What is Project (M)Earth?

Dear Reader

Tashi delek, thank you for visiting, welcome and I hope this finds you in peace and serenity.

We learnt Eric Carpenter recently joined Stephem Enterprises to help uncover more on the threat which is believed to be a comet as it starts an unusual journey towards Earth. I have performed some research into Eric and here is what I found out which will help you build more of the story as we we work together to discover more on what threatens the world from deep space.

By time we meet Eric Carpenter on Big Bear Mountain in September 2277 on the night the object is discovered in the Kuiper Belt he has experienced his fair share of trauma during his adult life. A brilliant astronomer and scientist, he has specialised in the continued search for extra terrestrial life. Although the official body SETI disbanded almost two centuries previously, Carpenter still clings to the belief aliens are still trying to contact the human race.

The ridicule he suffered after announcing to the world the discovery of the new planet during his early career was brutal and recovery from this damage took years and without the support of his wife, Avalon and daughter, Amelia, he would surely have slipped into a depression without a chance of re-emergence. His wife and daughter were his strength, believing in his abilities, never once doubting his ability as an astronomer and scientist. The love they both bestowed on Eric gave him the strength to face anything life could throw at him.

Eric’s wife Avalon, was truly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He loved her and everything about her. Avalon thought her temperamental side, which Eric attributed to her artistic passion, would one day drive him away to find someone of a calmer nature. They met on a moonlit night and Eric loved telling and reliving the story with Amelia.

Avalon

Eric was a very good pilot, owning and operating his own Fly By Flux aircraft and when he could he flew into the desert looking for places to observe the skies away from light pollution. It was on one of those trips Eric met Avalon and he recalls “It was November 5^th, a  Waning Gibbous, I think. It was 5:50 in the evening, I was in the Joshua Tree National Park. Sometimes I needed to forget everything; all the technology and get out into the night and explore the sky the same way as my predecessors. Your mummy, being an artist was out looking for new material for the giant mural she was painting in Twentynine Palms. I had just set up my telescope. My fire was burning steadily and I was about to point my telescope at the moon to look at the new base being built by that dufus, Stephem. Just then, behind me, a soft velvety voice ‘excuse me, sir’ ” he imitated her voice. “I liked playing a game. When I heard a lady’s voice who I thought could be quite attractive – try and imagine what she looked like.

When I turned around, there stood your mummy, the most beautiful lady I had ever seen and I was not disappointed. The moon highlighted her eyes and lit up her perfect face. She stood with a great posture, no slouching, with both hands placed in her jacket pocket. Her hair, not as long as it is now came down to her shoulders. I really liked what I saw. I was so tempted to walk around her slowly, taking in the view, looking her up and down, but decided if I did that, it would probably be the last time I ever saw her.

I knew I had to marry this lady, before anyone else discovered her. I totally forgot she wanted to ask me a question. ‘sir?’ I thought I’d better answer her. ‘Yes’ I replied and she explained the horse she was riding on all day decided it was time to return home, without your mummy!” Eric would always be in hysterics at this point of the story. He found it quite funny Avalon’s four legged friend actually did let her down and desert her, contrary to the Roy Rogers song from the ‘olden days’, in the desert. After a short composure, he would continue, but his tone would change from jovial to deep reflection.

“You know”, he said pensively “if hadn’t been for that horse, I never would have met your mummy.” He would grab Avalon’s hand and kiss it gently, a forgotten practice, which he thought showed a man to be a considerate lover. At this part of the story, in later years after Avalon’s death, his eyes welled with tears, as he remembered the times they had together.

His tone would lighten, “That lady had the best butt – ever. I was so tempted to gab it that first evening. We often talked about that. We believed we were meant to be together, fate if you like. But mummy said if I did grab her lovely butt that evening, she would have slapped my face and walked off. I would have never seen her again – but would I? If we were destined to be together surely our paths would have crossed again? I’m glad I didn’t gamble with that conundrum. 

We talked all night; she about her art and me about my science. Although the night was cold, we huddled next to the fire, learning about each other and loving what we learned. We saw the sun rise. It’s amazing watching large birds catch the morning’s first light and start soaring skywards. There was no turning back we were together forever. There was still so much to learn. That’s the night I fell in love with your beautiful mother.”

Anyone who saw Avalon and Eric together knew they shared a special bond and love. They attracted both admiration and jealousy. In this age of great human achievement, where we journey to the moons of giant planets; live in space, harness invisible energy from the air to fly and many other awe inspiring great triumphs, no one has yet invented the perfect relationship. Eric always thought anyone who could deliver this would be far richer than Stephem.

Eric and Avalon were married a year later and soon after, they moved into their HOME and one year after moving in, Amelia was born. Eric’s life was complete. He had a beautiful wife, an adoring daughter and a great job doing what he loved, rekindling interest in extra terrestrial life. When the evenings were warm the family sat outside watching the stars and spacecraft establishing orbits after their release from POLAR. Amelia loved to watch activity on the various Lunar settlements through one of her dad’s many telescopes.

Eric and Avalon loved their daughter. Eric was a scientist and was well acquainted with the science behind conception and childbirth. It was a biological process everyone could experience, if they wished, all that was needed was a female and male. It scared him how many couples were just that, a male and female who happened to have children. There seemed to be no love in many relationships. Eric and Avalon were deeply in love and not a day passed without them both realising their daughter was made out of the strong love they had for each other. This love was passed onto Amelia, who was a loving a child, appreciating beauty around her in almost everything she saw and experienced. In Amelia, Eric and Avalon instilled a love and appreciation for the world.

The family enjoyed spending time in their Swimfinite unit.  And Eric particularly enjoyed ‘exploring’ in his small pool whilst engaging ORCA Mode. Eric’s favourite program was the Titanic, which he once ran with the correct temperature algorithm and nearly suffered from hypothermia, which he though ironic as he was in the Californian Desert where temperatures would rise to 45 degrees Celsius. Titanic reminded Eric of how vulnerable life was. It was a little unfair of Eric to say Titanic was his favourite, as there were infinite scenarios to explore. There were dives programmed into ORCA not yet experienced by anyone; such was the enormity of the database. Amelia was a very competent swimmer and enjoyed swimming with Mermaids and mystical, but friendly sea creatures, enjoying underwater adventures with many of the friends she made during her dives in Atlantis.

Eric like many people in this time possess telepathic abilities. Scientists don’t fully understand how the population have developed this part of their brains so well as it is faster than natural evolution. Subjects studied from a young age are discovered to have an increasing telepathic ability. The ability was not of a profoundly high level, but just enough to trigger research in the paranormal. After research, a link has been made with technology. The human race has produced so much technology which requires mental input from the user, their brains become quite powerful and developed. The younger a person starts to use technology, the greater and longer lasting  their ability and it was discovered people who used MIND in an aviation capacity are particularly telepathic, as they are connected to a computer for extended durations in flight.

Kira

The love Eric and Avalon showed Amelia served her well. She chose a husband who too knew the value of love and companionship. The love the Carpenters felt and passed onto Amelia gave them a granddaughter, Kira who was a very gifted as a child with a developed telepathic ability. But her telepathic powers fell into a new definition. She was a Telekinepath, not only was she telepathic, but also had telekinetic abilities, being able to move and influence very small inanimate objects.

Avalon never saw the birth of her granddaughter, a tragic accident claiming her life and taking her from Eric too early. Being an artist, she often ventured into the desert to seek subjects and inspiration, Eric accompanying whenever he could as her safety and wellbeing was his first priority. On this day Eric was needed in the the observatory, but he arranged to meet Avalon later in the day. Avalon saw Amelia off to college and kissed Eric goodbye after agreeing where to meet. 

Avalon parked her car outside Twentynine Palms and collected her horse and rode into the desert. She loved the way the sun cast different shadows on the rocks and sketched formations throughout the day, giving a time lapse depiction as evening approached. Avalon was searching for a new formation that day, so she and her horse took a different route to find a unique vista. Being an artist involved a little intrepid exploration and Avalon decided to ride up into the hills and look back at Twentynine Palms, recording the dancing, elongating shadows as the day grew old. Her horse seemed a little unsure and nervous as they rode up the hill. Avalon was busy framing her picture in her mind and didn’t see the snake. The startled horse threw Avalon cleanly of his back. She didn’t stand any chance of survival. Nearly every bone was shattered in her body as she fell to her death down the hill. Eventually the disoriented horse returned to the stable  where staff immediately realised something was wrong. Her body was found the next day after an exhaustive search.

Throughout the years, Eric would never fully recover from this loss, despite the love and support he received from his daughter, Amelia and granddaughter, Kira. He felt responsible for his wife’s death. He never placed work before his family, until that day, when he paid the ultimate price. After Avalon’s death, Eric spent days in his 3DVR room at home. One of the technology’s unfortunate features was the ability to view any area of the Earth at any time. Eric found the 3D depiction which showed Avalon’s death. He spent days trying to interact and intervene with the unfortunate events. But no matter what he tried, the outcome was the same.

Eventually Eric emerged from his depression, with the help of his daughter and granddaughter. He returned to work, where Andy helped with the rehabilitation, with guidance from Amelia, without her father’s knowledge. 

Eric started to devote time to those less well off than him. He volunteered his time to help the homeless, many of whom had depressing stories, worse than Eric’s. Only then did he realise how lucky he was to have experienced the love he shared with Avalon. 

Sphinx

To help Eric take his mind off his loss, Amelia gave him a gift, which would prove to be invaluable in his rehabilitation, a cat. He called his cat Sphinx and it gave unconditional love to Eric, unlike normal typical domestic felines, who prance around cocooned in self importance and arrogance. Eric loved playing a game with Sphinx, which he called Laser Cat. Those who were not familiar with the rules and only knew of Eric’s pain after the loss of Avalon visualised a lonely, bereaved and twisted man sitting in an empty house, with a supply of cats, which would be replenished regularly, as he vapourised them with his laser gun.

Luckily this was not the premise of Laser Cat. Eric seemed to lose his unique sense of humour after Avalon’s death, but Sphinx helped rekindle it. The basis of the game was while listening to music – classical was his favourite, in particular works by Gustav Holst, Beethoven and Mozart – he would conduct an imaginary orchestra, playing the more vigorous tunes. His baton a laser pointer incorporated into the cue glove which was one of the peripherals for the 3DVR room, located in most HOMEs. The music was provided by OmniPresent Sound allowing most surfaces to resonate and, emit sound which remained faithful to the original source.

Poor Sphinx being the feline he was, did what felines did; he chased things. When he was presented with the magical dot which was Eric’s Laser baton he chased it. Eric motivated Sphinx by telling him to catch the evil fairy. Most people who met Sphinx were convinced he was the botched reincarnation of a half wit dog. As the music started, Eric slipped on his glove slowly, wriggling his fingers and with a malevolent grin and summon Sphinx for his two hours of acrobatic and gravity defying exercise. Room after room would see battle between the grey matter challenged feline and the tactically superior untiring fairy. Sphinx was a buffoon, but Eric loved him dearly.