by M. D. Cooper
“I’m a tease?” He muttered softly as she left.
“You are, you know,” Sera said.
“How so? I don’t flirt, I just do my job.”
“Exactly!” Sera smiled as she shuffled the plas she had to sign into order. “You’re totally unflappable. It’s the ultimate come-on.”
“I’m going to start the pre-warm-up checklist so thing’s will be ready in the morning.”
“See! Always back to business with you.”
“Do you want to do it?” Cargo turned, half rising out of his chair.
“Heck no, I’ve been up for thirty hours already.”
Cargo nodded and sat back down.
Trio Prime, like many stations, required a full warm-up and test of all ship systems before undocking. The warm-up had to take place four hours before departure and Cargo was taking the third watch to do the run at oh five-hundred. Sera’s shift started at oh seven-hundred so he would be off-shift for the actual undocking.
Back on the third deck Sera entered her outer office, where she handled the ship’s business. It was the standard utilitarian sort expected of a captain, her various certifications were on the wall and a large oak desk dominated the small space. She laid the plas sheets on the desk and pulled up a holo of each one. This was the part about captaining a starship she liked least. She was near finishing up and getting ready to peel off her leather when Cargo called her over the Link.
Grumbling that she should have told Thompson to have himself or Flaherty wait up for it, she pulled her jacket back on and slid down the ladders to the freight deck. At the hold’s opening to the station dock, two men were waiting with a four by four foot crate on a gravity pad. They were looking nervous and just a bit twitchy. Either they had some bad drugs in their systems or Brand was foisting something pretty damn dangerous on her.
One of the men spoke up as soon as he spotted her. “Permission to come aboard?” He asked. Sera granted it and the two men all but ran onto the ship and out of direct sight from dock traffic, the cargo container following them on its float.
“So what do you have for me boys?” Sera asked, none too pleased about the late hour or the obviously illegal contents of the crate. “What am I sticking my neck out for this time?” Most of the things Brand had her run were just semi-illegal. Either OK in the system she where was picking up or delivering to, just not at both of them, or at some stopping point along the way. There also had been the odd shipment which was illegal no matter where they were; this one had that feel.
The man who had asked permission to board grinned in what he probably thought was a winning fashion. “It’s nothing to worry about, just a little something that Brand wants.”
“I don’t care about that,” Sera said as she reached over and snatched the bill of lading from him. “I care what this says it is.” Scanning the pad, she found that the crate contained a prize racing hound in a holo kennel. The dog thought he was in a regular kennel with other dogs and humans feeding him. The reality was just a crate with a feeding system, but he wouldn’t know the difference and would be better for it.
“That really what’s in there?” Sera asked.
“Yeah, the dog’s not as special as who used to own it.” The man grinned again and Sera held up her hand.
“I really don’t want to know more.” She signed off on the delivery. “Any need to open it and check it out?” The men went rigid and hastily assured her that the dog would be fine and there was no need to check it out. That sealed it for Sera, she would definitely have to check this cargo out once she was underway. She’d make up some excuse for it later if it had any type of tamper seals.
Once it was secured in the fore port hold, she informed Cargo that the delivery had been made and stowed. Then she sealed the main hatch and the auxiliary personnel port. Cargo confirmed seal from the bridge and checked it off the pre-warm-up list. Sera went to her cabin and once again got ready to hit the sack.
The starkness of her outer office was not mirrored in her inner cabin. It was one of the few things left over from when Sabrina was a pleasure yacht. There was a bathroom that had a tub and a shower as well as a walk in closet. The room itself was as large as the wardroom. Sitting on the edge of the overstuffed bed, Sera slid the zipper down the side of her boots then pulled her jacket off. She tossed them across the room and lay back on the overstuffed bed for a minute, gathering the energy to get up and take a shower before falling asleep.
Eventually the notion of dirtying her soft sheets decided her, and she slid out of her leather pants and soft silk shirt, draping them over a chair. The bathroom was well lit and had pink roses on the tile. Sera traced a finger along one as she set the water temperature and stepped in. Hot steam and water blasted her from all sides and she moaned at the luxuriating sensation.
The suspensor field that lathered her body and washed her hair was the best part of the left-over amenities. Sera simply held her arms out and the shower took care of the rest. When it was done it dried her skin and hair. She stepped out feeling as fresh and content as possible.
She smiled dreamily at the pastoral landscape of daisies and marigolds painted across one wall as she padded across the thick carpet to her bed. The bed had white and pink blankets and was covered in large pillows of the same colors. Sera slipped between the sheets and called for the lights to dim before she burrowed beneath the pillows and blankets, falling asleep in moments.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As always, I owe my faithful beta readers (especially Jill) for their thoughtful comments and great ideas.
I also would like to thank Anglada-Escudé et al for taking a long look at Kapteyn’s Star and finding two super earths there. The story was better for your discovery.
Lastly, thanks to Kapteyn’s Star; you peculiar point of light in the sky that will pass us by, likely never to be seen again.
THE WORLD OF AEON 14
For the seasoned science fiction reader there will be little here which they have not seen in another story, be it planetary rings, nano technology, AI, or mind-to-mind communication.
However, for those who may not know what a HUD is, understand the properties of deuterium, or be able to name the stars within the Sirius system, I encourage you to reference the appendixes as you read.
You may also visit www.aeon14.com to read the primer, glossary, and timelines there.
APENDIXES
This is not a complete glossary. For a more exhaustive list of people, places, terms, timeline, and encyclopedic entries, visit www.aeon14.com
TERMS & TECHNOLOGY
AI (SAI, NSAI) – AI is an acronym for Artificial Intelligence. AI are often also referred to as non-organic intelligence. They are broken up into two sub-groups: Sentient AI and Non-Sentient AI.
c – Represented as a lower case c in italics, this symbol stands for the speed of light and means constant. The speed of light in a vacuum is constant at 670,616,629 miles per hour. Ships rate their speed as a decimal value of c with c being 1. Thus a ship traveling at half the speed of light will be said to be traveling at 0.50 c.
CFT Shields – Carbon Fiber nano-Tube shields are created from carbon nano-tubes. These tubes are incredibly strong and can also be enhanced to absorb laser energy fire and disperse it.
ChoSec – The Callisto Orbital Habitat has a security force that is larger than the TSF in size due to the need to police over three trillion humans. It is quasi-military and provides both internal as well as external security to the Cho.
CO – This is an abbreviation meaning commanding officer. It is common in all branches of the military.
Cryostasis (cryogenics) – See also, ‘stasis’.
Older methods of slowing down organic aging and decay involve cryogenic
ally freezing the organism (usually a human) through a variety of methods. The person would then be thawed through a careful process when they were awakened.
Cryostasis is risky and has a higher failure rate, but one that makes few people consider it as an option. When true stasis was discovered, it became the de-facto method of slowing organic decay over long periods.
D2 (Deuterium) – D2 (2H) is an isotope of hydrogen where the nucleus of the atom is made up of one proton and one neutron as opposed to a single proton in regular hydrogen (protium). Deuterium is naturally occurring and is found in the oceans of planets with water and is also created by fusion in stars and brown dwarf sub stars. D2 is a stable isotope that does not decay.
Downworlder – Name the spacer Victorians use for colonists on Victoria and Tara.
Edener – Name the Victorians use for the crew and colony members of the Intrepid.
Fireteam – Is the smallest combat grouping of soldiers. In the TSF Marines (like the USMC) it contains four soldiers; the team leader (often doubles as the grenadier), the rifleman (acts as a scout for the team), automatic rifleman (carries a larger, fully automatic weapon), the assistant automatic rifleman (carries additional ammo).
Fission – Fission is a nuclear reaction where an atom is split apart. Fission reactions are simple to achieve with heavier, unstable elements such as Uranium or Plutonium. In closed systems with extreme heat and pressure it is possible to split atoms of much more stable elements, such as Helium. Fission of heavier elements typically produces less power and far more waste matter and radiation than Fusion.
Fusion – Fusion is a nuclear reaction where atoms of one type (Hydrogen for example) are fused into atoms of another type (Helium in the case of Hydrogen fusion). Fusion was first discovered and tested in the H-Bombs (Hydrogen bombs) of the twentieth century. Fusion reactors are also used as the most common source of ship power from roughly the twenty fourth century on.
g (gee, gees, g-force) – Represented as a lower case g in italics, this symbol stands for gravity. On earth, at sea-level, the human body experiences 1g. A human sitting in a wheeled dragster race-car will achieve 4.2gs of horizontal g-force. Arial fighter jets will impose g-forces of 7-12gs on their pilots. Humans will often lose consciousness around 10gs. Unmodified humans will suffer serious injury or death at over 50gs. Starships will often impose burns as high as 20gs and provide special couches or beds for their passengers during such maneuvers. Modified starfighter pilots can withstand g-forces as high as 70gs.
Graviton – These are small massless particles that are emitted from objects with large mass, or by special generators capable of creating them without large masses. There are also negatively charged gravitons which push instead of pull. These are used in shielding systems in the form of Gravitational Waves. The GSS Intrepid uses a new system of channeled gravitons to create the artificial gravity in the crew areas of the ship.
Electrostatic shields/fields – Not to be confused with a faraday cage, electrostatic shield’s technical name is static electric stasis field. By running a conductive grid of electrons through the air and holding it in place with a stasis field the shield can be tuned to hold back oxygen, but allow solid objects to pass through, or to block solid objects. Fields are used in objects such as ramscoops and energy conduits.
Modified versions also see use as ship’s shields where they are used to bleed off energy from beam weapons, or slow the impact of kinetic weapons.
EMF – Electro Magnetic Fields are given off by any device using electricity that is not heavily shielded. Using sensitive equipment, it is possible to tell what type of equipment is being used, and where it is by its EMF signature. In warfare it is one of the primary ways to locate an enemy’s position.
EMP – Electro Magnetic Pulses are waves of electromagnetic energy that can disable or destroy electronic equipment. Because so many people have electronic components in their bodies, or share their minds with AI, they are susceptible to extreme damage from an EMP. Ensuring that human/machine interfaces are hardened against EMPs is of paramount importance.
FGT – The Future Generation Terraformers is a program started in 2352 with the purpose of terraforming worlds in advance of colony ships being sent to the worlds. Because terraforming of a world could take hundreds of years the FGT ships arrive and begin the process.
Once the world(s) being terraformed reached stage 3, a message was sent back to the Sol system with an ‘open’ date for the world(s) being terraformed. The GSS then handles the colony assignment.
A decade after the Destiny Ascendant left the Sol system in 3728 the FGT program was discontinued by the SolGov, making it the last FGT ship to leave. Because the FGT ships are all self-sustaining none of them came home after the program was discontinued—most of the ship’s crews had spent generations in space and had no reason to return to Sol.
After the discontinuation FGT ships continued on their primary mission of terraforming worlds, but only communicated with the GSS and only when they had worlds completed.
FTL (Faster Than Light) – Refers to any mode of travel where a ship or object is able to travel faster than the speed of light (c). According to Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. As of the year 4123 no technology has been devised to move a physical object faster than the speed of light.
GSS – The Generational Space Service is a quasi-federal organization that handles the assignment of colony worlds. In some cases, it also handles the construction of the colony ships.
After the discontinuation of federal support and funding for the FGT project in 3738, the GSS became self-funded, by charging for the right to gain access to a colony world. While SolGov no longer funded the GSS the government supported the GSS’s position and passed law ensuring that all colony assignment continued through the GSS.
Helium-3 – This is a stable, non-radioactive isotope of Helium, produced by T3 Hydrogen decay, and is used in nuclear fusion reactors. The nucleus of the Helium-3 atom contains two protons, but only one neutron as opposed to the two neutrons in regular Helium. Helium-3 Can also be created by nuclear reactions that create Lithium-4 which decays into Helium-3.
HUD – Stands for Heads Up Display. It refers to any type of display where information about surroundings and other data is directly overlaid on a person’s vision.
Hyperion Accords – These accords were drafted by Tanis and signed by the Intrepid colony leaders and the Hyperion leadership. The accords outlined the cooperative governments, regions of ownership and slow transfer of technology and power that was to take place in the Kapteyn’s Star system.
Link – Refers to an internal connection to computer networks. This connection is inside of a person and directly connects their brain to what is essentially the Internet in the fourth millennia. Methods of accessing the Link vary between retinal overlays to direct mental insertion of data.
Luminescent Society – The formal name of the aristocratic ruling class of the Sirius system. Members of the Luminescent Society are referred to as Luminescents or Lumins.
Maglev – A shorthand term for magnetic levitation. First used commercially in 1984, most modern public transportation uses maglev to move vehicles without the friction caused by axles, rails and wheels. The magnetic field is used to both support the vehicle and accelerate it. The acceleration and braking is provided by linear induction motors which act on the magnetic field provided by the maglev ‘rail’. Maglev trains can achieve speeds of over one thousand kilometers per hour with very smooth and even acceleration.
MarSec (MSF) – The Marsian Security Force is a quasi-military organization that has its own small space force as well as ground forces and police-type security. They also make up the federal police force for the Mars Protectorate.
MBH – Miniature Black Holes are used to power artificial gravity systems. The black holes are spun to increase their mass which creates gravitational waves (not to be confused with gravity waves). GE is the
main manufacturer of MBH’s.
On the Intrepid MBHs are used in areas where the gravitational field of the main particle accelerator does not create artificial gravity. MBHs have the advantage of being able to be “spun down” so that their mass does not have to be taken into account when accelerating.
MDC (molecular decoupler) – These devices are uses to break molecules bonds to one another. This technology was first discovered in the early nineteenth century—by running electric current through water, William Nicholson was able to break water into its hydrogen and oxygen components. Over the following centuries this process was used to discover new elements such as potassium and sodium. When mankind began to terraform planets the technology behind electrostatic projectors was used to perform a type of electrolysis on the crust of a planet. The result was a device that could break apart solid objects. MDC’s are massive, most over a hundred kilometers long and require tremendous energy to operate.
Mj – Refers to the mass of the planet Jupiter as of the year 2103. If something is said to have 9MJ that means it has nine times the mass of Jupiter.
MOS Sec – The MOS Security organization handles internal and external security around the MOS.