Vengeance I - 2. Science

[porekop]

This chapter still doesn't have muscle growth, but it has an intoduction to it.
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VENGEANCE
Part I: Revolution and Hope

2. SCIENCE

Technological devices and projects were growing and developing very fast at the 22th Century. As part of it, several space trips could be possible. Huge buses, with capacities greater than 1,000 people, named the Space Cruisers, started to fill Earth’s orbit.

The NASA, in conjunction with the Russian Agency, elaborated the “Project Mars”, a huge project that could change the humanity’s fate. The plan consisted in evacuate the population of Earth to Mars in 5 years. So, using robots and 3D-printers they would build big cities fast and with infra-structure totally planned. From year 2136 to 2152 they built cities all around Mars. The biggest one, which is the “capital”, was made in a huge valley, far away from any risk. Mourise, the name of the capital, has capacity to contain around 4 million inhabitants, comfortably accommodated in huge apartments in tall glass towers. Cars and similar aren’t permitted in Mars, and so all people have to use the metro, powered with solar energy. But even with that, Mars wasn’t a very nice place to a human visit, yet make a home.
The atmosphere of Mars was very complicated, but its composition was similar to Earth’s. Although it had some poisonous components, such as sulfur and lead, oxygen and nitrogen were present too. Weather was really good, as it didn’t have storms, and most part of the Martian year was sunny. The temperature of the red dusty surface varies between -81?F and 95?F (-63?C to 35?C). But thanks to Dr. Gene Fistom, an artificial air and weather controlled atmosphere was established. The temperature is kept at around pleasant 77?F (25?C), and sunny most part of the day; the light yellow skies looking very nice. Thanks to that advance, plants could grow all over Mars. Vegetables of all kind, tall trees and small flowers sprouted everywhere, cleaning even more the air. Artificial oceans were produced too, so there would be humidity on the air. And with all this, the landscape of Mars transformed totally, looking very nearly to Earth. The first inhabitants were the richest of the Earth, then called the “Old World”, followed by the high society and very few of the medium class. They felt so lucky to live in such a wonderful place, but they didn’t count with one thing. The currency of the Red Planet is the Marsen, denoted as M$. In favor of Martins, the M$ was overvalued, with M$1.00 equivalent to US$10.00. This was a plan to maintain the poor Earthlings away from Mars, and to make the Martians that would want to return to Earth the richest residents of the Blue Planet.

It was really easier to do physical things in Mars, since gravity force is weaker than Earth’s, and the air resistance is lesser too. That dangerous combination shrank the effort to do even simple things. After some months on the “New World”, the muscle and bone mass on the Martians decreased significantly, as their strength. That worried the inhabitants and the politicians. Several tries to revert that condition were made.

As part of the Martian Council’s plans, ways to produce food and water were developed. Using molecular association and chemical reactions, most part of the Earth’s foods could be reproduced, same with the drinks. But, as the politics wished, only healthy foods and drinks were replied. Supplements and vitamins were added in huge quantities in the food, trying to avoid the muscle degeneration.
That “solution” didn’t work as planned. Even after 20 years of vitamin implementation on diet, the Martians stood weak and puny. Serious illnesses spread around the new land, killing many people, just because their bodies weren’t sufficiently strong to resist such harms.
As years passed by, evolution made the Martians get weaker and slimmer, looking very nearly to skeletons with skins. They were so puny that even stand in their feet was a hard task. Even more, they didn’t any major physical activity. Big gyms were created, but didn’t help at all. Medical researches went very advanced, and the cures for most part of known diseases were found. But for the muscle dystrophy caused by lack of muscle use not. The useless muscles of the Martians reached a point of degeneration so deep that it couldn’t be reverted with the medical knowledge they had. At that time, the average height of a Martian was around 6ft. (1.83m) and average weight around 100lbs (45kg). So, an insatiable search for a functional muscle growth formula started.

Many scientists of the Martian Research Center presented different solutions. Some treatments with radiation machines, some with super steroid cocktail and some with genetic alteration. None of them worked, though. But in May of 2435, geneticist and bio-engineer Dr. Wayne Jameson developed a new method to increase muscle strength, endurance and size. Various tests were made, and most went wrong. Some subjects simply died, some were reduced to dust, and some lost their skins. After many tries, he created a purple liquid that would react with gamma radiation and cause drastic increase on bone mass and reduction of up to 70% on myostatin levels. And here is where Andy comes in.

Andy Hosell was a medium-class citizen of Mars’ capital Mourise. He was then 21 years old, and was a bank teller at Mars Central Bank. He was very skinny, weighting 78lbs (35kg) at 5’11” (1.81m) and he had 2% of bodyfat. Body types like his are common in a bank. He was a very hard worker, and always tried to help his family to get better life condition, since they were one of the poorest families around Mourise. They lived on the outskirts of the town, in a small house, where he lived with his father and his older brother Mark, who was 24 years old. Mark was a cleaner at the Stardust II Cruiser, a ship responsible to take Martians in trips around the Solar System, and for so, he was hardly at home. They income was very small, as his father was almost dying because of the several muscle atrophy. His father, Fabian, was a former janitor at the Municipal Secondary School.

It was then that Andy received an e-mail. He opened and for his surprise, it was from the Martian Research Center, offering him a job opportunity. He thought for a little, but quickly picked his cellphone and called Dr. Jameson. Reaching the MRC, he was received by a tall and slim blond woman. She led him to Dr. Jameson’s office. Entering the white room, he shook hand with the famous doctor. He then talked:

- “Hello Mr. Hosell, take a sit please. I e-mailed you for one simple reason. I need some volunteers to test a new formula. You know I have been involved with muscle growth researches, and I think I found the perfect formula. But I need someone to test it. You may have read that these test are very dangerous, but there’s a huge reward if it succeeds.”

- “How much?”

- “It’s not about the money…”

- “Well, then what I shall receive?”

- “Muscle. Lots of it. Big, strong and powerful muscles. You’ll gain around 30lbs of the most pure muscle in this 3 month program.”

- “Now that looks very interesting.”

- “Besides the payment of M$50,000. In cash”

- “…”

- “I know, I know. Always that kind of reaction. But we offer such reward because most part of the subjects won’t survive. Isn’t that frightening? You enter here looking for money and strength but what you get is death…”

- “It’s a worthy risk… And I’ll take it.”

- “Good! Come back in one week.”

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Earth had become a terrible place to live. The war left guerrillas, which dominated all urban centers and spread fear among the innocents. The guerrillas’ members were the strongest men around Earth, although they weighted only 130lbs (59kg) average, they were far stronger and heavier than normal people. Their physical conditions made many boys wish to enter the guerrilla to get strong and dominate their fellows. Also, these evil men had more libido and sexual desire, and they raped almost all the women that they found. The nuclear mist in the air cause mutations on the pregnancy of the women, and many of them had quadruples or quintuples, which explains the exponential increase on Earth’s population. All of this combined with the drastic nature conditions made the Earth’s life quality fall. People with decent financial conditions tried to work as hard as they could to get off from Earth, but it was really difficult. Due to the poor conditions, food and clean water were very rare, and so, the earthlings also went into several muscle dystrophy, but the disease was caused by the sub-nutrition. All the few jobs that existed in Earth were on factories that made the things used in Mars.

Rodney Lewis was one of the Sao Paulo guerrillas’ leaders. Sao Paulo had become the biggest urban center of the Old World, accommodating with poor structures almost 40 million people. Surrounded by nuclear deposits and energy facilities, it was like a fortress city. The city hadn’t any authorities, and so the chaos established. The “Red Snake Crew”, Rodney’s one, was the most powerful gang around. They robbed everyone they met, and raped the women, sometimes even men. The members of the guerrilla were ‘happy’ content with their power. But Rodney wanted more, much more. He wanted to be the leader of all Earth, and to be richest man on the world. He was a smart guy, and one of the few ones who knew the existence of Martian community. He was planning to get there and spread terror in Mars too, but how?

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Other Chapters:
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[Kit Werecat]

I'm not sure if this story is going to be my cup of tea or not. I'm not a big fan of war/battle stories, and even 20 pounds of muscle on the protagonist's frame makes him 110 pounds of power.

Obviously, you can take this 'way beyond where you indicate you're going, so I will keep an eye on this story to see where you decide to take this.

You have put quite a bit of effort in your background exposition, and I respect the efforts you've made so far.

I am assuming that English is not your first language, in which case I congratulate you for taking on such a complicated story, and doing so well with it so far.

Please keep up the good work.

[muscle16a]

Like Kit, I, too, observed that your knowledge of English is not native. But despite that, you have an excellent vocabulary.

I would recommend having one of the guys here act as editor for your story. I think it has great promise! (Of course, I'm a huge sci-fi fan, so this story is right up my alley!)

[porekop]

thanks, to both of you.

actually I was born in Newcastle, UK, but I've lived many years in Netherlands, and still, is very hard for me to form some phrases.