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(Page 1 of 7) Wings of Wax Part I by Chris Durel
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Wings of Wax
By Cidrel Rush
"The Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame."
- George Ripley, The Ripley Scrolls
Prologue
"Cosmic order cannot exist without perfect order. I do not believe in any order at all; that all is chaos. Therefore, anything is possible."
This is the first line of Ari Kasaguri's personal memoir, written shortly before what has become known as "The Esoteric Reality Incident", or more commonly, "Kasaguri's Folly".
Not only did the experimental test that was conducted more than one-hundred years ago prove somewhat fatal to the pilot (although, fatality cannot be proved, as he phased from existence), it was also scoffed at by all scientists in his field. A less known fact, though, is that this scientific experiment and the research conducted into the Origin of the universe (not the ‘Origin' as in that which all creation comes, but rather, the Origin, as in the exact center of the universe or 0,0,0 in three-dimensional space) greatly advanced FTL (Faster Than Light) Travel and prompted the human race to greatly develop all sorts of outer-space colonies in the coming century. It is theorized that after Kasaguri's failure, he secluded himself to his research on the Origin, and, without any communication to the scientific community, found exactly why his experiment failed. It is also speculated that Kasaguri found much more to the Origin than he previously hypothesized. None of his personal documents after the Esoteric Reality Incident have ever been found.
Chapter One – Begotten Humanity
"In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?"
- Job 12: 10
"Ten minutes until initiation. All project staff please report to the bridge." The PA system rang. Ari sat up from his chair, breaking his quiet contemplation. Looking in the direction of the voice he curiously tried to validate the command.
"I repeat," the PA went on, "All project staff please report to the bridge. Ten minutes until initiation." Ari was on his feet by now, strolling casually to the elevator, while trying to get his research documents in order. He really shouldn't be late, as this was his experiment.
"I'm lucky this kind of lunacy is funded." He mumbled to himself as he walked. Evading the mass of people, he finally came to the elevators. Selecting ‘1A Bridge', he looked around at the starring faces. They knew who he was. He had consumed all their money for the past three months through the wonders of income tax. He waited anxiously for the elevator to open. It had taken to long to begin with.
Riding to the top floor of the Rephaim, Ari fumbled through his stack of research, attempting to organize it before he reached to bridge. As he was doing this, the elevator jarred to a stop and the metallic doors opened quickly. Ari looked up from his cluster of documents into mouth of the beast. Taking a deep breath, he proceeded to walk forward out of the elevator but was caught by an unfortunate circumstance. As if he was being pushed by an invisible external force, Ari tripped, his documents chaotically falling every which way.
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