Melinda's Dreams (The Advent of the Stars)

by Paul Harm

  Twelve ACAs landed hard on the surface of Europa about ten minutes after they had left the hangar. The other team was already in position. Twelve versus twelve, mixed gender. The landed team’s suits changed the color to black as they spotted the dark blue team standing already in position. On Europa’s icy and lucid blue surface, the teams had been given easy to see team colors. “Are you ready to kick ass?” “Yes, Sergeant!” “Well, let’s get this party started.” He walked towards the other team and there also an ACA suit walked towards him. They met in the middle of the distances from each other.

  “Good to see you brought some friends which asses we’re going to kick, Romero?” the woman mocked Mike. “Ahh Diana, it’s always a pleasure. So, are you ready to do this?” “Run the safety checks and let’s get this over with, I have a winner’s party to join in approximately... 45 minutes.” “Ahaha, that’s the spirit. Let’s get it over with then.” The HUD, the helmet’s user display, lit up the territories and charged the ACA with combat training weaponry. A health status was displayed next to the bullets and the energy level of the ACA. In the middle of the HUD a timer counted down. Thirty seconds left. “Ok, girls and boys, you know the rules and you’re well prepared for this. I’m proud and thrilled to find me and my team here at the season’s final, let’s go get that trophy marines!” “Huh!” The grunts replied in a chorus. Mike Romero turned towards Diana and gave her a wink. The timer reached twenty-five seconds. Both teams were already in starting position. “You know what sucks about Europa?” Frank asked over the radio. “Is that a rhetorical question gunny?” Romero replied. “No, what sucks about Europa is it has no cover, Sir.” The company broke into laughter. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing the auto-aim is deactivated, so you gentleman might be able to dodge a bullet or two with sheer force of will.” Unfortunately, they could not see the broad, kind of mad looking smile that appeared on Romero’s face. 3... 2... 1... the timer sprang from the friendly green number one to a crimson red 45:00, counting down. “Go, go, go!”

  Even though everyone knew it was on, Romero still felt he had to make sure everyone was awake and alert. Both teams were the best of the best, so they mirrored their first movements. Teams of three dropped out of the beginning position. Two of them were heading for the nearest neutral territory and two of them flanking the other splat up teams. Mike’s squad went straight for the attack and without auto aiming it was a challenging task. The three ACA’s in front of him fired volley after volley at him. The display highlighted the fast-moving salves and added an estimated flight path as well as the time of impact, which was in about 1.3 seconds. The ACA was capable of moving fast, incredibly fast and five G pressing down on Romero as he dodged the volley and fired a welcome greeting himself. His companions created a triangle arc attack vector with the same acceleration and fired at about the same time. Now this would not be a problem to dodge for a computer interface, but human decision making was flawed in situations like this. The grunt from the other team dodged two volleys until he realized his escape path was futile.

  “One down, two to go.” Frank boasted through the radio. The ACA went on the ground and stay there until the end of the match. After another thirty minutes of skirmishes on the icy field Romero’s team and Diana’s Team both held six territories. Both teams had five grunts left on the field. The Ammunition was low and the constant high G maneuvers were exhausting to both the human bodies and minds. Unfortunately, there now was a tie in this game though and now it was time for the king of the hill. The jet-packs lit up as they approached Europa’s icy spike structures. “Alright guys, this is it. Frank, you proceed on target, we’re a bit nearer, so we get the high ground, the rest of you just protect him.” “Huh!” The grunts grunted still filled with adrenalin. Mike spotted Diana and saw that she had released the last of her missiles. It was wise not to shoot every last one before the battle of the hill starts. They did aim for Frank, and Mike desperately tried to stop them with sophisticated volleys of his main gun. But he failed and about 10 meters under Frank the rockets hit the ice wall. For a couple of seconds, the whole area was covered in ice dust and some smoke.

  “FRANK ARE YOU THERE?” Romero screamed into his helmet. “Holy shit Sergeant, did they just fire a rocket at me?” Frank laughed hard. “Did she get you?” “Afraid so, Sergeant.” “God damn it!” The HUD lid up in that second. Five minutes left, disabling ballistic weapon system. “Alright, it seems this is where the fun begins.” Romero started his jet-pack and five G gently choked him, he headed for where he expected the racketeer and he found him in the thick dust cloud. Unfortunately, the racketeer was still busy adjusting to the dust as Romero sent him flying. “Got one!” He yelled more to himself than to everyone else. As the dust slowly cleared up two ACA suits where in a deadly embrace right next to him. His jet-pack lit up again and he sent the next one flying. “Where are the other ones?” “Afraid we’re the only ones left.” 3:00. The display jumped forwards and the king of the hill counter was still at 0. “None of them is up there yet, let’s go.” At the bottom of the icy spikes Diana stood with her last remaining marine. One of them broke off towards the top of the penitentes. “Go get that one, I’ll take care of her.” “Understood.” And with that he jumped upwards and started to climb towards the top marked as the hill.

  Diana was standing there and aimed another rocket for Romero’s last remaining marine. His jet-pack had energy for one last jump left, so he used it and with one smooth motion Diana stepped aside the second she fired. The rocket swirled away into the sky and went down far beyond her target. Diana slammed her fist into her other open hand and began to run towards Romero. What followed was one of the most iconic ACA suits fights the crew of Sapphire had ever seen. It was martial arts in a mechanically enhanced suit. The first punch hit Romero the hardest and he crashed deep into the ice. Diana grabbed his foot and slammed him into the ice again. He jumped up on his feet and punched her, but she stopped it and retaliated with a violent spinning kick. Again, Romero crushed the ice on the spot where he landed and scarred Europa’s surface one more time until the thick ice stopped his slide. “Unbelievable.” “What’s unbelievable Sergeant?” “Nothing, climb the goddamn hill and hold radio silence.”

  Although the suit protects its carrier sufficiently against high G forces which occur, kinetic blasts like that one took their toll. Romero got up one last time as Diana aimed her rocket for his last remaining team member. This time Mike could not help him. “Incoming missile!” “Oh shit!” The rocket hissed away from Diana’s arm and from what Mike had learned in the last couple of minutes she would not miss. Because it was a game the rocket did not blow up when it hit, but the damage calculation system expelled the last remaining team member from the team and forced the ACA into standby. 00:20 the timer said, and Romero saw Diana’s Marine was almost there, they just needed to make one point. He shook off the pain and dizziness. Diana was already celebrating her victory seeing her teammate almost on top of the penitentes.

  Mike jumped away from the ground directly towards Diana with all the force the suit was able to muster. She did not see him coming. He took stance right next to her, that was when she realized he was there. He took her at one foot and lifted her off the ground, starting to spin her in the air so fast that centrifugal forces imprisoned her. When he released her, she hissed away towards the penitentes and hit them right underneath her marine crushing right through the ice wall. As the ice crushed underneath the remaining marine’s feet, he lost his hold and the display gently counted down the last second as he slowly fell off the collapsing penitente wall. “TIED!” He screamed into the radio and lifted his hand in the air. It was a victory because they had lost already, and he considered a tie a win at this point. The other ACA’s went fully operational the second the timer reached 00:00. “Well congratulations. I suppose you just managed to have the first tie in the history of king of the hill. Return to the ship so we can start the celebration and don’t expect a trophy, we’ve only got one
and since no one is the number one so we’re going to keep it.” The Master Sergeant laughed into the microphone as the jet packs lit up and the grunts returned to Sapphire leaving a scarred ice field behind.

  After the marines got out of their suits the celebrations started in the canteen. “Well done Mike I didn’t think you had it in you.” Diana patted him on the shoulder. “Well, we couldn’t let you have that win for free now, could we? But hey, Diana, in about three years I might be gone from here and you might be able to take a win from the next guy.” She wanted to slap him, but he caught her arm mid-flight pressed her close and gave her a passionate kiss in which she was very willing to participate. “Well played, you sly trickster”, she softly whispered in his ear. “Almost made me lose there, you fierce Valkyrie.” He replied. They stood there for a second until they stepped apart from each other. “Shall we go in there, Ms. Callas?” “After you Mr. Romero.”

  As they entered the canteen the Master Sergeant spotted them and signaled to the crowd, which was already letting loose, to calm down. “Ah, the tie makers!” His voice rose over all the noisiness of a dozen conversations. The music went silent and the Master Sergeant looked at both of them with a harsh expression on his face. Well, maybe that was just his face. “I see you were able to make it to the celebrations for the winner.” The silence had lease. A man came through the door carrying a huge box. “Ah Mr. Finigan, good you found the time to drop by. Would the winners”, he cleared his throat mid-sentence. “Would the proud tie sergeants please join me over here?” Mike and Diana looked at each other confusedly and went towards the Master Sergeant. He grabbed them and stood one left of him and one right of him. Then he took the box and reached into it. He took out a huge trophy. The crowd howled and cheered. “So, who am I supposed to give this thing to?” Silence befell the canteen and the two marines stood still. “Should we vote?” The Master Sergeant asked mockingly into the crowd. “Should we flip a coin?”, he continued. “Does anyone have a good idea? I tell you what I’m going to do, because I’m a man with a plan. You two!” He snorted at the two winners. “Stand in front of me, be so kind.” They took a step forward and stood in front of the Master Sergeant facing him. “The 35th King of the Hill Trophy of the Marine Corps division on Sapphire goes to...” He took a deep breath. “The both of you!” And with that he pulled the trophy into two halves’ and handed each of them a half. “Mr. Finigan here was so nice to give me a hand in finding a solution. Congratulations to the winners!” He screamed at the top of his voice and the crowd went crazy. Diana and Mike laughed hard at each other as they both held their half of the trophy. “Time for drinks.” And with that they followed the Master Sergeant’s command.

  By the time the trophy was split in half, the Cetacea had finished her long run towards Sapphire and had docked beginning the supply drop. “Hey Brian, I have to visit someone. Can you take care of things here while I’m gone?” “Sure, Captain.” “Thank you.” Lucia left the Cetacea and located her brother’s communicator in the canteen. As she walked into it she saw Mike being carried on the shoulders of his teammates and thrown in the air every now and then while they sang an old marine song. Lucia got to the bar and ordered a water with a lemon slice. As Mike had ground contact again, she walked up to him. He looked at her in surprise, as she gently stroked his cheek. “Oh my god, I forgot you were coming today.” He grabbed her and lifted her up, spinning a couple of rounds with her. “I need to talk to you Mike, it’s important.” There was an unusual worry in Lucia’s voice and Mike put her down leaning towards her. “What’s up, sis?” He almost whispered. “The explosion on Ruby.” “Yeah, what about it? I heard it was a malfunction.” “Our supply is missing a couple of chemicals, which probably caused this malfunction.” “Holy shit, Lucia!” He took his drink and swallowed it down. “What’s going on here, Mike?” “Oh, we won or kind of won the trophy, or half of it.” “What?” “Long story for another time, Lucy. So, what did Commander Cromwell say?” “Nothing.” “Why?” “I didn’t tell him.” “What?” Mike raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think the stuff was taken by one of my crew. I think it was one from the staff on Ruby and I don’t want to alarm the guy who did it.” “I see.” Fortunately, another drink had arrived, so Mike could take another hit. “If I told Cromwell he’d have surely made me turn my boat around and that would have rung all alarm bells for the saboteur.” “Point taken. So, you have a run there anytime soon?” “One more resupply on the Atlantic Cascade and then yes, we bring in the heavy machinery for the new biosphere they dropped on Mars.” “Yeah, we watched the live stream. The thing is huge, it’s incredible what engineers are capable of these days.” “Yeah by the way, it’s good to see you little brother.” She hugged him again, until she got pushed back by an unknown force.

  “Hello, I don’t think we’ve met? This is the officer’s canteen and you’re clearly not an officer. What did you say your name was again?” Diana sounded as much as an asshole as she could manage to be. “Excuse me?” Lucia stood up and realized she was not wearing her uniform but instead she had gotten off the ship in a hurry and was still in her sweatpants. She blushed. Mike stood up from his bar stool. “This is captain Lucia...” He looked deep into Diana’s rage filled eyes as he let the pause fill in the missing pieces. “...Romero.” Diana’s rage vanished instantly, and she almost jumped on her heels saluting captain Romero. “I’m sorry Captain Romero.” She wasn’t sorry and if she had another surname than her brother she would have still been in for a good old-fashioned fistfight. “It’s no problem I just rushed here in my private clothes because I wanted to see my little brother.” She smiled at him. “Who did you say you are?” “Gunnery sergeant Diana Callas captain Romero.” “Nice to meet you Diana, and please call me Lucia.” “Well, anyways, I don’t want to spoil your party, I should get back to my ship and check the cargo supervision the supply drop. I’ll see you later little brother. Diana.” She stood up and was on her way to Juno Hoshiko, Sapphire’s commanding officer.

  XX. Perspective

  After Claire and Joseph had returned to The Cross Keys, the black bearded man helped them out with another four communicators for traveling without creating too much attention. Fortunately, in London there was an entry to the Atlantic cascade. The two of them entered the pods and travelled towards the shores of Penwith Heritage Coast. Shortly before they reached the shore, the pod slowed down next to a parallel cascade tube. The transition was smooth, and when they had passed the shore, their journey continued underwater. The Atlantic cascade gently accelerated them towards escape velocity from Earth’s gravitational field. The long distance and constant acceleration was no more than a tenth of a G and they barely noticed it. Except Joseph, who was feeling sick just from being underwater, in a cascade system and going that far in general. When they reached the escape point the pod’s seat switched from a sitting into a horizontal position. “Please attach your seatbelts in case of unexpected air pockets. We will begin our flight towards Lunar Station in thirty seconds.” EVA gently informed them as the

  ‘00:30’ appeared on the pod’s display. In order to get the right angle towards the moon, the Atlantic cascade had to be somewhat flexible in order to adjust to the Moon’s position. Therefore, the Atlantic system was able to create all kinds of angles and vectors necessary. In today’s case Joseph was lucky because the moon was barely above the horizon. The pod still accelerated, and Joseph was more than relieved he did not see the speed they had already gathered. Joseph had a bad feeling about the way the tube formed in front of him. He was pressed into his seat as the 180° turn gently fixed him into the side of his seat with approximately four G. Fortunately it was just until the curve was done then about eight G pushed him into the back of his seat prohibiting breathing for another couple of seconds. As the pod was shot into the blue sky, the acceleration forces let go of him and he flew in a cloud of steam, which was created by the last acceleration, towards the moon which he could see now. The pod powered up for space travel,
as they reached the hemisphere a quick scanner sweep checked for debris in the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere and slowly the bright blue sky turned dark. All the stars came out and the sun shone from behind him towards the moon which began to grow and grow.

  “Activating magnetic couplers.” EVA’s gentle voice informed Joseph who felt some kind of seasick. It was not like he had never been to the moon. He had been once. What came now was his least favorite part. Because the pods were basically without an engine of their own, in order to make them as light as possible, the breaking procedure must come from the outside. And there it was, the pod catcher, a giant metal structure in a low stationary position above the Lunar Station. Joseph was already feeling sick before he felt the magnetic beam from the pod catcher locking on to the pod. But when he came closer it was quite a sight and for a second, he forgot about his aversions. The pod’s front now directly faced Lunar Station and he could see Earth in his side window. It was tinier than he expected it to be. But it never got old to see the blue planet from outer space. Earth was without a doubt objectively the most beautiful of all the solar system’s planets. And Lunar Station itself had a certain charm, too. The outlook on Lunar Station was similar to a timetable. The structures were naturally added time after time. During the early expansion period the buildings and facilities had primitive design and had been made for practical use with the least amount of resources.