CHAPTER 9 – RETIRING FROM OFFICE
The planet Icelandia
13:08 (Universal Time)
Friday, October 25, 2329
Tina’s work office, Executive Deck, Core Section
A.M.S. NOSTROMO, in low orbit around Icelandia
Trappist-1 System, 39 light-years away from Earth
In the Constellation Aquarius
Tina, having just returned from her lunch break, decided to review the latest news on the UniNet and check for messages before continuing her work at planning her next commercial transport trips. Business had been booming for her NOSTROMO since day one of its commissioning into service, thanks to the ever-increasing interstellar trade in goods, raw products and passengers around the Spacers’ League and to the very limited number of ultra-heavy cargo ships available to carry large and heavy loads. In that aspect, the NOSTROMO was truly the king around, the same way the KOSTROMA had been before its destruction. From having spent months playing the small passenger star liner company while waiting for the NOSTROMO to be completed, Tina was now able to choose what transportation contracts she would take and what loads she would deliver, making in the process honest but also sizeable profits. That had in turn allowed her corporation to resume investing in the further development of New Haven and the expansion of its population capacity. Only three days ago, that had made possible the selection and relocation to New Haven of a new batch of refugees and homeless people from Earth, mostly from Africa and Asia.
Knowing that an automated courier drone had brought to the Trappist-1 System the latest interstellar news and messages a mere hour ago, Tina checked first the latest major news titles on the UniNet. Seeing a video report about the oncoming Spacers’ League’s elections, Tina opened that report and listened to it with interest. Those elections, scheduled for early December, concerned those for the position of Chairperson of the High Council, a post presently held by Janet Robeson, along with the posts of the Deputy Chairperson of the High Council and of the planetary governors in the various star systems now part of the Spacers’ League. Tina had been expecting her friend Janet Robeson to run for reelection again but was not a little surprised, even mildly shocked, when she saw that Janet had publicly decided not to seek another mandate. However, the reasons stated by Janet Robeson to explain her decision made sense and had nothing to do with any possible lack of popularity. She was after all 72 years old and had been Chairperson of the High Council for a very respectable twenty years, having won in five successive elections. And that didn’t count her prior two terms as Governor of the Jupiter System! If anybody deserved a quiet retirement, it was Janet Robeson. Avidly reviewing the report, Tina saw no information about where she would retire. However, since she was presently living on New Providence, where her present office was, she would most probably elect to retire on that planet. After all, New Providence was a prime colonization world and a very popular destination for emigrants from the Solar System. Seeing little else of interest for her in the other news items, Tina then switched her computer to the contract proposals still awaiting her attention and resumed her work.
Some forty minutes later, she got a call on her desk videophone, making her stop her work for a moment and open the link. The face of the head chef of the NOSTROMO, Leila Kajirian, then appeared on the display screen. The 51-year-old Algerian-Armenian woman was smiling widely, prompting a remark from Tina.
‘’Leila, you look like you just got some good news. What’s up?’’
‘’I effectively got a piece of good news, Tina. You remember that new assistant chef position we were trying to fill in order to help me on the NOSTROMO? Well, I finally have a candidate with all the qualifications I was asking for.’’
Tina immediately grinned on hearing that.
‘’But that’s great, Leila! With the nearly impossible conditions you had put on that new chef’s position, I had thought that you would never find someone to your taste. So, does that candidate fulfill all of your expectations and demands?’’
‘’He does, Tina! He is an expert cook in French Haute Cuisine, is a fine wine connoisseur and also regularly writes restaurant critiques for the ‘Bocuse Magazine’ and the ‘Michelin Guide’.’’
‘’Wow! I’m impressed! And what is the name of that culinary pearl?’’
‘’Gerald Holmes! I would like your authorization to have one of our shuttles go pick him up on New Providence, so that he could come and fill the position as my new assistant chef.’’
Tina was about to say ‘yes’ to Leila’s request when something clicked inside her mind.
‘’Huh, wait! Did you say ‘Gerald Holmes’? And he resides on New Providence?’’
‘’I did! Is there a problem about his candidacy, Tina?’’
‘’Do you by chance have a picture of that Gerald Holmes, Leila?’’
‘’Of course! I have a whole video interview of him attached to his resumé. Here it is.’’
The picture of a distinguished but also jovial-looking man with graying hair then appeared in a corner of her display screen. One look at it made Tina’s head drop down, prompting an alarmed question from Leila.
‘’What? Is there something wrong about my candidate, Tina?’’
‘’Wrong? Not really: he only happens to be the First Gentleman of the Spacers’ League, the husband of Chairperson Janet Robeson.’’
While Leila was surprised into silence for a moment, she quickly regained her composure and fired a reply at Tina.
‘’So? If he is fully qualified for the job, and I believe he is, then I want him here, on the NOSTROMO. So, what is the problem?’’
‘’Leila, if he comes on the NOSTROMO, it will be as a new crewmember and permanent resident of the ship. In turn, either this will mean that he will become separated from his wife, or he will…’’
The truth then dawned on Tina like a ton of bricks, making her eyes bulge.
‘’Oh my god! Janet Robeson is going to retire on my ship!’’
‘’Retire on the NOSTROMO? What makes you think that?’’
‘’Leila, I just saw a news report on the UniNet, announcing that Janet Robeson will not seek reelection in December as Chairperson of the High Council and will retire from politics at the end of her mandate, in two months. I was wondering about where she intended to spend her retirement but it now seems that the answer is right here, on our ship.’’
‘’Well, she certainly could have chosen a worst place, Tina. Our ship has the best living facilities and conditions of any other ship or even space station in the Spacers’ League. Also, by living on the NOSTROMO, she and her husband will be able to visit regularly about every planet of the League. What more could one ask for?’’
‘’Damn, you’re right! Alright, I will order a shuttle to go pick up Mister Holmes on New Providence today. However, I expect that his wife will not come aboard at once, as she still has close to two months left to serve in her mandate. Gosh, I better reserve now a suitable apartment for him and his wife. I believe that a couple of two-bedroom apartments are still available here on the executive deck.’’
In reaction, Leila shook an index at her on the screen.
‘’Tssk, tssk! Ready at once to provide them a luxury suite? Where is your egalitarian streak, Tina?’’
‘’But we are talking about the present First Couple of the Spacers’ League, Leila! Besides, as the new assistant chef of the NOSTROMO, Gerald Holmes will qualify as a senior member of the ship’s staff. You yourself have a suite on the executive deck.’’
‘’Hum, true! Well, I am impatient to meet him in the flesh, so that we could discuss new recipes for our restaurants and cafeterias. Thanks for approving him, Tina.’’
‘’You’re welcome, Leila!’’
Tina then closed the video link and sat back in her chair, digesting what she had just learned. However, the idea that Janet Robeson had chosen her ship as her place of retirement both flattered her and made her happy, as Janet was as much a good friend as she was her political leader.
19:46 (Universal Time)
Craft Hangars and Launch Bays Deck
Frame level # 1070, A.M.S. NOSTROMO
In orbit around Icelandia, Trappist-1 System
When Gerald Holmes walked out of the light shuttle that had picked him up in New Providence, he found Tina Forster and Leila Kajirian waiting for him in the hangar now sheltering his shuttle, an electric cart parked nearby. First waving happily at the two women, Gerald then walked to Tina and hugged her, with her reciprocating.
‘’Tina, it is nice to see you again, especially now that you are aboard your new ship.’’
‘’And it is always nice to see you, Gerald. How are you these days?’’
‘’Just fine, Tina. I may now be 71-years-old but I still feel like a young man in his forties.’’
Tina smiled and looked him into the eyes at those words.
‘’Did you say that to flatter me, Gerald? I am in my forties, you know.’’
‘’Any excuse or occasion to flatter and compliment you is good enough for me, Tina.’’ said Gerald, making Tina’s smile widen.
‘’You’re really splattering honey around today, Gerald. At the least, leave some for Leila. After all, you are here thanks to her.’’
‘’You’re right: I was being rude.’’ replied Gerald before hugging the petite head chef.
‘’So, how is Janet?’’ asked Tina, making Gerald nod his head.
‘’She is also fine, especially since she announced that she would retire from politics in December. While she is not saying it in public, Janet is actually happy to leave politics. As she said to me, she went through a lot of stress and difficult situations while in office. The only worry I have about her retiring is about what she will be able to do during her retirement to stay busy. She was never good at sitting around and do nothing.’’
‘’You are too right about that, Gerald. However, I believe that I have something on the NOSTROMO that would fill her days quite nicely. However, I will keep that to myself for the moment: if I told you about my idea, you would be liable to message her in advance about it. Well, with this said, let’s collect your luggage, then we will drive you to your apartment. I hope that you didn’t bring the kitchen sink with you when you packed up?’’
Gerald then gave Tina a fake scandalized look at her question.
‘’What? You mean that there is no kitchen sink in my new apartment?’’
The three of them briefly laughed at the joke, with Tina then gently patting Gerald’s shoulder.
‘’Be reassured: ALL of our apartments have sinks. It is just that I have seen my lot of government ministers and functionaries traveling around with a mountain of suitcases.’’
‘’Then, be reassured, Tina. I brought only three bags with me: one for my suits; one for my computer and notes on recipes and another one for my sex aids. The rest will arrive with Janet, when she will bring her collection of whips.’’
Tina could barely contain her laughter then at the humor deployed by Gerald, which was something of a personal trademark for him.
‘’I see that you haven’t changed one bit, Gerald, and I like it that way. Well, I see a robotic luggage cart approaching. Let’s put your things in my cart and we will then roll.’’
That took a few seconds only, after which Tina sat at the controls of the cart and started it rolling, heading towards the central core rotunda and its bank of elevators. Entering one elevator cabin, Tina then spoke out loud, for the benefit of the voice-actuated computer controlling the lift.
‘’Executive Deck, please!’’
As soon as the doors of the cabin closed, they started going up at an impressive speed, with the felt acceleration dampened by the controlled gravity system of the lift. Tina spoke again as they went up.
‘’I have reserved a two-bedroom apartment on the Executive Deck for you and Janet. That deck houses my senior staff and my family as well.’’
‘’Talking of your own family, how is your little Misha these days?’’
‘’Misha is not so small anymore, Gerald: he is now ten-years-old and growing fast, on top of being a ball of energy.’’
‘’I certainly will be happy to see him, Tina. And your husband?’’
‘’Still as gung-ho as before on the job and as affectionate and caring when with me. I couldn’t ask for a better husband.’’
‘’I am happy to hear that, Tina. As for me and Janet, we are both happy that she is retiring from politics: her crazy work schedule was not doing any good for our life as a couple.’’
‘’You should know that the job of an assistant head chef is not exactly relaxing either, Mister Holmes.’’ said Leila Kajirian, making Gerald nod once.
‘’I know but for me cooking is always enjoyable and not a chore. Besides, we will always be next to each other during our next years: no more last-minute trips around Space for Janet.’’
‘’You two definitely deserve peaceful years together, Gerald.’’ said softly Tina as their cabin was slowing to a halt. She rolled her cart out of the lift as soon as the doors slid open and then headed towards one of the wide hallways running out like spokes of a wheel from the central, donut-shaped rotunda they were now in. Gerald eyed at once the tall, athletic blonde apparently standing guard at the corner of that hallway, dressed in a ship’s security coverall and vest and armed with two pistols.
‘’Is she an android, Tina? She looks so human…and sexy.’’
‘’Officer Charlize Theron is indeed an android, Gerald. Her appearance was copied from that of a popular actress from the late 20th and early 21st Century. When she designed and built our androids, Eve Silisca took a fancy at using the physical profiles and names of historical persons in order to give them a personalized identity. I must say that some of those historical characters were true lookers. Personally, I particularly like the looks of Officer Patrick Swayze, another 20th Century actor, while Michel likes Officer Norma Jeane Mortenson, yet another actress. But don’t get fooled by their good looks: all of our androids are deadly in combat and possess both incredible strength and speedy reflexes. Even Jehanne de Domrémy, one of our smallest androids, could take down a 190-centimeter brute without effort.’’
‘’Jehanne de Domrémy? I was good at history when at school but her name doesn’t ring a bell.’’
‘’That’s because she was better known in France as ‘Joan of Arc’ during the 15th Century, when she was fighting English soldiers during the Hundred Year War.’’
‘’Oh, THAT Joan! And do you have as part of your android security force a historical male politician or statesman who could attract Janet’s attention?’’
‘’There are a few of them, starting with Augustus, Louis XIV of France and Julius Caesar. You will both have plenty of chances to meet them aboard, as they regularly patrol or stand guard at key points of the ship. Aah, here is your apartment: Executive Unit Number 34. By the way, my own apartment is Unit Number Three, five doors down this peripheral hallway.’’
Stopping her cart in front of a door bearing the number 34 in brass, Tina then stepped out and grabbed one of Gerald’s suitcases, while Leila took the smallest of the three pieces of luggage. When Gerald walked to the entrance door while carrying one suitcase and a small cabin bag, the door apparently opened by itself, while a soft female voice greeted him.
‘’Welcome to the NOSTROMO, Mister Holmes.’’
‘’Spirit, is that you?’’ asked Gerald, a bit taken by surprise.
‘’It is me, Mister Holmes. I am happy to see you as a new occupant and member of this ship.’’
‘’And I am happy to see that you survived the destruction of the KOSTROMA.’’
‘’I can thank my daughter Eve for that: she was able to copy my personality files and memories on data modules and to carry them out at the last minute. Overall, I am missing only my last four minutes aboard the KOSTROMA.’’
‘’The KOSTROMA was a great ship and it truly went out in a blaze of glory, Spirit.’’
‘’Thank you, Mister Holmes! By the way, the memory of the KOSTROMA and of the crewmembers we lost along the years are commemorated in our museum and ship’s display room, situated on this deck.’’
‘’Then, be assured that I will go visit that room soon. Have a good day, Spirit.’’
‘’You too, Mister Holmes.’’
Gerald then walked into his assigned apartment and made a few steps down the entrance lobby, so that Tina and Leila could also enter, then stopped in order to look around him.
‘’Quite a large apartment actually for a two-bedroom unit, it would seem to me at first sight.’’
‘’It actually covers a total surface of 230 square meters, with a depth of nineteen meters and a width averaging 12.5 meters. The four meters of ceiling clearance also helps enhance the sensation of size.’’ replied Tina. ‘’If you look to your front right, you will see the most important room of the unit for you: the kitchen. It has a surface of over thirteen square meters and is equipped with a full assortment of appliances, including a baking oven and an espresso machine.’’
‘’Aah, that is nice! Thanks, Tina!’’
‘’Hey, it wouldn’t do to have given only a toaster oven and a tea pot to our new assistant head chef. By the way, while the apartment is already fully furnished, we do have a reserve of pieces of furniture of various designs in reserve. If you or Janet would like to change some of the pieces of furniture in this unit, then you will be able to choose replacement parts from our ship’s catalogue. Was Janet planning to bring some of her own furniture from New Providence?’’
‘’Only personal souvenirs and artworks we collected along the years. As long as the present furniture proves comfortable, we will not be finicky about them. Show me the main bedroom, so that I could start unpacking my suitcases, please.’’
‘’Of course! Follow me!’’
Going down the central circulation space and passing by the large dining table, with its set of eight chairs, Tina then walked along the left-side wall and entered the lounge area, a seven by 4.5-meter surface covered by a polished wood floor and with a number of comfortable-looking pieces of furniture, before entering the last room on the left. Gerald entered behind her and put down his suitcase before looking appreciatively around him as Tina described the room to him.
‘’This is the main bedroom, which measures a total surface of 21.5 square meters. As you can see, it has a big double bed, a vanity, a small desk, two night stands and an easy chair with lamp. To the far-left corner, you have a large walk-in closet with racks and drawers, while to your left is the door of your private bathroom. That patio door along the outer wall is actually the entrance to an airlock linking your bedroom to your outer balcony. If by bad luck or battle damage the forest habitat facing your apartment becomes open to Space and depressurizes and you are on your balcony, then you will be able to reenter your apartment without putting at risk the rest of the ship.’’
Gerald walked to the tall windows giving a view to a large forest well below his balcony and nodded his head.
‘’A nice view we have from here, truly. This is a Boreal Forest habitat, I believe?’’
‘’Correct! I knew that Janet liked the forests of Northern America and Scandinavia.’’
‘’I do too! Janet will definitely like this.’’
‘’Then, we will let you free to unpack, Gerald. Have you had supper yet?’’
‘’No! The time on New Providence is a bit off Universal Time, so I only had a small snack about one hour ago.’’
‘’Then, me and Leila will be most honored to accompany you to one of our better restaurants, so that you could judge the quality of its food while having supper. When would you like us to come back and pick you up?’’
‘’Give me just thirty minutes: that will be plenty of time for me to unpack and arrange my things.’’
‘’Then, we will be back in half an hour. Again, welcome aboard, Gerald.’’
‘’Thank you, Tina. I can’t wait to start visiting your new ship tomorrow. Are you going to stay much longer in orbit of Icelandia?’’
‘’We will need two more days in order to receive all the hydrocarbon tanks we are due to carry to Vinland, in the Gliese 832 System. After that, we will go lift a prefabricated floating city built by the Yokosuka Shipbuilding Corporation on Earth and will then carry that city to New Polynesia, in the YZ Ceti System.’’
‘’Wow! You are a busy girl, Tina.’’
‘’Always! Right now, I have a two-months’ worth of backlog of cargo contracts for loads that are either too large or too heavy to be carried by any other ship but my NOSTROMO. At the rate the Spacers’ League is building up its colony worlds, I am not about to run out of work.’’
‘’Good for you! Well, see you in half an hour, Tina.’’
Both Tina and Leila then walked out of the bedroom, leaving Gerald free to unpack his suitcases.
Gerald had plenty of time to arrange his things and was in the process of viewing an introductory guide to the NOSTROMO when Tina and Leila rang at his door. Going to his front door, he opened it and walked out, smiling at both women.
‘’Whenever you are ready, ladies.’’
‘’Then, let’s get into our cart and roll. With the size of my ship, you may find those robotic carts quite practical, Gerald. Just to get to the Habitat Ring, we will have to roll for 500 meters. As for the Main Promenade around the ring, it has a circumference of over four kilometers. I understand that you are still healthy and in shape for your age, Gerald, but I would strongly counsel you to use a cart to go around the ship. In fact, I could assign a private cart to you and Janet: it could save both of you a lot of walking.’’
Gerald needed only a second of reflection before nodding his head.
‘’A private cart could indeed prove useful, Tina, but where would we park it? Inside our apartment?’’
‘’You could park it inside the storage room of your apartment, like many other crewmembers of the ship do. Those storage rooms, meant to store away excess or unused baggage, are equipped with recharging stations. And if Janet ends up hogging that cart and leaving you on foot, then you can call for a robotic taxi cart.’’
‘’Sounds like a practical solution. So, what kind of restaurant are we going to for supper?’’
‘’A French restaurant called the ‘Eiffel’.’’ answered Tina as she started her cart rolling. ‘’It is situated at the base of the apartment ring of the Habitat, on Level 580 and at Point 540. To find a place by its location coordinates in the Habitat Ring of the NOSTROMO is actually quite easy. The level number marks the level in meters down from the bow that the deck floor is, while the point number marks the length of the circumference of the ring you have to cover clockwise from the north of the ship’s axis. Since the inner circumference of the Habitat Ring is 3,770 meters-long, that means that the Eiffel restaurant, which is situated at Point 540, is roughly in the North-northeast section of the ring, on the level of the Main Promenade. By the way, the communal services, shops, schools and restaurants of the ship are all concentrated around the base of the Habitat Ring, facing the saltwater aquarium ring that surrounds the apartments ring complex.’’
‘’A fairly simple locating system I must say, when considering the size of your ship, Tina.’’
‘’Well, that system proved to be a good one on my poor KOSTROMA, so why not use it again? By the way, the Habitat Ring contains all the crew apartments and passenger cabins of the ship, except for the 36 executive apartments of the central core section, where you and I live. By concentrating the communal facilities of the ship there, it cuts a lot the need for long internal trips to go shopping, eating or studying.’’
‘’And that Eiffel Restaurant, tell me about it. How well is it rated?’’
‘’I will let Leila answer you on that. Leila?’’
The petite head chef, sitting next to Gerald in the back of the cart, then started to speak as their vehicle was rolling down a long gallery with large windows overlooking the forest below them.
‘’Please understand that the NOSTROMO was finished building a mere six weeks ago and that it is much larger than the KOSTROMA was. It thus has more restaurants and shops in order to service adequately the over 22,000 passengers, crewmembers and their families that the NOSTROMO can contain, a number over twice that of the KOSTROMA’s capacity. Even by recalling from New Haven all the original occupants of the KOSTROMA, we ended having to recruit over 600 new crewmembers in order to fill all the new job positions on the ship. Unfortunately, finding dozens of extra cooks with the qualifications and experience needed to run our new restaurants, like the Eiffel, has not proved easy, far from it. I thought until recently that I had found a proper chef cook for the Eiffel but, unfortunately, the man jumped ship at the last moment, leaving me no choice but to place an assistant cook in charge of the Eiffel, a far from ideal solution. That assistant cook, Robert Lafond, is a good, dedicated cook but he lacks the experience to run a top restaurant, which the Eiffel is supposed to be.’’
‘’That is indeed a lot of pressure to put on a junior cook, Leila. What were the reasons for that initial designated chef to bail out on you?’’
‘’Three reasons: ego, greed and xenophobia.’’
‘’Xenophobia? I don’t understand.’’
‘’It’s actually too simple, unfortunately. That chef is a Frenchman with a high sense of patriotism and he got miffed by the recent political clash between the European Union and the Spacers’ League concerning our androids. He also proved by his language that he harbored some old prejudices about us Spacers. When the salary I offered him was not enough to convince him to go over his old preconceived ideas, he left, saying to me that we didn’t deserve a chef of his talent and reputation. I was then too happy to let him go.’’
Gerald slowly shook his head at that.
‘’Typical! Well known chefs tend to have an ego the size of this ship. So, I suppose that you intend to replace that idiot by me?’’
‘’Actually, I see a much bigger role for you here than simply running a restaurant, Gerald. You have decades of experience as a great chef and expert in French Cuisine and you also have a well-deserved reputation and standing as a top restaurant critique. What I would like you to do, on top of helping the Eiffel become the fine restaurant it was meant to be, is to be a teaching master in culinary art for our present cooks and also for our students enrolled in our restauration program. They would gain so much from your experience and expertise, Gerald.’’
Gerald again nodded his head, his expression sober.
‘’And I will be most happy to help and teach to your cooking staff and students, Leila. Experience is meant to be passed on, not wasted.’’
‘’And?’’
‘’And what?’’
‘’You don’t want to discuss your salary? At your level, you could ask for quite a lot.’’
In response, Gerald gave Leila a gentle smile.
‘’The base salary you quoted on your job offer will be plenty for me, Leila. With the insane government pension Janet has accumulated along her 47 years of service, I could afford to sit down, relax and sip cocktails all day long until I die. My true reward will be to teach your young cooks about Haute Cuisine.’’
‘’Thank you, Gerald: you truly are a good man.’’
‘’I know!’’ replied Gerald, breaking into a grin. ‘’Janet keeps telling me that.’’
Leila and Tina giggled at that as their cart was arriving at the Habitat Ring, entering its top level via a tunnel passing through the top-level row of cabins and then turning on the outer gallery lining those cabins. The cart soon entered an elevator that then went down by 75 meters before stopping at the level of the Main Promenade. The moment that their cart left the elevator cabin, Gerald was awestruck by the sight of the tall wall of thick transparent acrylic running along the outer section of the Habitat Ring and containing a fifty-meter-wide and twenty-meter-deep aquarium that ran left and right to beyond visual range. Just from his actual position, he could see hundreds of fish swimming inside that giant aquarium ring. Above and beyond the aquarium, the outer wall of the Habitat Ring was covered by a continuous holographic display surface that presently showed Space and the blue-green orb of Icelandia.
‘’Wow! What a view! This is fantastic! Decidedly, our choice of place to retire for me and Janet was an inspired one.’’
‘’And we are truly happy that you chose our ship.’’ said Tina,