Deep Space Journey - 10. DSJ Chapter 10

After the first day, all the staff were exhausted from dealing with applications, and out of the 118 applicants, only 9 passed all the tests and examinations, and by the end of the 8^th day, they had a total of 67 applicants that had passed the first round and were asked to return on day 9, were Quinn and his Academy deputy – Lucas, had them board a bus, and took them to the Singapore Amusement Park on Sentosa Island, where they went on three selected rides, to see how the applicants coped with gravity and g-force related stresses, and from this another 29 applicants were rejected, leaving only 38 left out of the original 118.

These 38 were told that a consultation process with other members of the organisation would happen, to select which 16 applicants would be the successful applicant to enter the academy and that the remaining 22 applicants would remain on the list of first choice applicants for the next round of studies in two years’ time.

Two days later, Quinn and his team arrived in Geneva, and they started the process all over again, but this time instead of going to a theme park, Quinn had arranged for the applicants to travel by train to Cologne, Germany, to spend a full day at the European Astronaut Training Centre, and once again a number of applicants did not do very well with dealing with gravity and g-force stresses, with only 24 passing the final test of the application.

From Germany, Quinn and his team flew to South Africa, for the next round of application processing, and at the end of it, a visit to the local theme park in Cape Town, to see how they cope with the fast speeds and g-force stresses that a number of the rides provide, and after this just 18 out of the 120 applicants had reached the second stage of the application process.

Finally, when they arrived in Vancouver, Canada, where the final 116 applicants were to be processed, and tested at the local theme park, with 4 rides to put them through some extreme pressures, and just 22 applicants managed to pass through that last test. With all the applicants now all processed, and a total of 102 final applicants for the 64 positions at the academy, Quinn and his team spent a few days of relaxing in Vancouver, before flying back to New Zealand, via Hong Kong, on a commercial flight, followed by the short flight back to the island where Earth Base is located.

Quinn was surprised to see the Chancellor at earth base when they arrived, and the Chancellor said he would give Quinn and his team two days to recover from the 6-week long journey, which Quinn was pleased about, as he wanted to spend some time chatting with his family, who are on Ganymede. When Quinn and Lucas attended a meeting with the Chancellor, in the conference room, the High Council was in attendance via the video link to Ganymede, and he was asked to give the results of all of the applications that were processed.

Quinn informed the High Council, that from the four countries that interviews were held, there is 38 from Singapore, with 27 of them being Buddhists, 4 are Hindi and the remaining 7 are Christians, in Geneva, there are 24 final applicants, of which 5 are Orthodox and the remaining 19 are Christians, mostly Catholics, in South Africa, there are only 18 final applicants, of which all of them are Christians.

Finally, in Canada, there are 22 final applicants, of which 18 are Christians and the other 4 have no set religion as they are Inuit’s, or Native Canadians. Also, out of the 102 final applicants, 32 of them are women, and the remaining 70 are men. “Senator, is there any reason, why there are no Muslim applicants since there is a large number of that religion on Earth?” one of the High Council members asked, and Quinn turned to his Deputy, who smiled and nodded, before speaking up.

“If I may explain Senators, it was during the first interview processes, that we came across a few applicants who are Muslims, and they seem to have radical views when it came to their personal interviews, and it was later decided that we should try and avoid any Muslim applicants as much as possible, so as to reduce the risk of security on the URP planets” Lucas explained.

“I tend to agree with the Administrator and Senator on this matter, as much as it is regarded as an anti-religious decision on Earth, we are not the Republic of Earth, and we follow the laws and traditions of the Sahndrol people, which has no set religion, just a belief of Peace and Harmony.

I think it is best that before the final cadets have been selected, that we give them a lecture on the laws and traditions of the Republic, so it does not favour any religion, which will not be permitted on any Republic colony or facility” Dennison said. “Very well Chancellor, if that is your decision, I just wanted to clarify the matter and we are happy to abide by it” the Senator at Ganymede responded, and all of the other Senators agreed with the Chancellor’s decision.

“Sir, if I may suggest since all of the final applicants are located in 4 different countries, may I recommend, that we produce a Recording of the Laws and Traditions of the United Republic of Planets and have that distributed to the four Embassies, and they can present the recording to those final applicants before we make the final selection, in case we have any that don’t like this decision,” Quinn said.

“Yes, I think that is a good idea, who do you suggest do this little presentation?” the Chancellor replied, and Quinn smiled, “You, of course, sir” he replied and Dennison gave a short laugh, “Yes, I guess I am the best person for the job since I am already down here, ok, that is all for now, thank you, Lucas and Quinn, for your information” Dennison replied, and the video link ended, and after a short chat, Quinn and Lucas left the room, to get some rest.

The following day, once the Chancellor and two Sahndrol citizens, had completed the recorded presentation, and it was sent to the four Embassy’s, the Chancellor, Quinn and Lucas prepared for the trip home, to Ganymede, with a stopover at Mars to check out the Space Research and Training Academy, and its facilities.

Since Quinn had been appointed the Director of the Academy and Lucas as Deputy, they had decided to move their families to Mars, so as to have them close all the time, and they wanted to check out the Executive Accommodation Suites that they will be living in, which are away from the main Academy, in a separate area that includes the Administration Centre, Security Centre, Space Terminal, and staff accommodations.

After the tour of the academy, they continued their journey to Ganymede, which is a further 2 days travel away, and when they arrived, both of Quinn’s boys were waiting for his arrival, with 7-year old Maenyl chatting about his school studies, and 4½-year old Suamyl chatting about being in playgroup. Quinn was surprised to hear that his oldest son was also getting additional tutoring in Diplomacy, Sahndrol Laws and Traditions, and Advanced Science.

Nithya informed her husband that about six months ago, it was discovered that like his father, Maenyl was extremely intelligent for his age, and that is was doing studies two grades higher than those of kids his same age, A week later, as a matter of interest, Quinn spent a day attending his son’s school classes as an observer, to see how well his son is going and was amazed at what he witnessed.

At the next High Council meeting, we had a joint meeting with all five earth Ambassadors, including Quinn’s father – Martin, since he is the Earth Base Ambassador. During this meeting, the High Council learnt that after the 102 final applicants for the academy had viewed the presentation, and the average of 2 to 6 applicants withdrew their application, on the grounds of Religious discrimination, obviously not fully understanding what the presentation was about. With those 16 applicants now permanently removed from the list, this just left 86 remaining.

There was a lengthy discussion on what to do about getting the 64 selected cadets to Earth Base, so they can be transported to Mars, once they have completed their seven weeks of basic training at the youth camp on the North Island, and it was decided to have them travel to the nearest Airforce Base, where the Star Voyager will be waiting, and go directly to Mars, from there, which is just an eight-hour journey.

A week later, when the 16 academy trainers arrived at Earth Base from Ganymede, they plus Martin, Quinn and Lucas, sat down to go through the applications, to select 16 from each location, and it took them a solid 6 hours to come up with the final 64 successful cadets, and the information was sent to each of the Embassy’s, so they could notify the successful applicants first, then inform the rest that they had missed out this time.

A few days before the cadets were due to arrive in Auckland, Quinn and his staff set up all of the equipment, at a storage shed at the Airforce base, which has come from Ganymede, that will scan each cadet and their belongings before they commence their basic training. Before this takes place, the cadets will be informed of all items that are banned at the training camp and at the academy, firstly a day before they depart from their home country, and again when they arrive at the Airforce base, just before they began the scanning.

When the cadets arrived, they were told to parade just outside the large shed. “Good Afternoon, I am Mr Lenegan, the Director of the Space Research and Training Academy, and this is my Deputy, Mr Durham, both of us were part of the crew, that flew into Deep space just over eight years ago. For the next seven weeks, you will undergo space basic training, this will be happening here in New Zealand, once this is completed successfully, you will make the eight-hour-long journey to the Space Research and Training Academy, which is located on Mars” Quinn announced.

“Before you left your home country, you viewed a presentation on the Laws and Traditions of the United Republic of Planets, is there anyone among you that still does not accept or approve of these laws and traditions, if not take one step forward” Lucas announced, and quite by surprise two people actually did step forward.