Interplanetary Love Story--really long--ed 1. (739 hits)
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Submitted by Naery (View user info) at 2005-02-23 09:05:07 EST
The cigarette burns into ashes, untouched for several minutes as she watches the latest news updates. Every channel's normal programming has been interrupted by government warnings to flee. Leading scientists, men and women with more initials after their names than letters actually in their names, are finally saying what everyone has been thinking for months. But now, it is official. Now, there are military and government officials and resources helping in the evacuation procedure. Since the first few news stories confirming the reports, the population has been in a panic; the low rumble of nervousness finally erupting into full on shouts of fear. In the chaos, adding to the chaos, looters are taking everything they can carry on their bodies or in their vehicles and leaving as fast as they can. Mi'Khalein turns off the news, notices the wasted cigarette and lights up another. She picks up the phone and begins to place a call before she decides it's not worth the time, he probably already knows and she has things to do to prepare for their own evacuation. She smiles at the irony of their present situation and reflects on how heavy-handed Fate has been with her life.
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When she was born, Mi'Khalein's parents decided that they wanted to name her something special and unique, something that had meaning and was personal to them. Her father's sister, Halei, was the single most important person in his life before he met his wife and was thereafter one of the two-and after Mi'Khalein was born, three- most important people in his life. Mi'Khalein once asked him who he loved more: her, her mother, or her aunt. He replied that it was impossible to rank one above the other and that she shouldn't worry, he loved her plenty, as she could plainly see by the fact that he had taken the names of the two people he loved most and melded them into her name. Mi'Khalein's mother's name was Kaylan. Kaylan also loved Halei, it was a (not un-) spoken rule that if someone didn't like Halei, then Mi'Khalein's father didn't like them. So, naturally, Mi'Khalein's parents, who affectionately referred to her as "Mimi," were both well inclined to using Halei's name for their child, and Halei was more than happy to donate it.
Mimi's parents both loved her very much and consequently they took every opportunity to push her in her studies and to make every life event into a lesson. Mimi's parents were adamant that she get a good education and that she know practical things as well: how to do dishes, how to do her laundry, make her bed, buy groceries, plan a party, write a resume, open a bank account, buy sturdy vehicles and homes, all of the million and one pieces of information that a person needs to live successfully that are not taught in schools. The lesson they kept hammering into her head, and the one for which she is currently most grateful, is to always have a safe place to go. More on this later.
When Mi'Khalein was in third grade, she became very sick and was unable to attend normal school with her peers. While all of her friends felt sad on her behalf, Mimi realized that this is one of those points in life when Fate took over. Because her parents both had jobs, Mi'Khalein was not allowed to sit at home and while away the day with books and dolls as some of her classmates did. Her father owned his own real-estate business and Mimi was put to work learning her school lessons through the medium of selling, buying, prospecting, renovating, etc, real estate. Her father, always a quick learner, found out what things Mimi needed to know to pass third grade, and made sure she knew it, all from the perspective of the real-estate business. Mi'Khalein took the standardized tests and scored in the 98th percentile or better on every single one of them. She and her parents were so pleased by this arrangement that it became the norm for Mi'Khalein. She became officially designated as being "home-schooled." This turned out to give Mimi more freedom than she realized. She covered three academic years in one standard Gregorian year. She was thrilled. Her parents were a little apprehensive, thinking that maybe Mimi was growing up faster than she should, but after seeing her playing with other girls her same age, they calmed down and realized that Mimi's intelligence and quick learning did not mean that she was maturing at any faster rate than her former school-mates. That tranquil acceptance of their daughter's completely normal lack of maturity evaporated quite swiftly however when Mimi announced that she wanted to attend college beginning the next semester. Mimi was 14 years old and had finished the entire high school curriculum. She hadn't even had a boyfriend yet.
Her parents convinced her to wait one more year before going. They also convinced her that it was unnecessary, in fact impractical, for her to go away for college, so Mimi settled for a community college to take care of her required general credits. Mimi hadn't decided on a major yet but figured that in the year it would take her to get an A.A., she should be able to pick one. Mimi enrolled in the local community college in the fall semester of her 15th year of life. She made quite the spectacle trudging across campus carrying books that weighed almost as much as she did. She quickly proved to the majority of the campus, however, including staff and faculty, that she fully belonged there when, not more than three months into the semester she announced that she had finished the curriculum of her first 18 credits and could she please begin on the next semester's work. A claim of this sort would normally have resulted in the claimant being harried off campus at the tips of the faculty's literary pitchforks, but Mi'Khalein was so young, innocent and obviously serious that her teachers were all taken completely by surprise. After all, they hadn't seen any of the work, papers and projects and such, that were required to complete the courses and in fact hadn't even covered the parts of the curriculum required to complete those projects. When she heard this, Mimi told her professors that she had looked at the syllabus for each of her classes and just looked it all up herself. The college librarian verified that indeed "that clever young girl" had been in there every day for hours poring over various books and taking more notes than any full classroom of students. Mimi then showed her teachers all of her papers and the group projects that she had done all on her own. Her teachers were noticeably, and understandably, startled by all of this. It was, as one professor put it, "highly irregular." First the dean and then the president of the school were consulted as to what to do. The president, a man not known for his ability to bend rules or be forgiving of those who did, ordered that Mimi be allowed to complete the courses (well) ahead of schedule and that she should be allowed to pursue her studies at her own pace. They allowed students to finish slower than normal, why not faster? Mi'Khalein felt this was another instance of Fate interceding in her life. With the president's blessing, she finished her A.A. in just under a year, but she still hadn't decided on a major. Conveniently for her, Fate stepped in at that point and showed her the way.
Mimi's father was being sued. He had, unknowingly, bought, renovated and sold property belonging to someone else. He was flabbergasted and appalled that something like this had happened. Mostly, though he was upset that he had been taken in by a con-man and engaged in an illegal act. The man suing her father had hired the best lawyer within a thousand miles to prosecute his case. The court date was set: they had 6 months. Mi'Khalein took up studying law at the nearest University with a law library. Before, she had been taking her studies leisurely, although it was a lightning pace compared to the other students. Now, she pursued her Law degree with a fervor. She finished the undergraduate requirements for a pre-Law B.A. in three weeks. She proceeded on to Master's work. She had a Master's Degree in Law with two months left to spare before the court date. She began work on her Doctorate. Two weeks before the court date she took the Bar Exam. She passed with a nearly perfect score. She became the youngest certified lawyer in the history of the country at the tender sweet age of 16 and three-fourths. She unfortunately did not have her Doctorate though since she had run out of time for the writing of her Doctoral Thesis. She'd finish it after the court case. She had two weeks to prepare a case. To make a long story short, the stunning way in which she won her father's case launched her stunning career. She finished her Doctoral Thesis, a paper on the revolutionary idea that the British legal system had not only informed America's and Australia's but had also had interesting effects on the legal systems in the Middle East. It was reviewed, accepted, loved and Mimi was given the title Doctor.
Mimi's legal fees, and her background in her father's real estate office, all made it possible for her to begin investing in property. She was confident that she would not only buy herself some nice land but also be able to turn a profit on it. And when the big boom in off-planet land investments hit, Mimi was right there riding the top of it. Americans were the first to colonize Mars, and Mimi was one of the first Americans. She was 20 years old when she bought her first acre of Mars surface bio-dome. She actually got to visit it for the first time when she was 23. Shortly after, she hired a team of technicians to maintain her investment, set aside a fund in a separate off-shore bank account to pay for it, and then she forgot all about it.
Until two weeks ago, when the first news reports began, hesitantly, to put forth the fears and theories of the experts.
User Reviews
Submitted by Naery (user info) at 2005-02-23 22:42:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
thanks for pointing out that i switch between names.
didn't realize i was doing that. they are equivalents in my head. i understand they're not to the readers tho. thanks for that.
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2005-02-23 10:28:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by drfeggphd (user info) at 2005-02-23 09:57:56 (#)
Ranking: 2
i found the switching back and forth between the two names a bit distracting,
but a great effort- and i'll look for the next chapter i assume is coming...
Submitted by drfeggphd (user info) at 2005-02-23 09:57:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i found the switching back and forth between the two names a bit distracting,
but a great effort- and i'll look for the next chapter i assume is coming...
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2005-02-23 09:26:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Interesting premise and a good beginning. The phrasing seems a little strange at times and although I'm fairly certain that you wanted to drive the point home but the repetition of fate intervening was somewhat distracting. Good stuff anyway.