by D. Brumbley
“They’ve given us both everything we have.” He agreed as he settled into the dock with a mild shock to the entire pod as they locked in place. The landing arms pulled them down into the pod socket on the side of the dock, and the darkness of space was replaced with the low-level lighting of the pod dock interior corridor. “I hope you’re right.”
“I hope I am too.” Mercury didn’t move immediately, but when she finally did, her hands were still calm and sure in their movements as she slowly unbuckled herself from the several harnesses surrounding her. She refused to make assumptions; she needed facts. She always needed facts. “Maybe they’ll have more to say about the accident at the meeting.”
He was unhooked from his own restraints before she was, and he helped her with the last few restraints by her feet before he floated out with her into the corridor. He paused at the control panel for the pod before moving on, and even with the serious tone of their conversation, he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face as he typed in a recommendation for the pod to be thoroughly cleaned and sterilized before it was put back into circulation for general use. People got motion sick and threw up in pods all the time. Typing in that there was a need to clean for possible bodily fluids wouldn’t be outside the realm of normal maintenance, even if it made Orion chuckle before he pushed away and scooped Mercury up to hold onto her as they drifted through the corridor.
* * * * *
When they arrived at the meeting, the room was already mostly full, but there were people still greeting them at the door. Mercury smiled at the grinning official, and she reached her hand out to shake his. “Hello, Sir. Mercury Finnegan checking in. I’m excited to be here.”
When he answered, it was with a thick Australian accent and a firm handshake to go along with his smile. “Dr. Finnegan, of course. We’re very glad to have you. Welcome. I’m Stephen Kaplan, one of the operations overseers for the prep phase.” He looked up at Orion afterward and offered his hand. “And that must make you Lieutenant Al-Jabbar. As-salaam alaikum.”
“Wa-alaikum as-salaam.” Orion returned as he took the man’s hand. “Looks like we’re a little late to the party.”
“Nah, right on time. You and your lovely lady are reserved right up front, section for military personnel. Names on the chairs. Fall in and we’ll get started in a minute.” He gave them both a smile as they walked away, but Mercury noticed him looking her over as she turned to walk down the aisle with Orion. She realized, as she saw it, that she’d gotten such looks from a large number of men before in her life, though she’d never paid much mind until she got so many of exactly the same kind of appraising looks from Orion.
Mercury didn’t say anything as they walked through the aisles to get to their seats, but as soon as she was sitting down next to Orion, she took his hand. She didn’t care about looks, but she didn’t want anyone to think she was interested in anyone except Orion. “I never really noticed the…attention…before. Not from most people, anyway. But you must be used to the attention.”
“Hm? Oh, yeah, I got used to the freak looks years ago. Plus the top three questions everybody always asks me. How do you spell Al-Jabbar, where did you get the blue eyes, and how tall are you exactly. Like everybody in the world has this inborn right to a measuring tape where other people’s dimensions are concerned.”
“I’m surprised they don’t ask your measurements elsewhere. That’s much more interesting than your height.” She gave him a teasing smile and then kissed his cheek. “Have you ever heard of that man before? Kaplan?”
He shook his head. “I think I saw his name on the roster I glanced over before, but I’ve never worked with him. He’s pretty high in seniority with the Initiative, but he’s a groundling, which is weird. That’s all I know about him. Why, is he the one that was checking you out?” He put an arm around her shoulders and turned around to glare, feeling immediately protective.
Mercury moved the armrest between them out of the way and she pressed herself into his side. “I didn’t say that.” Even though Kaplan had checked her out, she didn’t want Orion to feel jealous or possessive. He didn’t have anything to worry about.
He gave her a sarcastic look and glared back at Kaplan before turning his attention back to the front of the room. The place was filling up quickly, and everyone fell into their places as the time to start approached. “I see Carl made it.” He pointed across the aisle at the other pseudo-giant in the room, but Carl was busy talking to a group of other men who looked like they were capable of violence, all of them laughing and watching the stage as if one of the officials of the Initiative was the butt of a joke and too far away to hear about it.
“I don’t think your friend would miss this. He’s still waiting for his match, though he seemed like he had an easy time finding a woman when we were at that club.” She held tightly to Orion’s side as the officials finished speaking to each other and moved to their own seats on the stage. “We’re the lucky ones who don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
“Lucky is a word I’ve applied to myself about every minute and a half for the past week straight.” He smiled and turned to kiss the side of her head, his fingers leaving a caress along her neck.
The man who stepped up to the front of the raised stage above the rest of the crowd was tall without being towering and fair without being pale. He had black hair that was going silver at his ears and a black goatee with silver highlights that stood out in stark contrast to his light olive complexion. “Good afternoon.” He said in a deep voice with a thick Nigerian accent. “Thank you all for being here today, and for your willingness to be a part of this Initiative. My name is Hugo Vance. I’m the founder and general director of this Initiative.”
There was a round of applause after his introduction, and Mercury was no less enthusiastic than anyone else about meeting an important person to the project and to be in the audience. She had waited her entire life for Jannah, worked tirelessly, and being in the same room with the director of the Initiative brought her closer to her goal. It was right in front of her, and she had an amazing man to share it with. She was feeling fortunate that hard work and a bit of fortune where Orion was concerned had given her such a bright future.
“Thank you.” Vance gave the room a smile once the applause began to die down. “Before my colleagues begin their presentations, please allow me to say a few words about the state of this project and the world that we have envisioned.” He headed for the front of the stage, reaching up once to adjust the microphone that was unobtrusively perched over his ear to make sure it was comfortably in place as he addressed the crowd. With a gesture, a holographic image took shape in the air behind him, light coalescing one beam at a time to show a world that was much greener and much more mountainous than Earth, with much smaller ocean masses between its continents.
“There is a reason why this planet is named for heaven.” Vance began as he watched everyone in the room look over the image behind him. “It has one hundred sixty-seven percent the landmass of Earth, and three hundred twenty-nine percent the arable land. Early scans have shown that the soil is compatible with most staple Earth crops, and many of the indigenous trees have been shown to produce wood that is every bit as suitable for construction as those found on Earth, in addition to providing chemical compounds not found on our home planet. Less is known, as of yet, about local fauna, but satellite research is ongoing. What we do find encouraging is that none of our probes have been eaten by a dinosaur in the course of exploration or hijacked by aliens. At least not yet.” Vance said with a grin.
Mercury laughed and shook her head as she imagined what problems they would face if they ran into dinosaurs. “That’s good to hear, right?” She whispered with a smirk at Orion. “At least we won’t die by dinosaur.”
“You know, I’m actually a little disappointed. I was looking forward to having a pet dinosaur. You know, like a horse, keep him in a stable, take him out and run laps once in a while? Make a saddle, the whole t
hing.” He shook his head. “Maybe that’s too many cartoons as a kid talking, I don’t know. Still, makes me a little sad on the inside.”
“Main landing site will be here.” Vance turned around and expanded a spot on a continent in the southern hemisphere with a broad temperate zone between a range of mountains and its eastern coast, near the mouth of a river. “The main settlement has been tentatively named Firsthaven, and supplies have already been sent along with the probes we have been launching as frequently as possible over the past five years, including tools and basic equipment. From Firsthaven, colonies will expand up and down the coast and up the main channel of this river into the mountains to allow for constant contact. The region’s resources and situation make it ideal for habitation, and the part of the ocean adjacent to it is most favorable for water landings due to the planet’s weather patterns, making it an ideal landing site. This is the part of the world you will be calling home a little over two years from now. It’s the part of the world you will cultivate and set in order for those who will follow you, and those after them and those after them and so on. I want you all to get a good, close look at it, think about what your life is going to be here. This will be your home.”
Mercury definitely took a good look, because she loved getting any information she could about Jannah. She was fantasizing about where her house and her clinic would be when she heard someone speak up from the back of the room. Mercury glanced back after the woman started to speak, clearly out of turn, but apparently her question just couldn’t wait.
“I’ve heard rumors that you’re bringing mudpuppies up here. To train them to go to Jannah also. Is it true? Are you going to bring a batch of diseased up here and send them off with us to Jannah? If you are, that’s asking for trouble. They’ll just ruin the new planet too.”
The woman was dressed in a jumpsuit similar to Mercury’s, so Mercury wondered if the woman was a pilot also. She winced at the derogatory term used for Earthlings, but she remained quiet. Lots of people had hateful things to say about the people that lived on Earth, but Mercury didn’t waste much of her time thinking about them other than during her CV research. She had her own life to focus on, not someone else’s life down below.
Instead of Vance stepping up to give a response, the man who’d greeted them at the door stepped up from the back of the stage with his hand raised slightly. “Hello there. Molly, right? Molly Ashford? Yeah, I thought I recognized you from your file. Well, Ms. Ashford, speaking as a mudpuppy who grew up into a full-sized dog, I can tell you that yes, we’ll be bringing Earth-born up into the Initiative to go with us to Jannah. Any of you who are concerned about contamination, don’t worry, they’ll be undergoing full treatment once they get here and be cleared of the Crisis Virus, same as I was when I got here as a little tyke. After that, they’ll be working alongside you, under your command, maybe even commanding you. Especially since, if I remember correctly, Ms. Ashford, your area of expertise is in resource allocation and operations oversight. That’s my area of expertise, so you’re already set to be under a mudpuppy from day one. I suggest you get used to it.” He smiled at the woman, then at the rest of the crowd, a few of whom had laughed. “Earth-born have skills we’re going to need living on an actual planet instead of up here where we have one hand on the thermostat and the other on the latest fashion magazine all the time. They can do things you haven’t even thought of yet, and we know the answers to questions they’ve never thought to ask. We’ll need both on Jannah. That’s how we thrive.”
Mercury was quiet as she listened to that explanation, since she didn’t know how she felt about sharing her Jannah experience with Earthborn people. Not that their contagion was a long-term concern; the current regimen of treatments for the virus was effective and fast-acting. Only a month of daily treatments would eradicate the virus and reverse most of the damage it had caused in their bodies, if the damage wasn’t extensive enough. In young people, the damage was almost always reversible. Eventually Mercury raised her hand, even though she didn’t know how the meeting was supposed to go; if they were supposed to listen or if they were allowed to ask questions and provide input. She didn’t wait for permission to speak. “Is the current report date for training still accurate? I noticed when we arrived at the station today that there were still a lot of repairs in progress after the accident. Will that delay us?”
Vance was the one to answer that, as he approached the side of the stage close to her. “At the moment, the Arm Four conduits are being sealed. Replacing the arm has been designated as an eventuality, but not an immediate priority. The Initiative is currently in the process of outfitting Arm Two as your intended center for training, and yes, your timetable is still accurate. What we have altered, in light of recent events, is the fact that you will be alone in Arm Two for the training process, to allow the Initiative to entirely take over the maintenance tasks for that arm and allow us complete autonomy within that sector. We have also chosen to expedite the training program in order to achieve a launch date of 6.14.77.”
“Expedite the training. Wow.” She said as she settled back into Orion’s side. “I apologize for the secondary interruption, Director. I’m sure you have an outline of what you wish to discuss.”
He smiled at Mercury and nodded, clearly approving her apology. “Not necessary, Doctor. I’m happy to answer any and all questions in due course.” He turned back to the rest of those present and returned to the side of the stage so that the hologram of Jannah was clearly visible. “The following presentation and all the relevant pieces of research that have been conducted so far will be made available to each of you directly after this meeting is over, for your own review and consideration. As of your acceptance, you are a part of this team, and you will be expected to contribute as you are able in your own areas of research. For now, allow me to introduce Dr. Maria Santos, the lead medical director of the Initiative. She has some items to review with you regarding issues of public health and social arrangements to be maintained throughout the training and colonization process.”
A smaller, dark-haired woman with dark, sharp eyes walked forward and smiled at the receptive crowd. “I’m so happy to see all of you here today. I had concerns that we would lose some of the brightest initiates we have because of the accident. This proves that you all have an awareness of risk, and that you know Jannah is worth that risk.” Her smile flashed around the room before she continued. “First and foremost, before you leave, we’d like to conduct a biometric screening. Everyone had one during the application process, but you all know that data needs to be updated consistently to provide accurate analysis. During the screening, we’ll remove or reverse any reproductive blocks or birth control measures.” The crowd didn’t remain quiet after that, but they weren’t loud and raucous either. It was obvious that everyone was surprised to hear something like that, at least so soon. “You’ll all be matched on the first day, and since we know that all of you will be a part of the First Wave, procreation is one of the biggest priorities. Medical facilities will not be established on Jannah until after you arrive, so I’m sure the women in the room would appreciate taking babies with them instead of giving birth in less than ideal situations.”
It was Orion’s turn to jump in with a question, but he wasn’t the only one to raise his hand, and another man on the other side of the room was chosen to voice his question before Orion could. The man was of fairly average height and build, and wore glasses, marking him as an initiate from one of the less sophisticated Stations that didn’t have eyesight correction. Even with the glasses, though, the man was still attractive, with aquiline features and short, dark hair. The woman next to him leaned into him the same way Mercury did with Orion, placing them obviously together. “It was our understanding during the application process that matching would be optional, for those who were single at the time of entry. What about those who are already matched or married or otherwise more focused on the work to be done on Jannah other than procreation?”
/> “As I said, one of the top priorities for any colonial enterprise is procreation, but it won’t prevent you from being able to focus on the work you will do on and for Jannah. Everyone has their own responsibilities, and childcare is something that will be assigned to certain people who are best suited to care for children.” She heard more people talking in response, but she continued anyway. “As for those of you currently matched or married to someone else who has been accepted into the program, you do not need to be concerned. Your marriages and matches will not be dissolved. What may happen, however, is that you may be asked to contribute to the genetic diversity of Jannah with someone who is not your match or your spouse. I don’t think I need to remind you all why genetic diversity is important.” The common memory of those who lived in orbit was usually confined to the events of their own station, but everyone knew about an isolationist station in the early days of space colonization. Within only a few generations, the inbreeding among them had become so extreme that eventually the station had to be disbanded and destroyed.
Orion’s hand slowly came down, since he’d had the same question in mind and she had answered it, even if he clearly wasn’t fond of the answer. He thought over what was said, then leaned down to add to the buzz of conversation by speaking low against Mercury’s ear. “Personally, I’m not sure how you get more genetically diverse than a Persian-Arab and an Irishwoman. We should be alright.”
Mercury responded with a kiss. “A contribution of sperm does not mean that anything will happen to our relationship. Those collection procedures are simple enough, if they really want to use your ‘genetic diversity’ with someone else, or with me.” Mercury kissed him harder. “Anyway, if they remove the reproduction barriers and we enjoy each other as thoroughly as we have been, I don’t think anyone else will have the time to ‘contribute’ to me before your sperm snatches up one of my eggs.”
