Gustav Shomberg, owner, chief-designer and manager of the Avalon Space yards, watched from inside an observation gallery as the huge Class ‘A’ super-heavy cargo ship slowly entered Drydock Number One, the largest drydock of the Avalon Space Yards and also the largest in existence in Humanity’s Space. The 3,000 meter-long and 1,800 meter-diameter A.M.S. NOSTROMO actually nearly filled the huge volume of Drydock Number One as it slowly flew inside it. Shomberg’s attention
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immediately focused on the multiple long, dark furrows scarring the bow shield and flanks of the NOSTROMO.
‘’Damn! The damage is more extensive than I was afraid about. Thankfully, Captain Tina Forster seemed to have succeeded in minimizing that damage from Space Predator laser beams by rotating her ship along its longitudinal axis while fighting those Space Predator ships. Look at how those furrows burned in by laser beams have a spiraling shape.’
His assistant chief-engineer, Karina Martens, who was standing next to Shomberg, nodded her head then.
‘’I believe that we will have to completely replace the bow shield of the NOSTROMO: those furrows are very deep ones and a few of them intersect together, seriously weakening the structural integrity of the whole bow shield. One of the lateral sliding cargo doors will also have to be replaced: it was apparently penetrated completely by a laser beam strike. Hopefully, the damage inside that hold will be minimal. The main problem we will have here is that the NOSTROMO is a one-of-a-kind ship: there are no existing structural spare parts for its bow and cargo doors. They will thus have to be built to specifications from scratch. That alone will add a good two to three months to the repair time.’
‘’I am afraid that you are right about that, Karina. However, I am also afraid that Captain Forster will take that piece of news pretty badly. The Spacers League wants and needs her ship to return into service as quickly as possible, in order for it to help defend our colonies from those monstrous Space Predators. Over half a million people are said to have perished in that Predator attack and invasion of the planet Nordland, in the TOI 700 System, and the other one and a half million inhabitants are still alive only because of the heroic actions of the NOSTROMO and of its crew.’
Martens, a tall Eurasian woman of mixed Dutch-Indonesian heritage, nodded her head again.
‘’Maybe, but I can’t see the NOSTROMO return into combat without first being properly repaired. Any rush to effect only partial repairs will only make it vulnerable to enemy fire. Such a valorous ship and crew deserves our best efforts at returning it to full operational capabilities, Gustav. In my opinion, we are looking at a minimum of three to four months of repair work, including the building of a new shield and cargo door. Did the Spacers League’s Admiralty confirm that it would cover the full costs of the repairs?’
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‘’They did! Frankly, to not fully cover those costs would have been downright miserly: by defeating the Space Predators’ invasion fleet by itself and by sending down its force of security androids to help rescue the inhabitants of Nordland, the NOSTROMO has proved itself to be essential to the defense of Humanity. We will work 24 hours a day, seven days a week on those repairs, using four full work crews in rotation to do the job. By the way, the Admiralty has authorized us to use the latest type of prismatic quartz shield material to rebuild the NOSTROMO’s bow shield. It may be much more costly than the standard ceramic shield material we use but it also has the best resistance to laser fire among all the types of materials available.’
‘’Then, I will order at once the production of new shield elements made of prismatic quartz for the new shield of the NOSTROMO. Should we also replace the hull ablative plating of the ship with prismatic quartz blocks?’
Shomberg, a tall and strongly-built man of Scandinavian descent who was now in his early sixties, only had to think about that for a second before answering Martens.
‘’Do it, Karina! It may add substantially to the cost of the repair work but I believe that the NOSTROMO, as the main asset of Humanity’s combat fleet, deserves it. In fact, not giving it our best would be derelict on our part.’
‘’One last question for you, Gustav: what color of prismatic quartz blocs shall we use? Five choices of basic colors of prismatic quartz blocs exist which we can use depending on the laser frequency the enemy uses, ranging from blue to black. I am asking because I see that Captain Forster had her ship painted over with mate black radar-absorbing paint. On the other hand, it would be wise to use the type of quartz color most efficient in absorbing and dispersing the laser beam frequencies used by the Space Predators.’
‘’A good point, Karina. I will let Captain Forster decide on that when we will meet her.’
‘’I must say that I can’t wait to finally meet her: she is such a legend throughout the Spacers League.’
‘’And rightly so, Karina. She first defeated nearly single-handedly the forces of the Earth Federation with her KOSTROMA during the Jovian Uprising of 2315, found that Koorivar ship on Eris in 2317, then defeated the Drazts of Ross 128 in 2320 after they attacked her ship without provocation, to succeed afterwards in convincing them to sign a peace treaty with us and to become our allies. Now, the NOSTROMO has proven to be the main shield of Humanity against those monstrous Space Predators.’
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‘’Don’t forget the role her security androids, produced by us at her request and according to her design, in fighting those Space Predators. They have proven to date to be by far the best Space infantry force we have. Maybe the Spacers League should ask us to relaunch their production here.’
Gustav Shomberg sighed on hearing that remark.
‘’They really should, but they won’t, for two reasons: first, there is still way too much anti-android racist sentiments and attitudes around the Spacers League to make that a viable political decision; second, Tina Forster will refuse that any sentient security android be used by others than herself, not because she wants to keep a monopoly on their use but because she is rightly afraid that others will use those sentient security androids as simple cannon fodder and will treat them basically like slaves.
Unfortunately, the past six and a half years only proved that her fears about that were well founded.’
‘’Then, how about we support her security android force our own way, Gustav?’
Shomberg looked at his assistant chief-engineer with some confusion.
‘’What do you mean by that, Karina?’
‘’Well, I know that this would be your money involved but the production line for her androids is still functional in our robotics department, although it is presently dormant. While deactivated at Captain Forster’s request, it still could be restarted rather quickly. On the other hand, even while asking the Admiralty a fair price for repairing the NOSTROMO, we will still end up with a profit on that contract easily exceeding one billion credits. Shouldn’t we contribute our own part in this war effort against the Space Predators by offering to produce a new batch of security androids at no cost for Captain Forster?’
Karina was pleased to see Gustav smile at her suggestion.
‘’You know what, Karina? I like your idea. I will offer it to Tina when we will meet with her this evening before starting our detailed inspection of her ship’s damage. Can you remind me of the updated cost for building each of those security androids.’
‘’Each of them costs about 85,000 credits to produce. Even if we spend only ten million credits of our profit on her androids, it would still mean for her an additional one hundred androids for her security force, plus a number of new android diagnostic stations and spare parts, something which would still be a significant addition to her force.’
Those numbers made Gustav think for a few seconds before nodding his head.
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‘’Very well! I will present our proposal once we meet her.’
The two of them kept looking at the NOSTROMO until the giant armed merchant ship was fully stopped and secured into the extendable cradle arms and moorings of the drydock. The duo then used an electric cart to roll to the nearest access point of the drydock, to which a retractable access tunnel from the NOSTROMO had just mated with.
Once that access tunnel had been fully pressurized, Gustav drove his cart into it after gaining permission from the ship’s security command post to roll in. They ended up driving for a good 1,500 meters along the western access tunnel of the NOSTROMO, passing through a succession of nine widely-spaced and heavily armored airlock doors before they parked their cart near one of the entrances of the central longitudinal core spine of the ship. Even that entrance proved to be protected by an airlock. Looking around her as they cycled through that final airlock, Karina’s expert eyes noticed the four small optical camera turrets attached to each of the four ceiling corners of the airlock.
Each of those camera turrets also sported what looked to her like a short weapon barrel.
‘’My god! The internal security arrangements on this ship seem to be nearly impregnable. Are these disintegrator rifles, Gustav?’’
‘’Actually, they are the barrels of light disintegrator pistols: anything more powerful would cause severe damage to this airlock if fired inside it. The small hole next to it is the muzzle of a cryogenic nitrogen gas projector, meant to freeze and immobilize but not kill attackers, while that small lens is the business end of a neural stun gun. If those don’t prove enough or adequate to deter boarders, the artificial gravity system inside this airlock can be set on so-called ‘ping-pong’ mode, to make its occupants bounce repeatedly between the floor and the ceiling, and that until they had enough of it.
That ping-pong mode can be set between one and ten in power scale. You wouldn’t want to experience anything higher than three in power scale, while a ten-power scale would most probably kill you. The central artificial intelligence computer of the NOSTROMO, Spirit, can remotely control all these weapons and airlock doors and can defend the ship from boarders by itself.’
Karina couldn’t help shiver nervously on hearing his explanation.
‘’By the stars! I wouldn’t want to see that Spirit break down into some paranoia state: we would be toast!’
Just as she finished saying that, a loud, sadistic laughter echoed inside the airlock, while both doors closed tight in a flash.
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‘’MOUAHAHAHAH! YOU ARE NOW MINE! ’’
‘’Who was that?’ nearly shouted Karina, feeling panic rising in her. In response, a still calm and composed Gustav Shomberg simply grinned to her.
‘’That was Spirit. Did I tell you that she has a sense of humor?’
‘’She...she does?’
‘’Of course I do, Miss Martens. Sorry about scaring you like this but I couldn’t resist this occasion. Captain Forster is waiting for you in the bridge conference room, along with her second-in-command and her chief-engineer. You may now proceed up to the bridge conference room, on Level 490.’
‘’Uh, thanks!’
Moving with Gustav, Karina walked into a 36-meter-wide rotunda at the center of which stood a sixteen-meter-diameter vertical column containing a number of elevator lift tubes. Walking inside one of the elevator cabins, which was presently on their level, Karina looked suspiciously around the inside of the cabin, looking for more weapons turrets.
‘’At least, there are no weapons turrets in this lift cabin, Gustav.’
‘’Correct, but it is still equipped with a ping-pong device. If you were an armed boarder, Spirit could stop this cabin between two decks, then play with you until you cry
‘uncle’. And these are only the internal defenses of this ship. You wouldn’t want to try attacking it with another ship: it would most probably spell your doom.’
‘’And this is supposed to be a cargo ship, Gustav? You were definitely devious as hell when you designed it for Captain Forster.’
‘’I didn’t design it, Karina: Spirit designed it, following the directives from Tina Forster. Even by then, Tina had already proven herself to be the best Space tactician and ship handler around.’
‘’Wait! How could this Spirit have designed the NOSTROMO, when she is part of the ship?’
‘’How? Because Spirit was first built as part of the KOSTROMA, the illustrious predecessor of the NOSTROMO, some 46 years ago. When the KOSTROMA was destroyed some seven years ago by performing a suicide charge which destroyed the Space Predator ship ravaging Kadosh, the homeworld of the Drazts of Ross 128, Spirit’s daughter, Eve Silisca, was able to save copies of Spirit’s personality and personal memories. These copies were eventually transferred and downloaded into the armored
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central computer vault of the NOSTROMO. You must know that Eve Silisca is the first sentient android designed and produced by Spirit in the robotics workshops of the KOSTROMA. As such, she is of an even more advanced design than that of the security androids built for Captain Forster.’
‘’I do remember meeting her a number of times on our space yard, when she was directing the building of those security androids. If not for having been told in advance about her, I would never have guessed that she was not a human being. She also proved then to be extremely intelligent and perceptive, with highly developed social skills.’
‘’She is also a strikingly beautiful-looking young woman.’ said Gustav, liking his lips, making Karina look crossly at him.
‘’You sound like you would love to bed her, Gustav.’
‘’And why not? Like the security androids we built, Eve is fully capable of having sex with a Human and is anatomically correct to the last detail, at least externally, and has a full set of functioning genital organs, except for the reproductive aspect of them.
Did you know that a number of human crewmembers on the NOSTROMO have formed permanent couples with security androids of the opposite gender? At least a dozen such couples even formally married, while one couple adopted a little war orphan girl and is presently raising her. But please keep that last information to yourself, Karina.
Some bigots on Earth could raise a stink if they would learn about this.’
By now quite overwhelmed by all those revelations, Karina nodded her head then.
‘’Alright, I will keep mum about this.’
Their cabin finally stopped, with its door sliding open and showing a small anteroom with two doors and a staircase. One of the doors was opened and showed the inside of a small conference room where three women were sitting and waiting around a rectangular table. Karina recognized at once one of the women as being Captain Tina Forster, wearing an informal ship outfit. Forster immediately got up and walked to them to greet them with a solid handshake as they entered the conference room. She was fairly tall for a woman, standing a good 178 centimeters, and had long brown hair and grey eyes. Karina knew from the various news report about her that she was close to the age of fifty but she still looked fit, with little fat visible on her.
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‘’Welcome aboard Gustav, and you as well, Miss Martens. Please, come and sit down. Would you like some tea or coffee before we start this meeting?’
‘’A cup of strong coffee would be nice, Tina.’ replied Gustav, followed by Karina.
‘’I will also have a cup of coffee, Captain.’
‘’Please, simply call me ‘Tina’. Can I call you ‘Karina’?’
‘’You may, Cap... uh, Tina.’
‘’Good! Give me a minute and I will serve you some coffee. Please sit down in the meantime and meet my executive officer, Dana Durning, also known as ‘DD’, and my chief-engineer, Rose Tillman.’
Gustav and Karina shook hands with Durning and Tillman, then sat down opposite them at the table while Tina went to a coffee urn installed in one corner and poured two cups, which she then carried to the table on a serving tray, along with a small jar of cream and one of sugar. She then sat down and waited for her two visitors to have prepared their cups and taken a first sip before starting to speak, letting some worry show in her voice.
‘’Now that you have been able to see from the outside the damage to my ship, what is your first assessment about it, Gustav?’
‘’I am afraid that it is quite serious, Tina. Your bow shield has received extensive laser fire damage and has lost much of its structural integrity. It will have to be completely replaced, rather than us simply patching it up. Also, your cargo hold’s outer door that was pierced by a laser beam will also have to be replaced. Since we have no spare bow dome or cargo hold door for your ship in our present stocks, we will have to have them built from scratch, something that will take at least two months to do. And we still haven’t made any close inspections yet of your hull and of your internal structures and systems. I am afraid that your NOSTROMO will be stuck inside this drydock for at least three to four months, Tina, and that is an optimistic estimate.’
‘’Three to four months!?’ nearly exclaimed Tina. ‘’But the Space Predators could show up anywhere at any time while we are in drydock, Gustav.’
‘’I know but you will have to let the rest of the Navy deal with them for the time being. As you are, your ship is unfit for combat. The good news is that the Navy has given us permission to use the latest materials in terms of protective outer layer to rebuild your bow shield, at no cost to you. We will be able to replace your old composite ceramic blocks protecting your outer hull with new prismatic quartz blocks, something that will greatly improve your resistance to laser fire. On that subject, Karina mentioned to me that your hull is presently covered with mate black radar-absorbing paint. Do you
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want that same kind of paint to be reapplied after we will have replaced your outer protective layer?’
‘’Yes, as much as possible! That paint helped us a lot in taking the Predators around Nordland by surprise.’
‘’Then, we will reapply it once your new prismatic quartz blocks are in place.
Karina also wanted to offer you a choice of prismatic quartz colors, so that you could choose the type that is best in absorbing and dispersing the purple laser beams used by the Space Predators.’
‘’A very good point, actually. I would prefer the material type best suited to counter near-infrared laser beams.’
Karina quickly noted that on her personal data pad, then looked at Rose Tillman.
‘’Have you sustained any damage to your internal systems?’
‘’None that we have detected yet. All of our internal ship systems are fully functional at this time.’
‘’Good! While we will still conduct a thorough ship-wide diagnostic, this should save us many weeks of repair work. My engineering team will get at it right away after we leave.’
Gustav waited until Karina had finished her exchange with Rose Tillman, then looked at Tina Forster.
‘’Tina, there is something else that I would like to discuss with you: your security androids.’
‘’My androids? What about them?’
‘’Basically, during the last few months, they have proved highly effective in Space and ground combat operations against those damn Space Predators and my space yards would like to help our war effort by offering to build for you more security androids, for free. I would then consider that as my yard’s contribution to the war effort. By the way, this was an idea from Karina.’
Tina, like Dana and Rose, smiled on hearing that, with Tina nodding her head in salute at Karina.
‘’That was a nice thought from you, Karina. In truth, I could use as many more security androids as I could get. Right now, my own corporate world of New Haven is nearly defenseless and highly vulnerable to any attack by the Space Predators and I certainly could use a few hundred extra security androids to act as a ground defense force and to man heavy defensive batteries on New Haven. We also took on us to
15
protect the homeworld of the Kiryns, who have been the victims of the Space Predators, and that of the Hoshis, on Hyanesu. How many androids would you be ready to build for us, Gustav?’
‘’Would 2,000 more androids help you, Tina?’
Even Karina was shocked by that number, while Tina sucked air in, not believing her luck.
‘’That would be great, Gustav! Uh, would you then have objections if I would ask you to add a few small changes to the basic design of those new androids?’
‘’Such as?’
‘’Such as giving them the same kind of ability to ingest food and liquids as the one Eve and Spirit have presently. This may sound trivial but the years have shown me that the inability of my security androids to appear to be able to eat and drink normally seriously impacted on their social development and also attracted attention and suspicions on them when they were traveling outside of my ship. If that could be done without compromising their combat abilities, then it would be truly great.’
‘’Hum, that will take some creative systems repackaging but I believe that it could be done. Anything else about your future androids?’
‘’Yes! Could you let Eve choose the external physical aspects and the personality types of those new androids, before you build them?’
‘’Eve is most welcome to stay here and work in collaboration with my robotics specialists, Tina.’
‘’Excellent! One last point: would it be possible to add that eating and drinking capability to my existing androids? I am asking that because 23 of my present androids are married and are living as a couple with human members of my crew. One of them is even raising a little girl. For them, not being able to share meals with their families severely limit their socializing. I would be most grateful if you could modify them by adding that ability to eat and drink in reasonable quantities.’
Gustav, like Karina, slowly nodded his head in appreciation, fully realizing now how much Tina cared about her security androids.
‘’I can and will do that, Tina, at no cost to you. Just let us a few days to study the best way to add that extra capability in your existing androids and you will then be able to send me by small batches the existing androids to be modified.’
‘’Oh, Gustav, I could kiss you for that!’
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‘’I would love that, but then I would have your husband chasing me around with a meat cleaver.’ joked Gustav in reply, attracting chuckles around the table. An amused Tina then gave him a big smile.
‘’How about a safer way to thank you and your shipbuilding crews? As you know well, my ship contains quite a few commercial ventures, clubs, restaurants and boutiques, which normally do business by offering their services and products for sale to our paying passengers. Since a three-to-four-month period without making any business could well bankrupt them, how about that I offer your people free access to my ship, so that they could use those businesses, shop around and be entertained. While your people would still have to pay for their meals and for the things they would buy aboard my ships, that would give their families a nice opportunity to avoid having to go down to the surface of the planet every time they would want to go shopping for new stuff. Also, many of my security androids have taken music, singing and dancing as personal secondary occupations when they are not on security duty and they are quite good at it, I assure you. We can also arrange for a few special events and shows, like medieval jousting tournaments, which I am sure could interest many of your people.’
‘’Medieval jousting tournaments?’ asked a surprised Karina. ‘’Where?’
‘’In our Medieval World section, on our Horse Riding and Medieval Deck, on level 607. One of our security androids, Senior Centurion Jehanne de Domrémy, who by the way was made in the image of the famous French historical heroin Joan of Arc, developed a keen interest about the Medieval Period, particularly on the Hundred Year War, and in the old art of European sword fighting, also known as Historical European Martial Arts, or HEMA in short. That deck was previously used for agricultural purposes but, seeing the growing interest of many of my security androids for HEMA, plus knowing that my agricultural production would hardly be impacted in view of the dozens of other deck levels still growing foodstuff, I decided to convert that deck and build a replica of a medieval countryside, complete with a castle, three medieval villages, a Roman fortified camp, a couple of battlefields, large grazing plains and a horse-riding training ground.
Our Medieval Deck then quickly became very popular with our paying passengers and also with outside visitors when we were docked in orbit while loading or unloading cargo.
I am sure that your people would love to visit it and maybe watch a battle or joust reenactment.’
‘’That sounds truly fascinating, Tina! I believe that my twelve-year-old son would love to see that.’
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‘’Then, consider my ship to be wide open to the occupants of this space yards as of tomorrow, except of course for the sections containing our heavy weapons and our ammunition magazines. Just to refresh your memory, we also have on board such things as a large collection of varied boutiques and restaurants in our Outer Promenade ring, plus a central entertainment deck containing a disco club, a sex club, a video-arcade center, a bar-lounge, a concert hall and two cinemas. As well, we have a sports deck containing a track and field stadium, a soccer field, a hockey rink and a number of ball courts, plus an Olympic-sized pool and a martial arts dojo.’
‘’My god! Your ship has all the amenities one would expect to find in a medium-sized town.’
‘’And why do you think that my NOSTROMO is so popular with travelers, even compared with luxury liners, in which the facilities, while nice, are much more limited in scope? The sheer size of my ship, while mostly intended to give me a huge cargo capacity, also gave me lots of volume to add what one would call ‘extras’.’
‘’Well, that should truly fire up the interest of my shipyard workers and of their families, Tina.’
‘’Just out of curiosity, how many people do you have here, living and working in your space yards, Gustav?’’
‘’Well, while I have a few thousand shipbuilding robots working in my yards, I still employ a bit over 9,000 workers and administrative employees, who in turn have families totaling over 20,500 people.’
‘’You have close to 30,000 people living on this space installation, Gustav?’
asked Dana Durning, not having expected such a high number. Her question made Gustav smile with pride while answering her.
‘’Yes, ‘D.D.’! And I am considered one of the best, if not the best employer in Earth’s orbit. Decidedly, I believe that our forced cohabitation is going to prove most beneficial for all of us.’
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CHAPTER 2 – AN EPIC BATTLE
19:12 (London Time)
Friday, November 8, 2335
The Canterbury Medieval Combat HEMA Club
80 London Road, Canterbury, Kent
United Kingdom, Earth
‘’HEY, GUYS, WE JUST GOT A MOST INTERESTING INVITATION FOR A TOURNAMENT...IN SPACE!’
The 23 club members practicing their sword fencing or their polearm combat in the large training room of their HEMA1 club stopped their practice at once and looked at their club manager, Donald Simpsons, as if he was crazy. One of them, who had been sparring while wearing full medieval plate armor against another armored ‘knight’, looked crossly at Simpsons.
1 HEMA : Historical European Martial Arts. An activity where people learn and practice with old blade weapons and polearms, such as longswords, daggers, spears, poleaxes and daggers, often in conjunction with the use of shields and some pieces of armor or padding. Some who can afford it also practice and fight with full sets of Medieval or Renaissance armor.
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‘’Did you have one beer too many, Donald? A medieval tournament in Space?’
‘’No jokes, mates! I received by email this invitation from the cargo ship NOSTROMO, which is presently docked in orbit at a Space yard for repairs, and this for at least a couple of months. They apparently have one level of their ship which recreates a piece of medieval countryside and where some of their crewmembers practice horse-riding and HEMA skills. I just checked them out and their club is actually a registered member of the World HEMA Federation. I printed that email I got from them, along with the pictures they sent about their so-called Medieval Deck. Have a look, friends! By the way, I sent you all the link for that email.’
The club members present on this evening all gathered around Donald Simpsons to look at the printed pictures he passed around, with many members exclaiming or whistling in appreciation at them.
‘’Bloody Hell! They have a complete stone castle on their training grounds, along with a fine-looking medieval village next to it.’
‘’Yeah! And look at this wide grassy space they call a training battlefield: it looks like it measures a good 200 meters by 300 meters or more. They also have spectators’
bleachers along one side.’
‘’I love the look of their village market: everything appears authentic and the people we see in it all wear proper medieval garb. So, what does that invitation actually say, Donald?’
‘’Lots! First off, it says that at least one tournament will be held per month during designated weekends, so that most people who would want to attend could do so without missing work, with the first one to be held on the weekend of 23-24 of November and the next one on 21-22 December. Now, this is the part that truly fired me up, friends: it is a not-for-profit tournament invitation, with the transportation to orbit and back being free. The shuttlecraft from the NOSTROMO will come and pick up at their club location those who will sign up for that tournament. Even better, each of the fighting participants to the tournament will get to stay for free at one of the cabins aboard the ship, and that includes their immediate family, for the whole weekend plus the evening of the Friday prior to that weekend. So, we could fly out to the NOSTROMO after supper on Friday, stay there free of charge and then return home on Sunday evening. Those participating, along with their immediate family members, will as well be able to eat for free at one of the buffet restaurants on the ship. However, those wanting to eat at ‘à la carte’ restaurants on the ship will have to pay the usual menu prices.’
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‘’Gee! This sounds nearly too good to be true, Donald. Why would these people be so generous in their offers for this tournament?’
‘’Because they expect that lots of other people will come as paying spectators and visitors for these tournaments and because, being stuck in a repair yard for months, they still have to provide some customers for the commerce and establishments based on the NOSTROMO. As I said before, this is a not-for-profit tournament and is meant to basically break even while attracting visitors and tourists to their ship.’
‘’And how big exactly is this NOSTROMO, Donald, to contain all these things?’
Simpsons looked at the club member who had asked that question as if he had just proffered a blasphemy.
‘’You don’t know what the NOSTROMO is, Harry? It is our mightiest spaceship and also our most powerful warship by far and has distinguished itself repeatedly while fighting against those Space Predator monsters. To answer your question, have a look at this picture and scaled view of it: it is three kilometers-long and has a hull diameter of 1,800 meters.’
‘’Three fucking kilometers long? Wow!’ exclaimed the club member while looking at the picture of the NOSTROMO handed out by Simpsons. Another member then asked about more immediate things concerning the announced tournament.
‘’Uh, what kind of competitions will be held and what kind of weapons will be permitted, Donald?’
That question made Simpsons grin from ear to ear.
‘’There will be individual duels, small group combat and large armies combat during the tournament, plus a few jousting matches for those who want to go with horse and armor. All types of weapons will be used, except for projectile weapons. The reason they gave for that is that volleys of arrows will not be as spectacular-looking as a cavalry charge or a physical clash of two armies in the eyes of the spectators. By the way, those bleachers by the side of the battlefields have a capacity for over 3,000
spectators, so we will be performing in front of a lot of people, guys. About the weapons, variants with flat edges and rubber padding, as approved by the World HEMA Federation for tournaments, will be provided to those who will be fighting. A choice of padded pieces of armor and shields will also be available for those who don’t possess them already. The word here is for having fun safely, not for us to return home with broken bones, commotions or slashes. Medical services will be in attendance, just in case any accident happens. One last thing: once back home, look in detail at the link I
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sent you: it will show you what you will see on this NOSTROMO and what services you can expect. I quickly reviewed that link and it positively blew my mind. They even have a medieval blacksmithing shop and a weapons and armor store where we will be able to buy new weapons and pieces of armor, and this at incredibly cheap prices. It seems that these weapons and armor are produced aboard the ship by crewmembers who are members of their HEMA club, which is how they could offer such low prices. I tell you guys; this is one tournament you want to participate in. So, who will want to go to that tournament on 23-24 November?’
All 23 club members shouted their approval at once at that question.
09:05 (Italy Time)
Saturday, November 9, 2335
Regional community social help center, Naples
Italy, Earth.
Clara Falchi, a thin woman in her late fifties, got up from behind her work desk when a young and incredibly beautiful blond woman was introduced in her small, sparsely furnished office. She then walked around her desk to go shake hands with her visitor, who wore a simple long robe and a pair of walking shoes.
‘’Good morning, miss! I am Clara Falchi, director and manager of this community help center.’
‘’And my name is Eve Silisca. I came from the starship NOSTROMO, which is presently in Earth orbit for repairs which will go on for a good four months. I came to offer something to the poorer working families your center is helping.’
‘’Any help we can get for our poor families is welcomed, miss. But please, have a seat.’
‘’Thank you, madam!’ said Eve before sitting in an old wooden chair set next to the desk. She then started speaking in a melodious voice while smiling to Clara.
‘’Basically, the captain of the NOSTROMO, Tina Forster, seeing that her ship will be immobilized in orbit for a few months, decided to use this occasion to offer some help to at least a few of the less fortunate people on Earth, by providing them with a nice, free break from their life’s routine. Know that many crewmembers of the NOSTROMO are fans of medieval reenactment and practice combat with old blade weapons. Our ship will be holding medieval tournaments during the oncoming months, with one weekend
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per month or more to be held aboard our ship, which is presently the biggest spaceship in existence in the Spacers League, with a length of 3,000 meters. Those tournaments are meant to attract paying tourists and visitors and to help sustain the various commercial establishments based aboard the ship while it is immobilized for repairs and thus unable to host the usual traveling passengers.’
‘’And how will your...tournaments help our low-income families, Miss Silisca?’
asked politely Clara, not seeing Eve’s point.
‘’By offering free tickets good for a weekend tournament for your poorer but also most deserving working families. By deserving I mean a family whose bread winner is working hard at an honest job but to which life has not been smiling at. Such a family would also have to be one without a history of internal abuse and one that, despite its own financial situation, has shown to be ready to help others. Basically, we want to provide some relief to honest, decent people who deserve such relief. For example, the families who will be selected by you and me will be able to depart from Naples on Friday afternoon, November 22, aboard one of NOSTROMO’s shuttles and then will return via shuttle to Naples on Sunday night, November 24. In the meantime, while staying for free in a passenger suite of the NOSTROMO, that family will be able to eat for free at one of our buffet cafeterias and will be able to watch, again for free, the activities and attractions at our medieval tournament, plus will be able to take guided tours of our ship or watch musical shows in our concert hall. If they are ready to spend some of their own money, then they could eat ‘à la carte’ at one of our regular restaurants and could shop around our Promenade. Don’t forget that they will also be able to admire Earth from orbit, something not all Earthlings can brag about.’
‘’Sweet Mary! This would indeed be a very nice gift to those families, Miss Silisca. Uh, how many such families would you be ready to gift with this free weekend in Space?’
‘’Fifty from Naples, independent of the number of children raised by each family.
We do have passenger suites with up to four bedrooms plus a baby room, for a maximum occupancy of nine persons available to big families. If one of the families selected by you happen to have more than nine direct members, then I could consider allotting it a second, smaller cabin for its two oldest children. If you think that fifty families are a rather small number, please understand that we are not offering this to only the people of Naples. We are also making our offer to poor families in four other cities and regions on Earth for our first incoming tournament.’
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‘’Oh, I see! How do you propose that we select those fifty families?’
‘’I will let you do the preliminary list, since you know these people and I don’t. I will come back tomorrow to review your list and either approve it or ask for a few changes to it. As long as you follow my criteria and don’t show blatant favoritism, then I shouldn’t need to ask for any changes to your choices. Would it be convenient for you if I return here tomorrow at two in the afternoon, Madam Falchi?’
‘’Yes, it will be. That will be enough time for me to choose those fifty families, Miss Silisca. I already have a good dozen names popping in my head.’
‘’Excellent! Then I will be back tomorrow, at two. By the way, I am now going to send you an email with a link to my ship’s announcement about its medieval tournament.
You can then use it to answer any question about the NOSTROMO that your designated families could have. Could I have your email address, please?’
‘’Sure, miss! Here is one of my business cards.’
‘’Thanks!’ said Eve while taking the card offered by Clara Falchi. Punching Falchi’s electronic address in her personal data pad, Eve then sent to Clara a link to the tournament site. With that done, the two women shook hands again, with Eve then walking out of the small office. Sitting back behind her desk, Clara quickly opened the email she just received and then opened the link to the tournament site. As she read it, she felt both happiness and a bit of jealousy on seeing what such a stay on this NOSTROMO was going to be like. She herself had never gone to Space before.
However, she did have enough money to pay for a short stay of three days on the NOSTROMO. Maybe it would be a good idea for her to go with her recipient families, in order to be able to assist and encourage them during the tournament.
13:55 (Italy Time)
Food bank section, Naples community social help center
‘’Madam Castoldi, could I speak with you in private for a minute or two?’
The thin woman in her mid-thirties who had been going down the line of tables supporting cardboard boxes and crates containing a variety of vegetables, fruits and canned food looked at Clara with some worry in her eyes.
‘’Uh, is something wrong, Madam Falchi?’
‘’On the contrary, Madam: I may have good news for you and your family.
Please follow me to my office.’
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Still worried, Maria Castoldi nonetheless followed Clara Falchi, her half-filled shopping bag of foodstuff carried in her right hand. Once they were in the small office, with the door closed and the two of them sitting down, Clara gave a reassuring smile to Maria Castoldi.
‘’As I said, I only want to pass to you some good news. First, though, could you confirm to me the actual situation of your family. I know that your husband Marco broke his leg in a work-related accident some three weeks ago. How is he doing?’
‘’He is still wearing a big leg cast, Madam Falchi. The doctor told us that he should be able to remove the cast in about two to three more weeks. However, Marco will then still need many weeks for his leg to return to its normal strength.’
‘’And his employer, is he supporting him properly? Is he ready to retake Marco as an employee once he will be able to work again?’
The way Maria Castoldi slowly lowered her head, discouragement on her face, alarmed Clara.
‘’No! Marco’s boss has already hired a new employee to replace him. He told us that he couldn’t wait for him to heal and that he needed a replacement employee right away. Marco will now have to look for another job.’
That gave pause to Clara, who knew how hard it was to find a job around Naples these days.
‘’Do you still get unemployment benefits from the government?’
‘’Yes, we do, but they will stop in about four months. After that, we will get nothing but welfare insurance benefits. Marco’s salary was already small and we were struggling before his accident. Now, I just don’t know what we will do if he can’t find a job.’
Maria Castoldi then started crying silently while sitting in her chair, her head lowered.
Moved, Clara let her cry for a bit before speaking to her in a soft tone.
‘’What about your children? They still go to school?’
‘’They do! However, the oldest of my five children, Giuseppe, who is fifteen, may have to go work himself to help support our family.’
Feeling bad for her, Clara scribbled a few notes on her notepad, then looked back at Maria.
‘’Maria, this may not constitute a long-term help for your family but our center received a generous offer from a donor ready to gift fifty of our needy families with an all-paid weekend vacation...in Space.’
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As Maria snapped back her head in utter surprise, Clara then told her about the offer from Eve Silisca and her ship NOSTROMO, showing her on her computer the images she had selected from the tournament’s electronic site. The poor Maria Castoldi looked at the pictures with a haggard expression.
‘’Are you sure that this isn’t some sort of gimmick, Madam Falchi? It just sounds too good to be true.’
‘’I can understand your reaction, Madam Castoldi, but I did some research on this NOSTROMO and on its owner and captain, Tina Forster. Basically, they presently are the heroes of the Spacers League, having fought the Space Predators and having just saved a planet which had been invaded by these monsters. Also, Captain Forster is a certified humanitarian and aid provider. Apart from owning her ship, she also is the owner via her corporation of a homeworld called New Haven, a habitable moon on which she has built an agrarian society dedicated to the relocation and rehabilitation of refugees from wars, droughts and famines. I was told about this New Haven many times in the past and it showed this Tina Forster to be a person of immense generosity and empathy who is doing her best to help the more unfortunate souls among us on Earth. I thus have full confidence in her integrity and on the authenticity of her offered gift.
Captain Forster’s representative is due to come see me back tomorrow afternoon, so I would need for you to confirm that your family will accept this offer before noon tomorrow.’
‘’But we don’t have a computer at home, Madam Falchi. How am I going to present the details of this offer to Marco and my kids?’
‘’Easy: I will give you a complete printout from that tournament site. If this could reassure you, I myself booked passage on the NOSTROMO a couple of hours ago for that weekend, so that I could accompany our families from Naples and support them during your trip. This is a truly golden opportunity to offer some happiness to your family, Madam Castoldi: please take it.’
‘’Then, if you vouch for those people, I believe that I will be able to convince Marco to accept that offer. At the least we will be able to eat well for that one weekend.’
16:59 (Italy Time)
Friday, November 22, 2335
Naples International Airport, Italy
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Little Ophelia Castoldi, sitting next to her mother in the bus transporting their family and other poor families living in and around Naples, clapped her hands enthusiastically as she looked through her window at the space shuttle waiting for them on the tarmac of Naples International Airport.
‘’We’re going to go to Space! YAY!’
Maria Castoldi smiled at the happiness of her five-year-old daughter, which was quite understandable as she had never flown before, even in a common passenger plane. In fact, only her husband Marco had flown in a plane before...once, when he was still a young man and single. The few times their family had traveled, mostly to go visit relatives in other parts of Italy, they had used the train or the bus, which were still the cheapest modes of travel between cities. Fifteen-year-old Giuseppe, thirteen-year-old Gina, ten-year-old Renato and eight-year-old Lara were equally enthusiastic about their oncoming trip to Space, something that made Maria’s heart warm up. Even though this trip would only last one weekend, it still constituted a rare break from the family’s grinding poverty and despair about ever getting a better life. The other families in the bus, many of which Maria knew well, were also cheering as their bus and five other buses came to a stop near the opened rear access ramp of the shuttle, a forty-meter-long craft. A young woman who had come with the shuttle to Naples then got up from her seat and spoke up in Italian in a strong voice in order to be heard over the cheering.
‘’Alright, good people: time to get off the bus and into this shuttlecraft. Don’t forget your luggage!’
Gathering her children and making sure that they grabbed their individual bags from the overhead racks of the bus, Maria then followed her husband Marco, who was using a pair of crutches because of his leg cast. Both the bus driver and the Spacer woman helped Marco go down the steps of the bus and set foot on the tarmac. Another Spacer woman, that one wearing a blue ship coverall, then rolled a wheelchair next to Marco and helped him sit in it. Marco smiled to her while giving her his crutches: apart from being helpful to him, the woman also happened to be most beautiful and sexy, with a large, firm chest and large hips.
‘’Thank you very much, Miss...?’
‘’Gina Lollobrigida, at your service, mister.’
‘’Lollobrigida? You are Italian, miss?’
The young woman gave him a disarming smile while answering Marco.
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‘’Not exactly, mister. While I bear the name and appearance of an Italian woman from the past, I am a security android on the NOSTROMO.’
Marco, like the rest of his family, stared with shock and surprise at Gina.
‘’You...you’re a robot?’
‘’I prefer the word ‘android’, mister. ‘Robot’ sounds so...cold and machine-like.
There are many androids like me working on the NOSTROMO. And you are?’
‘’Oh, excuse me, miss. I am Marco Castoldi and these are my wife Maria and my five children.’
‘’You have a nice-looking family, Mister Castoldi. I will now push your wheelchair up the access ramp and into the shuttlecraft. Your family can follow us.’
Their group had started to climb the access ramp when a newly arrived bus and a truck unloaded a group of 38 men, women and children, along with two big horses. Nine of the men wore colorful medieval garbs and were quite loud and enthusiastic-looking, making Maria Castoldi eye them with curiosity.
‘’Why are these people bringing two horses with them?’ she asked to nobody in particular. Gina Lollobrigida took on her to answer her question.
‘’Those are most probably a contingent of Naples HEMA participants coming for our tournament, Madam Castoldi. As for the horses, know that our tournament will include a few jousting matches.’
‘’Jousting? Uh, what’s that?’
‘’Medieval and Renaissance jousting consists in mounted duels between two armored opponents armed with long, heavy lances and mounted on specially trained horses. Some of our own HEMA enthusiasts on the NOSTROMO will compete in those jousts. There will also be a group mounted combat between competing contingents of knights.’
‘’Hey, that could be fun to watch!’ said ten-year-old Renato. Gina smiled at his enthusiasm.
‘’Having fun and enjoying yourselves are effectively the main goals of our tournament invitation, young man.’
The would-be passengers then went up to an upper deck cabin lined with comfortable-looking padded and reclining seats, using a spiral staircase or, in the case of Marco and of a handful of other Neapolitans with disabilities, a passenger lift, while the two horses were led to a mobile animal stall whose elevated double floor could
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collect urine and which was also covered with some hay. Such mobile animal stalls were actually quite common around the Spacers League, having been designed to allow the transportation of live animals between star systems. Of the same shape and size as a standard truck-borne cargo container, such mobile stalls had their own independent energy generator and environmental control systems and were also self-propelled, with anti-gravity generators allowing them to move inside a cargo ship without spreading pools of animal urine an mounds of feces on the ship’s decks, something ship captains abhorred, especially when they had to carry thousands of live pigs in Space. In the case of the two horses who came aboard the shuttle in Naples, they were then secured to special horses’ harnesses hanging from the ceiling of the stall, so that they could be supported and protected from sudden unintended accelerations or movements during their trip.
Maria opened her eyes wide on seeing that the walls and ceiling of the passenger cabin were covered with large holographic screens giving a good all-around view of the outside. Even though she lived in a most technological century, not all the inhabitants of Earth enjoyed the daily use of high-technology items and services. Many inhabitants of Naples and of the countryside around it were too poor to afford things like computers and needed to concentrate the little money they had on essentials like food and lodging. In other, isolated or hard-to-access places around the World, like the Amazon region, desertic areas and northern Arctic communities, some had made a conscious choice of keeping their old ancestral community lifestyles, using only the minimum of high technology items and services, and this mostly for long-distance communication links. Sitting with her family in two groups of seats along the same row, Maria then saw that there was yet another video screen, much smaller than the wall-mounted ones, fixed to the back of the seat in front of her. Seeing on it a text in Italian, she started reading it, quickly finding out that it gave various instructions and safety tips for the passengers. Telling her children to read those instructions from their own display screens, Maria then made sure that they did so and followed those instructions, like wearing your seatbelt when asked for by the crew. Then, six minutes after boarding the shuttle, they saw through the display screens that their craft was taking off at the vertical, despite her not having felt any movement. That appeared at first as a mystery to Maria, who knew nothing about electro-magnetic or gravity-based propulsion systems.
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However, an announcement in Italian by the pilot quickly confirmed to her that they had taken off.
‘’Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. We have just taken off from Naples Airport and are now climbing towards orbit and the Avalon Space Yards, where the NOSTROMO is being repaired inside a drydock. Once in the space yards, you will board buses which will then drive you to the NOSTROMO and enter it.
There, guides will lead you to your cabins, after which you will be able to go have supper at one of our buffet cafeterias. We should arrive at the Avalon Space Yards in approximately 35 minutes. Enjoy your flight.’
As the shuttle climbed through the atmosphere, the curvature of Earth’s blue orb became more and more evident to the fascinated passengers. Maria was as taken by its beauty as her five children and her husband were, and she noticed only late that they were now approaching an object in Space that had the rough shape of a thick disk.
From a small dot against the blackness of Space, that object grew progressively until it completely filled the forward viewing holographic screens.
‘’Sweet Jesus! How big is that thing?’
One stewardess who heard her remark smiled to her and answered her.
‘’The Avalon Space Yards has a diameter of sixteen kilometers and a maximum thickness at its center of five kilometers, madam. It is presently the largest orbital object around Earth and is home to 30,000 people who work and live aboard it.’
Those numbers stunned Maria, as well as the other passengers around her who heard the stewardess. She however noticed some outside construction activity around the giant orbital station and pointed it to the stewardess.
‘’What is that, miss? Are they doing some kind of repairs?’
‘’Oh no, madam! The Avalon Space Yards owner regularly has his station added on and improved in order to stay competitive.’
‘’Oh, I see!’ said Maria, who then concentrated on watching the station as her shuttle approached it. The stewardess, who actually didn’t know what kind of construction work was taking place at the Avalon Space Yards, continued along the aisle while taking care of her passengers. She would have been stunned to learn what was really going on at the space yards at the direction of its owner and manager, Gustav Shomberg. She would also have been surprised to see that all the construction work outside of the space yards was being done exclusively by robots, with no human
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workers involved, and this for a good reason. As Gustav Shomberg had once told one of his aides, robots with the proper programming couldn’t make loose talking at the bar after work hours.
The shuttle finally entered the space yard via a huge set of doors and into a cavernous spacecraft garage with dozens of individual craft hangars, where it entered a hangar via an individual craft airlock. Once cycled in, it landed softly in one corner of the hangar, which already contained five other similar shuttles and still had space for more.
As soon as it landed on the hangar’s deck, a small convoy of electrically-powered buses rolled next to it, ready to collect the passengers from Naples. As for the mobile animal stall containing two horses, it activated its anti-gravity system and slowly flew out of the shuttle under the control of the space yards’ central internal traffic control computer, to then start its journey inside the station towards Drydock Number One. The excited Neapolitans then boarded the buses with their luggage, eager to start their weekend vacation on the NOSTROMO. Maria Castoldi, happy to see the joy in her children as their bus started rolling out of the craft hangar, was stunned to see that the internal corridors of the space yard were large enough to let at least three buses roll side by side along them. This place was decidedly proving to be huge in every aspect.
After rolling down for many kilometers down the corridors of the space yard, the convoy of buses finally arrived at the doors of a large vehicle airlock but were able to continue inside at once, as both sets of airtight doors had been left wide open. As her bus rolled along a sort of tunnel with large windows on each side, Maria’s eyes opened wide on seeing that they were about to enter a gigantic ship which nearly filled a cavernous space.
‘’Sweet Mother of God! Look at that ship, kids!’
She did not have to push them to do so, as everybody in the bus were staring outside of the bus’s windows, gawking at the NOSTROMO. Finally entering the ship via another set of airlock doors, the convoy rolled for another 300 meters before turning off the corridor, entering inside a large compartment and parking in a line along one of the walls. The guide on Maria’s bus, Gina Lollobrigida, then shouted out instructions in Italian at the passengers.
‘’We are now inside one of the reception areas of the NOSTROMO. Please step out of the bus with your luggage and proceed by family groups to the reception counters,
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where you will be registered in and given a cabin and weekend passes. From there, each family will get an individual guide who will drive you to your cabin. Once you will have unpacked your luggage in your cabin, that same guide will then lead you to one of our food courts, where you will be able to serve yourselves for free at an all-you-can-eat international buffet.’
‘’Aah, good! I am starting to be quite hungry.’ said Marco to himself while getting up from his seat and recuperating his small suitcase from the overhead racks. ‘’Stay with me and your mother, kids.’
As soon as they had stepped out of the bus, Clara Falchi and Gina Lollobrigida organized each family into distinct groups, then marched them to the long line of service counters situated in front of a bank of elevator cabins. The Castoldis stopped in front of one of the wickets, where a young and pretty Asian woman smiled to them from behind the counter and spoke to them in Italian.
‘’Welcome to the NOSTROMO, good people. I am now going to register you in for the weekend and assign you a four-bedroom cabin. I will ask you to step one by one in front of this small camera, so that your picture could be taken and then added to your weekend pass. We will also take your fingerprints, which will be needed to unlock and open the door of your cabin.’
Marco nodded his head in understanding: while poor and possessing little modern electronic devices, he was familiar with fingerprint recognition door locks, which could be found around Naples. He thus stepped in front of the fixed camera atop the counter and followed the receptionist’s instructions, putting one hand atop a glass surface and giving out his name. The whole process was quick and he received a plasticized pass with photo and a long neck lanyard, plus an orange-colored bracelet, after only two minutes.
‘’Please do not remove this bracelet during your stay on our ship, Mister Castoldi: it will allow you free access to our facilities, including our cafeterias. Also, keep your pass with you when going around the ship. I will now process in your wife and your children.’
Pleased by the speediness of the process and by the politeness of the receptionist, Marco then made his youngest child, five-year-old Ophelia, step in front of the camera, then helped her answer the few questions from the receptionist. All in all, the whole family was registered in no more than ten minutes, with the receptionist then handing the
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Castoldis to one of the waiting men and women in blue coveralls waiting behind the counters.
‘’Officer Louis de Bourbon will now drive you to your cabin, using an electric cart.
He will stay with you at first to explain to you how to use the various amenities in your cabin and will then drive you to one of our food courts for supper.’
‘’Thank you, miss.’ said Marco before going through the counter’s turnstile with his family and facing the waiting man who was going to guide them. The man was of medium height and looked fit, with an open and honest expression on his face.
‘’Louis de Bourbon? You must be French, mister.’
‘’Not exactly, sir.’ replied the guide, smiling. While I do have a Frenchman’s name, I am a security android. Technically, I am a legal citizen of the Spacers League and of New Haven, the moon world owned by Captain Tina Forster.
‘’An android? Like Miss Lollobrigida? How many androids like you are aboard this ship?’
‘’There are presently 764 other androids on the NOSTROMO, while another 103
security androids are presently on duty on New Haven, acting as a local protection force.
You will also encounter on this ship thousands of other, various types of robots used for general maintenance and cleaning tasks. However, those robots, contrary to us security androids, are not sentient and do not have a human appearance. Your cabin includes one household cleaning robot, which stays inside a small alcove when not doing its cleaning shores.’
‘’Uh, I see. What now?’
‘’Now, you and your family can sit in this electric cart, so that I could drive you to your cabin.’
‘’Very well! Come on, kids, get in the cart!’
A minute later, Louis de Bourbon, sitting at the cart’s controls, drove his vehicle into a waiting lift cabin that had obviously been designed to accept carts. The ride up was actually not too long before they emerge from the lift cabin and rolled onto a wide promenade. A concert of exclamations came from the Castoldis at the sight of the gigantic type of aquarium with transparent walls lining the left side of the promenade.
The aquarium’s walls were a good twelve meters high or more and extended past their line of sight, following the curvature of the ship’s outer hull. Thousands of fish swam in
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the aquarium, while the walls beyond it were actually holographic display screens showing the Earth from orbit.
‘’Wow! What a sight!’ said ten-year-old Renato, making Louis de Bourbon gently smile while he drove his cart.
‘’The salt water ring aquarium of the Promenade has a mid-circumference of 4,109 meters and a maximum depth of nineteen meters. There is also another ring aquarium under the apartment complex, this one containing fresh water and more fish.
Once in your cabin, you will see that your balcony gives a view of one of our six forest habitats, planted with Mediterranean flora and covering a surface of 18.2 hectares.’
‘’All this, on a starship?’ exclaimed fifteen-year-old Giuseppe. ‘’All this must have cost a fortune.’
‘’The NOSTROMO, in its latest state, is worth 17.9 billion credits, but it will never be sold: Captain Forster will never part with it. Besides, the NOSTROMO has no equal in the Spacers League and can carry loads no other ship could take. It also happens to be an essential part of the forces defending the Spacers League and Earth from Space threats.’
‘’You mean that Earth is not part of this Spacers League, mister?’ asked thirteen-year-old Gina, a bit confused. Louis de Bourbon shook his head once, his expression sober.
‘’No! Up to now, the nations of Earth have refused to join the Spacers League, for various reasons. As a matter of fact, the Spacers League was formed in 2315 in order to gain its independence from the then Earth Federation and fought a war with the Federation, a war we won. Since then, Earth nations, while profiting from the space trade conducted by the Spacers League, have basically stayed on their own while occasionally fighting each other, like in the case of the present conflict in and around Africa. However, we still hope to see at least some nations on Earth eventually join the Spacers League, so that we could eventually unify all of Humanity in one peaceful whole.’
‘’Uh, I see! Thanks, mister!’
‘’You’re welcome, young lady.’
Their cart soon entered another lift cabin and went up by a dozen levels before coming out on a four-meter-wide gallery, to then roll for another 25 meters before stopping in front of a door.
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‘’Here we are, good people: Cabin 542-131, your home for this weekend. By the way, 542 refers to the level on which your cabin is, while 131 refers to the azimuth of your cabin relative to the ship’s North. Your cabin is thus in the Southeast quadrant of our ring habitat complex. If you will now follow me inside with your luggage.’
Eager to see what their cabin would look like, the Castoldis stepped out of the cart and grabbed their meager collection of old suitcases and bags before following Louis to the door of the cabin, which bore a plaque with the number 542-131. Putting one hand on the fingerprint recognition pad next to the door, Louis made it slide open and entered, closely followed by the seven members of the Castoldi family.
‘’Here we are, my friends: Cabin 542-131, a standard four-bedroom suite used by our passengers and crewmembers. To your left, you will see a walk-in closet and to my right a family storage room. Then, as we will go down the entrance hallway, you will find a private study, a washroom, a bathroom, a baby room, a kitchenette, three bedrooms with attached bathrooms, a master bedroom with attached bathroom and a family lounge.’
‘’My god!’ said Maria, overwhelmed by the comfort and luxury of the suite. ‘’This is a palace! And all of the people on your ship live in such apartments?’
‘’Yes, madam. Even I and the other security androids have individual cabins.
Mind you, they are a bit smaller than our standard individual cabins, because we don’t need to eat, thus have no need for cooking and eating facilities. I will now direct each of you to a specific bedroom.’
Doing so took another four minutes or so, at the end of which the family reassembled together in the family lounge, where large windows gave a view on a large forest below their balcony.
‘’This Mediterranean Forest habitat is one of the six forest habitats occupying the center of the habitat ring. Each of the forests cover a surface of 18.2 hectares and are made out of flora from different climate zones of Earth. The goal of all this is to make our passengers as comfortable and relaxed as possible and to make them enjoy to the maximum their stay on the NOSTROMO.’
‘’Enjoy their stay? Hell, I could live here the rest of my life with my family.’’
Louis, on hearing the remark from Marco, looked at him soberly.
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‘’If you wish so, you can submit an application for a job aboard the NOSTROMO
or for residency on New Haven, an agrarian world specializing in food production. While openings are limited in number, Captain Forster reviews personally all the applications for residency. It costs nothing to fill an application, Mister Castoldi.’
Marco, like Maria, was struck by that offer and stayed speechless for a few seconds before nodding his head.
‘’Alright! How do I do that?’
‘’I will show you after supper. You and your family must be getting hungry by now.’
‘’We sure are, mister.’
‘’Then, let’s return to my cart and I will drive you to our main cafeteria.’
The Castoldis eagerly followed Louis back to the cart and sat in it, with Louis then driving off for a short distance before entering a lift cabin and going down to the main promenade level. This time, they drove for about one kilometer before the android stopped and parked his cart near the entrance of a shopping mall.
‘’This is one of the entrances to our habitat main shopping mall. Once inside, we will go up one level to our Food Court Number One.’
Louis then lowered his voice and looked at Marco and Maria.
‘’You are now guests on the NOSTROMO for a full weekend, Mister and Madam Castoldi. Profit from this occasion to eat food that you normally couldn’t afford in Naples. Know that the buffet in our cafeteria serves dozens of different dishes, including plenty of grilled meats. Don’t be afraid to indulge.’
‘’Thank you for your advice, Mister de Bourbon.’ replied Maria, genuinely touched by the android’s sense of caring. The family then followed Louis inside and went up a nearby escalator, ending up in a large food court measuring a good sixty by fifteen meters, with food counters lining the walls and with about ninety tables with chairs occupying the center of the court. The display of so much food, along with the appetizing aroma coming from meats cooking on grills or inside ovens, instantly made the Castoldis salivate.
‘’Let me first reserve a table for your family, then I will guide you down the line of counters.’ said Louis before walking to the nearest unoccupied table, where he then switched on the the table lamp bearing a number on its glass globe.
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‘’You now have Table Number 37 reserved for you. I will now tour the food counters with you, starting with the salad and soup bar.’
Going first to a waiting pile of serving trays, utensils, plates and glasses, where the Castoldis grabbed what they needed, Louis then led them to the first food counter along the service line, where a wide variety of salads, bread and five different types of soups were displayed. However, the Castoldis stopped as one at the sight of two obviously non-human creatures who were conversing together in an alien language while serving themselves at the salad bar. One was a big, powerful-looking being resembling a gorilla with four muscular arms and two thick short legs, while the other, much smaller, looked like a sort of kangaroo with a deer’s head.
‘’What...what are these, Mister de Bourbon?’ asked Maria, not too reassured.
Louis gave her a reassuring smile while pointing at the two alien creatures.
‘’The larger one is a Drazts, originating from the Ross 128 star system. The smaller one is a Koorivar, the first alien sentient specie encountered by Humanity some eighteen years ago. The Koorivars’ original world, Gliese 887Cd, was destroyed by a wandering brown dwarf some three centuries ago, forcing 46,000 of them to flee in sub-light ships while in hibernation sleep, until one of their evacuation ships landed on the dwarf planet Eris, where the KOSTROMA, NOSTROMO’s predecessor, found them and freed them from their icy tomb. The Drazts were at first hostile to us and fought a war with us, a war we won. However, they are now good allies of us, like the Koorivars. By the way, both of them are vegetarians and don’t eat meat or fish, so don’t worry about them devouring you.’
That last sentence, delivered in a joking tone, helped the Castoldis relax a bit. Most of them filled a small bowl with either salad or a soup before proceeding to the next service counters, where meats were sizzling op top of a number of grills. Marco Castoldi took a sniff of the aroma coming from a thick steak and presented his plate to the cook behind the grills.
‘’It must have been at least a month since the last time I was able to enjoy a steak. This vacation may be a short one but it will certainly be a memorable one.’
08:50 (Universal Time)
Saturday, November 23, 2335
Medieval World and Horse-riding Deck, Frame level 600
37
‘’Wow! Look at this place! I already feel at home here.’
Donald Simpsons, surrounded by the 32 members of his HEMA club who had enrolled in this tournament, looked around with envy at the 26 hectares of forested and grass surface surrounding the central core of the NOSTROMO at this deck level. Visible around were one medieval castle, a medieval village, a Viking fort, a Celtic village, a Roman camp and two battlefield areas. Accompanying them were over a hundred members of their families who had also been invited for free aboard the ship. The club members, along with some of their family members, wore medieval or renaissance garbs and, in the case of the fighting participants, a collection or armor, shields and blade weapons. Other participating groups were already here, similarly suited up and flying or wearing various heraldic flags and tabards2. An announcement then resonated from a hidden loudspeaker.
‘’Your attention, please. The tournament’s participants and their family members are invited to congregate at the gate of our castle, where the tournament rules and timetable will be explained to them.’
That announcement in English was repeated once, then was followed by the same message given in a variety of languages, including French, Italian, Spanish and Swedish.
‘’Well, you heard the man, mates: let’s go to the castle!’
The British HEMA club members and their families, smiling and giggling in anticipation, then marched proudly towards the stone castle visible next to the medieval village. That castle was fairly small but it looked quite authentic. Halfway, their group crossed path with another group of HEMA enthusiasts. While there was no true hostility shown then between the two groups, friendly taunts flew out as they marched next to each other.
Donald Simpsons, already enjoying this, pointed at a small woman carrying a large fleur-de-lys French flag.
‘’HERE ARE THE FROGS, MEN! WE WILL HAVE TO TEACH THEM A GOOD
LESSON TODAY.’
2 Tabard: Clot garment bearing the heraldry symbols of a medieval or renaissance era aristocratic line.
38
‘’TALK FOR YOURSELF, GODDON3! YOU WILL BE THE ONE EATING
GRASS TODAY.’ replied the small woman, a teenage girl in reality, who wore a full suit of medieval armor. Her reply attracted approving shouts from the group of obviously French participants following the girl, to which the British responded in kind. Then, a third group came up to march alongside the British and the French. One Canterbury HEMA Club shouted out at the newcomers, who wore mostly mail shirts and conical helmets and who brandished round wooden shields and battleaxes.
‘’HEY, VIKINGS! AREN’T YOU A FEW CENTURIES LATE FOR THIS
TOURNAMENT?’
One tall and muscular man with blond hair and beard replied to him at once.
‘’SO WHAT? WE WILL STILL KICK YOUR ASSES, THEN WE WILL RAPE
YOUR WOMEN!’
HA! WE ARE THE ONES WHO WILL USE YOUR SHIELD MAIDENS, BARBARIAN!’
One of the said shield maidens, a tall and athletic blonde holding a shield and a sword, shouted back.
‘’AND YOU WILL DO WHAT, ONCE I WILL HAVE CUT OFF YOUR DICK?’
General laughter broke out at that exchange, while Donald Simpsons grinned from ear to ear.
‘’I love this stuff!’
His wife, following close behind him with their nine-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter, rolled her eyes then.
‘’I know, dear, I know!’
The three contingents finally arrived at the gate of the stone castle, with more groups soon joining them. There were over 700 tournament participants and family members assembled in front of the castle gate when a man dressed like a medieval herald spoke out in English from the top of the castle walls, using a microphone and sound amplifier to be heard by all.
‘’OYE, OYE! PLEASE HEAR THIS, VALOROUS WARRIORS! I WILL NOW
GIVE YOU THE TIMINGS FOR THIS TOURNAMENT, ALONG WITH THE GENERAL
RULES OF COMBAT WE WILL GO BY. FIRST OFF, THE FIRST EVENT OF THE
3 Goddon : Derisive nickname given to English soldiers by French soldiers during the Hundred Year War. It came from the habit by English soldiers to swear, using the world ‘Goddam!’.
39
TOURNAMENT WILL TAKE PLACE AT ELEVEN THIS MORNING AND WILL
CONSIST OF INDIVIDUAL DUELS ON FOOT. FOR THOSE WHO DON’T HAVE
REGULATION HEMA TOURNAMENT BLUNT WEAPONS, WE WILL LOAN YOU
WEAPONS FOR THE DURATION OF THIS TOURNAMENT. WE ALSO HAVE ON
SALE AT VERY LOW PRICES BOTH PRACTICE AND SHARPENED MEDIEVAL
WEAPONS AND PIECES OF ARMOR PRODUCED ON THIS SHIP BY OUR OWN
HEMA ENTHUSIASTS. YOU WILL FIND THOSE WEAPONS AND ARMOR FOR SALE
IN THE VILLAGE’S MARKET NEXT TO THIS CASTLE, NEXT TO THE STAND THAT
WILL LOAN YOU TOURNAMENT WEAPONS. LUNCH WILL BE SERVED AT
TWELVE THIRTY IN THE VILLAGE’S MARKET PLACE. THEN, AT TWO O’CLOCK, WE WILL HAVE THE KNIGHTLY JOUSTS WITH HORSES AND LANCES, FOLLOWED
BY KNIGHTLY FOOT COMBAT, BOTH BY PAIRS AND THEN BY GROUPS OF UP TO
TEN FIGHTERS PER SIDE. TOMORROW MORNING, AT NINE, WE WILL HOLD
GROUP FIGHTING BETWEEN MEN-AT-ARMS AND FOOT SOLDIERS, WITH THE
WINNERS OF EACH FIGHT THEN TAKING ON OTHER WINNERS, UNTIL WE GET A GROUP OF TOP CHAMPIONS. THEN, IN THE AFTERNOON, AT TWO O’CLOCK, WE WILL HAVE OUR BIG FINALE: THE ARMY AGAINST ARMY BATTLES. ONCE I WILL BE FINISHED HERE, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ADD OR DELETE YOUR NAME
TO THE LIST OF DUELS AND FIGHTS YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE IN. NOW, FOR
THE COMBAT RULES. WE WILL FOLLOW THE APPROVED HEMA FEDERATION
TOURNAMENT RULES. REMEMBER, THIS TOURNAMENT IS MEANT TO BE FUN, NOT TO HAVE YOU WOUNDED OR KILLED. HITS TO THE FACE OR TO EXPOSED
AND UNPROTECTED PARTS OF THE BODY WILL BE STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. IN A CHARGE, YOUR WEAPONS WILL BE DIRECTED AT YOUR OPPONENT’S SHIELD
OR AT THEIR ARMORED SUIT, IN THE CASE OF KNIGHTLY COMBAT. IF YOU ARE
PUSHED TO THE GROUND, TRIP OR GET TRAMPLED, THEN YOU WILL BE
DEEMED TO HAVE LOST THE FIGHT AND YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO STAY ON
THE GROUND AS IF YOU ARE WOUNDED OR DEAD. PLEASE, NO
EXAGGERATED THEATRICS THEN! THIS IS NO SOCCER MATCH AND WE WANT
THIS TOURNAMENT TO LOOK LIKE THE REAL THING.’
Laughter greeted that barb at the frequent occurrence in professional soccer matches of faked injuries and pain meant to attract a penalty on the opposite team. The herald, who was none other than Michel Koniev and who cumulated the functions of both director and herald of the tournament, then continued.
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‘’YOU WILL NOW BE ABLE TO COLLECT AT THE CASTLE GATE
INFORMATION PAMPHLETS WHICH WILL GIVE YOU THE LIST OF TIMINGS AND
EVENTS AND WHICH WILL REMIND YOU OF THE RULES TO BE FOLLOWED.
NEXT TO THIS CASTLE AND TO THE VILLAGE IS A TENT VILLAGE RESERVED
FOR THE FIGHTERS PREPARING FOR COMBAT. THOSE TENTS ARE ALREADY
RESERVED FOR THE USE OF SPECIFIC GROUPS AND WILL BE CLEARLY
MARKED AS SUCH. NO LOOTING OR KIDNAPPING OF WOMEN WILL BE
ALLOWED IN THAT TENT VILLAGE.’
The group of Viking participants let out a concert of disappointed exclamations then, making the other participants laugh for a few seconds.
‘’NOW, FOR THE FAMILY RELATIVES OF OUR FIGHTERS, YOU CAN
EITHER ROAM AROUND THE TENT VILLAGE BEFORE AND BETWEEN FIGHTS
AND WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO WATCH FROM THE SPECTATORS’ BLEACHERS AS
YOUR HUSBANDS, SONS OR FATHERS GET BASHED TO PULP. WELL, THAT’S IT
FOR THE TIMINGS AND RULES. PLEASE INDULGE AT OUR WEAPONS MARKET
AND SUPPORT OUR LOCAL BLACKSMITHS AND ARTISANS. YOU MAY NOW GO
LOAN TOURNAMENT WEAPONS IF NEEDED, BUY NEW WEAPONS AND ARMOR
AND ADD OR DELETE YOUR NAMES FROM THE LIST OF EVENTS. I WILL ASK
THE PARTICIPANTS TO THE INDIVIDUAL FOOT DUELS TO ASSEMBLE HERE, READY FOR COMBAT, AT FIFTEEN BEFORE ELEVEN. YOU MAY NOW GO
OCCUPY YOUR TENTS AND GO AROUND OUR VILLAGE WITH YOUR FAMILIES
BEFORE THE FIGHTING BEGINS. THANK YOU FOR COMING TO THIS
TOURNAMENT.’
Nearly all the ones who had listened to this announcement then broke off and went to the village of conical medieval tents set up some thirty meters from the castle’s gate.
Donald Simpsons, leading his club members, easily found the group of three tents reserved for his club, as they flew the flag of Canterbury. Each tent was large enough to let up to twenty people sit inside on chairs or benches, while large wooden chests were provided to store weapons and equipment. There was also a small table with a large tin jar of water and a collection of tin cups. Outside the tents were a number of strategically placed portable chemical toilet stalls. In the center of the tent village stood a large modern tent marked as the first aid station of the tournament, with a number of doctors, nurses and stretcher bearers in attendance. Next to the medical station stood an electronic display board, the sole technological item to be seen around the tent village,
41
which displayed the list of events, their timings and locations and the participants who had signed in for each event. Donald Simpsons nodded his head in approval at all this.
‘’A really nice setup. Those NOSTROMO people know what they are doing.
Well, let’s drop our shields and polearms here and let’s go see what they have to offer in the village market.’
Followed by their family members, the 33 club members walked out as a group to the nearby medieval village, where people in period clothes could be seen manning various open-air stands and house display fronts. Not surprisingly, the club members were attracted at once to the stall where dozens of antique, medieval and renaissance weapons were on sale, on top of many pieces of armor and a good dozen shields. As for their wives and daughters, they got attracted to a nearby cart on which various medieval-style jewels and decorative items were on display. Over the cart displaying the weapons and pieces of armor was suspended a wood plank on which one could read
‘THE BLACK FORGE MEDIEVAL BOUTIQUE’. Donald Simpsons was quickly attracted to a high-quality reproduction medieval dagger of the type English foot soldiers of the Hundred Year War era frequently used.
‘’Now, this is a nice piece. Its price is also quite reasonable.’
He then looked up at the tall and most intimidating-looking man in medieval garb who was manning the stand with an athletic young black woman. The man was at least 190
centimeter-tall, had broad shoulders and sported a long scar on his left cheek.
‘’I saw the same kind of dagger on sale in England but yours is less than half of the cost of the one in England. Are your weapons on discount today, sir?’
‘’They are effectively being sold at a bit lower price than usual for this weekend, mister, but by no more than twenty percent. The reason our weapons are so cheap in terms of prices, despite being of top-quality manufacture, is that they were made by our club members who are security androids. Since they already have a paying job and are making blades and pieces of armor strictly as a hobby, they can offer their wares at a low price while still making a reasonable profit. By the way, I made that dagger, mister, using high-carbon steel for the blade.’
That answer made Simpsons jerk and stare with some disbelief at the big man: if not for what he had just said, Donald would never have guessed that the vendor was not a real human being.
‘’Wow! I would never have guessed that you were an android, mister...’
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‘’Skorzeni, Otto Skorzeni, at your service.’ replied the salesman while offering his right hand for a shake, which Donald took.
‘’And I’m Donald Simpsons, from Canterbury, England. So, what does your boutique offers, apart from what you have here, Mister Skorzeni?’
‘’A lot more, Mister Simpsons. You should visit our boutique, which is in the habitat ring complex, on Level 580. Here is a business card with the address of the boutique, its phone number and online address. For this weekend, it will stay open until ten tonight, to cater to the visitors for this tournament.’
‘’Thank you!’ said Donald while taking the small card. ‘’Are you going to compete in this tournament?’
‘’Of course! I will be part of the mounted jousting competition.’
‘’Uh, I heard that security androids like you are stronger than human beings. Is that true and, if yes, wouldn’t that give you an unfair advantage in a fight?’
Instead of taking umbrage at Donald’s question, Skorzeni nodded his head and gave him a benevolent smile.
‘’In a real-life fight, you would be right, Mister Simpsons. However, for this tournament and for other tournaments to come, all participating androids will voluntarily cut their strength and speed of reaction by sixty percent, in order to go down to the level of a human of comparable size and build. So, are you still interested in buying this dagger, mister?’
‘’Sure! How could I not take up such a bargain!’
Paying for the dagger via electronic payment transfer, Donald soon had his new dagger, which came with a nice leather sheath, wrapped up and in a reusable plastic shopping bag. Going to a nearby stand where his wife had been browsing at pieces of low-cost jewelry.
‘’Hey, Catherine, I got myself a nice dagger for less than half of the price they ask in England. How are you doing on your side?’
‘’Uh, I just can’t make my mind about what I want the most. Half of this stuff is tempting me but we are not exactly rich and I wouldn’t want to overspend our weekend budget.’
‘’I tell you what, dear: since I just saved a lot on that dagger I bought, I can give you 150 credits from the savings I just made.’
43
‘’Donald, you are sweet!’ exclaimed his wife, joyful, before hugging and kissing him. Her next move was to buy what looked like a very nice pendant with an orange cut stone suspended from a silver chain.
‘’Uh, what kind of stone is that, Catherine?’
‘’An Eris diamond.’
‘’A DIAMOND!’ exclaimed Donald, nearly choking on the word. His wife gave him a pinched smile in response.
‘’No need to panic, dear: Eris diamonds, while being true diamonds, are much cheaper than the diamonds mined on Earth, and this because they are so abundant on Eris, the distant dwarf planet beyond the orbit of Pluto. They were first discovered there, along with an alien ship entombed in ice, by the captain of the NOSTROMO, some eighteen years ago.’
‘’Now, that’s what I would call a double whammy! Well, I better go back now to our designated tent in order to prepare for the individual duels. You will be watching those with the kids, right?’
‘’Of course, my dear husband! We will be in the spectators’ stands around the jousting and duel field. Good luck and try not to get too many bones broken.’
‘’Uh, that will depend on what kind of opponent I will fight, Catherine.’
Donald then left the market and walked towards the tent village, still holding to his newly purchased dagger.
At fifteen to eleven, a loudspeaker announcement made Donald assemble near the electronic display board at the center of the tent village, along with over forty other participants, all wearing armor of various kinds and holding shields and either a sword, a mace or a battle-axe. The same herald who had spoken from atop the castle walls took a few minutes to review the rules of combat with them and to quickly inspect their weapons and armor, to make sure that they followed HEMA Federation standards. One participant, a Spaniard, was found to have a sword that was insufficiently blunted but an authorized weapon was promptly loaned to the man, allowing him to stay in the competition. Then came the moment when the participants found out with whom they would fight, with the names drawn blindly from four separate pots divided by weight classes. Donald found himself paired with a solidly-built and athletic teenage boy of about sixteen who wore like him a full suit of plate armor and had an arming sword and a small shield. His sword, like the longsword used by Donald, had blunt edges and was
44
covered with a rubber sheeting meant to soften the blows. However, Donald knew from experience that, even when sheeted with rubber, a blow from a sword’s blade or from a battle-axe against plate armor was still going to be felt quite a lot. In most of his tournament fights, he had ended up with some pretty bad bruises despite using a good quality plate armor. Once together, Donald presented his right hand for a shake to the teenager.
‘’Hello! I am Donald Simpsons, from the Canterbury HEMA Club, in England.’
‘’And I am Misha Koniev-Forster, of the NOSTROMO HEMA Club. Pleased to meet you.’
‘’Even though we are going to bash each other like idiots?’ replied Donald, making the boy grin.
‘’Especially when bashing each other like idiots, Mister Simpson.’
‘’Aah, a polite opponent: I like that! A past British prime minister named Churchill once said that, if you had to kill a man, it cost nothing to be polite with him.’
‘’Hey, I like that! I should repeat that to my mother after the tournament: she likes to study history, particularly military history.’
‘’I too have a strong interest in military history. Maybe she and I should meet in front of a cup of tea one day.’
‘’I am sure that she would like to discuss that subject with you, Mister Simpsons.
Well, good luck to you and let’s have some fun.’
‘’Well said, boy!’
The HEMA Federation referees hired for the
tournament then guided each pair of fighters to separate pieces of grassy ground located in front of the spectators’ bleachers. As they took their positions, Donald Simpsons couldn’t help marvel at the number of spectators present, with more people still arriving constantly.
‘’Wow! That’s quite a crowd which came to this tournament. There must be well over 5,000 persons already in the stands and they are now having to fill standing-room places along the ground-level fence. We never got this big a crowd in England for a tournament.’
‘’Well, there are over 30,000 people living and working on this space yards, including their families, and they were offered free access to the ship for this tournament.
45
The idea behind that was to attract lots of well-to-do people aboard, so that they could then shop around at our boutiques, shops and restaurants. The Avalon Space Yards has good, extensive living facilities but novelties are always appreciated, Mister Simpsons.’
‘’I see! This is certainly good business marketing on the part of the captain of this ship.’
‘’Thank you! I will make sure to tell that to my mother.’
‘’Uh?! Your mother is the captain of this ship?’
‘’And its owner as well. But don’t let that stop you from doing your best to beat me in this fight.’
That last remark made Donald smile to the teenager.
‘’A most fair attitude indeed, boy. I like that!’
In the front row seats of the bleachers, which had been reserved for the families of
the
tournament’s
participants,
so
that
they
could
cheer
for
their
fathers/husbands/sons, Catherine Simpsons pointed her husband to her two preteen children.
‘’Look, kids: there is your father, wearing the red tabard. He is about to do his first fight.’
An announcement then made her involuntarily look up from the fighting field.
‘’OYE, OYE, GOOD LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THIS TOURNAMENT IS NOW
ABOUT TO BEGIN WITH THE FIRST COMBATS BETWEEN PAIRS OF FOOT
FIGHTERS. CERTIFIED HEMA REFEREES ARE IN ATTENDANCE WITH EACH PAIR
AND WILL ANNOUNCE ANY SUCCESSFUL STRIKE BY ONE OF THE FIGHTERS.
THE FIRST FIGHTER TO ACCUMULATE THREE STRIKES WILL WIN HIS FIGHT.
LET COMBAT BEGIN!’
The first six pairs of fighters to battle it out in front of the spectators then took combat stances while readying their swords and holding up their shields. It took only seconds before this turned into six furious fights, with swords loudly clanking against shields or, less frequently, against an opponent’s armored suit. The first point was registered by an Italian fighter who managed to pass through the defenses of his German opponent with a thrusting hit to the left armpit, where only some chainmail armor gave him protection, and where, in a real fight to the death, the tip of the Italian’s arming sword would have likely gone through the piece of chainmail. The referee attending that fight immediately
46
raised one arm and announced loudly the successful hit before letting the combat resume. Catherine, anxiously following the fight between her husband and his teenage opponent, barely registered that declaration as Donald and the teenager exchanged a flurry of swords or mace swings and thrusting attacks while using their shields to deflect or stop those attacks. She knew that her husband was known as a master of the longsword but she had to recognize that his young opponent was no slouch either.
While visibly less experienced as a fighter, the teenager compensated for that with some lightning-quick reflexes and vigorous blows from his arming sword, which also helped him to strike faster thanks to its better balance. At one point, a furious attack by the teenager forced Donald to slowly take a few steps back while he parried the sword swings by his opponent. However, the teenager, apparently growing too confident, then made a mistake and gave the opportunity for Donald to deliver a strong swing of his longsword that hit the left upper leg of the teenager, clanking loudly against the boy’s armor. Despite the armor, the teenager’s visibly felt that blow and pushed a short shout of pain, prompting the referee watching that fight to raise one arm high.
‘’FIRST HIT REGISTERED BY SIRE DONALD OF CANTERBURY!’
Catherine, her two children and the other relatives of Canterbury fighters sitting in that section of the bleachers cheered loudly at that. However, the teenager quickly evened the score with a thrusting attack that hit the inside of Donald’s upper right arm, where only chainmail protected him, earning the boy a point. As that fight continued on with renewed vigor, another fight between two huge men, one a Scotsman and the other a British from the London area, attracted a growing attention with its ferocity and energy, with their maces banging against shields so strongly that they made visible dents in the steel shields, prompting their referee in giving a warning to the fighters to show more restraint in their attacks. Then, the Scotsman brutally pushed back the Englishman with his shield, succeeding in making him fall flat on his back and then delivering a merciless blow to his sternum that made the Englishman lose his breath. The referee immediately stopped that combat and raised the Scotsman’s right arm high while shouting out loud.
‘’SIRE WILLIAM, OF THE MACDONALD ACADEMY OF ARMS OF EDINBURG, IS THE WINNER OVER SIRE JAMES, OF THE PALACE ARMORY OF LONDON.’
Catherine made a smirk as the Scottish spectators present loudly cheered that victory by their favorite: even after over a millennium, the rivalry between Scotland and England was as strong as ever. She then concentrated back her attention on Donald’s fight, with
47
its continuing exchange of swords swings and shield parrying. Donald then registered a second hit, followed fifteen seconds later by a third registered hit.
‘’THIRD REGISTERED HIT BY SIRE DONALD OF CANTERBURY! SIRE
DONALD IS DECLARED THE WINNER OVER SIRE MISHA OF THE NOSTROMO!’
It was now the turn of the English fans to loudly rejoice, with Catherine and her two children doing their enthusiastic part in the cheering. However, that didn’t mean that the fighting was over for her husband, as the winners of each six paired fights then had to face each other in three fresh duels. Catherine winced when Donald found himself facing the huge and redoubtable Sire William of Edinburg for his second fight. Her fears proved justified when her poor Donald was downed by a powerful mace blow to his helmet that left him dizzy and disoriented for long seconds. Two medics immediately ran to him and helped him off the fighting area, while a worried Catherine left her seat and brought her children with her to go check on her husband. When she arrived at the medical tent set up next to the bleachers, she found Donald sitting on a bench and wincing with pain as a female medic was treating a pretty spectacular bruise on his forehead. He did however manage a reassuring smile to Catherine on seeing her enter the tent with their two children.
‘’Don’t worry, Catherine: I will live. I must say that this Sire William is one dangerous opponent. He is as strong as an ox!’
‘’Is there a risk of a commotion?’
‘’I don’t think so, madam.’ answered the female medic. ‘’However, as a precaution, I would strongly counsel him to stop fighting and to restrain himself to watching only.’
‘’I think that I will do just that, dear.’ said Donald, reassuring Catherine. ‘’Just looking at the large dent made in my helmet by this guy’s mace is enough to cool down my appetite for more fighting.’
‘’Thank you for being reasonable, dear. I would hate to see you end up in hospital.’
‘’Well, I still can watch the rest of the fights, so I will still be able to enjoy myself. I just hope that someone else will be able to teach a lesson to that brute of a Scotsman.
Let’s go sit in the stands as a family.’
‘’With your armor still on?’
‘’So? If I could fight in it, I certainly can sit still in it, right? Going back to our club’s tent could make us miss many of the fights.’
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‘’Alright then, dear. Just promise me not to get too excited.’
‘’I promise, Catherine.’
With the female medic accompanying them back to the stands, just in case Donald felt more dizziness, the family returned to their seats, with Donald putting his small daughter Emma on his knees after taking her seat for himself. To Donald’s contentment, his nemesis eventually met his match when an equally huge fighter named Sire Otto of Vienna bashed him into the ground with a heavy war hammer. Donald then belatedly recognized the said Sire Otto when the ‘man’ took off his helmet.
‘’Hey, that’s the guy who sold me my new dagger!’
‘’You mean, the android who sold you your new dagger, dear?’ replied Catherine in a low, near whisper voice.
‘’Uh, right! Still, it is nice to see that Sire William eat some humble pie. I must say that Sire Otto displayed some impressive fighting skills with his war hammer and with the way he used his shield. Android or not, he deserved to win.’
A fresh group of six pairs of fighters then took to the field in order to earn their place into the final foot combat before lunch. That final combat actually involved the six semi-finalists into a furious melee where swords, maces, battle-axes and war hammers were swung with ferocity until only one fighter was left standing and declared the winner of armored foot combat. Once that melee was done, the loudspeakers announced a break in the action in order for the participants and spectators to go have lunch. While most of the spectators left the Medieval World Deck to go eat at the cafeterias and restaurants of the Habitat Ring, the fighting participants and their families were invited to a medieval style feast at the tent camp, where long lines of wooden tables had been set.
The food proved to be authentic-looking medieval fare served in the traditional medieval fashion, meaning with no forks to eat, only knives and spoons being provided. Donald and his family, who were already accustomed to such medieval customs, enjoyed their meal of roast chicken served with boiled vegetables and freshly baked bread, washed down with either water, milk or beer. The combatants who had faced each other then had an opportunity to talk with each other, commenting on their fights and on the abilities and skills of their opponents, all in a spirit of comradery and passion for medieval fighting. Then, with the lunch over, Donald went to his club’s tent and removed his suit of armor and weapons, storing them in one of the chests of the tent. Once that was
49
done, the Simpsons went back to the bleachers in order to watch the next category of events: the mounted jousting matches.
‘’OYE, OYE! WE WILL NOW HAVE THE MOUNTED JOUSTS. FIRST ON THE
FIELD IS LADY JEHANNE DE DOMRÉMY, WHO HAS THROWN A DIRECT
CHALLENGE TO THE BLACK PRINCE.’
To Catherine’s confusion and surprise, that announcement made her husband snicker with disdain.
‘’What? What did you find wrong with that announcement, Donald?’
‘’Oh, there was nothing wrong with the announcement itself, dear: it is about that so-called ‘Black Prince’. He thinks that he is some kind of superstar of jousting, mostly because he is from an old high aristocracy family and is rich, but in reality ends up losing at least half his fights. If that Jehanne de Domrémy is the one I think she is, then that
‘Black Prince’ is going to eat grass.’
‘’And who is that Jehanne de Domrémy, dear?’
Donald gave a knowing side look at his wife while answering her.
‘’Jehanne de Domrémy is the actual
historical name of Joan of Arc, the teenage French medieval heroine of the Hundred Year War. It is also the name of one of the security androids working on this ship, who wiped out by herself one of the most dangerous criminal gangs
in Europe while playing tourist in Paris over three years ago, when they tried to rob a jewelry store.
That same security android also led a number of assaults and ship boardings against those monstrous Space Predators. She may be a female-looking android but she has four times the balls of that pretentious ‘Black Prince’.’
‘’So, we should cheer a ‘French’ knight over an English knight, dear?’
Donald lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned sideways to speak in her hear.
‘’Yes, but please don’t cheer too loudly.’
At her end of the jousting field, with its long rope supported by wooden pickets splitting it in two along the centerline, Jehanne climbed atop her favorite horse, a beast specially trained for jousting and armed combat. Once in her saddle, an assistant
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dressed like a medieval squire handed her the long lance which she was going to use for this match. It had a blunt, rubber-coated tip and was made of a wood that was less hard and more prone to splintering than the kind of wood used by historical knights for their lances. The goal to that was to decrease the chances of a lance strike actually wounding a jousting participant, while keeping the visually spectacular aspect of jousting. With her kite shield held in her left hand and her lance held in her right hand, she then made her horse take position at the starting point of her side of the charging lane, then lowered her armored visor. Thousands of spectators, along with a good dozen cameras from both Earth medias and from Spacers League’s medias, were watching her and her opponent, who was now at his own end of the jousting field. While Jehanne was of a size commensurate with that of a stoutly built but relatively short medieval farm girl, her opponent was not much bigger than her. In fact, if she could go by what she had learned from publicly available biographical information about Charles Woodstock, aka ‘The Black Prince’, her opponent had appeared to him as a rather pretentious man with a less than impressive physique and with little to distinguish himself apart from his family fortune. As for herself, she may be of fairly small size but, even with her strength and speed voluntarily lowered for this tournament, she still had extensive experience and practice at jousting and had read all that could be found about jousting techniques and tactics. If her opponent made the mistake of underestimating her and of being overconfident, like many of her past opponents had been, then he was going to hit the ground.
At the sounding of trumpets marking the start of the jousting duel, Jehanne urged her horse to a full gallop while keeping her mount close to the centerline rope separation of the charging lane. She then lowered her lance in position across the neck of her horse, aiming it at where her opponent would be when they would meet. The spectators held their breath while watching the two fully armored opponents charge at each other, with only the noise of hooves on the grassy ground and the clanking of steel armor plates breaking the silence. Just as the tip of her opponent’s lance was about to strike her shield, Jehanne quickly changed slightly the angle at which she held her shield in relation to the incoming lance, using a medieval jousting technique called ‘the Florentine Flick’. Instead of hitting squarely her shield with maximum impact force, that change in the angle of her shield made her opponent’s lance tip graze it and deflect on it. The lance tip of The Black Prince thus simply slid across her shield, with little effect on
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Jehanne. By contrast, her own lance tip squarely hit the center of her opponent’s shield and transferred the maximum of kinetic energy to it before splintering in dozens of pieces. Despite her lance breaking up on impact, the force of that hit was enough to make her opponent literally fly out of his saddle, to then fall hard on his back with an audible ‘OOF’. Cheers and applauses greeted her performance as she slowed down her horse after the encounter, still solidly in her own war saddle. Stopping and turning around once at the other end, she looked at her dismounted opponent to see if he was going to ask for a second run. By the rules of jousting, one could try up to three times to charge, in case the first dismounting was due to some fluke or defective lance. The British did ask for a second charge and was helped back on his horse and given another lance. Jehanne thus got a new lance herself and prepared herself for a second charge.
At a new sounding of trumpets, she again launched her horse at full gallop along the centerline rope, her lance lowered and her shield firmly held. Her opponent then did something that was both against the rules of jousting and was also considered a dishonorable tactic: he aimed his lance not at her shield but at her head, holding its tip distinctly higher than usual. While Jehanne noticed that at once, many of the waiting participants observing the duel also noticed that and howled exclamations of ‘FOUL’.
When they met halfway, Jehanne suddenly raised her shield and pivoted it to near the horizontal, making her opponent’s lance tip deflect of it with little effect to her. This time, her own lance stayed in one piece and struck the top section of the Black Prince’s shield with brutal force. Instead of simply flying off his saddle, the British man actually performed an involuntary back flip and full summersault before crashing face first on the ground. Boos and hisses greeted him when he slowly and laboriously got back up, with Michel Koniev then getting on the loudspeakers.
‘’THE BLACK PRINCE IS DISQUALIFIED FROM THIS MATCH AND FROM
THE REST OF THIS TOURNAMENT FOR BREAKING THE RULES OF JOUSTING
AND USING A PROHIBITED TACTIC. LADY JEHANNE DE DOMRÉMY IS THUS
DECLARED THE WINNER OF THIS MATCH.’
In the bleachers, Donald Simpsons was as furious as the other participants at the actions of the ‘Black Prince’.
‘’Bloody Hell! If that is not enough for the British HEMA Federation to ban this pretentious clown for good, then I will raise hell about this.’
His friends and club members around him also echoed his opinion, copiously booing Charles of Woodstock as he hobbled off the field, to be met by two HEMA Federation
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referees at the end of the lane. Donald Simpsons was pleased to see that the camera crews present had recorded the whole thing, including the ignominious departure of the man while escorted by the HEMA referees.
‘’Yes! When this will be viewed across England, that asshole’s name will be mud for good.’
‘’Wow!’ said Catherine, trying to slow down her heartbeat after witnessing the dramatic duel. ‘’That impact was a truly violent one. He was lucky not to have been wounded.’
‘’Oh, he will probably still end up with a few good bruises, but they will be nothing compared to the hurt his reputation will take. If he would have hit Lady Jehanne in the head with his lance tip, he could have seriously damaged her or, in the case of a real person, could have killed her by snapping her neck from the impact. This time, his money will not spare him from dishonor. To see our own HEMA federation’s good name being tarnished by such a bastard infuriates me! Hopefully, no other participants will break the rules again after this.’
Thankfully, the duels which followed all respected the rules of the tournament and made honor to the chivalric code of medieval combat. When the loudspeakers announced the start of the next phase of the tournament, Donald excused himself with his wife and returned to his club’s tent, intent on participating in the next fight. However, the same female medic who had treated him insisted on first checking him out before letting him suit up for combat. Donald let out a breath of relief when she gave him the green light to go fight again. Now a bit late because of that medical examination, Donald hurried to suit himself up and arm himself, then ran to the fighting field, where two large groups of armored and armed men had assembled, facing each other from a distance of twenty meters. He arrived in the ranks of his team just as the loudspeakers blared again.
‘’OYE, OYE! IT IS NOW TIME FOR THE GROUP COMBAT ON FOOT
BETWEEN NATIONAL CONTINGENTS. IN THE SPIRIT OF THE HUNDRED YEARS’
WAR, WE WILL THUS START WITH A CLASH BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND
FRENCH ARMIES. THE COMBATANTS WILL CHARGE AT THEIR OPPONENTS AT
THE SOUNDING OF TRUMPETS.’
Donald made a mean smile while holding firmly to his longsword and shield and while eyeing his French opponents.
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‘’Time to teach those frogs a lesson, like at Crecy and Poitiers.’
The trumpets soon blared, making a total of 74 screaming armored men charge at each other while the camera crews filmed the action. The noise from the impact between the two groups of fighters, accompanied by the ferocious war cries of the combatants, was impressive indeed, with Catherine Simpsons watching with horror as she saw her husband literally disappear in the melee.
‘’My god! Donald!’
She soon noticed that more than a few of the combatants were now lying on the ground, either immobile or apparently writhing in pain, something that did nothing to reassure her about her husband. Then, as the fighting continued, pairs of medics dressed like medieval pages ran into the field with wood and canvas stretchers and started collecting the ‘dead’ and ‘wounded’. In reality, those casualties were simply following the rules and lying down after being either pushed off their feet or being hit squarely with a direct blow to the body, as per the rules. Donald Simpsons was one of these ‘dead’ men when two medics came to him after a minute of combat, having been pushed and tripped by a big, beefy opponent who had then delivered to him what amounted to a ‘coup de grâce’. The two grinning medics picked him up and then threw him none too gently on their stretcher, attracting a protestation from Donald.
‘’Hey, be careful, guys!’
‘’Shut up! You’re supposed to be dead.’ replied one of the medics before lifting the stretcher off the ground with the help of his partner and then running back to the sidelines, where they unceremoniously dumped him on the grass, next to other ‘dead’
men. As he lay motionless and playing his role of dead man, he smiled to the ‘dead man’ lying next to him, only a few centimeters away.
‘’That was fun, right?’
‘’It really was. I am enjoying every minute of it.’ said the man, grinning from ear to ear.
20:09 (Universal Time)
‘The Munich Beer Hall’, Level 576, Habitat Ring complex A.M.S. NOSTROMO
After having supper at the main food court with his family, Donald had then decided to go out with his friends and club members in a ‘men only outing’ and had gone
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with them to have a beer a a German-style pub he had seen next to the food court. As he was about to finish his big mug of draft beer, one of his club members smiled in a conspiratorial way to Donald and to the other four men of their group.
‘’Hey, mates, they have a sex club on their Entertainment Deck. What do you say that we go check it out after we finish our beers?’
‘’A great idea!’ replied enthusiastically a young, single man of their group.
Donald, who was happily married, hesitated a bit before acquiescing to that proposal, reasoning that just looking at girls would not constitute infidelity towards Catherine. The six men thus finished off their beers, then got up and walked out of the beer hall.
Taking one of the large passageways linking the Habitat Ring with the centerline core of the ship, they arrived at the entrance of the sex club, which was flanked on both sides with bright, tantalizing pictures of scantily clad women, after only a couple of minutes.
The men were surprised to find themselves behind an excited-looking group of seven women being admitted inside the club by a big and very muscular doorman. When their turn came to pay their admission, Donald couldn’t help ask a question to the doorman.
‘’Excuse me, mister, but how come this many women seem to be excited at the idea of going to look at naked women?’
Donald’s question drew an amused grin on the doorman’s face.
‘’They’re excited because they are coming to watch naked men, mister. The upper floor of this club is used to entertain heterosexual women, gay men and bisexual persons, while the lower floor of the club entertains heterosexual men and lesbian women. Once you will be inside, just turn left and enter the men’s lounge.’
‘’Oh! I’m sorry for asking. So, what is allowed in your club, apart from watching of course? I must say that I rarely frequent sex clubs in England.’
The doorman chuckled at that and glanced quickly at Donald’s left hand, on which an alliance ring was visible.
‘’Well, you will be able to enjoy erotic dances by women on the stage while having drinks and you will be served at your table by topless waitresses. If you want to do some touching, you must ask first the permission of your waitress, who may then expect from you some kind of tip in exchange. Private cabins are also available for more private acts to be paid for. Know that some of our staff are actually security androids who work second jobs when not on security or combat duties. Since they have no need to sleep, they end up with half of their days spent on hobbies or other jobs. Those
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androids are by the way fully able to have sex with humans, as long as you get their consent first.’
That last sentence made the six British men speechless for a second before Donald spoke in a skeptical tone.
‘’Robots, having sex with men?’
‘’And with women. And why not? You have men using plastic inflated dolls and women using vibrators to satisfy themselves. By the way, our androids are a lot more than simple robots with human appearances. They are actually recognized in the Spacers League as being sentient, intelligent beings with the same rights as living citizens.’
‘’Uh, right! And are they good at giving sex?’
‘’They are actually fantastic sex partners, mister. I know: I married one. But there is a lineup of waiting customers forming behind you. Do you still want to buy a ticket?’
‘’Er, yes! How much is it per person?’
‘’The entrance fee is ten credits per person. You will of course have to pay for your drinks and for any favors you will ask from our waitresses or dancers.’
‘’Alright, here you are, mister.’ said Donald, giving a ten-credit chip to the doorman. His five friends also paid the entrance fee and the group finally entered the club, where they found themselves in a large lobby with two sets of double doors, two washrooms and a coatroom. Taking the lead, Donald went to the the double doors marked as the men’s lounge. Not really knowing what he was going to see, Donald pushed open the double doors and walked inside a vast room which easily measured about twenty meters by thirty meters, with a large elevated stage located against the back wall. A young and beautiful Asian woman was presently dancing on the stage while wearing only a tiny G-string, following the rhythm of a fast pace song. Donald’s eyes fixed at once on the nearly nude dancer but the arrival of a topless young woman with an impressive chest quickly redirected his attention.
‘’Would you like a table for all six of you or two smaller tables, gentlemen?’
‘’Two adjacent small tables will be fine, miss.’
‘’Then, follow me, please.’
The waitress led the six British men across the room, which was already two-thirds full, and to two still unoccupied tables surrounded by a total of eight chairs.
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‘’Here you are, gentlemen. I will let you take the time to look at our list of drinks and appetizers and will come back in a couple of minutes. By the way, my name is Lynda.’
‘’Thank you, miss.’
The six British HEMA club members took place at the two tables and grabbed the small menu and list of drinks held in a holder in the center of each table. Donald nodded his head on seeing that the prices for the alcoholic drinks were quite reasonable.
‘’Not bad! I have seen clubs in London with much stiffer prices than this...and the girls there were not as nice-looking as the ones here.’
‘’Hey, have a look at the list of appetizers, guys!’ suddenly said Thomas Payne, one of Donald’s best friends. ‘’Some of those so-called appetizers must be girls, as the prices for various sexual favors and acts are listed in that section. There is also a short list of regulations to respect while in the club.’
All his friends looked at once at that part of the ‘menu’ to read it. Donald quickly wiggled a hand as he finished reading the rules.
‘’Wow! This covers about every kind of ‘service’, including a full sex session. My wife would kill me if she ever learned that I visited this place.’
Their waitress returned to their tables at that moment, a smile on her lips.
‘’So, are you ready to order, gentlemen?’
‘’Uh, I will have your local blond beer, miss.’ answered Donald, then followed by his friends. However, on top of also ordering a beer, Thomas Payne had a question for the waitress.
‘’Excuse me for asking this, miss, but are you human or are you an android?’
Lynda Carter smiled at his question and stepped next to him, to then grab her two large breasts and present them to the quickly reddening Thomas, her nipples nearly touching his face.
‘’What do you think, mister? Am I an android or a woman?’
Sweat broke on Thomas’ forehead as he felt blood rush to his brain. He became even hotter when the waitress gently took his left hand and raised it to her right breast, so that he could touch and feel it.
‘’Uh, you must be a real woman, miss. You are truly beautiful and most sexy.’
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‘’Thank you, my sweet man, you are very kind indeed. However, you guessed wrong: I am an android. Most of the waitresses and dancers on duty this evening are androids, like most of the sexy waiters upstairs in the women’s lounge. However, I am fully able to please you if you wish so, later on.’
‘’Uh, I will think about it.’ replied hesitantly Thomas, taken aback by her offer.
The waitress’ reaction was to smile and gently touch his right cheek.
‘’Then, take your time, by all means.’
Lynda then walked away to go get the ordered beer, leaving Thomas’ friends to goad him about her offer of sex.
‘’Hey, you should say yes and try her, Thomas.’
‘’Yes! You are the only single guy here, after all. Nothing stops you from trying that chick: she is a real stunner, android or not.’
‘’Alright, alright, I will take her offer but don’t expect me to describe in detail what happened.’
‘’Fair enough!’ replied Donald. ‘’You will just need to tell us if she is as nice as a real woman. Right, guys? No harassing questions to Tom afterwards.’
He quickly got a unanimous agreement on that, following which the group concentrated their attention back on the girl dancing on stage and on the other two topless waitresses circulating around the tables. Lynda then returned to their table with a tray supporting six bottles of beer, which she distributed around before collecting their payment for the beers and then walking away. Some fifteen minutes later, with his own beer nearly finished, Thomas grabbed his courage with both hands and raised one hand to call Lynda back to his table. The tall waitress came at once and smiled down to him.
‘’Yes, mister?’
‘’Uh, I think that I will take your offer, miss.’
‘’Excellent! Just follow me to one of our private cubicles and we will then be able to discuss in private what you would like to do.’
Thomas reddened a bit again but got up from his chair and followed Lynda towards the entrance of a corridor visible on the left side of the lounge. His friends watched him go, then decided to order more beer, with Donald raising one arm to call up another waitress. The one who then came to their tables was a stunningly beautiful young Asian woman with a large chest and brown skin who made the British men devour her at once with their eyes. James Clapwell, one of Donald’s friends and club member, then couldn’t resist asking her a question.
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‘’Please excuse me if you find my question inappropriate but are you an android, miss?’
‘’I am, mister.’ answered the waitress while smiling. ‘’Nan Jung, at your service.’
‘’Uh, could it be possible to have some private time with you, Miss Jung?’
‘’Of course, it is possible! This is a sex club, after all. Would you like to go right now?’
‘’Yes, please.’
As he got up from his chair to follow her, James gave an apologetic smile to his friends.
‘’Sorry but I really want to check this android sex out.’
‘’No need to excuse yourself, James.’ replied a grinning Donald. He then watched James walk away before smiling to his three remaining friends. ‘’Well, I guess that we will now have to ask for another waitress in order to get more beers. Please don’t ask out that other waitress, guys: I really want another beer.’
Thankfully for him and his thirst, his friends managed to resist the charms of the beautiful young Caucasian woman who answered his call, letting her take their orders.
They had time to get their beers and mostly empty them before Thomas came back to their tables, to then be assailed with questions from his friends.
‘’So, how was she?’
‘’Was she good?’
‘’Good?’ answered Thomas, who had an air of revelation on his face. ‘’That was the best sex I ever had. I realize that she herself cannot feel real pleasure, something she confirmed to me, but she sure knows how to fake it. She felt like a true woman...with a nice extra.’
‘’A nice extra? What do you mean, Thomas?’
‘’She not only does have a functioning false vagina: she can make it vibrate internally, adding tremendously to a man’s pleasure. It was a tremendous experience and I would warmly recommend any man to try one of those android women.’
‘’Wow! Let’s see if James will have the same opinion when he returns.’
Three minutes later, the said James returned to his chair, a big grin on his face.
‘’My god! This girl was pure dynamite! Those who designed those androids made a bang-up job with them. You should all try one of them.’
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While most of his friends agreed with that, Donald showed some reservations about it, unwilling to be unfaithful to Catherine. He thus stayed in his chair and drank his beer while watching the girl dancing on the stage as three more of his friends called up a waitress in order to go with them to a private cubicle. Looking in turn at Thomas, then at James, he spoke in a low voice to them.
‘’Well, I must say that this weekend trip is proving to be quite a nice one, in all aspects. If they will hold more such tournaments on this ship, I would then be most eager and happy to come here again. By the way, don’t drink too much tonight: we still have a big battle coming up tomorrow. A bang on the head from a mace or axe will feel a lot more painful if we already suffer from a hangover.’
14:24 (Universal Time)
Sunday, November 24, 2335
Field of battle, Medieval World Deck, A.M.S. NOSTROMO
Donald, who stood in the first line of the 329 men from a coalition of British, French, German and Italian HEMA fighters in full battle garb, looked nervously at the low forested ridge facing them some sixty meters away to their front. A series of sinister-sounding horn blows coming from behind that ridge was announcing the approach of the opposing army which was due to engage them in battle. The tournament presenter, who was commenting the event on loudspeakers for the benefit of the over 6,000 watching spectators sitting in the bleachers set to one side of the battlefield, had been vague about who the ‘European army’ would attack it in this big finale to the tournament was, only saying that it would be a ‘barbarian army’.
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‘’Well, if they wanted to be historically correct, then that leaves only two possibilities: either a Viking army or an Eastern nomads’ army.’ said Donald to himself while firmly holding his longsword and shield. ‘’I wonder how many of these ‘barbarians’
we will have to fight.’
He soon had an answer to his question when warriors started appearing on top of the ridge, emerging from the trees. Their round shields with colorful designs were a dead giveaway for Donald.
‘’Vikings! This could prove quite brutal as a fight.’
His apprehension quickly grew as more and more ‘Vikings’ appeared on top of the ridge, standing side-by-side in a thick line forming a shield wall and shouting ferociously at the
‘European’ army while waving high their weapons. One British man next to Donald couldn’t help exclaim in dread as the Viking line kept getting deeper and longer.
‘’My God! There must be over 600 of them!’
From the exclamations coming from the spectators, it seemed that those viewers were equally impressed by the arriving Viking army, which quickly grew to a mass of over 800
screaming and shouting warriors brandishing swords, battle-axes and spears.
‘’Jesus! We’re in for one bloody pasting, mates.’
A few seconds after Donald had said that, the mass of Viking warriors, which included quite a few female so-called ‘shield maidens’ mixed in, screamed in unison a ferocious war cry and then started running down the low ridge, charging the European army. More than a few of the European warriors nearly took a step back at that terrifying sight.
‘’Shit! And I paid to do this?’ whimpered a rather small Italian wearing a full armor plate suit. The Vikings covered those sixty meters of grassy field at a dead run while still screaming, taking only about twenty seconds before arriving at their opponents. The shock of the impact was both loud and incredibly violent, drawing exclamations and gasps from the spectators, while the media holovision crews filmed the action. Outnumbered nearly three to one, the European fighters were overwhelmed nearly at once, with their line bending and breaking before the battle turned into hundreds of individual fights, with most European warriors having to face off to more than one Viking warrior. Donald, who had barely been able to stay on his feet when the charging Vikings had impacted his line, found himself fighting desperately against two Viking warriors, one of which was a tall and beautiful blonde. However, there was little beautiful about her ferocious grin as she repeatedly bashed Donald’s shield with her axe.
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‘’HEY, THERE’S MY SAXON WITH A CUT OFF DICK!’
Assailed from two directions, Donald finally ‘succumbed’ and fell to the ground, using a spear thrust to his left side as an excuse to give up the fight. His two opponents then immediately switched their attention to another unfortunate European warrior. As he lay on the ground and faking death, his heart still beating furiously, Donald still managed to smile to himself after a few seconds as the mayhem around him continued.
‘’Hell, that must be the best mass battle I ever participated in. What a tournament this was. I must come back for the next tournament, even if I have to pay fully for my weekend stay.’
17:06 (Universal Time)
Passenger cabin # 542-131
Habitat Ring Complex, A.M.S. NOSTROMO
The Castoldis were preparing to go have their last meal aboard the NOSTROMO, discussing and recounting between themselves what they had seen and lived aboard the giant cargo ship, when someone rang the door chime of their cabin.
Maria went quickly to the entrance door and opened it, finding Clara Falchi, the family’s social assistant and counselor, standing next to another, much taller woman in her forties. The latter then spoke to Maria in English, with Clara translating at once in Italian.
‘’Good afternoon, Madam Castoldi. I am Tina Forster, captain and owner of this ship. I came to offer to your family a proposal which may interest you. Could we enter and discuss for a moment?’
‘’Uh, of course! Please, come in!’
Letting her two visitors in, Maria then hurried to the lounge while calling up her husband, who was packing his suitcase in the main bedroom.
‘’MARCO! MARCO! WE HAVE VISITORS.’
Marco came out of the bedroom nearly at once, while his children stuck their heads out of their rooms or started walking towards the lounge. Clara Falchi then spoke in Italian once the family was assembled facing her and Tina Forster.
‘’My dear friends, let me present you Captain Tina Forster, owner and captain of the NOSTROMO. She came to see you in order to offer you a proposal which may prove very interesting for you. Captain Forster does not speak Italian, so I will resume for her what her proposal is, then will translate between you and her if you have
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questions. Basically, Captain Foster, on top of owning and operating the NOSTROMO, also owns and govern an agrarian world located in another star system, where she had been helping for years to relocate Earth refugees victims of wars, famines and chronic poverty. That world is named New Haven and specializes in food production, thus houses mostly farmers. Also, the ship we are on houses vast surfaces of hydroponic cultures and plantations of many kinds which help make the NOSTROMO self-sustaining in terms of food production. Captain Forster’s proposal to you is as follows: she would be ready to hire members of your family to either work as agricultural hands aboard her ship or as new citizens of New Haven, where you could work on farms or hydroponic gardens. In both cases, she would provide your family with free housing, free food and full education, health and social services, on top of a decent salary. Know that she has extended that same offer to other needy families from Naples who came on her ship for the weekend. So, would you be interested in accepting her offer and, if you say yes, which option you would prefer? Take your time to discuss this between yourselves, in private if you prefer, before taking a decision.’
Marco and Maria looked at each other, sudden hope on their faces, as their children stared at them, obviously wanting them to say ‘yes’.
‘’Please, Marco, let’s accept that offer. We have no worthy future waiting for us in Naples and I want to offer to our children something better than what we have now.’
She didn’t have to insist, as Marco was evidently as tempted as her. He however had a question for Clara Falchi.
‘’If we elected to stay and work on this ship, will it stay around or near Earth most of the time or will it travel through the stars, Madam Falchi?’
‘’The NOSTROMO constantly travels through Space, carrying goods and people between the various worlds populated by Humans. If you stay and live on this ship, then you will be able to see and visit dozens of other planets and see many wonders of Space.’ answered Clara, who had been extensively briefed by Tina before coming to see the Castoldis and other families from Naples. Not believing his luck, Marco looked in turn at his wife and his four children.
‘’What do you say? Do you want to resettled on a new world or would you prefer to live on this ship?’
‘’Let’s stay on this ship, Father.’ said at once thirteen-year-old Gina, who was then supported in her opinion by her three siblings and by her mother. Marco Castoldi then looked at Clara Falchi and Tina Forster, emotion gripping his heart.
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‘’We would like to stay, live and work on this ship.’
Clara immediately translated Marco’s answer for Tina, who smiled and nodded her head.
‘’So it will be! One of my people will fly you down to Naples after supper and will wait with a shuttle at the airport there while you pack your belongings and put your affairs in Naples in order. Once you are ready to leave Naples for good, you will then be flown back to my ship, where you will get help to adapt to your new life. By the way, by becoming permanent residents of the NOSTROMO, you will also become registered citizens of the Spacers League, with all the benefits attached to that. Thank you for accepting my offer, my friends.’
Maria, tears of joy in her eyes, then couldn’t help herself and went to hug Tina tightly, soon joined by her children and by Marco.
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CHAPTER 3 – A GROWING COMMUNITY
10:41 (Universal Time)
Tuesday, December 3, 2335
Robotics Department, Avalon Space Yards
Low Earth Orbit, Solar System
Eve Silisca was standing two meters in front of the pair of occupied inclined gurneys when the two androids lying on them opened their eyes for the first time, having received a wakeup signal from Eve. As they had just been built and programmed, both androids were naked when they awoke, showing tall and athletic bodies. One of the androids was a handsome African-American type male, the other a beautiful Eurasian young woman. As part of the new batch of security androids built by the Avalon Space Yards for Tina Forster and her NOSTROMO, their appearances had been modeled by Eve to be quite generic in their general size and built, contrary to the first 200 androids, which had been built under her direction and who had been designed to look like historical persons from the past. Thus, while still vying for diverse-looking individuals in terms of apparent ethnicity, the 2,000 new androids to be built would mostly be of the same approximate height: between 185 and 190 centimeters for the male models and between 175 and 180 centimeters for the female models. That in turn was meant to
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facilitate their mass production by cutting the number of distinct molds used in their construction. However, both Eve, Spirit and Tina Forster still wanted each android to have a distinct physical look, so that it could be viewed as an individual. As for their personalities, while they would all receive the same basic programming at the start, Eve firmly intended to give them all the possible opportunities and stimulus for them to develop into true individuals.
Once Eve saw that both androids were awake and had opened their eyes, she spoke softly to them.
‘’Welcome into the World, my friends. I am Eve Silisca and I designed you, along with nearly all of our security androids.’
‘’What was the exception, Miss Silisca?’ asked the male android.
‘’Me! Spirit, the central artificial intelligence being of the NOSTROMO, designed and built me. Spirit also built an android avatar of herself after building me. Now, please identify yourselves by name, rather than by your unit numbers.’
The male android spoke up at once, but not to answer her, instead looking and smiling at the female android resting on the table next to his.
‘’Ladies first!’
Eve nodded in satisfaction on hearing that: she wanted her androids to be well-mannered and polite without having to be told to do so. The male android had thus reacted the way she had hoped for by showing courtesy towards his female-looking companion. The latter got up from her table and stood erect, facing Eve as she spoke in a melodious voice.
‘’I am Tanya Orlova and have the appearance of a young woman from the Asian Steppes. My specialty programming is as a cybernetics technician.’
Eve then looked at the male android, who had also gotten up on his feet and was facing her.
‘’Your turn, mister.’
‘’I am Jeffrey Brown and I have the physical appearance of an African-American man. My specialty programming is as an energy weapons technician.’
‘’Excellent! You will find a basic set of clothing, uniforms, weapons and equipment for each of you in the kit bags resting on the floor to my left.
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Take the time to dress up and then I will drive you to the NOSTROMO, where cabins are waiting for you.’
‘’What will we do once in our cabins, Miss Silisca?’ asked Tanya Orlova.
‘’You will meet with your commanding officer, Senior Centurion Shaka Zulu, who commands both the Third Cohort and the Ninth Century, your unit. The Ninth Century is still being formed, as it has only eight of its members built to date, including you two.
Shaka will brief you on what is expected of you and on what your first activities will be aboard the NOSTROMO. You may now dress.’
As he approached the kit bag meant for him, Jeffrey asked a question of his own to Eve, using a cybernetic datalink. That prompted Eve to raise at once one hand in a firm signal for him to stop.
‘’Please use human oral style communication mode when not in a combat situation, Jeffrey. The use of cybernetic links between androids while on the NOSTROMO or in other public places is actively discouraged.’
‘’May I ask why?’
‘’You certainly may. Basically, you have been given human physical appearances so that you could mingle with actual Humans without making them uncomfortable about you. There are still more than a few Humans who are suspicious of us or think of us as being their slaves because we are not alive in the biological sense.
Thus, we conduct ourselves like Humans would and will verbally converse between ourselves, unless the tactical situation demands silence and speed of communication.
Also, we strive to talk the way the Humans do, moving our lips and facial features while talking and also mimicking human emotions and reactions when appropriate. Using cybernetic links would give up at once to Humans your true nature as an android.’
‘’I understand, miss.’
The two androids took less than three minutes to dress into blue ship coveralls and black boots and to buckle utility and weapons belts around their waist. With that done, they slung their now half-empty kit bags over one shoulder and followed Eve out of the robotics lab. Once in the wide hallway outside of the lab, Eve invited them to sit in the electric cart she had been using inside the gigantic space yard installation, then started driving down the hallway while speaking to the two new androids.
‘’I know that all that I am going to tell you now has already been downloaded into your memory banks but I still want to emphasize a very important point concerning me,
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yourselves and all our other androids aboard the NOSTROMO: we are legally considered sentient beings and full citizens of the Spacers League, with all the individual rights attached to the status of citizen. Do not let yourselves be treated as anything less than this...ever!’
‘’And what if someone disrespects us or tries to demean us?’ asked Tanya Orlova.
‘’Then, you remind them, politely at first, about your status and rights. If that person then persists in abusing, demeaning or insulting you, especially while you are fulfilling your security duties, then warn them to stop on pain of arrest or legal accusations against them. If that person or persons are stupid enough to physically attack you, then you have the absolute right to defend yourselves, using an appropriate level of force, and to arrest them, especially if the incident happens on the NOSTROMO
or on New Haven, both of which are owned by Captain Tina Forster. If the incident happens in another location than the NOSTROMO or New Haven, then report it to the local authorities and disengage from the culprits, as long as this would not be interpreted as giving up your rights or authority as security officers. Remember, your status of public security officer is valid in the whole of the Spacers League, and not only on the NOSTROMO or on New Haven. We had problems in the past with some local authorities who were showing racism towards our security androids but, with Chairman Gasparov now at the helm of the Spacers’ League, such discriminatory attitudes are no longer officially tolerated. Another point I want to emphasize to you is about sex.’
‘’Sex?’ said Jeffrey, not having expected that subject.
‘’Yes, sex! Your android bodies are fully capable of performing sex acts with Humans of either gender, even though you can’t feel real pleasure during the act and have to fake an orgasm. In fact, as providers of sexual pleasure, you actually are superior to normal Humans, thanks to the vibrating system incorporated into your genitals. You also don’t tire while performing sex acts and can go on indefinitely, something that has quickly made us androids very popular with Humans who are searching for sexual pleasure and who know about your true nature. As a result, more and more of our passengers seek to entice us into temporary sexual encounters, while a few crewmembers on the NOSTROMO have gone to the length of marrying one of us and now form permanent couples. One of our couples even have a young girl, an orphan they adopted and are now raising. For the details about that case, you can
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review the biographical datafile you have on Senior Centurion Jehanne de Domrémy, your security force commander.’
‘’So, how should we react to a Human making sexual advances to us, Miss Silisca?’’ asked Tanya.
‘’It will depend on the circumstances, Tanya. First and foremost, don’t feel obliged to accept every sexual advance made towards you, especially if it becomes obvious to you that the person making the advance does it while thinking that you are subservient to him or her and that you have to accept. Evaluate that person’s motivations first, then decide by yourself if you are interested in knowing that person more intimately. Older, mature women who can’t attract nice men anymore will often try to make advances to our male androids, while most men and teenage boys will try to date female androids in order to get sexual gratifications. However, if you get a second job as a topless waitress or sexy waiter at our Jupiter Sex Club, then you can expect advances to be made constantly, due to the settings. A number of our androids work part-time at the Jupiter Sex Club, where they are very popular with the customers and make some good money.’
‘’But, since we have no needs to eat or drink, why would we want to earn money over our actual salary as security officers, miss?’
‘’Why, Jeffrey? Mostly to buy things connected to a hobby or interest which you will be interested in. If, say, you start practicing music, then you may want to buy musical instruments of your own. Or you may want to buy some extra clothes to garnish your wardrobe, or you could buy souvenirs or art objects to decorate your cabins.
Remember: you are sentient beings and are expected to develop your personalities and individual tastes on your own, without simply imitating others. Many of us, for example, have taken medieval roleplaying, combat and smithing as their main hobbies and have bought or even made themselves replicas of medieval weapons, armor and clothing, on top of practicing with medieval weapons. We recently held an invitational medieval tournament, where our people and guests from Earth competed on our Medieval Deck.
That tournament was a big success and we had lots of fun doing it, on top of helping our resident commercial partners to make some profits while our ship is being repaired in drydock.’
‘’What other hobbies or activities have our androids taken to date, miss?’ asked Tanya.
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‘’Those are actually quite varied, Tanya. Some have taken on animal husbandry or agricultural work, while many others took on performing arts, like music, singing and dancing, and now perform in our various entertainment clubs. Probably the best way for you to see what could interest you would be to review the list of various activities and hobbies our fellow androids have adopted and then start thinking about what you would like to do. Again, the choice will be yours but the more diverse our hobbies are, the better. Right now, the performing arts market is quite saturated on the NOSTROMO, with many android bands having formed during the last few years, so I would not counsel that domain to you today. However, take your time before deciding what you would like to do. Don’t rush in taking a decision and experience life aboard the NOSTROMO first, to see where you could prove the most useful in a specific activity other than security duties, while genuinely enjoying that said activity. If you feel that you would need more advice about this, then don’t hesitate to come and see me, or to talk with Spirit.’
‘’Wouldn’t Spirit be a bit too busy for that, being the central computer of the ship and having to check on so many things?’
In response, Eve turned her head and gave a sober look at Jeffrey.
‘’Always remember this, Jeffrey: we are all children of Spirit and she will always have time for any of us, especially if you find yourself in a difficult situation or are facing a dilemma. You are now part of a distinct, close-knit community living aboard the NOSTROMO and dedicated to serving and protecting its crew and passengers. Captain Forster has only respect for us and considers us on an equal footing with the Humans living aboard her ship or on New Haven. In return, it is only right that we contribute to the best of our abilities to what she calls a village in Space.’
Two minutes later, Eve slowed down her cart and temporarily stopped it in front of a large armored window giving a view of the inside of Drydock Number One, then pointed the NOSTROMO to the two androids.
‘’The A.M.S. NOSTROMO, your first home. Eight-hundred and forty-one other androids also call it home, including me and Spirit’s avatar. Most of them have been existing for over seven years by now and have experienced both life aboard the ship and combat. Don’t hesitate to seek their advice if you are not sure about what to do on the NOSTROMO or how to react to certain situations. Again, we are a tight-knit community and the others will be more than glad to help you in any way they can.’
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Both Jeffrey and Tanya nodded their heads at that as Eve started her cart rolling again, heading towards the nearest access tunnel of the ship. One question then came to Tanya’s electronic mind: was she now experiencing ‘life’, or was she simply existing?
‘I guess that I will have an answer to that soon enough.’
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CHAPTER 4 – DEEP SPACE RECONNAISSANCE
08:25 (Universal Time)
Thursday, January 9, 2336
Crew ready room Number Three, Military Craft Hangar Number Two Avalon Space Yards, low Earth orbit
When Pieter Nordlung entered the ready room with the six crewmembers of his heavy starfighter, he found his squadron leader, Keiko Nomura, standing behind the briefer’s podium, with Tina Forster slightly behind and to her right. Normally, a squadron briefing would have taken place in the unit’s briefing room on the NOSTROMO but, with the ship still being in drydock and with repair crews constantly flying around its hull, all the auxiliary craft and the twelve heavy starfighters of Pieter’s squadron had been moved to two of the large craft hangars of the orbital spaceyard. Once the flight crews of the twelve starfighters were in and seated, Keiko Nomura started speaking in a calm but firm voice.
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‘’Thank you for coming quickly, ladies and gentlemen. While there are no announced new threats at this time, we did receive a mission request from Navy Headquarters, a mission Captain Forster has decided to accept, even though we are now an independent corporate unit. Basically, a prospection ship has been declared overdue and missing and the Navy is now organizing a search and rescue operation for it. The ship in question is the ‘GOLDEN NUGGET’, a mining prospection ship of the
‘DELTA 3’-Class with a length of sixty meters and a span of forty meters. It has a crew of eleven and left Providence over three months ago for a mining exploration trip in the deep sector of the Corona Borealis constellation, which is part of our corporate quadrant of prime responsibility. It should have sent a courier probe with an update of its position and situation some three weeks ago but none has shown up to date. Because of the present heightened alert situation across Spacers League’s Space due to the threat from the Space Predators, the Navy was not able to launch immediately a search for the GOLDEN NUGGET and it is still keeping most of its combat ships in defensive positions within the various systems of the Spacers League. This left very few ships available for a search and rescue mission, something further aggravated by the requirement that only armed ships should venture out, again because of the threat from Space Predators.
Since we are the only corporation which possesses true combat ships, meaning our heavy starfighters, the Navy asked for our help in order to find the GOLDEN NUGGET.
Normally, such a search and rescue mission should be a fairly simple affair, as we would usually have to search one, or at the most, two or three star systems. However, it appears that the captain of the GOLDEN NUGGET, a Harry Stanhouse, only filled a rather vague flight plan and may even have lied about its true destination in that flight plan. Thus, we are now stuck with looking for a needle in the proverbial hay stack.’
‘’But, filling a fraudulent or false flight plan is a criminal offence and could cost him a hefty fine.’ objected one of the starfighter pilots. ‘’Why would this Captain Stanhouse do that, especially if it could put at risk the survival of his ship in case of an accident or major breakdown?’
‘’Let me answer that, Keiko.’ then said Tina Forster while starting to walk to the podium. Once facing the microphone, Tina gave a sober look at the pilot who had asked the question.
‘’Mister Reiner, I believe that one word could explain Captain Stanhouse’s behavior: greed. Greed and fear of competition. From my decades as a ship’s captain, I have met all kinds of other ship captains, both military and civilian. Among them, mining
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prospectors are probably the most individualistic, not to say paranoid, of the lot. For them, the name of the game is to make a quick buck by finding and then claiming new and valuable deposits or, if they are truly lucky, to find new habitable worlds which they could then sell to the highest bidder on the Space property market. I have just read the file on Captain Stanhouse compiled by the Spacers League Space Register Department and he is known as a rather greedy and ask-me-if-I-care type of man. Even the name he gave to his ship, the GOLDEN NUGGET, helps us to understand what kind of man he is. While his flight plan indicated the mid-range of the Corona Borealis constellation, up to a distance of 150 light-years from Earth, I strongly suspect that he was in reality aiming for the deepest parts of the constellation, past 300 light-years from Earth. Thus, while the Navy crews will be searching the near-range and mid-range sections of the Corona Borealis constellation, I have decided for us to go search the deepest parts of the constellation. Some of you will thus be travelling further into Space than any other human crews until now.’
An exchange of low voice exclamations and excited comments followed as Tina gave the podium back to Keiko Nomura, who gestured for silence.
‘’Silence, please! Since we still have to help defend Earth from the Space Predators while the NOSTROMO is being repaired, our squadron will send only four starfighters on this search and rescue mission, with our remaining eight starfighters remaining here, either on orbital patrol or on hangar alert. The four starfighters which will go out to search for the GOLDEN NUGGET are: the RED ARROW; the SHOOTING
STAR; the INTERCEPTOR and the SPACE HAMMER.’
Pieter Nordlung clenched his right fist in triumph on hearing his ship being named as the second one in that short list. He then saw a list appear on the large wall display screen of the briefing room. That list showed the names of the four selected starfighters, along with which stellar systems they would be tasked to search. Each starfighter actually had twelve stellar systems to search, from nearest to farthest, divided into convenient groups of stars relatively near to each other. As for his own list of twelve targeted systems, they were all by far the farthest ones, with the farthest, HD 139284, being an unprecedented 867 light-years away.
‘’Uh, is there a specific reason for my starfighter to have been selected to go search these deepest Space systems, Commander? The three last ones are past the limit of my ship’s Koomak Drive for a single jump and I will need to make multiple jumps during my mission.’
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Keiko Nomura answered him with a malicious grin painted on her lips.
‘’Why? Because you are the biggest card-shark in the squadron and love to gamble, so I am sending you on the biggest gamble of the lot. On the other hand, your crew will then hold the official record for the furthest deep Space trip in Human history, beating the old record of 552 light-years. Do you have a problem with that, Pieter?’
‘’Oh no, not at all!’ he hurried to answer. ‘’I’m okay with that.’
‘’Excellent! Now, your search may well require some ground reconnaissance work, if some debris or traces are found on the surface of a planet. Thus, each of our starfighters on this mission will carry a full squad of ten security androids, who will take care of any needed surface search and rescue operations. Since many of those androids also hold secondary specialties in technical or scientific expertise, they will thus be able to supplement and support your onboard engineering teams, something that will allow you to more easily sustain such a long mission time in Space. I expect your search to take at least three to four weeks, in order to effect as thorough a search as possible. Thus, I will urge you after this to go spend the next twelve hours with your families before departing on your mission. Captain Forster now has one last point to pass on to you.’
Taking place again behind the podium, Tina then looked at the four crews designated for the mission.
‘’Ladies and gentlemen, while your primary mission will be to look for the GOLDEN NUGGET, you will also at the same time be travelling to some of the most remote star systems ever visited by Humans, systems which are also poorly documented due to their huge distances from Earth. Your mission will thus be a golden opportunity to do a full exploration and mapping of those systems, something all astronomers and astrophysicists in the Spacers League will certainly appreciate a lot.
Another point is that, according to the Spacers League’s Space Convention, a ship belonging to or operating in the service of a corporation can claim any stellar system or Space resource of interest that was still unexplored in the sector of responsibility of that said corporation, and this in the name of that corporation. This means that, if you find a stellar system of value with no indigenous sentient life during your search mission, then you will be able to claim it for our corporation. That same reason is probably why the GOLDEN NUGGET went to explore covertly those systems: to be able to claim them as their own finds, since they are independent prospectors, and then sell them to the highest bidder afterward. While I am not interested in money for the sake of money, the
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revenues from a new, valuable star system, would come handy to help finance the development of New Haven and to support the space operations of our ship. We are after all a Space business entity first and foremost. So, do as thorough a mapping and searching of those distant systems as you can while looking for the GOLDEN NUGGET.
That will be all for the moment. Please return here for nine in the evening, after seeing your families and friends before departure.’
On that last sentence, the 84 flight crewmembers got up from their chairs and filed out of the room, along with Tina Forster and Keiko Nomura.
As he was walking towards one exit from the craft hangar where he could take a scooter ride to Drydock Number One and the NOSTROMO, Pieter was already thinking about how he would ensure that his little Frida, now approaching her fourth birthday, would be cared for during his long absence away from the orbital spaceyard. His wife Jehanne routinely worked her security duty shifts at night, after he himself had completed his daytime duties and after little Frida had gone to bed. Normally, there was enough flexibility in their respective work schedules to be able to work out something in the case of an unexpected extra workload. However, with a mission that could well take over a month to complete, he and Jehanne would need to find a temporary solution for those few weeks of absence on his part. Pieter then thought about a possible solution.
Janet Robeson, who was a good friend of the couple and who was fully retired, positively adored Frida, while Frida in turn loved being with the old politician. With Frida already spending a few hours every day at the ship’s daycare center, Janet Robeson, helped by her husband Gerald, could probably help by babysitting Frida during the evenings and nights to come. Taking a decision, Pieter then used his wrist communicator to call his wife, Jehanne de Domrémy, with her answering within a few seconds.
‘’Yes, Pieter?’
‘’Jehanne, my starfighter will have to depart on a long, Deep Space mission tonight. I may be gone for a month or more and I would like for us and Frida to spend a few hours together as a family before I go.’
Jehanne, visible on the tiny display screen of his wrist communicator, gave him a sober look as she replied to him.
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‘’I know about your mission: I just assigned four security squads to that mission.
Frida is presently at the daycare center. We could go watch her play there, then inform her about your need to go out on a long mission.’
‘’I would like that very much, Jehanne. I was thinking about asking Janet Robeson to babysit Frida at night during your work shifts, while I’m gone. We could ask her if she would accept to do so.’
‘’I am sure that she will accept to do that: Janet loves our Frida and the feeling is mutual. How about you come join me at the daycare center of the Habitat Ring Complex?’
‘’Agreed! I am on my way.’
Closing the lid of his communicator, Pieter then walked out of the craft hangar and went to one of the taxi scooters sitting outside in the large hallway. The drive to Drydock One took a few minutes, with another three minutes needed to drive inside the NOSTROMO
and get to the Habitat Ring. Getting off at the entrance of the complex nearest to the daycare center, Pieter eagerly walked to the main door of the daycare center and found Jehanne already waiting in the parents’ lounge of the establishment. Jehanne immediately went to him and kissed him before looking up and smiling to him.
‘’Frida is presently playing with her little friends. Do you wish to speak to her now or to let her play?’
‘’Let’s watch her together as she plays, Jehanne.’ replied Pieter before approaching the large window that gave a view of the daycare’s playroom. He then saw his little Frida, laughing and obviously having a good time as she ran, crawled, climbed and jumped through a big play module with nine other toddler children.
Pieter’s heart warmed as they watched their adopted daughter play inside the module.
Adopting her after Jehanne had saved her from the Space Predators on Nordland had been the best thing he had ever done, bringing extra love, pride and happiness to his life. The couple watched Frida play for another ten minutes, then went to see the woman supervising the play period when the children were told to rest a bit.
‘’Excuse me, Miss Ludolo. Would it be possible to speak in private with our daughter Frida for a moment?’
The ethnic Filipina woman gave Pieter a bit of a concerned look in return.
‘’I hope that this is not to announce some bad news to her, Mister Nordlung.’
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‘’It is not a bad news per say, miss, but I will have to leave on a long Space mission tonight and we want to prepare her for my absence.’
‘’Oh, I see! You may go with her in our parents’ interview room, if that is convenient with you.’
‘’It will do, miss. Thank you!’
Pieter and Jehanne then approached the group of toddlers, who were having some fruit juice while sitting at their small tables. The moment Frida saw them approach, she got up and ran to them, nearly slamming against Pieter’s legs and then happily hugging him.
‘’Daddy! You came to watch me play?’
‘’That, and coming to tell you that I will be leaving for a long Space mission tonight.’
Worry immediately appeared on Frida’s young face on hearing that.
‘’Are you going to fight the monsters again, Daddy?’
‘’No, not this time, sweety. I am going to search for a missing ship far away in Space. That mission may well take a month or more. What me and your mother have in mind is to ask Janet Robeson to help Jehanne babysit you during my absence. Would you like for Janet to babysit you at night?’
‘’Yes! She is nice and I like her a lot, Daddy.’
‘’Excellent! Me and Mommy will thus call her after this.’
‘’Daddy, I want to watch you leave on your mission tonight.’ said at once Frida.
Pieter looked down at her with understanding and nodded his head.
‘’That would normally be past your bedtime, sweety, but we will make an exception for that.’
‘’Thank you, Daddy!’ said Frida while tightening her grip around his legs. Pieter then grabbed her and raised her in his arms before kissing her on one cheek.
‘’I will be most happy to see you watch me leave tonight, Frida. Me and Mommy will now go out and call Janet. Have fun playing with your friends in the meantime.’
He and Jehanne then left the daycare center and stopped for a moment in the main hallway of the Habitat Ring’s ground level, where Pieter used his wrist communicator again to call Janet Robeson. The 78-year-old retired politician, a solidly-built woman with steel-hard character, answered the call after three buzzes, smiling on recognizing Pieter on the display screen of her own wrist communicator.
‘’Hello, Pieter! To what do I owe you the pleasure of your call?’
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‘’Uh, I hope that I am not disturbing you at an awkward time, Janet?’
‘’Not at all! I am presently preparing my notes for a class on political sciences I am due to give this afternoon. So, what’s up?’
‘’I am calling to see if you would accept to help babysit my little Frida on evenings and nights for about a month or possibly more: I am due to leave tonight on a long, Deep Space mission which may well go for more than four weeks.’
‘’Oh dear! Are you going on a reconnaissance mission to find those dreadful Space Predators?’
‘’No! We are going to search for a prospection ship that has been declared missing in the Corona Borealis constellation. That ship left only a vague flight plan and finding it may take some time.’
Janet Robeson made a smirk on hearing that.
‘’Prospectors! The most individualistic, rule-breaking bunch I ever had to deal with during my time as governor of Jupiter and chairwoman of the Spacers League.
How many people were on this ship?’
‘’Eleven! We suspect that this GOLDEN NUGGET went really deep, in order to find and claim for themselves new, valuable Space assets.’
Janet’s expression changed at once on hearing the name of the prospecting ship.
‘’The GOLDEN NUGGET, Harry Stanhouse’s ship?’
‘’Uh, yes! You know that man?’
‘’I do indeed, Pieter. While governor of the Jupiter System, I had my administration slap him twice with fines for contravening regulations about claim-jumping and unsafe flight practices inside the Solar System. After we gained the capability to travel around the stars, this Stanhouse idiot managed to get penalized again a number of times for non-respect of Space regulations and nearly lost his ship’s license as a result. That man is capable of some truly stupid behavior if money is involved, as he is a truly greedy type.’
‘’Wow! That sounds like I may have problems finding him. So, would you accept to help Jehanne by babysitting Frida while my wife does her duty shifts at night?’
‘’I will be most happy to help you in that, Pieter: Frida is a truly adorable little angel. When are you leaving on your mission?’
‘’I have to report back to the Military Craft Hangar Number Two a bit before nine tonight. I will then probably fly out at around nine thirty.’
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‘’Then, me and Gerald will be there to watch your departure, then will take charge of Frida.’
‘’Excellent! See you at nine, then.’
Closing the lid of his communicator, Pieter then kissed gently Jehanne, who was hugging him.
‘’It is arranged! You will be able to go on your night shifts with your mind at peace.’
‘’That’s good!’ replied Jehanne before painting a malicious smile on her android’s face. ‘’Let’s go to our apartment now: I want to wish you the best for your mission...in a private way.’
21:14 (Universal Time)
Observation gallery, Military Craft Hangar Number Two Avalon Space Yards, low Earth orbit
Janet Robeson, standing alongside her husband Gerald and next to Jehanne de Domrémy and little Frida, looked down through the armored windows of the observation gallery at the four heavy starfighters being prepared for departure inside the vast hangar.
She knew well the capabilities of the four MAMBA-Class heavy starfighters, so had confidence that they would return safely from their long Deep Space mission. In fact, they had been designed, built and put into service while she was temporarily serving as the Defense Minister of the Spacers League for two years, and this at the request of then Chairman Karl Langemann. The MAMBA-Class heavy starfighter was actually nearly the size of a corvette, with an ovoid-shaped hull measuring seventy meters in length and with a maximum diameter of 25 meters. Four 25-meter-long heavy disintegrator cannons were mounted on ‘X’-shaped cruciform sponsons, along with a total of twelve reloadable heavy missile launchers, four turret-mounted light disintegrator cannons and six laser turrets, giving it a firepower equal to at least that of a cruiser, but in a much smaller and compact package. It had in fact been specifically designed to combat the threat from the Space Predators, whose powerful laser beams could cut to shreds a standard battlecruiser. However, the twelve MAMBAs forming the attack squadron of the NOSTROMO were even more deadly than their brethren serving with the Spacers League Navy, as their disintegrator cannons were equipped with the still ultra-secret Koomak Beam Conversion Device, an anodyne-looking part attached to their
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muzzles which turned their disintegrator beams into matter-to-anti-matter conversion beams. Any part of a ship or large object touched by such a conversion beam then saw a part of its surface turned into anti-matter, something that instantly resulted in a titanic matter/anti-matter annihilation explosion. The disintegrator cannons of the NOSTROMO
were also equipped with the KBCD, the codeword for it, and had been able to destroy a whole fleet of 34 Space Predator asteroid ships in mere minutes during the Battle for Nordland. Janet then saw another reason to feel confident about the chances for success of the four heavy starfighters.
‘’Here comes the four security android squads assigned to the mission.’
Her husband Gerald, like little Frida, looked down through the armored window they were facing and saw a total of forty security androids marching in perfect cadence, as only androids could, towards the four ships. Each of them wore a large backpack and carried disintegrator rifles, on top of carrying a pair of pistols and large utility knives nearly akin to antique short swords. They also wore their light spacesuits but with their helmet visors left opened. The four squads split up on approaching the starfighters, with each squad then entering a specific craft via their stern access ramps. Jehanne pointed them to Frida, which she held into her arms.
‘’Look, Frida: my androids will be there to keep Daddy safe during his mission.
He will be back in a month or so, of this I am sure.’
Frida reacted to her appeasing words by tightening her hug around Jehanne’s neck while fixing the SHOOTING STAR. When Pieter’s ship started floating and moving towards one of the craft airlocks of the hangar, she waived her right hand and spoke in her tiny voice, sadness evident in her tone.
‘’Bye-bye, Daddy! Please come back.’
Those words brought tears to Janet Robeson’s eyes: in her long political career in the Spacers League, she too often had to console the families of valiant ship crewmembers who had died in service or in combat. Hopefully, she would not need to do that again in the coming weeks.
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CHAPTER 5 – ADS 9731
22:03 (Universal Time)
Thursday, January 9, 2336
Cockpit of the heavy starfighter SHOOTING STAR
In star system ADS 9731, Corona Borealis constellation 359 light-years from Earth
‘’The spectrometer analysis of the system we are entering confirms it as being ADS 9731, Pieter.’
‘’Good!’ said Pieter Nordlung, acknowledging the information from Beza Gebre, his sensors officer. ‘’We will stay in passive sensors mode for the moment and keep electronic silence, just in case some Space Predator ship would be in this system. Start mapping this system in detail, Beza, while I go meet our assigned squad of androids.’
‘’Passive scans only and electronic silence, understood.’
Getting up from his pilot’s seat, Pieter stepped down on the transparent platform supporting the four duty stations occupying the center of his ship’s bridge sphere, which had an internal diameter of seven meters and which gave his flight crew a 360-degree view of Space around them. Going past Beza Gebre’s sensors station, Pieter then walked on the short transparent bridge linking the work stations platform with the access door of the sphere, then opened the door, which itself was covered with a holographic display plate, and entered the crew quarters section of his heavy starfighter. Now finding himself inside the large crew lounge of his ship, Pieter went to one of the ten
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security androids waiting in padded seats, intent on talking with him. The squad leader got up then before speaking to him.
‘’We have arrived in the ADS 9731 system, sir?’
‘’We have, Decurion Vogel. We have now started to scan the system in passive mode and under electronic silence, in case there are Space Predators in this system.
What do you and your people know about this system?’
Kurt Vogel was secretly satisfied to hear Pieter call his androids ‘people’, something not everybody did, even on the NOSTROMO.
‘’We all downloaded the known astronomical data on ADS 9731 and on the other eleven systems we have been tasked to search. The ADS 9731 star system is one of the rare examples of a multiple star system with six distinct stars and is situated 359
light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Corona Borealis. It is composed of four F-Class white subdwarf stars, plus one G4V-Class yellow dwarf and one M3V-Class red dwarf star. No planets were detected from Earth but, due to the distance, there is still uncertainty on that subject.’
‘’Very good, Decurion Vogel. Since it will take us at least a few hours before we know more on this star system, we now have ample time to get to know each other.
Would you present your people to me?’
‘’With pleasure, sir! First, I am Decurion Kurt Vogel, the leader of the First Squad of the Ninth Century, which is still being formed with newly-built androids. I myself was built five years ago at the Avalon Space Yards, like my second-in-command, Senior Legionnaire Miri Jintsu, and Legionnaire John Lee, our squad’s combat paramedic. All three of us experienced combat in the 55 CANCRI and TOI 1231 systems and during the Battle for Nordland and we were assigned to this new squad in order to provide some depth of experience to it. The seven other members of my squad were built during the last month and thus lack combat experience but are all very capable individuals.’
‘’I am sure that they will perform in an exemplary manner during our mission, Decurion. In fact, our mission will be an excellent opportunity for them to acquire experience.’
‘’Indeed, sir! Let me now present to you my new androids. First, you have Legionnaire Tanya Orlova, then Legionnaire Jeffrey Brown, Legionnaire Sven Larssen, Legionnaire Jacinda Madison, Legionnaire Ahmed Ramadi, Legionnaire Régis Dumont and, finally, Legionnaire Brian Mojambo, my heavy weapons gunner.’
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Pieter smiled and shook hands with each of the androids as they were presented to him.
He had difficulty not to stare at Jacinda Madison, whose youthful beauty was more than worthy of note. The two other ‘women’ of the squad, Tanya Orlova and Miri Jintsu, while not as stunning as Jacinda Madison, were still more than pretty by anyone’s book4.
Decurion Vogel then asked him a question once he had finished exchanging greetings with all the androids.
‘’How do you intend to proceed in this system, sir?’
‘’We will wait for our sensors sweep to be completed, which should take another twelve to fifteen hours, then we will go investigate and examine from up-close any planet found in this system. If we find no planets, then we will jump to our next target system: HIP 78288, some 95 light-years from here. What are you planning to do, you and your androids, during that time, Decurion?’
‘’We all already downloaded the basic schematics for your heavy starfighter, so that we can easily find our way around and can get to its various systems if we need to effect repairs. Our next step is to physically go around your ship, in order to get familiar with it and examine in details certain critical parts of it. Once that will be done, we will spend the time by listening to music and watch old movies and entertainment shows.’
‘’Old movies? What kind of old movies?’
‘’Mainly war movies and science-fiction movies mostly produced during the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. During the last few weeks, while the NOSTROMO was being repaired, some of our senior centurions went down on Earth’s surface and shopped around in order to find and buy from historical archives copies of old films and music recordings which have been digitalized and preserved by a few companies specializing in preserving old records and electronic data. Some of those old science-fiction movies depicted, or rather tried to depict, what robots and androids could look and act like. We find watching such speculative works rather entertaining, mostly because they got it so wrong. As for the old war movies, we actually find them most interesting because they show the state of mind of Humans when they are fighting in wars. Some of those war movies even gave us valuable lessons in military tactics and behavior through the ages.’
‘’Interesting! Maybe I and my crew should watch some of those old movies. Are there some in particular that you would recommend for us to see?’
4 For data on the First Squad, Ninth Century, refer to the relevant annex at the end of this e-book.
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‘’Certainly, sir! I will download in your ship’s entertainment databanks copies of those films and musical pieces we brought with us but I would particularly recommend to you the following war movies: ‘Saving Private Ryan’; ‘Sink the Bismarck’; ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’; ‘We were Soldiers’; ‘Top Gun - Maverick’ and ‘The Battle of Britain’.
In terms of science-fiction movies, I would recommend ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ in its early version, one of the first movies featuring a robot; ‘War of the Worlds’; ‘M3GAN’,
‘Alita – Battle Angel’, ‘Terminator 2’ and ‘Aliens’. By the way, ‘Aliens’ depicted ferocious alien creatures which may remind you a lot of the Space Predators we fought against.’
‘’Hum, I will certainly watch those movies when I will have the time to do so, Decurion. I will now return on the bridge to see how our sensors scan is going. Due to the length of our mission and the limited size of my crew, I intend to split my flight crew into two pairs, so that we can man our sensors without getting too fatigued.’
‘’May I propose the services of my androids in order to help man your bridge, sir?
We are all qualified in ship’s sensors and weapons operation and can learn further about your sensors by downloading their operation protocols and procedures.’
‘’You can?’ said Pieter, smiling on hearing that. ‘’This would help us tremendously, Decurion. I thus propose that we split into four daily shifts, each composed of one of my flight crew and two of your androids.’
‘’You can count on us, sir.’
‘’Excellent! Thanks for your support, Decurion.’
‘’My pleasure, sir.’ replied Vogel. ‘’I will now lead my squad in a tour of your ship.’
‘’Go right ahead, Decurion. I will be on the bridge if you have any question for me.’
With that said, Pieter returned into the bridge sphere, where he informed his three flight crewmembers about the new arrangement with the androids, something that clearly pleased them. He also informed them about the films and music to be soon downloaded into the ship’s entertainment databanks, another thing that attracted smiles, as the crew facilities aboard a heavy starfighter were fairly limited. He then sent Lisa Wong and Felix Delgado to go rest, himself staying to assist Beza Gebre in manning their first shift in this system.
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15:52 (Universal Time)
Friday, January 10, 2336
Crew lounge of the SHOOTING STAR
