Chapter 1: Fledging Flight

Time: January 1, 9570 10:00 AM UCT

Daily commercial flight B210 Doha to Judah took off promptly on time. Eliana would have been very surprised if it hadn't. Except for occasional weather related delays, a commercial aircraft had not missed a scheduled departure time in decades. And the sun over the former site of Cape Town, South Africa was brilliant. Eliana took a moment to admire the brief view of the sparkling South Atlantic as the plane banked over the northern harbor area before aligning itself to its east-northeast flight path.

The plane rose quickly, and as it approached its assigned cruising altitude of 13,000 meters, the powerful p-B11 fusion engines throttled up and pushed the craft to Mach 2. The 3800 km trip to Judah would take two hours, limited not by power constraints but by the supersonic friction heating the aircraft. The fusion engines could keep the plane aloft and supersonic for months, pumping as much power into the jet thrusters as the turbine blades could handle.

"Such a change," thought Eliana as she looked around the half-full forty-passenger cabin. "After six years at the capital, I'll be living at the most isolated township in the world." Named Reunion in ancient prewar times, the island of Judah in the Indian Ocean was about to become her new home.

Eliana's eyes wandered back to the window to admire the beauty of the lush farming areas of the African landscape. Locally there were still more than three hours of daylight left. But sunset at Judah today would be at 10:20 AM universal capital time. It would be full night by the time they landed. As Eliana thought about her new life, her hand came up unconsciously to trace the unfamiliar pattern of the diamond insignia on her arm.

"Having a comfortable flight, Commander?"

Eliana turned her gaze from the window and addressed a uniformed CL-2 standing in the aisle. "Oh yes, I'm fine, thank you. Just admiring the scenery."

The man nodded. "I'm Amir, the flight steward." He looked closely at the emblems below Eliana's Class rank of red diamond. "Ah, a priestess, huh? And a military aviator too! Are you qualified for this plane's pilot cabin?"

Eliana grinned. "Well, most of my flight time has been with jump jets. But yes, I'm certified for transports, military and civilian."

"Excellent. We'll be serving a light dinner at 10:50. If you're willing to pass on the alcoholic beverages, would you like to dine with the pilots? I'm sure they'd enjoy your company."

"Yes, that would be very nice. Thank you Amir."

The man nodded and then gave her a playful grin, tilting his head towards her insignias and remembering her recent hand at her arm. "Let me guess. Recent promotion?"

Eliana chuckled. "Is it that obvious? Yes, very recent! This is my first day to wear the diamond."

"Congratulations then! Especially in the military Priesthood, that's quite an achievement." The man gave a final respectful bow and continued to work his way towards the front of the passenger cabin. Eliana settled back into her plush chair.

After a moment she remembered the present her Stateswoman great-to-the-sixth grandmother had sent her from New Jerusalem. It had been waiting for Eliana unexpectedly as she made her quick change of flights at Doha. Eliana ripped open the package and found two books, one new and one old, plus a short note from her dear distant ancestor. She took a moment to open the old book first. It appeared to be a book on fifth millennium art. She then read the note.

"Eli, the family couldn't be more proud of you, to have you reach command rank at the age of twenty-seven! I believe the last person to advance that fast was a man named Ilias, someone I'm sure you've heard about. Hah! It appears that Riding the Assad is not a lost art. Speaking of which, the enclosed art book is a family treasure. When Abdul Hadi died, your great-to-the-thirty-second grandmother Chanah gave this book to Kefira's granddaughter Thirza, and it has been passed down the family tree ever since. Chanah told Thirza that this was the book she found Ilias sleeping with when she awoke from her purge cycle the day they were married. Quite a bit of history! I've also enclosed the commemorative copy of our ancestor's First Tower, hot off the presses! Again, congratulations, and best wishes on your new assignment. Choose well! Love, Naysa."

Eliana traced her fingers lightly over the old book as she contemplated the gift. Chanah's wedding day was now more than 1300 years in the past, and it was a thousand years and two days since the death of the world's beloved Abdul Hadi. Eliana glanced at the familiar pages of the First Tower, and then read the publisher's note at the back of the book.

"Wow," she thought. "Judgment 4, 9570, two days ago. This book really is hot off the presses. Grandmother, how did you do this? It must be a pre-release proof copy." Eliana read the publisher's note again. One phrase stuck in her mind, the comment that the last thousand years had not been paradise. "No, indeed not," she agreed. "Our species seems determined not to live there."

The flight continued to soar above the African landscape at Mach 2. Eliana gazed out the window again. The view showed that all the farmland had disappeared, replaced by a much more rocky landscape of small ridges and valleys. She sighed and closed her eyes and thought of all the history since the fateful year of 8244.

Abdul Hadi had been overly optimistic in his hope that there would be no backsliding on the promises of the world to end female slavery. After he became an eternal virgin, there were a dozen years of township revolts against the new order and his visions of social justice and gender equality. In many of these early years, the warfare would claim hundreds of thousands of lives, typically one to three percent of the world's population. And all the while the world's birth rate was almost zero, less than a thousand per year. The flood of new children out of the abandoned monasteries had overwhelmed a population that had no experience in raising children in a family setting, and almost no one had a desire to add to the chaos. There were times when the future of the world still appeared very much in doubt. It was during these early years that Abdul Hadi began his preaching ministry among the townships.

The combination of Jibran seizing control of the Supreme Council plus the fierce loyalty of the rank and file militia to Abdul Hadi's cause finally allowed the servant of the Guide's vision for a new society to prevail. By the year 8258, the warfare was over and the population count for a few months dipped below twenty-one million. Six short years later, the birth rate exploded, returning to pre-civil-war values of 480,000 by 8264. After several more years, it became obvious that with no childhood culling nor lottery with the anti-aging drugs, the world was on a trajectory for a huge growth in population. The debates over the next decade were fierce and often divisive. It wasn't until the year 8279 that a consensus was reached and the annual birth rate stabilized at 120,000.

Before the civil war, the populations of the 120 townships were extremely uniform. By law, each township had the capacity to house 200,000 people, with had an actual population of around 167,000. The capital Bandar Arenas was populated with its designed maximum of five million. Based on original estimates of new life expectancies, people thought the population would stabilize at 28.5 million, and the construction of twenty-one new townships began.

By the time Abdul Hadi was cured of his eternal virginity at the start of Judgment in 8316, the world's population was 29 million and growing temporarily at a rate of 75,000 per year due to the artificially youthful population profiles. Several of the new townships were already nearing completion, three in northern Africa along its western Atlantic coast and two in New Zealand. The expectation was that the new construction and reserve capacity of the original townships could comfortably house the temporary bulge in the population.

But no one had anticipated that women on lifetime anti-aging drugs would live longer than men, a few perhaps even reaching 400 years of age. By the mid 8400's, it became clear that the population would stabilize at around 32 million, not 28.5, and the peak bulge would approach 40 million around the year 8496. A massive housing campaign ensued worldwide for the 140 residential townships, increasing the maximum capacity of each to 250,000, with the long-term expectation of 200,000 actual residents. In 8499 the Islands of New Jerusalem were voted to be set aside for special purpose, and like the spaceport Xerxes not be a township for permanent residency. In the early 8500's the population began its slow decline to 32 million and the housing problem was considered solved.