CHAPTER 4 – A BOOMING BUSINESS
19:55 (Universal Time)
Tuesday, September 15, 2325
Food court, Main Promenade Deck, A.M.S. KOSTROMA
Docked at the cargo terminal of the Las Americas orbital station
Earth low orbit
Tina Forster was sitting at a table and eating supper with her husband Michel and her six-year-old son Misha when Winnie Zambela, the ship’s commercial officer and purser, approached them and stopped next to their table. Tina looked up from the smoked meat sandwich she was eating and smiled to the 38-year-old black woman.
‘’You got something for me, Winnie?’’
‘’Uh, yes, but I hope that this won’t interrupt your family meal.’’
‘’I won’t mind, as long as you have good news for me. But please, sit down.’’
Zambela took her invitation and sat on the one chair around the table that was still free, then produced an electronic notepad before starting to speak.
‘’I can tell you right away that it is all good news, Tina. However, I came to see you now rather than wait tomorrow morning because I need to confirm with you your acceptance of a few shipping contracts which I need to respond quickly to if we don’t want to possibly lose those contracts to some of our competitors.’’
‘’Then, you did well to come and see me now, Winnie. What are those shipping contract offers?’’
‘’Well, as you know already, we are due tomorrow to take delivery of the various elements of an orbital station, built in orbit at the Avalon Space Yards and meant to be transported by us to the Tau Boötis System, where we are going to assemble it in orbit over the planet El Dorado for the benefit of the Pallas Mining Industries. At the same time, we will be carrying some three million tons of supplies destined for the mining center already established on the surface of El Dorado, plus a first batch of 4,256 employees and family members of the Pallas Mining Industries who are moving permanently to El Dorado. The expected profit from that transportation contract is 284 million credits, a nice sum by itself but a very reasonable one in view of the total value of our cargo. By the way, the owners of the only two other ships able to carry anything approaching our cargo capacity are said to be steaming about having lost the competition on that contract offer.’’
‘’Too bad for them!’’ replied Tina after taking another bite of her sandwich. ‘’The KOSTROMA is still the king of oversized cargo module carrying and I intend it to stay so…until my future NOSTROMO enters service in four years. If the owners of the ATLAS and of the GILGAMESH really want to beat my KOSTROMA at this game, then they will need to put their money where their mouth is and pay for the building of bigger ships. Right now, the Spacers’ League’s merchant fleet could use many more ultra-heavy carriers like us, as building complete ready-to-drop-in-place cities is now very popular.’’
‘’You are certainly right about that, Tina. In particular, the design of ‘Medusa City’ has proved to be a hugely popular one since it was put in place by us on Atlantis. Many of our new Human colonies now want similar floating cities in order to accelerate the settlement on their planets and have ordered more copies of Medusa City to be built for them. The good news is that, as of today, we are still the only ship capable of safely and efficiently carrying whole in one shot a ‘Medusa City’-Class floating structure. Thus, we were able to secure the transportation contracts for all of those floating cities, plus the carrying of thousands of passengers on every trip. I can thus tell you that our transportation schedule is nearly at full capacity for the whole two years to come.’’
Tina, like her husband Michel, grinned on hearing that.
‘’Hell, that is great news, Winnie! Can you give me some details about those future cargo loads?’’
‘’I certainly can, Tina. Here is a flash drive containing copies of the contract offers we have to answer. Remember that I must answer those offers in the next 22 hours. If we don’t, we will then risk seeing those contracts being given to our competitors.’’
‘’Then, list those offers to me verbally right now, so that I can give my go for them right away and thus avoid any delays in our response. Those contracts will represent our livelihood for all of our crew and the source of financing for further development of New Haven.’’
Winnie nodded her head in understanding at that: New Haven was the largest moon of New Shouria, in the Wolf 1061 System, and belonged to the corporation set up by Tina to develop and administer it as a resettlement, agrarian and ecologically-friendly world which offered new, safe homes to ex-refugees and homeless people from various corners of Earth. It was also the designated retirement world for any ex-crewmember of the KOSTROMA who wished to retire to a planet-side home.
‘’First off, immediately following the delivery of that orbital station complex to El Dorado, the Vesta Consortium wishes to have a modular land city complex transported to the planet Vinland, in the Gliese 832 System. That modular city was completed very recently in the Vesta asteroid and is now ready for transportation. Mister Langemann made it clear to me that he is hoping that we will accept that contract. I told him that we would be happy to do so at the value he is offering for the job, which is 320 million credits, for a net contract profit for us of 230 million credits. By the way, it cost him 4.6 billion credits to build this city complex, but he is placing big hopes for that city to boost his assets on Vinland.’’
Tina did a quick mental calculation before answering Winnie.
‘’Hum, that’s roughly a seven percent shipping cost compared to the value of the cargo. The usual shipping cost for such ultra-heavy loads is close to ten percent but I will accept his offer. Karl Langemann has been a good friend and ally of us for over ten years now. You can tell him yes, Winnie.’’
‘’Excellent! One clause of that contract offer from him is that we stay in orbit over Vinland for a few days, to allow the city to be safely set on its foundations before we transfer its intended inhabitants from their quarters on the KOSTROMA. We are talking here about 6,800 people, which will push our passenger capacity to its limits and will need us to use our old passenger quarters in the core section to supplement our Outer Apartments Ring.’’
‘’But that will also mean plenty of onboard customers for many days for our ship’s commercial concessions and shops. Overall, an excellent deal for everybody and one that will affirm the good reputation of our ship. We will have to warn our commercial concession owners in advance, so that they could stock up in advance on their merchandise and supplies. Next!’’
‘’Next, to be ready for transport in about three weeks, is a modular resort center destined for New Venice, in the Tau Ceti System. It is being built for the Sverdlovsk Group and will house among other things the Zero-G Nirvana space bordello, which wants to reestablish itself on firm ground. We would thus transport at that time all the personnel of that bordello, including its large troupe of sex workers.’’
Tina couldn’t help bury her face in her hands while shaking her head in amusement.
‘’Hell, my ship is going to be transformed into a space whorehouse for a few days? And how much is the Sverdlovsk Group offering us for that job?’’
‘’The usual ten percent of cargo value fee, plus the regular fee per passenger per day, which comes to a total trip profit for us of 310 million credits. This may sound pricey, but that resort complex is a luxury one and thus cost a fortune to build.’’
‘’Wow!’’ exclaimed a grinning Michel Koniev. ‘’Who said that sex doesn’t sell?’’
‘’Nobody!’’ replied at once Tina. ‘’Sex has been one of the three constant motivations of Humanity through its whole history, the two others being money and power.’’
‘’And you can say that those three are intimately connected,’’ added a smiling Winnie. ‘’With money, you can buy both power and sex, while power will get you money and, frequently, sex as well. As for sex, you certainly can get money and political favors in exchange.’’
Both Tina and Michel giggled at that, watched by a confused Misha.
‘’Mom, does that mean that this sex stuff is a good thing?’’
Tina sucked air in, not knowing at first how to answer that. Michel then saved the day by patting their young son’s back and speaking softly to him.
‘’I will explain that to you tonight, Son.’’
‘’It is a ‘yes’ as well for that contract, Winnie. What do you have next?’’ Tina hurried to ask in order to change the subject.
‘’Our next offer is from an alliance of the Ceres Corporation and of the Japanese government and is for the transportation of two ‘Medusa City’-Class floating cities to Jurassika, in the Upsilon Andromeda System. The first city will be ready to be transported in late October of this year, while the second city will be completed and ready by December. The combined profit we expect will be 415 million credits. We also got an optional offer for a third floating city, to be transported in about eleven months and under the same conditions and prices.’’
‘’We’ll take that!’’ said at once Tina. ‘’Anything else?’’
‘’Yes: an offer which you will be unable to refuse. The Koorivars were very impressed by the design of Medusa City and want a copy of it for New Shouria, with a possible second copy to follow. The first city is however still in the early phase of its construction at the Daewoo Corporation’s shipyards in Korea and will not be completed before another nine months from now. If the Koorivars order a second floating city, then it will not be ready before around July of 3227.’’
Tina then pointed an index at Winnie, her expression now most serious.
‘’Tell Governor Sheraz that we will be most happy to transport those floating cities for his people. Tell him as well that I will want to do that at cost, with no profit expected by us on those contracts. They are our friends and we will treat them like friends.’’
Winnie stared for a moment at Tina before nodding her head and annotating her data pad.
‘’Tina, I truly like your attitude.’’
Winnie then got up and walked away, letting the small family finish their meal. Tina was however pensive, reviewing mentally the contract offers announced by Winnie.
‘’These contracts are going to bring us a total in profits of over 1.2 billion credits between now and the end of this year. And those do not include the myriad of much smaller contracts for supply runs and passenger transportation we have already scheduled. Not bad at all! At this rate, I will be able to pay back the whole loan I took for the building of the NOSTROMO before it is even completed.’’
‘’Well, getting that loan from the Koorivar Vancouver Investment Bank, which offered it to you at record low interests, was an inspired move on your part, Tina. You were thus right to take those transportation contracts for the Koorivars at cost.’’ said Michel, making Tina nod her head.
‘’What are friends for, but to help each other?’’
08:14 (Universal Time)
Wednesday, September 16, 2325
Bridge of the A.M.S. KOSTROMA
Tina had arrived on the bridge of her ship barely twenty minutes earlier when she got a call from the Hangar Deck Approach Control.
‘’Captain, this is Approach Control: a shuttle coming from New Haven is on final approach and will do a quick come-and-go in order to drop one passenger.’’
‘’One passenger only?’’ said Tina in her intercom, surprised by that detail. ‘’Do you have the name of that passenger?’’
‘’Not yet, Captain.’’
‘’Very well, give that shuttle permission to fly in.’’
‘’Understood, Captain. It will be using Airlock Number Two.’’
Switching off her intercom link, Tina then looked at Reena Shapour, her second navigator, while getting up from her command chair.
‘’Reena, I’m going down to the Hangar Deck to go see who is coming from New Haven. You have the bridge for the moment.’’
‘’Understood, Tina.’’
Riding down in an elevator cabin directly from the bridge complex, Tina was at the access to Airlock Number Two in no more than five minutes and then waited there. Normally, an arriving shuttle would cycle from an airlock and into one of the four craft hangars of the KOSTROMA before disgorging its passengers but, in this case, that arriving shuttle would not need to do that just to drop off one passenger. Tina thus waited with mounting curiosity as the arriving shuttle entered the airlock and landed softly on its rotating pad. As the pad turned around to point the shuttle towards the entrance door of the airlock, which was now closed, air started to fill the airlock, creating some temporary condensation fog. Then, as soon as the airlock was fully pressurized, the aft access ramp of the small craft lowered open and one woman stepped out, carrying two suitcases. Tina’s blood rushed to her head at once on recognizing that young woman.
‘’EVE! SHE’S BACK!’’
The voice of Spirit, the ship’s central computer and artificial intelligence being, then came up on the overhead speaker of the access point.
‘’Yes, Tina, it is my daughter Eve. She tells me that she is returning for good aboard the KOSTROMA after resigning her position on New Haven as deputy chief administrator.’’
‘’She resigned her position? But why?’’
‘’Because she wanted to return to the KOSTROMA, Tina. Eve will be better at explaining herself to you, so I won’t go further.’’
‘’Very well, Spirit.’’ said Tina, who then forced herself to be patient while Eve Silisca approached the personnel airlock of the access point at a calm pace. Tina could now see that a smile was printed on the face of the android, whom she considered as a good friend and as a past valuable crew member. A tall person for a woman, Eve still looked as young and supremely beautiful as she had been after being built by Spirit in the robotics workshops of the KOSTROMA some five years ago, something not surprising when considering her nature as a humanoid android. However, Tina knew that Eve was a lot more than just some cold robot and that she was able to show some surprisingly warm human-like behavior and emotions, on top of having a very powerful intellect. Spirit had designed Eve to be the image of perfect female beauty and her body and personality could fool any man about her true nature. The moment that Eve had cycled through the airlock and had entered the access point with her suitcases, Tina went to her to hug her warmly, a hug that Eve returned in kind.
‘’Eve, it is truly nice to see you again.’’
‘’And I am most happy to see you and be back on the KOSTROMA. Before you ask, be reassured: I did not leave my position on New Haven because someone ousted me. In fact, Piotr was devastated by my decision to return to the KOSTROMA. However, Wei Zang was able to quickly replace me as deputy chief administrator. I took the decision to leave because I felt that I could be more useful on the KOSTROMA than on New Haven: while I can manage well relations with Humans, the special nature of the population of New Haven, which is a mix of refugees and displaced persons from many places on Earth, means that a true human person was a better choice to serve all those souls.’’
Tina could only nod slowly her head in comprehension at that explanation.
‘’Eve, I understand and agree with your decision. Wei Zang is a caring and competent woman and I am sure that she will continue to do a great job on New Haven. So, what post would you like to fill on the KOSTROMA?’’
‘’I would like to be again one of your hostesses and work under Natalia Vasilyeva, if that is possible.’’
‘’That is most possible, my friend. Welcome aboard the KOSTROMA.’’ replied Tina before hugging Eve again. ‘’Follow me: I will make sure that you get a nice cabin for yourself.’’
‘’Oh, you know that my tastes are very simple indeed, Tina. I don’t need to powder myself or apply makeup, like real women do.’’
‘’Still, I’ll be damned if I give you a simple closet with an electric outlet, Eve. You will get our best bachelor’s cabin on the Outer Apartments Ring.’’