Skyward - (NaNoWriMo 2013 Novel)

Of the Genesis of Ideas and the Defence of 'Dos - (Nov 18, Monday: )

Notes from my brain: one of the many inspirations for Skyward was driving back into downtown Toronto from the west, along the QEW and Gardiner, and looking to the skyline of the core that thrust so very far upwards in the midst of a very flat landscape. In that moment, I could understand how an enterprising mind, bent on chaos and destruction, could conceive to use a plane as a weapon against such large, obvious targets.

I imagined an alternate outcome for 9-11, where the War On Terror was even more of a failure, and instead of electing to tighten airline security in a draconian fashion, the powers that be decided that they would stand their ground. They would just build buildings that were fortresses.

I took the idea quite literally. As I drove, and the buildings of the core shifted with perspective and vantage point, they reached a point where they seemed to be alligned in a tight forest, clustered together with no gaps between them. I imagined that all that was required to protect them would be a massive, reinforced concrete wall, the sections of which were full buildings in and of themselves. Such a fortress would leave the buildings within utterly impervious to any aerial attack.

However, they would serve another purpose as well. We are increasingly seeing that our governments can get away with a great deal when they claim the defence of the people as their motivation, and they accuse anyone who resists their drives as being paranoid--of being someone with something to hide. The attacks of 9-11, combined with the connected nature of the internet, allowed intelligence and defence agencies to reach boldly beyond their previously accepted realm of power.

I wanted to take this idea of using fear or conflict as a justification for otherwise unacceptable measures to an extreme level. I conceived that a 9-11 like attack would be a good way to justify the construction of a giant wall, but such a giant wall, justified as a defensive barrier, would also be the perfect way to isolate a city; to cut it off from the outside world and control what information and visuals got into it.

This idea of a wall was mentioned in an earlier part of Skyward as the Hadrian Defence Protocols. However, i've since questioned whether this is a necessary inclusion or a nutso initial idea on the path to skyward that should probably be discarded. In what i've written today, i start getting into the idea of the lower levels of the 'Dos being built tough to resist attacks (and some of that filtered in to the previous two bits about the peacemakers and the pirates outside the 'Do). But, when considering aerial attacks from above, it doesn't make much sense for lower levels to be thickly armoured, while upper levels are palatial creations of beautiful architecture and glass.

Basically, i should probably abandon the whole 9-11 line of inspiration :P

* * *

If you could ever find a vantage point in the tangled mess of derelict buildings, legacy sky scrapers, and titannic MegaDos in The Core that afforded you a clear view of one of the MegaDos from base to kilometer-high summit, a MegaDo would be best described as nine tenths function and one tenth fashion. The crowns of the MegaDos are gleaming jewels perched atop settings so blandly functional in their design that they might as well be doric columns.

When the 'Dos were being shopped around in scale model form, the layers from floor to tip were coated in the aquamarine dream of reflective glass that you'd have expected from any other building of their vintage.

It was only in the wake of 9-11 that the glass started disappearing.

It had been decided that the way to deal with terrorist threats from the sky was to build more robust buildings. It was then described as the "Stand Our Ground" approach to defence. Attempts were made to ferret out those responsible for the terrorist attacks, but the decentralized networks in use would fade out into the populace whenever investigations got too close to their roots, only to reform later, in some different place.

Eventually the networks managed to break into south-east asia and radicalize a population that had then grown to number in the billions. The combination of restrictive American trade policies and decades of unfulfilling work producing cheap plastics for american markets provided fertile ground for radicalization against the west. When the radicalizers explained to the oppressed masses that they had a reliable way to turn planes into weapons.

At their towering height, the MegaDos would have been obvious targets for the aeronautical projectiles. They stretched so far up into the sky that the flight paths of legitimate planes had to be diverted far around them. It woud be no great feat for a hijacked plane to divert slightly from its path and dip slightly below approach altitude to strike a 'Do.

Initially there was concern about spreading paranoia and fear, so the model 'Dos kept their windows, but when they were actually built, those windows were layed over a layers of solid Flexcrete. They BuildCorps managed to keep up the false appearance until the first attack. A 747 plowed its way into the side of a MegaDo that was still in construction. A fireball bloomed, wreckage and splintered glass fell, and when the smoke cleared, the only lasting damage to the 'Do was a large black scorch mark on the otherwise-unmarred flexcrete layer beneath the window camouflage.

After that even, the windowless 'Dos sold themselves. The RealtyCorps tried to sell the fact that there were floor-to-ceiling LCD screens installed in the 'Dos in the place of windows to mimic the outside with real-time projections, but buyers didn't much care; they just wanted to be safe inside.

(should the 'Dos with no windows and only camouflage layers of glass be ringed around the outside of the core only, forming a disguised wall?)

Gah. I'm getting sick of my own idea. Seems far too contrived. Probably best to ditch the whole plane-terrorist thing.

* * *

Once again, though I made my word count today, it wasn't all made of Skyward. I'm getting worried about this little story, and I feel it dragging. Today I was concerned that forcing myself to write everyday has resulted in this having a lot of description or a lot of action, but not a whole lotta heart :/