9.
"The thing is guys, you just don't fuck with Einstein" the grizzled old man leant back in his seat, knocked back the dregs from his glass and belched before continuing "That crusty fucker says we can't travel fast than light, then we can't"
"The thing is guys, you just don't fuck with Einstein" the grizzled old man leant back in his seat, knocked back the dregs from his glass and belched before continuing "That crusty fucker says we can't travel fast than light, then we can't"
"Nah,
shit man, space time n' shit in't it, hyperspace n' all that shit" this
man was taller, but scrawnier than his belching compatriot. His feet up on the
table while his head was almost invisible amid a fug of thick, harsh smelling
chemical smoke.
"Never
gonna happen. Best hope is generation ships. Aim them at a star we like the
look of, and pow, blast them out there!" the large lady clapped her hands
to emphasise the point, the movement causing the vast swathe of flesh under her
upper arms to wobble slowly in the one third g.
"But
what about the Alcubierre probes?" the question was timid, uncertain. The
voice not from those sat at the table, rather directly behind the big lady.
Those at the table fell into silence while they appraised the interlocutor. The
woman shifted her weight to turn round, the effort causing her to grunt.
Kel shuddered
"The
hell you know 'bout Alcubierre, boy?" she demanded "So shut it with
you dumb interruptions and get the hell back on with what I'm paying you good
money for"
Kel nodded
meekly, and return to massaging the woman's neck.
"S'more
like it, yeaahhhh. Left a bit, that's the spot, mmmmmm" Kel had to stifle
another shudder lest it travel down his arms and be detected by Tenyon; she got
any more pissed off with him and it might be her feet he had to massage
next.
"Kid's
got a'point though, ant'he?" the taller man, Lloyd blew out another stream
of blue grey smoke before continuing "The Al...Alcu....those probes the
congloms chucked outta here back in the day?"
"You
actually believe the shit they tell ya?" the grizzled man sat forward
"that was the biggest con since fucking forever"
"You say
that shit never happen' Guss?" asked Lloyd.
"Nah,
that shit happened, just that shit was fucked up" Guss shifted in his
seat, leant forward "The congloms threw trillions at it. I know a guy who
knew a guy who bummed this dude who worked on it. It's just all that crap they
told us 'bout reachin' for the stars? Horseshit" and with that, he say
back. One hand extended to grab the beer can dropped by the overhead bartender
drone.
"How
come?" Lloyd lent through the smoke fug to tap out some of the sediment
that had built up in his slush-pipe.
"The
tech, right, that Alcubierre shit, it works" Guss paused, savouring the attention
"The probe basically stays still, but uses a fuck tonne of energy so that
space moves right on passed it - that shit actually works, and what's better,
it doesn't contradict my man Einstein" his audience were enrapt, even that
little punk Kel had stopped massaging again without Tenyon noticing, "but
the thing is, they fired them off in the wrong fucking directions"
dramatic pause, lean back in seat, take swig of bear. Misjudge the swig slightly
and pour bear down overalls, fuck,
Guss hastily wiped himself down.
"So what
happened, man?" Lloyd had forgot about restocking his pipe, it smouldered
a little in his hand.
"They
send out seven of these things, right?"
"Uh-huh,
I remember all the fanfare, Chen actually stopped busting our balls for five
minutes while we watched them set off" Tenyon still hadn't noticed that
her massage had stopped.
"Yeah,
well they aimed the seven probes at what the boffins told them were the best
hopes for planets in other systems that could support life"
"Those
places were a fuck of a long way away, dude" Lloyd was shaking his head
reverently
"Indeed
they were my friend. A couple of those little bastards topped 60 light years.
It just turned out that the boffins were full of shit"
"How'd
you mean?" Tenyon asked
"Seven
probes sent out. Three just plain simple fell to pieces - data recovery showed
they blew as soon as the Alcumbierre drives fired. But even the ones that
actually got somewhere, there was fuck all happening. Two send back data
packets showing that they'd hit some ancient fucking hunks of lifeless rock,
and the other sends back images of a fucking super nova; any life there was
long gone. All that shit cost more fucking new dollars than I knew numbers went
up to. Sent four of the big Congloms clean outta business"
"You
talkin' bout the retrenchment years?" Tenyon looked puzzled.
"Exactly
girl. They tell us that it was the rise of AI efficiencies that drove those
older congloms outta town - like fuck was it. They got burnt bad by
Alcumbierre" Guss sat back in his chair, another beer drained.
"What
about the other probe?" the tentative voice broke the silence once
again.
"THE
FUCK I TELL YOU ABOUT TALKING BOY?!" Tenyon seethed.
"S..sorry,
I was j...just wondering about the other probe" replied Kel.
"WHAT OTHER
FUCKING PROBE?" her face had flushed red.
"He, he
said that three broke up on launch, two found lifeless planets and the other a
super nova - that adds up to six. There was a seventh probe."
Tenyon was
about to launch into another tirade, but Lloyd interrupted .
"Hey
man, the kid's right, that does add up to six." he starred at Guss
"Where's the seventh?" he added with a look of wonder.
"Fucked
if I know. Probably crashed into an asteroid somewhere"
"Or
maybe the aliens got it" Lloyds eyes were wide, not just from the effects
of the pipe.
"THE
ALIENS CAN GO TO FUCK IF I DON'T GET MY FUCKING MASSAGE" Tenyon physically
quaked with anger, rolls of flesh moving like the new tide entering a
bay.
"S...sorry
Tenyon" Kel attempted to prod some of the trembling flesh.
"Geez
boy, when you gonna learn?" Tenyon's anger started to subside as Kel went
back to work.
The bartender
drone crawled its way back across the ceiling, and dropped a small potato into
Guss's outstretched hand.
"Shiiiit,
not again" the old man considered the potato for a second, then looked
ruefully up at the drone "I only fixed that damn thing last week"
"Potatoes
are cool" mused Lloyd, who had relit his pipe and was sinking back down
into a melancholic reverie.
"But not
when a man needs refreshment" huffed Guss, struggling to push himself out
of his chair, even in the weak gravity "Am getting too old for this shit
heap" a nod indicating the small canteen-come-bar that they were in,
"time for me to retire and head back home"
"You
been saying that for yearssss", Tenyon's last word was drawn out by the
pleasure of Kel getting to work on her right shoulder.
"But
maybe now I mean it" Guss had started shuffling towards the side room
where the drone normally resided along with the drinks.
"Earth
gravity would crush you like a bug" although there was no malice in
Tenyon's words.
"They
got med-bots to sort that kinds stuff out. I'll be like a new man" this
accompanied by a hacking cough, almost as if for added emphasis.
"You're
going to need more than a med-bot when I crush you like a bug Tenyon" a new voice from the hatchway causing
the big woman to jump.
"Shit,
Chen, I was just coming, needed to see Guss 'bout, er, something" Tenyon
got up, quickly considering her size, brushing away Kel's continued attentions
"Get off me boy, now ain't the time for that"
"You
were supposed to have the engines cycling twenty minutes ago" Chen stood
with his arms folded. His features suggested Chinese ancestry, but they were
blurred by a thick black beard and hair that fell around his face. Piercing
green eyes considered Tenyon time to find
a new engineer?
"Sure
thing Chen, right on it" Tenyon bustled past him and out through the hatch.
Chen paused
at the hatch for a couple of seconds, looked around, before giving Kel a curt
nod and heading out to follow his engineer.
Kel slumped
down in the chair that Tenyon had promptly vacated. The canteen was quiet, the
only noises a soft snoring coming from Lloyd who had drifted into a drug fuelled
haze and the occasional cursing from Guss in the back room while he attempted
to fix the bartender drone. Kel flicked through his messages. Tenyon had
stiffed him again, claiming that he was only due 50% of their agreed price
given the interruption from Chen as well as the stop start nature of the
massage. Still, it meant that he now just about had enough to cover rent and o2
(but not water), and he pinged the payment to Delilah. Grabbing what was left
of Lloyd's drink, he won't miss it,
Kel shouted a farewell to Guss and stepped out into the main corridor.
The Europa
geosynchronous loop habitat had seen better days. The walkway flexed as Kel
made his way towards his cabin, rust was evident at the corners of hatchways.
Somewhere nearby, something dripped. Gravity was created by spinning the loop
habitat, the ultimate example of technological progress built in the early days
of the hubris surrounding what space exploration could bring humanity. However,
creating gravity in this way meant that where ever you wanted to get to, it was
slightly up hill as you walked around the inside of the curve of the
loop.
Transport
spurs linked the outer ring to a central zero g hub that was used both as a
dock for space craft and as the terminus for the space elevator down to the
surface of Europa, Jupiter's sixth moon. The scientists had high hopes for
Europa. With a tenuous atmosphere and evidence of a sub-surface sea it was seen
as a possible harbour for life. As the invention and refinement of the ion
drive gave humanity access to the solar system, one of the earliest ports of
call was Europa. A small research base was landed on the surface, then a larger
base built deeper under the surface between the ice layer and sea. This
shielded the small human research team from the high radiation up on the
surface and allowed them to go about their business. "Business" in
this sense was a mix of outright research scientists hunting for signs of life
and the money men sent by the congloms to look at potential commercial
viabilities. Funded almost entirely by the congloms, the hunt for life made
good PR, but the real work surrounded Europa's potential as facility to produce
water, oxygen and hydrogen. Getting those vital fuels and feedstuffs out of
Earth's gravity well cost big money (especially as fresh water became ever
scarcer), from Europa's weak gravity would be much cheaper.
As technology
improved, Europa became the test bed for space elevator technology, then for
centrifugal habitats. Jupiter's sixth moon was at the forefront of the space
economy.
It was also,
therefore, at the forefront of the first space recession.
The rise of
the AI's and retrenchment among the major congloms saw ownership of the
exploration and production contract on Europa change hands multiple times. The
scientists were recalled (the vast investment spent yielding discovery of a few
microbes not considered to be VFM) and the conglom AI ran drones move in. A
large automated factory was built on the moon's surface, harnessing the
radiation as an energy source. It pumped up the sub surface water, either
purifying or breaking it into its constituent elements on a truly massive
scale. A mass driver was built next to the factory, using electro-magnetism to
literally shoot payloads out of the weak gravity well, aiming them at customers
around the asteroid belt, Mars and the moon. The habitat and space elevator
remained, along with a skeleton crew of no more than 20 to look after the
factory, but also because shipping them back to Earth was considered too
expensive.
Kel was one
of those too expensive to ship back. The puppy fat of his teenage years had
given way to a handsome young man. A handsome young man who continued to dream
of the stars. But no matter how hard he studied he couldn't seem to get his
grades up to a level that would attract the conglom's attention, his brain just
didn't work that way. He did. however, have the sort of easy going charisma
that drew others to him. That may have made him suited to ship liaison, but he
didn't know the sort of execs that could give him a shot at that. Kel didn't
mix in those sort of circles, working a series of menial jobs after college,
jobs it wasn't worth setting a drone to.
During this
time he met a variety of pretty unpleasant characters. It was the grimy
underclass, those left behind by the gains made from the AI. Kel became more
frustrated and more withdrawn. He would spend his evenings in the patch of
scrub ground that was classified as the municipal park, starring at the stars.
He could almost imagine himself up there. If he could block out the sound of
the drug addicts fucking in the bushes next to him that was.
It was in the
park that he first met Delilah. She wasn't one of the drug addicts in the
bushes. No, she was the local prostitute. But a prostitute with drive. The park
was hers, anyone trying to muscle in ended up in a bad way. She knew some
pretty unsavoury people, but wasn't above sticking the boot in herself, or the
stiletto heel for that matter. She and Kel would talk in the evenings between
her clients, about her plans for world domination and his to explore the
galaxy.
Then Delilah
got a bright idea.
"We
should go be companions" she'd said as she joined Kel at their usual bench
in the park.
"Er,
what?" Kel had said, still gazing at the sky.
"Companions,
it's like a fancy name for whores, but in space"
"Space?"
Kel had snapped round to look at Delilah, the mixture of moon and artificial
light reflected in his large brown eyes.
"Uh-huh"
"How?
When?" he'd stood up, an excited energy coursing through his body, making
him fidget.
"There's
a tender for the new Europa habitat - I know a few people on the panel, fucked
a couple of them"
"A
tender?"
"Yup,
they want one female and one male" Delilah held up two fingers for
emphasis.
"To do,
er, what exactly?"
"I told
you, companions. Space whores"
"But I'm
not a, er, whore. No offence"
"But you
want to go to space, right?"
"Yes,
but..."
"But you
ain't bright enough to be an engineer, or a marine, or a drone controller"
her look had hardened.
"Thanks
for the reminder"
"Sorry
Kel, but this is your ticket to space, and my ticket out of this shitty
park"
"Not
sure if I'd be any good as a companion" Kel sat back down on the bench.
"You got
the looks and the body, you got the ability to make people like you, you're 80%
there"
"And the
other 20%" he looked right at her, a gaze Delilah couldn't quite hold and
turned away.
"The
other 20% you just, well, go somewhere else"
"What,
like the seaside?"
"Somewhere
else in your head, thicko" she playfully punched his arm.
"Is that
what you do?"
"It gets
the bills paid" she shrugged, looked out into the park.
A silence
descended on them. Just the accompaniment of that familiar grunting from the
bushes.
"Don't
you ever wish you did something else?" Kel broke the silence.
"Like
what? Scraping the grease from the food processors like you?"
"No,
you're brighter than that. You know how stuff works, like the world and
that"
"Ha,
maybe I could be a politician or something?!" Delilah laughed.
“Maybe"
"Look
Kel, I'm a whore, I'm cool with that. It's not daddy issues, or drugs, or
mixing with the wrong crowd. It was a decision I made, and it works for me. I
reckon it could work for you too" she shrugged "but don't worry if
you don't want to do it. I'll find someone else for the tender."
Another
silence. The grunting from the bushes had also stopped.
"I
reckon you should go for it dude" Kel and Delilah looked at each other,
both frowning as neither had spoken.
"Er..."
Kel said.
"You
never shut up about going to sodding space, this is your chance" Kel and
Delilah slowly turned towards the bushes next to the bench. The bushes that
appeared to be talking to them.
"I
agree" another voice from the bushes "A bit and piece an quiet round
here would be nice for once, without you harping on about space
exploration"
"I'm, er,
sorry, bushes"
"I'm
Dave" said one side of the bushes.
"And I'm
Cynthia" said the other side.
"Nice
to, er, meet you" said Kel, while Delilah just looked on, mouth agape.
"You
guys should go and see the stars" said Dave.
And with the
advice of the drug addicts in the bushes fresh in his mind, Kel went in to
space.
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