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CHAPTER 1 – BACK AT WORK
11:04 (Universal Time)
Saturday, January 16, 2337
Small craft hangar complex, frame level 1,070
Super-heavy Armed Merchant Ship NOSTROMO
In low orbit of planet Asiana (XO-1c), in the XO-1 System 536 light years from Earth, Coronae Borealis Constellation When Tina Forster disembarked from her personal yacht FRIENDSHIP, closely followed by her personal bodyguard, Security Officer Stacy Keibler, she was met at the foot of her yacht’s access ramp by her husband, Michel Koniev, who asked her at once a question in an anxious tone.
‘’So, how did it go at the meeting of the Spacers’ League’s High Council on Providence, Tina?’
‘’Better than expected, Michel. The majority of the High Council members accepted my explanation about why I hid from them the existence of our matter converter cannons.’
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‘’A majority but not all of them?’ said Michel, a bit dismayed by that answer, making Tina nod her head and smirk.
‘’Yup! Two members from the Pallas Mining Industries Consortium voted against me, while Minister of Defense Cardona voted ‘abstain’. To her credit, Chairman Mercier fired Cardona right after the meeting and temporarily assumed his duties. At least now we known who our enemies in the High Council are.’
Her answer made Michel show frustration then.
‘’The Pallas Consortium, again! Too bad that Jacobus Stein is now too old to continue heading it. He always was a decent, honest friend to us but his children and many of his associates have proven to be mostly bigoted, power-hungry and greedy individuals.’
‘’Well, the present CEO of the Pallas Mining Industries Consortium, Michael Kendrik, who was chosen by Jacobus Stein to succeed his no-good son Paul, did vote to support me. Kendrik was also not pleased at all at seeing two of his subordinate systems’ governors vote against me and to have a third one hesitate before voting ‘yea’.
Unfortunately, I doubt that Kendrik fully grasps how much of a vipers’ nest he has under him right now. I also suspect that Paul Stein, despite having been voted out as Chairman of the Spacers League three years ago and being officially disgraced, is secretly scheming against us with various Pallas high-level executives and systems governors. What I am most afraid of now is that, with the Spacers League now in possession of the design sketches of our matter converter cannon, Paul Stein and his allies would get their hands on a number of our new cannons. If that ever happens, then I just can’t dismiss the possibility that those Pallas assholes would use those cannons, either to blackmail the High Council or to destroy their opponents, in which case we would end up with a fratricidal war within the Spacers League.’
‘’Great! As if we didn’t have enough to worry about already because of those monstrous Space Predators. We may have inflicted a number of stinging defeats on those carnivorous monsters but we still don’t know where the rest of their fleet of asteroid ships is and, especially, where their remaining home worlds are. As long as we will not have eliminated them completely, they will continue to constitute a grave threat to Humanity and to the other sentient races in this sector of the galaxy. Talking of other sentient races, what do you make of the fact that the Vorlaks proved willing to accept our help to save their world?’
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‘’I must say that I was myself surprised by their willingness to cooperate with my ships in the defense of Voronkia. It shows you that the old saying that ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ seems to hold around the galaxy. Overall, I am now confident that they have learned their lessons and will keep to themselves on Voronkia.’
‘’I hope that you are right about that, Tina, for the sake of the Hoshis of Hyanesu, who are living next door to Voronkia and who were once being under constant attack and occupation by the Vorlaks. How long will we keep a force of security androids and of Mobile Robotic Gun Systems on Hyanesu as a local defense force?’
‘’With the Space Predators soundly defeated in the Gliese 581 System and the Vorlaks apparently having become reasonable, I think that the sole continued presence in orbit of the Spacers League battle station MJOLNIR will be sufficient to ensure the safety of the Hoshis on Hyanesu. However, I prefer to confer with our command staff before taking a decision on the future deployment of our force of security androids and MRGSs.’
‘’Agreed! Well, let’s go back to our suite, where our little Janet is anxiously waiting for you.’
Tina smiled at the mention of their six-year-old daughter.
‘’I myself can’t wait to hug and kiss her, Michel.’
Tina then turned to look at her tall bodyguard.
‘’Since we are now safely aboard my ship, you are free to return to your ship routine, Stacy. Thank you again for your services on Providence.’
‘’It was my pleasure, Tina.’ replied Stacy Keibler, who then walked away from the couple in order to return to her apartment in the Habitat Ring Complex of the huge cargo ship.
Walking to the ship’s central core spine, made of a sixty-meter-diameter armored tube extending vertically through the forward half of the 3,000-meter-long giant cargo ship, Stacy Keibler entered the core’s rotunda, her single suitcase in one hand, then went to one of the lifts lining the inner core wall of the rotunda and called a cabin. A few seconds later, a cabin stopped at her level and Stacy entered it as soon as its doors slid open. Once inside, she punched in the number 580, which was the frame level number of the ship’s forest habitats and of the ship’s administrative center. On the NOSTROMO, as in the late KOSTROMA, the floor levels
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were indicated by the distance in meters between the forward tip of the massive bow shield dome of the ship and the said floor level. In this case, it meant that her cabin traveled up by 490 meters before stopping at the level of the ship’s administrative center.
Walking out of the lift’s cabin, Stacy crossed the fifteen-meter-wide central rotunda hallway and walked down its western hallway, passing by the ship’s firefighting center, the banking center, the customer services offices and the telecommunications services center before arriving at the western airlock of the core section. Since the ship was not on any alert status, the armored doors of that airlock were open, letting dozens of people circulate freely in and out of the core section. Walking down the 500-meter-long gallery leading to the Habitat Ring section, where her apartment was located, she looked alternatively to her left and right through the large transparent armored windows of the communication gallery. Stacy was able to see some of the animals and birds living inside the Tropical Forest Habitat and the Temperate Rain Forest Habitat, which were separated from each other by the partition walls of the gallery, each of which covered 18.2 hectares of vegetation and contained hundreds of trees. Halfway to the Habitat Ring, Stacy passed by a family of ASEAN1 citizens who had stopped to look at a big porcupine which was lazily walking through the temperate rain forest, near the gallery’s partition wall. Right now, a large part of the 26,000 Asian passengers the NOSTROMO
had brought from Earth to the XO-1 System was still aboard, waiting for the installation on the planet’s surface of the hundreds of prefabricated modules and elements carried by the giant cargo ship to be completed before disembarking. Once ready to receive its first colonists, the planet Asiana would then become the first Human star system to be inhabited by citizens from Earth rather than from the Spacers League. By colonizing Asiana with the help of Tina’s corporation, the ASEAN was hoping to relieve the longstanding excess population and limited resources pressures it had been enduring for over 260 years now.
Stacy finally entered the Habitat Ring Complex via the large armored airlock linking it with the communication gallery coming from the centerline core section. She then turned right along the Main Promenade, sandwiched between the twenty-story-high habitat complex proper and the giant ring aquarium which ran along the outer side of the section. That aquarium had a circumference of 4,110 meters, was fifty meters-wide, had 1 ASEAN: Association of South-East Asian Nations.
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a maximum depth of twenty meters and sheltered a wide variety of marine life visible through its thick transparent inner wall. As for its outer wall, it was made of a giant continuous holographic display screen covering its whole surface, a screen on which a variety of vistas could be displayed. Right now, its lower, submerged section showed an apparently limitless deep sea, while its upper section showed the surface of Asiana and the black of the surrounding deep Space.
Eventually arriving at the nearest lift from her apartment and entering its cabin, Stacy went up three levels and exited on Level 570, on which her apartment and those of most of the other security androids were situated. First passing by a large open-air lounge-patio used by the resident security androids, she finally arrived at the door of her apartment, numbered 570-216, and unlocked it with her magnetic security pass, then entered what was her personal space on this ship, a ten meter by four-meter apartment with four rooms: a living room; a cybernetics maintenance alcove and weapons vault; a private study cum workshop and storage room and a small bathroom. There was no kitchen or dining room, as security androids, while able to ingest food and liquids if need be, didn’t need to eat or drink to survive. Their limited ability to take in food and drinks was meant strictly for social purposes, so that they could mingle with Humans and act like them, thus attracting less attention from those who still looked with hostility or suspicion at security androids like Stacy, who had been built as a security force for the New Haven Corporation. Unfortunately, such ill-will was still too frequent around the Spacers League, despite the stellar service accomplished in combat by Stacy and her android comrades. One had equated that hostility to the old forms of racism which had been too common on Earth during past centuries and which still existed in a number of places. The one thing her apartment had in place of a kitchen and dining room was a small counter with a compact refrigerator, a sink, a microwave oven and a coffee machine, all meant for her to be able to receive a human guest in her small apartment.
Another feature meant to help her receive a human guest was a large sofa in her living room which could unfold into a wide bed. While Stacy did not need to sleep, ever, androids like her were able to have sex with Humans, since they had anatomically correct and functioning sexual organs, if you excepted the biological ability to reproduce.
Since security androids could not have real ‘feelings’, they had to fake pleasure when having sex with Humans. However, the contrary was not true. As one man had told her once, she could really ‘fuck the brains out’ of a man...or of a woman. Male-like androids
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were equally able to please Human partners and had become very popular with a certain class of middle-aged female passengers commonly called ‘Cougars’. Many of those women in fact often booked passage on the NOSTROMO just to be able to enjoy some first-rate sex with male androids, who were very well endowed by average human standards and were experts at using their attributes, on top of being able to keep it up indefinitely. The small bathroom attached to her apartment was also meant mostly for human guests but the shower stall was one feature Stacy used often, in order to wash off any grime or dust particles collected during work. A special type of soap meant for androids also helped give a more natural human scent to her artificial skin. All in all, someone would have to be quite perceptive in order to see that she was not a real woman.
Her first move once inside her apartment was to drop off her suitcase in her private study cum workshop/storage room, where she quickly unpacked it and hanged or shelved her things in her storage and clothes locker. Then she sat at her computer station and reported herself as having returned to normal duties after going to Providence with Tina Forster. The response she got from her superior and commander of the First Security Legion, Chief Centurion Jehanne De Domrémy, pleased her, telling her that she was on her own time until tomorrow morning, when she was going to fly out on a patrol around Asiana in the heavy fighter in which she was the copilot. The question for her now was how to occupy the time between now and tomorrow morning.
Closing her computer and getting up on her feet, she walked out of her private study and into her living room, where she cycled through the small airlock between her apartment and its small, five-meter square balcony overlooking the temperate rain forest habitat bordering her section of the Habitat Ring. There, she took in a deep breath, inhaling the various smells from the trees and vegetation, which were then instantly analyzed by her olfactive sensors. Somehow, that often seemed to stimulate her thought process. In the present case, it decided her to watch an old martial arts action movie on her video entertainment unit. Stacy was an expert practitioner of unarmed combat and martial arts in her free time and the past decades and centuries had seen countless such movies being produced, some good, some bad and some average ones. Thankfully, copies of those old films have been constantly remade in the succession of electronic formats used during the past centuries. What interested her in those old movies was not the acting per say rather than the fighting techniques and moves employed. Sitting in her
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sofa facing her entertainment unit, she called up the vast selection of old films available in the NOSTROMO’s video library and ended up selecting a 20th Century movie featuring a Chinese-American actor and martial artist named Bruce Lee. One of the security androids on the NOSTROMO happened to have been designed and built to be an avatar of that same Bruce Lee and had been programmed to practice the same martial arts moves than the historical Bruce Lee. Stacy was thus going to be able to practice in the future with that other android the moves she was going to view in this old movie today.
12:56 (Universal Time)
Executive Apartment # 3, Level 505
Centerline core section of the A.M.S. NOSTROMO
‘’You already have to go work again, Mommy? But you arrived from Providence less than two hours ago and this is Saturday. Can’t you stay longer with me?’
In response to her six-year-old daughter Janet, Tina crouched in front of her, an understanding smile on her lips, while gently holding Janet’s head with both hands.
‘’I know that you missed me, sweety, and I very much appreciate that. However, as captain of this ship and owner of the New Haven corporation, I have responsibilities towards all of us, including about our collective security and welfare, and I can’t neglect those responsibilities. However, the meeting I am going to should not go on for very long and I promise you that I will be back with you well before supper time. Will that do, Janet?’
The young girl, still showing some disappointment, did nod her head slowly at Tina’s question.
‘’I understand, Mommy, but please come back as quickly as you can.’
‘’I promise!’ said Tina before kissing her daughter on her forehead. She then walked out of the family’s suite, her attaché case in one hand, and headed towards the nearby
command conference room of her ship, which was
situated on the same level as her suite. Entering her command conference room after a short walk, she found that most of those invited to the
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meeting were already sitting around the conference table. The sole person still missing, Chief Engineer Rose Tillman, actually entered the room a mere ten seconds after Tina.
Waiting until Rose was seated, Tina then spoke to the eight members of her command group, to which she had recently added Janet Robeson, the now retired ex-Chairman of the High Council of the Spacers League, who now bore the title of ‘political advisor’ of her corporation.
‘’Thank you for coming, my friends. I asked you to assemble so that I could brief you on how the last meeting of the High Council went and on what reactions I got to my request to keep the use of our matter converter cannon strictly to fight the Space Predators and other eventual major threats to Humanity and to other races allied with us.
Basically, my reasons to keep our super weapon secret were generally well accepted by all, including by Chairman Mercier. Where things went partly downhill was when the High Council held a vote about pledging the non-use of our matter converter cannon against Human ships, groups and star systems. All the members voted to honor that pledge, all except Governor Berman of El Dorado and Governor Kim Dae Wo of Mu who voted ‘nay’, and Minister of Defense Juan Cardona, who abstained. While the vote of the High Council was in my favor, the fact that two planet governors who are executives of the Pallas Mining Industries refused to pledge to use our super weapon only in the defense of Humanity is in my mind very worrying. As you know too well, we have had our share of problems in the past with the Pallas Mining Industries and with its ex-chairman Paul Stein, who was also for a time Chairman of the High Council before being ousted for abusing his authority and showing blatant discrimination against us and our security androids.’
There were nods to that around the table, including from Chief Centurion Jehanne de Domrémy, the first security android to have been activated some eight and a half years ago and the senior commander of their security android force. She and the other security androids had seen their status of full citizens of the Spacers League temporarily taken away on order of then Chairman Paul Stein, while instances of anti-android racism and discrimination had been experienced on star systems controlled by the Pallas Mining Industries. It had taken the angry reaction of Jacobus Stein, the aging founder of the Pallas Mining Industries and a good friend of Tina Forster, to clean up that stinky state of affair. Tina then continued on.
‘’Now, I had a private conversation with Chairman Jeanne Mercier after that High Council meeting, during which she pledged to me that only ships of the Spacers
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League’s Navy will be retrofitted with our new weapon and that no corporation or star system’s local defense force would get it. She even told me that she intended our Navy ships to enforce that rule by conducting spot checks of any ships suspected of being illegally armed with matter converter cannons. In view of the refusal by two Pallas Mining Industries executives to honor the pledge taken by the other members of the High Council, I suspect that our Navy will be mostly checking out ships belonging to the Pallas Mining Industries, a measure I wholly support. So, hopefully, this will not result in serious problems for us in the future.’
‘’May I disagree with that assessment of yours, Tina?’ said at once Janet Robeson, a still solid eighty-year-old woman with an iron character. ‘’While I have officially retired from active politics after many decades of service, I still follow closely the state of politics around the Spacers League and on Earth and I am alarmed by the way anti-android propaganda and lies are still circulating around the systems controlled by the Pallas Mining Industries. Worse, a lot of that propaganda and lies emanates from local government officials who are still sympathetic to Paul Stein and his lackeys. If that corporation would have its ways, we and the New Haven Corporation would be booted out of the Spacers League and our security androids would then be legally considered as nothing more than simple robots with no individual legal rights.’
‘’But Michael Kendrick, the CEO of the Pallas Mining Industries, voted in favor of my pledge, Janet. He also looked angry when Berman and Kim voted against it.’
‘’Tina, I do not doubt the honesty and moral rectitude of CEO Kendrick. The problem is that I heard quite a few rumors about him being the target of a campaign meant to oust him as CEO of his corporation. Some of those rumors even mention the possibility of Paul Stein being returned to power as the next chairman and CEO of the Pallas Mining Industries. In addition to those rumors, the most recent opinion polls on Mu, El Dorado and in the Trappist-1 System show that many in their populations are still hostile to or suspicious of our security androids. Worse, those poll results continue to go up, despite the heroic deeds of our androids and of our crews against the Space Predators.’
‘’But that’s utter nonsense, Janet!’ protested at once Winnie Zambela, the financial officer of the NOSTROMO and the person in charge of its commercial dealings and contracts. ‘’How could intelligent people believe such hogwash proffered against our androids?’
Janet Robeson replied to that with a pinched smile.
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‘’As Tina said herself a number of times while quoting an ancient movie, ‘never underestimate the predictability of stupidity’, Winnie. Humanity may have advanced tremendously in terms of science and technology but it still counts many morons and gullible idiots in its midst. If all Humans would show intelligence and common sense while dealing with each other, then racism and wars would have disappeared centuries ago.’
There was a moment of awkward silence following those words, with Ahmed Jibril, the chief of security on the NOSTROMO, asked a question in a hesitant tone.
‘’So, what do we do about that now?’
It was again Janet Robeson who answered that.
‘’In terms of the security of our ship, crew, androids and corporation as a whole, we should let the Spacers League Navy take care of enforcing this new rule about our matter converter cannon. In commercial terms, we should become very cautious with our dealings with the Pallas Mining Industries and during any visit or transit stops at one of their worlds. Specifically, our security androids should avoid visiting or disembarking on those worlds, in order to avoid possible incidents of harassment or discrimination. I have no doubts that they could easily defend themselves from direct physical attacks but I would be more worried about the extra hostile propaganda which could be generated by any incident.’
The android avatar of SPIRIT, the central artificial intelligence computer of the NOSTROMO, was the next one to speak up.
‘’There is one thing that we should do about this situation, right now, which concerns the HD 138525 System. As you all know, it was mapped by one of our heavy fighters while it was searching for the missing prospector ship GOLDEN NUGGET. That system is within the direct sector of responsibility of our corporation and has next to no lifeforms in it due to its young age as a star system, so was quickly recognized by the High Council as belonging to the New Haven Corporation.
While it harbors no lifeforms other than microbes, that system holds some very rich metal ore deposits on two of its moons and in its asteroid belt. Since we don’t have ourselves the equipment and resources needed to fully exploit such extra mineral riches, we opened competitive bids with a number of corporations which could be interested in leasing from us the rights to mining those deposits. The Pallas Mining Industries was one of the corporations which stated its interest in leasing those mining rights from us.
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In view of the obvious hostility demonstrated towards us by the Pallas Mining Industries executives, I would suggest that we withdraw our offer to the Pallas Mining Industries and instead concentrate on the bids offered by the Ceres Consortium and by the Vesta Corporation, two entities which have proven to be dependable friends of ours.’
Heads nodded around the table at that suggestion, with a smiling Tina supporting it verbally.
‘’An excellent suggestion, SPIRIT. Anybody against that? No? Then we will do so. Winnie, please advise the executives at the Ceres Consortium and at the Vesta corporation of this before advising the following day the Pallas Mining Industries of our decision. If the latter asks why we did this, simply tell them that we lost confidence in their dependability as a potential customer.’
‘’I am sure that they will love that, Tina.’ replied Winnie Zambela in a sarcastic tone.
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CHAPTER 2 – A NEW CREWMEMBER
09:09 (Universal Time)
Thursday, February 4, 2337
Small craft hangar complex, Frame Level 1070
A.M.S. NOSTROMO, in orbit of planet Asiana
XO-1 System, 536 light years from Earth
‘’Alright, people, we have now arrived on the A.M.S. NOSTROMO, your new home. Follow me out of the shuttle and form up in double file outside, so that I could guide you to your quarters.’
One of the 200 newly-built security androids who had just traveled from the Avalon Space Yards in the passenger shuttle, a beautiful young blonde named Greta Norstrom, got up from her seat and grabbed her kit bag from its overhead rack, then followed the other androids out of the shuttle. Once on the deck of the hangar complex, next to the centerline core spine of the ship, Greta took place into the double line of androids forming up next to their passenger shuttle, while nine persons watched on from near one of the airlocks of the core spine. Greta recognized among those nine persons the captain of the ship, Tina Forster, plus her chief of security, Ahmed Jibril. The seven others, which included Chief Centurion Jehanne De Domrémy and the android avatar of SPIRIT, the central AI computer of the NOSTROMO, were all androids. Once the 200
newly-arrived security androids were lined up, Tina Forster stepped to a position ten meters in front of them with Ahmed Jibril and Jehanne De Domrémy. Looking first up and down the group of security androids, Forster then spoke up in a strong, clear voice, using a friendly tone.
‘’Welcome aboard the NOSTROMO, my friends. As you may know already, I am Tina Forster, captain and owner of this ship and also the owner of the New Haven Corporation. You are now members of a big family dedicated to the promotion of good, prosperous lives in peace and security for all among the stars. As security androids, your main goal will be to ensure that peace and security prevails. However, you are also to profit from our collective good life and prosperity, by engaging in off-duty hobbies and occupations of your own choice and by socializing with the rest of our community. Be
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assured that you will always be fully respected as true sentient beings and valued fellow crewmembers on this ship and on New Haven. Now, unfortunately, some people among the population of the Spacers League still refuse to recognize you as sentient beings and would treat you like simple servants or, worse, like slaves. If you encounter such people, stay polite but ignore them and always act like the full citizens of the Spacers League that you are. In that, I promise you that I will always defend and support your individual rights. If you ever need help, counsel or support in anything, then talk to your immediate superiors, who will then pass on your message to me and my command staff.
With this said, I will now let Chief Centurion De Domrémy tell you how things will go from now on.’
Jehanne De Domrémy, a small but stoutly built and young-looking female android, then took one step forward before speaking up.
‘’Again, welcome aboard the NOSTROMO, my friends.
You will now be led to the level of the forest habitats, around which are the accommodations for both our crew and our passengers, where you will be given individual cabins. Since the original cabins built for our androids around the outer Habitat Ring Complex are fully occupied, more cabins dedicated for our newer androids have been recently built at the same level, but on the interior perimeter of the forest habitats, along the outer surface of the centerline core section. Those new cabins are of the same design and dimensions as the original cabins and also enjoy a direct view on our forest habitats, so you will be living in conditions as agreeable as the rest of us and of our passengers. Once you will have dropped your kit in your personal cabins, we will then take a couple of hours to administratively process you in as new crewmembers, issue you customized spacesuits and individual weapons and brief you on ship’s rules and procedures. Then you will be given the rest of the day off to mingle around, talk with veteran androids and buy civilian clothes of your choice in the various stores and commerces to be found aboard our ship. Use that time as well to start thinking about what kind of hobby or secondary occupation you will wish to practice during your off-duty time. I strongly counsel you to seek the advice and experience of our veteran androids while thinking about that choice: the options available are both numerous and varied. You may want to delve into arts or sciences, practice martial arts skills, work part-time as repair and maintenance technicians or even work in animal husbandry or hydroponic gardens work. As I said, the options are many and you may at first be undecided about what you would like to do when off duty, so take your time, seek
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advice and explore your options carefully before you take a decision. This is a most important matter, both for you and for our community as a whole, as your off-duty occupations will further add to both your enjoyment of life aboard this ship and to the welfare and cohesion of our community. For example, I myself chose to study and practice the old martial arts of the European Middle Ages and Renaissance eras, something that had been made attractive to me due to my original programming as an avatar of the historical French heroine Joan of Arc. However, our more recent batches of security androids built differ from the first batches produced in a major way, programming-wise. The first 900 androids produced, which included me, were modeled as avatars of past, historically known persons, with the skills and general personalities of those historical characters programmed into the individual physical aspect and personality profiles of those historical persons. In contrast, the 3,200 androids which followed them and which you are part of were built as what I would call ‘generic individuals’. While all different from each other in terms of external appearances and names and with similar combat and technical skills and programming, your individual personality traits were not set on specific personality types. Rather, you represent what I would call ‘Mister and Miss Anybody’ in terms of what you will find as average Spacers League citizens appearances and You are thus not bound to some arbitrarily chosen historical personality. You will thus be free to become the kind of person you wish, the same way a Human citizen of the Spacers League builds his or her character, career and life as he or she grows, gets educated and makes choices about their lives. Again, this choice to be made is not a light one and will be a major factor in how much you will enjoy your lives and contribute to our community. Take all the time you will need to weigh that decision and don’t hesitate to explore the various options which may look attractive to you. When you will feel ready to take that decision, then go talk to Eve Silisca, who designed and programmed our security androids, or SPIRIT, who is the guide to all of us androids on this ship, who will counsel you and help you make a final choice about what you want to become. While protecting and defending our people and this ship will always be your priority task in life, it does not mean that it will prevent you from enjoying a constructive occupation or hobby during your off-duty time.’
Jehanne then signaled to the other androids behind her to come forward before continuing.
‘’Now, as you know already, our security android force has already distinguished itself many times in combat against the monstrous threat of the Space Predators. In the
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process, our androids gained valuable combat experience and honed their combat skills to a very high level. In order to spread that combat experience and skills among all of us, the combat veterans among us have gradually been redistributed among the ten cohorts of our legion, so that they could command and support you as either senior centurions, centurions or decurions. As a result of that reshuffling, the ranks of our original centuries are now less than full. You will thus be dispersed after this among our centuries in order to fill up those voids in our ranks. I am now going to broadcast electronically to you the list of unit assignments for your group. After you will have received it and will know to which century to report, you will then form up around your new unit leaders, who will then lead and guide you during the day as you are being processed in.’
Greta, who had been listening carefully to all this, then received and recorded via the radio and data transmission unit built into her body the electronic file broadcasted by Jehanne De Domrémy. She thus learned in less than a second that she was now part of the First Contubernia2 of the Third Century of Centurion Ragnar Lothbrok, itself part of the First Cohort of Senior Centurion Shaka Zulu. She also learned at the same time which apartment had been assigned to her: Apartment 560-062C, with a view on the Temperate Broadleaf Forest Habitat. She then broke rank, like the other androids around her, in order to go to her centurion, a stoutly built and muscular android sporting a medium-length beard and moustache and a bald head. She was quickly joined around Lothbrok by 28 other new androids. The centurion, wearing the dark grey interior service uniform of the NOSTROMO’s security force, looked and smiled at the androids now forming a semi-circle around him.
‘’Welcome all to the Third Century, my friends. I am Centurion Ragnar Lothbrok, your commander. Later on, you will be able to meet with the members of the contubernias you will be part of but, first, I will now lead you up to your assigned apartments. Once you will have been able to drop off your kit, I will then guide you through the ship’s administrative ‘in’ processing. After that will be your meetings with your respective contubernias. Again, you are here as much to learn and to grow as a person as you are here to serve and protect. The long-standing members of my century are all highly experienced veterans who have seen a lot in the last seven to eight years, so feel free to ask them as many questions as you would like during those meetings and 2 Contubernia : Roman Army sub-unit of eight legionnaires led by a decurion. There were ten contubernias in a century, with six centuries per cohort and ten cohorts in a legion.
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to seek their advice on any subject which may be of interest to you. Yes, Legionnaire Nguyen?’
One of the new androids, who had raised a hand to ask a question, then spoke while keeping the volume of his voice fairly low.
‘’Centurion, we were told repeatedly that we will be respected and valued on this ship as much as its Human crewmembers and passengers. Is that truly a fact?’
‘’It is!’ answered in a sober tone Ragnar Lothbrok. ‘’We are both admired and respected by the people of this ship due to our valor in combat and to our continued courteous and helpful conduct while serving aboard this ship. Many of us are also nearly adulated because of our musical or entertainment performances while working on our hobbies or secondary occupations. You may also find that many passengers will show a sexual interest in you because of our vaunted sexual performances. However, don’t forget that you are sentient individuals free to choose what you do when on your own time. You are no sex slaves for Humans and I will expect you all to exercise good judgment and reasonable restraint in that respect. With that said, know that 23 of us have married human members of the crew, with two of us also now raising children who were made orphans by the Space Predators. Even more of us have established long-term relationships with human life partners. Any more questions? Then, follow me to the elevator cabins of the core rotunda.’
Greta, like the 28 other new members of the Third Century, followed Lothbrok inside the nearby central core spine column of the ship, entering it via a protective airlock and then getting into a large cargo lift cabin. There were no words exchanged while the cabin went up for a few seconds, to then stop at Level 560 in the main forward core section of the ship. Since Greta had already the complete deck plans of the NOSTROMO as part of her downloaded database, she was not surprised when her group had to cross the perimeter of a big soccer and football field stadium able to sit over 3,000 spectators while heading towards the recently-built android quarters situated along the external walls of the core section. Arriving at one of the six airlocks connecting the core section with the wheel spoke-like galleries separating the six forest habitats of the ship, Lothbrok entered it but immediately turned left once in it and used an airtight sliding door to enter a long, four-meter-wide hallway along which a series of doors lined its right side. Lothbrok waited until all 29 new androids had stepped inside the hallway before talking again.
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‘’We are now on on Level 560-C, in the inner android quarters section, where you will be lodged. I will now wait here for you to go drop your personal kits in your assigned apartments and take a couple of minutes to explore it. Then, we will go as a group down to the ship’s administrative center, on Level 580 of the Core Section, to start your ‘in’
clearances. You may go to your cabins now.’
Greta obeyed at once and started walking at a brisk pace along the hallway, to arrive after some sixty meters at the door marked ‘560-062-C’. Reading first the small notice which had been left on the display screen of the entrance control panel of the door, she then put her right hand flat on the identity recognition pad of the panel. In the case of Humans, that panel would then read the fingerprints of the person at the door in order to determine if that person had the legitimate right to access the apartment. In the case of an android like her, that pad would read instead the tiny individual chip embedded in her right-hand palm. The door, which was an airtight sliding type door, then opened and she was able to step inside her apartment. Dropping first her kit bag and service helmet in the closet next to the entrance, she then quickly toured her small apartment, which measured ten meters by four meters and was comprised of a small bathroom with a shower stall, a toilet and a sink counter, a private study cum cybernetic diagnostic and maintenance corner and a living room. At the right-side end of the apartment was a small airlock connecting the living room with a balcony giving an open-air view on the trees of a temperate broadleaf forest. A large sofa facing a video entertainment unit in the living room also doubled as a fold-out bed. Overall, Greta was more than satisfied by all this and didn’t lose time by lingering inside, walking out of her apartment and returning to where Ragnar Lothbrok was waiting. Soon, all the androids of their group were back around their centurion, who then led them back inside the central core section in order to go down to the level of the ship’s administrative center.
Once down on Level 580, Lothbrok led his new androids around, first going to the ship’s security center, where they were officially registered as members of the ship’s security force, then to the adjacent weapons vault, where they were each issued with a heavy disintegrator rifle with combined stun gun unit, a heavy combined disintegrator-stun pistol, a riot baton and a large combat/utility knife. From there, the group visited the spacesuits section, where they were each fitted with a combat spacesuit specifically designed for security androids. Since androids didn’t need to breathe air and could resist to more extreme variations of pressure and temperature than Humans could,
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those spacesuits were a lot more compact and lighter than the standard spacesuits used by living beings. However, those same spacesuits also came with armored vests and leg and arms protectors which incorporated a protective anti-laser surface of prismatic quartz armor fixed to plates of titanium armor. The visit to that section took a good hour, since those spacesuits needed to be fitted to each android’s specific body dimensions.
Their final visit was to the ship’s bank, where the new androids were able to open an electronic banking account and to receive a first official pay. Greta looked at the electronic banking card given to her and which stated that she now had a balance of 3,000 credits in her account, then looked at Lothbrok.
‘’Centurion, my account has a balance of 3,000 credits in it. I thought that our monthly salary was much less than that.’
‘’That is because, on top of your first initial monthly pay of 1,500 credits, you also received a supplementary one-time allotment of 1,500 credits provided to you in order to allow you to go shop for some civilian off-duty clothes in the stores around the ship. If you prefer to wait until you will have decided which hobby or secondary occupation you will choose for your off-duty time before buying the bulk of your civilian clothes, that is fine with me, but buy at least one or two informal outfits today. Don’t worry about buying any work-related clothes, though: those will all be provided for free to you.’
‘’Is our salary equal to that of human security officers, Centurion?’ asked one of the new androids of the group, making Lothbrok nod his head once.
‘’Yes! Your salary as a security officer on the NOSTROMO is the same as that of a single, unmarried human security officer with no children in his or her charge. As for when you will have chosen which hobby or secondary occupation, you will then again be paid the same for that occupation as a single, entry-level human worker. Since you won’t need to spend money on things which the various things Humans usually buy, like food at restaurants and alcoholic beverages, you may find that your respective bank accounts will fatten quite rapidly, unless of course your chosen hobby or secondary occupation involves a lot of spending on special items. In my case, since my main hobby is medieval blade fighting reenactment, I spend most of my money on new blade weapons and pieces of old-style pieces of medieval armor.’
‘’But what if the hobby or occupation I choose doesn’t imply large personal expenses, Centurion?’ asked Greta. ‘’Letting large sums dormant in my bank account sounds wasteful to me.’
Lothbrok let a slight smile appear on his lips on hearing her question.
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‘’Then, you can do like many of us do, Legionnaire Norstrom: donate what you consider as excess money to your needs to some charitable fund, or help financially a cause of your choice, like the Nordland Orphans Help Fund, dedicated to support the thousands of young children who were orphaned by the murderous attack on Nordland by the Space Predators some sixteen months ago. Our own legion commander, Chief Centurion Jehanne De Domrémy, adopted a little orphan girl after rescuing her and other inhabitants on Nordland. As for Captain Forster, she is spending a lot of her personal revenues to improve constantly the facilities on New Haven which are used to house and employ the victims of wars and natural disasters on Earth, victims which she helps by offering them a new home on New Haven. There are also other charity organizations dedicated to helping the poorer and more destitute people on Earth. Sadly, the needs on Earth and around the Spacers League are many, Legionnaire Norstrom, while the means available are finite. However, be careful not to fall into excessive charity: you will still need at least some money to buy and maintain a reasonable civilian wardrobe.’
‘’I understand, Centurion.’
Once everybody had been able to open a personal bank account, Lothbrok raised his voice to address his group of androids in the hallway.
‘’Now that your ‘in’ clearances are done, I will ask you to go back to your apartments, where you will drop off your new kit and will lock up your heavy rifles.
However, keep your pistols and batons with you: we never know when some emergency could be declared onboard. Once back together, I will then lead you to one of the lounges of the Habitat Ring Complex reserved for the use of our androids, where you will be able to meet your other comrades of the Third Century. There, I will strongly counsel you again to freely talk with them and ask for their counsels and comments about what you could do aboard the NOSTROMO on your off-duty time. I will wait for you at the same spot as before on Level 560. Go!’
Greta was already thinking about the kind of questions she was going to ask to her legionnaire comrades as she started walking towards the central rotunda in order to get back up to Level 560.
Forty minutes later, their group arrived at one of the open-air lounges situated on Level 570 of the Habitat Ring Complex, where Ragnar Lothbrok led his 29 new androids
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to a group of eight tables with chairs occupied by 51 other androids dressed in civilian clothes.
‘’Legionnaires, meet your comrades from the Third Century. I will first designate for you the decurions who will be your direct leaders, then you will all be free to talk between yourselves. First, you have Decurion Lee Marvin, leader of the First Contubernia...’
Greta and Nguyen Quan Trang approached at once the table where the said Lee Marvin was sitting. The decurion was a tall, very manly-looking android with a square jaw and he at once exchanged handshakes with his two new legionnaires, followed in this by his five other androids.
‘’Welcome to the First Contubernia of the Third Century. I am Decurion Lee Marvin and these are Legionnaires Bat Masterson, Boudicca, Norma Jeane Mortenson, Keiko Kitagawa and Jean Paul Belmondo.’
‘’They call me ‘Bébel’.’ said Belmondo while shaking hands with Greta.
‘’And I am Greta Norstrom. I have not yet had the time to earn a nickname.’
‘’It will come fast enough, Greta, especially with your looks, which should attract Human males to you by the bucket load.’
‘’Oh yes!’ agreed Norma Jeane Mortenson, a very pretty young redhead who was a good ten centimeters shorter than Greta. ‘’For Human males, pretty girls are like magnets.’
‘’Human females also can be quite hungry sexually,’ added Belmondo, ‘’although they show a bit more restraint when on the hunt for sexual partners.’
‘’My! Should I expect male advances from left and right?’
‘’You bet! Sex is a big thing in most Humans, at least those who are still under the age of fifty. However, remember that we are not their servants and that we make our own choices.’
‘’Right! So, we were advised by Centurion Lothbrok to seek your advice about what kind of hobby or secondary occupation we could individually adopt for our off-duty time. Any suggestions or advice?’ asked Greta while taking one of the empty chairs around the large table, which could sit ten persons.
‘’Yeah: don’t go for being a professional musician, dancer or singer.’ said Norma Jeane Mortenson. ‘’the entertainment niche on the NOSTROMO is presently saturated with androids, unless you are ready and willing to become a topless waitress at the Jupiter Sex Club. Even there, the place is nearly awash with female waitresses and
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entertainers, both of the Human and android kind. I myself am one of the star singers and dancers of the group ‘The Fabulous Five’.’
‘’On the other hand,’ said Lee Marvin, ‘’there is always a demand for more technical help, in order to deal with both routine maintenance and repairs around the NOSTROMO. Most people don’t realize how truly gigantic our ship is or how many systems of all kinds there are around it which need periodic checking and maintenance.
We have thousands of specialized maintenance robots aboard but even they aren’t enough by themselves, while extra robots are quite costly and themselves need maintenance and occasional repair work.’
‘’Now, that could interest me.’ said Nguyen Quan Tran. ‘’I am already programmed to be able to do robotic and electronic diagnostic repair work. With a few extra programs and datafiles on electronic repair, I could help our electronic and robotic maintenance teams during my off-duty times.’
‘’There you go!’ exclaimed with a smile Lee Marvin before looking at Greta.
‘’And you, Greta? What would interest you?’
‘’I frankly don’t know yet, Decurion. While I was also programmed to be able to do some robotic and electronic repair work, I have no special attraction towards that kind of work. However, I do confess that Human nature intrigues me: I find their behavior, as well as their mannerisms, to be often unpredictable or even surprising. I also find how their biological functions work to be surprisingly complex, while an element of what could be called compassion or care for others was incorporated in my programming.’
‘’Then, what about becoming a nurse or a paramedic?’ suggested Keiko Kitagawa. ‘’A few of our androids have taken that specialty and they seem to find that line of work quite satisfying. I myself work as a Geisha, a traditional Japanese hostess, at the Kyoto Gardens Sushi Bar, and I still keep seeing new things and behaviors nearly every day. Humans come with a dizzying variety of characters, personalities and even physical and health conditions and working as a nurse or paramedic should prove to be a challenging and also rewarding type of work.’
Greta thought that over for a very long half second before nodding her head.
‘’That sounds interesting indeed. I will definitely have to explore that avenue during the next few days and weeks.’
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CHAPTER 3 – RESCUE WORK
The EUROPA orbital terminal in low Earth orbit.
03:14 (Universal Time)
Friday, March 12, 2337
