Cowering beneath the rock, he is startled by this massive creature... a man! He had seen them before, usually they move at blinding speed but this one must be hurt. A pulsing red light caught his attention, the indicator said "0% Power"? His curiosity overcame his fear and he took a few steps forward. No one in his family had ever seen a man up close! He had only heard stories of such encounters and most were grossly exaggerated. A few more steps brought him closer. The man seemed to be reaching for something shiny and black, just out of his reach. Longer than it was wide it shone like a block of glass. Stretching for the block, the only thing that could save his life, the man startled the little "mouse". Turning his head, the man saw the mouse running for safety under the rock.
"(Gasp) ... Well ... well, well ... (cough) I didn't think anything ... (gasp) could live ... on this planet! Auuughh!"
The man's faced grimaced inside of his protective suit. His attention turned to the object.
"If only I could get that 'Batt'!" His legs were useless from the crushing pressure and bitter cold. His arms were not effective in the sand; he dug him self deeper with every effort. Exhausted he cursed and gave-up. He turned toward the mouse. The large eyes stared directly at him ; death might have been more comforting if only life was not so close at hand ...

Throughout the history of all life there is a constant struggle for energy. A fight for the power to run our civilizations at a price that we can afford. On Earth, up until the turn of the 21st century, there was a reliance on the combustion of fossil fuels. This led to the production of various gases which, when released into the atmosphere, caused a overall warming trend in the planets environment. Weather patterns changed so severely that the people of Earth had to search for a new power source or destroy their environment completely. Their environment had paid the price for hundreds of years, it had had enough. Humans were very lucky because they could converted to a new power source. Other cultures have not been, they didn't recognize the need for a change until they could no longer turn back. Many had to pay a tremendous price for their power after their conversion and most societies had no new source to use ; their planets had bloody ends. The latter was the saving grace in the Earth's case. New techniques for fusion turned out to be more beneficial for the environment and cheaper than oil or gas. We know these "new1 techniques as Matrix Confined Fusion or MCF, the basic system we now use. It is the road Earth took to arrive at fusion that will be examined next. The first methods of energy production were based on simple physical law ; that of burning fuels to produce steam which spun turbines and finally it generated power. This technique was used when man burnt wood then coal and finally oil and gas. These fuels all gave off so-called "green-house gasses1 after a general warming trend that played havoc with the atmosphere in the later half of the 20th century. The effects of these fuels and their dwindling supplies eventually gave the impetus for the conversion to fusion. During the last days of the burning era there was dubious flirtation with nuclear fission techniques of producing power. This was a relatively inexhaustible supply of cheap fuel (except for the cost of the power stations). The by-products however were very toxic substances with half-lives of over 20,000 years. Many ground fill sites were contaminated with radioactive wastes which leaked into the water table and caused high death rates and genetic defects in generations of people. This source of power was the one most opposed by the general public until it's eventual demise.
Other alternatives were explored during the last half of the 20th century including rudimentary work in the field of fusion. Magnetic Fusion was the first method tried ; in the quest for an clean and virtually limitless source of power. There were problems in the confinement of the plasma within a torus by a magnetic field (hence the name) the extreme temperatures were also prohibitive. Inertial Confinement Fusion or ICF was also explored as a route to an elusive sustained fusion reaction. This approach consisted of powerful lasers that all fired at a target of Tritium and Deuterium in a microsecond in hopes that it would fuse. These attempts (MF an ICF) eventually led to more knowledge than a usable energy source.
Only a few scientists knew the experiment which would eventually lead to a sustained nuclear fusion reaction. They alone shared the knowledge that it would involve none of the huge complexity, massive pressures, and forbidding temperatures of either of the former methods ; it was electrochemical in nature! The now famous experiment was conducted at room temperature in a test tube that can be held in the hand. Electrochemical fusion is the basis on which we now base all our power supplies. Portable fusion cells are called batteries just like their 20th century counter-parts; they are in most respects similar except that the power produced in the fusion cell (or 'Batt1 for short) lasted almost forever. The form of the current "Batt1 is that of a reaction cell containing catalyst metals and Deuterium and a small storage battery with the electricity to power the electrochemical fusion reaction. The Deuterium in current cells is gel-like which increases the durability of the cell and the metallic plates are scant microns apart allowing massive surface area within a tiny cell. These factors combined make Batts very stable and capable of sustaining a huge power draw for lengthy periods of time (Batt A's 2 to 3 Kilowatts indefinitely {approximately 9000 hrs} or 23000 to 24000 Kwatts for an hour). This Matrix Confined Fusion is essentially the same reaction that happen in the stars but it has none of the detriments. Now there are no atmospheric effects from our energy production even though usage is more than ever. Cheap energy is no longer a limiting factor for our society, we have harnessed the power of the stars!

... The tiny mouse seemed to understand he scampered across the sand in nimble hops and began moving the Batt towards the man. Centimetre by centimetre the little mouse moved the Fusion cell, nearly twice his size, into the reach of the man. Stretching for his very life the man found the energy to grasp the cell. He had it! The one thing that could save his life ... this little store of energy! He ejected the old Batt, from it's slot in the control panel of his thermal suit, and shoved the new one in. Immediately he could feel the change the pressure released his legs from the vice they were in, fresh i life giving air flowed from his suit, and his head cleared he could only think of the little mouse who saved his life!