Fast Riser

Jason still couldn’t believe it, he was actually going to meet the President! The most powerful man in the world was going to shake his hand! Him! Little old Jason Brown from little old Dahlonega, Georgia!

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, this would also be his first trip into space. This wasn’t quite as exciting as it had been in the old days: instead if strapping himself into a rocket Jason merely had to step into an elevator, and the irritations (or excitement) of zero gravity were removed by the artificial gravity fields - the same fields that protected him from the acceleration in the elevator that would have otherwise squashed him flat. Jason however, like so many people these days, was not a "well travelled man" and had never been in a high altitude aircraft - let alone a space elevator!

Jason pressed his face up against the window and looked down at the continent rapidly expanding beneath him. He saw the dark blotch of Mexico City, sprawling out beneath him. To his left he saw the equally dark stains of the vast North American metropolises and to his right the green oxygen "factories" of South America.

Jason smiled with satisfaction, admiring the contrast the world in which he lived brought. The beauty of nature could co-exist with the beauty of the man-made metropolises. But his smile faded as Africa rose up on the horizon, for Africa was neither metropolis nor natural, and it certainly wasn’t beautiful: it was merely sand. A dangerous, evil looking, desert from the southern cape to the Mediterranean Sea. But Jason remembered his history: sacrifices had had to be made for the good of the world. But the sight of so much bleakness disturbed him and he looked away from the window and turned to look instead at the three other passengers sharing the elevator with him.

He could tell what the first two were simply from the ID tags they wore on their left breast pockets: a lawyer and a marketing executive. These two passengers would have been impressive enough on their own, but the third traveller in the elevator wore no conventional ID tag. Instead he wore the glorious white uniform of a Captain of the Space Fleet! Jason could hardly believe it; this man had probably travelled further in 30 seconds than Jason had in his entire life - his currant trip included! Jason felt entirely inadequate in beside these three giants of importance and responsibility. He fiddled with his "Level II Manager" ID tag nervously. Before long the elevator came to a halt. He had reached The Ring!

The Ring encircled the entire Earth at about 20 degrees north of the equator and was connected to the earth by 4 vast, but relatively flexible towers, one of which, Tower No. 2 or The Mexico Tower, Jason had travelled up.

Jason was met by a man in a suit whose ID tag carried on no name or position; it merely said "security". He led Jason through the maze of shopping concourses and offices before passing through the rigorous security at the Presidential Quarters. Jason was then, among other things, X-rayed, scanned and even physically patted down (he was a little confused as to why this was necessary in this day and age but he supposed that a man like The President could never be too careful).

With the security checks complete Jason was led into a waiting room.