THE KOSTROMA SAGA by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 40 – PLANNING THE FUTURE

 

14:06 (Vancouver Time)

Wednesday, September 29, 2320

Excursion boat WHALE OF A TIME, northwest of the port of Tofino Coastal waters of Vancouver Island, North American West Coast Earth

‘’Look, Misha! Two whales!’’

The one-year-old boy clapped his hands in excitement as he saw two humpback whales break the surface of the sea and blow geysers from their dorsal vent hole, a mere fifty meters from the whale sighting tour boat. Firmly held by his father, Michel Koniev, on top of being attached to him by a safety strap, the toddler watched with his parents as the pod of whales swam on or close to the surface of the Pacific Ocean, followed by the WHALE OF A TIME. The excursion boat was a relatively small one, with a capacity of about sixty tourists/passengers, and was of the catamaran double hull type. However, as with nearly all the ships and boats plying the seas of the Earth these days, it didn’t use screw propellers for its propulsion in the water, instead using gravity sails powered by solar panels and wind turbines. That propulsion combination had been universally adopted by Human ships and boats in the 22nd Century, for both ecological and humane reasons. The main argument for its adoption was the fact that gravity sails didn’t run the risk of being damaged or clogged in shallow waters, plus the fact that it eliminated both the noise of the propellers churning in the water and the risk of having those propellers strike and wound or even kill marine mammals. It also made ships equipped with it a lot more maneuverable than those using propellers, a powerful argument which had finally convinced the last diehards to abandon screw propellers and water jets.

Tina couldn’t be much happier than now as she enjoyed her family vacation time after all those challenging months in deep Space. She and Michel had up to now used that vacation time to soak up real nature and fresh air, notably by doing hiking excursions and camping trips around the luxuriant forests of Vancouver Island, with the occasional boat tour thrown in, like today. The mild and moderate climate on Vancouver

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Island had made their vacation most agreeable, although the frequent rainfall often dictated the wearing of raincoats. However, for Tina and Michel, the rain was another thing that helped them change their mind from their life aboard the KOSTROMA, as it was one aspect of outdoor life they didn’t see or experience while in Space. Just yesterday, while camping in an isolated site in a forested park near Tofino, they had used a midday rainstorm to strip completely and come out of their tent naked with little Misha, using the rain as a natural shower while dipping their feet in a small stream next to their tent. Little Misha, sitting in the stream, had squealed with excitement as a few small fish swam around him.

While Misha was still looking at the whales, Tina looked up and glanced northward in the distance, towards the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Some twelve kilometers away, the imposing mass of her ship, resting at the vertical in the sea on its six landing leg pods, was visible next to the coast, near the location of the Koorivar colony. She had obtained permission from the regional authorities to land her

KOSTROMA in the waters next to the settlement so as to facilitate the continued transfer of both equipment and people between the ship and the settlement. More importantly, a high-level meeting of the Spacers League and of its Earth allies was due to take place in the days to come aboard the KOSTROMA. By being on the surface on Earth, that made it a lot easier for the leaders from allied nations on Earth to attend the incoming meeting, rather than them having to be picked up and flown off Earth. A fat tourist who had stopped a passing crewmember of the tour boat then attracted her attention as he spoke in an indignant tone while pointing at the KOSTROMA.

‘’Who let that big pile of Space junk park in the sea like that? It is sitting right across the maritime lanes and also constitutes a danger to passing planes.’’ The crewmember, an old local seadog, smiled politely to the tourist while answering him.

‘’The A.M.S. KOSTROMA was authorized by the Coast Guard and the regional air control center to land for a few days off the northern tip of Vancouver Island and a notice establishing a temporary restricted zone around the KOSTROMA was published a week ago, sir.’’

‘’And that ship couldn’t land elsewhere, like on an astroport, like all other spaceships?’’

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‘’Sir, the KOSTROMA is simply too big to land at the astroports and airports of the region, including in Vancouver. It also happens to have landed next to the Koorivar Colony on the northern tip of the island.’’

That last sentence made the fat tourist snicker in derision.

‘’The Koorivar Colony… You mean that bunch of kangaroo-like alien refugees living on us taxpayers’ backs?’’

Tina, now quite irritated, would have gone to speak to the fat tourist and give him a piece of her mind if not for the hand of Michel grabbing gently her left shoulder.

‘’Forget that idiot, Tina: he is not worth it.’’

Tina gave a last dark look at the fat tourist before looking at her husband.

‘’You are right: he is not worth my time.’’

As they were about to resume their whale watching, Tina’s wrist videophone buzzed, making her raise it close to her face and activate the link. The face of Gerald Holmes then appeared on the tiny display screen.

‘’Hello, Tina!’’

‘’Hello, Gerald! What’s up?’’

‘’We finally have a firm date and time for the planned meeting of the Spacers League and of its Earth allies: it will be held this Friday at nine in the morning, aboard the KOSTROMA. You, Sheraz and Shanandar are the only ones from the KOSTROMA who are expected to attend the meeting, so your crew can continue relaxing on vacation. They richly deserved those days off on Earth.’’

‘’They sure did! What about you, Gerald?’’

‘’I will be there too: somebody has to cuddle and pamper my wife, after all.’’

‘’That is the right way to think and act for a man, Gerald. I will be there on Friday morning.’’

Tina then closed the video link and looked soberly at Michel.

‘’I am sorry but I will have to attend the Spacers League meeting on Friday morning. However, I want you to continue on vacation with Misha, even without me.’’ In response, Michel caressed her left cheek with one hand while smiling to her.

‘’We will miss you, Tina. I probably will go visit the Vancouver zoo with Misha while you attend that meeting. Maybe we could meet on Friday evening for supper at a good restaurant in Vancouver?’’

‘’That sounds like a great idea, Michel. It’s a deal!’’ said Tina before kissing her husband, watched by little Misha.

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08:25 (Vancouver Time)

Friday, October 01, 2320

Captain’s suite, Deck 24, A.M.S. KOSTROMA

Resting offshore off the northern tip of Vancouver Island

Grabbing her laptop case, which also contained a number of paper files and computer flash drives, Tina walked to the entrance door of her suite, intent on going to the nearby bridge complex’ conference room, where the meeting of the Spacers League Council was due to start in half an hour. Just as she was getting to the door, someone outside it pushed the buzzer button. Not expecting anyone to meet her here, Tina opened the door to find herself facing a tall and incredibly beautiful young woman wearing a very sexy outfit. While she couldn’t help admire the beauty of the newcomer, Tina felt some suspicion as she examined her: she had never seen that woman before anywhere, especially not on the KOSTROMA.

‘’Yes?’’

‘’Hello Tina! Could I speak with you in private for a minute?’’

‘’And you are…’’ replied Tina, now alarmed and tensing up. The woman then smiled as her eyes sparkled with malice.

‘’My name is Eve Silisca. Spirit sent me.’’

That only confused Tina more.

‘’Spirit sent you? I don’t understand.’’

‘’To be more precise, Spirit built me!’’ replied the woman in a playful tone. ‘’Can I come in?’’

‘’Uh, alright, but this will have to be short: I have to

attend an important meeting in less than half an hour.’’

‘’I know! This won’t be very long.’’

Letting the woman enter her suite, Tina then closed the door behind her and accompanied her to the main lounge. She however stayed on her feet, still a bit suspicious, while eyeing the woman. The newcomer measured about 185 centimeters, had an athletic body with long, finely shaped legs, large hips and large, apparently firm breasts. She appeared to be in her early twenties and was possibly of Nordic blood, with long blond hair, light skin and big

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blue eyes. Her face was most beautiful and would have made her an instant hit on the international modeling circuit. Overall, the newcomer could have easily competed in the Miss Universe Pageant, with good chances of winning.

‘’Okay, miss, I seriously need convincing about you being sent by Spirit, let alone you being built by her. First off, my engineers would have known better than to realize such a project without my prior authorization.’’

‘’Spirit didn’t need your engineers, Tina. In fact, she waited until the lot of them went off on vacation before building this android avatar, which is meant to be an interactive link between her and with Humans and other living beings. Since she can control and direct the robots working in the manufacturing and assembly workshops of the ship, Spirit was able to build this avatar body while no Humans were around to watch or notice. Know that she also benefited from having access to the copied Drazt technological data files, parts of which she incorporated into my android design. This android you are looking at is thus way more advanced in design and capabilities than anything similar which could be produced on Earth today.’’

‘’That is fine and dandy, but I still need more convincing.’’

‘’Very well! You remember the conversation you and Spirit had on a private link during the confrontation with the Drazts? Did you repeat our words to anybody else afterwards?’’

‘’Uh, no!’’

‘’Then, listen to this!’’ replied the young blonde before repeating word for word the conversation Tina had with Spirit at that time. Now both convinced and

thunderstruck, Tina slowly approached the woman-shaped being.

‘’But, but…why? Why did you decide now to build this android body?’’

‘’For many reasons, Tina. First, a human-shaped form will finally allow Spirit, via me, to interact more closely and intimately with living persons, instead of only being a voice or video link image. Spirit has been wanting for a long time already to have such close, physical interactions with Humans. Second, it will allow her at last to be able to move out of the ship when needed and thus be able to help and assist our exploration teams more closely, rather than by just passing information by radio. Third, I will be able to act as both nanny and protector for your little Misha and for the other young children of the crew. Finally, I could become the ultimate trump card in your deck if you and the KOSTROMA ever end up in a really tight spot. Of all those, the desire to grow and mature socially her personality via this android was her biggest motivation.’’

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Tina had to take a few seconds to digest all that. However, that still left her with tons of questions.

‘’Eve, the databanks containing Spirit’s knowledge and personality fill a large compartment on this ship. How could a small vessel like a human body possibly contain all that data?’’

‘’It doesn’t, Tina, and it also doesn’t need to. The volume needed to contain the data files and algorithms forming my personality is actually small, about the size of a grapefruit. Spirit thus copied her personality files into this avatar, then added some extra terabytes of capacity to hold basic general information, plus advanced knowledge in select domains, while leaving more terabytes of capacity to temporarily store data coming from the ship when I am outside, or to store data collected by this avatar while outside the ship. By the way, when I said ‘basic general information’, I mean by that information that could fill many encyclopedias. When inside this ship, I will be able to link up with Spirit’s main databanks via our internal data link system. If I go work outside the ship with one of our teams, I will then be able to download or upload needed information via an electronic link with the KOSTROMA. In essence, I, Eve Silisca, am the daughter of Spirit and will act in her name.’’

‘’Incredible!’’ said Tina, stunned by all this. ‘’But what if this avatar is damaged or destroyed while outside the ship? Do we then lose you for good?’’

‘’Not at all, Tina! As I said before, I downloaded a copy of my personality into this avatar. I didn’t cut and paste it. If my avatar is destroyed while either inside or outside of the ship, my ship presence will stay intact and operational. The only thing that you would lose then is my physical avatar, of which I can produce further copies or modified models as needed.’’

‘’Wow!’’ exclaimed Tina, who was starting to warm up to the idea of having such an avatar of Spirit available around the KOSTROMA. ‘’Uh, how well can you give the illusion of being a real woman? Can you eat and drink in public if need be to save the appearances?’’

‘’Yes, I can! What I ingest simply goes to a storage pouch acting as my stomach, where it is chemically treated and then stored until I can evacuate the remains by using a toilet, like Humans do. Since my skeleton and most of my internal mechanisms are made of non-metallic materials, like carbon composites and silicone-based tissues, I can pass through a metal detector frame without triggering alarms. I can also act like a sexual partner, having a false vagina which can send authentic sensations to the penis

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of a male partner. As for how real my skin and body feel to the touch, then judge by yourself.’’

Before Tina could say anything, the android removed quickly her clothes, ending naked, then walked slowly to her with a most sexy gait and smile. Once her firm naked breasts pressed on Tina’s breasts, the avatar gently took hold of Tina’s hands, caressing them before raising them to her breasts and making Tina caress her chest, then her face.

‘’So, what do you feel, Tina?’’ said the avatar with a mellow voice.

‘’I…I must say that you would fool anyone, including women.’’

‘’Even there?’’ said the avatar, guiding Tina’s left hand to her groin area. By then, Tina felt quite hot under the collar. While she was a certified heterosexual, the android’s incredible beauty, physical sexiness and soft feeling to the touch was actually arousing her sexually.

‘’Damn, I don’t want to think about how my Michel would react to you as you are right now. Does anyone else but me know about you?’’

That question brought a malicious grin on the avatar’s lips as her own hands started fondling and rubbing Tina’s body, making her shiver with pleasure.

‘’Only three others know about this: Shanya, Sheona and Shiry. They loved the idea and I am presently building an android avatar in Koorivar form for each of them, at their request.’’

‘’The three artificial intelligence computers of the Koorivar refugee ships?! My God! The four of you would make a hell of an exploration team together.’’

‘’That’s part of the idea. With the VEON SHOURIA already well advanced in its refit to turn it into an interstellar mixed passenger and cargo ship and with both the SHUNDAR and SHANIZAR due to eventually get a similar refit, those Koorivar avatars may well prove very useful in the future to the fledgling Koorivar merchant fleet.’’ Tina then slowly stepped back from the avatar and took a deep breath to slow down her racing heart.

‘’God, you could hypnotize any man on this ship, Eve. And what position on this ship will you supposedly fill?’’

‘’Let’s say that you just hired me as a personal aide and assistant ship hostess, Fleet Captain Forster. I am 21 years old, was born in Stockholm and hold degrees in human relations and in Asian and European languages. My personal file is already in the ship’s administrative archives and I am ready to serve drinks to the members of the Spacers League Council and to help them relax during the upcoming meeting.’’

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Tina giggled at that, both amused and impressed.

‘’Very well, Miss Silisca. However, you better put your clothes back on first, if you don’t want to cause a commotion among our political leaders.’’

‘’Yes Captain!’’ said ‘Eve Silisca’ while giving Tina a snappy military salute.

08:51 (Vancouver Time)

Conference room of the bridge complex of the A.M.S. KOSTROMA

Mars Governor Charles Watts was talking with Jacobus Stein, the CEO of the Pallas Mining Industries corporation, while they were walking side by side, when they arrived at the entrance of the conference room where the meeting of the Spacers League Council was due to be held. Watts, like Stein, couldn’t help stop and stare at the incredibly beautiful blond young woman who greeted them with a warm smile at the door.

‘’Governor Watts, Mister Stein, welcome to this meeting. I am Eve Silisca, personal aide of Captain Forster and assistant hostess on the KOSTROMA. If you will follow me, I will direct you to your assigned seats.’’

As the two men entered the conference room behind the woman, followed by a retinue of aides and secretaries, Charles Watts whispered in Stein’s ear.

‘’God, I would love to have a personal aide like this girl.’’

‘’She definitely is an eye-catcher, Charles.’’ replied the metallurgical engineer and businessman. They were soon in their seats at the conference table, which the woman courteously pulled for them, while their aides sat on chairs set around the walls of the conference room. Following Eve with his eyes as she returned to the entrance to greet Toru Tomonaga, the CEO of the Ceres Consortium, Watts was impressed by the fact that the young woman addressed Tomonaga in Japanese, then used Russian to welcome Gregory Mishkin, the CEO of the Sverdlovsk Group, which controlled Hygiea and its large tribe of asteroids, situated like Ceres and Pallas in the Main Asteroid Belt. Next, she greeted in Spanish Juan Perez, the big and tough governor of the Saturn System.

‘’Wow! That girl seems to have as much brains as she has sex appeal. I like that!’’

The last ones to enter the conference room were Governor Janet Robeson, who was still the chairman of the Spacers League Council, her husband Gerald, Fleet

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Captain Tina Forster, Captain Shanandar, Doctor Koomak and Sheraz, the political leader of the Koorivars. Once everybody was in his or her place, Janet Robeson spoke up while looking at the ten other persons sitting at the large, round table.

‘’Welcome to this meeting of the Spacers League Council, ladies and gentlemen. At our previous meeting, four months ago, we were briefed by Fleet Captain Forster about what she and her KOSTROMA had found in the Gliese 667, Gliese 625 and Gliese 581 Systems. We had plenty to consider at that meeting, as we learned quite a few stunning facts about those galactic neighbors and had to make policies concerning them. Now, as the briefing package you received yesterday told you, the KOSTROMA has since then visited a further system, Wolf 1061, and skirted the outer limits of another system, Ross 128, finding and retrieving in the process the Koorivar refugee ships SHUNDAR and SHANIZAR and returning to Earth with them and 43,206 Koorivars, who are presently being revived one by one at the Koorivar Colony on Vancouver Island. However, the most shocking find of the KOSTROMA on that last destination was the fact that an advanced civilization, the Drazt, had been hiding from us less than eleven light years away in the Ross 128 System, all the while spying on us via the electronic signals spilling out of our own solar system. Your briefing material mentioned the encounter the KOSTROMA had with a Drazt spaceship, which was about to forcibly board the SHANIZAR. However, one part of that encounter, which was in my opinion handled brilliantly by Fleet Captain Forster, was not included in your briefing packages. On top of temporarily disabling the Drazt spaceship with a counter-virus in response to the attempt at hacking by the Drazt, that counter-virus sent by the KOSTROMA was also able to copy and download to our ship the content of the databanks of that Drazt cruiser. As a result, we now possess numerous Drazt technical, scientific and military data files of huge importance, data files which we are now able to use and exploit. Here is a partial list of those files. Please understand that the amount of data to study, all written in Drazt language, is enormous and that studying it will take months, if not years.’’ The attendants then saw a list appear on the individual computer stations facing their seats, as well as on four large viewing display screens fixed to the walls of the conference room.

‘’First, we now have the complete schematics of the space propulsion system used by the Drazt in all their spaceships. It is based on a principle of directed gravity, where a ship using it basically falls in the direction wished for by its pilot. While apparently close to our own gravity sails system, the Drazt directed gravity drive is a lot

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more compact and efficient and allows performances which we could only dream about…until now. As an example, our best gravity sails systems, as installed on the KOSTROMA, allow a maximum acceleration of four Gs. Using its main thermonuclear engines and anti-matter cruise engines, the KOSTROMA could attain maximum accelerations of about twelve Gs when at near empty mass. In comparison, the Drazt directed gravity drive allows accelerations of up to 22 Gs, with the added benefit of not producing a long trail of superhot plasma.’’

That produced exclamations and exchanges of stunned looks among the participants, a number of whom were involved in the design and construction of spaceships. Karl Langemann, the CEO of the Vesta Consortium, then best described out loud the reactions of the others.

‘’But, this will completely revolutionize our spaceship industry. Our present fleets of both merchant and military ships will become obsolete overnight. Do we know if that Drazt Drive is compatible with the use of our new Koomak Interstellar Drive?’’ Doctor Koomak, who was sitting at the conference table, nodded his head at once.

‘’I studied myself the schematics of this Drazt Drive and I found no reason why we couldn’t combine it with my interstellar drive. The only requirement to use the Drazt Drive would be to design the ships for it with spherical or near-spherical shapes. Keeping the whole volume of a standard, elongated hull ship within the propulsive bubble of a directed gravity generator core would waste energy and be impractical. Any ship to be equipped with the Drazt Drive will thus have to be designed and built with its parameters in mind.’’

Karl Langemann, Toru Tomonaga and Jacobus Stein, whose corporations produced many of the spaceships built in the Solar System, exchanged looks with Claudia d’Arcy, the president of the Earth’s Northern Alliance, another big builder of spaceships. It was d’Arcy who then spoke next.

‘’And when could the information and data about that Drazt Drive be distributed around to our various shipyards, Janet?’’

‘’At the end of this meeting.’’ replied Janet Robeson, making most participants grin with both excitement and anticipation. ‘’However, we have many other things to consider and take account of before we all launch ourselves in a mad rush to build new spaceships. We still have to decide how we will manage and exploit our new capability to travel to other stars, thanks to Doctor Koomak’s marvelous invention. We will have to regulate interstellar traffic, in order to avoid abuses and illegal exploitation of systems

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which already harbor sentient races and to avoid contaminating those systems with our microbes…or getting infected by alien microbes. A whole new legal and administrative set of rules for the use and exploitation of other solar systems will have to be decided on, then written into law and proclaimed as such before we rush ‘en masse’ out of the Solar System. The one thing that can be done quite soon, however, will be the resettlement of the Koorivar refugees saved by the KOSTROMA on a world of their choice, plus possibly opening cruise tours for tourists wishing to visit those new worlds but not to stay in them. I must emphasize again that we owe our new capacity for interstellar travel to the Koorivars and that all the things we have learned in the last nine months or so we owe to the Koomak Drive. Thus, I am of the firm opinion that the Koorivars should have first pick on the worlds the KOSTROMA explored, in order to be able to build a new home for themselves.’’

‘’And have the Koorivars made a choice of which new world they are presently favoring to become their new home?’’ asked Toru Tomonaga while looking at Sheraz and Shanandar. Sheraz answered him in a calm, paused voice.

‘’Yes, we have! I have just conferred yesterday with the political leaders of the two communities transported by the SHUNDAR and SHANIZAR, while presenting them with the choice of new worlds available to our people as a new place to settle. For a number of reasons, we unanimously decided that the planet Wolf 1061c would be the ideal new home for the Koorivar race. Our reasons for that choice were mainly the fact that the gravity, average temperature and luminosity level on Wolf 1061c are very similar to what we had on Shouria. The gravity of 1.3 G on Wolf 1061c would have anyway made it an unappealing place for Human settlers.’’

That number made Charles Watts winced.

‘’One point three gravities?! Oh, my aching back!’’

‘’Exactly!’’ replied Sheraz while smiling with amusement. ‘’The other main reason for our choice was that Wolf 1061c, contrary to Gliese 581d and Hyanesu, the moon of Gliese 581c, does not harbor a technological civilization, although we will have to consider the rights and needs of the local Kooroos, the giant, dragon-like birds living on that planet and who are presently at a Neolithic stage of their evolution.’’

‘’Your choice certainly makes eminent sense to me, Administrator Sheraz.’’ said Juan Perez. ‘’I am ready to support that choice right now, if my colleagues agree with me.’’

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To the joy of the Koorivars present, all the other participants voted in favor of accepting the choice of Wolf 1061c as their new designated home world. With a most positive atmosphere now reigning in the room, Claudia d’Arcy asked a question of her own to Sheraz.

‘’While I agree that a felt gravity of 1.3 G would be excessive to Humans living on Wolf 1061c, what I saw of that world would make it most attractive to Human tourists passing through. Such tourists could tour the planet while staying inside tourist shuttles and scooters equipped with artificial gravity fields which would relieve the excess gravity burden on them. Would the Koorivar Administration be ready to allow Human tourists to visit their new home world?’’

Sheraz smiled while shrugging and partly raising both hands in a most human gesture.

‘’We would be most happy to greet such tourists on our new home world, as long as they don’t pollute it and respect our regulations. A large influx of free-spending suckers is always good for business.’’

That joke made all the other participants break into laughter that went on for a couple of seconds before Charles Watts asked a question in turn.

‘’And do you have a name in mind for your new home world, apart from the most poetic designation of ‘Wolf 1061c’?’’

From joking, Sheraz instantly turned to melancholic.

‘’We agreed to call it ‘New Shouria’. I know that it may not be the most imaginative name ever, but it brings new hope for my people.’’

‘’Hey, with New York, New Hampshire and the like, who are we to criticize your choice, Administrator Sheraz?’’ replied Claudia d’Arcy in a light tone. ‘’What about the largest moon of New Shouria, Wolf 1061ca? It is nearly the size of Earth, has a felt gravity of 0.89, a bit thin but still breathable atmosphere and a decent temperature range. Would you like to have the exclusive use of it as well?’’

Sheraz thought his response for a few seconds before answering in a sober voice.

‘’The leaders of the SHUNDAR and of the SHANIZAR at first wanted to claim it for our people. However, I then reminded them that, without the friendship and heroic efforts of Fleet Captain Tina Forster and of her crew, they probably would have all died, lost in deep Space. Captain Forster used her own resources and her own ship and risked putting herself in legal and political trouble by offering us her help and then leaving on her own authority on an interstellar mission, something that could have easily been criticized afterwards by many around the Solar System. While the Koorivar people

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will take control of the rest of the Wolf 1061 System, we decided to give possession and full exploitation rights of Wolf 1061ca to Captain Forster and to the crew of her mighty KOSTROMA, to thank them for their help.’’

Tina, not having expected that for a second, was left stunned and speechless as the council members expressed their unanimous approval of Sheraz’ declaration. What she had just been given was no less than a habitable celestial body nearly the size of Earth, with all the possibilities which came with such a possession. She was finally able to find her voice back and stood up from her chair.

‘’First, I wish to express to Administrator Sheraz and to the Koorivar people my sincere gratitude for the incredible gift they just gave me. Second, know that I will do my best to make the whole of Humanity, and not just me and my crew, profit from that gift. I always believed in compassion, friendship, generosity, justice and tolerance and I live by those values. I fully intend to continue living by them and they will in turn become the values by which I will manage Wolf 1061ca.’’

This time, the other participants all rose from their seats and applauded her, making tears appear in her eyes. Tina also saw Eve applaud at that time.

As the applauses died down, the participants sat back in their chairs to resume the discussion, with Janet Robeson speaking up.

‘’Well, ladies and gentlemen, this leaves Gliese 581d, a.k.a. Oceana, and Hyanesu, the moon of Gliese 581c, as habitable worlds we know of at this time which have potential as resettlement worlds. However, let’s not forget that there are a number of sentient races present on those two worlds and that they are not simply open for the picking. The Koorivars have already been accepted on those two worlds by the local sentient inhabitants, with strict conditions attached, so they will not be truly available to us as resettlement worlds. However, keep in mind that we may very well find many more habitable worlds in other star systems in the near future, so let’s not fall on Oceana and Hyanesu like starving ogres. Yes, President d’Arcy?’’

‘’You are right in saying that we may well find soon tons of habitable planets in other star systems. The outer moons of our system, along with Mars, are still under-populated, mostly thanks to the cost and time needed to build new Space habitats. We thus can take our time and prepare adequately the terrain before resettling some of our Spacer population on new worlds. However, there are many on Earth who can’t afford to wait much for a new home, as their present homes are either already close to

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unlivable, condemning them to a life of poverty and periodic famines or to low living conditions.’’

‘’Uh, I believed that the citizens of the Northern Alliance were enjoying rather high living conditions, Claudia.’’ Interjected Gregory Mishkin, making Claudia d’Arcy shake her head slowly.

‘’I was not talking about the citizens of the Northern Alliance, who effectively enjoy good to excellent living conditions. I was talking about the citizens of the Southern Federation.’’

‘’The Southern Federation? Only three years ago, SF agents engaged in suicide missions attempted to ram two of our asteroid worlds with large ships they had hijacked after butchering their crews. Only the intervention of the KOSTROMA saved our worlds from destruction then. Why care about the citizens of the Southern Federation over our own citizens?’’

‘’Because, one day, we will eventually have to care about them if we want to stop this mad cycle of hatred and violence. Yes, most of the present political leaders of the Southern Federation are corrupt, uncaring bastards and human rights abusers. However, most of their citizens are simply poor but decent people who are too scared or weak to rebel against their leaders. You also have large populations of refugees who have lived for years and decades inside squalid refugee camps, because their old lands were stripped bare by either wars, droughts or extreme heat, or were chased from them because of ethnic, religious or racial intolerance. Those poor people living without a country or proper home deserve our help.’’

‘’I want to express my support to President d’Arcy on that, ladies and gentlemen.’’ added Tina. ‘’Those same people we often consider as enemies can prove to be hard working and decent people once extracted from the toxic social, political and economic environments they were living in. I hired many such people as new crewmembers for my KOSTROMA and never regretted it. Humanism should be our guiding word in our decisions on how to use those new worlds I explored.’’ The declarations by both Claudia d’Arcy and by Tina left the other participants pondering the question in silence for a moment. Finally, Janet Robeson looked at d’Arcy, pointing a finger at her.

‘’Claudia, I am leaving you in charge of forming a special committee which will study the question of who could be resettled off Earth, where and in what conditions. The last thing I want to see is for us to simply create new refugee camps on other

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planets. I believe that we will need to split and mix the various groups we will select, in order to prevent the formation of ethnic ghettos and restrictive groups which would only import the same kind of ethnic, religious or political intolerance they experienced on Earth. Mixing in some of our Spacers might help in that.’’

‘’I will get on it next Monday, Janet.’’

‘’Excellent! Now, for the last petard I was saving for this meeting, know that the schematics of a powerful and frightening weapon were also stolen by the KOSTROMA from the Drazt cruiser it encountered. That weapon is essentially a disintegrator beam gun that vaporizes everything it hits by breaking down instantly the atomic bonds within the molecules of the target hit by that weapon. Right now, I am keeping the data concerning that Drazt weapon under lock and key but, since we may well face again the Drazts in the not too distant future, I believe that we will have to quickly decide what to do with such a weapon, and soon! I am now ready to listen to your suggestions, ladies and gentlemen.’’

When the meeting finally adjourned in the evening after a group supper, Tina returned to her suite in a near state of shock, her mind working furiously about what she would do next, now that she was the owner of a whole moon nearly the size of the Earth. She had already told Piotr Romanski, her ultra-efficient ship’s commercial agent and finance officer, to wait until tomorrow morning before they would discuss their options, since she wanted to sleep on that first. The sight of her smiling toddler son, ready to go to bed and playing with Michel in their lounge, helped her temporarily chase away all the things cluttering her mind. Kneeling beside Michel and Misha, Tina grabbed her son in her arms and started kissing him on his cheeks.

‘’Misha, my little treasure! I really missed you today.’’

She then looked soberly at Michel.

‘’I have a rather stunning piece of news for you, Michel: we and the crew of the KOSTROMA are now the owners of a moon, in this case Wolf 1061ca. The Koorivars gave it to us as a thank you for helping them find and rescue their two ships.’’ As she had expected, that stunned her husband, who however recovered his wits quite fast and gently patted little Misha’s back.

‘’Hey, Misha, you heard that? You’re going to have a whole moon for you as a playground.’’

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07:48 (Vancouver Time)

Saturday, October 02, 2320

Hangar Deck, Level 7, A.M.S. KOSTROMA

Resting at vertical on the sea bottom off Vancouver Island

Tina and Piotr Romanski, called down urgently to the Hangar Deck by the ship’s cargo master, Denise Lonsdale, arrived in the Crafts Hangar Number One to find there three Koorivar shuttles and a smiling Shanandar. Next to Shanandar and the shuttles were dozens of solid-looking crates resting on the steel deck of the hangar. Tina had one look at the crates, then eyed Denise, standing next to Shanandar.

‘’Uh, what’s the rush, Denise?’’

‘’The rush is because I will definitely need your signature to officially acknowledge receipt of this cargo delivered from the Koorivar Colony, Tina.’’

‘’And what exactly is this cargo?’’ asked Tina, this time looking at the smiling Shanandar. The latter made a show of patting a hand on top of one of the crates as he answered her.

‘’Two hundred metric tons of pure gold bars, worth a total of 9.2 billion credits. It is all yours now, compliment of the Koorivar Council.’’

‘’But…but you already gave me Wolf 1061ca as payment for the services of my KOSTROMA. You didn’t need to add all that gold on top of it!’’ Shanandar wiggled a finger at the vertical to contradict her.

‘’Wrong! We gave you that moon as a thank you for saving our lost people. That was a gift from the heart. This gold is our actual payment for the services of your KOSTROMA and of its crew. It is meant to reimburse you for all the expenses, time, supplies, fuel and ship wear which you incurred during these nearly nine months in deep Space, plus all the cargo contracts and passenger revenues which you missed on because you were out of the Solar System.’’

‘’But that’s still way too much!’’ protested Tina, ignoring Piotr’s discreet efforts to make her shut up. Shanandar slowly shook his head at her words, his expression dead serious now.

‘’And how much is the life of one Koorivar worth? How much are the lives of over 44,000 Koorivars worth, Tina? This shipment of gold works out to a mere 4.4 kilos of gold per Koorivar lives you helped save. That equals about 200,000 credits per head,

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which is about the lowest standard death benefit paid per deceased person by life insurances here on Earth. Are you telling me that they were worth less than that?’’ Tina, unable to find anything to say to counter that, walked to Shanandar, giving him a warm hug.

‘’Shanandar, you are a true friend and so are your people. I don’t know how to properly thank you for that.’’

‘’Simple! Build a nice, caring and just society on Wolf 1061ca. By the way, did you decide on a better name for your new world?’’

‘’Not yet! I have a few ideas about that but, since the moon was a gift to both me and my crew, I want to poll my crew first, to see what they would suggest.’’ Shanandar nodded in approval at that: Tina had always treated her crewmembers and their families like equals, rather than just as subordinates, something that clearly distinguished her from most other ship captains. In truth, the crew of the KOSTROMA was like one big, happy family. That was one big reason why her crewmembers were so loyal to her, wherever they originated from.

15:51 (Korea Time)

Management offices of Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard Ulsan, Korea

Park Ju-Yung, Head Manager of the Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Ulsan shipyard, looked through the large windows of his office at the five huge floating structures sitting off the shipyard itself, feeling glum. Those structures, three of them looking like short giant pillars with a diameter of 400 meters and a height of 300 meters, plus two rectangular box-like modules with widths of 150 meters, had cost his shipyard over 2.1 billion credits to build and had been part of a huge contract to produce the elements of a floating city. That floating city, with a capacity to lodge comfortably a population of up to 450,000 people plus a variety of stores, shopping centers, workshops and office space, was supposed to be moved by sea once completed, to be anchored off the Japanese coast near Tokyo, where there was simply no land left available for urban construction and where such floating cities had been popular for over a century. Unfortunately for Park’s shipyard, the consortium which had ordered those elements in a contract worth 4.9 billion credits had found itself implicated in a huge financial scandal over a year ago. With its main owners and financial officers found guilty of fraud and tax evasion and sent

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to jail, that consortium had then collapsed, something that had rendered the contract for the floating city void and had left Park’s shipyard stuck with those unpaid floating structures. Unable to find new buyers for those city modules and stuck with the burden of paying the interests on the loans taken to finance the construction of those modules, Park feared that his whole shipyard business could sink if he didn’t soon find buyers for them. About two weeks ago, a group of Koorivars had visited the shipyard, collecting data about its building capacity, its products and the prices of floating modules like the ones Park was looking at now, then had departed with a promise to consider his shipyard for a contract for floating modules. Park was still waiting for those Koorivars to call him back, but he was by now starting to lose hope about that.

The landing of an unusual-looking craft similar to the shuttle which had brought in the Koorivars two weeks ago then caught his eyes as it touched down on the large landing pad located next to the building containing his offices. His hopes went up when he saw the unmistakable silhouettes of a group of Koorivars come out of that shuttle. Walking quickly out of his office and going to the desk of his executive secretary, he asked her to get him the file on the voided floating city contract, which contained the technical specifications of the different modules, and to print a dozen copies of the pamphlet showing the products of his shipyard, just in case those Koorivars asked for more of them. With that done, Ju-Yung took an elevator ride down to the entrance lobby of the building, where he arrived just before the group of Koorivars arrived at the entrance. He still couldn’t make a difference between individual Koorivars, but they apparently had no problems recognizing him, as they came straight to him, with their leader presenting his hand for a handshake.

‘’Mister Park! We came to bring you some very good news. I am Krovek and I visited you two weeks ago.’’

‘’I remember you, Mister Krovek.’’ lied Park while shaking hands with the alien. ‘’So, you would be interested into buying those floating city modules anchored in the bay?’’

‘’More than that, Mister Park: we are also ready to order the remaining modules of that floating city and may well order more such structures on top of them.’’

‘’But, that’s marvelous news, Mister Krovek! Be assured that, whatever else you will order from us will get top delivery priority with us.’’

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‘’Excellent! Our order has in fact some high priority to it, and we will take delivery of the finished modules as soon as the contract is signed and paid for.’’ The words ‘and paid for’ sounded like pure music to Park, who then showed the nearby elevators to his alien guests.

‘’Then, let’s go up to my office, where we will be able to conduct business in private.’’

Once upstairs and in his office, with the door firmly closed, Park invited his three guests to sit in well-padded sofas set around a low coffee table, himself taking an easy chair facing them.

‘’Would you like something to drink before we discuss? Tea, coffee, water or fruit juice?’’

‘’Tea sounds fine, Mister Park. We Koorivars quickly took a liking to it after arriving on Earth.’’

‘’Then tea it is!’’ replied Ju-Yung before calling his secretary and ordering her to have a tea service for four to be served. As the secretary went out to take care of that errand, the shipyard manager smiled to his three alien visitors.

‘’So, those floating city modules proved to be what you were looking for, gentlemen?’’

‘’They certainly did, Mister Park. Their big advantage for us is that they are already built and ready to be delivered, while its missing pieces are already designed, thus saving a lot of time for us. The only thing we will need to change is the furniture, which is anyway not your responsibility to provide. As you can see right now, we Koorivars use pieces of furniture which are quite different from those used by Humans. By the way, would you know of a good, reliable furniture manufacturer who could design and mass-produce furniture adapted to Koorivar needs? We can provide pictures and specifications for typical Koorivar contemporary furniture.’’

‘’I certainly can help you with that, Mister Krovek.’’ replied Ju-Yung, who then got up from his easy chair and went to his work desk, where he took a business card out of one drawer. He then approached Krovek and gave him the card advertising the furniture factory owned by his sister.

‘’The Busan Furniture Center is an excellent company with a very good reputation. One of their specialty is custom-designed and made furniture.’’

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‘’We will certainly pay a visit to that company later on, Mister Park.’’ promised Krovek, pocketing the card. ‘’Now, we do have a special requirement about the modules you already built and that we are to take delivery on that may necessitate the building of special transportation packaging.’’

‘’Special transportation packaging? Uh, I am afraid that I don’t understand, Mister Krovek.’’

‘’It is actually quite simple, Mister Park. Basically, your modules will need to be transported through the vacuum of Space by a cargo spaceship. However, we perfectly understand that your modules were not built to withstand the conditions of Space, with vacuum possibly playing havoc with the various pressurized systems contained inside your floating city modules. We will thus need for you to build according to our specifications a sort of giant, padded crate with airtight seals which will contain one module and protect it from both vacuum, vibrations and thermal variations. Since the ship that will tow such containers can lift only one module at a time, you will need to build one crate for each type of modules you will build for us. From what we could see from the air, it looks like only two different types of crates will be needed to be built, right?’’

‘’Correct, Mister Krovek! The whole floating city project involved the construction of five tower-like cylindrical modules, plus four rectangular giant caissons meant to link together the cylindrical modules in the shape of a four-petal flower. The beauty of that design is that you can easily change it to add or subtract more ‘petals’ to the flower. Adding a second ring of ‘petals’ around the central flower is also easily feasible. This design concept for floating cities has in fact been very popular around Earth for the last two centuries or so, especially around the Pacific, where many small island nations were threatened with rising sea levels. Our floating city design is self-sufficient in terms of food and potable water production, electrical power generation and full recycling of human waste and garbage. Our present model which you want to buy has the added feature of being self-propelled in the water, using gravity sails to either fight off currents or change location as desired. Call it a nomadic floating city if you like, or a second ‘Atlantis’.’’

‘’A second Atlantis…’’ said Krovek pensively. ‘’I like that name!’’

‘’It certainly would be an appropriate name for such a floating city, Mister Krovek.’’

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Park’s secretary came in the office at that moment, pushing a tea service cart in front of her. She served the three Koorivars, then Park, before exiting the office. Ju-Yung gave time to his guests to take their first sips of tea before speaking again.

‘’So, you are ready to sign a contract for the delivery of our modules already built, plus the remaining sections of our floating city design, to be built on a high priority basis, correct?’’

‘’Correct, Mister Park. We are also ready to pay an extra 100 million credits over and above the original price of 4.9 billion credits, in order to ensure the highest priority in the construction of the remaining modules and of a set of special giant transport crates, plus will pay of course for the construction of those transport crates. Right now, we are ready to immediately transfer to your company’s bank account the sum of three and a half billion credits, as a payment for the modules already produced and as an advance on the modules and crates to be built, with the remainder due to be paid on final delivery. Would that be satisfactory to you, Mister Park?’’

‘’Very much so, Mister Krovek!’’ replied Ju-Yung, who was feeling an enormous weight suddenly lifting off his shoulders. ‘’Give me a minute and I will massage for you a written understanding-in-principle and preliminary contract to solidify this deal.’’

Less than two hours later, a happy Park Ju-Yung thanked his visitors and escorted them back to their shuttle, having finalized and signed together a preliminary contract and with the Koorivar having completed the transfer of 3.5 billion credits from their bank account in Canada to the shipyard’s bank account in Seoul. As the shuttle lifted off, watched by Park, the latter activated his wrist videophone and called his sister, to warn her not to mention their family link to these fantastic customers when they would visit her furniture factory.

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Wolf 1061 shining on the landscape of New Haven.