THE OFF-WORLD MAN COMPANION THE GORDON MARCUS PARKS NOVELLAS By G.K.Walker A Message from the Author The Off-World Man trilogy is simple exopolitical DISCLOSURE science fiction. SCIENCE FACTION. It is truth immersed in the veil of fiction, as all good sci-fi mysteries are. The Off-World Man Companion is the result of a three-decade journey of research into the military aerospace industrial complex. Stage Two, involves its introduction into as many fields of production as applicable; print media, Syfy Channel series and or Motion Picture franchise, producing the books as a film, graphic novel, and expanded novel series developing the ancillary characters. That’s my vision. This is a relevant, potentially profitable franchise on the level of the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises. I am a self-taught Mechanical and Industrial Designer and Conceptual Artist, specializing in creative design solutions. Author of the design engineering white paper, Formula One Geometry in Human Powered Land Vehicle Design; 20+ years of research into carbon fiber Forward Prone Position Speedframe Design and Construction. Author of The OFF-WORLD Man, a military science fiction novella series based on decades of research into the military aerospace community. I am a Type One Technology Researcher and novice Science Fiction Writer. I was accepted at the Art Center College of Design 1987. However, I was unable to attend due to financial hardship. I am self-educated, still hoping to go back to college one day and looking to fund a design studio and various business partnership ventures. I can only imagine how far I would have gone. I would have had a productive, rewarding career as a product and transportation designer. My coroflot.com portfolio is a limited archive of my concepts on product, transportation and architectural design. I was born to be an industrial designer. The creative process is my life. I would have become a professor and made a difference in the lives of design students. Perhaps, in the next incarnation. The lesson to be learned here is to never give up on pursuing one's career dreams and goals. Design and Marketing ARTIFACTS of the FUTURE. My Coroflot.com page is an archive of drawings and sketches are an indication of where my training ended, much too soon. I was not born to abundant financial means or resources, nor was I willing to follow other options such as the Montgomery G.I. Bill while I was still young and able. So my quest to become an industrial design engineer ended abruptly in 1988. I have continued to follow the related fields for decades. Thirty years have passed, along with any realistic chance to make a living or a real contribution to the field of industrial design, but the desire get that education never went away. I wrote the whitepapers Formula One Geometry in Human Powered Land Vehicle Design and Higher Education 2050 out of frustration. In 2007 I began studying novel writing and began the industrial design themed novella series The Off-World Man: A Gordon Marcus Parks Novella. The four-novella series The Off-World Man Companion is complete. In the novella series, I predict near-future product and transportation, what I term artifacts of the future. I placed the storyline a mere 30 to 40 years into the future, knowing full well that many of the concepts will not be available to the everyday consumer for at least 100 years. The OM Companion was the only way I could contribute to the continuum of professional industrial designers and mechanical engineers and students fortunate enough the pursue a career in those fields, dedicated to envisioning artifacts of the future. I hope you realize that you are priests of the purest of all creative processes. Priests of Creation. You are trained to tap into that solution-oriented process at will. And realize that your works enhance and advance the human condition with every new innovation in materials and function. You can make a real difference in such far-flung fields as medical science, transportation and aerospace, consumer products and emerging technology. You have no idea how truly blessed you are. G.K.Walker The Off-World Man PROLOGUE Air Force Space Command: "The establishment of Space Command is a crucial milestone in the evolution of military space operations. Space is a place like land, sea and air. A theater of operations, and it was just a matter of time until space was treated as such." --General James V. Hartinger. Air Force Space Command, created September 1, 1982, is one of nine Air Force major commands, and is headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. Missile warning and space operations were combined to form Air Force Space Command in 1982, the same year NASA launched the first provided emphasis for the command's new focus on support to the war fighter ICBM forces were merged into Air Force Space Command in 1993. Air Force Space Command defends America through its space and intercontinental ballistic missile operations, vital force elements in projecting global reach and global power and is a key factor in implementing the expeditionary aerospace force organizational structure. Air Force Space Command has two numbered air forces. Fourteenth Air Force provides space war fighting forces to U.S. Space Command, and is located at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Fourteenth Air Force manages the generation and employment of space forces to support U.S. Space Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command operational plans and missions. Twentieth Air Force, located at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, operates and maintains Air Force Space Command's ICBM weapon systems in support of U.S. Strategic Command war plans. The Space Warfare Center at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, is also part of the command. The center plays a major role in fully integrating space systems into the operational Air Force. Its force enhancement mission looks at ways to use space systems to support war fighters in the areas of navigation, intelligence, communications and theater ballistic missile warning and how these apply to theater operations. The center is also home to the Space Battle lab Air Force Space Command is the major command providing space forces for the U.S. Space Command and trained ICBM forces for U.S. Strategic Command; and also supports NORAD with warning information, operates the Space Warfare Center to develop space applications for direct war fighter support and is responsible for the Department of Defense's ICBM follow-on operational test and evaluation program. Air Force Space Command bases and stations include Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, Schriever and Peterson Air Force Bases and Buckley Air National Guard Base, Colorado; Onizuka Air Station and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; Cape Canaveral Air Station and Patrick Air Force Base, Florida; Cavalier Air Station, North Dakota; F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming; Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana; Clear Air Station, Arkansas; Thule Air Base, Greenland; and Woomera Air Station, Australia. Air Force Space Command units are located around the world, including Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany. Space lift operations at the East and West Coast launch bases provide services, facilities and range safety control for the conduct of D.o.D, National and Space Administration and commercial launches. Through the command and control of all D.o.D satellites, satellite operators provide force-multiplying effects -- continuous global coverage, low vulnerability and autonomous operations. Satellites provide essential in-theater secure communications, weather and navigational data for ground, air and fleet operations and threat warning. Ground-based radar and Defense Support Program satellites monitor ballistic missile launches around the world to guard against a surprise attack on North America. Space surveillance radars provide vital information on the location of satellites and space debris for the nation and the world. With a readiness rate above 99 percent, America's ICBM team plays a critical role in maintaining world peace and ensuring the nation's safety and security. Air Force Space Command operates and supports the Global Positioning System, Defense Satellite Communications Systems Phase 2 and 3, Defense Support Program, NATO 3 and 4 Communications and Fleet Satellite Communications System UHF follow-on and MILSTAR; and currently operates the Atlas 2, Delta 2, Titan 2 and Titan 4 launch vehicles. This includes all of the nation's primary boosters from the Eastern and Western ranges and range support for the space shuttle. Air Force Space Command also operates the nation's primary source of continuous, real time solar flare warnings. The command also operates a worldwide network of satellite tracking stations to provide communications links to satellites -- a system called the Air Force Satellite Control Network. Ground-based radars used primarily for ballistic missile warning include the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, PAVE, PAWS and PARCS radars. The Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance System, Passive Space Surveillance System, phased-array and mechanical radars provide primary space surveillance coverage. The ICBM force consists, as of the year 1999, of Minuteman 3 and Peacekeeper missiles that provide the critical component of America's on-alert strategic forces. As the nation's "silent sentinels," ICBM's and the people who operate them, have remained on continuous around-the clock alert since 1959 -- longer than any other U.S. strategic force. Five hundred Minuteman 3 and 50 Peacekeeper ICBM's are currently on alert in reinforced concrete launch facilities beneath the Great Plains. Air Force Space Command is the Air Force's largest operator of UH-1N Huey helicopters, responsible for missile operations support and security. As of June 1999, approximately 37,200 people, including 25,800 active-duty military and civilians and 11,360 contractor employees, combine to perform Air Force Space Command missions.