Restoration

by Daniel C McWhorter

  “Doctor Feldman,” the captain said, “May I introduce First Officer Melania Antonelli and Navigator First Class Sam Panagakos—two of the most talented spacers in the fleet, and I don't just mean the Telogene fleet.”

  Evan smiled and gave them a polite wave, “It's a pleasure to meet you both.”

  “The pleasure is all ours,” Melania replied. “Welcome aboard.”

  “Have you enjoyed your flight so far?” Sam asked.

  Evan smiled. “Well, other than a bit of upset stomach during the turbulence it's been great. It's hard to believe going to space is so easy.”

  “This is Doctor Feldman's first time,” Dieter added.

  “Wow, a virgin, huh?” Marissa snickered. “Well if you thought orbital insertion was fun, just wait until we start the deceleration phase!”

  Evan looked at Captain Bauer with more than a hint of concern in his eyes.

  “Now, now. Let's not be scaring our VIPs, shall we?” Dieter scolded his first officer.

  He turned to Evan. “Do not worry, Doctor Feldman, all she means is that we will make a rapid deceleration as we enter orbit around Luna. Some say it feels a bit like a roller coaster because we lose speed so quickly as we move to shallower and shallower orbits around Luna. It is perfectly safe I assure you and there won't be any atmospheric turbulence to worry about.”

  “That's good to know,” Evan replied dryly.

  The captain patted on Evan's shoulder reassuringly and directed his attention to the front of the cabin.

  “Quite a view, isn't it?” he asked.

  Although the Moon—now called Luna Evan reminded himself— looked to be far away, it was far bigger and brighter than Evan remembered.

  “Wow,” he exclaimed.

  “If you look closely, you can just see Casatus City,” Captain Bauer said as he pointed to an area near Luna's south pole. “And just north of that is our destination, Klaproth Spaceport.”

  “Should I magnify, Captain?” the navigator asked.

  “Yes, please. Let's give our guest a closer look.”

  Evan watched as the image in the window zoomed in on the area the captain had identified as Casatus City.

  “How are you doing that?” he asked.

  “The windshield is actually a holodisplay. You may not have noticed but there are no windows in this craft. All view ports render in real-time based on the viewer's perspective. It gives the appearance of looking out the window but without the challenge of integrating large transparent surfaces into the skin of the craft,” Dieter explained.

  “And since it’s just a holodisplay, we can manually change those views if we want to, just as I am doing now. This is coming from a Lunar satellite,” Sam added.

  It took a second for the zoomed image to focus and stabilize but when it did Evan saw a collection of small domed structures tightly grouped around a larger dome.

  “Most of the city is underground,” Dieter said. “Those are for food production and above ground recreation.”

  After a short pause, he continued, “An underground high-speed rail system connects the city to the spaceport. You won't have time to ride it this trip but perhaps on your next visit.”

  Dieter gave Evan another moment to examine the image before asking his navigator to zoom in on the spaceport.

  “And this is the recently expanded spaceport,” he said.

  The screen moved across the surface of Luna and resolved on another collection of domes, the only obvious difference being that the domes were arranged in a star pattern over a large area with various sized platforms circling each dome.

  “This is the gateway to the solar system. Pretty much everything that comes or goes between Earth, Mars and the Belt passes through here—people, supplies, minerals, you name it,” Dieter added.

  “Yeah and they don't hesitate to let everyone know it either,” First Officer Antonelli chimed in.

  The captain gave his first officer a scowl. “No, they don't but let's not burden our guest with a political debate, shall we?”

  The first officer rolled her eyes. “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  Dieter ignored her and turned back to Evan. “That's the problem with these civilian ships. If this was a combat vessel, I'd just have her shot out the airlock for insubordination.”

  Evan could tell from the rather large grin on the captain's face he was mostly kidding.

  “T-Minus five, Captain,” Antonelli said.

  “Engines at ninety-eight percent and course plotted,” Panagakos added.

  “Very well,” Bauer acknowledged. “Doctor Feldman, I'm sorry but I have to ask you to return to your pod. Thank you for coming up.”

  “Of course, Captain, thank you for letting me meet the rest of your crew.”

  “It was our pleasure,” Antonelli and Panagakos replied in unison.

  Elise, who had been waiting patiently at the top of the stairs, floated forward and took Evan's arm at the elbow.

  “Just grab the handrail and pull yourself down. I will be right behind you,” she said.

  It took several minutes for Evan to get back to his pod and get settled in.

  “Thank you,” Feldman said once he was secure in his pod.

  “You’re welcome,” Elise replied with a friendly smile. “You probably won't need them but I tucked a couple of extra bags into the console.”

  Evan gave her an embarrassed smile and a hushed “Thanks.”

  She patted his shoulder and then turned to her other passengers. “Everyone all set?”

  “Set,” Yin replied.

  “I'm ready,” said Doctor Hao.

  “Great,” Elise replied. “In about two minutes the captain will engage the Hellfire drive system and you will experience roughly twice the rate of acceleration you felt when we made our orbital insertion burn. Just relax and let your suits and pods do their jobs and you shouldn't experience any discomfort. The initial burn will last for about twenty minutes and you will be unable to move during that time. Don't even bother to try because your suit will keep you locked in place until we drop below three Gs. You can safely exit your pod once we drop below one G of acceleration, which usually occurs about an hour in but it depends on how fast the captain wants to get us there.

  “At some point, the engines will idle and you will be able to get up and float around in zero G for a while if you'd like to experience that. We will let you know when it’s safe. Otherwise, please feel free to avail yourself of our entertainment system. Our media library is quite extensive and we have all the hottest VR games and video content, so you shouldn't get bored. We will also serve refreshments and a couple of light meals before we start our deceleration burn. Any questions?”

  Nobody had any.

  “Okay then, just sit back, relax and enjoy the flight!” she concluded.

  Just as Elise finished securing herself in her pod, a digitized voice sounded over the craft’s sound system.

  “Lunar transfer burn in 15...14...13...”

  The voice counted down to one before saying “Ignition.”

  During the countdown, the passenger pods rotated so that each passenger faced forward in a head-high, feet-low position. A second after the electronic voice stopped, Evan heard a massive roar emanate from the rear of the craft—it sounded more like an explosion really—and found himself pushed deep into his seat by the sudden burst of acceleration. For the first second or two, Evan grew lightheaded and feared that he might lose consciousness but his suit compensated and the feeling quickly faded.

  Evan closed his eyes and tried to relax. Five minutes later he found that the pressure pushing on his body had eased considerably. The craft was still accelerating but the suit and pod had positioned him to reduce the effect of the extreme G-forces on his body. He found that after a few more minutes he didn't really notice the acceleration at all.

  Of course, that wouldn't be the case if he was able to move, but the suit was disrupting his nervous system and preventing him from doing anything but tilting his
head a few degrees to the right or left. He wasn't thrilled with having a suit decide when he could and couldn't move but it really wasn't that extreme when compared to everything else he had experienced in last forty-eight hours!

  Oh well, I guess this is as a good a time as any to catch a quick nap.

  With all the adrenaline rushing through his body he quickly realized that sleep was not a realistic option and resolved himself to listening to the pulsating roar of the Hellfire engines instead.

  CHAPTER 12

  APRIL 4, 2075 7:22 PM GST

  Telogene Shuttle

  Earth-Luna Transition

  “Doctor Feldman?”

  Evan opened his eyes to see Yin floating next to him.

  “Yes?” he replied groggily.

  He finally managed to fall asleep once the engine noise diminished and had been resting comfortably for the last two hours.

  “I am sorry to bother you,” she said, “but we are about to begin decelerating and I thought it better to wake you. I hope you don't mind?”

  “No, not all. Thank you.” Evan rubbed the sleep from his eyes and adjusted his pod to a sitting position. “What time is it?”

  “The current time is 7:22 PM Global Standard Time.” A digitized female voice announced.

  “We are about five hours out,” Yin added. “The captain burned a little longer on the acceleration leg to get us there faster but that's going to mean a harder deceleration, which is why I thought I should wake you.”

  “I see. Do we have time for me to use the facilities?” Evan asked referring to the ship's bathroom.

  “Sure. Let me get Elise or one of the other attendants to help you.”

  Yin made her way to the back of the craft and soon returned with Talia, who helped Evan float his way back to the restroom and showed him how to use it. Five minutes later all three of the passengers were back in their pods and the flight attendants had assumed their usual positions at the front and rear of the craft.

  “Well, that was interesting,” Evan said to Doctor Hao after returning to his seat.

  “Yeah, it's a little awkward using that suction thing but at least it makes aiming easy!” Doctor Hao retorted with a boyish grin on his face.

  “Yeah, there's that,” Evan chortled.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are about to begin our deceleration burn and it’s going to get a little bumpy. Same as before though, just relax and let your pods do their jobs. We will be experiencing a six-G deceleration for approximately fifteen minutes, followed by about an hour at three-Gs. From there it will be a one to two-G glide into orbit. I will let you know what our landing approach will look like once I get our final vectors from Klaproth Control. Please sit back and enjoy the ride.”

  As soon as the captain stopped speaking the electronic female voice began another fifteen-second countdown, and the pods rotated so the passengers faced the rear of the craft. Evan wondered about this but he quickly understood once the countdown reached zero and both Hellfire engines ignited with the same explosive roar as before. Evan felt himself slammed into the back of his pod seat with considerably more force than he had felt during the acceleration burn. His suit and pod quickly did their jobs though, and they soon adjusted him to a reasonably comfortable position.

  The six-G deceleration burn felt like it took forever, and Evan was relieved when he heard the engines throttle back to a dull roar. The pods adjusted into a slightly more horizontal position and he found he could roll his head and lift his arms a bit. He also found that if he tried to move his arms or legs too much, the suit would override his nervous system and force him to lie still. He wasn't excited about being frozen in place for the next hour but he listened to some music and try to relax.

  “Play music, late twentieth or early twenty-first-century smooth jazz,” he instructed his pod.

  A moment later a playlist appeared on his holodisplay and “Anything's Possible” by Dave Koz started playing through the speakers mounted in Evan's headrest. Evan closed his eyes and listened to some of his time's best jazz musicians do their thing. He even managed to doze off again but woke up when he heard the engines throttle back to a soft hum.

  He looked around and saw that Yin and Doctor Hao were both asleep. Elise and the other flight attendants were at the back of the craft doing something in the crew area. Although Evan couldn't tell what they were up to, he assumed that they were preparing another in-flight service like the one they had offered during the acceleration phase.

  A few minutes later Anika and Talia were coasting down the aisle on a moving platform. Between them was a four-foot-high by two-foot-wide cart containing several food and beverage choices. Evan still had not fully adjusted to the rules of space travel and the sight of the two women standing sideways on the platform (or at least they appeared sideways relative to the orientation of the cabin) caused him a moment of disorientation. He was no physicist, but he understood that the G forces caused by acceleration, or deceleration in this case, made it seem like there was gravitational pull in the opposite direction of travel—so toward the engines during acceleration and away from them during deceleration.

  The craft's current orientation in space (with the engines pointed toward Luna) and rate of deceleration meant there was roughly one G of force pushing everything toward the nose of the craft, which effectively made the front of the ship “down.” Without the platform, the attendants would fall down the aisle until they hit the divider between the main cabin and crew area. The effect would be similar to jumping off a fifteen-story building—and most likely fatal.

  Being closer to the rear of the ship, the attendants reached Yin's pod first. Evan watched as they positioned the pod so that Yin's head was pointing toward the rear of the craft. Talia helped Yin open the table that folded out over the top of the lap restraint and then served her from the cart. Evan couldn't tell what she ordered, but she ended up with several white plastic containers on her tray.

  When the platform carrying the two attendants stopped at his row, Evan selected cranberry juice (he would have liked it with some vodka but there was no alcohol served while in space for the safety of passengers and crew), a fruit and nut energy bar and chicken and rice with mixed vegetables—the other meal choices were beef with potatoes and carrots or a vegetarian medley. Anika helped him position his pod and open his tray table, then she laid each of his selections out in front of him. Talia did the same for Doctor Hao.

  “Anything else?” Anika asked.

  “No, thank you, this should be fine for a while,” Evan replied.

  “Well, call us if you need anything.”

  The platform reversed direction and headed back “up” the aisle toward the rear crew area, eventually disappearing behind a sliding door.

  Evan looked at the assortment of plastic containers in front of him and picked up the one with a picture of a basket of cranberries and the words “Cranberry Juice, made from concentrate” printed on it. He removed the straw stuck to the side of the container and inserted it into the designated spot. Although there was no risk of the juice floating away, they served everything in zero-G compatible containers regardless of whether they had gravity. To drink, he had to squeeze the package and suck through the straw simultaneously.

  Boy does this bring back childhood memories! Evan recalled the countless juice boxes he had consumed as a child.

  Next, he turned his attention to the chicken and rice. Anika had activated the built-in warmer before handing him the container and Evan could see that the contents were steaming through the clear plastic lid. He peeled open the lid, removed the combination spoon-fork attached to the side of the package and dug in. The food tasted surprisingly good and not just because he was hungry. The chicken was moist and well-seasoned and the rice and vegetables were perfectly cooked, not raw or the least bit soggy.

  Evan ate his meal, sipped his juice and chatted with Yin and Doctor Hao. The engines still blasted away at empty space but they were just
a distant hum now and it was easy enough to talk over them. It was mostly just friendly chit-chat with Evan asking most of the questions. He learned that Chen had just turned seventy last month adn that he had worked at Telogene for the last forty years. He had also been a pilot in the Chinese Airforce during World War III.

  Yin was forty-four but looked at least ten years younger. She had been born in London but moved with her parents to Denver, Colorado when she was ten. As soon as she turned twenty-one, the minimum age to enlist, she enlisted as a GFN Peacekeeper and served for twenty years. She now worked as an independent contractor, providing executive protection services to the highest bidder.

  Her father had worked at Telogene for thirty years before retiring ten years ago, and he and Doctor Hao were close friends—the latter fact being the only reason she had accepted when Chen offered her the job to help get Evan out of Xi'an. Her parents now lived in Adelaide, Australia and Yin tried to visit them at least a couple of times a year. Neither of them worked any longer but they lived very comfortably on the money her father had made during his years at Telogene.

  Hearing that, Evan couldn't help but say “Wow” in Chen's direction.

  “If her dad retired rich after thirty years I can only imagine the fortune you've amassed in forty!” he added.

  Chen smiled. “Yes, the company you founded has been extremely good to me over the years, Doctor Feldman. I guess I should thank you for that.”

  “Not at all. I am just thrilled to have been a part of creating such a long-lasting company that has bettered the lives of millions—if not billions—of people. I know that things haven't always gone as I would have liked but from what I’ve seen Telogene has done more good in the world than harm. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  Chen nodded. “I would not work for Telogene if I thought otherwise, Doctor Feldman.”

  “Oh, come on, Chen,” Yin interjected. “I've heard the stories from my father and you were there. You know as well as I do that Telogene played a huge role in the famine and some would say they pretty much caused it. Is that your definition of more good than harm, Doctor Feldman?”