Deep Space Journey - 9. DSJ Chapter 9

“So, what are you going to do to allow access to the outer planets and your technology? the Security Council chair asked, “We will do nothing till we are sure that the safety of the citizens of the republic is guaranteed, and that none of the advanced technology will be used for ill gain or for criminal purposes” Quinn replied.

“But you can’t do that, we insist that you allow access to all your technology and access to the planets as soon as possible” one of the Permanent Members of the council demanded, “Sir, might I remind you, that the Security Council and the United Nations, is responsible for the United Nations of Earth, as of 1945, that does not cover any planets in the solar system and beyond.

We have established Embassies at 4 locations around the world, to allow countries and the UN to contact us through them. If you wish to discuss any other matters, then I suggest you contact our nearest Embassy to you, which is in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. There is no more to discuss at this time, have a nice day” Martin said and he terminated the connection. A short time later, Martin called Damian – the Ambassador in Edmonton, and let him know of the conversation that they had with the United Nations security council, and that he may get some calls from the United Nations.

Damian informed Martin and Quinn that he had located a building in Edmonton, a four-level apartment building, that was in disrepair, but he felt that it would be perfect for the Embassy, as the top-level 12 apartments, could be used for the Embassy staff accommodations. Level three would be the executive offices for the embassy. Level two would be support staff offices, and the ground floor, would have a secure reception lobby, and two meeting rooms, and two bathrooms, with a restaurant, recreation and lounge space for staff, and a library, plus meeting and conference facilities, located behind them, all which can’t be accessible from the ground floor, but from the next level up, to ensure security.

Currently staying in a hotel nearby with his family, Damian had already started the process of having the building cleared of any temporary internal walls, changes were being made to the two elevators, new ventilation and air-conditioning systems were installed on the roof. Giant concrete barriers, had already been installed in front of the building, to prevent any ram-raiding, and all windows were being replaced with bulletproof, lead infused, triple glazing, for soundproofing, security and protection from intrusive listening.

The Embassy will employ about twelve local people as support staff, but none of them will have any information regarding the Republic, only dealing with local, national and international matters, before referring anything more to the two Executive staff upstairs, which they do not have access to, as the computers in the Executive are, do not have internet access of any kind, and all communications with earth base is done via Video link, using a special Sahndrol communications system, that can send communications of any kind without the use of Earth’s internet or satellite system, which prevents any security breach hacking of any kind.

The other three embassies were doing the same, finding a small apartment building, and doing it up with all the required security precautions, and having two staff each from Earth base for executive support, and locals to do the rest of the support work. Six months after the initial agreements for establishing embassies was completed, all of them were now fully operational and doing very well.

The United Nations had called for the countries that are hosting Embassies of the Space republic as they were calling it, to cancel the agreements and send them back home, but all four host countries refused to abide by their demands, even when threats of sanctions were being called for, but South Africa, Switzerland, Canada and Singapore, just ignored the threats.

As well as the four new colonies being established on the moons of Uranus and Saturn, the High Council had gone ahead with plans to establish a Space Research and Training Academy - SRTA, on Mars, which has just been completed, and thanks to the additional shuttles and transport ship being sent from Sahndrol, the Republic now had enough ships and some defence fighters to use for transport and security of the Republic.

The SRTA on Mars was now fully operational, and ready to take on its first cadets, who will come from the four countries that have Republic Embassy. After consultation and support with the governments of each of the four countries, Earth Base began advertising to all the universities in each of the four countries, requesting applications for positions as Space Research and Training cadets. The four - year programme is open to all permanent citizens of the four countries, who wished to learn Science research, Space travel, Space engineering, and the chance to live and work in space.

Each applicant needs to be aged from 22 to 26 years old, no shorter than 5 feet 3 inches and no higher than 6 feet 2 inches, be between 72 kg’s, and 93 kg’s for men, and 56 kg’s and 73 kg’s for women, be of good character, with no criminal convictions, of any kind. Have no membership or affiliation with any declared terrorist groups or gangs.

They must be of good health, physically fit, with no or limited alcohol consumption, had never used illegal drugs, and do not smoke tobacco or any kind, plus completed a minimum of two years of university studies, in either, Nursing or Medicine, Science, Mathematics or Engineering, and be willing to undergo any physical, medical or written examination of any kind.

The High Council had put together a detailed twenty-page application form for each cadet applicant, which requires a DNA sample, fingerprint scan, cornea scan, a photograph, a full medical history going back at least twelve years, and recent full medical examination.

At the top of the first page of the form, it states in bold lettering – “All Applicants be aware, that very advanced technology will be used during the medical and physical screening process, any attempts to withhold or mislead the organisation, with any information as part of this application process, will result in an instant cancellation and lifetime ban, of your application”.

This, the council hoped would be enough to screen out any possible undesirables, trying to sneak into the system. The High Council had decided on a maximum of 64 cadets for the first intake, 16 from each of the four countries, and that there would be only one intake every two years, to ensure the safety of the facility on Mars.

Leaving each embassy to distribute the advertising in the universities in their location, and the do the initial processing, it was quite a shock when on average, there were over 1,200 applicants at each location, and each Embassy was kept very busy with looking at each of the applicants, making sure that each one abided by the requirements of the Republic.

At Earth Base, the twenty-six staff there, who are assisting Martin and Quinn to finalise preparations for the site of the 7-week long basic training camp in New Zealand, which will be held at a youth campsite, right on the beach, near the top of the North Island of New Zealand. A total of 16 staff will be coming from Jupiter to assist with the training, including the other eight crew members of Star Voyager, and Quinn will be the training director for this project.

When all the applications had been received at all four locations, Quinn was informed that there was a total of just under 5200 applications, but after scanning them all, the embassy staff had disqualified a total of 396 of those applications, which still left a very large number remaining. When the applications arrived at Earth base, Quinn asked his staff to start going through each application in greater detail, and to check every bit of information on the forms are correct or not misleading, and after two weeks of checking, another 949 applications were disqualified, but still leftover 3800 applications remaining.

After some discussions with his father, it was decided to go to each embassy, and do some face to face checks with each applicant, and he organised a joint Video conference with all of his ambassador’s, to let them know what has been decided, and asked each ambassador to organise for an experienced medical clinician and a clinical psychologist, to be made available to assist with processing the applicants.

On arrival in Singapore, just a few days later, Quinn, his two Sahndrol medical officers, and two original Star Voyager crew members spent a day settling in and preparing for the next 8 long days of processing the first 946 applications. Using the two small meeting rooms on the ground floor and the conference and meeting rooms on the second floor, Quinn decided that the local clinician and clinical psychologist would use the ground floor rooms.

Each applicant will then have to complete an aptitude test, to test in Numeracy, plus Abstract, Verbal, Diagrammatical, Mechanical, Situation Judgment, Inductive Reasoning, Cognitive Ability, Abstract Reasoning, Spatial Awareness skills. Each day, there will be approximately 118 applicants to process, and in groups of 16, they will sit to do the aptitude test in the conference room.

Once the aptitude test is completed, the applicants go through a more thorough medical examination with the two Sahndrol medical officers, while Quinn and his two colleagues go through the results of the aptitude tests, which Quinn has set 85% correct as the passing score for each part of the tests, with a maximum of only one fail acceptable out of the 10 tests.

Although this is a tough score to reach, Quinn wanted only the best applicants to enter the academy, and because there is such a large number of applicants, he hoped that the aptitude test results would reduce the number dramatically, to make a selection a lot easier. Once the results of the aptitude tests are completed, along with the results of all of the psychological and medical tests, each applicant will go through a personal interview with Quinn, Lucas and Duane, to try and get to know each of the applicants a little bit more.