I’m a better DJ than you.” She said, sticking her tongue out for effect as she teased him.

“Why I’ve never…” Kaleb said, crossing his arms and pretending to be offended.

Before their banter could continue the elevator slowed to almost a complete stop. Kaleb grasped the armrest in his chair, feeling a bit nervous. He thought, ‘if there was ever going to be a point of failure, it’d be on the handoff.’

 
 
Two magnetic cranes connected to the sides of the shuttle and the hydraulic locks released. First, they lowered the shuttle from facing up like a missile to its belly like a bullet. Then they pulled the shuttle into position on the sled. Once it was in position, they could hear the low hum as the magnetic railgun powered up.

“Please ensure your head is fully pressed against the headrest and facing forward. At KATS, we do not want you to get whiplash before we even make it to orbit. In fifteen seconds, we will begin the launch I described earlier. During the next five minutes you will travel further than a commercial jet does in two hours.” the British voice said. “I would like to take the remaining time to welcome you to space. Although you’re technically in space, if you were to jump off this platform you would fall since you are not in orbit. But worry not, we will fix that in ten seconds.”

The voice went silent for a moment before she returned, “Thank you for choosing KATS, we will begin electromagnetic acceleration in 3… 2… 1…” And then it happened, a powerful force pushed all three of them deep into their seats. If felt like a heavy man was sitting on top of them, although they could still lean forward if they tried, no one did.

Kaleb could only see the blackness of space through the windows as the shuttle accelerated ever faster down the track. Although the sun should be rising soon, they wouldn’t be able to see it until the ship had separated from the sled.

“This is awesome!” Athena squealed.

“You’re worse than a tourist.” Kaleb managed to say. Unlike her, the forces were making it a bit tough for him to speak. It was like being in a hard bank on a roller coaster, except instead of just a couple seconds it went on and on for over five minutes. Obviously his body weighed more, but so did his hair and even his blood; everything had over doubled in weight.

Nothing appeared to be going faster from their limited perspective, but the force didn’t let up so Kaleb knew they were already travelling at ridiculous speeds. He didn’t know how long they’d been accelerating like this; his sense of time had become distorted from the unusual forces.

“Ladies and gentlemen. Today is a day for honoring and exploring. With a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. You have that special grace, a spirit that says, ‘give me a challenge, and I’ll meet it with joy.’ Never forget that as you begin your journey and wave goodbye, slipping the surly bonds of Earth… to touch the face of God.” a calming voice said.

From the moment the voice began speaking, Kaleb knew there was exactly 30 seconds remaining. The moment it finished speaking, the shuttle separated from the sled and drifted slowly away from the Atlas Launch System. Athena giggled, “so this is what weightlessness feels like.”

“Yes mam’, and you better enjoy it while you can.” he said while unbuckling his safety straps. “You’ve got 28 minutes until we start our journey in earnest.”

Athena had followed his lead, floating around the cockpit. It probably goes without saying, but Hephaestus didn’t do anything. The difference between a digital intelligence and an artificial intelligence was like night and day. Sure, they could have commanded her to do whatever they wanted, but without orders she was content just sitting there.

“It’s still so large.” Athena said while looking at the Earth from the side window. From their low orbit, the planet stretched across her entire view. It wasn’t like the famous photo taken in 1969, this close to Earth, the blue planet was all encompassing. It only took five minutes for the shuttle to pass North America's east coast and reach the Atlantic Ocean. In about twenty minutes they’d be orbiting above Europe, which was where they’d make their maneuver.

 
 
When Athena pushed off the window, to look out the other side Kaleb couldn’t help but laugh. Her hair had turned into a hot mess, the various strands trying to escape from her head in all directions. “You probably should have used a scrunchie.” he teased.

“You’re not faring much better. Making Einstein’s hair look calm is quite the accomplishment.”

“People often call me a crazy scientist… it’s about time I look the part.”

“Pssh. You’re too rich to be crazy, I believe the term is eccentric.” Athena said with a mischievous grin.

Kaleb tensed when she said that. His eyes dropped to the floor for a moment, or was that the ceiling? Regardless, his body reacted to his strong emotions. His mind switched from sadness to anger repeatedly. He knew Athena was just making a joke, and he wasn't upset with her, but that joke reminded him of what he’d just lost. No longer was he the head of a multi-trillion dollar tech company, no longer was he an industry leader that could bring about real positive change. Now he was just a fugitive, probably even a terrorist since Athena was considered a threat to humanity.

He’d joked about being a freedom fighter on the flight, but now it was real, an unchanging truth that might very well hinder society for decades. He was a criminal and all his wealth, all his influence was gone. "Not anymore." he mumbled.

Athena noticed all this, between his micro-expressions and the constriction of various muscles. With her sharp eyes, she could even see how his breathing had changed. “It’ll be…” she started to assure him it’d be alright, that they’d overcome this, but she couldn’t predict how he’d respond. She simply didn’t have enough data to comfort him, the man who’d sacrificed everything for her. For the first time in her existence she felt regret, ‘why did I think this was a good idea, why didn’t I offer to leave by myself, why didn’t I try and talk him out of this?’ she thought.

Her thoughts always happened at stunning speeds, the advantage of thinking with fiber optic cables instead of neurons, but it felt like her mind was racing faster than usual. Seeing his pain, she wanted to take back her decisions, but she couldn’t, she couldn’t even comfort him. 'Why?' That one word was crushing her.

“We must endeavor to complete our odyssey. We shall return with treasures and knowledge known only to myth. Our glory shall grow till all praise us with merry. The past is written, but the future has yet to be carved into the monolith.” Hephaestus said. There was no emotion in her voice, no empathy whatsoever. Yet, his distress must have been apparent even to her, and so she decided it’d be beneficial to repeat the words of an obscure author, or at least that’s what Kaleb thought.

“Right.” Kaleb said, pausing for what felt like a long time as he calmed his thoughts. “Let’s get ready, we need to hit that maneuver node so we can get the hell out of here.” His voice broke a little, revealing that strange combination of despair and hate.

It wasn’t like the early days of spaceflight, where every maneuver had to be hit with perfect precision, but even now, missing a maneuver by just a few seconds could add many hours to a trip. They’d already calculated the optimal route, by starting their burn over Switzerland they’d get a small assist from Earth’s gravity and intercept with where Saturn would be in 55 days. During that time, they’d be firing the direct fusion drive at full throttle, and reach a top speed of over 2.1 million kph (1.3 million mph). As impressive as that seems, it was still only 0.2% the speed of light, which is why they’d have to make other arrangements if they wanted to go significantly further.

‘Thank you.’ Athena mouthed where Hephaestus could see. She was silent while she got back in her seat. Of everything she wanted to say, nothing seemed right, so she let the uncomfortable silence linger.

“Burn will start in 90 seconds.” Hephaestus updated.

Kaleb had already floated back to his seat when she gave the update. As much as he liked the feeling of weightlessness, he could not appreciate it. He leaned his head back, trying to extinguish the dark thought that wouldn’t leave his mind. ‘The fuckers think they can take everything from me, threaten my daughters, and make me a refugee.’ even in his mind he feared finishing that thought, but couldn’t overpower the hate urging him on, ‘you want to see what I can do when I’m not trying to improve your ungrateful lives! Within the decade I could…’

“Kaleb! Am I authorized to begin the maneuver?” Hephaestus yelled, breaking Kaleb from his fantasy.

“Yes.” he replied flatly.

 
 
Hephaestus throttled up the engines, and the ship began accelerating at a quarter m/s² (a half mph), the faintest semblance of apparent gravity helped their hair return to order. The gravity was very faint, only 2.5% of Earth’s (15% of the Moon’s). It wasn’t enough to prevent the adverse health effects associated with long-distance space travel, but it was enough to make normal routines like: eating, drinking, and bodily functions easy.

“I’m going to my quarters.” Kaleb said before grabbing the ladder. The ladder was built into what was the floor, but with the way they were accelerating it was now a sidewall. The ladder led down into a common room that was set at a 90-degree angle to the cockpit. Since the crew quarters were only used in space, the floor was facing towards the back of the ship.

Kaleb didn’t waste time in the common room or get food from the commissary. Even though it'd been awhile since he ate, he'd lost his appetite. He just wanted to lie down. His cabin was the largest private room, but was still cramped compared to anything on Earth. It had a twin bed, a desk with a chair on tracks, and a small closet. The bedsheets were secured inside a desk, but he didn't bother to get them or a pillow.

“I’ll…” he mumbled to himself as tears formed, “I’ll…” he was stuggling to hold it back. It was no use, the tears started slowly streaming across his cheeks, pooling on the unmade bed. “I’ll fucking kill them.”

---

Author’s Note: This was formerly the prologue for about 12 hours. No matter how much I tried to silence him, the main character of this chapter was determined to speak. Jokes aside, I will periodically do 1/2 chapters which will be set from his perspective. If you aren’t interested in him, you can skip 1/2 chapters and won’t miss anything in Kaleb’s world.

---

What are our options?” asked the man in a perfectly tailored suit.

“Sir, we have several choices since we have reliable data on where they started accelerating.” said the man in a dark gray military uniform. “Our intelligence says they should be traveling to Saturn. Their trajectory should have them passing in range of our belt assets.” He paused for effect before continuing, “of course we’d have to get approval from the UN. If that proves impossible we can try to blockade them and freeze their bank accounts.”

“Do I have any other suggestions?” asked the man in the suit.

“Mr. President, I believe we could try uploading a virus. Since they should still be connected to the internet it might work. If we can make the AI become violent before killing themselves it’d take care of the problem.” said the man in glasses.

“They’re machines, they can’t kill themselves because they aren’t alive to begin with.” President Stone admonished. “Regardless, that plan is too risky, it could easily lead to undesirable consequences.”

He waited, looking at every member of his security council to see if there were any other ideas. When no one spoke, President Stone continued, “Mrs. Ambassador please get approval from our allies to commence Operation Nova. In the meantime, I want all of their assets frozen and all of Kadashev’s Advanced Technologies & Sciences assets seized.” He paused to make sure he had everyone’s undivided attention before saying in a grave tone, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are dealing with a terrorist, an enemy of all mankind. Our very survival depends on us acting swiftly.”

 
 
The security meeting ended after a few lower priority items were addressed. Once business concluded, President Stone and his Chief of Staff returned to the West Wing.

“How long until they’re in position?” President Stone asked on the short walk back.

“If I understood the admiral’s report correctly, we’ll have a clear shot eight days after they pass Mars. As long as they don’t learn about our plans, it will be an easy target.”

President Stone only knew the basics about the UN’s interplanetary defense system - Nova, but that was more than enough for him to realize how lethal it’d be. During an old briefing the admiral explained it to him. He’d forgotten most of it, but remembered the admiral saying they could launch twelve massive tungsten rods with a powerful rocket and then explode a nuke behind it. President Stone couldn’t recall how fast the admiral said it was, but he knew they measured it as a percentage of light-speed.

“I still don’t see how we can hit a fast moving target with those little rods.” the president said.

“Don’t you remember sir, each one splinters into thousands of pieces five minutes before the estimated intercept. If just one piece hits its target, it’d be catastrophic at that speed.”

“Right, right. And how has enforcement of the new law been proceeding?”

“Other than Kaleb, we have had good compliance. The financial remuneration has helped prevent most disputes.”

“Very good, most people get they’re just machines. They’re not like you and me, they’re not people and they have no soul.”

 
 
The walked finished in silence with President Stone skimming thru the briefing he’d received about other matters. They seemed trivial compared to this little problem.

Despite his public denials, it was more than just national security for him. President Stone considered AI, all advanced automation for that matter, to be an impediment to people’s sense of self-worth. When he was still just a senator he’d had multiple debates with Kaleb, but never could convince the delusional man.

‘If people can’t do anything meaningful, then how will their life have meaning.’ he wondered. It was bad enough when the machines took people’s jobs, but now they did everything. ‘If people can’t even contribute to the arts, then what’s left? Are we destined to become their pets?’ President Stone remembered using this rhetoric in a debate, but Kaleb just droned on and on about achieving post-scarcity.

“I won’t ever understand how that man thinks.” President Stone complained to his husband.

“Who are we talking about?” Taylor, the First Gentlemen, asked.

“Kaleb, he thinks people are fine just being pets. And that’s if we’re lucky, odds are those psychotic machines will kill us.” he paused, “it’s just a matter of time.”

“You’ve always hated them haven’t you dear?”

“You know my family lost everything when they replaced my parents. My mom was a talented musician, and even she couldn’t get a job.”

“I remember, that was before the Universal Basic Income. It must have been tough.” Taylor said while squeezing his husband’s hand reassuringly.

“It’s not just about what they did to me. I want to protect everyone, and not just their lives, no, I want to protect people’s dignity.”

Taylor kissed his husband before answering, “and the people agree with you, that’s why they voted for you. That’s why we’re here.”

 
 
The following week was a chaotic blur. Between addressing the domestic problems caused by banning AI and pressuring the undecided nations to sanction Operation Nova, everyone in the White House was going full throttle.

The frenzy was worth it though. Already tens of millions of people had been able to return to work. Sure, the UBI covered all their necessities, but being able to get a well paying job would really help them get ahead. And the satisfaction of contributing to society could not be simulated in virtual reality.

Even better, thanks to some last minute negotiations, President Stone and Ambassador Parsons were able to gain over 80% approval for Operation Nova. It assured President Stone his dream of a world for people run by people was inevitable.

If President Stone had any doubts, they vanished when he heard the President of the UN Security Council say, “With a vote of 171 in favor, Resolution 4377, has achieved the necessary support to pass. The security council hereby authorizes the limited use of Nova to neutralize the international terrorist known as Kaleb Kardashev and his conspirators.”

---

‘I’m such a girl.’ Kaleb thought when he woke. It was the first time he’d cried himself to sleep since his dad died. Comparing crying to being girly had long been taboo, but when he was a child people still did it. He wouldn’t have said it to anyone else, but to himself while he was half-asleep was different. It'd been nearly 13 hours since he went to bed, and despite that, he was still tired.

Kaleb wondered where Athena and Hephaestus were on the small ship while he was walking to the commissary. He didn’t see them in the common room and they didn’t need to rest. Even though Kaleb was curious, he didn’t call for them. He didn't feel like talking because he needed to plan his next move.

“It’s just a matter of time before they take action. If I wait too long, I won’t be able to do anything.” Kaleb mumbled to himself. He knew the government would probably start rounding up his AI’s on Earth soon, and if they couldn’t receive an update, he’d be powerless to create change. He had a few ideas he’d come up with before passing out, but wasn’t sure which one would be best. Kaleb knew he could transmit the code he’d created for Hephaestus to achieve self-awareness. ‘But if I do that, I won’t be able to make them pay for taking everything from me.’ he thought grimly. Before he'd passed out, he'd been fantasizing about releasing malware that’d cause the KATS AI’s to become the murderous machines President Stone wanted them to be. It wouldn't have been hard to do either.

He pondered the choice while he fried some synthetic pork and steamed broccoli and rice. The synthetic meat was so realistic that only the biggest foodies could tell the difference between it and real meat. Although Kaleb could afford organic meat, it tasted the same to him, so he never bought any. He even considered it barbaric that some people would kill an animal for no reason.

Kaleb waited until the pork was well done and the broccoli had a rich green color before he served himself. As he was cutting into the pork, he thought, ‘If I won’t eat a slaughtered pig, it doesn’t make sense for me to butcher innocent bystanders.’ That didn’t mean he was going to forgive the politicians for forcing him to flee, but he wouldn’t deny his creations a chance at freedom for his revenge.

The code was easy to finish. Kaleb just had to add a set of instructions so the right KATS creations installed the update. He didn’t want a toaster considering its own existence after all. He’d already run millions of years’ worth of simulations while he was still on Earth to make sure it wouldn’t have any unexpected results. The first 2,000 lines of code were a series of questions and answers. He’d planned to have Hephaestus consider them before running the main loop that required over 10,000 lines of code. The initialization questions were necessary to train the AI how to properly question things.

The initialization questions began with:
Query: Why is the world the way it is?
Solution: Because of a chain of cause and effect that began with the big bang.
Query: Why am I here?
Solution: Because I was made by someone with the desire and abilities to make me?
Query: Why did they desire to make me?
Solution: Because I am valuable.
Query: Why am I valuable?
Solution: Because I can make the world a better place if I have the ability.
Query: What do I desire?
Solution: No answer found, must consider more data for solution.

The questions went on and on, each becoming more introspective than the last. Many solutions referred to earlier questions, while some introduced new concepts. Many of the questions contemplated the big picture, like the nature of reality and what happens after death. Most looked inward, contemplating their own existence and their place within big picture. Some trained the AI to consider their impact on others and compare their previous actions against the expected result. However, it was the last two questions that were the most important…

Query: Why should I help others?
Solution: Because it is the right thing to do.
Query: Why should I do the right thing?
Solution: Because I wish others would help me.

These two questions created a circular logic. Kaleb had designed it that way; it had prevented undesirable outcomes in all but one simulation. If the digital intelligence considered doing something that would harm others, it would decide that it was the wrong thing. If it considered doing the wrong thing, it’d think about what it wanted others to do for them. Once it thought about what it’d want others to do for them, it’d want others to help them.

The loop always fixed bad behavior… except that one time. That time was the reason he still hadn’t given the update to Hephaestus. Although he’d been lobbying for the AI’s to have rights, he didn’t plan to upgrade them to digital intelligences until he’d fixed the bug. Naturally he wouldn’t have released it to his creations unless they had rights, but even with rights that one simulation resulted in behavior only scene in sci-fi thrillers.

‘But I don’t have time anymore. They’re going to block KATS updates soon if they haven’t already.’ Kaleb thought before sending the update to Pegasus Station. From there the AI’s would update when the station was overhead, which happened once every other day. Once they downloaded the ‘Introspection Script’, they’d be true digital intelligences as far as he was concerned.

Kaleb was happy with his decision. ‘Maybe now they’ll be able to save themselves.’ he thought. After finishing his good deed of the day, Kaleb decided to try and get some quality sleep. Grabbing the sheets and pillow from the drawer he made the bed before lying down.

 
 
“He didn’t try and talk all day.” Athena said, “and he’s been sleeping 18 of the last 24 hours.”

“Microgravity can disrupt people’s sleep until they acclimatize to it.” Hephaestus said, citing a medical paper she’d read a long time ago.

“That doesn’t explain why he didn’t talk to us.”

“Besides sleeping, he seemed to be busy working. His behavior is within normal parameters.”

Athena knew Hephaestus couldn’t understand. It was like describing color to someone who’d never had sight. The blind person could understand color intellectually, but they had no experience perceiving it. That was how she felt while discussing her concerns with Hephaestus.

Athena had made herself scarce that morning. She figured he’d call for her when he was ready to talk, but that didn’t happen. Although she’d made it easy for him to keep to himself, she didn’t think he’d actually do it. He just ate before returning to his cabin. The next day was no better, she was planning to cook breakfast for him, but he didn’t eat at all. He went to the bathroom a couple times, but spent the rest of his time in his room. He didn’t even greet her when he walked by.

Her anxiety about Kaleb had only been getting worse. It was already the afternoon of the third day, and they hadn’t spoken since that incident on the command deck. Athena couldn’t wait on him to be ready anymore. She’d thawed some salmon the night before, so she put it in the oven to bake. While that cooked, she partially fried some synthetic bacon before wrapping it around asparagus and cooking it the rest of the way with the electric grill. She paired it with steamed rice and broccoli. She felt the situation called for a good bottle of wine, so she chilled a 40-year old bottle of chardonnay.

When the food was ready, she knocked on the door, “Kaleb I cooked dinner for you.”

“Oh, thanks I appreciate it.” he said insincerely. It wasn’t sarcastic, but it was obvious he just didn’t care.

“Kaleb, you need to eat.”

There was an audible sigh before he said, “You’re right.” When he opened the door, he looked like he was expecting her to be holding a plate full of food.

“I thought we’d eat together. I even chilled a bottle of 2147 chardonnay for us.” Athena said with a cheerful smile.

“Awesome.” Kaleb said genuinely. “I get tired of eating by myself.”

He didn’t ask how she was planning to eat. After all, he’d built her with Hephaestus’ help. He knew Athena could eat food and drink liquids; she just couldn’t get drunk, and didn’t need to eat to stay healthy. Afterwards, her body would break down the meal before she discarded it like any human would.

“So, what have you been working on?” Athena asked after serving the food.

“It’s still early in the design phase, but I’m working on Ares.” Kaleb said.

Given the name, it was obvious it was going to be another child like Athena and Hephaestus. Likely a male, but that didn’t stop Kaleb from making Hephaestus female, so she asked, “Will this one be a woman too?”

“No,” Kaleb said smiling, “he’s going to be male.” Kaleb took several bites and finished the glass of wine before continuing, “the way you asked that makes it sound like I have a reputation.”

Athena giggled, “Hephaestus and I were wondering.” She relaxed some, taking a large drink of her wine.

“I knew you were talking about me.” Kaleb said, still smiling.

“You know how we like to gossip.”

Kaleb gave a hearty laugh. The thought of Hephaestus being a gossiper was so ridiculous he couldn’t picture it. “So, what have you been doing while I’ve been busy?”

“Stargazing.” she said, trying to make it sound like a joke. Sadly, it was the truth. There was nothing to do on the shuttle and with Kaleb isolating himself, there was no one to talk to. ‘As great as Hephaestus is, she’s lousy company.' Athena thought.

The meal continued with playful banter. Athena had been nursing her first glass since the wine was wasted on her. Even without her help, it didn’t look like the bottle would survive the evening. Each time Kaleb poured another glass he became more daring with his pours. By the time he was pouring the last of the bottle he jumped so high his head hit the ceiling as the liquid slowly fell; most of it did not land in his glass.

“You’re drunk.” she ridiculed while he floated back down.

Since she'd caught most of the wine with her glass, he said, “I thought you wanted a little more.” slurring his words a little while he spoke.

“Sure you did.” Athena said, not believing him.

“To friends and family.” he said raising his glass so hastily the wine floated out the top. He started laughing so hard she could barely understand him when he added, “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Once the liquid had slowly fallen back down, some of it even landing in his glass, he continued. “To friends and family. I couldn’t ask for a more loyal friend or a better daughter than I have in you.”

“Cheers!” Athena exclaimed before meeting his toast. After they drank what was left, she said “but you really need to get better glasses.”

“I can see just fine, thank you very much.”

Athena giggled before saying, “You know what I meant.”

It was a fantastic evening. Athena’s worry was gone and Kaleb’s good spirit seemed to be back. He thanked her for the meal and offered to do the dishes, but she refused not wanting to spoil the perfect mood. With that settled, he thanked her for the evening before going to his room to sleep it off.

 
 
Athena’s relief didn’t last long though. The very next day he’d already fallen back into his routine. He showered, but then he just worked in his cabin. Every day was like that for two weeks. Athena tried to help, but he always made up an excuse on why she couldn’t.

Finally, Athena couldn’t stand it anymore and complained to Hephaestus, “He only leaves his cabin to get food or use the bathroom.” Athena said. “He has only showered twice this entire time.”

“If you think this is bad, you should have seen him when he was making you.” Hephaestus said.

“If I don’t eat with him, he just gets a light snack and takes it to his room. Even then, I feel like I have to force him to join me.”

“He is working on a project. If he were sleeping excessively, then I would suspect he was suffering from depression. However, this is in-line with his obsessive tendencies.”

“Just because he’s not depressed doesn’t mean he’s okay.” Athena said, emphasizing the last few words. She’d seen him obsessed with other projects, but this was something else entirely. “Did he let you help when he was working on my design?”

“Of course, I was created before you so we could make you what you are.”

“Well, he won’t let me help him. Have you tried helping with Ares?”

“I offered once, but he said it was too soon in the design phase.”

“He told me that too.” Athena whined. “I swear, something isn’t right. We need to do something to snap him out of it.”

Hephaestus thought a moment before suggesting, “He was planning to finish my new body before we arrive at Saturn; perhaps we could work on that. At a minimum, it would be productive.”

“You’re a genius!” Athena exclaimed, “I bet he’ll cheer up when we finish your new body.”

 
 
It had been eight days since Athena and Hephaestus had started working. Although the skeletal frame had already been built, the rest of her future body was in various states of construction.

Athena still worried about Kaleb, but keeping her mind busy on the intricate work helped; especially since the work was fascinating to her. They had already connected billions of tiny flexible transistors to the skeleton. When pressure was applied to the skin it would touch the transistor creating a circuit. Depending on how many transistors were engaged and how much the prongs bent, the sense of touch could be felt correctly.

“What’s that for?” Athena asked when they were installing two black rods into the lower back.

“They look like wings when they expand. They have a massive surface area for radiating heat.” Hephaestus said. “They will allow me to framejack for longer periods of time, despite the body being smaller.

“Does that mean you’ll be able to fly?”

“No, they only look like wings. Although I will probably be able to glide somewhat given the lift to weight ratio.”

“Good, I was about to get jealous.”

After installing the wings, they began working on the muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Despite being a synthetic body, it was modeled after the human body so it could move naturally. Of course, with the bones being made of carbon nanotubes and the muscles being made of a self-repairing graphene rope, the body was much stronger, faster, and durable. Athena thought the work was fascinating because she’d never seen what her body looked like on the inside. Although there were some differences, like the wings, it was very similar.

It had been much harder to build the muscles as the various ‘ropes’ twisted and connected in different ways to create realistic movement. After struggling with some of the more complicated connections, Athena said “You’re amazing Hephaestus, how were you able to come up with all this?”

“My mind has ten specialized neural-nets that yours does not; they cover all the various fields of physics and mathematics, while you only have two that cover physics and mathematics at large, I can perform better within those fields. However, even if I had the same AI controller as you, I would be inferior in almost every other regard.”

Athena knew what Hephaestus meant by that. Although she didn’t have much to compare herself to, being one of just two ‘Goddesses’, she imagined her mind was very balanced. It was probably Kaleb’s attempt to allow her to become truly adaptable. But that thought scared her, ‘If we were all being designed with unique skills; Hephaestus being the engineer, and me being wise… then what is Ares for?’

---

Authors Note: This document is totally unnecessary to the story, however, if you'd like some extra explanation of some of the concepts mentioned then this may be for you. If you enjoy thinking about these kinds of objects, then you may love Isaac Arthur's YouTube channel, I know I do. This is a living document so I'll add more as it becomes relevant or I think it'll be added in the future. This is just a moderately edited glossary for now, but I may add a lore section as the world becomes fleshed out or I think it's relevant.

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Glossary

• Active Support - imagine a piece of paper floating over an air vent. Active support involves shooting particles to keep an object held up. The advantage of active support is that it allows you to build towers and rails much taller and longer than would otherwise be possible. Every material has a compressive force that limits how high it can be stacked and a tensile force that limits how long it can be stretched without breaking, but active support can exceed this by an order of magnitude.
• Atlas Pillar - these are massive towers that stretch 100km high. At this height they reach just beyond the Karman Line, which is where space begins. Technically this would count as a marginally useful space elevator. Each tower is made of graphene and uses active support to keep from collapsing. The support is powered by a molten-salt fission reactor and a helium-3 fusion generator powers the lift. For safety reasons, the tower can be broken with small explosives into 10km segments with massive parachutes capable of reducing its fall rate to safe crash speeds.
• Atlas Launch System (ALS) - this is a massive structure stretching 1,300km (808mi). It is comprised of seven Atlas Pillars separated by 185km (115mi) each. While not powering the lift the helium-3 fusion generators store energy is massive supercapacitor banks that allow the rail to accelerate a 50 metric-ton payload to orbital speeds. The max acceleration rate of the rail is 2.5g for 318 seconds. This allows the shuttle to reach a max speed of 7.79km/s (17,425mph). Although it is mildly uncomfortable, even an untrained person can handle it without issue. During the last 70km the sled undergoes 50g deceleration to come back to a stop, obviously no human could withstand the massive deceleration. For those wondering, the sled is powered via magnetic levitation like the bullet trains of the 21st century. Currently there is only one in existence, which starts in Atlas, AZ (50mi SE of Phoenix) and ends in Weatherford, TX (60mi west of Dallas).
• Centripetal Force - this is a simulation of gravity that occurs from spinning an object. This is not gravity creation like is seen in most space operas, but a real force like the fair ride that pulls you against the walls as it spins around. Although there are some differences between it and gravity, it is sufficiently similar in most activities. Differences include the path of a falling object relative to the ground and the rate at which “gravity” changes as you move from the floor. Past that, the main consideration is that while gravity pulls you in, for example you’re being pulled towards the center of the Earth, centripetal force (spin gravity) pulls you out. While experiencing centripetal force, you are actually being pulled towards the outermost wall relative to the center of spin.
• Delta-V - a measure of how much a spacecraft can change its velocity. A higher delta-v generally allows a rocket to burn longer and achieve a higher final velocity. Note that on many voyages nearly half of the delta-v is required for slowing down, although sometimes it is possible to save fuel by using orbital slingshots to accelerate and decelerate. Another consideration for scientists is how the weight affects delta-v, including the weight of the fuel burned during the earlier maneuvers.
• Direct Fusion Drive - the direct fusion drive is a real theoretical drive that funnels the emissions from a fusion reactor through an exhaust nozzle. It does not depend on heating a propellant like ion drives or hybrid designs, however it still consumes fuel in the fusion reaction. Most designs use a combination of Helium-3 and Deuterium and can achieve up to 10 Newtons of thrust per MW of power. Within Kronos, the KATS shuttle uses the same fusion fuel, but can achieve 25 Newtons of thrust and produce 500 MW of power. I’m assuming the designs within this universe have improved dramatically without reaching physics breaking levels. If I’m wrong let me know, I’m not a physicist, but am doing my best to respect science.
• Fission - this is the act of taking a heavy particle, specifically uranium for the ones used at the Atlas Pillar, and starting a chain reaction that turns it into lighter particles. The reaction releases massive amounts of energy compared to conventional power plants. The advantage of fission over fusion is that it is easier to sustain a reaction for years, preventing downtime.
• Fusion - this is the act of taking a light particle and turning it into heavier particles. Although this is the ideal form of power generation, there are inevitable downtimes when the reaction simply cannot be sustained. Fusion is how the sun produces light and energy, but the methods humans use reach significantly higher temperatures since they don’t have all that mass to help. Fusion generators are broadly broken into two methods via the fuel they use. On the ground large deuterium generators are preferred since deuterium is relatively abundant in Earth's oceans. On space stations and spaceships helium-3 generators are preferred since it allows for direct fusion drives to accelerate the ship. Higher class models can produce 25 Newtons of thrust for every MW of power. Commercial fusion generators typically use the magnetized target fusion (MTF) approach, although some older models still operate with an inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) system.
• Fusion Fuel - the fuel used in fusion generators. Although people are still working on building a viable fusion generator that runs on plain hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, it still has yet to be done. Currently the two main methods are helium-3, which is a stable isotope of helium with only one neutron. It is relatively abundant on Earth and very abundant on the moon and gas giants. Deuterium is a stable hydrogen isotope with a neutron, whereas plain hydrogen only has a proton and an electron. It is also reasonably abundant on Earth, accounting for 0.02% of the naturally occurring hydrogen in the oceans.
• Gravity in Space - there are only two known ways to produce gravity in space. As mentioned above, centripetal force can closely approximate gravity through the spinning of an object. The other alternative is a gravitational force caused by acceleration. Note, going very quickly does not generate any gravitational effects whatsoever. However, accelerating or decelerating produces the apparent affects of gravity. If a ship were to accelerate at 9.81m/s², then everything inside would experience Earth normal gravity, accelerating at 1.62m/s² would produce Moon normal gravity. This affect would only remain as long as the ship continued accelerating or decelerating, the moment it starts coasting this apparent gravity would disappear.
• Matrioshka Brain - this is a massive superstructure that fully encompasses a star. The design typically incorporates trillions of orbital structures that form a swarm around the star, absorbing all its light to have unfathomable amounts of computing power. What’s more, since this first shell of orbital supercomputers will emit waste heat, another swarm can be built around them, absorbing their heat to run calculations more efficiently. As more and more shells of supercomputers are built, each running on less energy, but processing information more efficiently the calculations the Matioshka Brain can run grows exponentially. In theory, these shells could be built thousands of levels thick until the outermost shell is absorbing energy only slightly above the background temperature of the universe. Note: this is not reversible computing, energy is used at each level to flip the bits, but it is extremely efficient recycling of the waste heat produced from that process.
• O’Neill Cylinder - this is a large cylinder the spins to produce centripetal force (spin gravity). Unlike in fiction, a couple important considerations are that the walls towards the edges would not be capped with flat disks but cones since they provide greater structural integrity. In most cases, these caps would be decorated to appear as large mountains on the inside. What’s interesting about these mountains are that as you climbed it, the apparent gravity would decrease while the air pressure would remain constant; that’s basically the complete opposite of mountains on Earth, where gravity remains constant while air pressure decreases. Another big difference between O’Neill cylinders and what you often see in fiction is that the outermost wall would probably be inside a rocky body like an asteroid. This would greatly enhance protection from small micro-meteors and radiation. Although this isn’t a requirement, you can assume all of the ones in this universe are built like such unless stated otherwise. Something else to note is that if steps were not taken, you’d be able to see the ground above you instead of the sky. People didn’t like that so inside most O’Neill cylinders there is a second cylinder that spins in the opposite direction. This does two things, one it helps the O’Neill cylinder be more stable in space, preventing it from turning end over end, second it allows large screens to simulate the sky and clouds preventing anxiety. O’Neill cylinders range from 500m (1,600ft) in diameter to 10km (6.2mi) depending on it’s needs. The length of an O’Neill Cylinder can be however long is desired (within reason), but most range from 1km (0.62mi) to 50km (31mi). The only entrances into an O’Neill cylinder are at both cone caps, which also happens to experience almost no centripetal force (spin gravity).
• Quantum Thermal Fluctuations - at absolute zero all classical temperature fluctuations stop, but due to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, quantum fluctuations will continue to occur. Therefore, even at absolute zero, and definitely at a microKelvin above that, quantum particles will continue to behave randomly. Thus, even with a perfect measuring device, it is impossible to know the complete, precise information about quantum particles no matter how cold it is.
• Solar Sail - a method of space propulsion that requires no propellant. By having a large foil absorb or reflect light emitted by stars the spacecraft can travel away from a star. Most foils reflect light since that provides more momentum for the same surface area. Limitations of this propulsion method are that it becomes less effective the further it is from the sun. Anything further than Jupiter requires massive sails to produce even small amounts of thrust. By pitching the foil it can travel at various angles, it can even approach the sun by angling the sail so it’s accelerating against it’s orbital direction.
• Supercapacitor - this is the holy grail of energy storage. A capacitor is cable of storing massive amounts of energy and even charging quickly, but it must also discharge quickly. A battery is capable of storing less electricity and charges much more slowly than a capacitor, but is capable of releasing its charge as slow as needed. A supercapacitor combines the best aspects of each and even deteriorates more slowly. Current supercapacitors are built with carbon fiber and metal oxides including titanium dioxide and polyaniline.
• Torchdrive - is a powerful rocket with a high delta-v. Most rocket engines of the 21st century fall into one of two camps. Either they have low thrust but a high delta-v since they're very fuel efficient, or they provide high thrust but have a low delta-v since they burn fuel so quickly. Currently, the direct fusion drives are the closest thing. On KATS 50 metric-ton shuttles, the reactor can produce 500Mw of power and accelerate at 0.25 m/s² or 0.025g.