by Eric Klein
Greetings, sir, what may I serve you?
(To be honest, I recognized only the Japanese, Spanish and English – when I asked the AI, it explained the fourth one was Korean).
It then continued in English, “May I recommend the special of the day, our Peking synDuck Kimchee Empanada? We take fresh synDuck that is hand glazed with a layer of special sauces as it is left to stand in our kitchen for 24 hours, and then slowly roast it in a closed oven until it is golden brown. We then add our own hydroponically grown Napa cabbage which we make into a baek-kimchi, which literally translates as “white kimchi.” It is milder than its more traditional sibling as this style of kimchi does not include the hot pepper flakes. It is quite flavorful and is made with both chestnuts and pine nuts. These are combined in our special empanada dough and deep fried. We recommend this be paired with a small pot of green tea.”
Intrigued, I agreed but added a small bottle of sparkling saké to my order. The empanada was quite tasty and large enough for a full meal. When I slid my ident chip over the sensor to pay, a fortune cookie popped out.
I opened the cookie and took out the small slip of paper inside. I had not seen one of these in years. While nibbling the slightly orange-flavored casing, I read my fortune:
On the reverse side was written “Your lucky number is 1,” which seemed a little cryptic, but at least the cookie was tasty. Out in the lobby a small group entered the travel agency. I finished my tea and walked over.
As I entered, I saw the shop was already quite crowded, and most of the people were carrying cards similar to the one I had been given. They were all standing around a large globe in the center of the shop. The shop’s AI greeted, “Welcome to the Ultimate Vacation raffle. Please hold your card with the data chip over the scanner to your right.”
“Perfect, you are the last of the contestants and now we can begin the drawing.”
“Thank you all for participating in our contest.” An attractive woman walked out to stand next to the globe. “I would like to thank our sponsors who have donated the prizes we will be awarding. With your help, we have raised one hundred thousand solars for the Colonization Relief Fund. One hundred percent of the solars raised will go to the fund. Please allow me to go over the procedure and rules. In front of me, you can see a clear sphere below which the gravity has been reduced to zero to maximize the randomness. In this tube, I have one hundred identical white balls, each with a prize chip inside. As only a hundred cards were sold, each one of you is guaranteed to win one of the prizes. Each of the contestant cards is marked with a number based on the order in which it was purchased, and this will be the order in which you will stick your hand into the sphere and choose your winning white ball. Once you have chosen, take your hand out of the sphere still holding the white ball. You should then put it on the scanner here…” She indicated a scanner next to the globe. “… and it will announce your prize.”
While speaking, she took the tube with the white balls and poured them into the globe. Being pushed by a blower in the base, they started to swirl around in the zero gravity and soon bounced off of each other until they were well mixed.
“All right, who has card number one? It was the last one scanned before we began.”
I looked down at my card and saw that the bottom was marked 001. “I guess that is me.” I wormed my way to the globe of bouncing balls.
“Wonderful! Now, if you would step over here and get us started. Just put your hand inside via this opening and pause for a picture to be taken. Then you can select a ball with your prize.”
As I pushed my hand in, I felt a pressure curtain that kept the balls from bouncing out.
Once my arm was inside to the elbow, the AI said, “Look up, please,” and a flash went off. While the spots were clearing from my eyes, the vector of one of the balls put it right into my palm, and without thinking my fingers closed around it. Since I was holding a ball, I pulled my arm out and placed the ball on the scanner.
The AI ran a red light over the ball – which I’m pretty sure was only for theatrics, as it was probably reading the contents of the ball via secure proximity communication.
The light went off and the AI announced: “Congratulations, our first contestant is the grand prize winner of the all-expense-paid, one-month cruise on the L.S.S. Venture as it makes its maiden voyage of a tour of the colonized planets. The L.S.S. Venture departs this evening, so you will need to be at the Hudson River Spaceport by 16:00. Hot jets, and have a good flight. May we have the next contestant, please?”
The woman who had welcomed us took my arm and led me away from the center of the action towards a screen with the store name and contest logo. As we posed for another picture she explained, “The Venture will launch from the Intrepid launch facilities at the Hudson River and Forty-Fourth Street. You can board anytime now, but please be aboard by sixteen hundred. Although you can bring anything you want, you will not need any luggage. The onboard replicators will be able to provide any clothing or personal care products you might need. These will be recycled when you are done; they probably would prefer to keep the lifting mass to a minimum anyway. The ship will have a number of themed events, where passengers will be encouraged to be creative in their attire to match the theme. Is there any reason you can’t take off today?”
Waiting for her to catch her breath I almost missed her question. “No reason. I just finished a major job and was planning a little time off to recover, before accepting another assignment. So this is perfect. Anything else special I should know about the trip or other passengers?”
“Funny you should ask. This is the maiden voyage and the first with passengers. Prior to some last-minute redecoration, the ship did a shakedown trip out to Mars to ensure there were no problems. That went fine. But as part of this special voyage, there are two special groups joining you on the trip. The first is the special traveling edition for the two-hundredth anniversary Miss Universe pageant. As you probably know, over the past fifty years each of the colonies had a contestant, but this year they are holding parts of the pageant, or other events, on or in many of the colonies. Also, there is the two-hundredth anniversary of the Collier’s Symposium to Investigate the Feasibility of Space Travel in the Near Future. This will be a voyage filled with beautiful women from all of the major colonies, as well as astrophysicists and practical space engineers. If those events don’t interest you there are the regular shipboard activities, the casino, ‘ground-side’…” She accompanied this with air quotes. “… excursions, dancing, the pool, and full spa: a little something for everyone.” This was accompanied with a wink and a light elbow into my side. As she was leading me towards the door, she added, “There are details about all the activities on the winning chip as well as your ticket. We hope you have a great trip.” She turned from me just in time to step up and be photographed with the next winner.
~*~*~*~*~
“Excuse me, BJ, but I have completed the download and they are asking all passengers to turn to their displays for the orientation and safety presentation.”
“OK, Brain. Please activate the display and record.”
A hologram of a young man in a crisp white uniform with three gold stripes on his shoulders appears and starts talking. “This is First Mate Ethan Laidlaw. On behalf of Captain Englehorn, the crew, and staff, I would like to welcome you on board the maiden flight of the L.S.S. Venture, offering the first ever Grand Tour of the Solar System, with stops at each of the major colonies. As I mentioned, our spacecraft is under the command of Captain Englehorn. He has informed me that our round-trip cruise will be approximately thirty Solar Standard Days including scheduled stops.” As he speaks, a map of the solar system appears to his right in the hologram.
“On this voyage, we will make the following stops:” Each colony lights up as he mentions it. “Our first stop will be right next door at Luna City on Earth’s only moon, Luna. After that, we will head
sunward to Cloud City, the main floating city above Venus. Next, we will head out to Helium, the capital of Mars. Continuing outwards we will stop at Hydropole, the capital of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. Then we will head out to Saturn where we will make three stops at Nivia, the capital of Saturn’s moon Titan; Coruscant, the capital of Mimas, Saturn’s “Death Star Moon”; and, finally, Iliad, the capital of Saturn’s moon Dione. We will then head back to New York City here on Earth.
“Although we will not be stopping at them, we will have close-up views of the following colonies:” The hologram map changes to show the locations as he mentions them. “Callisto, Jupiter’s fourth closest moon; Europa, Jupiter’s sixth moon; Enceladus, Saturn’s sixth largest moon; Rhea, Saturn’s fifth, and second largest moon. Future trips will reach Uranus, Neptune, and the further colonies.
“To ensure you have a comfortable trip with us, please be aware of our safety measures. With this in mind, we ask that you pay attention as we explain the various alarms and procedures that are part of the standard requirements of the Muster Drill. These are different from the safety procedures you would have heard in any other craft. Each alarm will be accompanied by a holographic image to indicate what is going on and what is required of you for your safety.”
I phase out as his voice drones on in a minor variation of the safety instructions of every air-/space-ship flight ever to have flown. My attention is drawn back when his voice changes and it sounds like he is wrapping up.
“Just to remind everyone, we will be slowly adjusting the gravity in the main common areas like the lobby and dining rooms to match the gravity of our destination. So for the next two days we will be adjusting these areas to one-sixth gravity to match that of Luna. I would like to note that in the casino, tables that rely on dice or other moving parts will remain at one gravity.
“If you are interested, you can call up additional information about this flight, the recreations available – like the zero gee pool - how to configure the antigrav to your comfort in your cabin, or how to order clothing or costumes during the trip. Just make your request to the system display now or at any time during your trip.
“Thank you for your attention. We will lift off shortly.”
The display showed several icons for additional information available about the ship and its ports of call.
A quick scan of the list indicates that I’ll need to do a deeper review of some of this later, but, out of habit, I have Brain download most of it now.
Chapter 3
“This ship puts on the nosebag eight times a day (again I counted): early morning coffee (café‚ complete - that is, with pastry), breakfast, mid-morning refreshment, tiffin, afternoon tea with sandwiches and more pastry, cocktail-hour hors d’oeuvres (those thirty-one sinful traps), dinner (seven courses if you can stay the route), midnight buffet supper. But if you feel peckish at any hour, you can always order sandwiches and snacks from the pantry.”
Description of the meals on the HyperSpaceShip Forward, Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
As promised, the scene in the digital port shows us rising up from the harbor into the sky. Unlike regular flying, this is almost like we are in an elevator, straight up past the dome rather than across the sky. The port starts to grow brighter until I can see the curve of the world as we pass out of the atmosphere. Even though I have seen this view on the holo many times in my life, this time I’m leaving the atmosphere; and, even without feeling any motion, that somehow makes it different.
Calling back up the information menu, I spend some time memorizing the layout of the ship and how to get from my suite to the important places (dining room, library, and closest escape craft). This side-tracked me into some of the technology used throughout the ship. Reviewing how the ship was connected into the intra-planetary Ansible network was fascinating.
Brain surprises me by announcing, “If you want to make it to dinner you should leave in fifteen minutes.” I have just spent almost two hours in learning about my home for the next four weeks.
Calling up the wardrobe function, I ask what would be the appropriate attire for the first night gala dinner. It displays classic evening wear in the styles of the late 1920s, when the recommended dress for men was something called a tuxedo. This is a long single-breasted coat with wide lapels and a pair of straight slacks with a high waist. Both in black. With a white silk shirt, with or without ruffles, and black ‘studs’ (This seems to be from a time before buttons were invented). The tuxedo is finished with something called a bow tie in black and shiny black shoes, with an optional ‘top hat.’ I decide to go with the AI’s recommendation, allowing it to modify for my wristpad but opting against the hat. It responds, “This will take five minutes to fabricate.”
To pass the time, I go into the refresher where I take a quick shower. I let it air-dry me with a light scent labeled ’Old Spice’ – total time three minutes. Another minute for the auto calipers to depilate my face, and I’m ready to get dressed. Most of the outfit is new to me, but by using the hologram demo program I’m able to get dressed without needing assistance, which is offered as available from a member of the ship’s crew. It seems that first class accommodations have a human assigned just to assist us in dressing, though that seems a bit too decadent for my taste. The only thing that I could not work out is that strip of black silk the AI called a ‘bow tie.’ Much to my dismay, I need to call for help after I almost strangle myself trying to tie it.
Help arrives only minutes after the AI relays my call, in the form of the human valet. Within another minute she understands the problem and works the complicated macramé needed to secure it properly. I thank her for her quick arrival.
She keeps chatting as she steps in front of me and takes the ends. In the two minutes until she is done, I learn that her name was Jackie Silver; that she is from Luna; that she has just finished an advanced degree in hospitality management; that her fiancée is part of the bridge crew, and that he says that after this trip, between pay and bonus, they will have enough to get married and open a B&B on Luna. They have already registered for a nice bit of cubit in the Shackleton crater rim, where they could put in an Earth view bubble. Stepping back to survey her work, she promises that she would be available to untie it if I could not figure it out on my own.
Brain announces, “It is time for you to leave for the dining room.”
Jackie almost jumps at hearing Brain. Noticing my wristpad for the first time, she says, “Wow, your pad talks without prompting?”
I pull back the jacket sleeve and explain, “In my work, I seldom have a hand free to touch the screen or even the space to look at it, so I have it set to use the accessibility mode. This means it speaks as it would to a blind person with more details than you normally get from a wristpad AI.”
“Cool. I would go nuts if mine talked every time it needed to update me on something. Let me show you the quickest way to the dining room; you don’t want to be late on the first night. This is when tables are assigned.” Looking at my wrist again, she asks, “Why is it so big? Is that related to your work as well?”
“In a way. I need a unit that can be bumped and banged a bit more than most, so it needs to be more rugged. In this case, I had it designed after the Vortex Manipulator from an old TV program.”
Walking out of the room behind her, she looks over her shoulder. “If you don’t mind me asking, what is it that you do, that requires you to protect your wristpad while working? Most people in first class don’t seem to work with their hands or at anything useful at all.” Realizing what she is saying, she covers her mouth. “No offense meant. Obviously, some do.”
“That’s ok, Jackie. Actually, I get called in to fix things. Did you hear about the mayor’s toilet randomly shooting geysers? I fixed that. They were so grateful, I was given a raffle ticket as a bonus. It won me this trip. I guess I’m a little different from the rest of your charges here in first class, if not in
how I work then in the fact that this morning I had not even known about this cruise.”
“I’ll say! You are the only one that’s talked with me, not at me. And you are the only one, so far, who remembered my name. Thank you.” On that high note, we arrive at a door. “And here we are: the main dining room. You can get your seating assignment from the Concierge AI. Bye.” And with that, she turns and heads back to her normal duties.
At the entrance I’m asked by the Concierge AI “How many in your party?” In response to my “One,” I’m assigned to the last seat at table number eleven. A human waiter is waiting to escort me to my seat while informing me that in keeping with the old tradition, this will be my table for the duration of the trip. He points out the pre-dinner buffet line and wishes me a good meal.
I sit down and look around the room. Even though the table is not yet filled, I decide to go get my food. A busboy rushes past me, seemingly intent on tripping up an officer in his hurry. Instead, they only bump, causing the officer to glance off of a support column. I manage to catch him before he falls, and realize it is the Captain. As he straightens his uniform, I see someone had left a few cups with silverware next to the column, about where the Captain would have landed if I had not caught him.
“Good thing I missed those; it might have been embarrassing to get forked at the opening dinner. It would sound like some old murder mystery – Captain forked in the dining room.”
“More than forked. Does the waitstaff on this ship always store steak knives with the points up?”
He looks down and blanches. “That does not look regulation.”
While this is going on, the human Maître d’ rushes over. “Mr. Armstrong, I’m sorry. There has been a little mistake. You’re not supposed to be at table eleven. As the Grand Prize winner, you are to sit at the Captain’s table, table one.” He then notices the Captain still standing there and looking down at the knives, still looking a bit pale. “Is everything all right, Captain?”
