10:06 (Universal Time)
Thursday, July 12, 2317
Dock 10, ZERO-G NIRVANA space brothel
Asteroid owned by the Sverdlovsk Group
Main Asteroid Belt
Dana Durning, the chief navigator of the KOSTROMA, looked with some bewilderment and much indignation at the apparently mad traffic pattern around the 23 kilometer-wide asteroid to which their ship had just docked. Ships and craft of all sizes seemingly kept coming and going at an infernal rate, with some pilots being lax about safety rules concerning docking speeds and distances.
‘’My god! I heard that this place was wild, but this is like organized chaos. That last shuttlecraft simply ignored our safety zone and skimmed by our hull.’’
Tina, herself not pleased at all by this, nodded and looked at Minh Wa Hien, who was presently on duty as a bridge communications specialist.
‘’Hien, contact that shuttlecraft that just skimmed us and remind him about the size of our safety zone.’’
‘’Right away, Tina.’’
The young ethnic Vietnamese woman then spoke repeatedly in her microphone, but didn’t get any answer. What she and Tina got instead was the sight of the said shuttlecraft flashing its red navigation lights on continuous for three seconds, the unofficial space equivalent of giving the finger to someone. That made Dana Durning explode.
‘’The asshole! I’m going to report him to the Space Navigation Sector Administration.’’
Some may have laughed at that incident, but not Tina. Any collision would have been fatal to the shuttlecraft and its occupants, while the damage to the KOSTROMA, while relatively light, could have caused a compartment to explosively decompress, possibly killing some crewmembers or passengers. She thus didn’t stop Dana from stomping away to file a formal incident report. Thankfully, the rest of their docking maneuver went on without further problems, her giant cargo ship coupling with a docking station situated at the end of a tall tower structure fixed to the asteroid’s surface. Small craft and ships, on their part, simply entered a wide tunnel dug through the asteroid, exiting at the other extremity once their loading/unloading was done. The asteroid’s mass was too small to have any noticeable gravity, so the KOSTROMA ended up floating above the surface of the irregularly-shaped asteroid, tethered to one of the twelve docking towers servicing the installation. Presently, ten of the other eleven docking towers were in use by passenger liners or mixed cargo/passenger ships. Frida Skarsgard, the redhead pilot of the KOSTROMA, shook her head in amusement while watching the level of space activity around the asteroid.
‘’I knew that this place was popular, but I didn’t expect so many ships here.’’
‘’Well, Frida, if you wanted to find the biggest nest of sins in the Solar System, then this is it. About anything goes here, as long as it is consensual and between adults. Think about what a bunch of hard working space miners on leave look like after six months toiling around bare pieces of space rocks while living aboard a cramped mining ship, then multiply that by a few thousands at a time and you will get the kind of crowd you will find here.’’
‘’And how the hell can the local authorities keep order in such a place, Tina?’’
‘’With a very firm hand, I am told. The Sverdlovsk Group, which owns this place and the rest of Hygiean space, was never known to be timid about applying needed measures to any problem. I am sure that there are plenty of Hygiean Security Forces personnel down there to keep order inside the ZERO-G NIRVANA. Well, since we are here to unload passengers and some of our surplus foodstuff, we might as well use the occasion to blow some steam before going on a year-long deep space mission.’’
Going to her command chair, Tina activated the ship-wide intercom system and spoke after thinking for a few seconds about her announcement.
‘’Attention all hands! Attention all hands! This is the Captain! We are now docked to the ZERO-G NIRVANA Docking Tower number Ten. In view of our oncoming long deep space mission, I have decided to stay docked to this installation for the next 72 hours, so that each of our three working shifts can take turns to visit the place. We will be going at half-manning during our stay here, so the shift supervisors will have to plan the coming days’ work schedules accordingly. Shift ‘B’ will be the first to go off shift, then Shift ‘C’ and, finally, shift ‘A’. Have fun but follow all the local rules and try to return to the ship on your own power. That is all!’’
Tina could have swore that she heard happy screams through the bulkheads of her ship then as she smiled to her bridge crew.
‘’Frida, you take care of planning the shift schedules for the bridge crew for the next 72 hours. In the meantime, I will go supervise the unloading of our cargo and passengers and liaise with the local authorities. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do while on your visit here, guys and girls.’’
Leaving behind a happy bridge crew, Tina took an elevator down to the Main Promenade Deck, then to the KOSTROMA’s port access tunnel, which was now connected to the reception lounge of the docking tower. A small group of Hygiean officials, including a few security officers, was on its part about to arrive at the boarding station manned by Natalia Vasilyeva and one of her assistants when Tina showed up at the station. Her eyes lit up and a big grin appeared on her face when she recognized one of the Hygiean security officers in the group of visitors.
‘’MICHEL!’’
Michel Koniev saw her as well and waved happily at her, then accelerated his step, getting ahead of his group in time to receive Tina in his arms to hug and kiss her. The tall, handsome blond Hygiean Security Forces officer then looked at her with fondness.
‘’It has been a long time since we saw each other, Tina.’’
‘’Over fourteen months, to be precise, Michel. How long have you been stationed here?’’
‘’Two months now, and I can assure you that it has been quite a learning experience. This place is quite unique, believe me.’’
Michel Koniev then turned partly around to look at one of the other officials from the station, a small and somewhat overweight man in his early fifties who could be described as anything but handsome.
‘’Mister Gerhard, may I present you Fleet Captain Tina Forster, owner and master of the Armed Merchant Ship KOSTROMA?’’
The said Gerhard stepped forward and shook hands with Tina, a genuine smile on his face.
‘’It is indeed an honor to receive you here, Captain. Your exploits against those thugs from the Terran ISF forces are now legendary, as are your space victories around Mars. I am John Gacey Gerhard, owner and manager of the ZERO-G NIRVANA. Are you planning to stay here with your ship for more than a few hours?’’
‘’I just told my crew that I was giving them 72 hours to blow steam off in your facilities, Mister Gerhard. They will soon start disembarking in three consecutive shifts.’’
‘’Excellent! Then let me express in an appropriate manner my admiration to your ship and crew.’’
Gerhard then turned his head to speak to a woman in civilian suit holding an electronic tablet and who was the image of the executive secretary.
‘’Miss Burns, advise all the service counters and sections of our installations that the crewmembers of the cargo ship KOSTROMA and their family members will benefit from a thirty percent rebate on all prices and service fees during their stay here, and this for the next three days.’’
He then looked back at Tina, who couldn’t believe her luck, and grinned to her.
‘’I couldn’t do less to thank those who rid us of the Zembelo goons, Captain Forster. Since you seem to know well the good Major Koniev, I am as of now placing him on a 24 hour leave period, so that he could guide you around my little establishment.’’
‘’You are too kind, Mister Gerhard. Since you are here, may I interest you in stocks of low-priced spices and other foodstuff produced aboard this ship. With all the visitors you get here constantly, your restaurants must be going through enormous quantities of supplies.’’
‘’That they certainly are, Captain. If you have a list of the foodstuff you are offering for sale, along with their prices, you may show it to my head of supplies, Mister Yamashita, to my left.’’
Tina nodded and took a data chip from her pocket, presenting it to the Asian man standing next to Gerhard. The man plugged the chip to his own electronic tablet and copied the file before returning the chip to Tina, then started reviewing the list of products and their prices as Tina and Gerhard presented in turn their people present. Yamashita quickly stiffened and made a quick calculation before bending over to whisper into the ear of his boss as Tina was being briefed by the head of security for the station on the various local rules and regulations.
‘’Sir, we are going to save over seven million credits just on the spices and vegetable oils she is offering, compared to the prices we normally pay for the same products. We also could save another two million credits on the stocks of liquors she is selling. All of her products are in fact listed at prices way below standard. If their quality proves adequate, we could end up saving in total tens of millions of credits.’’
‘’Get your food inspectors here at once to check those products. Then, if they prove of good quality, buy everything she is offering.’’ Replied in whispers Gerhard, most happy. Such discounts on items that his facilities used in liberal quantities were going to more than compensate for the cut rates he had offered to the crew of the KOSTROMA for their visit. Called in by Yamashita, a team of food inspectors rushed in less than fifteen minutes later. Seeing how well things were going, Tina then invited Gerhard to tour the KOSTROMA while the food inspectors and Yamashita went to examine the stocks of foodstuff available for sale. That tour, with Michel Koniev and two other Hygiean officials in tow, went on for a good three hours. By the time John Gacey Gerhard was back on the Promenade Deck, his mind was boiling from all the things he had seen, which had given him ideas of his own.
‘’Captain Forster, your ship is truly a wonder. Your forested habitats in particular are without equal on spaceships, or even on most fixed space installations. You gave me a lot to think about.’’
‘’My hope is that more people will emulate my example, Mister Gerhard, so that the quality of life in space could be improved.’’
‘’A most commendable wish, Captain. So, where are you headed with your ship after this stop, if I may ask?’’
‘’You may, Mister Gerhard. After our stop here, I will head to Callisto, where we are soon due to leave for a year-long mission to go explore the dwarf planet Eris and install a scientific base there.’’
‘’One year in deep space!’’ Exclaimed the brothel’s owner. ‘’That is a very long time away from everything else, Captain.’’
‘’Indeed, Mister Gerhard, but the ultimate payoffs for Humanity could be huge, starting with the possible extra resources in hydrocarbons we are expecting to find on Eris. It will also give us an astronomical observatory further from the Sun than anything else we have. Overall, it will be a space expedition that history will remember.’’
Tina said the last sentence with passion, her eyes gleaming. Gerhard nodded at that, understanding her feelings about such a mission. His own dreams were however quite different from hers and mostly involved things not discussed in polite company.
‘’I hope that your mission to Eris will go well, Captain Forster. Well, I will now leave you in the good hands of Major Koniev, who will give you in turn a tour of my facilities. I hope that you will find something to your taste here.’’
‘’I already have, Mister Gerhard.’’ Replied Tina, smiling, while pressing Michel Koniev’s hand, attracting an approving nod from the brothel owner.
‘’Then, have fun, both of you.’’
‘’Thank you, sir.’’ Said Koniev before Gerhard turned around and walked away with his aides, leaving Tina alone with the Hygiean security officer. Both smiled to each other, with Michel then speaking first.
‘’Do you wish to change out of your ship’s outfit before we start our tour?’’
‘’Naah! I just came on duty barely two hours ago. As for personal items, if I need any during the tour I figure that I will be able to buy them in this place.’’
‘’Correct! This place is meant after all to make money, as much by selling things as by offering all kinds of services. As long as you have money, you will not be short of anything here. Shall we start the tour, then?’’
‘’I’m now in your capable hands, Michel. Lead the way.’’
Walking hand in hand down the 250 meters of the Kostroma’s port access tunnel, which extended to just past the outer rim of the Bow Gravity Sail saucer and was lined up on both sides by small trees and bushes, the couple passed the opened armored doors of the outer airlock, to then enter the access tube of the docking tower, which was only a hundred meter long. Tina smiled on seeing the message on the giant display board fixed above the reception rotunda of the docking tower: it already announced a thirty percent discount on all products and services for the crewmembers of the KOSTROMA and their family members.
‘’Your boss was quick to implement his promise, Michel.’’
‘’Oh, you will find him to be a very efficient man. He also is very good at understanding the psychology of his fellow humans, especially when it concerns their fantasies and perversions.’’
Presenting themselves at one of the reception counters, Michel had Tina register as a visitor before leading her into a waiting elevator cabin, punching a level number and making the cabin accelerate downward. He use the fairly brief trip to give her a few tips.
‘’Since this place caters to the secret fantasies and perversions of its visitors and guests, the right to privacy and anonymity is actually taken very seriously here. No photographic, video or audio recording equipment or device is normally allowed inside the brothel, even wrist videophones with embedded cameras. You were allowed to keep your own wrist videophone only because I am escorting you around.’’
‘’But, if someone needs to contact you, how do you get in touch without a wrist videophone?’’
‘’The reception desk we went through would normally have given you temporarily an audio only wrist phone in exchange for your videophone. The big fear of many customers of this space brothel is to be seen in, uh, embarrassing or incriminating situations or company and to have their pictures shown in the medias by reporters from scandal sheets. We also are concerned with individuals who would try to record spicy scenes in order to produce their own pornographic videos and then sell them. We have quite a long black list of banned reporters, cheats, preachers and other troublemakers, who are turned away as soon as they are identified at our reception points.’’
‘’Preachers? As in damnation in Hell and penance from sin? Such fossils still exist?’’
‘’Oh yes, Tina! Some of them are also first class hypocrites. One such preacher was recognized and caught a few months ago, after he had tried to entice an apparent minor to his cabin.’’
Tina rolled her eyes before she caught on the choice of words by Michel.
‘’Wait! An apparent minor? What do you mean by that?’’
A devilish smile appeared on Michel’s face at that question.
‘’It actually is one of the more brilliant ideas from Mister Gerhard himself. Despite all that happens here, there are limits to what is allowed, like no sex with minors or coercive or truly violent sex. In order to catch pedophiles, Mister Gerhard had the idea of using young security officers who look seriously underage as baits. The pedophile preacher concerned here had brought a female undercover officer to his cabin, even though she had told him she was only fourteen. The old bastard was 62 years old, by the way.’’
‘’The old fart! What did you do with him afterwards?’’
‘’We kicked him out and put him on the first ship headed back to Earth…after advising his wife, who was still on Earth.’’
Tina shook her head, partly amused and partly incensed.
‘’You must have some interesting times around here, then?’’
‘’Oh yes! However, all security officers serving in this space brothel are sworn to confidentiality about what they see and encounter here. You break the confidentiality of the customers and you end up in very serious shit.’’
‘’So, what kind of perversion are you going to show me, Michel?’’
Michel looked at her with a big grin.
‘’All of them! I am going to give you the same tour our security agents do to check on possible illegal or prohibited activities inside the various sex rooms.’’
Their cabin soon stopped, with its doors sliding open and revealing a large rotunda with multiple service desks, each positioned besides an adjacent door. Michel led an intrigued Tina to one of the service desks and smiled to the attractive young woman manning the desk.
‘’High, Michelle! I am showing the place to Fleet Captain Forster, of the KOSTROMA.’’
‘’The Victor of Mars? Captain Forster, it is a true honor to meet you.’’
Tina shook hands with the receptionist, not a little flattered.
‘’Thank you! Decidedly, I am better known around than I suspected.’’
‘’But, you deserve to be known, along with your ship, Captain Forster. So, what would you like to see or experiment?’’
‘’Uh, I’m only touring the facility for the moment. Michel is guiding me.’’
‘’We are going to use the security walkway.’’ Said Koniev, making the receptionist nod in understanding before punching a button on her control board. Tina then saw a screen facing her and Michel and fixed to the front of the desk at an angle light up, showing numerous color rectangles with words in them. Those words in turn described about every sexual fantasy, orientation or perversion one could think of. A small baffle built around the display prevented other persons from seeing what rectangle Michel touched and activated. A door adjacent to the desk then opened, revealing an elevator cabin in which Michel led Tina by the hand. He explained what was happening as the door of the cabin closed.
‘’To ensure total confidentiality and to prevent others from knowing what part of the facilities you visit, these service desks offer you a discreet choice of sexual services or experiences, then you take an elevator that goes down to the level of the chosen service or activity type. This way, you meet the absolute minimum of other guests while enjoying the facilities of this space brothel. Normally, you would have to pay in advance at the service desk for what you choose but, since I am escorting you around as a visitor, you get the tour for free. If you see something that you like, just tell me.’’
‘’Why, thank you! That’s quite generous from your boss.’’
After a very short trip, the cabin stopped and opened, letting them step in a long, curved corridor that extended out of sight in both directions.
‘’We are now in the security walkway loop, which runs just above the corridors and rooms used by the customers and other employees of the brothel. From the loop, my guards can watch for any unauthorized activity in the various sex rooms and, if need be, get to them quickly. If you will follow me, Tina.’’
Going left along the curved corridor, Michel led Tina to a sort of small viewing cabin opening on the inside wall of the walkway loop. The angled windows of the cabin gave an excellent overhead view of a large padded room with chains, manacles, torture racks and other sinister instruments. A bit taken back at once by that, Tina then saw a masked matron busy flogging a man attached to an ‘X’ frame. The matron wore a leather outfit that let her big breasts exposed and hanging out, while the man wore a leather mask and steel-spiked collar…and nothing else. Tina quickly noticed that the whip used by the matron, who was targeting the erect penis of the man with obvious relish, was a rather inoffensive one made of a light and flexible material. Michel then explained to her what they were looking at.
‘’This is one of our S&M play rooms. A female customer is playing out a personal fantasy with one of our employees. Don’t worry about him: that whip won’t harm him one bit, even though he is faking pain for the benefit of the customer’s enjoyment. When she will have aroused herself enough, that customer will then use our employee to satisfy herself. Believe it or not, but those kind of tastes are quite a lot more common than you would think.’’
‘’I see! I must say that your male employee is quite well endowed in terms of, uh, personal equipment.’’
That remark made Michel smile before he looked at Tina.
‘’Our sex workers are chosen for both their physical attributes and for their open mindedness. They are however not forced to do things that they don’t want to do: we have enough sex workers to cover about any customer taste imaginable. Apart from S&M, customers can choose straight sex, bisexual sex, lesbian or homosexual sex, erotic massages, group orgies, mechanical sex, sex in zero gravity and many more types of activities and experiences.’’
Starting to warm up to his game, Tina smiled to the tall and handsome Michel.
‘’And what kind of sexual fantasy would you like to experiment with me, Michel?’’
Michel grinned in turn at that question.
‘’I thought that you would never ask.’’
Much later, Tina blew air out as she stepped out of an elevator cabin with Michel and entered the lobby of a large restaurant.
‘’Wow! That erotic massage session with you and three naked masseuses was something to remember. I understand now why asteroid miners are ready to blow away six months of pay in visits to this space brothel. Your boss must make a fortune with this place. How many people do you get here on average?’’
‘’We receive on average over 3,000 visitors per day at the ZERO-G NIRVANA. Mister Gerhard is very proud of this place: it is truly unique in the Solar System. Apart from offering sexual services, it also has a collection of top quality restaurants, hotels and boutiques of all kinds. The spices you just sold us won’t take long before being used in our various restaurants. If you’re not really hungry yet, we always could go have a few drinks at the…’’
An urgent tonality from his radio earpiece then interrupted him, making Michel stop in the middle of the lobby.
‘’Major Koniev?’’
The voice of the shift supervisor at the space traffic control center of the asteroid then came on line, sounding clearly worried.
‘’Major Koniev, this is Captain Semianov, at space traffic control. We have an unidentified ship boring on our asteroid at high speed. Its radio and radar beacons are off and it is refusing to answer us. Instead of decelerating to dock with us, it has just started accelerating under fusion rocket power and is heading straight for us.’’
‘’Is he nuts? He will be vaporized if he impacts this asteroid. How big is that ship?’’
‘’From its radar signature, it appears to be a heavy ore carrier, Major. If it indeed collides with us, the whole asteroid will probably fracture and may even fly into pieces.’’
Michel fell silent for a second as he mentally pictured the results of such a collision, while Tina looked at him with worry showing on her face.
‘’What is happening, Michel?’’
‘’A large, unidentified ship is accelerating directly towards this asteroid and is not answering calls to slow down.’’ Answered Michel before activating his microphone again. ‘’Continue trying to hail him, Semianov. In the meantime, sound the general alert and have everybody go don emergency spacesuits. I’m on my way!’’
When he was finished speaking and turned around to face Tina, he found her speaking in her wrist videophone.
‘’…and effect an emergency breakaway procedure. Intercept that incoming ship and, if it still refuses to change course, destroy its engines with laser beams and then tow it off course with our tractor beams… Don’t wait for me, Dana: time is short. Good luck!’’
‘’You are sending your KOSTROMA after that ship?’’ Asked Michel when Tina was finished, making her nod her head.
‘’Yes! If that ship is as big as I think it is, then only a megaton ship like my KOSTROMA will have the mass and power to drag it off course in time to avoid a collision with this asteroid. Let’s go to your space traffic control center.’’
As they ran back into the elevator cabin they had just exited, a sinister alarm horn started sounding off, accompanied by a verbal message delivered in a firm, urgent tone.
‘’ATTENTION, ATTENTION! EVERYONE IS TO IMMEDIATELY DON AN EMERGENCY SPACESUIT AND ASSEMBLE AT THE NEAREST EVACUATION STATION. I SAY AGAIN, EVERYONE IS TO IMMEDIATELY DON AN EMERGENCY SPACESUIT AND ASSEMBLE AT THE NEAREST EVACUATION STATION. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.’’
15:43 (Universal Time)
Bridge of the A.M.S. KOSTROMA
‘’All our airlock doors are now closed and secured, Dana. The docking tower’s airlocks are also closed and secured.’’
‘’Then release our docking clamps! Frida, fly us out on gravity sails and head on an intercept course for that unidentified ship.’’
Dana Durning, the ship’s chief navigator and unofficial first officer, now sitting in the command chair on the bridge, next punched the ship’s intercom button.
‘’Battle stations! Battle stations! All support personnel and passengers are to don emergency spacesuits and wait in their quarters. Engineering, be ready to light up our main fusion drive.’’
Dana then looked at Anwar Duharto, one of the bridge sensors specialists.
‘’Anwar, do you have that ship on our sensors?’’
‘’It just entered the edge of our long range sensors’ coverage, but I am receiving as well the picture from the asteroid’s sensors, which have a much longer range than ours. We have enough data to plot an intercept course.’’
‘’Excellent! Do we have yet a tentative identification on that approaching ship?’’
‘’From the fusion drive flare signature and apparent size of the ship, I would say that it is probably a KLONDIKE-Class ore carrier, with a maximum loaded mass of about three million tons. Let me just check with the local space traffic logs to see if I can identify it further.’’
After about a minute, and as Frida Skarsgard was backing the KOSTROMA away from the asteroid, Duharto spoke again to Dana.
‘’According to the most recent traffic logs, the only KLONDIKE-Class ore carrier present in this sector is the M.S.S. YUKON, a North American Union registered ship that was supposed to be on its way to the Jovian System, coming from the Earth.’’
‘’The Jovian System? That ship is way off course! This can’t be a simple navigation error or a computer malfunction, especially since they are now accelerating instead of decelerating.’’
The first pilot of the KOSTROMA, Frida Skarsgard, gave a concerned look to Dana.
‘’Maybe the crew doesn’t have control of its ship anymore, Dana?’’
‘’What do you mean, Frida?’’
‘’That it may have been hijacked. Since it is accelerating towards the ZERO-G NIRVANA, my bet is that whoever is in control of the YUKON wants to ram the asteroid and destroy it. We may be looking at a terrorist attack, and a possible suicide attack at that.’’
‘’Damn! Anwar, advise the ZERO-G NIRVANA of our suspicions. In the meantime, I will calculate an optimum intercept course.’’
‘’I’m on it, Dana!’’
In the space traffic control center of the asteroid, Michel Koniev, who had just arrived with Tina Forster, heard the message from the KOSTROMA and paled.
‘’My god! If that ship does collide with us, this asteroid will burst into pieces. We presently have over 5,000 persons in our facilities. Tina, do you think that your ship will be in time to deviate that ship from its collision course?’’
‘’I believe so, but then someone will still have to board that ship, to make sure that it doesn’t attack again.’’
Michel nodded his head, his mind quickly formulating a plan of action. He then spoke on the radio frequency used by the security forces of the asteroid.
‘’First Intervention Squad, this is Major Koniev. Prepare at once for a space assault mission and meet me at the interceptors’ hangar. I want the crew of Interceptor Number Four to prepare as well for a space mission. Time is short, so make it fast!’’
‘’Can I come with you, Michel?’’ Asked Tina as Michel started running towards the nearest elevator. Michel simply twisted his head while continuing to run.
‘’No! You will be more useful here. Monitor the situation from here and keep liaison with your ship.’’<