“We need to get some entertainment onboard, maybe build a bar.” Moon’s head spun around in disbelief. That was his first thought.
Though maybe Rick had a point. None of them, apart from Diego, had ever spent such a long time in space.
Moon was anxious again. She’d never ventured past Luna, though her team had contributed technology and support to grand projects throughout the system, she’d never seen anything but pictures and video.
The Universe was a big and scary place. The smarter you were, the more acutely aware of that fact you became. The lunatics flying on converts ships, the spacewalking miners, the faraway colonists. All lived oblivious lives. Moon had always felt safer within the confines of her lab. But she’d been alone for so long. Safe and comfortable. But alone.
Solus had been colonised quickly, and not in an organised fashion, and the chaos had always put Moon off. She liked order. Maybe that's why she’d never gone travelling. Mama could’ve possibly kept her safe. Maybe not. Space was the final frontier. Not for the faint-hearted.
From the moment Luna was colonised, ships headed outwards. Adventurers, colonists, entrepreneurs, soldiers, outcasts and fools ventured into the dark looking for fortune, fame, glory and a new life. These were the people that inhabited the far reaches of the system. Moon once feared these people. Now she was one of them. From fearing all aspects of chaos to travelling with its fleshy embodiment, Moon's life had been turned on its head. She had to admit this was all very exciting.
The Jovian system was their next stop. Moon was looking forward to seeing the system for herself. Jupiter had four main moons and seventy or so smaller moons, in total sixty-nine moons had either been colonised or had stations in orbit. The Galilean moons and their orbital stations formed an interconnected society that called itself the 69ers. Rick had been very disappointed when he found out the name had no real connection with the sexual act. She’d shin kicked him. He’d felt it through the armour or at least pretended too, which was appreciated.
Jupiter itself, like the other gas giants, was not generally considered a desirable place for colonisation. The entire system itself was unfriendly at first. Severe radiation made it uninhabitable to cyborgs and mutants. And the deep gravity well made navigation hazardous.
Moon had been part of the team that designed an array of shields and dampers to protect the next wave of settlers. This system created safe corridors for spacecrafts. Without it, colonisation would have been impossible. Moon wasn’t the bragging type but seeing her mark throughout Solus filled her with pride.
Brock had the Jovian system up on the holoscreen and was having Amy and Mr T lecture them on the Galilean moons. They were just finishing up with Europa and were getting started on their destination.
“Like Europa, the surface of Ganymede was made of water ice, some areas had land beneath and others an ocean...” Moon knew all this and kept trying to daydream her way out.
“Listen up fools! Know your environments!”
“Ganymede has grown to become the third economy in Solus behind Mars and Terra. It’s the most pleasant world in the Jovian system and the one that took fastest to terraforming." Ganymede had focused on creating a residential and service-based industry world. Everyone in the Jovian system wanted to live there.
“That means it’s a nice place fools, so don’t mess it up!” Moon knew that was addressed to Rick, but she still feigned offence at the plural "fools."
“Don’t look at me! I never start any shit!” From what Moon had observed it was true Rick seemed to attract trouble, but he didn’t technically start it. “I’m bored of this.” Rick got up and came over to her. He grabbed her hand and asked if she wanted to go for a walk. She did.
They walked past the medbay towards the training zone. Rick asked her if she wanted to go watch Diego’s training. She did, she was curious. She only used virtual worlds for research. It had always amazed her how virtual training was translated into muscle memory by the neural converter. They entered the room Diego was using. He was lying down on his back in the centre. His body occasionally jolted.
“Can we see what he sees?” Rick asked Moon hopefully. He could be so naive, but in a cute way. Or annoying, definitely annoying sometimes. Not lately though.
“We need to neural link with him and see if he’s enabled the spectator option.” He had, of course, he wanted an audience.
Diego was currently flying the Jovian system at breakneck speed, darting between rocks, ships, asteroids and moons; single handedly engaging a fleet, evading ships and fighting them. With every turn, with every slingshot, with every gravity assist, with every corridor pursuit, Diego’s digital synapses fired up old connections and brought back his reflexes and navigation skills. He’d been in there since they’d gotten on the highway so already a few months in the simulator. Because of his artificial body, Diego could stay extended periods in the simulators, but there were still risks to the mind, even for androids and robots.
He did seem a little unhinged to Moon. But then again so did most of the people she was travelling with. Maybe she was too.
Captain my Captain
Rick was discussing the joys of extended space flight with Brock, and more importantly how to make the time more enjoyable. The mess and lounge had to be kitted out into a bar and game room, it was obvious. Brock was trying to explain that the outer colonies might not have much in the way of arcades for sale.
“I’m not sure we’ll have time to get a bar set up on the ship, bud. And, you know, everything is more expensive in the colonies.”
“Yeah, but what’s the point if we die of boredom?”
“What’s the point if we die of hunger or run out of fuel?”
Gary joined this enthralling conversation and thankfully felt the urge to interrupt it.
“Hey guys, you have a minute?”
“Sure, Gary. What’s up?” Rick swivelled his chair to face an excited Gary.
“I’ve edited our footage and had a little look at the news and social media…” Gary paused for effect.
“Get on with it.” It annoyed Brock first.
“OK, OK, OK! The news is all about Ceres right now, obviously. But before that, there was positive buzz about the Mars clip. The show’s and your following have grown like crazy, on Luna and Mars, and the rest of the colonies. Some fans have been asking about the show though. We haven’t sent anything since episode one. What do you wanna do?”
“What footage do we have?”
“OK, so I’ve edited episodes that follow the show’s formula, and I’ve made some clips that are more social media friendly.”
“How many episodes?”
“The trip from Terra to the Moon and the Moon visit make up episodes one and two. The Luna attacks make episode three. Episode four is the Solus Express trip and Mars, I’ve struggled to get a full episode here, but I interviewed people while you were under. It’d actually be good if could record you cracking wise for cutaways.”
“OK, could do that I guess. Is that it? Four episodes?”
“No there’s more!”
“For fuck’s sakes Gary, get on with it!”
“OK man, chill! I’ve made a pirate episode and the battle of Ceres episode.”
Gary was more enthusiastic than usual, going on about how this was the best TV ever made. Rick and Brock shared a knowing look and nodded. They had to give it to Gary, this might turn out to be the best show ever.
“OK Gary, good work, now calm the fuck down.” Gary settled, somewhat. “I want you to send all the episodes to Earth, I want the copies locked to playback. If anyone tampers with them, they become corrupt and unplayable.” Gary nodded. “You tell them the episodes will also be airing for free on our social media, so they better not fuck with us.”
“OK and what about now? We haven’t shared anything in a while and… Well, there are some reports you were killed in Ceres.”
“Alright, well release some teaser clips every few hours. That should keep them satiated.”
/> Gary seemed satisfied with the outcome and apparently thought he could push his luck.
“Hey Rick, do you want to just get these pick up shots done now?” Rick sighed and got out his chair. “It’ll be out of the way, and I can finish the episodes.”
“Sure Gary, let’s get it done.” Rick dragged his feet but still followed Gary to meet Steve.
◆◆◆
Rick was finally released after a couple of hours and went straight down to Moon’s room. She wasn't there. He ran back up the stairs towards the flight deck. He should have checked there first. Moon was napping on the couch with Moondog by her feet.
“How was it?” Brock punched Rick in the shoulder. He felt it through the suit.
“It was great. Best two hours of my life...” Brock guffawed. Moon jumped up.
“What the hell Brock?”
“It’s nothing. The big idiot was laughing.” Rick went over to a groggy Moon.
“Guys, we’re entering the system.” Mom’s voice came over the PA.
“Where the fuck is Diego?” Brock’s question was justified. Shit did look like it might get real.
“Still in training…” Rick’s assumption turned out to be correct as Mom soon confirmed.
“Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck fuck!” Brock roared the last “fuck”, stress oozed out of him and filled the bridge.
“We still have time mate.” Rick acutely sensed Brock’s frustration. Maybe it was all the “fucks” gave it away.
The Last Human ship had entered the Jovian system near Callisto. Rick was enjoying a lecture, from Moon this time. She had apparently helped develop the technology that enabled colonisation and fuel extraction. She said something similar every time they reached somewhere new. This girl is incredible.
“It’s all about the helium-3. We needed more. Everything on Luna had been strip-mined in a year. And fusion drives needed it to get places, the reactors fuse it with deuterium to release energy, and without it, the colonisation of Solus would have stopped at Mars.”
“But there was loads here, and it was easy to get. End of story!”
“No, not exactly. Sure, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus did have plenty..."
"That's wha..." Rick stopped mid-joke, Moon's scowl shot him down before the disturbance could materialise, and she carried on.
"We had so many questions! How to extract? How to process it? It was tricky setting up the refuelling stations around Jupiter’s deep gravity well. That’s why everything is so expensive around here.”
“Why are we coming here if everything is more expensive?”
“I think the others said convenience.”
“Currently the orbits of Ceres, Jupiter and Eris are somewhat in line. This is an efficient route.” Rick had forgotten that Mom had been there the whole time.
“Yeah, OK Mom, but Moon said we can only navigate within the gravity safe corridors, right?” He didn’t wait for Mom to answer, “and everything is more expensive.” Rick paused and then thought of something else. “Oh, and isn’t this the most obvious course to follow…” He was talking more loudly so that the others on the bridge might hear and offer brilliant explanations. Efficient doesn’t mean safe.
Travel through the Jovian system was kept to recommended routes, through safe gravity-shielded corridors. Using these passages was recommended for all visitors, as ships with inadequate dampers and shields would lose their flight controls and instruments, could be torn apart, pulled into Jupiter, thrown out of the system and other delightful ways of dying in space. Rick had been horrified. He’d turned to Moon who’d merely told him they'd be fine if they stayed in the corridors.
Diego would be out of the virtual sim soon. Hopefully, he’d have all his pilot’s skills back, and he’d be ready to fly them all to safety.
Rick caught himself being optimistic again and wondered what was wrong with him. The gloomy thoughts hadn’t bothered him in a couple of days. No time to brood. In between life and death situations and courting Moon, he hadn’t really had time to think dark thoughts. They required loneliness, something he only got tied to a chair lately.
The bridge was full now, apart from Diego who was still plugged in. The Moons were exploring, the lack of food and things to play with was disappointing to Moondog, Moon, on the other hand, was enjoying going through the Council’s research files, getting her cube to “take notes”. Gary had successfully dragged Rick around the ship for hours capturing footage and was busy, as always, talking to himself excitedly as he edited the show.
Rick was back in his captain’s chair; Brock was still at the navigator’s post. He’d brought the Jovian system holomap up, Amy and Mr T were floating about analysing the gravity-safe corridors. Moon got up to join them and offered her hand to Rick.
“How are we going to lose Dave?” Moon asked the question they were all thinking. Flying around Jupiter, it turned out was a hazard.
“I don’t know, but we need fuel.” Brock's addition was unhelpful at best.
“By my calculations, it will be impossible to evade the pursuing ship while remaining in the safe corridors. Refuelling is therefore not possible without risking an incident.” Thanks, Mom. They all knew what that meant.
“Can’t we just carry on to Saturn?” Moon’s AI made a fair point.
“Maybe, but why risk it? What if there's a problem on Saturn and we can’t refuel?” Brock also made a good point.
Rick just sat there, in the middle, in the in the big chair, nodding, smiling and saying “yes” while stroking his chin. It felt like everyone was talking at him. He hoped they knew he had no answers.
“Couldn’t we deploy the solar sails?” Gary’s suggestion had merit. Rick nodded some more. Most ships did have solar sails as an emergency measure, Rick remembered seeing the deployment apparatus while sabotaging the Fearless. Still, it was fun to fuck with Gary.
“What? To get to Eris? Are you a mad, Gary?” Rick did a voice, Moon giggled, worth it.
“Aren’t we a bit far from the sun for that?” Moon raised an eyebrow and lifted her chin as she asked the question. Rick’s burst out laughing.
“The Solus Laser Battery System is still operational fools.”
“No one really uses it anymore. But it’s there. Ships can still deploy sails and order some laser beams from the relays.” Rick lifted his finger to stop Amy.
“If I may?” He paused a second. “What the hell is a laser battery system?”
“It’s an array of laser beam satellites scattered throughout Solus.”
“Roadside assistance fool!”
“Ships with fuel or engine problems could deploy sails and order lasers to fill them.” Schooled by Amy yet again. Rick nodded at Gary. Respectfully. “It won’t beat a fusion drive, but it’ll take us to Eris.” Amy and Mr T floated down from the holomap, they’d made their observations and calculations. “Though, at a speed where other ships can catch us.”
“No, we refuel now. The opportunity is here we take it.” Brock is boss.
“Have no fear! Diego Sanchez is here!” Diego paraded in, did a little dance and courtesy in front of Moon and then plopped into the pilot’s seat.
“How long have you been waiting outside to walk in and say that?” Diego waved Brock's comment away. “So do you remember how to fly properly?”
“No…” Diego paused and watched all the faces turn sour before laughing. “Remember is the wrong word!” He laughed some more.
“Just get on with it Diego!” Rick noticed Brock’s patience was shorter than usual.
“OK, I’ve just spent a decade flying this beast around Solus. And let me tell you this ship is the bomb. La bomba! And I can fly the fook out of it!” Diego’s confidence was there. Rick hoped his skills would back it up.
Mom for one would have liked some details before she relinquished control. “What’s your plan, Mr Sanchez?
“Ha-ha! You can call me Diego! Just trust me! I’ve done this before… And you were a great co-pilot! Every time! Cada vez!” Th
e laughter eventually subsided, and Diego slowly looked around the room, making eye contact with everyone as he did. “Strap in, it’s going to be a crazy fookin' ride!”
Diego turned to his console, no laughter this time; Rick felt a pang of excitement and Brock sighed, heavily. Moon took up position at the weapons console and Gary at some probably not important other station, Rick couldn’t see and didn’t care. Steve activated his gravity clamps, he was going to film the whole thing like some episode of Star Trek on steroids.
“I’m the captain of this fuckin’ ship…” Rick whispered it to himself.
“No, you’re not! I am!” Somehow Diego heard him.
“I’m the commander of this mission…”
“No, you’re not!” Brock laughed. Diego and the others followed. Have they all heard me? Rick shook his head at the dog.
“Fucking cyborgs and your super hearing!”
Ganymede
The Last Human had begun decelerating as it exited the highway, Brock needed to trust Diego far more than he'd ever wanted to trust a pirate. Diego had plotted a trajectory that would take them on the outside of Callisto’s orbit towards Ganymede. He knew a guy there, with the best prices on water and supplies, “trust me” he'd said, “todo bien, I got this”. Brock didn’t like it.
Then he’d shared his plan with them. Brock didn’t like that either. Diego’s plan was ballsy, and it had been approved by the AIs and Rick didn’t really understand enough about physics and gravity to know the odds. He knew the stakes though. Nobody else emitted an opinion. Brock didn’t have a better idea.
They would change course at the last possible instant and slingshot around Callisto towards Europa. For a little while, they’d be outside of the safe zones, but the ship could take it. After a few thousand kilometres they’d arrive in the densely populated zone between Europa and Ganymede’s orbits where they’d zig-zag through the 69ers to Ganymede. It’d be tough for anyone to follow them, even with a good ship. Traffic was crazy apparently.
Space Shenanigans Page 10
