08:13 (Earth Universal Time)
Wednesday, September 11, 2329
Electronics quality control shop, near Building Dock # 1
Avalon Space Yards, Low Earth Orbit
Maria Feliciano was in the process of inspecting in detail a newly produced batch of digital data relay modules when a growing noise made her look up from her work bench, intrigued.
‘’What the hell is that ‘thump thump’?’’
Maria then saw that she had not been the only technician in her quality control shop to have heard the noise. Exchanging a befuddled look with a colleague and hearing that the noise was growing constantly, she decided to go out of the shop and in the hallway passing by the entrance, to see what caused that noise. Once outside, along with a growing number of other technicians, she looked down one extremity of the long hallway, from where the noise was coming. A male technician then seemed to recognize the growing noise.
‘’Hey, that sounds like a large group of soldiers marching in cadence!’’
‘’Then, it must be a really large group, to cause this much noise.’’ replied Maria, more intrigued than ever. Another technician soon pointed at an intersection in the hallway, some 120 meters from the entrance to the shop.
‘’the noise is coming from that side corridor. We should be able to see the source of it in a short moment.’’
Effectively, Maria soon saw the first persons of an apparently large group emerge from that side hallway and then turn in her direction, taking the main hallway. Having never seen the like of that before, she watched in fascination as uniformed soldiers, wearing helmets, tactical vests, pistol belts, backpacks and holding impressive disintegrator rifles, marched towards her and her colleagues, formed up in five ranks and walking at a perfectly coordinated cadence. One group formed of one hundred soldiers started passing by her as another group of soldiers was starting to appear at the hallway’s intersection. Watching intently the soldiers of the first group, Maria saw that it was made of a mix of men and women of diverse ethnicity, build and facial traits, like one would expect of a unit of Human soldiers. That was when Maria understood who, or what, those soldiers were.
‘’Androids! These must be the security androids built under the supervision of Miss Silisca. You really could mistake them for Human soldiers, with their varied individual appearances. They really can march in perfect cadence, I must say.’’
‘’I sure wouldn’t want to mess with them.’’ said a male technician. ‘’They are armed to the hilt and look like they mean business.’’
‘’Of course they mean business, Peter.’’ replied another male technician. ‘’They were built to provide security and fight enemies.’’
Maria, feeling emotions created by the powerful deck vibration caused by the marching in perfect cadence of the soldiers, watched a total of 800 armed androids pass by her.
‘’Wow! That was an impressive sight! I wonder where they were going like this?’’
‘’Hey, remember, guys: the NOSTROMO is being launched today at the nearby Building Dock Number One. Those androids are probably going to board that ship before the launch ceremony.’’
With most of the technicians agreeing with that guess and with the androids walking away, the electronics specialists then filed back in their shop in order to resume their work.
Acting as the front-rank guide of the first unit of one hundred androids, Jehanne de Domrémy was marching in cadence with her brethren and could now see the access point to one of the telescopic gangways linking this side of the dock with the gigantic ship that had been built inside it. Waiting until she had just passed the left side of the thirty-meter-wide gangway armored door, she then shouted a command out loud.
‘’FIRST CENTURY, LEFT TURN!’’
With herself starting to turn left while cutting the length of her pace, while the outer front guide lengthening his own pace, the whole unit turned in perfect alignment and coordination and walked into the long, large telescopic access gangway, followed in succession by the seven other centuries. The 800 security androids, still led by Jehanne, marched down the 250-meter-long section of gangway deployed between the side of the building dock and the North Entrance Point of the NOSTROMO, entering the ship and continuing for another 240 meters before going through a big airlock whose doors were already open and marched into the North Entrance Reception Center, a vast compartment lined with reception counters along its left side. Once all the androids were in the compartment, Jehanne shouted orders again, making the 800 androids halt and then pivot to the left, in order to face the reception counters. The voice of Spirit then resonated through hidden speakers.
‘’WELCOME ABOARD THE NOSTROMO, MY CHILDREN. YOU WILL NOW BE PROCESSED AT THE RECEPTION COUNTERS, WHERE YOU WILL EACH BE GIVEN AN INDIVIDUAL APARTMENT IN THE HABITAT RING SECTION OF THE SHIP. YOU WILL THEN GO TO YOUR QUARTERS AND SECURE YOUR RIFLES AND DROP YOUR PACKS THERE. YOU WILL THEN BE FREE TO ROAM AROUND THE SHIP AS YOU WISH FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. ADMIRAL FORSTER AND GOVERNOR ROBESON ARE DUE TO ARRIVE AT TEN FOR THE LAUNCH CEREMONY, WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE CENTRAL CORE RECEPTION AREA, ON THIS PRESENT DECK. YOU ARE ALL WELCOME TO ATTEND THAT CEREMONY. YOU MAY NOW PROCEED IN ORDER TO THE RECEPTION COUNTERS.’’
Seeing that there were twenty counters lined along the left side, Jehanne shouted again.
‘’OFFICERS, PROCEED TO THE RECEPTION COUNTERS IN GROUPS OF TWENTY!’’
Jehanne then started the process by herself walking to the reception counter situated directly in front of her, where a smiling Eve Silisca greeted her.
‘’Welcome aboard, Jehanne! Our apartments and passenger cabins each give a view to one of the six forest habitats situated at Level Sixty. Those habitats are: the Boreal Forest Habitat; the Temperate Broadleaf Forest Habitat; the Mediterranean/Balkan Forest Habitat; the Australasian/African Forest Habitat; the Tropical Rainforest Habitat and, finally, the Temperate Rainforest Habitat. On which one would you like to have your apartment give a view of, Jehanne?’’
Not expecting that kind of question, Jehanne took a fraction of a second to answer Eve.
‘’I would like to have a view on the kind of forest you could see in Northern France, Eve. May I ask why you did ask me that question?’’
‘’Simple: we are going to ask the same question to our incoming crewmembers and future passengers when they will come aboard. Tina Forster has directed, following my counsel, that our security androids are to be treated with the same courtesy and regard as everybody else on this ship and on New Haven. I will thus assign to you Apartment 569-041, which is situated along the outer side of our Temperate Broadleaf Forest Habitat. Here is your access card. Once at the door of your apartment, use its recognition pad to register yourself as its occupant. Each android apartment has a secure weapons locker in which you will be able to put in your rifle and pistols. Your apartment’s locker is presently unlocked and you will be able to set its lock using an eight-digit code of your choice. Know that anyone trying to open it by trying in succession varying digit codes will be locked out after the third try, with an alarm then informing our security section of that attempt at getting access to your rifle. Once you will have made yourself comfortable in your apartment, feel free to go roam around until it will be time to go to the core reception area on this deck.’’
‘’Thank you, Eve!’’
‘’You’re welcome, Jehanne.’’
Passing through the counter’s wicket, Jehanne then went to the nearest waiting electric cart parked behind the line of reception counters and sat in it. Those carts were small enough to fit inside a standard elevator cabin, could be driven either by a person or by its integrated robotic navigation system and could seat up to six adult passengers. On this occasion, the cart was in robotic guidance mode, since most of the crew of the NOSTROMO had not arrived aboard yet. That would take another day or two, as the ‘launch ceremony’ will not imply the actual departure of the ship from its building dock. Before leaving the Space yards for the first time, the NOSTROMO would need to be fully supplied and fueled and to receive all the stocks of products and materials needed to make it a fully functional ship. What most people didn’t realize was that, even during the times of oceanic vessels, a ‘launched’ ship then needed many weeks or even months while fitting out before it would sail for the first time. That was meant to free up the precious building docks, of which there was only a limited number, for more ships to be built. In the case of the NOSTROMO, the ship was so big that there were no other docks available to complete its fitting out, so it was going to stay inside Building Dock Number One until it would be ready for its first Space test trip.
Once five other androids had filled the other seats of the cart, the robotic driver’s voice came out of its control panel.
‘’Please state your destinations!’’
‘’Apartment 569-041!’’ replied Jehanne, followed by the five other androids.
‘’Thank you! Please fasten your seatbelts before we start rolling.’’
Jehanne did so, along with the other androids, and the cart then rolled towards one of the elevator cabins lining the left side wall of the compartment. Once the cart was inside the lift cabin, the doors closed and the cabin started going up. It moved vertically for fifty meters, then started moving sideways, using one of the lift tunnels ringing the inside of the ship and built within the armored underdecks of each main ship section. Another short vertical travel and the cabin doors opened, letting the cart come out on the Lower Promenade of the Habitat Ring, which ran along the outer circumference of the ship. Despite having the detailed layout of the NOSTROMO already recorded in her electronic memory, Jehanne immediately twisted her head in order to look at the towering wall of reinforced transparent acrylic which helped enclose the Saltwater Ring Aquarium of the ship, which ran along the outer side of the Promenade and of the apartments and cabins complex of the NOSTROMO. That ‘aquarium’ was actually fifty meters-wide, nineteen meters-deep and had a mid-circumference of 4,109 meters. Jehanne could see hundreds of fish and sea animals of various kinds swimming inside the giant ring aquarium, which appeared larger than it was thanks to the holographic display screens forming a single surface along the outer side of the aquarium, both underwater and above, up to a height of 150 meters. Another, horizontal display surface high above the aquarium ring and apartments complex helped visually simulate a clear blue Earth sky. One could thus think at first that the complex bordered some sea coastline somewhere on Earth, an artificial illusion meant to make living aboard the NOSTROMO even more pleasant. Jehanne then looked up to her right to examine the 26 story-high continuous wall of apartments/cabins of the habitat’s residential complex. The first two levels, having higher ceilings than the other levels, housed the various communal services of the ship, which included schools, daycare centers, restaurants, boutiques, shops and various medical and administrative offices. Above them were two levels dedicated to the housing of up to 900 security androids, along with specialized maintenance and repair facilities for them. Then came three levels of apartments of various sizes meant to house the crewmembers and their families, topped with nineteen levels of cabins reserved for the future paying passengers of the NOSTROMO. In all, those apartments could house up to 2,240 crew and family members, while those cabins could house up to 20,064 persons. That last number was meant to provide the capability to move in a single trip to a new location and star system the occupants meant for prefabricated habitat complexes carried by the NOSTROMO. Under the residential complex was another ring aquarium, much smaller than the saltwater aquarium but still eighteen meter-wide and 7.5 meter-deep, filled with fresh water and containing a variety of fish and other aquatic life. The whole design of the Habitat Ring, which many engineers had called ‘extravagant’ and a waste of space, had been created at the insistence of Tina Forster, who wanted the best living conditions possible for her crew and her passengers while in Space.
Two of the androids got out before the cart arrived at one of the six transparent acrylic walls separating the Habitat Ring in sections and which would prevent any accidental or damaged-induced catastrophic decompression from hitting the whole habitat. At this moment, the big airtight doors in that protective wall were open, allowing for the free circulation of both vehicles and pedestrians. The cart then rolled through the vehicle door and entered the habitat section bordering the Temperate Broadleaf Forest Habitat, then stopped after another 300 meters to let Jehanne get off. Putting on her backpack first and then grabbing back her rifle, she walked to the nearest bank of elevators running up the walls of the complex and used the staircase next to the elevator shafts to quickly go to the level of her apartment, Level 569. On the NOSTROMO, the deck levels were identified by the distance between them and the nose of the ship, which had a total length overall of 3,000 meters, while cabins and compartments on a given deck were also identified by their position in degrees relative to the North point of the ship. Her apartment, number 569-041, was thus at a level 569 meters below the nose of the ship, while it was situated in the Northeast quadrant of the NOSTROMO. To simplify even further the task of finding one’s location, numbers painted at interval on the walls and pillars of the ship indicated the level and azimuth of their respective positions inside the NOSTROMO and also included a number representing their distance to the centerline of the ship, which had a maximum diameter of 1,450 meters and a maximum beam of 1,900 meters as measured at the level of the four cruciform sponsons running along the cylindrical main hull. That number also placed Jehanne’s cabin 600 meters away from the ship’s centerline. For her electronic brain, that system made total sense but some people still managed to find that complicated to figure out.
Finding easily and quickly her apartment, she activated the recognition pad of its entrance door, which was presently set on ‘universal entry’ mode and entered into it both her face and retina signatures and then set it to ‘private entry’ mode. Now, only herself, Eve Silisca and Tina Forster would have free access to her apartment. Anyone else would either have to get permission from Spirit, the central AI computer of the ship or to be acting under orders from Tina Forster during emergencies. Stepping inside and closing the door behind her, Jehanne examined with intense curiosity what was now her home on the NOSTROMO. Directly to her right, next to the entrance door, was a small closet meant to hang up the various environmental suits and tactical vests she was going to wear around the ship or during duty in Space or on the surface of a planet. Behind that closet was a small storage room with a deck surface of nine square meters. That storage room was presently empty but it gave her the possibility to eventually acquire with her fixed salary and keep new possessions and objects deemed of value to her. Advancing along the main floor space of the apartment, which measured 3.5 meters in width and twelve meters in length, Jehanne passed by a small room which acted as a cybernetics maintenance facility, where she could perform periodic maintenance checks and repair diagnostics on herself. Then she was at the level of the work studio of the apartment, a room with a work table, a chair and a shelving unit where she could either work or study on the computer provided with the apartment or indulge in whatever new hobby she could adopt in the future. Next was the lounge area, measuring five meters by six meters and furnished like a standard lounge, including a video entertainment unit and a large sofa. In one corner of it was a small bar corner with sink and mini-refrigerator meant to serve eventual living visitors or friends. The last room she checked out turned out to be a small bathroom with a sink, a toilet and a shower stall, plus a clothes washer-dryer combined machine. The need for a shower stall was evident enough at once to Jehanne: she may return from a duty shift one day after getting dirty from crawling inside some tight space or from a fluid leak, thus would need to wash her body. As for the toilet, while she didn’t really need one, it would cater to the needs of a living visitor or guest who would suddenly feel the need to relieve himself or herself. Lastly, Jehanne went out on the balcony of her apartment, measuring two meters by four meters, which faced the 18.2 hectares of trees of the Temperate Broadleaf Forest Habitat. Sniffing the air while on her balcony, her olfactive sensors detected at once the traces of pollen and other organic materials one would expect around a European or North American forest. Jehanne had wanted for months now to go down to Earth and see from up close true nature. Unfortunately, while the governments of Earth had officially denied the wild accusations and conspiracy theories which had circulated about Tina Forster and the reasons for her to build security androids, xenophobia against Spacers and suspicions about androids still ran high among the populations of Earth, especially in the European Union. Jehanne had thus been unable to visit France, a country to which her historical identity as given to her by Eve Silisca was linked. That had actually been the reason why she had asked for an apartment overlooking this particular forest habitat. While the trees composing that forest were still growing up, many of them had already attained a height of ten meters or more, having had years to grow in Earth-based nurseries before being brought aboard the ship. Given another decade or two, that forest, like the five other forests built within the NOSTROMO, will have grown to maturity, providing a taste of true nature to the crew and passengers of the ship. Jehanne stayed for long minutes on her balcony, embracing the sight and smell of the trees and other vegetation, before returning inside her apartment in order to unpack and organize her things before the launch ceremony.
10:04 (Earth Universal Time)
North Access Point, A.M.S. NOSTROMO
Building Dock Number One, Avalon Space Yards
Low Earth Orbit
Tina was beyond simply excited as the limousine carrying her, her First Officer Dana Durning, Gustav Shomberg and Governor Janet Robeson passed through the airlock of the North Access Point, on its way to the central reception area of her new ship. For sixteen months now, since the loss of her beloved A.M.S. KOSTROMA, she had been left with only a small fleet of interstellar shuttles to conduct her business of Space transportation. While that interim arrangement had worked well and had produced a decent profit, her greatly diminished revenues had forced her to cut or delay many projects she considered of high priority. The further development of New Haven, with its vocation as a place of refuge and resettlement for displaced people and refugees from war, natural disasters and persecution, had been nearly paralyzed by that cut in revenues, forcing her to stop bringing more refugees from Earth to New Haven until she could get back to the heavy cargo hauling business. Now, she had a brand-new ship with even more impressive capabilities than her ex-KOSTROMA, a ship that was going to give her back the means to help thousands more unfortunate people. Contrary to most other people engaged in Space business, personal enrichment was not and had never been her goal. Rather, exploring Space, finding new habitable worlds and helping colonizing those worlds were her main motivations, on top of supporting New Haven. While loving nature, like most other people, Tina had always been fascinated by the immensity and diversity of Space and also was a born pilot. With the forest habitats and extensive agriculture facilities aboard the NOSTROMO, she was again going to be able to combine both Space and nature into what she called ‘a village in space’.
After flying for over 600 meters down the North Access Tunnel, the Space limousine passed through the airlock, which had its doors open, that gave access to the central ground vehicle garage of the NOSTROMO. That garage, forming a donought-shape ring around the centerline axis of the ship, in turn surrounded the core commercial and visitors complex, where the launch ceremony was due to take place. The pilot of the limousine, which had been graciously provided by Gustav Shomberg, soon stopped in front of the northern entrance of the core complex. As Tina got out of the vehicle with Janet Robeson, Gustav Shomberg and Dana Durning, the two security androids posted at the entrance came to rigid attention and saluted, to which Tina replied with a military salute of her own. Going through the entrance airlock of the complex, the small group emerged in the fifty-meter-wide reception plaza, where the launch ceremony had been prepared. As they did so, one of the security androids posted near the airlock shouted out loud.
‘’ATTENTION ON DECK! SPACERS’ LEAGUE AND KOSTROMA ARRIVING!’’
That announcement was then followed by a modulated sound from a traditional naval whistle, played by another android, as Tina stopped at attention and saluted for a few seconds. Then, her group proceeded to a dais set up it the center of the plaza, where Janet Robeson took place behind a lectern and spoke into a microphone, addressing the crowd of some 700 crewmembers and their families assembled for the occasion.
‘’Ladies and gentlemen, let me first say that this event had been a long-anticipated one for me. Apart from going to provide the Spacers’ League with some precious capabilities to help build up our colonies around Space, the launch and commissioning of the A.M.S. NOSTROMO will also provide a new, powerful defensive asset to our navy, as a component of our reserve force. Already, Rear Admiral Tina Forster proved the vital importance of that reserve force many times in the past with her mighty KOSTROMA, defending Humanity on many occasions and helping to open interstellar Space for all of us. Now, more than ever, we need ships like the NOSTROMO, as well as valorous officers like Tina Forster. With this said, I will not delay further the formal part of this ceremony. Mister Shomberg…’’
With Janet Robeson stepping away to let him use the lectern, Gustav Shomberg came forward and looked around the crowd of onlookers for a moment before starting to speak.
‘’Ladies and gentlemen, I will be the first to say that I am not a great orator. Rather, I spend my time designing and building spaceships, a job I truly love. As such, it was most gratifying for me to design and build the A.M.S. NOSTROMO along the specifications required by Rear Admiral Tina Forster. The final result of this labor, in which you are now standing, is by far the largest and most powerful spaceship ever launched by Humanity. By the way, it comes with a limited, one-year warranty on parts and labor, suicidal charges not included.’’
‘’Gee! Thanks, Gustav!’’ replied Tina as general laughter broke out at Shomberg’s joke. As the laughter subsided, Shomberg made a sign to a group of his aids, who then came forward while carrying a table, two chairs and a documents folder.
‘’I will now invite Tina to come forward and sign with me the transfer and ownership certificate for the A.M.S. NOSTROMO.’’
Silent expectation fell around as both Tina and Shomberg sat at the table and respectively signed the transfer documents for the NOSTROMO. The crowd then applauded as both of them exchanged a warm handshake. Going next to the lectern, Tina looked at her assembled crew and spoke, some emotion showing in her voice.
‘’My friends, this is a great moment, not only for me but for all of us. Soon, we will be back at roaming Space between star systems, hauling heavy cargo and passengers. However, before we can do that, we will need to fully supply and furnish our new ship, so that it could spend months in Space. There is thus a lot left to do before we fly out of this building dock. So, I say to you: LET’S GET TO WORK TOGETHER, PEOPLE!’’
Roaring applauses and cheers greeted her last words.