Rusev was taken aback by everything, but by nothing more so than the overwhelming warmth that hit her when she crossed the invisible boundary of one of Bo’s microspheres and entered Christian’s tropical plant nursery for the first time.
She had known about this, but just as Holly had found, seeing it up close and in person — or, more accurately, feeling it up close and in person — truly was something else.
“And over there you can see the vineyard,” Holly said.
Grav’s eyes lit up. “Oh, Chase, let me tell you: the wine your old man makes with those grapes…”
“Sells for more than the average yearly salary on Earth,” Rusev interjected lightheartedly. “Per bottle.”
“Right,” Grav said. “So, uh, naturally, I have no idea how it tastes.”
Everyone laughed; even Rusev. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” she replied with a grin. Rusev’s demeanour was as upbeat as Holly had seen in a long time, despite the sad reason for her visit, as a reunion with so many old friends brought warmth to her heart. She also took great pride in seeing how far the colony had come, both pride in Holly’s successful management and personal pride that the corporation she had fought so hard to keep alive during the trying years and decades of the past had ultimately been able to step in to purchase a controlling interest in Terradox and rejuvenate the romosphere at a time when many were calling for it to be destroyed.
Over the course of the next hour or so, the group naturally splintered along an age-based line as the five younger members found a comfortable spot in the warm tropical nursery, having made sure they were well clear of any plants before sitting down.
“Oh, Peter,” Nisha said. “I meant to tell you: all Vijay has talked about in the last two days is how much he wants to be a security officer like you.”
Peter nodded approvingly and wore an expression of faux smugness. “Makes sense.”
“At least he didn’t say he wants to be a boxer like Peter,” Viola joked.
“I did hear about that,” Nisha said, turning to Peter. “Thanks for looking out for him.”
“He’s a good kid,” Peter shrugged, never one to need thanks for doing the right thing.
Several topics came and went as the night wore on, including the mysterious Primosphere-based ‘Nancy’ project which only Viola seemed to know anything about. She told Nisha that Romesh had seemed noticeably touchy and evasive about it, but Nisha very honestly insisted that she had no idea what Viola was talking about or what her father had been working on while she was in the Kompound.
For the first time, Bo then shared a story he had heard through the grapevine in the Buffer, which held that Nancy was the codename for an organism which had come into being abiogenetically. He didn’t say that he believed the story, but added that the name was apparently a corruption of 9-C, which in turn came from the fact that the experiment involving the organism in question was the third variation of a ninth attempted method. This subject really wasn’t within an area of expertise or even passing familiarity for anyone present, Bo included, but they were all intrigued by the discussion.
Chase, having been uncharacteristically quiet due to a general feeling of mild fuzziness in his post-concussion mind, soon directed the subject to something which all of the others apart from Bo were equally unfamiliar with. “So, Bo…” he said, like they were the only two people there. “How serious are you about this so-called Kosmosphere?”
After a few minutes spent explaining the basic concept to the others and expressing his surprise to learn that the initial spark had come from Yury Gardev rather than Dimitar Rusev, Bo got around to answering Chase’s question and told him that it was something he hoped to see in the next few years.
“Few?” Chase asked, eyebrows raised in excitement. “Rusev said five or ten.”
Bo shrugged. “Or twenty. I said I hope to see it in the next few. A lot depends on the propulsion. And, uh, speaking of that… Nisha, some of the things you were given to work on while you were in the Kompound have a direct bearing on this, because extra-solar propulsion on this kind of scale is one of our main theoretical stumbling blocks at the moment.”
Nisha, having listened with keen interest, surprised both Bo and Chase with a positive reaction: “You know, I actually think this could be done. Like you’re getting at when you say extra-solar, the propulsion isn’t really a challenge until we reach a serious distance from the sun, because we know how efficiently an external romobot cloak can capture and utilise solar energy. I’ll dumb this down slightly, but all we’d need to do is apply some thrust from the romobots on one side of the sphere, depending on which way we wanted to go.”
“But it is a question of power,” Bo said. “Isn’t it?
“Well, yeah, but bear in mind that I was working on plans for an insulated reactor. It would be a relatively minor modification of what we already have inside the newest K-4 Karriers… almost a combination of that and the small-scale romokinetic propulsion that already moves the colony’s transport capsules. The modifications are small but big, if you know what I mean. They sound small, and they wouldn’t require much actual work, but getting it right isn’t easy. But… if it works, it works. The scale isn’t actually much of a stumbling block, because a huge sphere has a huge core — obviously — and a huge core can house a huge reactor.”
Chase nodded slowly, cautiously optimistic. “So what you’re saying is…”
“It’s viable,” Nisha said. “It’s viable that we could have a sphere the same size as Terradox which could be internally powered regardless of access to solar or stellar energy. Stellar energy would theoretically open new doors in terms of the speeds we could travel at, of course, but—”
“I like how you’re saying ‘we’,” Chase interrupted, grinning widely. “Don’t think I didn’t notice.”
“This would be the scientific endeavour of a lifetime,” Nisha replied. “Me, we, whoever… if it happens, I’m on it.”
“I’ll never understand you kids,” Viola said with a wry smile; they were only a few years younger than her, of course, but she very much meant the sentiment. “This place is paradise. Why would you ever want to leave?”
“Some people think Earth is paradise,” Chase said, “but we’re all here because we wanted more. There’s nothing wrong with this place, Viola, don’t get me wrong on that. But there’s nothing wrong with wanting more.”
“Well, speaking of Earth and speaking of more,” Peter chimed in. “Chase, have you gotten wind yet of the kind of media and entertainment offers you’re going to get? You’re going to be hot property — as hot as any of us would be, except maybe Holly or V. You could go down for a year or two and make more money than you’d need in a hundred lifetimes.”
“That’s the thing, though,” Chase shrugged. “You just said it yourself. I guess maybe I would be hot property, what with how popular the stupid show got while we were in the Kompound, sure, but Viola and Holly would be even hotter property and you’re not talking about how much money they could make. That’s because you know it’s not what they’re all about, and I’m the same way. I didn’t come here to get rich, and I’m not about to leave here to get rich, either.”
Peter nodded, liking Chase more with every passing minute.
“I came here to do things no one else has ever done,” Chase went on, slowly turning away from Peter to face Bo, “and to go places no one else has ever been. I came here to explore. So, Bo… like Nisha said: if you can build me a Kosmosphere, I’m there. Sign me up.”
“You guys are crazy,” Viola laughed.
“The heart wants what it wants,” Peter reflected. “After all, that’s how I lucked out with you!”
“So you want a Kosmosphere?” Bo asked, looking between Nisha and Chase.
“If you think you’re up to the job…” Chase said.
“Gentleman’s wager says I am,” Bo said, holding out his hand to make it official.
Chase shook it firmly and grinned in delight
. “I want this — I want this bad,” he said. “So for once, I hope I lose!”
Bo glanced briefly at Viola, who was lovingly rolling her eyes at her brother’s endless quest for more, and then looked back to Chase.
“Don’t worry,” he winked. “You will.”
At the other side of the sprawling Botanical Gardens, Holly, Grav and Rusev ventured into Christian’s office after respectfully giving him a call to request permission.
The three had spent the last hour sharing their favourite Sakura stories, and her famously dry sense of humour and occasionally reckless work ambitions ensured there were more than enough funny tales to go around. She would be greatly missed.
Once inside Christian’s office, Grav wasted little time in opening his favourite drawer.
Four bottles greeted him.
“Oh, Christian…” Rusev laughed. She then held her palm out to refuse a glass, telling Grav that she hadn’t touched a drop for over fifty years and didn’t think her body would react well to it now.
Holly, on the other hand, made no such protestation.
Rusev ultimately filled her own glass with iced water from Christian’s drinks machine and led a toast as the trio looked outside at the younger generation laughing and chatting under the night sky. “This place is in good hands,” she said, raising her glass. “To Terradox.”
“To Terradox,” Grav echoed.
Holly took another look through the window at Peter and Viola Ospanov, at Chase Jackson and Nisha Kohli, and — perhaps most importantly of all — at the irrepressible Bo Harrington.
She smiled, widely and proudly. “To Terradox.”
epilogue
At the end of a pleasant evening, and with Rusev exhausted from a long day spent adjusting to Terradox after her arrival from the Venus station and an evening spent catching up with usually distant friends, Holly told everyone it was time to head home.
“I hate to be a party pooper,” she said, “but I promised Christian no one would be in here unless I was keeping a close eye. Even you guys…”
Everyone was too tired to mind, in any case, and most were surprised to learn just how late it was.
Holly shared a transport capsule with Rusev, who she had invited to spend the night in her home on the far side of Sunshine Springs, while Grav joined Peter and Viola since their residence was nearer his own.
Nearing her destination, Holly’s thoughts were interrupted by an incoming message alert on her wristband. It was a recorded voice message from the Health Analytics Office, requesting her immediate presence.
“Why immediate?” she asked Rusev, who had also heard the message.
“Call them and ask,” Rusev suggested. So call them Holly did.
Unfortunately, the staff member on the other end of the line insisted that she was unable to share anything over the communications network. She was however able to reassure Holly that the request was unrelated to her own tests from earlier in the day, which only intrigued her more.
Despite being so close to their destination, Rusev asked if she could go with Holly to find out what was going on. Holly readily agreed and changed the capsule’s course for the Health Analytics Office.
At the entrance, a nightshift worker greeted them and invited them inside. When she spoke, it was clear that she was the same person from the call a few minutes earlier.
“So what’s this about?” Holly asked.
“Come this way, please,” the analyst said.
Holly and Rusev followed her down the corridor, as quickly as Rusev’s laboured walking would allow. Fortunately, the room they were heading for wasn’t far away.
The analyst opened the door and walked inside. “The results are on the screen,” she said.
Holly took one glance and immediately turned around. She walked back into the corridor and put her head in her hands.
“How sure?” Rusev asked.
The analyst was insistent: “Unfortunately, one hundred percent.”
Two official staff photographs filled the screen: one of Viola, the other of Peter.
Rusev re-read the words that Holly hadn’t even had to see and briefly closed her eyes.
She walked to the doorway and took one final look at the screen — “PREGNANCY CONFIRMED” — then joined Holly in the corridor.
“There has to be a way for them to stay,” Holly said. She said this more in hope than expectation, knowing that Rusev alone didn’t set the rules and that no one was bigger than this rule, the colony’s most important of all — not Kayla and Vic Hawthorne, and not even Viola and Peter Ospanov.
“There’s not,” Rusev sighed, placing a hand on Holly’s shoulder. “I suppose all we can do now is hope that Terradox’s loss will be the Kosmosphere’s gain…”
Author’s Notes
Thanks for reading Terradox Reborn.
If you enjoyed the book and could spare a few moments to leave a review on Amazon, that would be very helpful. Reviews are a great way for readers to find books that might interest them and every kind word really does help. Thanks!
There’s more to come in Terradox Beyond as we find out what’s next for our cast of characters and their ambitious hopes for a Kosmosphere. This fourth book in the Terradox series will be available from November 2018.
‘Not Alone 3’ (title TBC) will be my next book after Terradox Beyond. For the latest news and updates on these and other future books, you can sign up to my author newsletter.
www.craigafalconer.com
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