Chapter 197

Earth

Elsewhere on the planet, the cavalcade of technological advancement was beginning to extend its influence deeper into everyday life. One month after disclosure, a proof of concept program had been commissioned. Situated in the waters off the cities of San Francisco, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Cairo the examples of this program took shape. The goal of this project was simple; reduce urban overcrowding, while highlighting new innovations in material and construction science.

Conceived by Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut, the end product of the program was known as Lilypad. Many changes to the original concept had taken place since it was first put to paper. Each floating structure would have the capacity to house one hundred thousand individuals when complete. The shape of these structures was inspired from the ribbed lead of the Amazonia Victoria Regia water lily.

Standing at a height of one hundred and forty six meters tall with fifty individual stories, Lilypad had a foundation perimeter of two thousand meters. The building would be zoned into residential, commercial, and leisure areas. Two thirds of the total space would be set aside for three thousand housing units, enough for one hundred and fifty thousand people. High-energy conduits built into an encircling maglev train line from structure to shore would supply power. Transportation within the city would be provided by accelerating walkways, elevator, and a personal rapid transit system where automated pods would travel around the upper periphery of the city.

Due to seismic activity in several of the test areas, each mega structure was being constructed from carbon nanotubes. This would allow Lilypad to stand against and endure high winds, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Multi-walled nanotubes produce materials with toughness unmatched in man made or naturally occurring material. Years of research into Wraith biopolymer cellular construction technology had yielded amazing results. Using this knowledge, programmable cells capable of growing the carbon nanotube structure were being employed. Limitless amounts of energy available to fuel this process greatly accelerated the growth cycle.

Connecting these new floating cities to the mainland would be a system once ruinously expensive. Maglev trains are a system that uses magnetic levitation to suspend and propel vehicles with magnetic force rather than mechanical methods like wheels and axles. Creating both lift and thrust, superconducting magnets provide the means of flying each train along a guide way only a few inches above the guide's surface. Advanced superconductors sourced from the stargate production facility made this process possible, and for the first time economical. Each guide way path would sit one hundred feet above the surface of the waters they were meant to cross.

Traditional rail technology is subject to wear and tear from friction, and that friction increases exponentially with speed, unlike maglev systems. This basic difference makes possible the cost advantage of maglev systems over other transportation modality. Furthermore, maglev is not at all affected by snow, ice, rain, or high wind. Acceleration and deceleration is also faster than traditional rail systems because they make no contact with the guide way. As these test bed systems gained acceptance, it was hoped that individual national rail grids would upgrade to the new technology.

While finding its way into construction and transportation, advancement was also taking place in how we might educate future generations. The Massachusetts Institute of technology had long been known as a risk taker, keen to push the envelope to find the cutting edge of many scientific disciplines. For the very first time, the risk taking would be centered on just how student could, would, and should be educated. To that end, a new Hall had been erected and outfitted. The hopes of many rested on what would transpire within those walls.

The grand experiment as it was being called by the US Department of Education, drew all of its funding from government coffers. In exchange for signing a wavier of liability, each of the one hundred selectees would receive their education free. Conditions did exist though. Each selectee must be an incoming undergraduate, intend to seek a doctorate in one of several disciplines, and agree to three years of government service upon graduation.

Step one of the program made use of the Galaran memory device. Once connected, each student would receive a direct transfer of knowledge into their mind; elevating them to roughly the educational equivalent of those aboard Destiny that received limited downloads from the chair. An incredibly complex program written by the Ancient's made this possible. Raising their understanding to a level slightly more advanced than the scientific understanding of the Tollan, this initial download made possible further high order learning of science far beyond the understanding of most academics in the country.

Step two took the freshly educated student much further. Attached to Virtual Reality pods originally developed by the Volsinii, each student would learn from elements of Asgard knowledge base. A dedicated Ancient artificial intelligence took these students submerged in a virtual learning environment, putting the students through years of classroom instruction and lab work in a fraction of the time. Acting much like a stasis pod, each VR pod made around the clock learning possible for nearly limitless amounts of time.

Using this method, the number of academics possessing a full understanding of incredibly advanced knowledge would grow exponentially in a short amount of time. Instead of waiting decades to fully understand all contained in the alien databases, it might be possible to unlock their potential in years. Academia's future path on Earth would be decided on this experiment. If successful, other institutions around the world would implement this method.