ROC VERSION

Empires United.

That was the name of the theme park we were to visit today. It was Walt Maynard’s vision of a unified galaxy, co-existing peacefully, respectful of one another’s cultural differences, enriching all of our lives by working together. I had to respect the man’s dream.

I slept in that morning, forgoing any type of workout, and honestly felt rejuvenated. Proper rest is another important aspect of physical training, never forget that.

My travel companions slept in as well, but for them, that meant 10 AM, not the 6 AM I woke up at. That’s ok, it gave me some time to myself on my NeoCom, so I took advantage of some “me” time.

Once they awoke and were ready, we took the Maynard Transit system; that’s right, Maynard World was consumed so much physical real estate that it had its own private transit system. It just reinforced the power of believing in your dreams, and letting nothing or no one take it away from you.

So there we were, at Empires United, and I stood in awe once again of the sheer magnitude of detail given to every aspect of the park. There were granite slabs just inside the entranceway, easily 100 ft wide and 10 ft high, with 1 inch x 1 inch metal plates depicting avatars of those who had come before. It was a magnificent memorial, but even it compared to the giant sphere that was the main piece of the theme park.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to enter the sphere, as infants weren’t allowed, and I wasn’t in the mood to argue.

The other main attraction of the theme park was that each empire, each bloodline, had its own area around a man made lake. In only a few short hours you could sample authentic experiences from Gallente, Amarr, Caldari, Minmatar, Jin Mei, Achura, Civire, Deteis, Intaki, Khanid, Ni Kunni, Sebiestor, Vherokior and Brutor; it was a little mind blowing.

Each area had its own distinctive architecture, cuisine, gift shops, and each area was staffed by members of that community.

The first stop on our circle around the United Empires lake was Gallente. Immediately I led my little group up to the refreshment bar.

“I’ll have one … ” I had almost said beer, but the hairs on the back of my neck had started to prickle. Turning my eyes slightly, I could see disapproval in the hard glares of both the women I was with, and realized that once again because of this infant, I would be denied a pleasurable experience on my leave time.

“Sorry, make that three lemonades.” I said to the waiting juice attendant.

It was then the infant girl looked up at me and smile. For a moment, my ice cold heart grew to three times its size. She was beautiful really; big, brown eyes with the longest eyelashes I had ever seen on a child, full cheeked happy smile; I could see what the appeal was to parents.

It was irrelevant to me, as I wasn’t able to reproduce anyway. Clones were sterile and I lost my original body a long time before.

The lemonades turned out to be a welcome salve against the sweltering heat and blazing sun, so we continued on our way, sampling foods from each empire and bloodline, browsing briefly in gift shops, and mostly enjoying conversation and recording video footage.

It was a great time for me to get to better know the beautiful woman that had made this vacation worthwhile, and we were inseparable all day long.

That is, until I saw the Brutor pavillion.

I still didn’t know enough about my own people, despite my education at the hands of Gigaer of the Prano clan, despite training with my Kandjal, despite the numerous hours I had spent with Maleatu Shakor learning the desperate and impoverished history of our people.

Suddenly, I was alone in the gift shop, dozens of items wrapped up in my arms: khumaak replicas, dulled kandjals and other martial weapons, tribal drum recording disks, hand carved collectible Brutor figurines, numerous pieces of clothing, I wanted it all.

It was then I remembered to not overspend. The lady I had been courting was unaware of my capsuleer status, was oblivious to the billions of isk I possessed in ships and assets. I wanted her to want me for me.

I put all the merchandise back except for two items: a single tribal TShirt that said “Uhuru kwa khila mtu”, which meant “Freedom for all”, and a replica khumaak. I had wanted one of these since giving away the Wildfire khumaak to the Republic University many months before.

As the day wound down, we found a nice outdoor cafe located beside the man made lake, enjoyed various finger foods and drinks, waiting for night to fall.

Empires United was well known for its nightly fireworks display, and sure enough, the crowd thickened as the sun set. The theme for that evening’s show was, surprise, surprise, “Empires United”, and consisted of a very well done story telling of what an ideal universe would be. It was a brilliant display.

We were all worn out as we sat on the monorail, but I forced myself into alertness; someone had to stand watch always.

I know we made it back to our hotel room, but I don’t actually recall the details. I just remember waking up on the floor at 4 AM the next morning.

REAL VERSION

Epcot Center.

That was the name of the theme park we were to visit today. It was Walt Disney’s vision of a unified world, co-existing peacefully, respectful of one another’s cultural differences, enriching all of our lives by working together. I had to respect the man’s dream, even if he was secretly a racist.

I slept in that morning, forgoing any type of workout, and honestly felt rejuvenated. Proper rest is another important aspect of physical training, never forget that.

My travel companions slept in as well, but for them, that meant 10 AM, not the 6 AM I woke up at. That’s ok, it gave me some time to myself on my iPhone, so I took advantage of some “me” time.

Once they awoke and were ready, we took the Disney Transit system; that’s right, Disney World was consumed so much physical real estate that it had its own private transit system. It just reinforced the power of believing in your dreams, and letting nothing or no one take it away from you.

So there we were, at Epcot Center, and I stood in awe once again of the sheer magnitude of detail given to every aspect of the park. There were granite slabs just inside the entranceway, easily 100 ft wide and 10 ft high, with 1 inch x 1 inch metal plates depicting avatars of those who had come before. It was a magnificent memorial, but even it compared to the giant sphere that was the main piece of the theme park.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to enter the sphere, as infants weren’t allowed, and I wasn’t in the mood to argue.

The other main attraction of the theme park was that many countries had their own area around a man made lake. In only a few short hours you could sample authentic experiences from Canada, Italy, Germany, Norway, France, Japan, China, and many more; it was a little mind blowing.

Each area had its own distinctive architecture, cuisine, gift shops, and each area was staffed by members of that community.

The first stop on our circle around the Epcot lake was Germany. Immediately I led my little group up to the refreshment bar.

“I’ll have one … ” I had almost said beer, but the hairs on the back of my neck had started to prickle. Turning my eyes slightly, I could see disapproval in the hard glares of both the women I was with, and realized that once again because of this infant, I would be denied a pleasurable experience on my leave time.

“Sorry, make that three lemonades.” I said to the waiting juice attendant.

It was then the infant girl looked up at me and smile. For a moment, my ice cold heart grew to three times its size. She was beautiful really; big, brown eyes with the longest eyelashes I had ever seen on a child, full cheeked happy smile; I could see what the appeal was to parents.

It was irrelevant to me, as my wife and I had decided not to have children long ago. It wasn’t that we didn’t love children, we just also loved the lifestyle we had worked to create together. Know what? I’ll let you read what she has to say about it, as she can word it far better than I can. Her blog post is aptly entitled “Say NO to kids“.

The lemonades turned out to be a welcome salve against the sweltering heat and blazing sun, so we continued on our way, sampling foods from each country, browsing briefly in gift shops, and mostly enjoying conversation and recording video footage.

It was a great time for me to get to better know the beautiful woman that had made my life worthwhile, and we were inseparable all day long.

That is, until I saw the Japanese pavillion.

I am a man of passion, both good and bad. One of the things I am passionate about is Japanese culture. My entire life I have had a fascination with the architecture, the paintings, the calligraphy, the cuisine, the woman, the clothing, the martial arts, the language, the music, everything.

My wife knew this well. In fact, she had even put a trip to Japan as one of the items I could choose for my 40th birthday.

Suddenly, I was alone in the gift shop, dozens of items wrapped up in my arms: dulled weapon replicas, tribal drum CDs, collectible Geisha figurines, various religious trinkets, numerous pieces of clothing, I wanted it all.

It was then I remembered to not overspend. I had seriously spent too much at Star Tours and had promised my wife I wouldn’t go crazy with spending anywhere else. Dammit! I needed to be more careful of the promises I made in the future.

Ah well, next time.

I put all the merchandise back except for one item: a single tribal TShirt that depicted subtle calligraphy on one shoulder. I wanted at least some memento to remind me of my time here.

As the day wound down, we found a nice outdoor cafe located beside the man made lake, enjoyed various finger foods and drinks, waiting for night to fall.

Epcot was well known for its nightly fireworks display, and sure enough, the crowd thickened as the sun set. The theme for that evening’s show was “Earth”, and consisted of a very well done story telling of what an ideal world would be. It was a brilliant display.

We were all worn out as we sat on the monorail, but I forced myself into alertness; someone had to stand watch always.

I know we made it back to our hotel room, but I don’t actually recall the details. I just remember waking up on the floor at 4 AM the next morning.