Return to Earth: An Adventure to Recolonize

Chapter Three: The Reunion

Note: I will post a new chapter every Friday evening EST (Saturday morning where I reside halfway around the world in Indonesia).

I would appreciate your vote and your constructive criticism is always warming received. Thanks for stopping by for a read.

The limited formatting options available on WattPad does not allow me to graphically show the PID messages properly. They should be inset and blocked and not italicized since it conflicts with inner thoughts. Sorry for the bad presentation of these important elements to the story. I added square brackets and dashes to show the start and stop of PID messages... like this [- ... -]. 

                                                                * * *

                                                        Chapter Three

                                                        The Reunion

The General’s briefing lasted a further twenty minutes leaving most frightened and a few to question their resolve. I feared for my family. Worse, I wondered if our esteemed ancestors had lied. We admired them for their perseverance and surviving five centuries adrift in space. They discovered Tellus and established the basis of our united, peace-loving society. But did they leave people behind? Knowingly? How could they have abandoned them? Whatever the truth, we may never know.

The staff instructed us to activate our implanted Personal Information Displays before leaving the Rotunda. I peered into one of the ocular activation scanners and my embedded PID sprang to life. The startup screen displayed over my left retina and signaled its readiness to obey my commands. A few seconds later, a message scrolled passed my eye ….

                      [- Colonists:

                As you are aware, we created the PID decades ago to handle basic information management. While in suspension, we installed a new programmable data chip and uploaded ancestral achieves. You now have immediate access to maps, technical reports and extensive historical databases. Use your mind-image manipulation to retrieve material. -]

I wanted to investigate further, but the message continued to scroll.

          [- We also enhanced your PID with elaborate neural-aerial nano-architectures. They self-replicated throughout your extremities to act as strong antenna arrays. We also linked everyone to Central Command to enable emergency tracking. -]

Given the danger, this is a great idea. Are there ulterior motives? 

         [- The implanted aerial also turns your PID into a self-contained communication device. You may send and receive text, video and voice messages similar to your old external mind-writers. You may also download and display direct to your digi-pads. Use the help function for more details. Good luck to everyone. -]

More terrific news. I need to try this. After watching a tutorial, I dashed off a quick note to my wife and kids:

                 [- I love you and miss you. Let’s meet in the dining hall on level 6-D as previously agreed. I’m on  17-F. Alex, you’re above me on 18. Meet me at access portal 20 and we’ll leave together. I hope this new device works. Kry. -]

Our techno-wizards found a way to shrink the mind-writers and integrate them into the PID - think the words and it responds. Very elegant, indeed.