Ch6: John Muller, Transnational

They arrived at third aunt's and uncle's residence-- a sizable apartment in the Pok Fu Lam area, relatively close to the increasingly expansive campus of Hong Kong University.

Gazing out from the four meters long balcony, Athena could see a vast expanse of the coastline and the seas. A beautiful sight to be sure.

Perhaps those not of the southeast asian region might find this apartment a tad small, but Athena, who had spent much time in Singapore and Tokyo for her training, was of the opinion that this apartment had a bit of extra space.

Anyhow, her relatives soon mostly arrived. To be specific, these were relatives of her mother's side. That consisted of the first to fourth aunt, her mother being the fourth sister, and a younger brother. Then there were her grandparents and great-grandparents and, well… quite a few relatives that she wasn't that well acquainted with.

These expansive families had become the norm after Earth had conquered the belt and developed technologies that essentially terraformed Earth to maintain its perfect habitable state.

As for other children in the family; Athena found herself the third oldest. Her first aunt had a daughter and son, both older than her. These two only occasionally showed up to these yearly celebratory meetings. Then, there was her, followed by her nephew currently in her third aunt's arms.

Her mother was a rare one, having decided to give birth at the young age of twenty, almost unseen in this era. Many couples would have children starting at perhaps thirty or over. An extra child of the family might be born every ten or more years. Some might not even have children until they were fifty or sixty. Her second aunt, for example, was still childless.

Seeing as the lifespan of a human reached up to two hundred, these expansive families could be said to be a natural occurrence.

Athena herself was also special, being born from her mother's womb. Most children nowadays were born from artificial wombs. Her third aunt had opted the natural route, perhaps in imitation of her younger sister.

With her nephew occupying everyone's attention, Athena was content to let her mind wander as she looked out from the balcony.

She was soon broken out of her reverie by the aforementioned John Muller, who arrived with her second aunt.

John Muller was an aerospace engineer of European descent in Pacific City, but Athena knew he was much more than that.

In their earlier encounters, John Muller often remained completely quiet and stood to the side. However, he was very much welcome-- everyone knew how happy the second aunt was with this man, and John was also incredibly polite.

Athena quickly discovered John's true nature-- he was a babble mouth given the right topic. This uncle of hers was in fact holding himself back, worried he'd lose control of his mouth and impose the topics he found interesting on the poor souls.

"Don't steal him from me," Her second aunt joked as she dropped John off at the balcony. She herself moved to catch up with the rest of her relatives.

Athena never knew how possessive her second aunt was until John began 'babbling' about all sorts of things to her, she recalled. That had sent her second aunt's radar haywire.

"You're coming to Pacific City after the new year?" Her uncle questioned.

Athena immediately whipped her head to try to lock eyes with her mother who was happily chatting to the other relatives. She hadn't intended for this information to be known to her second aunt and uncle, who resided in the city.

"Oh, it's not your mom," John chuckled. "Your aunt has a knack for finding such information, you know? We'll show you around then."

"Mmmm." Athena had wanted to obscure this knowledge precisely because she wanted to avoid imposing on her second aunt and uncle. She knew that John was often incredibly busy with his work.

"You know, when you arrive at Pacific City, you need to join our club. There are a few factions, but our club will guarantee your freedom." John indicated. He appeared slightly tense, perhaps unsure of whether he was crossing the line with such an invitation.

"Club?"

"Yes. We transnationals are the main party in Pacific City." John launched into a long prepared speech "We've been around since the beginnings of the digital era. In some ways, we belong to a digital nation that functions separate from all these countries."

"You know, there was an era under which these countries would compete against each other, their policies often harming their own citizens in terms of expendable income as well as risks of conflict. We are born out of that era," he explained.

"Okay!" Athena beamed and immediately accepted.

"Uh…right.." John awkwardly nodded. He hadn't expected Athena to agree so easily. In truth, Athena had long delved into the operations underlying Pacific City. She understood the benefits of belonging to a faction, and the downsides to certain nationalist factions.

John let out an immense sigh of relief. His wife had told him that it was up to him to convince Athena to join the camp they belonged in. Awkward as it was, he had somehow succeeded for reasons inexplicable to him.

But now, he felt like he could finally be himself. He took out a device with a screen, and flicked the screen toward Athena.

Athena took out a similar device, and began reading the contents sent to her.

"Interesting, isn't it?" smiled the animated man.

Athena nodded. She absolutely loved anything to do with space, even if it was some insane theory such as this one. John was clearly similarly interested in these types of concepts.

"It's a crazy theory that someone codenamed NDT came up with. His underlying idea was to ask the question: what if the universe wasn't really expanding. What if that expansion was just a visual illusion that we humans observe due to a phenomenon we are unable to identify?"

The man promptly launched into his babble state, well known to Athena by now.

"The claim is that if space can be infinitely compressed and stretched, and anything with mass would compress space to a degree relative to its mass, then any mass would effectively by sucking in space, and the drag of that space is what we measure as gravity."

"Then if two masses are sucking in and compressing said space, it would appear as if the space between the two masses is being stretched, thus creating the illusion that space is expanding. That would also mean that there is no need for the existence of dark energy to facilitate this illusory expansion of space-- it is but caused by the gravity of mass."

"This NGT also claims that then, the universe has always existed, and all civilizations would see the illusion of the big bang if they looked backwards. The fermi paradox then has a new solution, that being, if the universe has always existed, then perhaps two civilizations appearing at the exact same time scale would be rare."

"It then further claims that perhaps it is mass that creates this space. If you enter an area where there is no mass of any particles, then there will also be no space. Thus the limit of the universe is where mass exists, and that forms the boundaries. A concept not too dissimilar from how the Earth, once thought flat, was found to have the boundaries of a sphere."

"Then that would mean, we would have unique ways to travel if we could escape the drag caused by this sucking in of space by mass."

Athena did her best to follow this crazy and unproven theory. She very much enjoyed listening whenever her uncle launched into these sorts of rants. She believed her second aunt probably did as well!

"Is the scientific community entertained by this idea…?" She wondered.

"Of course not," laughed her second uncle. "But you know me. I love entertaining these crazy new ideas. They're fun, aren't they? And you never know. Historically, loads of crazy ideas end up getting proven correct!"

Athena nodded with a wry smile. She wasn't quite as passionate as her uncle, but this was the reason she always enjoyed talking to her uncle. Now, her other relatives would only be speechless if they were to hear John ranting about all these topics and ideas.

Feeling a weight off his shoulders, John appeared content that he had shared the crazy idea he had come across, and returned to his state of an adult. He often needed to let loose this 'manic' side of him to calm down.

"Nervous about Pacific City? How's your life in the Earth Feds military?"

"Mmmm. It's so-so. Honestly, I only joined because I wanted to go to space. And being in military grade stuff seems to make that much safer."

"Your parents… are they fine with it?"

"Yea… they seemed hesitant at first. But then mother began saying that we are a multi-talented family. Angela is an Olympist. Johnny, a physicist. Father, a doctor. She, herself a nurse turned psychologist. Then there's first uncle, climbing the ladder of the E-cube corp. She thoroughly convinced herself that me being in the Earth Feds would increase the family line's status."

Athena knew her mother was trying to be supportive and was trying to 'trick' her own mind into supporting Athena. A psychological trick, so she said. Angela and Johnny were her first aunt's two children.

John Muller chortled. He always found his wife's family to be amusing in a good way.

"Well. You're set for life. There hasn't been any war for a thousand years, certainly not in space. You'll get a good pension and good hours, long breaks. And you'll get to visit space." He knew that this niece of his was most excited about being in space.

"I'm just not sure how I'll do in the long term. I've never really been super passionate about anything. I'm like… a jack of all trades, taking a bit of interest in everything, but never enough to excel. Perhaps I'm just…" Whenever she was with her uncle, Athena often felt a desire to open her heart. As it is now. Perhaps it was the man's own open expression of his own passions.

Growing up, Athena was often pelted by the idea that she needed to feel a deep passion about some sort of profession. She never really did and, somehow, she had joined the Earth Feds, wanting to just spend her time in the mysteriousness that is space.

"You'll do fine. You got past the competitive EFSF exams, no? Let me tell you. Not everyone needs to have some sort of deep passion. Sometimes, it's more about an ideal in your heart. Other times, it can just be a momentary goal, such as heading to space. We all have ideals. You'll find yours, in time." Her uncle certainly had a surprisingly soft side to him. No wonder her aunt was so possessive of him.

"Really?"

"You know. When I first studied engineering, I didn't know I was going to be an aerospace engineer. I was just good at math and physics. Then I became a serious transnational. I didn't even know I would have any interest in these political factions. Then I got to visit space, and it's even part of my job now. Look. Once you get up there, you'll forget about all these troubles. You'll think differently. That I guarantee."

"Oi! Food is ready!" Her second aunt's voice sounded behind them.

Athena turned around to find her second aunt glaring at her suspiciously. Her second aunt then wrapped herself around her uncle's arm and dragged him to the table that was now filled to the brim with quite literally every type of food. Roasted duck, roast turkey, meat skewers, fruit salad, spinach with eggs, smoked salmon, soft-shelled crabs…

Athena followed and sat herself down between her parents and delved into the warmth that was this party. Her conversation with her uncle had cleared clouds in her mind that she didn't even know was there.

Her nephew was always babbling with joy, and her second aunt would stick something in his mouth to give the babe a taste test, even if he was unable to actually consume any of these foods.

Yes, Athena thought to herself. She needn't overthink anything. She should just enjoy the Christmas celebrations and enjoy her Hokkaido skiing trip with her relatives. Then once the new year came, she would get to visit Pacific City, the floating city of dreams. The gem of Earth. She would probably need to do a bit of extra learning and training there. Then she'd be off to space!

This thought made her brim with excitement.

"Merry Christmas!" yelled the host of the party, her second aunt.

Everyone raised a glass of champagne in celebration and returned the greeting in joy.