Path to Europa

by Garion Swann

  Chapter Six

  Alex made his way to the bridge, he heard various sounds, the engines restarting and the best sound of all, the sound of the Titan's docking clamps releasing. He looked out of the viewing port on the port corridor he was walking down, he could see the Titan moving off and heading out of the nebula at speed. They were so close to being caught and were extremely lucky that the Titan had been called away.

  Alex entered the bridge, his crew had assembled.

  "Thank heavens those dicks are gone," came the voice of Jenny, his XO. She has been keeping watch on the bridge while the search team were onboard.

  "No swearing in my chair," he said jokingly. Jenny moved from the Captain's chair to the pilot's seat.

  "Report," Alex ordered.

  "We have full control of the ship, our fuel has been returned, and the engines are powered to optimum levels," Grant said from the seat next to Jenny's.

  "Where's the Titan?" he asked.

  "They've just left the Nebula and jumped.

  "Excellent, proceed to the last drop site and then to the jump point. Set jump for Port Lochmead, we'll sell our cargo get the scan out of the way and get back to Trulen ASAP. Jenny, I need you to look for an indirect route to Trulen, set us up a cargo run from Lochmead to somewhere and then to Trulen."

  "Aye, Captain."

  Alex tapped a button on his chair labelled Engi, the rest of the sticker had been worn off over time. "Grey, how's our engine?"

  "Purring," Grey's answer was short and straightforward. With the anger outbreak and short tempers he had seen from recently, Alex began to worry about him.

  "Great, get ready for the last launch and a jump to port."

  "Yep," the again simple response was heard and the com line ended. Alex sighed and turned his attention to his console, he saw they were approaching the final drop.

  "Alright, get that thing out of my ship and make sure they're connected. Then get us the hell out of here." After a few minutes more he heard Jenny speak.

  "Get ready for the drop, five, four, three, two, one, drop" She turned the ship and watched the readings on her display. "Successful drop, sir. Setting course for the jump point."

  Alex relaxed, there were no ships on sensors, they had nothing illegal on board the ship anymore, and he finally felt like he could relax.

  "Michelangelo, you're cleared for landing pad one-four-six. Scan teams are standing by. Welcome to Port Lochmead." The female voice

  "Understood Lochmead, touchdown in three minutes," Alex said over comm. Out of the window, he could see the clouds clearing, and the ground approaching. He hated atmospheric landings. They didn't do it often but when they did it was always a menace. He wished he had checked what sort of destination they were heading towards if he had seen it was a planet he would have chosen something else.

  "We're coming in a bit fast, increase power to ventral thrusters," Grant said to Jenny.

  "Don't you tell me how to land this ship, I've been landing ships since before you were in your fathers," Alex interrupted before Jenny could say anymore.

  "We get the point, just don't crash my ship," Alex said stopping the conversation.

  He changed his console view to a map of the complex, it was made up of three interconnecting disused mining shafts. The smallest one, which is where they were landing, was three kilometres in diameter and several kilometres deep. They were landing in the military section, which spread over three-quarters of this shaft, they needed to be scanned before they could drop off the cargo. It was not known how many people actually lived in Lochmead, parts of it were ruled by gangs and criminal organisations. The Yventi government would never admit they were there, but everyone knew they were. He'd read many reports about where you shouldn't go when visiting Lochmead and always avoided it until now.

  The hatch to the bridge opened, and Doctor Tamber walked in.

  "You need to see me, Captain?"

  "Ah Doctor, have you ever been to Lochmead?" he asked as he motioned her to take the seat next to his.

  "Many times, one of the ships I was on as a junior doctor for a few years made frequent stops here, that was before the military presence though. The only time I ever killed someone was here." The crew were taken aback by this comment, she said it in such a calm tone.

  "Well, that was unexpected," Alex said.

  "They tried forcefully recruit me into being a…" she paused, "Lady-of-the-night. I refused, and they tried to take me, I happened to be showing someone a new kind of medical tool, that I managed to use as a weapon. Safe to say when you know at great length the details about the human body you know where to cut to make sure someone does not grab hold of you again."

  "Doctor, remind me never to piss you off," Jenny said while concentrating on slowing the ship down for landing. "30 ‘til land."

  Thirty seconds to go Alex thought, the ship had been shaking as it descended through at atmospheric levels. They got considerable turbulence as they went below 5,000 ft. Alex heard the ship's structure strain as Jenny maxed out the ventral thrusters, he could feel the ship slowing down. He thought about how large the ship actually is, it's a considerable bulk to land on a planet, the weight was not noticeable in space, but in a gravity well and atmosphere, the controls were considerably more sluggish. The ship thudded against the ground, and the engines immediately powered down, it was always strange when the ship went silent. It felt like its heart had been turned off.

  "Everyone can have shore leave, Jenny, make sure the ship has guards, and no one gets into trouble we're spending no more than twelve hours here." He watched as the bridge crew lock down their consoles and made their way off the bridge. The bridge would be in lockdown while in the dock, making it difficult for someone to steal the ship. Which he could quickly see happening in a place like this. Even being in the military section did not feel particularly safe.

  Once all had left he put in his authorisation code, and all the screens on the bridge went dark, Grey would be doing the same in engineering. He got up to leave the bridge, he double checked no one was left and closed the hatch. He once again entered his security code to a panel on the outside of the bridge. The reinforced bulkheads closed around the bridge, and the computer confirmed the bridge was secured and locked out. Alex considered what he could do while the ship was being scanned and the cargo unloaded, he didn't need to be there, everything was done by drones. No one from Lochmead should step foot on his ship unless there is a problem, but he would be made aware of any issues. Some of the crew he knew would spend their time in brothels while others would stay onboard to catch up on rest or work. There was apparently a large gadget merchant in one of the other shafts that he knew Grant would be visiting. He'd never known grant to come back from shore leave without several new gadgets. Alex climbed down to deck three and went out the airlock, the port was spotless, you could easily tell it was a military installation.

  He saw large signs with arrows one that said Non-Military Personal pointing left and the other saying Military Personal and ship Commanders must check-in, with an arrow pointing right. He signed and made his way to the right, the rest of his crew going left. He approached a desk, and the man behind the counter looks up and smiled.

  "Alex Harper of the Michelangelo, we just docked." He said.

  "Welcome to Lochmead Mr Harper, your ship is here for a scan and cargo unload, the scan should take no more than two hours and the cargo unload further two hours. Your fuel levels are showing at sixty-three per cent, would you like to refuel?" Alex could not tell if this was a robot or a human, a fact which always unnerved him.

  "No, thank you." The ship would not use much fuel getting back to Trulen, and he'd get cheap fuel there.

  "Understood, your docking fees have been deducted from your incoming profits. Your scan was free because you were referred here by a Yventi search vessel. Can I do anything else for you, Mr Harper?" the man said. Alex was convinced it was a robot. Even though it seemed very real, you can't tell who is real and who's
not these days.

  "Where can I get ship supplies, Water, emergency rations and so on?"

  "Please follow the purple line on the ground it will lead you to a supplier that is recommended by eighty-nine point three-four per cent of people who go there." The robot said, Alex knew then it was a robot.

  "Thanks,"

  "You're welcome, have a nice stay at Port Lochmead."

  He turned and walked away, he had never liked robots, it's a machine that can think and adapt quickly, it can do almost anything considerably faster than any human could. Although it had moral parameters set in its programming, they could be switched off. There were cases about robots that made decisions that went against their ethical parameters. If they can do that they could commit murder, or go against their human programmers. There were so many fictional stories throughout history that talk about artificial intelligence rebelling and turning against humans and Alex was someone who could see that easily happening with the number of robots there actually are in inhabited space.

  Alex had been following the line for about five minutes when he came to a building that had ‘Supplies' on a simple sign. There was nothing fancy about this shop, Alex liked this. He entered and moved towards a counter. Someone approached the other side of the counter, wearing worn coveralls, they had scraggly hair and a long messy beard.

  "What can I do ye for?" the man said.

  "Here's a list of supplies that I need," Alex said handing him the pad. The list included refilling the water tanks, standard rotation of emergency rations, cleaning products, for both the cleaning the ship and crew, and various other basic supplies the crew of a ship will use, including about one thousand ready meals. Alex provided protein block ready meals for all his crew, there was enough for everyone to have three meals a day. Most the crew purchased their own food on top of that, the ready meals were not terrible, but a lot of the crew didn't like to eat them all the time.

  "Uh huh," the man said several times as he looked down the list. "Yep I got it all," We'll get it loaded, landing bay?"

  "One Four Six," Alex replied.

  "Awesome, it will be done in the next six hours. How would you like to pay? The man said he was talking while putting all the information in a computer terminal.

  "From incoming profits," Alex said. A lot of companies, including the one that ran Lochmead used a centralised budgets system. Which meant that any financial transactions done on the station goes through them, they pool money for each ship docked and it's released to them when they leave. If a ship finishes a job their profits are paid into this pooled fund and anything they buy, or any fines they receive, any docking or search fees are taken off the incoming profits. Whatever is left will be released to them, or they will pay the station if they amount in the pool falls below zero. Some companies that are not necessarily attached to the station can offer other payment solutions, but the station still takes a cut.

  "Perfect that's gone through, total cost was ninety-seven thousand credits. Thanks for your custom." The man turned quickly and left Alex alone. Quick and simple, the perfect way of doing business he thought to himself. He had nothing he needed to do so he headed back to the ship, he would stay in his quarters until it was time to leave. Catching up on paperwork, filing flight plans and maybe relaxing, but that would be the day.

  At nearly a kilometre long and half wide and several levels deep the gadget section of Port Lochmead was heaven for lovers of new technology. It had the latest tech from all over inhabited space, it was one of the largest tech communities, ranging from small handheld devices to cybernetic body modifications. There were thousands of small ships selling millions of different products, it was an impressive sight. Outside many stalls were people with flashing hats demonstrating what their merchandise could do, huge advertising screens dominating the sky, showing off the latest and greatest. Grant walked through the street eyeing up various stalls, he had been to many similar places before so knew where to go and where not to ignore. His interest peaked when he saw a man disappear and reappear moments later, cloaking clothes were the newest craze that had gripped the tech community, the only issue is that it only cloaks your for about ten seconds until the power cell is depleted it was early days. Somehow the technology had managed to get onto the consumer market before any militaries purchased the patent. As a result, many different companies were developing the technology making it better, not just soldiers would be able to disappear midway through a battle. He also saw on an advertisement a pill that you eat once a day, and it gives you all the nutrients you needed for the day, you didn't have to eat, he considered getting them, he always found behind hungry was a significant distraction from work but he enjoyed overeating too much to go without meals. Grant had brought Jenny as well as Mark from engineering along, Mark was a tech lover like Grant but didn't come anywhere close to Grants obsession. Jenny was the exact opposite of Grant, she hated new tech, she'd be happy to go back to sailing ships on the ocean if she could.

  "Why did you bring me here, Grant? All this tech is pointless!" She said Grant could not tell if she was joking or frustrated.

  "Ahh Jen, this is not pointless, it's incredible the point of this tech is to make all our lives easier, and it's forever changing you come here tomorrow you'll find so much that was not here today. Oh and was that frustration I heard then?"

  "Waste of money, and no it was boredom!" Jenny said. Mark just sniggered and looked around the stalls they were passing. Grant found the store he'd been looking for. The store was larger than most around it, and somehow it seemed even more high tech, the windows had advertisements in the glass, the sign was professionally made and designed, it was one of the many chain tech stores that dominated inhabited space. Grant entered followed by Mark and Jenny. Grant knew they had never visited this store before as they would have said something by now. Behind the door was a security checkpoint, Jenny and Mark looked confused as the automated security scanned them. Grant's name appeared on a screen, with an old picture, he had very long hair in the picture, and it was jet black.

  "Blimey! Is that you!" Jenny said laughing. "You look like an idiot!" Grant smiled.

  "That was a long time ago," he said in response chuckling at the picture.

  "Glad you got out of that phase," Mark added. Next to Grant's picture was three gold stars and the word lifetime.

  "What is this place?" Mark asked.

  "It's an elite tech store, only the very best tech here, and lucky for you I can bring two guests."

  "Guests?" Mark asked, "You're saying I can't just walk in here."

  "Gosh no, it's a paid membership, and I have the top membership," Grant said proudly.

  "Good for you," Jenny said sarcastically, Grant ignored it.

  "Welcome Grant Mcdonald, and two guests." the soothing voice said. The security doors opened, and a scanning beam checked them for weapons, once it cleared them the door closed and the next door opened, it was an airlock system.

  When they entered, they were not swamped by advertisements like most tech shops it was a calm atmosphere with people in smart suits talking quietly with other customers. There were comfy seating areas and an open bar. It looks more like a high-end jewellery shop. A woman wearing an extremely smart suit walked over.

  "Welcome Mr McDonald, how can I help you?" the women said.

  "Well, my friends here would like to get a drink at the bar while I look at the latest eyewear please," Grant said in a more sophisticated tone than usual for him.

  "Certainly," the women turned to Mark and Jenny. "Sir, Madam, please enjoy the bar, it's right over there." They both said thank you and made there way other leaving Grant with the women. Grant could hear them whispering about being surprised that it was a real bartender and not a robot.

  Jenny and Mark both ordered drinks and sat down, they were amazed by how comfortable the seats were.

  "Oh, wow," Jenny said, "I've never sat on anything so comfortable in my life. I'm gonna have to talk to the Captain and get the
se on the bridge, they're amazing!"

  "For all, we know they probably cost more than the ship," Mark joked.

  "Yes probably, this place is incredible, you wouldn't think it was here," Jenny said.

  "I never took Grant for an Elitist," Mark commented, his tone betraying his disappointment.

  "You think this is Elitism?" Jenny asked.

  "Look at it, secure entry, personal service, free booze, a membership fee. This is for the high rollers, the one per cent, we'd have never even known that this place exists if Grant had not brought us here." Mark was sounding annoyed.

  "Doesn't make Grant an Elitist," Jenny replied.

  "He has top membership, that says it all really. How does he even afford it anyway, I bet it's more than the Captain gives himself so how can Grant afford it." Mark asked.

  "We all had lives before the Michelangelo maybe he's super rich but doesn't show it," Jenny said.

  "Hang on, did he say new eyewear?" Mark asked.

  "Yeah, I think so, why?" Jenny wondered where Mark was going.

  "Didn't he buy his current eyewear only six months ago when we stopped at Dekur?"

  "Yeah, I think he did. You know what he's like, he always wants the latest stuff. Every day there is a different piece of tech that he is talking about." Jenny said.

  "You're very defensive of him," Mark noted.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Jenny said annoyed, "You're judging him too quickly! We don't know his circumstances, just because he can go to a fancy place doesn't make him an elitist."

  "I suppose you're right, where I grew up the divide between upper and lower class was very prominent, there was no middle class, you were either super rich or super poor, no in-between. As you can probably guess I was not super rich."