by Florian Nagy
Chapter 3
Jerald Warren reclined in the seat of an odd, little, antique café tucked away in the corner of the Galar Space Facility’s entertainment level. He pondered the defeat the Rekked had suffered. The empire that had stretched across myriads of stars now was reduced to a collection of rogue systems. They contained people who shared the same genes and language but nothing else. It was no wonder that the new Rekked Imperialist upstarts took it upon themselves to reform the Rekked Empire under a new banner with one goal: the destruction of all things human. The funny yet tragic side effect was that the Rekked Republic was required to outlaw these rebels and destroy them as if they were enemies. With both the EIF and Rekked Republic ships on their tails the Rekked Imperialists didn't stand a chance to establish any foothold anywhere. They were far from reinstating their once glorious empire.
In contrast to the Rekkeds, stood the Ameerians. This species was at an uneasy peace with Earth, yet unlike other peoples before them, understood logic. What could be the use of fighting a battle you couldn’t win? The official standings between the Imperium and the Ameerian Federation were peaceful. The Ameerian Federation occupied several systems and conducted their affairs almost entirely independently of the galaxy around them. Their people were content and had not suffered under any major war, yet their jurisdiction was grimly defined and did not expand. They carried out trade and relations with the areas around them and existed alongside their large neighbor. A few renegade detachments from the government, however, used stolen ships to antagonize the Earth Imperium. They kept up a resistance they felt was due to such an intrusive neighbor.
The huge Galar battlestation had instated the power of the EIF in the area. Long-range concussive missiles had the ability to seek out and destroy frigate class ships. Close range batteries of every weapon available loomed over the extensive shipyards in orbit as well as on the cruisers and cargo vessels bringing in materials to the planet.
Communication between races was made possible by speaking into a recorder, which took speech and coded it into a set of data bites that formed a universal form of language. It included most of the basic forms of dialects from many languages, alien or human, with their words and their meanings.
This code had been built at a collective assembly that included all the known species in the galaxy.
The few peoples who existed had such different languages that communication was impossible. This had made early contact almost unworkable other than through the communication of simple ideas through actions and pictures. In the year 2673 of the Earth date, an assembly had been held on a Rekked starbase. Top linguistics and diplomats of all the peoples had come together to work out a code system that could work with and include all of their languages. At first the things common to all species had been slowly worked out through pictures, displays, and signs. From this point, the language had been built up.
It incorporated some words not existing in many of the languages (thus giving some languages a bit of difficulty assimilating these words, because they had to first be described using a series of other words existing in their own language). In a matter of months, an almost complete system had been worked out for all communication purposes. All computer software had been updated to make the connection between written and spoken language and this universal code. Now, whenever cross-species communication was desired, one could speak to the computer, and it would turn the speech into universal code and then send it to the other ship. The other ship would then have its computer speak the words out or display them in its own language.
Jerald looked up as an attractive woman in EIF uniform came with his order. He had selected a taste of home: black coffee made with Earth coffee beans. He did not know exactly where or on what landmass they had been grown, but that really didn’t matter. They were organic, and they were genuine. The small shop in the corner of the entertainment deck had an Earth theme and served Earth delicacies, albeit for quite a price (Earth produced goods had to be shared among an entire empire). The establishment even boasted human waiters. Nowadays only the highest tier of restaurants would spend money to employ human waiters and waitresses.
This little café incorporated the waiters into its atmosphere in order to strongly mimic Earth’s more rustic areas. He thought about all the automated little mess halls that abounded in space. Little ration packs contained all the food one needed. The food was highly compressed and did not provide much in terms of taste. Space was practical, not luxurious.
He leaned back as the woman walked back towards the shop’s display wall. She walked behind the long counter that loomed in front of the vivid advertisement displays, checked something on the desk, and headed toward a door further inwards. He watched the doors slide back and obstruct his view of her.
He sipped his coffee and looked though the modest window at his side at the green clouds over Galar. The slow, calm marshy surface gave the impression that it was one giant rainforest, bounding with life. His destroyer class ship, the EFS Antioch, was in for an ion cannon refit, and he had a two week break along with the entire crew. He had spent the last several years in ceaseless proximity to this planet and its industrial boom. It grew dearer and dearer in his heart, and he looked on it with the same joy as he did on the images of Earth. The green surface had slight swirls of darker colors on it that seemed to teem with life. The planet was extremely rich in minerals, and the gases in the atmosphere contained rare compounds used in the synthesis of many materials.
Warren finished his coffee, smiled, and got up to spend some more time on the entertainment deck. He strolled down the walkway through the various entertainment stations. Some were quite attractive, but others he deemed as places fit only to kill time. Sport-like arenas were the central attraction, with games such as zero-g basketball (where one would jump around a three-dimensional environment to shoot a small ball into a series of small holes). There were also several gravity-using sports from cultures all over the galaxy.
Another attractive game was a zero-g battle simulation. A slightly moving arena filled with debris and obstacles served as a stage for two teams to compete in a mock fight. They had to position themselves in such a way that they would be able to surround their enemies under their cover. A wide range of tactics emerged from flanks to direct assaults on groups of people behind large obstacles serving as walls. Every person "shot" by the fake guns was removed by a series of clamps on the walls that reached out to grab him and pull him out of the simulation. That was Jerald’s favorite game. A two-dimensional version existed of the game as well, which consisted of gravity and a floor, but tactics took on a fuller array of possibilities and difficulties in three dimensions.
Another warlike attraction was the shooting ranges with all sorts of weapons. Modern energy guns, hand-thrown objects, and antique Earth firearms operated by combustion could be shot at static or moving targets. The plethora of options attracted a wide array of people to come and unwind.
The large, open space resonated with noise and cheer as people talked and laughed. Jerald even managed to spot a few families among the mass. This was truly an odd sight among the space-bound portions of humanity. Life was so volatile and homes so temporary that keeping a family together was nearly impossible. There were speculations that the unnatural gravity provided by the powered floors created slight growth distortions in children.
Aside from the speculated psychological and physical effects that living in an artificial enclosure had on developing minds and bodies, life in space simply was not geared for minors. Space was with purpose; there were no schools or playgrounds, there was only machine after machine after machine. Trade, exploration, research, curiosity, defense, and even attack were the reasons why man lived among the stars. The natural cycle of life was almost always carried out by land-bound people or by men and women who had tired of the void of space and who wanted to give it up for rough ground under their feet and atmosphere in their lungs. The environment of a planet-side colony was imme
nsely different from that of a space station.
Jerald turned to a holographic display on his right. The antique holovision cinema was replaying an old classic film he had greatly enjoyed the last time he had seen it. Jerald took a keen interest in holographic productions and had seen many in his life.
In contrast to those classics, the modern method of neural-image transfer allowed immersive plot and experience, what had once been “film” then “holofilm,” was delivered directly to the senses. One would experience the story firsthand, as if one were standing there, amidst the action. One could be a bystander, or even part of the action. The line between virtual game and virtual film had blurred out. The experience was an immersive, sense-replacing experience, as if one could live in another life. People could control the outcomes of what they observed. This had created great distractions, and people oftentimes abused this gateway away from the harshness of reality.
Jerald, however, preferred to be master of his own life and to leave it so: amusements were amusements. He thus took interest in holofilm productions. He had heard of the times when there had been only three dimensional display cinemas available and wondered what life would have been like. “Much more rustic, probably” he almost said out loud.
The holovision cinemas were rare, and he thought he would enjoy a little film from the past. He went to the ticket booth and scanned his hand, "Welcome, Earth Imperial Fleet, Military Contact Section, Senior Captain Jerald Warren," the standardized EIF voice said. Jerald asked for entrance to the film and had the fee deducted from his funds with the EIF.
The doors opened with a slide, and he went inside to sit down in front of the image. Several seats were arranged to one side of the little rectangular box that projected the image. A few were full, but such old sport had been left long ago by the mass of the population. He took an empty seat and sat down. Behind him a dark haired man, slightly aged, with sharp facial angles and a well built structure, swiped his hand at the very same console, "Welcome, Earth Imperial Fleet, Command Section, Captain Darius Targen."