•••

Robber Baron

Epilogue

Science fiction by Wil C. Fry

Copyright © 2003, 2018 by Wil C. Fry. All Rights Reserved.

First published online: 2003

Back To Table Of Contents

Year: 2525 GS
Location: Destiny’s World

Nestled deep in the picturesque rings of Gabriel — perhaps the most beautiful gas giant in the known galaxy — finding her home among the ice crystals and rocks, lies a tiny world.
    Viewed from several miles away, this minuscule planet looks very similar to old maps of Old Home Terra, and indeed it has been landscaped to look that way. Roaming the surface of this hidden paradise are hundreds of species of animals, ranging in size from the Kingloz elephant and Zarnian black whale to earthworms and ants, all of them thriving in the carefully controlled and terraformed climate.
    Wild grasses, bushes and small trees now grow wild on what used to be cold, hard stone. Orchards and farmland are spread across the land area of Destiny’s World.
    Deep inside, in an even more carefully controlled climate, in a mile-wide cavern near the center of the planet, abides a lush garden Utopia. An artificial sun on the ceiling of the cavern provides the perfect amount of radiation for the humans, animals and plants that occupy this hidden place. Amidst the deep greens and browns of the well-fed vegetation, several sprawling mansions can be found, with neat little footpaths between them.
    The structures have large windows with no glass — the climate is perfect — and the artificial rain comes lightly at controlled times. Between the scheduled rains, the retractable roofs are opened to the sun above.
    In the largest of these mansions resides Philipp Kaplan Bates, along with his family. He is now 55 years old. His first wife, Destiny Dester Kaplan, is 58. Their three children are living with them: Philipp Howard Dester Kaplan, 28, Destiny Samantha Bates Kaplan, 20, and Jason Jeffrey Kaplan, 10. His second wife, Isabelle Kaplan, is 51. They also have two children, Peter Kaplan, 4, and Gennifer Kaplan, 2.
    Jason and Deneen Quivers and their two children occupy the next house. Markan Howard Quivers, the oldest child, is 32, and Jeannie Taryn Quivers is 25.
    Still a third house holds an aging Howard Wingate Bates III and his darling wife Marianne, and their one daughter: Tabitha Marie Bates, 25.


Back to Table of ContentsMove on to Appendix 1