Martex Renver in Search of a Better Life

By Giovanni Caccamo

Planet Capo is situated on the other side of the black hole. There was a war and after a chemical fallout, the humans were left with an altered DNA. They must get to Planet Earth because they believe that by combining their altered DNA with that of the Earthlings, it would revert to the way it had been.

On the night before the official launch to Planet Earth, Martex Renver and his friends go on board the spacecraft for a tour. After a mishap Martex becomes the new Commander, and his friends the new crew and they are on their way to Planet Earth to find a cure for their altered DNA. Martex must first destroy a meteor as big as a bus that is about to collide with them. When they land on Earth, they discover a problem. They are much smaller in size than the Earthlings.

Martex meets the American President's daughter, Angela Andrews. They fall in love, but their size difference makes it impossible to have a normal relationship.

Can Martex get back to his planet in time with the cure to save his father from an early death?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jan 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781528965965

Giovanni Caccamo

Giovanni Caccamo is 49 years old and lives in Sydney, Australia. He married Assunta 25 years ago; they have three boys, Joseph, Pasquale and Steven (Pookie). Giovanni has been a hairdresser for 35 years. Giovanni decided in 2010, during his time as a hairdressing educator, to start this novel, Martex Renver in Search of a Better Life. He wrote about 20 pages but gave up on the idea until December 2017. Giovanni decided to edit those 20 pages saved on his hard drive and continued to write the book from the front desk in his hairdressing salon in Windsor, Sydney. Giovanni has found his passion for writing and he hopes that he can inspire others to do the same. Giovanni has promised the continuation of this novel with more books and hopes that everyone will enjoy his imagination.

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About The Author

Giovanni Caccamo is 49 years old and lives in Sydney, Australia. He married Assunta 25 years ago; they have three boys, Joseph, Pasquale and Steven (Pookie). Giovanni has been a hairdresser for 35 years.

Giovanni decided in 2010, during his time as a hairdressing educator, to start this novel, Martex Renver in Search of a Better Life. He wrote about 20 pages but gave up on the idea until December 2017. Giovanni decided to edit those 20 pages saved on his hard drive and continued to write the book from the front desk in his hairdressing salon in Windsor, Sydney.

Giovanni has found his passion for writing and he hopes that he can inspire others to do the same. Giovanni has promised the continuation of this novel with more books and hopes that everyone will enjoy his imagination.

Dedication

To my three boys, Joseph, Pasquale and Steven (Pookie), for giving me some of their characteristics that I have used in writing this book.

Copyright Information ©

Giovanni Caccamo (2020)

The right of Giovanni Caccamo to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528929677 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528965965 (ePub-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2020)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

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E14 5LQ

Chapter 1

200 Years Ago

The world we live in—is it the right fit for us? It doesn’t really matter. Life forms of any race, size or religious background have an equal standing to live life to their potential. Love can be shared across the universe and beyond.

This story began a very long time ago. At the beginning of time, the universe had a lot of unexplained theories. This one asks the question of how. We on Earth have been searching for a very long time. Are we alone in the universe? Scientists have always believed that if we exist in our solar system, the Milky Way, then other life forms can also exist on the billions of planets in the other galaxies and solar systems. We know that each star we see at night represents another sun like ours.

We keep on searching for other life forms like ours to satisfy our curiosity as it is in our nature as human beings. We have sent space probes deep into space with a purpose to find other life forms and have never found any proof.

The black hole has always been a mystery to us. Some say that it is the umbilical cord of the universe. We have been told that the black hole keeps expanding but this theory is yet to be proven. Since the 1950s, Planet Earth has been relaying television transmissions out into space including the black hole and beyond. The transmissions go through the black hole and into the vacuum of the black hole that travels inwards.

This story begins in the galaxy called Elvarius.

Elvarius is located on the other side of the black hole from the Milky Way Galaxy. Elvarius is a tiny galaxy consisting of five planets, but only one has the perfect climate and atmosphere for human beings to live as we do on Planet Earth.

This planet is known as Planet Capo. Capo has Earth-like similarities with one moon, blue sky and clouds. Planet Capo has two large landmasses and an ocean that covers about 50% of the planet. On Planet Capo, there is a racial mix like Earth, but only one language: English.

The people on Planet Capo have a very well-advanced civilisation with one ruling government that was formed after the global nuclear war some 200 years ago. Planet Capo was divided into two sections: the northern landmass called Gemma and the southern landmass called Delta.

Two hundred years ago, the two countries were at war—the war that nearly destroyed the total population of the entire planet. The two countries were at war because of a precious metal called glisten. Glisten was only ever found on the northern part of Gemma.

Gemma was a well-advanced city with modern skyscrapers, some up to two miles in height. These tall buildings were built to house the large population that flourished in peaceful times. Every building in Gemma was built with a shiny silver finish that glisten gave off. During the day, the sun would reflect off them and create a huge light into the air that could be seen for hundreds of miles, even from northern Delta.

Glisten was not only strong but also stored energy from the sun. Glisten powered all of Gemma’s industries cost-free; making this metal the most valuable. Glisten also powered all the homes on Gemma and was a very clean energy source for heating and cooling.

The most amazing attribute of glisten was that it could also be recharged everyday by the sun. The people from Delta found themselves at a disadvantage when trading with the government of Gemma. Gemma was more advanced because it possessed glisten. Delta was a concrete jungle that housed their population. Most of their land was used for farming that fed both countries.

Trade between the two finally stalled, so war broke out. The war lasted two years and at first, the nation of Gemma had the upper hand with the use of glisten in all their armoury and aircraft. This made them almost impossible to destroy because of the metal’s strength and durability. Delta was almost wiped out.

They had a secret weapon: a chemical dirty bomb. They had just finalised building the bomb but hadn’t tested it to discover the devastating power that this weapon might bring. If both countries had known of the consequences that it would cause for the future generations, they definitely would have avoided it.

After a complete chemical fallout that killed both sides due to radiation poisoning, there remained only a few hundred people to virtually start all over again. The people who survived were scientists who were hidden in an underground bunker built from glisten that was located on the border of both countries and this was occupied by both the countries as insurance for the planet to restart in case of a natural disaster.

This was the main reason that Planet Capo’s population today was relatively small. The human gene and DNA that were altered as the result of the chemical radiation meant that from now on, any humans born carried the new altered defective DNA.

They would still achieve normal growth from birth to puberty, but once they reached 35 years of age, their ageing would accelerate for the next five years or so to the point that every one year after the age of 35 represented 10 years of ageing.

So instead of 36 years of age, they would now be 46 and instead of 37 years of natural ageing, they would be 57 and by the age of 42, they would be 100 or dead. The age of 40 was really the new 80 years of age. A lot of living had to be done in such little time.

There was no known cure and even after 200 years of searching and developing cures for other diseases, they were missing the gene that had been altered, so their focus was to find the cure from other humans from a different planet. The government of Capo was formed after the war by the scientist who still carried the altered DNA from being exposed to the air even after it had been deemed safe to leave the bunker. The people of Capo had a lot to fit into 40 years of life. A childhood, an education, marriage and, more importantly, repopulate the planet. Capo was blessed with a lot of minerals and natural resources and now they had beautiful homes.

There were green hills, waterfalls and a mix of city, industries and farms. Vegetation had regenerated after the meltdown of 200 years ago. They all knew how much that war had cost them and with a normal lifespan of only 40 years, there was too much to learn and pass on to the next generation. The saying on Planet Capo was, life’s too short, and that really was why nobody ever argued or fought with anyone else because life was simply way too short.

The people of Capo had been watching television transmissions from Planet Earth since it began in the 50’s and they had modelled their way of living on Planet Earth. They had even built their cities in the last 60 odd years like those on Planet Earth, mostly based on American cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and other cities from around the world that had been shown on television.

Even their lifestyle had been modelled on Planet Earth’s. The famous landmarks from Earth were built on Capo, like the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, London Bridge, Sydney Opera House and so on. Even the culture on Capo was modelled on a lot of Earth’s television shows and movies, giving both planets a connection.

The reality was that the lifestyle didn’t really exist on Planet Earth. Hollywood movies were all acting and make-believe. The Capo government had been trying to communicate with Planet Earth ever since our television transmissions had first been received.

But for nearly 60 years, they had failed because Earth’s television transmissions could easily go through the black hole from Planet Earth’s side but from Planet Capo’s side of the black hole, no transmissions of any kind could get through. Not even their own television transmission could get through to Planet Earth.

The Capo government had been trying to travel to Planet Earth by spacecrafts since the 1980s, but with no success. The problem was that they couldn’t go through the black hole because they still didn’t have an engine with enough thrust to push through the gravitational swirl of the black hole. Every time they had tried, their spacecraft would get caught up in the gravitational pull from the black hole and break up instead of directly going through.

The Capo government’s main purpose for reaching Planet Earth was to find a cure for their DNA problem and maybe even reverse the ageing effects that prevented them from reaching the age of 40 and beyond. The scientists on Planet Capo believed that by replacing their own DNA with the Earthlings’ DNA, they could reset it back to the way it was before the war. They were very certain that human species from both planets were the same and compatible. Maybe there once was a connection between both planets, who knows?

The people on Planet Capo were happy to just keep watching and learning about Planet Earth and its everyday happenings. The government of Capo had even changed its own timeline and dates to be the same as Planet Earth’s timeline and current date because Planet Capo rotated around its sun for 365 days a year, the same as Planet Earth’s.

Life on Planet Capo was good, but short-lived. There was no violence at all and no need for any police, but they did have a military force that had never ever seen any action since the war that nearly destroyed all human life some 200 years before. They still had laser weapons that used glisten and these were spread throughout the mainland.

They had them as a precaution against an invasion from an unknown enemy. So unlike Earth’s vast expenditure on the military worldwide, they didn’t have to spend any at all, leaving the majority of their wealth for technology and space science. Since the 1980s, space travel had really advanced in leaps and bounds. The rocket engines had been superseded and they now used sonic propulsion technology, or SPT.

The new SPT engine would allow space travel to be faster than the speed of light with the capacity to reach Planet Earth but it didn’t have enough thrust to enter and travel through the black hole. In time, they would invent an engine with enough thrust to go through the black hole but time on Planet Capo was, as we already know, very short.

Chapter 2

A Hunk of Burning Love

It is now the present on Planet Capo, and we have an engineer named Elvis Renver. That’s right; his parents were big fans of the king of rock and roll. Elvis even had his hair styled in the same way as his namesake and he dressed the same, but not at work. Elvis was no sideshow performer or even a singer. Elvis would one day be one of the most famous inventors on Capo. His son, Martex, would become famous throughout the universe.

Elvis worked as an aerospace engineer for Travtech Industries. Travtech had the government contract to develop and build the engine needed to reach Planet Earth and because Elvis was the most promising engineer, he had been given the task to find the answers that other engineers had not been able to find before.

This day would be the beginning of the change that the people of Planet Capo had longed for. Elvis was busy getting ready to build what he believed to be the engine that would finally work. He was in his lab working with his colleagues trying to work on his invention of a sonic propulsion inverter engine built from glisten.

Hi, Elvis. How are you doing with your project?

Not there yet, John.

‘John’ was John Lennon, the famous singer from the Beatles.

I keep getting too much power build-up in the engines at light speed and then after that, they keep blowing up. Lucky these engines are small or we would be in trouble, Elvis said. Step back, John. I’m about to give this little hunk of burning love a try.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one; Elvis pushed the power button on the control panel. The engine started with a loud high-pitched sound. John covered his ears because of the loud noise. Elvis had a worried look on his face as the indicator on the computer screen showed the power level increasing as the pitch got louder.

John said, Not bad, Elvis.

Just as John said this, Elvis lifted his hand and started counting down on his fingers. Five, four, three, two, one; the engine started to shake violently and the high-pitched sound was now at its loudest. The engine that was bolted to the floor in a special clamp for inside testing was just barely holding on.

Now the engine had just hit light speed. John put two fingers in his ears as the sound was now unbearable. Then, bang, the engine blew as black smoke started to escape and suddenly the fire hazard fans started to quickly suck up the smoke in a matter of seconds and sending a cold blast of air at the same time to cool down the engine before it caused a major explosion.

John said to Elvis in a loud voice with his fingers still in his ears, How can you stand the loud noise?

Elvis then took out his earplugs, showed them to John and said, I keep getting this overpower air intake problem every time the engine hits full power. It’s like the air gust is too strong but the engine hasn’t reached full power so there’s no use trying any further because the spacecraft will never be able to move through the black hole. We need light speed and we need to be able to keep it there for a very long time.

I’m sorry, Elvis. When it comes to this type of expertise, I am only the janitor.

John Lennon was the janitor for Travtech but John and Elvis were best friends. Even though Elvis was an engineer and John, a janitor, this had made no difference to them and they had been close friends from early school and right through to university.

John dropped out after goofing around as he had never taken life too seriously but not Elvis. He was on a mission to build the engine that would give the future generations a normal life. John had got the janitor’s job because Elvis had insisted that his superiors should employ his friend who had been in need of a job.

Elvis was married to Ericka, a beautiful woman. Together, they had a son, Martex, and a daughter named Lisa Maree. Martex was the son who would one day be the most famous man in the entire universe. Martex Renver was still young but he would soon gain a reputation for getting things done; more about this later.

John was also married to an attractive woman named Assunta and they had a son named Joseph. Joseph Lennon would also get his share of adventure, thanks to Martex. They too would become best friends like their fathers.

See you later, Elvis. What time tonight? John asked.

Oh, about six.

Great. Elvis, can we bring something?

No, only yourselves.

See you then.

See you, John.

It was the Renvers’ turn for the yearly barbecue. They celebrated their sons’ birthdays together because they had been born on the same day.

Elvis was in his office trying to work out the best way to fix his engine that continued to blow up every time it reached full power. He kept going through everything step by step as he had done many times before but the same thing continued to happen. As Elvis typed all the information into the computer, he muttered to himself that there must be a missing piece of the puzzle.

Stan?

Yes, Elvis?

Look at this computer.

Yes, Elvis; what am I looking at?

See here. These graphs show that this engine should have thrust when it reaches light speed.

Stan had worked with Elvis for years and knew the engine inside out. He had helped in the planning and development of this engine that Elvis had started from scratch.

Elvis, you’re correct here; everything checks out and you know what, Elvis?

What, Stan?

Elvis, I bet you that it will be something simple.

Like what, Stan?

I don’t know yet but mark my word, it will be simple. Hey, Elvis, we could probably do a real-life test and see what the outcome might be.

Stan, the reason for this engine is to give us thrust during light speed to get us through the black hole and then towards Planet Earth and back with the cure for all of us and future generations.

Correct, Elvis.

So you know how precious life is, Stan, and you know we only live for 40 years or so.

Yes, Elvis, I know that.

So why would I risk life by testing it without getting it right in here first?

Good point, Elvis; that’s why you are the brains.

Stan, can you please bring in a new engine from spare parts and have this one melted down with the scraps?

OK, Elvis, but you know they always ask too many questions in the office.

What questions?

Well, like, why another engine is required or is he close or when?

Stan?

Yes, Elvis?

Tell them to go and— The lab door opened.

Tell us what, Elvis?

Ah, Mr Slack. I…I was telling Stan about those pesky advertisers, yes, the advertisers. They can be troublesome, Mr Slack.

So, I heard that you blew another engine, dear Elvis, and this must be it.

Mr Slack, the computer says that we are there and ready with the engine, but they still bust up at light speed.

Stan?

Yes, Mr Slack?

You can go and get the new engine just as Elvis ordered you to do while I have a quiet word with him.

Yes, Mr Slack.

Oh, and Stan?

Yes, Mr Slack?

Take this heap of expensive waste with you.

Yes, Mr Slack.

Stan left the lab with the burnt-out engine.

Dear Elvis?

Yes, Mr Slack?

You know that you are pretty much at the end of the lifespan of this engine experiment and to be frank, Elvis…

Yes, Mr Slack?

The board has instructed me to shut down this project that only bleeds money and where we don’t get a return on our investment.

Sir, can I be frank?

Go ahead.

Who cares about the investment when all our lives are at stake?

Elvis, listen to me. I get what you are trying to achieve here, but you have until the end of the week.

Thank you, Mr Slack. I know that I’m close and I understand about everything.

Elvis, get it done and then we won’t have a problem. Bye for now, Elvis.

Goodbye Mr Slack.

John got home from work at 3:30 pm. He drove into his parking space at the front of his family’s apartment block that was also built out of glisten, which gave it a reflective look in the sunlight. John got out of his car and entered the building. He approached the lift and entered the doors when they opened.

The lift chamber was magnetised together with the shaft that had a positive charge, making them both repel each other and at the same time give off energy that was used to go either up or down with speed. The lift chamber was held within a frame which gave a smooth ride each time.

John got to his apartment and opened the door to be greeted by his son, Joseph.

Hello, Joseph. What’s so special about today, son?

Joseph said, It’s my birthday, Dad, and I am 16 years old today.

Wow, son. You will soon work as a scientist at my workplace.

No, Dad. I want to work with you as a janitor.

Yes, son, but as a scientist.

OK, Dad.

Here, Joseph, a gift for you, son, and I hope that you like it.

Joseph grabbed the present and started to unwrap it. After ripping the paper, he could see that it was the new model spacecraft like the ones that were built at Travtech.

Oh boy, Dad. It’s a new model, he said, holding up a shiny model spacecraft named the Searcher Mark One. The model was about a foot long and had all the features of the real spacecraft currently used by the Capo space agency. Joseph had a love of space travel and spacecraft. This was what he had always wanted.

Thanks, Dad. I love it.

Joseph ran into the kitchen to show his mother his birthday present.

Hi, John.

Hello, Assunta. A kiss.

What is going on?

Oh, nothing, darling. How’s your day been so far?

Not bad, John. I’m getting new clients at the salon.

Assunta was a hairdresser and she started her own salon about two months ago.

That’s great, honey.

So, John, what time are we going tonight?

About six.

OK, honey.

That looks great.

John had a taste of the cake frosting with his finger.

Hey, stop that, John. I’m just finishing the cake for the boys’ birthday.

Elvis was in his office and got a video phone call. It was his wife, Ericka. Elvis pushed the button and answered her, Hi, babe.

Hi, Elvis, do you know what time it is? The Lennons will be here soon.

Elvis looked at his watch and saw that it was 5:30 pm.

Wow, I lost all track of time, babe. I’m on my way.

Elvis got up and took off his white coat and hung it on his office door. He then grabbed his briefcase and ran out to the carpark where he got into his new sports car called the Swift Special.

The Swift Special was not just a sports car, it could also fly. Most cars on Planet Capo used the road network and it was still favoured by most people who liked to drive manually. Flying was only permitted on autopilot because the computers could detect any oncoming traffic.

The cars were controlled in realtime using computerised GPS technology that could navigate when flying through traffic. It was the only way to avoid cars crashing into one another. Under government laws, all cars could be manually driven only when it was safe to do so, like parking or on a driveway. On all other occasions, you had to tell your car your destination and the computer would calculate a safe and fast journey. There were no speed limits on Capo because of the safe technology and there was no chance of an accident occurring even if you tried to run your car into another vehicle or drive off a mountainside. The computer would take over as it would know your safest course. This meant that there was no need to drive manually at all. But some people still liked to drive their cars manually because they wanted to handle the steering wheel.

Elvis had his Swift Special fitted with one of his engines made from glisten that he had invented years ago. This was where his love for engine building had started. Elvis was the only person on Planet Capo who was allowed to own the fastest car and a private spacecraft; it was a favour for developing the engine technology that had changed space travel from rocket engines to the sonic propulsion inverter engine. This enabled the spacecrafts to reach