This time it was the medical community weighing in on Gateworld effects. It seemed that, indeed, HUMAN growth rates were accelerated to nearly the same degree as all other animals. This was most noticeable in the very young AND included pregnancy gestations times. Women were happy to note that periods were half as long, but frequency didn't change.
The very old often had their health improve quickly in Gateworld, but researchers couldn't yet tell if any actual age-reversal was happening, or if it was just an effect of the enhancement of the immune system Gateworld provided. Speculation was that there would still be aging to the point of eventual death, but it would be greatly prolonged by the improvements to the immune systems.
The full research had only started to come in, but the evidence so far suggested that all learning and development was accelerated in Gateworld. Wild hopeful speculation was that many former human limits could now be transcended, both mental and physical.
If all this were true, ethics and educations systems would have to be entirely redesigned to accommodate fast maturing Gateworld children, especially with regard to age of puberty, age of consent, and the age at which one could become an official "adult".
As these and various other features of Gateworld were revealed, more of the Earth's population either created Gates, or found a Gateworld community to move to. By mid-September, 5% of Earth's population were living full-time in Gateworld, and another 10% were actively in the process of transitioning over.
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Rachel was having a very long day. The experiment had been for her to try and take another person along with her to her "private" Gateworld retreat. It wasn't really working. She was certainly getting faster at Gate travel, though - she had her round trip time under a half hour, and it would be faster if she weren't caught up in the experiments.
When she tried to Gate with her friend Grace laying across her lap, it had taken over an hour of meditation, and then she appeared in Gateworld - without Grace. The same happened later when she tried it with a dog in her lap - they just got left behind. On the other hand, gerbils in her backpack came through without too much trouble, though the transition still took extra time.
According to math, people were, under ideal circumstances, able to create 217 Gates before "topping out", which worked out to 9 "layers", or rings of hexes, each 11.2 miles center-to-center from the nearest previous hex in the pattern. But Rachel had only created 18 before topping out, because her region had a lot of ocean - where Gates wouldn't form.
There was still no word on where "private retreat" areas were relative to all the other Gates. Speculation ranged from just fairly long distances to being on entirely different dimensions. Certainly there were people by now working on the problem with long range radio equipment. Gateworld didn't seem to have an "ionosphere" to bounce signals around, so even "normal" Gate to Gate radio communication was often difficult - especially if there were mountain ranges between Gates.
Stolen novel; please report.
Rachel was simply falling in love with her private world, but wanted to be able to bring company over, rather than always being the only human there.
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Cindy was put to work planting lakeside orchards now. It was exciting because she had never before seen many of the plants they were giving her. The Cartans had determined how Gateworld climate worked, and were mostly using tropical plants that didn't need seasons, since it seemed winter would never arrive.
As she worked, Cindy found she had a "6th sense" now for when her animal friends were near, and could easily spot them in the patches of tall grass around the lake. The new generation of frogs and bunnies were maturing, and the girl kitty was going to have her litter any day now.
The boys had discovered the lake outlet - almost 15 miles away, and they were fairly sure the lake itself was near 40 miles long and 12 wide. They had used all their remaining "seeding stock" for the expedition near the outlet, so that life would more quickly spread downriver.
Cindy's internet site on Kidsworld was starting to take off, known as The Real Wonderland, and she often posted the playful antics of her animal friends there. The site was highly protective, so no information was released about her true name and location, but her Animal Adventures reached thousands and she was even getting a trickle of sponsorship money.
FRIXPRL THE EXPLORER WAS ENJOYING THE SHARED DREAM CINDY AND HER FOLLOWERS WERE CREATING, AND A LOGO BASED ON HIS FROG PERSONA WAS ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE SITE. USING THE DREAM-INTENT OF THE GROUP, FRIZPRL WAS ACCELERATING EVOLUTION IN THE LAKESIDE FALLS AREA - ESPECIALLY WITH REGARD TO THE SIZE AND INTELLECT OF THE GROWING FROGS. HE WAS ALSO EXPANDING THEIR MANA AFFINITY, AS HAPPENED WITH ANY HUMAN THAT FOCUSED ON ANY MEANINGFUL REPRESENTATION OF HIM FOR A PERIOD OF TIME.
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Dan Vogt was just being a happy old geezer, and not working too hard at it. Once a week he would go back Earthside and make another Gate in the most secluded part of the deep wild he could find, trying to make his region a truly diverse wilderness sanctuary. He had already spotted a couple birds he was sure hadn't come in via his initial Gate.
As his health and stamina improved, he was taking longer and longer exploration treks, planting random stuff wherever it looked like there was enough water to sustain things.
Surprisingly (to Dan), his power and internet proved fairly reliable, and he was constantly watching videos for new Gateworld tricks and tips. As a result, he was redesigning his hydropower setup to a more parallel, stepped system instead of trying for a higher head pressure.
Also as a result of feeling more healthy and active, Dan started posting in Meetup, seeking a female companion, as nights in Gateworld were a bit dark and lonely for him these days.
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Ki Sung Lee was getting desperate - 3 days and no life in sight. He decided to use the last of his hydrogen to go REALLY high and start zooming around looking for areas of green life. At first he went from landmark to landmark, as he looked down on vast regions of assorted terrain. After hours of no results, he simply held an image in his mind of vast green vegetation somewhere ahead and let the landscape become a blur beneath him.
Twice, he ran into strange, inhospitable regions that terrified him into changing course. If those vast colored blurs were "life", he wanted nothing to do with them.
After terrifying night with those nightmare images floating through his head, he woke the next morning knowing this was his last hope. He set his mind on "friendly life ahead" and let the landscape blur again. Eventually, there was a shift and the land halted. Below him was an olive green expanse of life. Knowing he was much too high for any sort of controlled decent before nightfall, he prepared his chute and few remaining supplies, and jumped.