“Oh my head! What is this place? It has two suns?”
“Welcome to Alpha Station, well, actually there are five here, Alpha 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6.”
“What happened to 3?”
“Nah, you don’t want to know.”
“Great. Which one are we going to?”
“The military one. This was the first place they built a space station outside the Solar System. Back then, it took them weeks with an FTL drive to get here. You can’t get near the Solar System without registering here first, or the Earth Fleet will take you out.”
Rounding a few asteroids and planets, Siiri observed some installations on some of the rocky moons, “They live on those, too?”
“Mining. The first Alpha Station ever built is a museum encased in the largest city station, Alpha 5. The planets have some domed settlements, but they are unfit for normal colonization.”
“How many people?”
“On all stations and posts … let’s see …” he brought up a holo and transferred it to her consul, “… check it out.”
“27 million! Wow!”
“Most aren’t here for long, especially the military base, coming up now.”
The military space station resembled a giant spinning top with a large sphere at the bottom and docking ports protruding out like huge lollipops. Siiri recognized a couple of Moon Class battle cruisers docked along with many other types of vessels large and small.
Torian spoke in the Comm on the frequency only known to military and contracted vessels, “Alpha 2 Traffic Control, this is Hawkeye 228, from the C.S.S. Europa of the 4th fleet, requesting permission to dock, over.”
“Roger Hawkeye 228, please transmit your orders.”
“I’m on a Priority One, as you can see.” Torian sent his orders and flight plan.
“Hawkeye 228, this is Alpha 2 Traffic Control, you have clearance for docking bay 21. It is lit up on your navigation consul.”
“Thank you Traffic, approaching now.”
“It’s massive!” Siiri’s eyes grew wide studying all the tiny portholes in one of the enormous docking spheres.
“There will be marines meeting us, don’t be alarmed, the orders I have are Top Secret, and so are you, but not for long. We’ll ditch the Hawkeye...” Torian’s voice seemed a little sad, “… and then catch a shuttle to a space liner bound for Kanata.”
“More tunneling?”
“It’s easier on a liner, the cabins are insulated so you only feel a little bit of a headache, and they have stims.”
It took them a couple of hours to hand off the Hawkeye to a fleet station officer and sign off Torian’s discharge files on a holo terminal. Siiri had all her citizen files in order, and silently he thanked Tass. Torian did not want to stick around for the astonished faces when they read the holo report and viewed the logs. The defeat of the Immortal Fleet and discovery of Kayla’s people would be all over the holonet news shortly, and because of Siiri’s Top Secret classification, her role absent from the official reports. Torian was glad of that; she would be free of any interference.
All the holo terminals and bright displays in the main prominade of the station fascinated the blonde girl, still in her navy flight suit. Shuttle trains and elevators took them from the docking bay of the main lower sphere to the larger top shaped component that housed the commercial area. In the main concourse were dozens of shops and retail outlets in corridors filled with military personnel from all branches of the service, but mostly navy colored fleet uniforms and a mix of civilian attire. Torian carried a small backpack with all their things, including his lucky hockey puck that had survived through out their encounters, and they were allowed to keep their military issue Cons, though later he would exchange his for a fancier civilian one with the latest features.
“I’m going to get out of this military stuff.” He eyed a fashionable clothing store next to a small café, “Want a drink? Something fancy?”
“Sure.” Siiri took his arm as they entered the establishment with holo projections on the roof of a cityscape at night. Chairs and decorative umbrellas for show on small tables extended out into the concourse surrounded by a small fence. Across from the café was a multi-geyser water fountain encircled with tall deciduous trees. The holos on the walls showed scenes of a strange city she had seen somewhere with a giant tower in the background.
When he caught her puzzled expression, he took her hand, “Paris, France, it’s a famous city on Earth.” They took their seats with a dozen other patrons, some military but several civilian.
“It’s so different here, so peaceful, I can believe we just came from a war zone.”
“I know.” Torian motioned for the attractive server, “Wine?” he peered over at Siiri with a sly grin.
“Oh? Is this a special occasion?”
After the bottle came, he held up his glass, “A toast, to us.”
She sipped the rosy liquid and then watched him, “I want a big church wedding.”
Torian almost choked on his drink and then coughed, “Aye … well, two things.”
Siiri folded her arms, “And I want my family on Kanata, close.”
“First …” he raised his finger, “I haven’t proposed … yet.”
Holding his Dog Tags in her hand she smirked, “What was this, then?”
“And …church? When did you become a believer?”
“Kayla’s people wanted to become gods, and they paid for their arrogance. Now I think there is a real God.”
Shrugging his shoulders, he put down his glass, “Ok.”
“The money you had the agent send me, is that enough for the farm you wanted to buy?”
“And then some …”
“You were planning this already,” she eyed him coyly.
Then he gulped down the wine, “Except the wedding part …”
When they were finshed, he took her hand and went into the clothing store. Ditching the navy flight suit, he emerged from a stall wearing a white button up shirt with multi-colored geometric shapes and some jeans. Underneath he still wore his navy T-shirt and walked up to Siiri, inspecting dresses.
“Oh, you look so different!”
“In a good or bad way?”
“I like it, you seem … so relaxed.”
“That one looks good. It kind of reminds me of that dress you wore when I first saw you.” They both studied the garment hanging on a rack, sky blue and grey, with symmetrical three-dimensional geometric figures around the low cut neck and edges at the bottom.
“Patterns are different, and it’s shorter ...”
“Go try it on. You need to figure out your dress size anyway.”
Torian went to see the clerk and pay for his clothes. The amount displayed on a floating screen on the counter and he scanned it with his Con and selected send from his account.
Siiri came out and twirled around, “Well?” the dress was perfect, just a little above the knees and not too tight. Torian let out a low whistle. When they left the store with their civilian attire, she steered him to a shoe store and they replaced their fleet boots.
At a holo terminal he downloaded the shuttle and space line schedules and began a quick holo home, “Come on over, this is to my folks.” He readied the holo cam on the interface, “It will probably get there at the same time as us, the star liners transmit holo casts once they hit orbit, but it will take us a couple of hours to land with a shuttle.” They both squeezed together and he introduced her as his new girlfriend telling his family he would probably arrive on the next star liner.
Turning to the grinning girl, he put his arm around her shoulder, “Ok, let’s hurry, we have to catch a shuttle to Alpha 4 where the liner to Kanata docks, it leaves in 3 hours.”
The liner was long and tubular with two sets of straight wing structures, one in the middle and the other in the rear, each housing a tunnel drive cylinder underneath. It carried a full compliment of three hundred and fifty passengers, but for this flight was only two thirds full.
>
He let her have the window seat and when she leaned back against him, he spoke softly, “Siiri, you’re not overwhelmed, I mean all this new stuff all at once.”
“After what we’ve been through, I’m ready for anything.”
“Good. Wait till you meet my family.”
“Oh …um, but are we safe? What if the rebels come?”
“Not here, and besides, this Boeing 1040 starship may not look like it, but it is heavily armored. There are four shielded pods, the cockpit, the luxury class, and the two-ecomony classes, where we are sitting. If we are hit by anything that disables or damages the ship, it breaks apart into the life pods. It offers some degree of protection.”
When the stewardess announced they were leaving orbit Siiri clasped his hand tightly, but this time the aching feeling after tunneling barely registered when they entered the star system with the earth-like planet Kanata, “Are there any side effects from the tunneling?” She glanced out the small round window at the largely blue planet below.
“Not anything noteworthy, over a billion people has tunneled over the past 200 years.”
“Its beautiful!” She studied the world in awe.
“Some people call it the striped planet … see the continents, there is one north of the equator, the largest, and two smaller ones that run close separated by oceans. In the large middle one are the mountain ranges north and south. So, you see, green and blue, white peaks, and gold in the very center, with a few lakes and rivers.”
“That’s a lot of gold.”
“They say Kanata feeds the Core worlds.”
They stayed in orbit waiting for permission to dock at the space station, liners usually did not land and she snuggled a little closer to him fascinated by the whole affair watching from the window.
On the small holo located on the back of the seat in front, a pretty auburn haired singer came on and Torian sat up, “Oh crap!”
“What?”
“Local stations show local talent, that’s Leigh singing.”
“Oh, your old girl friend, the one who wouldn’t wait for you … she’s, um, very pretty, in fact, gorgeous …” Siiri adjusted her earpiece, “… with a lovely voice.”
“You’re seeing her after, not what she looked like in school. She’s had some enhancements and a bit of facial surgery….here.” Torian brought out his Con and shuffled through some old holos, “I don’t think I deleted …there she is, that’s us at Senior Prom. Now that she has singing contracts and climbing the city charts, she has money for improving her image, and looks are very important for singers.” Then he pressed close to ear and whispered softly, “You don’t need any enhancements, you’re a natural beauty.”
Siiri beamed back, “Thank you.” Then she sighed playfully.
“After we land I’ll take you to a nice dinner in the city, then maybe to a holotorium … church, meet my folks …”
“And that place by the clear part of the stream, with the flat rocks in the field of barley?”
“Nah …” he shook his head, “Memories of Jarlan kind of ruined that place for me, but I know a better one.” He turned to her with a sparkle in his chestnut eyes, “There’s an old grassy trail without any mag strips that leads to the foot of the mountains. It is nice and secluded up the side of an old crater and inside is a crystal blue lake, deep as far as your eyes can see. All around are flat smooth rocks so you can sunbath with a little bit of white sand someone must have brought in for a small beach.”
“And few people know about it?”
“Very few. It’s peaceful and quiet.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
“You wait and see,” he grinned.
When they docked, the station was much smaller than Alpha Centauri, with a two story square of shops and several terminals for shuttles. Kanata had several cities, and though Gold Sea was not the biggest, it was a revered attraction with planetariums, a huge Zoo and park, and gardens on all flat roofed buildings. The shuttle was a delta winged affair with room for forty passengers, and practically empty. The trip was about two hours and Siiri occupied her time gazing at the golden waves between two white capped mountain ranges. Torian checked his messages and then leaned over to watch with her. Wisps of cirrus clouds streamed by barely noticeable in the bright blue sky.
“Is that it?” She pointed to a green dot in the distance, like an island in a shiny gold ocean.
“Yeah, there’s the Manitoba River that flows right through, and past the city is Brendan.”
“The Alpha Centauri stations were amazing, but a real city, with living breathing people, children playing, cars flying by! When I was a little girl I would imagine what it was like when Kaarina was alive!”
“Gold Sea is about 3 times the size of Kaarina. And you’ll love the parks.”
The spaceport was located outside the main metropolis with cargo-laden freighters filled with wheat dominating most of the larger pads. A couple were lifting off to into orbit and eventually tunneling to far away worlds. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were wide with awe as they flew over the vast city, with skyscrapers concentrated in the center and colorful arrays of flowers in immaculate gardens on the rooftops. Gold and silver solar panels reflected the sunlight from other roofs and in the gaps between buildings were endless steel snakes of multicolored vehicles. Aircraft of every kind kept the minimal distance of 500 meters over the city landing in designated transit, hospital, or police pads. Civilian use of aircraft was kept at a minimum to avoid chaos and support the subterranean and aerial transit system. Buildings were made of tinted transteel and other alloys that reflected the sun and blue sky.
“Wow …” Siiri whispered quietly and held Torian’s arm around her waist, “Is your family expecting you?”
“They knew my approximate discharge date and my brother texted me that he’ll be at the space port to pick us up.”
“I get to meet your parents already.”
The landing on the pad was a perfect touch down and a tube extended to the door where they departed leading to the gate. Wall scanners hummed barely noticeable checking them over as they strolled towards the customs area where both had their files inspected by a bored official who waved them through and then they were in the main lobby. A few steps away and they stood in the sunlight of a bright waning afternoon.
“The gravity here is similar to Selunia, but I think it’s a little warmer. It’s almost fall now.” He put his arm around her shoulder as they viewed the parking lot full of all sorts of hover vehicles, taxis, and buses. A warm breeze tugged at her grey and blue dress and blew open his white geometrically patterned shirt while tussling their hair.
“Is your brother here?”
Torian led her to an oak bench with advertising for a local college as they spied a few others waiting for rides or hailing taxis, “Texting him now.”
Then the tall young man with light brown hair looked up suddenly, “Oh no …”
“What?”
“Damn, he spotted us …”
Just then a sporty white hover pick up pulled up with an animated display on either side of the front of running black and brown horses and an array of strange horns and scanners on the roof. The occupant wore a blue and black plaid shirt and a white cowboy hat sporting a wide grin as he punched the steering wheel, setting off a series of horns in a loud annoying rhythm.
“Not so loud …” people milling about waiting for shuttle buses or rides all stared at the truck and Torian sunk on the bench.
The passenger side door slide open and a youth with Torian’s eyes grinned and waved, “Bro!”
“Trevan! Meet Siiri.”
“Whoa ho! I knew ole Torian would bring back home some cute colony babe!”
“This is a colony, Trevan.”
“You know what I mean, come on in! Don’t mind the dirt on the floor.”
“Hi!” Siiri slid on the seat and occupied the middle.
“Or empty beer bottles.” Torian sighed, but then grasped his brother
’s hand and they smiled warmly at each other.
“Ma is going to be so happy!” Trevan beamed and then tipped his hat at Siiri who smiled back and glanced at Torian a little unsure. Then he gunned the truck and sped around to the exit of the parking lot.
“Wow, you drive just like Torian.” She called out over the hover thrusters.
“Unh uh, honey, way faster!” He drove to a ramp that led to the freeway.
Siiri glimpsed back with a slight pout, “Oh we’re not going through the city?”
“I’ll take you later.” Torian remarked.
“So do you farm, Trevan?”
“Not yet.” He touched the dash board controls and music began to play, “I’m at the tech school, engine mechanics, Pa said we all got to learn a trade so that if crops go bad we got a backup.”
“Where is Miriam?” Torian asked.
“She’s working at some law firm, summer job, big case or something, said she might stop by tomorrow when I told her you were here.”
They soared on the highway energized by the magnetic strips buried under a thin layer of asphalt. Most of the time the roads were untouched by the hover traffic but solid enough for stops.
Trevan glanced at Torian as a popular upbeat song came on, “Hey, there was some sort of space battle, it’s all over the news, wiped out a big enemy fleet. You know anything about that?”
“Not a thing.” He replied and Siiri shot him a knowing look.
The town of Brendan, meticulously planned before anyone settled, resembled most of the communities on Kanata. Small town populations maxed out at 10,000 before another community developed. The towns surrounded cities of usually half a million or more and the planet was still only half colonized. Like all towns, Brendan laid in a grid pattern with the center block reserved for civic and religious buildings expanded out to commercial blocks and then residential neighborhoods.
Farms made up the outlying areas and before they entered the main town, Trevan turned off the freeway racing down a smaller road for another half hour until they came to a collection of neat white buildings including a tall square house, a barn, and sheds. Most of the buildings were kits designed for quick construction on colony worlds.
The Battle for the Ringed Planet Page 37
