CHAPTER 7 – IN THE NEPTUNE SYSTEM
Artist rendering of the surface of Triton, with Neptune and the Sun visible
16:09 (Universal Time)
Friday, November 8, 1996 ‘C’
Surface of Triton, Neptune System
Lilya Litvak was standing on the frozen nitrogen surface of Triton, at the foot of the personnel access ramp of the U.S.S. PROMETHEUS, and was having a last look at the moon’s landscape when she heard a voice in the headset of her spacesuit.
‘’I’m sorry to cut your contemplation of Triton’s scenery, Colonel, but we will have to retract soon the access ramp in order to depart and start our journey back to Earth.’’
‘’That’s alright: I was about to climb back aboard anyway.’’ Lilya Litvak, as she appeared in 1942
While she was in some measure regretful about leaving Triton after weeks of mapping, analyzing and exploring it, Lilya, like the rest of the crew of the interplanetary spaceship U.S.S. PROMETHEUS, felt that it was time to start the journey back to Earth. They had already spent four years in deep Space, having left Earth for Uranus and Neptune in October of 1992, while their return trip to Earth would take a full three years. Seven years in Space was a very long time for anyone and it would also tax to the limits the autonomy of the spaceship in terms of food and medical supplies. However, what they had accomplished during this epic Space voyage more than justified its costs and hardships. Both the Uranus and the Neptune Systems had by now been explored and mapped in detail and they had also launched from Triton’s orbit a heavy interplanetary exploration probe that was now on its way to Pluto, at the confine of the Solar System. They unfortunately had not found any traces of life in those two systems, contrary to what the first voyage of the PROMETHEUS over a decade ago to both the Jupiter and Saturn Systems had found. There, on the moons Europa, Enceladus and Titan, lifeforms had been found, including a race of primitive, non-technological medusa-like creatures able to communicate telepathically, which lived on Titan. The video recordings of those medusas by Ingrid Dows, who had filmed them in the ice cavern they used as a communal nest had then basically exploded every previously believed theories about life away from Earth, theories which had already been severely shaken when living fish had been found in the subterranean lakes and rivers on Mars.
Climbing back the access ramp, Lilya entered the personnel airlock and closed firmly the outer door before initiating the pressurization of the airlock. Once the pressure was equalized with the interior of the ship, she entered the locker room next to the airlock and removed her spacesuit, replacing it in its designated storage rack and plugging it to the power and air supply feeds. Now wearing her internal ship two-piece work suit and a pair of shoes with magnetized soles, she made her way to her cabin, situated in one of the carrousel modules of the U.S.S. PROMETHEUS which provided Earth-level felt gravity to the ship’s crew. There, she took a quick shower and put on a fresh set of clothes before going out of her cabin and walking down the wide tunnel forming a rotating ring on which habitat and machinery modules were skewered like pieces of meat on a stick. Six minutes later, she arrived at the main crew cafeteria, where she intended to have an early supper. However, the sight of someone sitting alone at a table while sipping on a cup of coffee made her divert that way. The man in his early thirties sitting at the table smiled to her as she approached him, making Lilya’s heart accelerate: Jean Latour was a French planetary scientist with whom she had started to be intimate with for over three months already. Jean, apart from being highly intelligent, was also a kind, caring and handsome man who was also a poet in his spare time, all things that had attracted her to him. Right now, she really felt the need for companionship. In turn, Jean Latour admired the small but svelte blonde and her smooth oval face as she sat down at his table. He knew that Lilya, while looking to be in her mid-twenties, was in reality 74-years-old and had been rejuvenated some seven years ago by General Ingrid Dows, along with an ex-Russian couple of astronomers. That couple, like Lilya, were now considered to be legal American residents, having been granted political asylum after fleeing Russia in 1989.
‘’Hi, Lilya! How was your last walk on Triton?’’
‘’Memorable! It also helped me to make an important decision, a personal decision.’’
‘’Oh?! It can’t be about becoming an American citizen: I know that you already got your citizenship some two years ago. So, what is that decision, Lilya?’’
In response, Lilya gently pressed her hands into his hands and smiled while fixing the Frenchman with her deep blue eyes.
‘’Jean, you already asked me once if I would accept to live with you once back on Earth and I then answered that I would need more time to decide. Well, I have now decided. Furthermore, I would like to have a baby with you.’’
Lilya then completed her declaration by getting up and bend forward to kiss Jean on the lips, watched by the amused other users of the cafeteria. Jean eagerly returned her kiss and hugged her as well for long seconds. He then looked down into her eyes, near tears.
‘’Lilya, you can’t know how much this makes me happy. We should get officially married right away. Then we could work on that baby.’’
‘’With our return trip to Earth due to take three years, we should have plenty of time to score on that, Jean.’’
‘’Quite true! Maybe we should go to the ship’s bar-lounge to celebrate this.’’
‘’A nice idea! We will then return here to have supper together. Come!’’
Jean took the time to go bring his unfinished coffee cup to the cafeteria’s dishwashing area, then walked with Lilya to the nearby bar-lounge, where he ordered two cocktails for the both of them. When they went to sit in one of the alcoves of the bar-lounge, they sat side-by-side and snuggled close to each other before knocking their glasses together.
‘’To our future together, Lilya!’’
‘’To our future, Jean!’’
After they each took a sip of their drinks, Jean gently caressed Lilya’s curly blond hair, cut short in order not to interfere with the wearing of a spacesuit’s helmet.
‘’What decided you, Lilya?’’
‘’Many things, to be frank. First, I genuinely love you and think that you are one of the nicest men I ever encountered before. Also, this long trip in Space made me realize how lonely I really was. I already lost my country when I was forced to flee it and ask for political asylum, while many Americans still show some suspicions about me as an ex-Russian officer. The true friends I still have are few and far between, something that this long Space mission only made worse. Finally, your openness, tolerance and genuine caring towards me convinced me that you are the man I want to live with.’’
Jean had to wipe a couple of tears forming in his eyes then before he could reply to her.
‘’Lilya, I promise you to make you as happy as I can.’’
He then sealed his own declaration with a long kiss.