Chapter  1  Awakening

There will be a day when you awaken that you will begin to fulfill your destiny. – Ofelia

Tuesday 2:00 am Dec. 23, 2245

Giant amoebas with huge engulfing pseudopodia were gulping thousands of fleeing diatoms. Even underwater the sound of screeching plankton was ear-piercing. A huge mass of panicked diatoms breached the containment tank and burst out with a flood of water. Just as a giant amoeba was sliming its false arms around him, Virgil Greenly’s eyes snapped open. He shuttered even though realizing it was a nightmare. But had he heard another sound as well? Did something else awaken him? a voice in his head? He waited, calming his breathing. Silence. His sleep had been fitful as his mind churned thoughts about problems with the water ecology. The diatom population was declining and he didn’t know why. ELL 5-Alpha’s (Earth-Lunar Lagrange 5-Alpha Island) Project Director had left. While ELL 5-Alpha was the official name, Project Director Rhett Blackwood and nearly everyone else called it Ellie 5 Alpha. It was the only one of six at this first space archipelago that had been completed. 

Virgil had tested the seawater; temperature, clarity, silicon levels, light intensity, and mineral content. All results had shown nothing suspect. Everything seemed optimal. There could be Protista predators, but he hadn’t found any. “I’ll need to speak with the marine zoologists”, he mumbled. Because of the declining population, the diatoms were not producing enough oxygen to support the ecosystem. He would need to set up the cyanobacteria oxygen generators. The cyanobacteria would grow in isolated tanks as they were not part of the ecosystem. He was still waking. This problem would need to be solved soon and nightmares were not helping his stress. 4 of the other 5 islands of the archipelago were in various stages of biosphere completion. The 6th one was nearing structural frame completion as the final layers of Graphene composites were being applied to the inner surface of the massive cylinder.

ELL5-MAC (Manufacturing, Assembly, and Construction Island) had been completed in sync with Alpha Island. It now operated in full production supporting the construction of the other islands. Ellie 5 MAC was the one bright spot in this project. It had worked flawlessly. Virgil was aware that the government expected the same success with the biological environments. Politicians did not understand the significantly greater complexity of designing self-sustaining ecosystems. Ellie 5 MAC operated robotically and was visited only intermittently by inspection crews so it did not require ecological life support systems. The MAC structure was critical to the building of and ongoing maintenance required by the developing archipelago. Once the island group was complete at Ellie 5 the MAC would be used to construct a duplicate of itself to be transported to and positioned at ELL4 to begin developing materials for the construction of those islands.

Virgil often felt overwhelmed even though his skill set was much broader than his assignment. His education was greater than one would expect for someone working at his level. He possessed doctoral degrees in Engineering, Biochemistry as well as Microbiology. However, he felt challenged working as Director of Microbiology and Head of Environmental Systems. On the job for just three months, he believed he had only produced a series of minor disasters. However, that was not the view of his subordinates. They saw the setbacks as a necessary cost to ultimate success.

Getting marine zoologists to maintain a diverse heterotrophic population while controlling their relative and total numbers had been difficult. He rolled onto his back trying to focus in the darkness. Rhett’s departure couldn’t have happened at a worse time for him. But inconvenient or not Rhett deserved to celebrate his twentieth wedding anniversary with his wife and two daughters. It had been his first trip home in the two years since the beginning of this project. Still, Virgil was terrified. He was losing focus on his own problems as he tried to understand and control the larger process. The major project leadership was well outside of his skill set. As Virgil in his half-awake state tried to resolve his worries, he realized he would not get any more sleep. At least he should try some relaxation meditation. He lay back on his sleeping platform but his mind continued to play the problem tapes.

Rhett Blackwood would be gone for two months, during which Virgil was required to oversee critical aspects of the other islands’ final construction and beginning certification. He now had to coordinate all the teams in the project while still struggling to manage his own environmental team. The engineers, marine biologists, ecologists, and molecular biologists that were now his charge were not shy about their oftentimes divergent viewpoints and priorities. Now that Ellie 5-Alpha’s ecological system was not functioning at 100% he wouldn’t be able to template it to the other islands until he understood why. The biologics needed to be in perfect balance on Ellie 5-Alpa soon or the tightly sequenced construction schedule would be thrown into disarray. His bamboo sleeping platform creaked as he leaned forward and sat up.