The Background Of 01-Spark By Albert Nothlit

[albertnothlit]

Hi, everyone. Since a few readers have  the kind enough to tell me that they would be interested in more background information for my science fiction story 01-Spark, I'm going to start by talking about Spark itself and how it's used. If you'd like to check out the story, follow the link below.  Any other questions are more than welcome!

 

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/albertnothlit/01-spark

 

 

Spark

 

 

 After the war to end all wars had come and gone, most of the world was reduced to ruins. For a while, isolated settlements struggled to survive making use of anything they could. The long perpetual twilight that followed the impact of the bombs on the world's most important cities meant that no plants could survive without help. Sunlight was all  but forgotten for nearly a generation, as survivors hunted around for food in any form they could find it. Soon, though, even canned goods became inedible and many of the struggling settlements starved to death.

 

The few who managed to survive did so by clinging to life in the neighboring areas of the few nuclear power plants that had not been completely destroyed, but their existence was solitary and isolated. Of all the cities of the world, only one was able to retain its infrastructure which, while damaged, was able to keep going because it did not use fossil fuels, but instead a much more efficient form of energy: Spark. The substance, biological in origin, was found to be far more energy dense than oil, and its mass to energy conversion ratio was nearly one hundred percent.  The Island city where Rick lives is the only place in the world where a Queen has been able to be held in captivity without catastrophic consequences, and many speculate that she is the last of her species. The entire city's power grid has been retrofitted to work using her Spark output, but there was a price to pay.

 

In the Island, the use of Spark and its fallout has contaminated the city's water supply beyond all hope of salvation. The form of spark that is used for energy generation is highly toxic to humans. Even casual ingestion of unfiltered  and untreated water causes strong psychotropic hallucinations and a devastatingly quick onset of dependence on more Spark. Eventually, those addicted to the substance die of heart attacks or starve to death, lost in their own hallucinations. To counteract this, a large portion of the energy derived from Spark is diverted to the huge water treatment plant that is the center of the Island city. It is a vicious cycle, since the more Spark is used, the more contaminated the water becomes, and the energy expenditure of the water treatment plant grows.  Should the source of spark ever fail, the entire population of the city would quickly succumb to Spark addiction from drinking tainted water, and eventual death. There has been talk of relocating to another area among some of the  younger generation doomed to live in a city that is hostage to its own Queen slave,  but although there have been a few expeditions to scout out suitable places, none of those who have left have ever returned.

Edited June 8, 2015 by albertnothlit

[Carlos Hazday]

I need to catch-up. Last I read we were trying to prevent lover boy from getting to the Spark!

[drpaladin]

This explains a great deal. Now it is very clear why everyone would die if the Spark plant is compromised. I think many of us were wondering why maintaining power was so vital.

[albertnothlit]

 thank you!   when I write a story, I normally have all of these little details planned out in advance, but sometimes I don't get to mention them outright during the narrative because it would interfere with the pace of the story. It's good to be able to finally explain everything, though!

[cocoon]

Again a great story! Thank you!