Human Starpilots

by F Stephan

  “And Brian? He was haunted for a time?”

  Heikert answered. “He controls it now. The star chamber has proven useful with him. He now works in section five on astrogation problems, and it seems to balance the use of nanites for him.”

  Mistress Polantor, who was a deceptively mild-looking teacher from Illik, became interested. “There were tales from the ancient of other type of pilots. Might he be one of them?”

  “We don’t know anything yet, so let’s keep quiet. Every few years, a teacher comes with such a promise, but it never went beyond the tale. This is working for him. It is a fact. We should try it more often,” answered Reinkel.

  “I have tried with a few, including Emily and Shanak. Pure failure,” contradicted Mistress Polantor.

  “Any others at risk?” continued Reinkel, not letting any conflict settle in. As everyone in the room shook their heads, he continued. “Well, we haven’t lost anyone so far. This is something. Now, I suggest we move them to the next stage and get them off-planet to pilot shuttles and intrasystem”.

  “That would be good. The Origin has threatened to set up shop in front of our entrance to warn everyone about us. The new first years are usually confined but the other promotions don’t take it well”. Mistress Liupert was in charge of tracking the activists and coordinating the Adheekens authority on this.

  The Dean nodded and continued. “We have Heavyweight and Happynews in system for the next few months. Do we all move to confirm, or are there any comments?”

  Mistress Polantor, stern faced, got up. “I wouldn’t advise for them to train on Happynews. The crew is way too creative with nanites, and I don’t think it a good idea to expose the students to them.” The scorn in her voice was palpable, and she was quickly joined by three others.

  “Shouldn’t we request an inquiry by the Federation?” asked Master Heikert. “If so, are all in agreement?” He said the last sentence looking pointedly at the hologram of the pilots on station Zopol.

  “Believing is different from knowing. At least we can protect many from their influence. No one goes there but willing pilots,” answered Mistress Polantor.

  Reinkel took his time thinking before he nodded in approval. “Let it be then. Our first priority is their protection.” Nilse snorted at that, and Reinkel had to stare him down. “We go for two successive groups in Heavyweight. And we send first the three you are worried about. Kiltan, Nillimer, is this OK for you?”

  Two minutes went by before they received the acceptance from both teachers. Alkath added a message at the same time. “I have an eye on Happynews, dear Master Heikert. I suggest you and I talk directly about it next time I am on the ground.” No one commented after her intervention.

  Polantor added, “We can train the others in shuttle flight during that time. We did it that way two years ago, if I remember correctly, and it worked nicely.”

  “Agreed,” confirmed Reinkel. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I will meet the Pilot Corporation and the different ambassadors and explain our decisions to them. Can you all inform your pupils? And please ask them to review again the Federation Charter and specifically the sections on trade.”

  “When do we send them?” asked Mistress Polantor.

  “Two days?”

  “Not nearly enough to prepare them correctly. But we’ll make do. We are used to long days.” They all got up and moved out of the council chamber.

  33 Brian

  This Fourday, they managed to get out of the Academy and reach the party they had found without incident. The spring dust storm had blocked most of the outings for the last month. Those were massive sand tornadoes which roamed the continent during that season. They passed quickly, scouring all buildings, and would shred humans into pieces in seconds, Their nerves were raw, due to the forced confinement.

  They were now a big, loud group, all twenty students gathered, joking, talking, bantering, and excited just to be free and out. Tonight, one of their last on-planet, everything was possible.

  They crossed most of the town on foot, walking at least five kilometers across bridges spanning two rivers and a series of avenues to their target. This was a celebration day in Certan, and a lot of inhabitants were out. The far side of the city had been built along a small lake, and large terraces had been erected all around it. There were bars, cafés, and restaurants everywhere, and they were full of joyous people. The crowd was noisy and a bit drunk under the omnipresent music.

  This night, Shanak introduced him to the traditional greeting from his planet on a small café overlooking the lake.

  “Welcome, my honored friend. Your ancestors are with us tonight at this table. How is your health?”

  He answered seriously. “I am the son of my parents and their parents and back to the first men. My ancestors are meeting your ancestors above us while we talk, and they drink to our health.”

  Brian thought it strange; yet , he felt deeply privileged by the sharing.

  The whole night had been wonderful, even if the group had split progressively over the hours. They had eaten in a small joint in a small plaza in front of jugglers. Then they had toured the different shows. They had spent an hour in the game center but had found it hard to play with the local games. There were all kinds of games with cards, dice, strength, or dexterity, real or virtual. They also had taken great pains to avoid a booth manned in the main plaza by the Origin. Finding detours in the galleries had become a game after a while. Sonter had brought a group of them to try and smoke a local weed, which had mild neuroleptic effect. At last, Brian had gone with Shanak to have a look at the farthest pier and see the farthest shore. Illoma was debating with Tasha and Leopold on comparative music, and this bored Brian to hell.

  The holograms, everywhere in the city at night, were playing out on the lake in giant dances, forming an intricate show. There was a central play surrounded by dances and other performances. On a stage, at the center of the main terrace, live artists were performing, and their images were reproduced live in 3-D in the middle of the lake. But now they were too close, and below the images, the lake was a dark expense without end. They heard the noise of the crowd lessening. This was time to turn around and go back.

  “Hello. You want more? You want to feel more, hear more, and smell more? I can help you. I am here for you.” The weasel-faced man had a squeaking, rasping voice; yet there was something hypnotizing in it. Brian, uneasy, wanted to move out of reach, but Shanak stood his ground, interested.

  “What do you offer?”

  “The best. I have only the best.” And then his voice became a whisper. “I have nanites if you can meet the price.”

  Brian’s mind screamed now. Shanak still did not move. The man came closer. Brian could smell the rancid sweat from the dealer and pushed Shanak away, but they were cornered at the end of this pier.

  Suddenly, the dealer crashed to the floor. Sonter spat at the inert form. “I see you again, I kill you, rat. You hear me? We don’t want you here, you and your filthy kind.” Sonter hit the fallen man again, face red, fists clenched. Oddoril and Emily caught him from behind, taking him in their arms, and pulled him away. Shanak and Brian, shaken out of their immobility, followed them.

  “These asshole dealers have been trying to approach all of us for the last hour. Not long after you left, we began rounding up as many as we could find,” explained Oddoril. The mood was broken by the violent outburst.

  “Let’s move back to the academy. We won’t have much more fun tonight,” said Emily. “And Sonter needs to rest. He’s going to have a severe headache tomorrow morning.”

  “He has been hit?” asked Brian while Sonter, after his violent outburst, sank onto Emily’s shoulder.

  “Well, with this level of violence, he is sure to get an headache. You should see the other guy,” answered Shanak to the others.

  Emily smiled at him. “Funny, Mister. Will you carry him?” Shanak complied with Willfried’s help.

  “Is everyone here?” asked Brian

>   “You were among the last. We need to find Dendrom and Li Bao and then we go,” confirmed Tasha.

  When they found the girls, both had dilated pupils and exuberant laughs. They had to be dragged out of the entertainment center back to the academy. They all relayed to bear them. Li Bao was very light, but Dendrom was more powerfully built, and with the distance each step grew harder.

  “What do we do now?” asked Tasha.

  “We leave tomorrow for orbit,” answered Emily gloomily. “We make sure we keep both of them under constant surveillance, and we never leave them alone. Better if we can separate them.”

  “What did they take?”

  “Don’t know but nothing good for them. Once is a mistake. Twice is dangerous.”

  It was early morning when they reached the academy, and Brian crashed into his bed as soon as he arrived. They spent the day in quiet activities and didn’t talk anymore about the party.

  34 Don Mariano

  For their parting, Mathias had found a zoo on the west side of the city with a large restauration area. There were more than a thousand indigenous species visible in different landscaped areas. Don Mariano had immediately approved of the idea, and Mathias had organized a lunch there for all of them. They wanted to celebrate their last day on the planet before leaving for space with a new experience.

  They arrived late but brought with them a set of local ales as a gift to Mathias and a set of light paintbrushes for the ambassador. They all seemed cheerful with the excursion, and he was pleased both by their presence and the surprise of the gifts. They all shared a welcome drink before Don Mariano cleared his throat. “Speech.” Emily poked Brian in the ribs.

  “Yes, my dear Lady, a speech. This is a privilege of age you will share in a long time.” He smiled at her, and she bowed her head graciously.

  “I am regularly informed of all your results by Master Reinkel, and I have reviewed your progress, difficulties, and next steps with him. I congratulate you all on your achievements yet. Earth is proud of you.”

  They blushed at that. After the year of constant exams at the academy, hearing praise was very welcome.

  “You enter a new, important phase of your learning, and we are glad of it. Please be careful through this phase. You have already gained us a strong advantage, and we need you to remain fit and able. Don’t overextend yourselves.” The words of caution were quite a contrast to the constant drive forward of the different masters.

  “Now, before you leave for space again, let’s discover more of this planet.”

  With that, he took them to tour the zoo, watching each alien species in detail. They had been so busy in their daily work that they had never taken the time to discover the alien species. Evolution had led to thousands of other paths, and they were, all of them, again children in their first tour of a menagerie. They had already seen the local variation of the monkey. But they had not yet seen the species which roamed the rivers and seas. From what Brian understood, they had moved out of the sea eons ago, as had happened on Earth, but had moved back into the sea around ten millennia before. They still had legs and arms with paws with membranes used to swim. Many had specific air pouch to float in the water. Species closer to the fish from Earth had moved to the deep waters of the ocean, below one kilometer. Brian sat looking at an aquarium with such a silver fish, wondering what they had fled down in the sea.

  Last, in the aviary, there were few birds, too fragile in the gruesome conditions, but there were a lot of large insects with chitenous carapaces to withstand the sandstorms and large claws to dig for food buried in the sand. The carapaces could be separated from the bodies to allow air to flow and refresh them. They were ugly and large beasts.

  Li Bao commented drily. “I hated cockroachs back on Earth. They are ten times nicer. Yuck!” At that, they all laughed. When they had trained in Australia, they had had to face the local cockroaches who had invaded the bunkers. And Li Bao’s fear of the insects had become a legend.

  The visit also allowed Don Mariano the opportunity to check them over in detail. He didn’t like the haunted look from Li Bao and the downcast face from Tasha. Willfried seemed less forceful than he had been before the injection, but he had built a new serenity which seemed interesting. Don Mariano exchanged a knowing look with Mathias and brought them back to the shaded lunch area. Emily, Brian, and Leopold seemed all in very good mood.

  “So, what’s the news, sir?” asked Emily.

  “Well, we finally have good news. First, the agreement with the Namek Merchant Guild here on Adheek is bearing fruit.”

  “Namek, the one headed by Sonter’s father?” interrupted Brian.

  “Yes, Brian, please let me proceed. Kilet is the master of the Guild Corporation here in Adheek but also of a merchant guild. You all have met him. We have secured a few berths on ship toward Earth and some tonnage in carrier and transport ships. We have been able to transfer an ecologist and now a first fusion plant powering up a CO2 converter. We will also send a mobile soil reclaimer, and when it reaches Earth, it will work on the Chilean Deadland.”

  “Is that enough?” wondered Leopold. “Many areas need reclaiming. And one reclaimer will work slowly, meter by meter.”

  “No, it is not enough. But seeing helps believing. And this helps the president show some progress to all Earth governments, syndicates, and power groups. We’ll also build other fusion plants based on this first model. The ecologist has also isolated the plan in the CDS for the reclaiming engines, and we are working on building smaller ones.”

  “How are we financing all of this?” asked Willfried, getting out of his current reserve.

  “Unlimited access to the asteroid belt for prospection for the next five years. And since last week and our trip to Cape Ring, a few contracts with the Hydroponics Syndicate on some of our high-yield crops, notably potatoes.”

  “Anything else of value on Earth? Anything worth bartering?” said Brian disgustedly.

  “You don’t like this bargaining, do you? But if we want to manage our trouble, we need to adapt to this Federation and its rules. We are looking for other ideas. And to be honest, we are going to sell everything we can to stop the environmental degradation. We will lose to the epidemics what remains of Brazil in less than ten years. When we’re back in control, we will be pickier in our choices.” Brian and Willfried protested but stopped at a sudden glare from Tasha.

  Mathias had extracted from the DataDump both news from their families and entertainments from their home regions. Brian set aside the books, music titles, and shows from home and quickly scanned the messages from his family. His mother had sent this time a long video she had shot on their life in the complex, with Brian’s Father as the main character. This would be fun to watch tonight. His sister had also sent a short video. She had changed company to join the new North Transport Conglomerate, the second manufacturer of transport in North America, and she was now plant manager. He would listen to her every word, also later. When Mathias came back toward him, Brian motioned to him and transferred from his bracelet his letters for his family. Mathias nodded. “They all leave in the next ship with the diplomatic mail.”

  Brian looked up. The others were all focused on their datapacks. Their faces mingled tears and smiles. The afternoon was quieter afterward as they ate and shared the various news they had had from Earth. The spring was extremely bad, one of the worse in recent years.

  To change the gloomy topic, Don Mariano briefed them more on Adheeken politics and on his research for the trade market on the planet. He had also contacted the other ambassadors from close systems and communities Nelom, Pelor, and Illik.

  “There is some potential there, but it goes very slowly as we wait for reply from their home world. We should go and meet each of their government.”

  “But?” said Emily.

  “Well, we don’t have the money for it yet, for one thing, and the travel takes months. Maybe in a few years.”

  “And the Core Worlds?”

&nb
sp; “They’re too far from us both in technology and distance. It’s going to be hard to find interesting merchandise for them. I focus on close areas where we can make quick progress.”

  Even if Brian hated this idea of barter, the strategy from the ambassador made sense to him. There was more wealth in the Core World and there were less-expensive technological items, but with current lines, it would take one or two cross boarding and four months at least to bring goods from Alkath, the Federation capital, to Earth. They would need to find new routes to be able to trade more.

  The afternoon finished with a glorious sunset over the city and, in the distance, the academy. They continued talking later until late into the night, enjoying the light over the city. They came back through streets temporarily taken over by the chattering tipol.

  PART 2

  2288 AD

  35 Interlude

  The Origin Main Chapter House was located near Telem, on a ridge overlooking the city and the Great Range of Cascades. This was a very exclusive location that allowed them to see two of the most renown cascades of the range. At the center of the building, a great balcony allowed the inhabitants to watch the scenery. Two men, in priest garb, had brought out two chairs from the room inside to look at the sunset.

  “We have lost, haven’t we?” asked the younger one. He was dark haired, in his forties, and slightly overweight.

  “If you ask about free access to all planets in the Federation, the answer is yes. Absolutely”. The older priest, clearly in his sixties, had a golden torc around the neck and was wiry, nearly skinny.

  “You do not see to distraught?”

  “This was expected. We will continue our different actions to annoy the Federation. Blockading key production for interstellar trade, demonstrations in the street and the usual lot”.

  The younger priest looks at the sunset. “This is a diversion, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, naturally. Our aim is to be free to wander the star to spread our word to all worlds. This is the only goal. And I can tell you we are pursuing several options in that matter.”