A6-01 The Return of Wade

The Bunker Era. Humanity's last age.

After the coordinates were exposed, humanity knows the cleansing strike will come eventually. They begin an enormous engineering project: building underground cities on the far sides of the solar system's major planets — behind Jupiter, behind Saturn, behind Uranus — the so-called "Bunker Cities."

In theory, if the cleansing strike comes in the form of a photoid (high-speed particle), the planets' massive bulk could provide shelter for the humans on the far side. It's like hiding behind a large tree to escape a storm — fragile, temporary, but at least better than nothing.

You live in "Europa City" on the far side of Jupiter. The city is built beneath the ice shell of Jupiter's largest moon — Europa. Above your head are dozens of kilometers of ice. Below the ice is a subterranean ocean heated by hydrothermal vents. The city floats in this ocean, its lights casting a blue-green glow through the refracted ice.

Beautiful. But suffocating.

Then Wade comes to find you.

You haven't seen him in a long time. Since the Swordholder election (or since the end of the Deterrence Era, depending on your earlier choices), Wade has been working on lightspeed ship research. He is now the head of the "Curvature Drive Laboratory" — a semi-secret research institution dedicated to turning lightspeed ships from theory into reality.

He looks older than you remember — rare in the age of hibernation. Most key figures enter hibernation while waiting for technological breakthroughs, but Wade never hibernates. He doesn't trust time. He wants to watch every step with his own eyes.

"Cheng Xin." He stands at your door. No appointment, no notice. That's like him.

"Mr. Wade."

"I need to talk to you."

You let him in. He sits in your living room — a generous term for what is, in Europa's underground city, a six-square-meter compartment — and cuts directly to the point.

"The curvature drive experiment is ready," he says. "We've completed all theoretical calculations and small-scale tests. The next step is a full-scale experiment — actually firing the curvature engine in space and observing spatial curvature changes."

He pauses.

"But the Federal Government won't let me proceed."

"Why?"

"Because the full-scale experiment could cause a permanent reduction in the solar system's speed of light. If the speed of light in the experimental zone is permanently altered, it could affect communications, navigation, even planetary orbits. Worst case — a loss of control could create a miniature black hole."

"That does sound dangerous."

"Everything that saves lives is dangerous." Wade's gaze cuts like two scalpels. "Listen to me, Cheng Xin. I need your help."

"Me? I'm just a —"

"You are Cheng Xin." He cuts you off. "The conscience of humanity. The public trusts you. If you support my experiment, the Federal Government cannot stop it."

He leans forward, his voice taking on something almost like pleading — you never imagined Wade could speak this way.

"Give me your power. All your influence, credibility, the public's trust — give it all to me. Let me do what needs to be done."

He looks into your eyes.

"Advance! Advance!! Advance at all costs!!!"

You look at Wade. What you see is not a madman — what you see is a person who understands humanity's predicament more clearly than anyone. He may be wrong. He may be right. But he is the only one willing to bear the worst consequences.

You also know: if you give him power — real, unrestricted power — what will he do?

He will conduct dangerous experiments. He may ignore safety protocols. He may sacrifice innocent people. He may do things you cannot accept in order to ensure humanity's survival.

But he also might — just might — build a lightspeed ship.