THE KOSTROMA SAGA by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 12 – A VILLAGE IN SPACE

14:57 (Universal Time)

Thursday, June 7, 2317

Bridge of the A.M.S. KOSTROMA

Low Mars orbit

Solar System

Tina Forster watched quietly the image of Mars’ surface on the giant viewing screens of her ship’s bridge as the A.M.S. KOSTROMA flew in low orbit around the red planet. Barely eighteen months ago she had led her giant cargo ship, hastily converted for war, in a series of space battles against Terran forces, which had seized Mars after it had rebelled against the heavy rule of the Terran Federation. Those battles had proven to be nearly one-sided massacres, with the powerful laser battery and thick anti-radiation bow shield of the KOSTROMA proving too much for the much smaller, relatively lightly armed ships of the Terran Customs Navy. A total of 36 Terran cruisers, frigates and troopships had been destroyed by the KOSTROMA in three separate battles around Mars, with over 32,000 Terran crewmembers and embarked Internal Security Forces troopers killed in the process. In return for such an overwhelming victory, the KOSTROMA, masterfully led in battle by Tina, had suffered only minor damage to its thick, 700 meter-diameter bow shield, and no casualties. The only two casualties suffered by the crew of the cargo ship had come later, during the ground fighting to retake Mars’ capital, Ares City, from occupying ISF troops. Tina and her cargo ship, now rated as an armed merchant ship, had destroyed more Terran ships around the Jovian moon of Callisto while fighting to defend the newly formed Spacers League against a Terran task force. Tina, who hated war but had been forced by Terran excesses to fight for the Spacers League, had taken no joy in all that killing. Her worst time in the war had however come as victory was already nearly assured, when an ISF secret facility near the city of Lagos, in Nigeria, had to be destroyed by an orbital strike. That facility had been producing a deadly chemical agent meant to exterminate Spacers in their space cities, so there had been no choice but to destroy it. However, the underground

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production center had necessitated the use of a devastating kinetic energy weapon, in essence a rocket-propelled asteroid. The strike from the space battle station MJOLNIR had utterly destroyed the facility, but it had also destroyed the nearby city of Lagos, killing over 26 million persons in the process. That mass killing had impacted heavily on Tina’s psyche and she had needed weeks to go over her guilt and subsequent depression. She was now over her mental distress but she fervently hoped that she would never have to kill again.

‘’Tina, the shuttle with the Martian delegation is approaching. It will enter our main hangar in about six minutes. It will be in Craft Hangar Number 3.’’ The warning from Patricia O’Neil, the redhead beauty presently manning the bridge sensors station, took Tina out of her thoughts and made her nod her head.

‘’Very well! I will go down now to the Hangar Deck. Tell Natalia, Piotr and Winnie to join me there.’’

“Will do!’’

Turning around, Tina walked to the bank of elevator shafts situated under the upper central platform of the multi-layered bridge complex, itself situated in the center of a huge sphere whose internal surface was covered by a 3D holographic display screen. Calling up one of the cabins, she had only to wait a few seconds before the doors of the shaft opened and she could step inside a cabin. She next pressed the button for Level 7, the Hangar Deck, situated sixteen levels and 117 meters below. As far down as that would sound to a visitor, this was however a short trip compared to one down the full length of the KOSTROMA, which measured 1,750 meters from its bow to the undersurface of the giant landing legs of the cargo ship. Tina was rightly proud of her ship, which was presently the sixth largest spaceship in existence and also the fastest cargo ship in the Solar System, with a maximum cargo capacity of twenty million metric tons, most of it inside detachable cargo modules hooked to its flanks.

Tina walked out of the cabin as soon as it stopped on Level 7 and, crossing the rotunda surrounding the central spine shaft of the ship, went through a crew locker room and a craft maintenance workshop before arriving at the airlock door of the Craft Hangar Number 3. She met only two crewmembers on her way from the bridge, but saw over twenty work robots of various types, including cleaning robots, on that same trip. Despite its gargantuan size, the KOSTROMA had a crew of only 280 men and women,

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but also had an army of over 1,800 robots of various designs which took care of the routine maintenance and cleaning tasks, plus 400 robots specialized in firefighting and emergency repairs. All those robots could in turn receive directives or pertinent data from the ship’s master computer, ‘Spirit’, a super computer possessing a high degree of artificial intelligence. If things went really bad and the crew became incapacitated, Spirit could as a last resort take control of the ship and do what was needed to preserve the crew and the ship. It was however incapable, through hardwired programming, of refusing a legitimate order from one of the ship’s officers, thus could not lead some sort of hypothetic robotic mutiny against the human crew.

Tina found only two ship technicians at the airlock entrance to Craft Hangar Number 3, one of them at the controls of the pressurization system of the hangar and airlock complex. A quick look at the viewing screen showing the inside of Craft Airlock Number 2, adjacent to Hangar Number 3, told her that the Martian shuttle was just entering the big airlock. Once the shuttle was inside, the armored outer doors of the airlock shut close, allowing the technician to send air inside the airlock to pressurize it. Once the pressure was equalized between the airlock and the hangar, an armored door opened to let the shuttle slowly float inside the hangar. By the time that the process was completed and the shuttle was safely inside the pressurized hangar, Natalia Vasilyeva, Piotr Romanski and Winnie Zambela had joined Tina at the entrance to the hangar. While Natalia was the ship’s hostess, responsible to greet and help visitors and passengers to the ship, Piotr was both the ship’s purser and its commercial and financial agent. As the one responsible for finding paying customers and cargo for the ship, Piotr was a key member of the crew and had proved invaluable to Tina. As for Winnie, she was the assistant purser and was also in charge of the crew mess and other crew facilities. As such, she had a big role in keeping high the morale of the crew during long space runs. All of them wore like Tina informal Spacers’ work coveralls, plus ball caps adorned with the crest of the KOSTROMA. The three women and one man walked inside the craft hangar once the technician had declared it pressurized and secure, going to the landed shuttle. The rear access ramp of the shuttle was already coming down as the group approached it. Tina hesitated, then stopped, on recognizing the second person to step out of the shuttle.

‘’Governor Watts? But, we were expecting a simple delegation from the Mars Food Administration and from the Commerce Board.’’

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Charles Watts, a man of medium height and built in his sixties who sported graying black hair, smiled while admiring quickly Tina, a tall brunette of thirty with gray eyes, who could easily be described as more than pretty.

‘’Well, one of my responsibilities is to oversee the members of my administration and evaluate their work, so I decided to impose myself on them today. It also gave me a good excuse to meet you again, Captain Forster, or should I say Fleet Captain Forster?’’

‘’Just Tina will do, Governor.’’ replied Tina while exchanging a handshake with Watts.

‘’In that case, simply call me Charles, Tina.’’

The other Martian delegates exchanged looks on hearing that, something not lost on Watts, who grinned to Tina.

‘’Don’t worry about our friendship affecting the opinions and judgment of my delegates when time will come to test the foodstuff you are offering for sale. Since I will also play the taster, I will have no interest in pushing them into buying less than good quality products. Besides, from what I have seen of you and your ship during the war against the Terran Federation, you are not the kind to swindle your customers.’’

‘’Thank you for your vote of confidence…Charles. I believe that you already know Natalia Vasilyeva, Piotr Romanski and Winnie Zambela?’’

‘’I sure do, Tina.’’ said Watts, shaking hands with the three others before turning to present the fourteen members of his delegation, functionaries and experts from both the Mars Food Administration and the Mars Commerce Board, all of them carrying large briefcases and suitcases. After the exchange of greetings and handshakes, Tina led the group out of the hangar and into the maintenance workshop, heading for the central shaft elevator banks.

‘’We will now go up to the Main Cafeteria Deck, on Level 10, where a display of our food products available for sale has been set up.’’

‘’Will we be able also to visit your various food production facilities, Captain Forster?’’ asked a male delegate of the Mars Food Administration. Tina nodded her head at that, having expected that request.

‘’You will have access to all our facilities during your stay, mister, so that you can assess the level of hygiene of our facilities. I hope that you have more than a few hours available for this visit, though: my ship is huge by any standards.’’

‘’We can stay overnight if need be, Tina.’’ replied Charles Watts, preempting any objection from his functionaries to such an overnight stay. In truth, he had fallen in love

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with this ship while traveling on it during the last war. It represented what he believed to be the ideal goal of Spacers: to live in space while keeping alive the past beauty of Earth, a now polluted, overpopulated and depleted planet. The building of decks especially made to accommodate large forests and plantations aboard the ship had particularly inflamed his imagination. He still relished the souvenirs of his days spent in one of the suites which gave a direct view of a complete Boreal forest covering 7.5 hectares. And there had been four such forests on the Bow Gravity Sail Deck. In comparison, Mars had only a handful of underground parks with trees available to its citizens, none as big as the four forests on the KOSTROMA.

Going up forty meters by elevator, the group then stepped in the central rotunda of the Main Cafeteria Deck, with Tina leading the Martian delegation down a long corridor running outward from the central axis of the ship. That corridor turned out to lead to a large dining lounge about 45 meters long and twenty meters wide and with a ten meter high ceiling. Apart from four waiting cooks and waitresses, the dining lounge was deserted at this hour. The Martian delegates admired for a moment the decoration of the room, which included potted plants, aquariums with fish and large holographic screens made to look like windows and replicating Earth natural vistas. Tina then gave the lead to Natalia Vasilyeva, who stepped forward to address the Martians.

‘’Ladies and gentlemen, we are now inside our business class dining lounge, which has a capacity of 240 seated customers. If you will leave your luggage in this corner, we will then go see our products display.’’

Obeying the tall blonde, the delegates left their suitcases in the designated corner, but took out of their briefcases electronic tablets and plastic sample bags before following Natalia towards the service counter, where the cooks and waitresses were now busy taking out of refrigerators or shelves an assortment of plastic containers and bottles, lining them up on the counter, along with plates, utensils and glasses. The sheer variety of the products seemed to impress at once the Martian delegates.

‘’My god!’’ exclaimed an expert from the Mars Food Administration. ‘’Are all these items really produced on this ship?’’

‘’Absolutely, mister!’’ answered Natalia. ‘’We have produced during the course of last year 82 different main types of vegetables, fruits and spices, twenty different types of fish and shellfish, meat from five different main animal species and a total of 2.2 million liters of fresh milk and other dairy products. We had ample food for our crew and

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passengers and, even after keeping a comfortable reserve of processed foodstuff, were left with sizeable surplus available for sale. As an example of our surplus, we had 280 metric tons of wheat, 145 metric tons of corn grain and 375 metric tons of rice available for sale after one year of full production. Some of those surplus have been sold already in the Jovian System and the Asteroid Belt, but there is still plenty available if the Mars Food Administration will certify their quality level and allow their sale to Mars customers. We are also growing yet more fresh products as I speak. I propose to let you first take for analysis samples of each of our products, then we will make you taste a few of our more refined foodstuff.’’

‘’That sounds like a good program, Miss Vasilyeva.’’ said Charles Watts before looking at a bearded man in his fifties. ‘’Mister Bernardi, you may have your food inspectors start collecting samples.’’

‘’With pleasure, Mister Governor!’’ replied Bernardi before giving a few orders to his four food inspectors, who then started taking samples, putting them in their labeled plastic bags. As they were working, the delegates from the Mars Commerce Board and Charles Watts started reviewing with interest the long line of labeled products on the counter. One delegate soon got quite excited on examining the collection of spices available for sale, which were tagged with their proposed sale prices.

‘’You produce curry spice and chili peppers on this ship? And at such low prices?’’

‘’We in fact produce seventeen different types of spices on the KOSTROMA, along with cocoa, tea, coffee, sugar and vegetable oils, mister. In view of the outrageous prices Earth suppliers are asking for those kind of products, we decided to boost their production, in order to provide spices, tea, coffee, chocolate and vegetable oils at reasonable prices to other Spacers.’’

‘’Reasonable prices? But this bottle of powdered curry, if of truly good quality, is listed at less than a fifth of what we in Mars have to pay for the same quantity of curry from Earth, which was up to now our sole supplier of curry.’’ Natalia smiled at the remark from the Martian delegate.

‘’Having eaten many times the various curry dishes served by our cooks, I can assure you that our variety of curry spices is as good or better than anything the Earth sells, mister. If you want to taste a bit of our various curry grades, you are welcome to it. Jorge, can you take out a few small spoons, so that our guests can taste our spices?’’

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‘’Right away, Natalia.’’ replied one of the cooks, who then hurried to put on the counter near the spices an assortment of small spoons, small plates and napkins, plus glasses full of water. The delegate from the Commerce Board looked with confusion at the glasses of water.

‘’Uh, why the water, mister?’’

Jorge Batista smiled to him while answering with good humor.

‘’Well, wait until you taste our hot variety of curry spice, then you will get your answer, mister.’’

‘’Excellent!’’ said Charles Watts. ‘’I love spicy food! Let’s start tasting, ladies and gentlemen.’’

It didn’t take long before the assembled Martians declared that they liked what they tasted, with the man from the Commerce Board eyeing with glee the bottle of hot curry on display.

‘’Damn! I must get this for our consumers and restaurant owners. And how much of these spices do you have available for sale, Miss Vasilyeva?’’ Natalia consulted her electronic tablet before answering with a proud smile.

‘’Even after selling a good portion of our products in the Jovian System, we still have 1,200 kilos of curry powder available for sale, including 450 kilos of the hot variant. We are of course talking about net weights. We also have at least a few hundred kilos left of each of our other spices.’’

The Martians jaws collectively fell to the floor at that announcement, with the Commerce Board delegate looking at Natalia with bulging eyes.

‘’But, that would be enough for the needs of most of Ares City for a year. Our restaurant owners will kill to get those spices at your listed prices.’’

‘’We always could rise our prices if you find them too low, mister.’’ replied Tina Forster, grinning with amusement. That prompted a quick response from Charles Watts while he eyed crossly the Commerce Board man.

‘’No need for that, Tina. Your prices are quite satisfactory. You may continue your presentation, Miss Vasilyeva.’’

‘’Thank you, Mister Governor. Next, we have our fresh fruits and their various derivative products, like juices, jams and bottled baby food.’’

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The next big surprise for the Martian delegates was when they finally arrived at the collection of bottled alcoholic beverages on display. A female delegate opened her eyes wide with delight after sipping a bit of strawberry liquor, one of the fourteen types of alcohol displayed.

‘’Hmm, I love this! We do produce some fresh strawberries on Mars, but we have nothing like this liquor, or your cream of green mint.’’

‘’You can thank Miss Petra Manzini, the manager of our APEROSSIMO lounge-bar, for those liquors, miss.’’ replied Natalia. ‘’She was the one who proposed to produce liquors out of our surplus fruits and mint. She also concocted their recipes and supervised their production, along with those of our wines and beers.’’

‘’Heck, I don’t care what Mister Bernardi or his experts will say about this.’’ replied the delegate. ‘’I want these liquors for our citizens! Do you have much left of that strawberry liquor and of that green cream of mint?’’

‘’Well, most of our strawberry production is sold as either fresh fruits, jam or juice, but we still have over 16,000 bottles of strawberry liquor and 1,840 bottles of green cream of mint left in our stocks available for sale after onboard consumption. We only recently started production of those liquors and you would be our first off-ship customers for them.’’

The female delegate only needed one look at her superior and at Charles Watts before nodding to Natalia.

‘’Then, we will be most happy to acquire your available stock of all those liquors, miss.’’

Piotr Romanski, who was most satisfied up to date with how the presentation was going, used that opportunity to start distributing data chips to the delegates.

‘’You will find on the data chip I am giving to each of you a list of what we produce, what is available for sale and their prices. It will help us in discussing sales arrangements later on.’’

The delegates quickly downloaded that data on their tablets and started reviewing it. The more they saw, the more they became impressed, with the head of the Commerce Board delegation looking with admiration at Tina Forster.

‘’You decidedly have everything on this ship to provide for a small town, Captain Forster.’’

Tina nodded her head soberly in response, becoming most serious.

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‘’We indeed have, Mister Gardner. This ship is actually a lot more to me than just a giant cargo ship, or a battleship: it is to me primarily a space community, a human village in Space able to sustain itself and to prosper. It is home for me and my crew and I hope to see one day all Spacers able to live like we do, free to roam the planets and moons of the Solar System.’’

16:49 (India Time)

Friday, June 15, 2317

Small apartment, city of Sehore

West of Bhopal, State of Madhya Pradesh

India, Southern Federation

‘’You see, Priya: there are many recipes for curry spice, but few of them are really worthy of the name. Everything is in having the right mix and proportions of ingredients. My curry sells well because I make my own curry according to a recipe long held by my family. With your studies in agronomy and hydroponics, you should know already how even a small modification to a spice mix can dramatically alter the final taste of that spice.’’

‘’I do, Mother.’’ answered patiently the nineteen year-old teenage girl watching her mother prepare one of the home-cooked recipes which she then sold daily at the town market in order to supplement their meager family budget. Priya Mistry counted herself lucky to have the parents she had: despite their low revenues, they had sacrificed much already to ensure that she could get a good education and thus have a chance at having a better life. They had also treated her on the same footing as her two brothers, contrary to still too many families in India, who treated girls and women as second class persons. The last two years, with the chaos caused by the war between the forces of Marshal Khan and President Zembelo on one side and the Northern Alliance and their Spacers allies on the other side, had been hard enough without having to deal with sexual discrimination. Now that the Northern Alliance had won that war thanks to the Spacers, what remained of the Khan and Zembelo regime had formed the Southern Federation, of which India was a part of. Her thoughts were then interrupted by the noise of the door of their cramped apartment being unlocked and opened. Turning her head, like her mother, Priya smiled on seeing that it was her father coming

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back home from work. Her smile however faded on seeing the despondent expression on her father’s face. Her mother also saw that and she hurried to her husband, forgetting about her curry recipe.

‘’Rajeev, you are back early from work. Is something wrong?’’ Rajeev, a thin man in his mid-forties, nodded his head slowly before sitting down in the sofa of their small lounge, then put his head into his hands, obviously distraught.

‘’I…I lost my job at the food warehouse. In fact, all the ones working at the warehouse lost their jobs: the company went bankrupt and the plant manager is said to have fled with the company funds.’’

Priya’s heart skipped a beat then as her father started crying quietly, with his wife trying to console him as best she could. Jobs were hard to come by in these difficult times and to get one often necessitated paying substantial bribes to local officials. Her family was too poor to afford such bribes, which meant that her father would probably be jobless for quite a while, if not for months and years. Unfortunately, the citizens of the Southern Federation didn’t enjoy such niceties as social welfare and unemployment insurance, contrary to the much wealthier citizens of the Northern Alliance. Just finding money to pay for their rent and buy a minimum of food was hard enough. Priya slowly sat down on a chair as she realized that she would not be able to finish her studies now: the money set aside by her father to pay for her next college semester will now be sorely needed by her family to simply survive the next few weeks and months. Seeing all her dreams evaporate in an instant, Priya got up from her chair and went to her tiny bedroom, dazed and in shock, to sit on her bed. She then started to cry quietly. She could not fault her father, who had done everything to support his family as best he could. Neither could she either think only about her now doomed studies. Her whole family was now in real danger of soon ending in the street, homeless and without food. At best, they would have to join the ranks of the other unfortunate families who depended on charities and food banks, but those were already overtaxed, thanks to the chronic mismanagement and corruption of the Southern Federation’s administration. At worst, the family would become street beggars in a region already stricken hard by poverty.

As she cried out her despair and bitterness, Priya understood that she would have to help her family by finding work herself. Thankfully, she already had completed two years in agronomy and hydroponics techniques, a formation that should make her interesting to at least a few employers. If she didn’t find anything locally, then she would

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not hesitate to look beyond India. Thinking of it, she decided to start looking both locally and internationally at once for a job: the prospects in India itself had been bad for months now and limiting her search to her country could make her waste precious time. Taking out of a locked drawer her electronic tablet, Priya started typing an employment résumé, intent on sending it around afterwards on the WorldNet. Later, she was going to tell her parents about her intentions. They were certainly going to understand and approve. Even if they didn’t, she was already technically an adult and could take decisions by herself.

10:19 (India Time)

Saturday, June 16, 2317

The Mistrys’ apartment, Sehore

Madhya Pradesh, India

Priya opened her tablet to check on her job search, not expecting much: there had not been a single job offer online yesterday in her specialty field in the entire State of Madhya Pradesh, when she had started circulating her employment request. Her last check earlier this morning had shown no results yet. However, that had not surprised her: the contrary would have, as jobs were rare and postulants were many. She thus nearly jumped off her bed when she saw that a text message had been left in her electronic mail box, clearly connected to her job search. Her heart beating faster now, she read quickly the message and was not a little surprised to see that it had been sent by a Space shipping agency office based on an orbital station around Earth. The implications of that made her pause for a moment. Technically, the Southern Federation was hostile to anything connected with the Spacers. To go work for Spacers could possibly attract unhealthy government attention on her family. She however knew that this could well be the best hope for her to find a decent paying job that would help support her family, thus she read carefully the message. Her heart accelerated further when she saw that it said that her application had been deemed promising and that she was being offered an online job interview for a position as an apprentice hydroponics technician aboard a spaceship. Priya quickly sent an affirmative response to the online interview offer before thinking fully about it, so anxious she was to find a job. She was further surprised when a video call came in barely ten minutes later, as she was about to go help her mother in the kitchen. Quickly sitting back on her bed, Priya opened the

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channel and found herself looking at what appeared to be a Chinese woman in her forties. That reassured her a bit, as China was considered a neutral state by the Southern Federation and travel to there was allowed. The woman, who could see Priya via the camera integrated to the teenager’s tablet, smiled to her.

‘’Miss Priya Mistry? My name is Wei Zang and I called you to give you an online job interview. Your résumé looked promising to us and you seemed qualified for one of the positions we are trying to fill on our ship. First off, tell me why you are postulating for a job aboard our ship.’’

‘’Uh, to be frank, I was ready to take any job offer I could get, Miss Wei. The economic situation in India is very bleak and I wanted a job so that I could help sustain my family. I understand that jobs in space rate some sort of premium, am I right?’’

‘’That is correct, Miss Mistry. I understand from your résumé that you still had one year of studies left before completing your degree in agronomy and hydroponics techniques. Could you tell me why you decided not to complete your studies?’’ Priya couldn’t hide completely her bitterness then and lowered her head a bit before answering.

‘’My family can’t afford to pay for my studies anymore and I myself don’t have a source of revenue that would let me continue my studies, miss. I am hoping to complete my studies at a later date, after I could accumulate some savings.’’

‘’I understand, Miss Mistry.’’ replied Wei Zang. ‘’Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your family?’’

Surprised and confused by that, Priya hesitated before answering.

‘’Uh, what would you like to know, Miss Wei?’’

The Chinese woman then gave her a sober look and got closer to the camera of her viewer.

‘’Miss Mistry, this may surprise you but my captain has specifically instructed me to give employment priority to those most in need, and you certainly seem to qualify in that aspect. From what you told me, I can deduce that the main breadwinner of your family no longer has a job, right?’’

‘’Correct, miss. My father recently lost his job as a forklift operator at a foodstuff warehouse, when the warehouse closed. Without social welfare or unemployment insurance, the prospects for our family are now quite bleak and I wish to get a job so that I could help support my family.’’

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‘’Who else is there in your family, and what job qualifications if any would they have for the work market, miss?’’

Growing more confused by the minute, Priya nonetheless answered the Chinese woman.

‘’My mother sells home-made recipes at the local market. As for my two brothers and one sister, they are still in their early teens and are in school.’’

‘’Are they all in reasonably good health, miss?’’

‘’Yes! Why do you ask about that?’’

Wei Zang looked at Priya with an encouraging smile.

‘’Because, if your family is interested, we would be ready to welcome your whole family on our ship, on top of you. We do have positions opened which could suit your father and your mother as well.’’

That left Priya thunderstruck.

‘’My family, go on a spaceship? But, what about school for my younger siblings?’’

‘’We do have elementary and secondary schools aboard our ship, miss. We even have facilities for post-secondary studies, so you will eventually be able to complete your studies on our ship.’’

‘’Uh, how big is your ship actually, Miss Wei?’’

‘’Big enough to be a self-sufficient Space community, miss. If you and your family are interested by our offer, I am ready to transfer some travel funds to your bank account, so that you could travel to Shanghai, where we could conduct a face-to-face final interview with your family.’’

‘’I…I would certainly be interested personally by your offer, miss. Let me just go get my parents, so that you could talk directly with them.’’ Priya nearly ran out of her bedroom, her heart beating hard, as she rushed to the lounge, where her parents and her siblings were.

15:50 (Universal Time)

Tuesday, June 19, 2317

Light shuttle on approach to the A.M.S. KOSTROMA Earth low orbit

‘’WOW! LOOK AT HOW BIG THIS SHIP IS!’’ exclaimed thirteen-year-old Salman, as the shuttle transporting the Mistry family was approaching the KOSTROMA,

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docked in low Earth orbit to an equally huge space station. That made the copilot of their shuttle, a young man barely out of his teens, smile and turn his head back towards the cabin.

‘’The KOSTROMA is the sixth largest spaceship in the Solar System. It has an empty mass of 2.5 million metric tons and a maximum loaded mass of 24 million metric tons. I think that you will like living on it.’’

Ramya Mistry pressed the hand of her husband Rajeev as she watched the massive hull of the KOSTROMA grow in the viewing ports of the shuttle.

‘’Such a radical change to our lives. I hope that we took the right decision, Rajeev.’’

‘’We had to, for the sake of our children’s future, Ramya. We had no future left in Sehore. In truth, we never had much of a future there, if we are honest about it.’’

‘’But you will have one on the KOSTROMA, I assure you.’’ said from her nearby seat Wei Zang. ‘’Our captain, Tina Forster, who also owns the ship, cares very much for her crew. Since our ship roams the whole Solar System in the process of conducting space commerce, you will be able to admire all the wonders of Space in the years to come.’’

‘’But, I thought that living in Space was dangerous.’’ said Rajeev, making Wei nod her head.

‘’It is, if you don’t respect basic rules and are careless, but living anywhere, including on Earth, can be dangerous as well. All of you will get indoctrination courses on what to do in Space and on basic safety measures, but don’t worry about this right now. Let’s first make you comfortable aboard the KOSTROMA. The Captain will also want to meet and greet you aboard.’’

Rajeev nodded, then fell silent as he continued to look at the growing mass of the ship. He had been hired as a forklift operator, while Ramya was going to work part time in the kitchens of the ship. The salaries, social benefits and work conditions offered to them by Wei Zang had quickly convinced Rajeev to go along with Priya’s example. They would now be earning in total over twelve times what he had been earning at the warehouse in Sehore, plus would be able to keep the younger children in school. He also had been told by Wei Zang that, as employees and crewmembers of the ship, they would eventually be able to retire and stay on the ship, and this as part of the benefits package offered to them.

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About nine minutes later, the shuttle entered one of the four small craft airlocks of the cargo ship, then cycled through the airlock and hangar. Two women and one man were waiting for them when the rear access ramp of the shuttle lowered open, letting the Mistry family out, the anti-gravity sled carrying their luggage in tow. One of the women was a tall brunette of about thirty, while the other woman was an even taller blonde. The man, on his part, was a tough-looking individual in his forties who wore two pistols at his belt. Rajeev and Ramya instinctively tensed up on seeing the armed man, something the brunette noticed. She made a wide smile and stepped forward to greet the Mistrys with a handshake.

‘’Welcome aboard the KOSTROMA, people. I am Tina Forster, captain and owner of this ship. With me are Natalia Vasilyeva, the ship’s hostess, and Bill Morrison, the head of ship’s security. Mister Morrison is here simply to inform you about the basic safety rules followed on this ship while in Space.’’

That last sentence did a lot to relax Rajeev, who happily shook hands with Tina Forster.

‘’Thank you for having hired us, Captain Forster. I am Rajeev Mistry and here are my wife, Ramya, my sons Mahesh and Salman and my daughters Priya and Pavithra. It was Priya’s initiative that put us in contact with your ship.’’

‘’Indeed!’’ said Tina, widening her smile while shaking hands with Priya. ‘’You chose right, miss: my crew and their families are most precious to me and I spare nothing for them. I am unfortunately a very busy woman, so I will now have to leave you in the good hands of Natalia and Bill. Again, welcome aboard the KOSTROMA.’’ She then turned around and left, with Natalia Vasilyeva stepping forward to speak to the Mistrys.

‘’First off, before we leave this hangar, I must ask you if you have any plants, meat, fish or animals with you in your luggage. We have to be very careful on spaceships about potential pests or parasites being imported aboard. Also, if you have any rugs or similar items, they will have to be sent right away to be cleaned and disinfected.’’

‘’We have none of those items with us, miss.’’ answered Rajeev. ‘’The only things we brought with us are clothes, a tea service and a few personal papers and family souvenirs.’’

‘’Excellent! We will then be able to go right away to your assigned quarters. Before we go, however, I will give to each of you a small printed guide to our ship: it is quite easy to get lost in it at first.’’

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The Mistrys took the small pamphlets Natalia took out of a small carrying pouch slung across one shoulder and briefly looked through it, finding a general, simplified map of the ship in it, as well as a list of the most important locations and services found aboard. Natalya then continued speaking as she started to guide the family, followed by Bill Morrison, towards the central shaft elevators.

‘’You will be lodged in the apartments ring complex of the Bow Gravity Sail. You will actually occupy two adjacent apartments: a single bedroom apartment for Priya, who is now an adult employee, and a four-bedroom apartment for the rest of you. Those apartments will be on Level 19, at the same height than the Crew Facilities Deck. While your apartments have small kitchens, I will encourage you to go eat, at least at first, at the crew cafeteria, situated in the center of the Crew Facilities Deck. After dropping your luggage in your apartments, we will then go register you officially as ship’s occupants at our ship’s administrative offices, on the Human Services Deck on Level 16.’’

Getting into one of the elevator cabins of the central rotunda, along with their luggage sled, the group made a quick trip up, leaving the cabin on Level 19 and walking outwards to a large armored door on the outer wall of the core periphery ring. The door opened on Natalia pushing a button, revealing a long pedestrian bridge lined on both sides with wide viewing windows. The Mistrys collectively sucked in air once they started walking along the enclosed bridge: they now were looking down on both sides at what seemed to be large forests. Ramya, both surprised and delighted, looked with wide eyes at the hundreds of trees visible from the pedestrian bridge.

‘’How could this be possible on a spaceship? Even in our hometown of Sehore, in India, there were hardly any trees left: they were nearly all cut off for their wood decades ago.’’

‘’This was the idea of our captain, when time came to send our ship into refit. She asked and paid for additional decks which now support self-contained forests, as well as hundreds of hectares of hydroponic and natural plantations. That refit was completed about a year and a half ago, just before the war with the Terran Federation and the Zembelo dictatorship. Most of our new plantations have now reached maturity and are productive, thus our actual needs for more hydroponics technicians and other laborers.’’

‘’But, this must have cost her a fortune.’’

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‘’It did, but she believed that the improvement to crew living conditions this would bring was well worth the cost. Everybody aboard now agrees with her on that. Wait till you see the view from your apartment.’’

Now positively impatient to see their new quarters, the Mistrys walked for more than 200 meters along the pedestrian bridge before passing another armored door and walking inside a sort of tunnel closed at its extremity. That tunnel turned out to be a safety airlock when the armored wall at the end slid open and they set foot on a wide circular promenade which extended beyond view on both sides. The thick outer wall of the promenade sported large Armorglass windows giving them a view of space and of the orbital station to which the ship was docked, while fruit trees were planted at regular intervals along the median of the promenade. Along the inner wall, three levels of what looked like apartments were stacked on top of one another, linked by walkways.

‘’The Apartments Promenade of the Bow Gravity Sail.’’ announced Natalia. Below us is a similar circular promenade, that one lined on one side with giant aquariums full of decorative fish. There are as well small underwater viewing lounges at intervals which will allow you to go relax while watching the fish swim around you. I recommend that you visit them: it is truly a very relaxing experience.’’ Leading the family along the promenade, Natalia turned after about twenty meters into a short side staircase that brought them in a narrow section containing an elevator shaft, a large spiral staircase going both up and down that level and a small open terrace with tables and chairs which had a direct view on one of the forests and which was accessed via a safety airlock. Natalia pointed first the staircase.

‘’This staircase leads up to the second and third level of apartments, as well as down to one of the underwater observation lounges. Your two apartments are on the second level. We will take the elevator, since we have your luggage sled.’’ Squeezing all inside the elevator cabin, they went up quickly to the second level, then walked out and followed the three meter-wide walkway connecting the apartments of the second level, turning and climbing nearly immediately into the entrance porch of two adjacent apartments. Natalia showed the Mistrys what appeared to be sliding doors which framed the porch’s entrance and which were presently recessed in open position.

‘’These are airtight safety doors. If there ever happens an accident and this sector starts to decompress, those doors will then automatically close up, protecting your apartment from decompression and giving you time to don your emergency space suits.

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Don’t worry about those suits: you will be signing for one each after this. Your rear balcony, which has a direct view to the forested area, is also protected by an airlock. Priya, your apartment is this one to our right, Apartment 20282. Your family will occupy Apartment 20283, to our left. I will now make you register as the lawful occupants via the ship’s main computer.’’

Going to a wall panel, Natalia pressed a button and spoke into a small microphone.

‘’Spirit, this is Natalia Vasilyeva, asking you to register new occupants for Apartments 20282 and 20283.’’

‘’I recognize you, Natalia.’’ responded a soft female voice. ‘’The occupant of Apartment 20282 may now register.’’

‘’Thank you! Priya, come here and face this camera lens while putting both of your hands flat on this gray panel, then simply tell your name, nothing else.’’ Priya came forward and pressed both hands as requested before speaking.

‘’My name is Priya Mistry.’’

‘’Welcome to the A.M.S. KOSTROMA, Priya Mistry. You are now registered as the occupant of Apartment 20282.’’

‘’Spirit, Priya Mistry will also have visiting rights to Apartment 20283, which will be occupied by her parents and siblings. The Mistrys will now register for Apartment 20283.’’

Natalia made the family members repeat the procedure followed by Priya, then made them enter the bigger apartment with their luggage sled. Making them leave the sled in one corner of the wide vestibule, Natalia then led the family around a quick tour of the apartment.

‘’This apartment has three single bedrooms and one large master bedroom, a family lounge and dining room with kitchenette, a study, a laundry room, a rear open air balcony, plus two full bathrooms and a washroom. Only you and select ship’s officers and security personnel can now gain freely access to your two apartments. Other visitors will have to ring and ask your permission to gain access. As you can see, the apartments are already fully furnished and provided with sets of spare bed linen, cutlery and kitchenware. If you really don’t like the style or color of the present furniture, you can always ask for alternate sets from our reserve stores, but please don’t be too picky: the furniture selection we have is limited.’’

Rajeev, like Ramya, looked around at the comfortable, elegant pieces of furniture lining the family lounge, before nodding his head with satisfaction.

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‘’This is more than satisfactory, Miss Vasilyeva.’’

‘’Excellent! I will now show her apartment to your daughter Priya while you make yourself at home. Then I will guide you to our ship’s administrative office.’’

Now alone with their three younger children, the Indian couple went to admire for a moment the view they had of the forested area from their rear balcony. Feeling like being born again, Ramya then hugged her husband, tears of joy rolling on her cheeks.

‘’I can’t believe our luck, Rajeev. Our children will now have a future worth looking forward to.’’

14:06 (Eastern Standard Time)

Thursday, June 21, 2317

Bronx District, New York City

North American Union, Northern Alliance

The old woman answered her door ring after a good minute, just as Lester Barnaby was about to give up and leave. The gray-haired woman, who had to be at least in her seventies and who was quite frail, looked with suspicion at the tall black man in his early thirties standing on her porch.

‘’Yes?’’

‘’Misses Turner? My name is Lester Barnaby and I came to see the articles you offered online. I did call in advance yesterday.’’

‘’Ah yes!’’ said the old woman, relaxing and opening her door wide. ‘’Come in, please!’’

‘’Thank you!’’

Lester, once inside, looked briefly around the vestibule area of the old brick townhouse.

‘’This building dates from the past century, right?’’

‘’It was actually built around 2230. It was however built over the foundations and basement of a much older building, which are now part of my house’s basement. What I advertised online for sale was found in the old parts of the basement. If you will please follow me.’’

The woman then guided Lester to an old staircase leading down, going slowly down wooden steps before setting foot in a concrete basement. Navigating through

foundation pillars, piles of old furniture and unmarked cardboard boxes, she led Lester to

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what looked like an armored steel door. Lester looked with surprise and

incomprehension at the heavy door.

‘’What the hell is this doing here, in a residential area? It looks like a bank vault.’’

‘’I asked myself the same question when I found it after buying this house last year. After consulting the municipal records, I was told that this is an old bomb shelter built around the 1950s, when the people of the time were paranoid about the risks of a nuclear war. It was unearthed when workers dug up the foundations for this townhouse. It cost me a good sum to have someone force open this rusty door, but all I found inside was some old junk. There were however a few old musical instruments inside which seemed to be worth selling, so I placed my ad online. Someone came late yesterday and found an old guitar and a saxophone which were to his taste. I hope that you will find something that will interest you in there. Are you a musician, Mister Barnaby?’’

‘’Actually, I am a DJ in a dance club but I do play a few musical instruments.’’ answered Lester while mentally swearing at having missed his opportunity at the said old guitar and saxophone. ‘’Well, let’s see what we can find in there.’’

Watched anxiously by the old woman, who was probably praying that he found something that she could then sell to him, Lester turned the wheel of the locking mechanism, which had visibly been oiled recently, then pulled open with some effort the heavy door. The inside proved to be dark, prompting him into looking back at the old woman.

‘’Uh, do you have a flashlight by chance, madam?’’

‘’Of course! Silly me!’’

She went to a nearby shelving unit and grabbed a large emergency portable light, then handed it to Lester.

‘’This shelter had a lighting system, but it used old incandescent bulb lights and those bulbs are no longer produced, or so I was told.’’

‘’I understand, madam. Thanks!’’

Switching on the portable light, Lester then saw that the bomb shelter was about twelve meters deep and three meters wide and was clustered with old shelving units, boxes and crates, plus a few pieces of crumbling furniture. Entering cautiously the shelter, he found that the air inside was actually quite dry, while little dust was in evidence. That was encouraging, as it meant that whatever was inside here had little chance to rot from humidity during all those decades and centuries. It was however quite spooky to go

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around those old relics, which apparently dated back from so long ago. Like the old woman had said, most of the stuff he saw was old junk or tins of food that he wouldn’t even dare open. One old framed picture he found on a shelf, while mostly faded away, brought some emotions to him: it showed a young couple, possibly at their marriage ceremony, smiling to the camera. From their style of costumes, Lester would say that the picture dated from at least 200 years ago. Coming out of the shelter, Lester showed the picture to the old woman.

‘’I wonder if they died from old age. They looked like a nice young couple. I may just buy it. Keep it aside while I finish looking inside.’’

The old woman nearly started to cry as she stared at the old picture.

‘’My God! This reminds me so much of my own marriage with my dear Frank. I wonder if they had children.’’

Lester didn’t reply to that, reentering the old bomb shelter and continuing his search. He finally spotted something of real interest as he neared the end of the shelter. Opening the top of what looked like a large wooden chest, he found inside a number of carefully sealed cardboard boxes. Most of them were unmarked, but one particular box made blood rush at once to his head. Hoping fervently that it was what he thought it was, Lester took out that particular box, which was rectangular and flat and bore the image of an old-style phonograph. Opening the box, he nearly screamed in triumph then: inside, apparently still in pristine condition and wrapped in its original factory protective packing foam and sealed plastic bags, was a high-quality phonograph disk player dating back from the late 20th Century or early 21st Century. He then saw that, under where the box had been, sat a pair of acoustic speakers and a sound amplifier unit which probably came with the phonograph, wrapped in plastic bubble sheets. Having already a true treasure in his hands, Lester put the phonograph boxes carefully aside, then opened one of the unmarked boxes which filled the rest of the chest. His eyes bulged when he found inside that lone box over thirty vinyl disks in their original cardboard covers, wrapped carefully with bubble sheeting to protect them against shock. His hands nearly shaking from the emotion, he very carefully and cautiously took out one of the disks, wanting to avoid any damage to it, and examined its cover. The picture on it was somewhat faded but it was still easily readable.

‘’The Beatles’ Greatest Hits…’’

Very cautiously sliding the vinyl disk out of its pocket, he found it apparently intact, with no warps, cracks or scratches visible. Slowly sliding back the disk in its pocket and

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putting it back in the box, he quickly opened the other unmarked boxes, finding all of them full of carefully wrapped vinyl musical records. As he was about to go speak with the old woman, Lester saw a small letter that he had not noticed at first inside the chest. Opening it and taking out cautiously an old sheet of paper, he unfolded it and read it with growing emotion.

March 12, 2014

To the one who will eventually find this chest.

Music is the thing I loved most in the World. The thought of such musical

treasures being eventually lost was too much for me as a professional DJ and

musician, so I did my best to preserve it from the ravages of time. You will find

records of songs dating from 1952 to 2014, made on DJ quality disks. May time

be kind to my collection of records, so that others in the future could enjoy all that

music.

Michael Westley

DJ at the Studio 54 Disco Club in New York from 1979 to 1986.

Lester had to wipe tears from the corner of one eye as he reread slowly the short letter. This find was turning out to be absolutely priceless. Thankfully, he had a comfortably padded bank account at his disposal. Putting both the letter and the phonograph box back in the chest, he closed it and carefully lifted it, carrying it with some effort out of the bomb shelter to gently put it down near the old woman.

‘’This chest interests me, madam. How much for it and the old framed picture?’’

‘’What is in that chest, Mister Barnaby?’’

‘’Antique music records. They are most probably unreadable now but just their old covers will have some historical value. So, how much?’’

‘’Uh, I don’t know, frankly. Are they really valuable?’’

Lester could have easily fleeced the old woman then, but he was not that kind of guy. Besides, finding such a treasure deserved a just payback and he had ample money to spare. He thus smiled gently to her and nodded.

‘’Very valuable, madam. I am ready to offer you 5,000 credits for the lot.’’

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The old woman opened wide her eyes, visibly not having expected such a deal.

‘’FIVE THOUSAND CREDITS?! Uh, you have a deal, mister. At that price, I will throw in the framed picture for free.’’

‘’Thank you very much, madam. You will make many music lovers happy with this deal.’’

Taking out his wallet, he counted out 5,000 credits in large denomination bills and handed it to the happy woman.

‘’Again, thank you very much, madam, and have a good day.’’

Loading cautiously the precious chest and the framed picture inside his rental air car, Lester made a last wave of the hand to the woman watching him through her windows, then took off on automatic pilot after punching in his destination in the New York automated air traffic control network. He was back in his hotel room in Manhattan twenty minutes later, where he placed a call to the Newark Astroport to book passage to return to orbit the next day. He still had a good week of shore leave left but there was no way that he would wait that long before starting to return to life all that music, and for that he needed his sound studio on the KOSTROMA.

17:04 (Universal Time)

Saturday, June 30, 2317

Port boarding station, Main Promenade Deck

A.M.S. KOSTROMA, docked to the Las Americas Orbital Spaceport

‘’Here comes quite a lot of money for us. Be extra nice to the man, Natalia.’’ said Tina Forster as she watched a man in his early forties approach while towing an anti-gravity sled full of suitcases.

‘’After booking a first class suite for an open ended period of one year minimum, he sure isn’t poor.’’ replied the ship’s hostess. ‘’At least, he is pulling his luggage himself.’’

The man was wearing an expensive suit and a gold wrist videophone and he did look the high-class dandy part, but he surprised both Tina and Natalia with his unassuming tone of voice when he presented himself at the boarding station, a boarding pass in one hand.

‘’Good afternoon, ladies. My name is James McDowell and I booked passage on an open-ended basis for at least a year.’’

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‘’We were expecting you, Mister McDowell.’’ replied Natalia, giving him her best smile while taking his boarding pass to scan it in her station’s computer. ‘’You will be in Suite 19046, on Level 19 of our Bow Gravity Sail. Here is a simplified guide of this ship, which also explains the basic safety rules to follow aboard the KOSTROMA. Miss Joan Ferguson, to my right, will be pleased to escort and guide you to your suite.’’ McDowell had a look at the very appetizing brunette besides Natalia, smiling with appreciation.

‘’That would be kind indeed, miss.’’

That was when Tina dropped in on the conversation.

‘’Mister McDowell, I am Tina Forster, captain and owner of this ship. May I point out that this ship is soon due to depart for a long duration deep Space trip to the dwarf planet Eris. Once we leave for Eris after our next two stops, you will be stuck with us for the duration of our trip. Do you still wish to keep your open-ended reservation?’’

‘’Certainly, Captain!’’ answered the man, grinning from ear to ear. ‘’I have booked long-term passage on your fantastic ship in order to have peace and quiet for the next few months, so that I can write my next masterpiece without being disturbed constantly by calls from my editor or being hounded by fans. What better than deep Space for that?’’

Tina nodded at that: James McDowell was probably the most popular fiction novelist in the whole Solar System and rarely wrote anything that didn’t turn into huge bestsellers.

‘’Then I wish you a good trip and tons of inspirations, Mister McDowell.’’

‘’Thank you, Captain.’’

The writer then left for his suite, guided by Joan Ferguson, who normally worked as an exotic dancer at the JUPITER Sex Club but also frequently helped Natalia guide newly arrived passengers during boarding time, like the other dancers of the sex club also did. It was an unusual but mutually satisfying arrangement, the dancers of the sex club being familiar with the ship’s layout and also being accustomed to be pleasant to complete strangers. In exchange, they and their Madame got cut rates on their rents aboard the ship.

The next passengers to show up at the boarding station were a far cry from the elegant James McDowell. Composed mostly of young women and counting over thirty persons, that group wore a collection of rather provocative or suggestive clothes,

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complemented by often flashy makeup and cheap jewels. Their sight made Tina smirk to Natalia and speak to her in a low voice.

‘’I bet that they are headed for our next stop.’’

‘’No kidding, Tina! Can we say ‘entertainment specialists’ for the lot of them?’’ Tina nodded to that. ‘Entertainment specialist’ was the more polite term to describe members of the oldest profession, but it actually was quite accurate as a description for prostitutes, male or female, straight or gay. Tina had nothing against prostitutes and had no qualms in providing them passage on her ship but, if not kept under control during their trip, they could create a few incidents among his crew and other passengers. She thus stayed close to Natalia as the ship’s hostess started processing the group, all of which had economy class one-way tickets for the ZERO-G HEAVEN space brothel, in the Main Asteroid Belt. Tina spoke up once Natalia was finished registering the newcomers.

‘’If I may, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to discreetly speak to you as a group.’’

‘’You want to read us the riot act, I suppose?’’ countered a young woman with an attitude, nearly a teenager still, getting in return a calm look from Tina.

‘’I simply wish to make a deal with all of you that you may find beneficial, miss. However, if you prefer getting the riot act instead, that can be arranged.’’ One of the men of the group, a hulking Adonis with blond hair and blue eyes, hurried to step forward and smile apologetically to Tina.

‘’Please excuse my friend Gina, miss: she recently had some bad experience with law officials, through no fault of her own, and is still a bit feisty.’’

‘’I don’t mind feisty people, as long as they don’t get out of control, mister. Let me present myself: Tina Forster, captain and owner of the A.M.S. KOSTROMA.’’ The men and women of the group stiffened at once on hearing that, with the young Gina instantly losing a lot of her verve. The tall Adonis however recovered quickly from his surprise and presented his right hand while smiling to Tina.

‘’It is an honor to meet in person the Victor of Mars, Captain Forster. I am Karl Dahlgren.’’

‘’Nice to meet you, Mister Dahlgren.’’ replied Tina, who couldn’t help admire the nearly perfect physique of the impressive Karl as she shook his hand. ‘’What I wanted to tell your group is that we have a sex club here, on this deck, which is the Main Promenade Deck, along with many other commercial concessions. Many of the dancers

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working there have not yet returned from shore leave and the patron of the JUPITER Club, Madame Lee, may be interested in employing you for the next two nights. That would help you recoup at least part of the cost of your trip to the ZERO-G HEAVEN.’’

‘’Hum, that is indeed an interesting suggestion, Captain. We will definitely explore it after we are set up in our cabins. Thank you for the counsel, Captain.’’

‘’You’re welcome, mister.’’

The young Gina, definitely not the sharpest mind around the block, tried to make up for her first impression by trying humor, speaking in a conspiratorial tone to Tina.

‘’Maybe you would want to try Karl during our trip, Captain. I personally recommend him highly.’’

As Karl, alarmed at Gina’s gaffe, was about to excuse her, Tina replied with a grin.

‘’Maybe I will, miss. Thanks for the tip.’’

As Natalia gave her an incredulous look, Tina faked indignation at seeing her expression.

‘’What? Can’t a girl have fun from time to time?’’

‘’That’s the spirit, Captain.’’ said Karl Dahlgren as the rest of the group broke out in laughter.