by Russell Fine
“That’s an interesting concept. It would still take several weeks to get a message and a response from Coplent, but it’s far better than what we have now. Do we have the capability to do this?”
“No. The basic technology exists, but the carrier design and the relay station design will probably take two years. Then we would have to build a test system and we’ll need a starship to do the testing. I would guess the earliest we could even begin to test the system would be in three to four years.”
“Have you done any simulations which would indicate this idea is feasible?”
“Yes, the computer simulations indicate it’ll work. We’ve done some of the preliminary design work on the relay stations and we think we know how to make the wormhole curve around the relay stations. The carrier design is fairly simple.”
“Good! Put together a formal proposal and I’ll submit it to the World Council. I’m not sure they realize we’ll never be able to achieve real time communications capability. This may be a real shock to some of them.”
“I know. But I really believe this is the best approach to resolving the problem. I’ll have your proposal in two weeks.”
“Thanks, Brandon.”
“I’ll call you when it’s ready,” Brandon said as he got up to leave.
Max watched him leave and thought about the proposal. It would take years to place the relay stations around the galaxy and build a small fleet of starships to maintain them. It would be very expensive, but for now it was their only option. He also realized that if he had it now, he would have been getting regular reports from the Star Rover and would have some idea about what was going on. He decided it was worth whatever the cost would be. He also thought the other members of the trade group would be willing to pay a lot to use the system.
Coplent
February 2121
Garlut’s shuttle continued the long descent to the surface of Coplent. Jeffery and Debbie were both looking out the window, but there wasn’t much to see. Most of the planet was hidden by a thick blanket of clouds. When the shuttle finally dropped below the cloud layer, Jeffery and Debbie were amazed. Everywhere they looked there were tall buildings with very little space between them. There didn’t appear to be any streets and they were still too high to make out any small objects, or people, on the ground.
Jeffery asked, “Are there any roads on Coplent?”
Brealak answered, “No, we travel by what you would call a moving sidewalk for short distances. For longer trips, we use shuttles like this one. Most people do not own a shuttle, so if they have to go far from home, they use a shuttle service. That is not much different than the way people travel in the big cities on Earth, except you use ground vehicles instead of shuttles.”
Debbie asked, “Where are we going now?”
“We are going to our home. We should be there in one-quarter hours.”
“You live with your mother and grandmother. Is that correct?”
“Yes, but my grandmother is unable to communicate now. We talk to her all the time, but she is unable to respond. She is becoming something of a burden for my mother, but in our society the children are responsible for their parents when they are no longer able to take care of themselves. Is it different on Earth?”
Debbie thought for a moment before answering. “It depends on the level of help required to care for an aging parent. Sometimes the child may get somebody to help with parental care which enables the parent to continue to live with their child. In more severe cases where the child is physically unable to take care of them, the parent may be placed in a care facility where they will receive all the assistance they need. There was a disease on Earth called Alzheimer’s that had a devastating effect on brain function and was a serious problem for our older people, but that disease has been eliminated and the need for these facilities has greatly reduced.”
“That is interesting. On Coplent our older people do not normally lose their cognitive abilities. They do lose some of the ability to control their muscles which occasionally affects their ability to speak. Unfortunately, my grandmother has lost both her ability to speak and walk.”
They continued their trip in silence until Garlut said, “The building directly below us is where our home is located. We will land shortly.”
The building was enormous by Earth standards. It appeared to be about fifteen hundred feet on a side, and perhaps two thousand feet tall. The roof had parking areas for small shuttles, like the one they were in. Only about half of the shuttle spaces were occupied. Garlut brought the shuttle to a point a few feet above the roof surface and then gently lowered to its landing spot.
Jeffery looked around as they exited the shuttle. Some buildings were taller than the one they were on, but most were shorter. Everywhere he looked, all he could see were large buildings. The cloud cover had cleared and Coplent’s sun was bright in the sky. It appeared to be somewhat brighter than Earth’s sun, but it had been so long since Jeffery was on Earth, he wasn’t sure. He asked, “How big is this building?”
Garlut answered, “It is approximately one-quarter unit square and one-half unit high. It is one of the larger buildings on Coplent. There are three thousand apartments in the building. The bottom three floors are a shopping area. There are twelve thousand people living here.”
“That’s big!” Jeffery exclaimed.
“Too big for me,” Debbie said, shaking her head.
They walked over to an area that had a bank of elevators. Brealak said, “We are on the 245th floor. Our apartment is on floor 162.” A moment later the door to the elevator opened and they walked in. Brealak said something in her native language and the door closed. The elevator descended quickly and the door opened. They stepped out of the elevator into an enormous hallway, walked about one hundred feet, and stopped at a door that slid into the wall as they approached. The group stepped inside.
Jeffery looked around the space. They were standing in what must be the living room. On one wall was a large window. He guessed the window was twenty-five feet long and nine feet high, with the wall extending a foot on each side. The material in the window was somewhat darkened so only a small amount of the intense sunlight was able to enter the room. The window was so clear that if it wasn’t tinted, Jeffery was sure he would have thought there was nothing there at all. The ceiling gave off a soft, warm glow that illuminated the entire room. The light was evenly distributed across the ceiling, so no shadows were created.
Lounging near the center of the room, watching a large video monitor, was a woman Jeffery assumed was Brealak’s mother. The woman smiled at them and said something he did not understand. Next to her was a woman who appeared to be much older. She had a blank look on her face and appeared to staring at the view through the window. She did not react at all to them. Both women appeared to be suspended three feet off the floor with no visible means of support. As Jeffery watched, the younger woman moved to a sitting position, stood up, and walked over to Jeffery and Debbie. As she approached, Garlut said, “This is my life companion and Brealak’s mother, Koltep, and seated there is my grandmother, Vortin.” Then he said something to Koltep in his native language. Koltep smiled and bowed slightly to Jeffery and Debbie.
Garlut walked to a spot on the wall, touched the wall, and an opening appeared. He reached inside and removed three items. Jeffery immediately recognized them as translators. Garlut pressed a button on the side of two of the translators and said, “English.” Then he handed one to Debbie and the other to Jeffery. He pressed the button again and said, “Coplent,” and gave the translator to Koltep.
As soon as Jeffery and Debbie put on their translators, they could understand the audio from the monitor. Garlut turned off the monitor and asked, “Would you like a quick tour of my home?”
“Yes,” Jeffery responded. “That would be nice, but first please tell me what Koltep was resting on when we came in.”
“The same device we installed on your ship to create artificial gravity can also be u
sed to reduce or eliminate gravity. In the floor under where Koltep was lying is a specially designed antigravity system. It turns on automatically as you approach it and projects an image that looks like a rectangular table. You either sit or lay on it, get into a comfortable position, give the system a verbal command, and it will support you in that position by controlling the gravity around you. It is very comfortable, but it takes a while to learn how to use it correctly.
“The chairs have a similar system. As you sit on the chair, it recognizes the contours of your body and supports you completely. When you are sitting on the chair ninety-five percent of your weight is eliminated by the system. That way sitting does not affect your circulation and you do not become uncomfortable after sitting for a long time like you would in a conventional chair. Would you like to try it?”
“Yes, I think that would be interesting.”
Jeffery walked to one of two large chairs that looked like recliners. He sat down and he felt the chair lightly on his bottom and back. Then he felt himself being raised slightly off the surface of the chair. He felt like he was sitting on air and was in awe of how comfortable it truly was. After sitting for a few moments, he said, “Debbie, you have to try this. I don’t think I’ve ever sat in anything this comfortable before.”
Debbie walked over to the other chair, sat down carefully, and a big smile appeared on her face. “This is terrific. Can we buy two of these for the Star Rover?” she asked their host.
“I am sure I can arrange that, but the power you have on the ship does not match the requirements for the chairs,” Garlut cautioned.
“Technically, that’s correct,” Jeffery said, “but we have eighteen power modules aboard that were designed to meet Coplent’s power requirements. I’m sure I could have Ron modify one of our backup modules to create the same power output.”
“That being true, would you want them installed in your cabin?”
“No, I think we should put them in the recreation room so everybody can have an opportunity to enjoy them.”
“I agree,” Debbie said.
“I can have them installed within the next few days. You can pay me for them when I get back to Earth in chocolate,” Garlut said with a glint in his eyes.
Jeffery smiled, “That’s not a problem. I’ll get you whatever you want.”
They spent the next twenty minutes looking at the apartment. It was very big, probably four thousand square feet. Jeffery and Debbie had a bedroom with a private bath that was equivalent to a room they would have had at one of the better hotels on Earth. Their room had the same glass wall and lighted ceiling that was in the living room. Garlut showed them how to control both fixtures. The room also had a very large bed that had the same antigravity system as the chairs they had tried.
After spending a few hours at the apartment, Garlut and Brealak decided to show Jeffery and Debbie the highlights of Coplent.
They went down to the first floor and spent an hour looking at the various stores amazed at the shopping available in the building. There were lots of clothing stores, furniture stores, stores that sold entertainment systems, stores that sold food and medicines, and there was even a store that sold shuttles like the one Garlut had used to bring them to the planet. The one thing they didn’t see were restaurants.
After their tour of the building, they returned to the roof and boarded Garlut’s shuttle. They flew for a while and landed near a large park. It was a beautiful, warm afternoon with a mild wind that Jeffery and Debbie thought made it very comfortable. Despite the perfect weather the park was almost empty.
Garlut said, “The government constructed hundreds of these parks, but very few people use them. Many of our people have a fear of large open spaces, as I told you before. Brealak and I like this park and we come here often when we want to get away from the crowds. I think we appreciate it because we spend so much time in space.”
They spent two hours relaxing and exploring the park which had a small zoo with animals unlike anything Jeffery or Debbie had ever seen. There were some small animals that looked similar to a horse, but were only eighteen inches high. They were also a bright shade of blue. There were other animals that looked like bears, deer, and big mice. They were all shades of blue or green.
Garlut said, “These are just a few of the animals that are native to Coplent. Due to the expansion of the humanoid population these animals no longer live on Coplent except in zoos. Several hundred years ago we transported herds of animals to a nearby planet with an environment almost identical to Coplent. With the exception of birds and fish, there are now almost no wild animals living here.”
“Do you have farms where they raise animals or plants for food?” Debbie asked.
“Only a few are left. They are mostly dairy farms. We import more than ninety percent of the food we consume. We do harvest large quantities of seafood every year, which makes up the other ten percent,” Brealak answered.
Jeffery was still looking at the colorful animals in the zoo. He asked, “Why are the animals here blue and green? So many of the animals on Earth are mostly black, brown, or gray.”
“I noticed that as well when I started studying Earth. After my first extended visit to Earth I asked some of our zoologists here and they had no idea. Their best guess was that the color was due to differences in the light emitted by our sun when compared to Earth’s sun,” Garlut replied.
After they left the park, Garlut took them on a tour of some of the mountainous areas of Coplent. They were exquisite with no indication of the presence of people.
Jeffery said, “If I had to live on Coplent, this is where I would want to live.”
“It may look inviting, but on winter nights the temperature can drop to negative-sixty degrees Centigrade. Shall we go back to the apartment? I will treat you to a typical meal on Coplent. Then you will know why we like the food on Earth so much.” He chuckled softly.
“Maybe we’ll like it more than you do,” Debbie suggested.
“Maybe, but I doubt it,” was Garlut’s reply.
It took an hour to get back to the apartment. When they went inside the smell of cooking was apparent, and not very appetizing. Jeffery and Debbie looked at each other, silently agreeing that the smell was not appealing.
Koltep was busy in the kitchen. She smiled at them and asked through her translator, “Did you enjoy your tour of Coplent?”
“It was interesting,” Debbie replied. “Our cultures are very different. Jeffery and I don’t like crowds. We like large open spaces. Many of our parks require reservations. Here the parks are almost empty. And I think the shopping you have in the building is excellent. I can’t imagine any reason to shop anywhere else if you live here.”
“I agree. I really do not leave the building very often. Dinner will be ready in about point-one hours. I am sure it will not be up to Earth standards. Garlut and Brealak told me the food on Earth was the best they had ever tasted.” Koltep smiled.
“I’m sure it will be very good. It smells wonderful,” Debbie lied with a smile on her face.
They sat down to eat and both Jeffery and Debbie were surprised because the food tasted much better than it smelled. The dinner consisted of some kind of meat that tasted similar to pork, a vegetable that resembled a potato, but was blue. There we also some rolls that both of thought were the best part of the meal. They both ate their dinners and thanked Koltep for an excellent meal.
After dinner, they sat down in the living room. The view from the large window was fantastic. The lights from the city below and from the shuttles above were mesmerizing. As they settled down in their wonderfully comfortable chairs, Garlut said, “I just received a message that the remains of the body you found on Procolt 2 were picked up and are on the way to the university medical lab. I suspect they will have some answers for you tomorrow.”
“Wonderful, thank you. I just hope it answers more questions than it creates,” Jeffery said.
“I understand how you feel, but I would not
worry about it tonight. Our food may not be the best, but the beds are the most comfortable you will find anywhere,” Garlut assured his guests.
They talked for another hour or so, but Debbie and Jeffery were both tired and found themselves yawning despite their best efforts to prevent it. Finally, Jeffery thanked Garlut for his hospitality and said that he and Debbie were going to lie down for some rest.
Once they were in their room, they spent some time looking out the window at the view before getting ready for bed. Jeffery darkened the window so they would be able to sleep.
When they got onto the bed, they smiled at each other. “This bed has got to be the most comfortable thing I’ve ever had the pleasure of lying on!” Debbie said.
“Do you want to play around or just go to sleep?”
“Let’s play!” Debbie said and then she added, “Quietly.”
The following morning Debbie and Jeffery felt wonderful after their rest. They showered, and dressed. They left their room and found Garlut sitting in the living room watching a news program.
He turned off the monitor as they walked into the room and asked, “Did you sleep well?”
“Extremely well. You were right, that bed was by far the most comfortable thing we ever slept on.”
“Good. I received the results of the analysis of the remains from Procolt 2. Yesterday, you said you hoped it answered more questions than it creates. I am sorry to say that is not the case. The analysis indicated that the man died not more than fifteen Earth years ago. However, he was approximately one hundred and eighty years old at the time of his death.”