Travel with the Mattergate

Honourable Mention in the “Outer Space” competition by Blank Space

This project was done in collaboration with OriginalElephant, where we dive into the optimistic future of space travel

Sky City

Jade lives in the eastern sector of the London’s Sky-City, a floating hyper-polis surrounded above and below by densified past and future architectures.  Although she thought herself lucky, in comparison to her flat on Earth, this had an inordinate amount of space, even if she did have to share it when she was away. She didn't know which floor she was living on today. Not that it mattered considering the residential cluster she was on, were constantly rotating around the transportation hubs. The only sound was the constant low hum of the machine, as air surged through the many ventilation systems, keeping this city habitable.  For all the proximity of the surrounding residents, they belonged to a different world, acoustically insulated by the vacuum of space.

After dry icing, she pulled on her work clothes, neatly pressed and delivered daily. Rubbing her eyes to clear of the popping radiation colours, she headed to the copla where she hears and sees Judah her toddler running about in excitement. In the background, her bedroom was deflating and reconfiguring into Jons, her geo-co-housing partner. Co-sharing and privacy was at the heart of all bedspaces in the city. It was rare for the both of them to overlap physically, so they conversed through the video message board and the chance meetings in Terminal 12. Her used items would have been removed, cleaned and reused by somebody on the next geo-sync.  Reuse was key to this global co-living city.

A 360 observation deck, the copla is lined with transparent walls of liquid-aluminium that had been blown by moulding robots in zero-gravity environments. These contemporary windows were designed in the neo-gothic style, to Jade’s acquired vintage taste. The copla, an architectural space that superseded the living room, was a space for contemplation and existence within the sky-city. It was her favourite place to be (seemed like Judah was not too concerned).

She spent a little time looking out of her window of her copla. She held Judah’s weightless hand and explained the morning’s jump. She stared at the city for a moment longer, admiring the complex living machine, made by residents from every country on the planet, forming an intersection of cultures, more complex than any of the multicultural cities far below.

Today Jade and Judah were going to travel. Planet E had always appealed since the first outer transport node had been constructed, she had been saving her credits to visit. Planet E had vast nature reserves where endangered animals had been introduced, and compared to the 15 billion living on Earth was an untouched wonderland of beauty which her small collection of house plants didn't quite match.

The horizon started to brighten as the Sun crept in; time to head down to Terminal 12. It was going to be a good day. Terminal 12 was the Mattergate hub. It simulated environments on earth, specifically to conditions near her Earth flat.

Heading to the lobby with Judah, the autonomous drone transport began to slide into the flow of others leading to Terminal 12, already aware of her plan for the day, it knew her route. As the drone manoeuvred itself into a steady stream of commuters, it would be easy not to realise how fast she was moving, but once automated, the transport strips could run as quickly as the computer could process safety.

Although efficiency was considered in all aspects of the city, Terminal 12 could not help but impress. The massive structure was a soaring mass of intersecting planes of Vantablack radiation shields, cutting shapes in the mass of stars behind, surrounding the pulsing hub that held the Mattergates, always allowing jumps to any of the transport hubs on the cities orbit.

Climbing from the drone, the pavement had already analysed her biometric identity and was sliding towards the correct transition zone to make her jump.  A steady stream of targeted advertising flashed up, information on the next wonder nutrients, beauty and self-care products, housing updates, and travel posters for nature retreats on planets previously a lifetime away. ‘No thanks, not today,’ as she looked down toward Judah, smiling. Instantly all ads cleared and was met by the serenity of T12 AR/VR experience.

The 100-year history of the Mattergate swam into view as one of the augmented entertainment displays, between the intricate crowd management system, blowing individuals in the low gravity environment like the flow of swallows. Intertwined lines of slowly moving individuals waiting to be sorted and filtered to the correct jump.

 "After the world fuel crisis of 2080, all nations penned the Elephant Paper, effectively putting a stop to all non-renewable rocket-based space travel. Utilising the world's resources, Space Cannons were developed as an alternative to escape Earth's atmosphere.

Using electromagnetic hyper-tunnelling, which accelerated travel pods into the air at Mach 33 speeds, the Space Cannons would "fire" individuals into lower Earth's orbit. To counteract the extreme shocks to the atmosphere, specialised shock and sound baffles were designed around them. The Rungs as there were nicknamed, were cylindrical compositions of vibrating planes mounted to the oscillating gyroscope.

The space cannons were known to alter atmospheric pressures, causing violent weather systems. Paired with the adverse effects of such rapid acceleration on individuals, global research into alternative transport systems was required.

With the successful launch of the AI Dyson swarm in 2100, humanity was able to harness 100% energy efficiency from the Sun.

All Space Cannons were decommissioned. Its rungs remained and were retrofitted to form the Mattergate; a new hyper-transit machine that could generate circular wormholes known as ionising planes. The swarm was used to power pairs of Mattergates located between Earth and at designated galactic hubs. Utilising two Ionising planes operating simultaneously, it was possible to tap into subspace realms. The 5th dimension of space created between them, allowed all things matter to exist from the mouth-end to the tail-end instantly."

Two minutes before her Mattergates aligned, she walks with Judah under the rungs towards the departure gate. The air around the floor remains still and begin to glow as a result of the ionising planes above. She looks up and sees a clear starry sky, void of an atmosphere. Hundreds of floating cities seen in the distance. Normally she would see 500 people at this transition point. All waiting to transported in unison. But it’s early today. They both look up and mesmer at the distorted view of the other Mattergate beyond the accretion disc. ‘It’s like magic mummy!’, Judah says pointing at the Mattergate and its ionising planes. Jade nodded, thinking how any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

The jump was hard for her to comprehend, and some feared the experience, worrying about the rumours of time sickness. For Jade, it was peaceful and reflective, similar to her long meditation sessions. She was massless and could see the past, present and future happening within the same space. A nothing, in a nothing, feeling nothingness. 

She had no sense of time passing and was unable to think, move or communicate. In reality, no time had passed during their journey to deep space.

Jade arrives in Planet E. Another Mattergate seen from a distance across this captivating landscape. In a split moment, all her on-board experiential entertainment fades away as she begins to embrace the environment of this new planet. The ads disappear, the ambient hum of the sky-city ends, the displays about hyper-transit history discontinuous and finally, the digital presence of Judah fades away.