EXTRAS
Academy Newsletter
FX-88 LIGHT TRACER
THE BLACK GUARD
INSIDE THE JPL CONTROL ROOM
Academy Newsletter
POINT OF LIGHT THEORY MASTA POE LECTURE SERIES
FX-88 LIGHT TRACER
THE BLACK GUARD
INSIDE THE JPL CONTROL ROOM
Used by the Titanium Angels Politia Peacekeeping forces, the FX-88 is the finest in aerodynamic architecture. A single and dual seat supersonic fighter with two 15,876 kg (35,000lb) Pratt & Whitney FX2000-P-10,000 turbofans with a max speed of 4679 m/h, service ceiling 40,0012 m(130,000ft) and combat radius 2430Km (1600miles). It can travel at Mach 5. The FX-88s run on a mixture of deuterium and Helium-3, which is made to self-collide in the engine’s cylinders. Unlike the H-bomb fuel mixing deuterium and tritium, which releases neutrons in a nuclear reaction, deuterium-helium-3 is neutron-free or aneutronic fuel, eliminating the need for a radiation shield. The FX-88 utilizes a dual, micro-accelerator system and runs off of Migmatic rotating thrusters for vertical take-off and landing. The FX-88 comes equipped with a self-contained, deuterium force-field defense shield and D-T heat-point, rapid-fire Phaser/blasters as well as dual, antinuclear-impulse missiles used for molecular-matter displacement.
The mission control room at JPL is considered the nerve center of exploration into deep space. I had the opportunity to go there while researching hard science for “The Vision Quest” and I really understood how much science fact has a place in science fiction. I also believe that science fiction is the inspiration to create real science dating back to Jules Verne “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Twenty Thousand Legues Under the Sea,” all written in the turn of the twentieth century.
For more information about this incredible nerve center that helps us explore the outreaches of our universe, go to https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/deepspace/about/
A genetically enhanced blend of rat and spider, these creatures have eight spidery legs and a hideous face that resembles the perfect blend of a rat and a spider. Aggressive and dangerous, they range in size from a man’s fist to about the size of a healthy Bob Cat, averaging about the size of a large rat. Like all cross-genetic creatures, they have a heightened sense of hearing and smell. While they can be seen in the parks around Sangelino, once spotted, they are destroyed. Riders have learned to keep to lower Covax City and the bowels of the Great Fissures. Prolific breeders and excellent hunters, they thrive best in dark wet environments.
THE BLACK GUARD – Made with state of the art nano technology, utilizing viral and human DNA spliced amino acids and combined with A I (artificial intelligence) robotics, the Black Guard were created as the first non-human military machine. As A I Biodroids they possess a deadly combination of a viral amino acids data stamped with mankind’s greatest knowledge. This knowledge allowed them free access to any and all computer data storage, as well as, all levels of human genetic memory. The Biodroids helped man reestablish himself after the Great Quake of 2029. Then, with the help of scientist Ducane Covax, they went sentient in early 2055 and began to unify. They took a stand against the humans in what became known as the Atlantian Wars. Though they were designed with masked featureless faces to comply, at least visually, with the Co Federation’s “no eyes” clause, they developed an infra-green heat-seeking visual capability, making any attempt to escape futile, as well as, the ability to shape shift/transform into small fighters called Shadehawks and cloak rendering themselves invisible for short amounts of time. All traces of the Black Guard were thought destroyed after the Atlantian Wars Treaty, an order given during the Atlantian War Trials, banned their existence. The Earth, as a planet, had been at peace until rumors of a third generation Guard began to emerge in early 2071. First seen only by those daring enough to venture near the west coast of the underground Atomic Sea, the dense Fissure Forests, deep below the lower Fissures, and the Power Falls of Covax City. The new Black Guard soon made their way up into the Lower Ring streets of Covax City. Now, two years later, on rare occasions, they have been spotted in Co Federation airspace in and above Sangelino, transforming into the deadly, flying Shade Hawk fighter wedges. Those who have seen the Black Guard and survived an encounter, report they travel in pairs, and use metallic retractable articulated deuterium/blade finger-link weapons. Their designer, Ducane Covax, is believed to be building a new generation deep in his labs, located beside the eastern shores of the Atomic Sea. The labs are buried under what was once called White Sands and Trinity, New Mexico.