To Touch the Stars (Founding of the Federation Book 2)

by Chris Hechtl

  “I like to fix people as much as technology. I will admit to exploring cybernetics a bit,” Hannah said with a small smile. She shrugged as she caught the interested look of her guide. “I want to go to space and be a starship doctor.”

  “That'll perk the interest of the bosses,” an intern in the back said.

  “Suck up,” another muttered.

  “Why do you even want to go on a ship anyway? It's cramped, smelly, dangerous … we don't even know if the ships will work!”

  “Oh, they'll work,” Hannah and Isley said in unison. They paused, surprised at each other's statement. For the first time Isley smiled slightly. Hannah cocked her head to let her go first.

  “I know because my family has been in on the design for years. Before I was born probably. I've got aunts and uncles who worked on the design of the fusion reactor. And cousins who worked on the sublight drive.”

  “I know because my brother has been on the design board for years,” Hannah said. “He's designed the Cyclops probes as well as the latest hyperdrive.”

  “You … wait, Castill … that makes you Jamey Castill's sister?” The guide demanded, eyes wide. She turned to Isley. “And you are the granddaughter of the famous Mario brothers?”

  “Granddaughter of Mario actually,” Isley admitted, smoothing her skirt.

  Hannah judged from her angry strokes and body language that she was clearly not happy about being shown up and was flustered. She was at first angry with Hannah, but then bonded over the humor of almost hero worship and sucking up oozing from the guide.

  “Damn it!” Hannah said, looking at her hands. She stretched them out.

  “What?”

  “I broke a nail!” She complained bitterly. That earned a laugh as the group moved out.

  “Coming with us?” Hannah asked as Isley hung back.

  Isley hesitated and frowned. “They didn't tell me what else to do. I was supposed to have a tour too but I missed it since my shuttle was late.”

  “Come on then. We're going to lunch. If they bitch, tough,” Hannah said. “You need to know the campus too!”

  Isley smiled and moved into the group. She fell behind though, conserving her energy. Hannah stuck to her side. Isley eventually got the nerve up to ask why Hannah why she was not in engineering. “And don't give me that crap you said before. I know there is more to it. You are good.”

  “Okay,” Hannah chuckled. She complained about plug and play and molecular engineering in modern electronics. Isley grimaced. “It's not like you can take out a soldering gun and fix it. It's not that simple anymore. It hasn't been that way for ages. I hate that. I want to get my hands in there and do it myself.”

  Isley nodded. Hannah was speaking to the choir in her opinion. “True, too true.”

  “Manual diagnostics is a pain in the ass. It is supposed to be faster and better using self-diagnostics or relying on the computer. But if it gets it wrong …” Hannah shook her head.

  Isley grimaced. “Right. Garbage in, garbage out. Got it.”

  Over lunch in the busy student mess they talked some small talk and some personal history. Hannah opened up a bit about Jamey and her life with their dad, “We lived waaayy out in the boonies,” Hannah said, rolling her eyes. “So, it was great but sucked. When the reporters came snooping around, it really sucked. Dad kept me in the house. Which wasn't fair, it wasn't like it was my fault or anything,” She grumbled.

  “Yeah, I know,” Isley said. “Amelia got in trouble for that same thing,” she said. Hannah raised an eyebrow as she sucked from her straw. Isley admitted living in the shadow of a famous hero was hard. She told her about her younger cousin who was also into medicine and how she resented her name, Amelia Mary Irons.

  “Why?” Hannah asked, not catching on right off.

  “It's … she's named after a woman that tried to fly around the Earth a couple hundred years ago,” Isley explained.

  Hannah's eyes widened briefly in sympathy. “Oh. So she's not only named after a famous woman but also in a famous family. Like the Kennedys. Just setting her up there,” Hannah said, making a face. “Talk about pressure to perform and get it right every time, first time,” she said as she pushed her cup aside. “That's not fair or right.”

  Isley nodded. “Exactly. Everyone expects great things, that you'll be perfect.”

  “I know the feeling. They expect you to follow along in the same footsteps. It's almost impossible to be yourself,” Hannah sighed. Together they nodded. That provoked a smile. Hannah giggled, which made Isley poke her to shut her up. Instead she giggled harder and poked back. Isley giggled in response.

  “So … now what?” Isley asked, unsure about ending the day.

  “Well, I suppose we could get an ice coffee and then finish the tour or catch the next one together,” Hannah suggested.

  “I'd like that,” Isley said softly. They bonded further as they picked up the next tour. Hannah showed her the best shortcuts on campus to make it easier for her to get about; she'd researched them as well as picked a few up from Jamey. Isley was grateful for the friendly help.

  They sightsaw with the group, but when they hit parts both already knew about, they talked about their families again. Isley settled on Amelia since her cousin had been close to her growing up, close like a sibling. She went on to talk about how she was working in the university clinic still, not ready to graduate. “She wanted to go to Mars U for graduate medicine, but Earth has better schools so now that is up in the air,” Isley explained.

  “She should come here. She'd do good,” Hannah suggested.

  “I … think she wants to be a home body, but the market is pretty saturated there. The job market I mean. There are only a couple million people there; only so many doctors are really needed.”

  “And billions here,” Hannah added with a nod.

  “Exactly. So, here or space. And Lagroose is the best.” Hannah grinned. Isley went on to tell her about Amelia's friend, Emi the bonobo nurse. That raised an eyebrow on Hannah. Isley told her of how she'd seen her in the clinic first time. She shyly admitted a bit about her role in the university flood rescue. It was one of the reasons she'd gotten her chance to go to Earth so easily. Being a hero smoothed over a few ruffled feathers.

  They talked about the walker as Isley slowed down, then started to limp. “What's wrong?” Hannah finally asked. “Tired? Muscle cramp?”

  “No,” Isley sighed, looking around. “When it has a sticky servo like now, it is a pain in the ass,” Isley said, lowering herself down to a handy concrete bench with difficulty. She picked at her right knee with the probe, then finally had to pull the assembly apart to look inside. She made a show of blowing it out. Hannah chuckled.

  “Do you have to do that often?” Hannah asked. She looked about then sat down next to Isley.

  “Only every hour it seems. Normally it's good indoors, you don't pick up dirt or gravel inside,” Isley said, wrinkling her nose as her probe picked out a piece of stubborn gravel that had worked its way into the gears. “I have to wear it since I was born in Mars gravity. It's a third of what it is here; believe me it sucks. This I mean. The first couple of days I could barely breathe,” Isley said as she put the knee joint together. “And I thought I was in shape!” she said in disgust.

  “Really?”

  “I love sports but I can't do anything on the ground,” Isley said, glancing over to a group of kids playing a pick-up soccer game nearby. She was clearly envious of the students. She sighed a heavy sigh. “Fortunately, I took the muscle and bone supplements at an early age and when I realized I wanted to go into space. I even took the stem cell injections, not that they did me much good.”

  “They are letting you survive here on Earth without a special breather,” Hannah said stoutly. “Your abdomen muscles wouldn't be able to push the air in and out easily without them.”

  Isley rolled her eyes as she struggled to get to her feet. Hannah rose smoothly and fought the urge to help her. She knew instinctively
Isley had a sense of pride and she'd wounded it once already that day. “But I get worn out quickly even with the damn walker. I have to conserve energy as much as possible,” Isley said, breathing heavily.

  “Well, we can take a break. You can crash in the dorms if you want,” Hannah suggested.

  “Might be a good idea. I think we've seen the important stuff. The rest can wait,” Isley said. They made their way to the girl's freshman dorms.

  “You have a roommate?” Isley asked. Hannah shook her head. “Me neither. Wanna bunk together?”

  “Um … sure. We can ask …” Hannah said. She laughed as Isley squealed happily then grabbed her wrist and practically dragged her off her feet as she made her way to the admin office.

  Since Isley didn't have a roommate nor did Hannah, they put in for a double room as dorm mates. They were immediately accepted, though cautioned that their different career paths wouldn't allow them to help each other much. “That's fine,” Isley said as she glanced at Hannah. “I'm not all that great at blood and guts, but I can listen and play dummy when she needs to play doctor,” she said. That got a flush from Hannah. When they got the room keys, they hugged ecstatically then rushed to move their gear.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  The next morning after Isley took herself off Hannah checked in at the class scheduler. She was glad Isley didn't snore or have many irritating bad habits. Neither one of them had thought about that; they'd been so caught up in the excitement of the moment. But all was good. She got dressed, had a yogurt, and then headed out to the main admin building. She had an appointment before her afternoon classes.

  Since she had to wait for her new counselor she absently went through the catalog. Her discussions with Isley had made her think twice about her course selections. As her attention became focused more and more on the fascinating topics, she realized some were deliberately geared for space or ship assignments. She looked at some of the more engineering qualified courses.

  Mister Hermal caught her looking over the introduction to stasis tech classes. She had a new career counselor; he was a tall Indian with a chocolate complexion and soft voice. “Why didn't you take the courses earlier?” he asked as he went to his office. She followed him.

  “It's … complicated,” she said.

  “I see. Well, I do remember your classes; I reviewed them last night.”

  “You did?” Hannah asked, surprised.

  “I like to be prepared,” he said, flashing a grin at her as he indicated she sit down across from her. She took the indicated seat and adjusted herself, trying to relax as best as possible. She was nervous; she knew it.

  He pulled up her records and then nodded. “All right, Miss Castill, why have you been so flighty, jumping from subject to subject,” he asked, shaking his head. “You don't need to know half the courses you've taken. I'm actually surprised you haven't focused more on horticulture and nutrition. We need that in the space habitats.”

  “I'm not interested in the habitats,” she said firmly.

  “Oh?”

  “I didn't have a lot of support from my previous counselors.” She went on to describe Miss Coldwell. His face closed when she explained how the woman tried to force her into a terrestrial career with her chosen companies. He made some notes. “I have been tailoring my courses for a broad view on my own with some input from Jamey and his colleagues. I want to be on a starship you see,” she pointed out. “To do that I need a broad base of useable knowledge.”

  The counselor nodded. “Everyone can dream. You have some practical experience, but you must understand, you are too young for Daedalus.”

  She shook her head. “No, I won't be able to go with Jamey. I realize that. But there is always Icarus or one of the colony ships like Prometheus. I want to be as helpful as possible. I may not be as good with hyper and calculations like my big brother, but I can help there and in main engineering. He encouraged me to take a broad view from the beginning if I want to crew a starship, which I do.”

  “I see.” Mister Hermal nodded in bemused understanding. He encouraged her to cross pollinate into veterinary medicine, specifically marine mammals. When she asked why, he just shook his head. It took her a moment to realize why. When she did her eyes widened and she nodded. “The dolphins! Of course! Yes, yes, indeed,” she murmured, nodding in understanding.

  “Not just them. The Neos.”

  “I agree.”

  “Good then. I'll add those courses.” They added courses, shifting a few about.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Jamey and the rest of the crew of Daedalus were frustrated by the ongoing delays. They thought the trials would be quick, but each time they had to go back to fix something which took weeks sometimes. Their trials also held up the construction of Icarus from time to time since they needed help to tear their own ship apart or parts had to be fabricated. Then they had to go through recalibration, then restart the whole sequence as the crew settled back into the routine and ran tests on the next system. What they thought would be a couple weeks turned into months of teething issues. “So much for the urgency of getting me on board,” Kathy grumbled.

  He shook his head. “No, you were needed here. The dolphins needed you.” He resented not being allowed groundside for liberty. He would have loved to have made a few lectures now that he was allowed to do so … and just so happened to run into his sister. But no, he was stuck on the habitats doing them through video and virtual chats. It was annoying.

  He had spent a great deal of time working on his new ship design. He'd run it past Levare who'd taken an interest. Kathy had also spent a lot of her free time working on improving the dolphin medical guide. She worked out an abbreviated section for trauma and common ailments and sent recommended course loads to the colleges for future students to study. She was also inundated by emails from marine biologists interested in her position and her patients. Some had questions, others comments, concerns, or advice. A few were spam; fortunately the bot she had set up filtered out the worst of them.

  “At least we have each other,” Kathy said to Jamey, hugging him. He smiled tenderly, hugging her back.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Hannah and Isley went through a brief exploratory period as they learned each other's moods, quirks, and habits. For Isley it was tough at first; she'd never lived with a sibling. Even on Mars in the extensive Irons family habitat, she'd had her own room; she'd only put up with her cousin Amelia at family functions that lasted less than a day or when the two of them had to babysit or do chores together.

  Hannah had it a little rough at first as she adjusted as well, but she'd spent some time with Jamey at home so had a little experience to build off of. She'd also had a couple friends over from time to time during the summer. Still, learning to share a bathroom with another female was challenging.

  Clothes came off as they become more comfortable with the living arrangements. Isley had no problem parading about in as little as possible. She was slowly building up muscle, every morning she did stretching and exercises religiously. They found common ground with yoga and yogurt.

  They went out to eat when their schedules overlapped and started to play and tease each other a bit. Isley was a neat freak, Hannah was absent minded but put up with her partner. She knew the importance of proper hygiene. They joked a bit about the toilet paper orientation until they got tired of it.

  When they had time, they studied quietly together. It helped to bounce an idea or have someone else read a question. Sometimes they would cuddle while reading or watching TV. They giggled together over some of the absurd shows, poking fun at contestants or story lines. The hams tended to crack them up. Hannah was interested in Isley's take on popular shows until she found out Isley didn't have an alien viewpoint. “I watched all this. It's all recorded and streamed to Mars just like here,” Isley said to her, waving to indicate the latest teledrama.

  Hannah blinked. “Oh.”

  “You sound disappointed,” Isley teased.

  “Well,
I thought, with the psychology of you being from another world and all …”

  Isley rolled her eyes. “You're just doing that because you're taking psych this semester. Sure, some shows are different. I bet you don't have Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus do you?”

  “Um … yeah …”

  “That's shot on Mars goof ball,” Isley said.

  “It is?” Hannah asked. Isley nodded, smiling. “Damn, I thought it was a sound stage,” she said.

  Isley snorted. “Maybe some stuff, but Mars has a few networks. Not a lot, but a few, with native programming. Which, of course, they export to the other colonies and back here. You earthies see it as quaint I suppose.”

  “No, not really,” Hannah said, tucking her feet up and then plopping a pillow in her lap to hug. “I mean, I've heard some really weird stuff, and I've seen the elections on Mars but …” she shrugged.

  They acted like sisters for first semester. But after finals they celebrated by getting drunk at a frat party. Concerned, Hannah who hadn't had a whole lot to drink since she was still a teen escorted Isley home. They giggled, teeter tottering a lot despite the exoframe. When they got to the abandoned dorms, Hannah wisely guided them to take the elevator instead of the stairs.

  Once they were in their room, they fell into Isley's bed giggling, arms entangled. Hannah gently disengaged and helped her out of the exoframe and her clothes. She tugged on a boot, which led to her falling backwards on her ass with an indignant ow. Isley giggled hysterically, then crawled to the edge of the bed, and cooed in sympathy as Hannah rubbed her abused rear-end.

  That led to a thank you kiss from Isley, which led to an even hotter kiss, and then heavy petting. Something awoke submerged feelings in both girls. They made love gently; Isley taking the lead. When they finished they were both exhausted and sated. They fell asleep in each other's arms.

  Isley smiled tenderly when the warm rising sun woke Hannah. “Morning sleepy head,” Isley said, stroking her hair out of her eyes.