The first experience with Zion’s forms of transportation technology comes right at the outset of the trilogy. We see Gediel dashing through the woods like a rapid gust of smoke. Unlike humans, duta have the ability to move quite rapidly, disappearing and reappearing from place to place. But, surely a device of some kind is responsible for the phasing?
Technically, there is. It is called the atman. The more advanced the crystal is the more it can manipulate, including transporting itself over distances. Without a Samsaran husk to slow them down, atman/sattva are not limited by physics known to Earth. Walking through solid matter, also becomes an easy feat. The crystal has the ability to maintain the molecules that make it up, as well as the energy, but pass them between the spaces of other objects. So too, they can appear and reappear at distances, travelling at unseen velocities—or phasing.
Duta prefer to travel in this manner, which they call blinking, but also like to slow down the ride, or slide. The difference would be between walking and running in humans. Other races can learn to slide at various paces, but they cannot blink, and they are never as fast as duta. This can make guardian units made up of souls and duta more difficult to command, as the duta are expected to either assist the souls or slow themselves to keep pace with the slowest of their ranks. Obviously, in dangerous situations the preference is to assist, because of the advantage slowing the pace can provide danava.
Walking, running, and other basic forms of movement are the norm among all the races, aside from the above. Much like in Samsara, souls still love to invent vehicles. They are still useful for hauling things, and mass transport of troops and personnel. Souls and duta alike enjoy the fun of bicycles, automobiles, trains, aircraft, watercraft, and spacecraft. Readers of the series will encounter archaic forms of the above transportation as well as newer technology, as they would in the real world. Souls and duta do not differ in the appreciation of artifacts and antiques.
One must also keep in mind that traveling at higher velocity requires more energy. Using transportation that can travel at the high speeds required conserves energy. This makes it more efficient in many cases. For example, a tour of duty into Jahannam is best begun with rested and ready troops, who have not spent all their energy getting there, and would need to seek a covert camp in which to rest until they were prepared to face the enemy. When maneuvers are time sensitive, it makes little sense to send them on foot. However, clandestine operations are almost always embarked on by foot. It is up to the operative to maintain the balance of rest and exertion that best serves their mission.
When reading the trilogy, you may see hints of what to expect from future editions of Trailokya stories. So keep your eyes open.
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The technology of Trailokya threads through the narrative in a passive manner that makes the series seem less science fiction than for which it deserves credit. In early entries on the site, I’ve gone over the Bio Interface Machines (BIM), Kapalanum, Gates, and the Penannular. Each of these technologies utilizes a realized Tesla theory of free energy for power. In addition, the devices have computer elements and wireless connectivity.
The other guardians boast a variety of weapons and armor depending on the type of work they do. For instance, Gediel normally wears simple black leather armor. When his penannular is activated, light armor is deployed in important places that won’t slow him. Being a recon specialist, speed is his best defense and offense. He also uses various blades. The guardian Naajah introduces more modern weapons in her efforts to protect Caleb from the dark forces threatening his mission.
The human body has often been called one of the most elegant machines ever created. The complexity is still being unwound by scientists thousands of years, I’d dare to say millions, since the study first began. We’re barely scratching the surface of the anatomy of other animals, let alone our own. The brain, coined a super computer, is one of the most complex pieces in the machinery.
Although Trailokya doesn’t reveal who made the first sets of human, or any other being in Samsara, it does explain that they self replicate through sexual reproduction. The schematics are encoded into DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid), and the process allows the new vessel to adapt, or update it’s OS and software according to dominance coding. This doesn’t always mean that the best gets passed on, but eventually that is the case, in theory (Evolution).
Burial practices of ancient humans, for instance, display a level of understanding in how important the BIM should be considered. Even in current times, humans treat their dead with reverence, dressing them and entombing them carefully away from threats. This, too, echoes the sense that the empty vessel could be desecrated–either by destruction or by re-habitation.
So, too, there is the fear of being co-habitated by forces that can take control of our BIM. Exorcism developed in response to the idea that spirits (animal, human, alien or even demonic) could take our bodies from us. Ancient humans had their own version of the Catholic exorcism, that fed the more modern process. Every culture has it’s stories of possession. Oracles in ancient Greece prepared their BIM via imbibing hallucinogens. Certainly, any culture who took part in such rituals, could have just been hacking the super computer in their own heads.
Writing about the technology of Trailokya is really kind of fulfilling, but I’m always concerned I’ll lock myself into something, paint myself into a corner, so to speak. So, if you sense me dancing around a topic, you’re probably right. I have a lot more books planned and locking it all down now might prevent some cool things happening later.
When the duta raises a hand and activates the gate key, it lights up in a lovely pale blue and looks like a complex dial or seal. Dedicated gates have seals that tell where the gate will lead the individual who is requesting access. Other gates with dials must be told where the individual wants to go. For instance, Maiel opens a gate key and dials in a gate on the outskirts of The White City. Likewise, one could be activated to travel to Samsara, which look like astrology birth charts. You dial the location with several rings of information, similar to dialing in latitude and longitude, but in a four-locus pick: dimension (realms like Samsara, Astral, or Zion), location (like Terra, Hyades, or Satyr), location on the surface (latitude and longitude) or person.
