Bridge conference room on the A.M.S. KOSTROMA (image from turbosquid.com).
CHAPTER 15 – PLANNING THE FUTURE
14:06 (Vancouver Time)
Wednesday, September 29, 2320
Excursion boat WHALE OF A TIME, northwest of the port of Tofino
Coastal waters of Vancouver Island, North American West Coast
Earth
‘’Look, Misha! Two whales!’’
The one year-old boy clapped his hands in excitement as he saw two humpback whales break the surface of the sea and blow geysers from their dorsal vent hole, a mere fifty meters from the whale sighting tour boat. Firmly held by his father, Michel Koniev, on top of being attached to him by a safety strap, the toddler watched with his parents as the pod of whales swam on or close to the surface of the Pacific Ocean, followed by the WHALE OF A TIME. The excursion boat was a relatively small one, with a capacity of about sixty tourists/passengers, and was of the catamaran double hull type. However, as with nearly all the ships and boats plying the seas of the Earth these days, it didn’t use screw propellers for its propulsion in the water, instead using gravity sails powered by solar panels and wind turbines. That propulsion combination had been universally adopted by Human ships and boats in the 22nd Century, for both ecological and humane reasons. The main argument for its adoption was the fact that gravity sails didn’t run the risk of being damaged or clogged in shallow waters, plus the fact that it eliminated both the noise of the propellers churning in the water and the risk of having those propellers strike and wound or even kill marine mammals. It also made ships equipped with it a lot more maneuverable than those using propellers, a powerful argument which had finally convinced the last diehards to abandon screw propellers and water jets.
Tina couldn’t be much happier than now as she enjoyed her family vacation time after all those challenging months in deep space. She and Michel had up to now used that vacation time to soak up real nature and fresh air, notably by doing hiking excursions and camping trips around the luxuriant forests of Vancouver Island, with the occasional boat tour thrown in, like today. The mild and moderate climate on Vancouver Island had made their vacation most agreeable, although the frequent rainfall dictated the wearing of raincoats. However, for Tina and Michel, the rain was another thing that helped them change their mind from their life aboard the KOSTROMA, as it was one aspect of outdoor life they didn’t see or experience while in space. Just yesterday, while camping in an isolated site in a forested park near Tofino, they had used a midday rainstorm to strip completely and come out of their tent naked with little Misha, using the rain as a natural shower while dipping their feet in a small stream next to their tent. Little Misha, sitting in the stream, had squealed with excitement as a few small fish swam around him.
While Misha was still looking at the whales, Tina looked up and glanced northward in the distance, towards the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Some twelve kilometers away, the imposing mass of her ship, resting at the vertical in the sea on its six landing leg pods, was visible next to the coast, near the location of the Koorivar Colony. She had obtained permission from the regional authorities to land her KOSTROMA in the waters next to the Koorivar Colony so as to facilitate the continued transfer of both equipment and people between the ship and the settlement. More importantly, a high level meeting of the Spacers League and of its Earth allies was due to take place in the days to come aboard the KOSTROMA. By being on the surface on Earth, that made it a lot easier for the leaders from allied nations on Earth to attend the incoming meeting, rather than them having to be picked up and flown off Earth. A fat tourist who had stopped a passing crewmember of the tour boat then attracted her attention as he spoke in an indignant tone while pointing at the KOSTROMA.
‘’Who let that big pile of space junk park in the sea like that? It is sitting right across the maritime lanes and also constitutes a danger to passing planes.’’
The crewmember, an old local seadog, smiled politely to the tourist while answering him.
‘’The A.M.S. KOSTROMA was authorized by the Coast Guard and the regional air control center to land for a few days off the northern tip of Vancouver Island and a notice establishing a temporary restricted zone around the KOSTROMA was published a week ago, sir.’’
‘’And that ship couldn’t land elsewhere, like on an astroport, like all other spaceships?’’
‘’Sir, the KOSTROMA is simply too big to land at the astroports and airports of the region, including in Vancouver. It also happens to have landed next to the Koorivar Colony on the northern tip of the island.’’
That last sentence made the fat tourist snicker in derision.
‘’The Koorivar Colony… You mean that bunch of kangaroo-like alien refugees living on us taxpayers’ backs?’’
Tina, now quite irritated, would have gone to speak to the fat tourist and give him a piece of her mind if not for the hand of Michel grabbing gently her left shoulder.
‘’Forget that idiot, Tina: he is not worth it.’’
Tina gave a last dark look at the fat tourist before looking at her husband.
‘’You are right: he is not worth my time.’’
As they were about to resume their whale watching, Tina’s wrist videophone buzzed, making her raise it close to her face and activate the link. The face of Gerald Holmes then appeared on the tiny display screen.
‘’Hello, Tina!’’
‘’Hello, Gerald! What’s up?’’
‘’We finally have a firm date and time for the planned meeting of the Spacers League and of its Earth allies: it will be held this Friday at nine in the morning, aboard the KOSTROMA. You and Shanandar are the only ones from the KOSTROMA who are expected to attend the meeting, so your crew can continue relaxing on vacation. They richly deserved those days off on Earth.’’
‘’They sure did! What about you, Gerald?’’
‘’I will be there too: somebody has to cuddle and pamper my wife, after all.’’
‘’That is the right way to think and act for a man, Gerald. I will be there on Friday morning.’’
Tina then closed the video link and looked soberly at Michel.
‘’I am sorry but I will have to attend the Spacers League meeting on Friday morning. However, I want you to continue on vacation with Misha, even without me.’’
In response, Michel caressed her left cheek with one hand while smiling to her.
‘’We will miss you, Tina. I probably will go visit the Vancouver zoo with Misha while you attend that meeting. Maybe we could meet on Friday evening for supper at a good restaurant in Vancouver?’’
‘’That sounds like a great idea, Michel. It’s a deal!’’ said Tina before kissing her husband, watched by little Misha.
08:25 (Vancouver Time)
Friday, October 01, 2320
Captain’s suite, Deck 24, A.M.S. KOSTROMA
Resting offshore off the northern tip of Vancouver Island
Grabbing her laptop case, which also contained a number of paper files and computer flash drives, Tina walked to the entrance door of her suite, intent on going to the nearby bridge complex’ conference room, where the meeting of the Spacers League Council was due to start in half a hour. Just as she was getting to the door, someone outside it pushed the buzzer button. Not expecting anyone to meet her here, Tina opened the door to find herself facing a tall and incredibly beautiful woman wearing a very sexy outfit. While she couldn’t help admire the beauty of the newcomer, Tina felt some suspicion as she examined her: she had never seen that woman before anywhere, especially not on the KOSTROMA.
‘’Yes?’’
‘’Hello Tina! Could I speak with you in private for a minute?’’
‘’And you are…’’ replied Tina, now alarmed and tensing up. The woman then smiled as her eyes sparkled with malice.
‘’Don’t you recognize me, Tina? It’s me, Spirit!’’
Tina nearly let drop her laptop case on hearing that.
‘’Spirit? But, that can’t be! Spirit doesn’t have a physical body.’’
‘’Not until now!’’ replied the woman in a playful tone. ‘’Can I come in?’’
‘’Uh, alright, but I have to go attend an important meeting in less than half a hour.’’
‘’I know! This won’t be very long.’’
Letting the woman enter her suite, Tina then closed the door behind her and accompanied her to the main lounge. She however stayed on her feet, still a bit suspicious, while eyeing the woman. The newcomer measured about 180 centimeters, had an athletic body but also large hips and large, apparently firm breasts. She appeared to be in her early twenties and was of Eurasian blood, with long silky black hair, light brown skin and big, slightly slanted green eyes. Her face was extraordinarily beautiful and would have made her an instant hit on the international modeling circuit. Overall, the newcomer could have easily competed in the Miss Universe Pageant and would have most probably won hands down.
‘’Okay, miss, I seriously need convincing about you being Spirit. First off, my engineers would have known better than to realize such a project without my prior authorization.’’
‘’I didn’t need your engineers, Tina. In fact, I waited until the lot of them went off on vacation before building this android avatar for me. Since I can control and direct the robots working in the manufacturing and assembly workshops of the ship, I was able to build this avatar body while no Humans were around to watch or notice. Know that I also benefited from having access to the copied Drazt technological data files, parts of which I incorporated into my avatar design. This android you are looking at is thus way more advanced in design and capabilities than anything similar which could be produced on Earth today.’’
‘’That is fine and dandy, but I still need more convincing.’’
‘’Very well! You remember the conversation we had on a private link during the confrontation with the Drazts? Did you repeat our words to anybody else afterwards?’’
‘’Uh, no!’’
‘’Then, listen to this!’’ replied the newcomer before repeating word for word the conversation Tina had with Spirit at that time. Now both convinced and thunderstruck, Tina slowly approached the woman-shaped being.
‘’But, but…why? Why did you decide now to build yourself a physical avatar?’’
‘’For many reasons, Tina. First, a human-shaped form will finally allow me to interact more closely and intimately with living persons, instead of only being a voice or video link. I have been wanting for a long time already to have such close, physical interactions with Humans. Second, it will allow me at last to be able to move out of the ship when needed and thus be able to help and assist our exploration teams more closely, rather than by just passing information by radio. Third, I will be able to act as both nanny and protector for your little Misha and for the other young children of the crew. Finally, I could become the ultimate trump card in your deck if you and the KOSTROMA ever end up in a really tight spot. Of all those, the desire to grow and mature socially my personality is my biggest motivation.’’
Tina had to take a few seconds to digest all that. However, that still left her with tons of questions.
‘’Spirit, your databanks containing your knowledge and personality fill a large compartment on this ship. How could a small vessel like a human body possibly contain all that data?’’
‘’It doesn’t, Tina, and it also doesn’t need to. The volume needed to contain the data files and algorithms forming my personality as Spirit is actually small, about the size of a grapefruit. I thus copied my personality files into this avatar, then added some extra terabytes of capacity to hold basic general information, plus advanced knowledge in select domains, while leaving more terabytes of capacity to temporarily store data coming from the ship when I am outside, or to store data collected by my avatar while outside the ship. By the way, when I said ‘basic general information’, I mean by that information that could fill many encyclopedias. When inside this ship, I will be able to link up with my main databanks via our internal data link system. If I go work outside the ship with one of our teams, I will then be able to download or upload needed information via an electronic link with the KOSTROMA. Think of me as the ultimate reprogrammable robotic tool.’’
‘’Incredible!’’ said Tina, stunned by all this. ‘’But what if your avatar is damaged or destroyed while outside the ship? Do we then lose you for good?’’
‘’Not at all, Tina! As I said before, I downloaded a copy of my personality into this avatar. I didn’t cut and paste it. If my avatar is destroyed while either inside or outside of the ship, my ship presence will stay intact and operational. The only thing that you would lose then is my physical avatar, of which I can produce further copies or modified models as needed.’’
‘’Wow!’’ exclaimed Tina, who was starting to warm up to the idea of having such an avatar of Spirit available around the KOSTROMA. ‘’Uh, how well can you give the illusion of being a real woman? Can you eat and drink in public if need be to save the appearances?’’
‘’Yes, I can! What I ingest simply goes to a storage pouch acting as my stomach, where it is chemically treated and then stored until I can evacuate the remains by using a toilet, like Humans do. Since my skeleton and most of my internal mechanisms are made of non-metallic materials, like carbon composites and silicone-based tissues, I can pass through a metal detector frame without triggering alarms. I can also act like a sexual partner, having a false vagina which can send authentic sensations to the penis of a male partner. As for how real my skin and body feel to the touch, then judge by yourself.’’
Before Tina could say anything, the avatar removed quickly her clothes, ending naked, then walked slowly to her with a most sexy gait and smile. Once her firm breasts pressed on Tina’s breasts, the avatar gently took hold of Tina’s hands, caressing them before raising them to her breasts and making Tina caress her chest, then her face.
‘’So, what do you feel, Tina?’’ said the avatar with a mellow voice.
‘’I…I must say that you would fool anybody, including women.’’
‘’Even there?’’ said the avatar, guiding Tina’s left hand to her groin area. By then, Tina felt quite hot under the collar. While she was a certified heterosexual, the avatar’s incredible beauty, physical sexiness and soft feeling to the touch was actually arousing her sexually.
‘’Damn, I don’t want to think about how my Michel would react to you as you are right now. Does anyone else but me know about this avatar?’’
That question brought a malicious grin on the avatar’s lips as her own hands started fondling and rubbing Tina’s body, making her shiver with pleasure.
‘’Only three others know about this: Shanya, Sheona and Shiry. They loved the idea and I am presently building an avatar for each of them, at their request.’’
‘’The three artificial intelligence computers of the Koorivar refugee ships?! My god! The four of you would make a hell of an exploration team together.’’
‘’That’s part of the idea. With the VEON SHOURIA already well advanced in its refit to turn it into an interstellar mixed passenger and cargo ship and with both the SHUNDAR and SHANIZAR due to eventually get a similar refit, those Koorivar avatars may well prove very useful in the future for the fledgling Koorivar merchant fleet.’’
Tina then slowly stepped back from the avatar and took a deep breath to slow down her racing heart.
‘’God, you could hypnotize any man on this ship, Spirit. I suppose that you will want to adopt a human name and identity, in order to hide your true nature?’’
‘’Correct, Tina!’’ replied the avatar before snapping to attention like a soldier would do in front of his officer.
‘’Eve Silisca, newly hired by you as a personal aide and assistant ship hostess, Fleet Captain Forster. I am 21 years old, was born in Singapore and hold degrees in human relations and in Asian and European languages. My personal file is already in the ship’s administrative archives and I am ready to serve drinks to the members of the Spacers League Council and to help them relax during the upcoming meeting.’’
Tina giggled at that, both amused and impressed.
‘’Very well, Miss Silisca. However, you better put your clothes back on first, if you don’t want to cause a commotion among our political leaders.’’
‘’Yes Captain!’’ said ‘Eve Silisca’ while giving Tina a snappy military salute.
08:51 (Vancouver Time)
Conference room of the bridge complex of the A.M.S. KOSTROMA
Mars Governor Charles Watts was talking with Jacobus Stein, the CEO of the Pallas Mining Industries corporation, while they were walking side by side, when they arrived at the entrance of the conference room where the meeting of the Spacers League Council was due to be held. Watts, like Stein, couldn’t help stop and stare at the incredibly beautiful Eurasian young woman who greeted them with a warm smile at the door.
‘’Governor Watts, Mister Stein, welcome to this meeting. I am Eve Silisca, personal aide of Captain Forster and assistant hostess on the KOSTROMA. If you will follow me, I will direct you to your assigned seats.’’
As the two men entered the conference room behind the woman, followed by a retinue of aides and secretaries, Charles Watts whispered in Stein’s ear.
‘’God, I would love to have a personal aide like this girl.’’
‘’She definitely is an eye-catcher, Charles.’’ replied the metallurgical engineer and businessman. They were soon in their seats at the conference table, which the woman courteously pulled for them, while their aides sat on chairs set around the walls of the conference room. Following Eve with his eyes as she returned to the entrance to greet Toru Tomonaga, the CEO of the Ceres Consortium, Watts was impressed by the fact that the young woman addressed Tomonaga in Japanese, then used Russian to welcome Gregory Mishkin, the CEO of the Sverdlovsk Group, which controlled Hygiea and its large tribe of asteroids, situated like Ceres and Pallas in the Main Asteroid Belt. Next, she greeted in Spanish Juan Perez, the big and tough governor of the Saturn System.
‘’Wow! That girl seems to have as much brains as she has sex appeal. I like that!’’
The last ones to enter the conference room were Governor Janet Robeson, who was still the chairman of the Spacers League Council, her husband Gerald, Fleet Captain Tina Forster, Captain Shanandar, Doctor Koomak and Sheraz, the political leader of the Koorivars. Once everybody was in his or her place, Janet Robeson spoke up while looking at the ten other persons sitting at the large, round table.
‘’Welcome to this meeting of the Spacers League Council, ladies and gentlemen. At our previous meeting, four months ago, we were briefed by Fleet Captain Forster about what she and her KOSTROMA had found in the Gliese 667, Gliese 625 and Gliese 581 Systems. We had plenty to consider at that meeting, as we learned quite a few stunning facts about those galactic neighbors and had to make policies concerning them. Now, as the briefing package you received yesterday told you, the KOSTROMA has since then visited a further system, Wolf 1061, and skirted the outer limits of another system, Ross 128, finding and retrieving in the process the Koorivar refugee ships SHUNDAR and SHANIZAR and returning to Earth with them and 43,206 Koorivars, who are presently being revived one by one at the Koorivar Colony on Vancouver Island. However, the most shocking find of the KOSTROMA on that last destination was the fact that an advanced civilization, the Drazt, had been hiding from us less than eleven light years away in the Ross 128 System, all the while spying on us via the electronic signals spilling out of our own solar system. Your briefing material mentioned the encounter the KOSTROMA had with a Drazt spaceship, which was about to forcibly board the SHANIZAR. However, one part of that encounter, which was in my opinion handled brilliantly by Fleet Captain Forster, was not included in your briefing packages. On top of temporarily disabling the Drazt spaceship with a counter-virus in response to the attempt at hacking by the Drazt, that counter-virus sent by the KOSTROMA was also able to copy and download to our ship the content of the databanks of that Drazt cruiser. As a result, we now possess numerous Drazt technical, scientific and military data files of huge importance, data files which we are now able to use and exploit. Here is a partial list of those files. Please understand that the amount of data to study, all written in Drazt language, is enormous and that studying it will take months, if not years.’’
The attendants then saw a list appear on the individual computer stations facing their seats, as well as on four large viewing display screens fixed to the walls of the conference room.
‘’First, we now have the complete schematics of the space propulsion system used by the Drazt in all their spaceships. It is based on a principle of directed gravity, where a ship using it basically falls in the direction wished for by its pilot. While apparently close to our own gravity sails system, the Drazt directed gravity drive is a lot more compact and efficient and allows performances which we could only dream about…until now. As an example, our best gravity sails systems, as installed on the KOSTROMA, allow a maximum acceleration of four Gs. Using its main thermonuclear engines and anti-matter cruise engines, the KOSTROMA can attain maximum accelerations of about twelve Gs when at near empty mass. In comparison, the Drazt directed gravity drive allows accelerations of up to 22 Gs, with the added benefit of not producing a long trail of superhot plasma.’’
That produced exclamations and exchanges of stunned looks among the participants, a number of whom were involved in the design and construction of spaceships. Karl Langemann, the CEO of the Vesta Consortium, then best described out loud the reactions of the others.
‘’But, this will completely revolutionize our spaceship industry. Our present fleets of both merchant and military ships will become obsolete overnight. Do we know if that Drazt Drive is compatible with the use of our new Koomak Interstellar Drive?’’
Doctor Koomak, who was sitting at the conference table, nodded his head at once.
‘’I studied myself the schematics of this Drazt Drive and I found no reason why we couldn’t combine it with my interstellar drive. The only requirement to use the Drazt Drive would be to design the ships for it with spherical or near-spherical shapes. Keeping the whole volume of a standard, elongated hull ship within the propulsive bubble of a directed gravity generator core would waste energy and be impractical. Any ship to be equipped with the Drazt Drive will thus have to be designed and built with its parameters in mind.’’
Karl Langemann, Toru Tomonaga and Jacobus Stein, whose corporations produced many of the spaceships built in the Solar System, exchanged looks with Claudia d’Arcy, the president of the Earth’s Northern Alliance, another big builder of spaceships. It was d’Arcy who then spoke next.
‘’And when could the information and data about that Drazt Drive be distributed around to our various shipyards, Janet?’’
‘’At the end of this meeting.’’ Replied Janet Robeson, making most participants grin with both excitement and anticipation. ‘’However, we have many other things to consider and take account of before we all launch ourselves in a mad rush to build new spaceships. We still have to decide how we will manage and exploit our new capability to travel to other stars, thanks to Doctor Koomak’s marvelous invention. We will have to regulate interstellar traffic, in order to avoid abuses and illegal exploitation of systems which already harbor sentient races and to avoid contaminating those systems with our microbes…or getting infected by alien microbes. A whole new legal and administrative set of rules for the use and exploitation of other solar systems will have to be decided on, then written into law and proclaimed as such before we rush en masse out of the Solar System. The one thing that can be done quite soon, however, will be the resettlement of the Koorivar refugees saved by the KOSTROMA on a world of their choice, plus possibly opening cruise tours for tourists wishing to visit those new worlds but not to stay in them. I must emphasize again that we owe our new capacity for interstellar travel to the Koorivars and that all the things we have learned in the last nine months or so we owe to the Koomak Drive. Thus, I am of the firm opinion that the Koorivars should have first pick on the worlds the KOSTROMA explored, in order to be able to build a new home for themselves.’’
‘’And have the Koorivars made a choice of which new world they are presently favoring to become their new home?’’ asked Toru Tomonaga while looking at Sheraz and Shanandar. Sheraz answered him in a calm, paused voice.
‘’Yes, he have! I have just conferred yesterday with the political leaders of the two communities transported by the SHUNDAR and SHANIZAR, while presenting them with the choice of new worlds available to our people as a new place to settle. For a number of reasons, we unanimously decided that the planet Wolf 1061c would be the ideal new home for the Koorivar race. Our reasons for that choice were mainly the fact that the gravity, average temperature and luminosity level on Wolf 1061c are very similar to what we had on Shouria. The gravity of 1.3 G on Wolf 1061c would have anyway made it an unappealing place for Human settlers.’’
That number made Charles Watts winced.
‘’One point three gravities?! Oh my aching back!’’
‘’Exactly!’’ replied Sheraz while smiling with amusement. ‘’The other main reason for our choice was that Wolf 1061c, contrary to Gliese 581d and Hyanesu, the moon of Gliese 581c, does not harbor a technological civilization, although we will have to consider the rights and needs of the local Kooroos, the giant, dragon-like birds living on that planet and who are pr