Working on the Children of Earth project has been the most engrossing thing I've ever taken on. For the last six months this ship, and her crew, have been my life. Sure, there are occasional breaks surface side to Bolinger's Rock or into the city for something, but for all intents and purposes the Sled is my life.
That's why anything personal in my daily mail is a bright spot. The vast majority of my incoming waves and hard copy packages are directly related to the project, so when something comes in from someone who's actually part of the 'Verse outside of this little artificial world I always set aside time to enjoy it.
When the courier delivered a small package from Hale's Moon, I was naturally excited. Not that anyone who looked into my office could tell. Aside from Belize and Sabrina, who knew me well, and Lieutenant Conner, who understood the facade of a fellow Special Ops veteran, the crew all knew me as calm and personable, if a little reserved. None of them actually knew I had a temper, or that I felt emotions deeply, and that it was all kept hidden behind a calm, peaceful, exterior by years of self discipline. Good or bad, the only thing that changed in the calm was whether it was a bit warm or a bit icy.
Now, it was a warm calm.
We'd gotten semi-regular waves from the folks back on Hale's, but something you could hold in hand was special, and I knew who it was from without opening the box. An address label printed with machine precision, using a crayon, could mean only one person. Well, two, really. In concert. The handwriting was Krenshar's, the selection of lipstick red crayon could only be Lily.
Part of me wanted to wait until 'Brina and Bel were both off shift so they could be here when I opened it. They'd both left friends behind on Hale's to take this assignment and I knew they'd both want to know what was in it. Unfortunately, 'Brina was, almost literally, up to her elbows in drive tuning, and Belize was planetside again for a couple days getting some updated medical equipment. Which meant I wasn't really being bad by giving in to temptation and opening the package.
I opened it carefully, setting aside the wrapping as close to pristine as possible. I knew it was silly to want to preserve the wrapper, but it was all special. At least to me. In some cultures, the wrapping a gift came in was considered part of the gift itself, and often as much thought went into the wrapping as went into the present inside. So there was at least a precedent. Sort of.
Inside the wrapper was a small polymer packing box, just big enough across to cover both my open hands and maybe thirty millimeters thick. The original markings had been removed, but fr0m the looks of it, and the faint scent of coffee, it had originally gone Lily's little coffee shop. Now, instead of whatever markings it had once had, it was now covered with about a dozen hand written little notes from various folk back on Hale's.
My smile was just a shallow reflection of what I was feeling inside. The package is part of the gift itself. The sentiment of a small world in wildly varying script.
I opened it as carefully as I had the outer wrapping. Inside the box, nestled on some carefully cut padding that hadn't been part of the original package, were a dozen or so individually wrapped pieces of hard candy, several pieces of jewelry that looked like they'd been hand made by Lily and Jin, a couple of hand written notes, and half a dozen video posties.
It was easy to tell who the jewelry was intended for. The pendant, hanging on a woven titanium necklace, was obviously for Sabrina. Looking like a set of intricately linked clockwork gears, hand carved from the aft bearing of a Firefly's main drive, it screamed Jin's work. The other pieces were equally obviously Lily's handy work. Made from gemstones and precious metals she'd dug out of Hale's crust herself, mixtures of garnet, amethyst, platinum, silver, and gold, she'd sent along something for each of us.
Each of the posties was signed by one or more of the folks back on Hale's. I would save them until Sabrina and Belize were back to watch them with me. All save one. The one that said L I L Y on the back, block printed in crayon.
I ran my fingers over the smooth glossy surface. Flexible, thin as a sheet of paper, the postie was both storage and display media. They would last for decades, able to play the recording again and again before needing to be recharged. Giving the bottom corner a little squeeze, I watched as the image snapped into view.
For a moment I was confused, until I realized I was looking at an extreme, jiggling, closeup of Lily's nose. "This on? Ok ok ok! Hi Mommy Seana!" her voice came from the postie before the image suddenly shifted wildly to show sky, part of a building, a leg, then Lily's feet. Somehow I managed not to giggle.
"Would you like me to hold the recorder, Miss Lilybell?" Krenshar's voice from off screen somewhere, then Lily's "Ok, ok! You hold." The image suddenly bobbing quickly, and I could picture Lily nodding rapidly, like she did, before the image slid around, obviously passing the recorder off to Krenshar. The image suddenly stabilized with Lily center of frame, letting me identify where they were standing - near the main lift beside Fook Yoo's.
"Hi Mommy Seana! Hi Mommy Sabrina! Hi Auntie Belize!" Lily said, grinning wide and waving madly at the camera. "Hello, Mei Mei." I said softly back. "Her misses you all! Wanted show you everything ok wif us here. We takes good care of people wif Miss Genni." Lily nodded fiercely, then started explaining what everything was around her starting with the main lift. Krenshar dutifully followed her around town, keeping her, and often what she was trying to show, in frame and in focus.
For the next hour I watched the recording as Krenshar followed Lily around town, stopping to show off every little change she could find since we left. Furniture re-arranged in Fook's: New paint on the Church: An awning at Starstrucks: The updated sound system at Firefly's: The latest harvest from the Hydroponics building on sale in the Farmer's Market: A roughly Matagi sized rectangle hand painted on the pad behind Town Hall with the words "Reserved. You no land here!" scrawled across the middle.
I had to laugh aloud at that. We'd had Wave Equation parked on that spot for the better part of five years. My boat. Our home. She was still my boat, though the interior had been changed around to carry more passengers since we used her fairly often for runs planetside. But I doubted she'd ever see the surface of Hale's Moon again.
Eventually, they worked their way through town until they arrived at the little courtyard above the Infirmary. That little sheltered area, quite literally in the center of town, had always been a favorite spot of mine. The fountain, centered in the carefully tended stone garden, was an open challenge to the desert that was Hale's.
Years ago, lacking a church or temple or even a simple alter, I'd hand cut a small alter from spare stone and placed it in the courtyard. I'd needed it to offer a prayer to Caitlin's memory, as I had every year since her death. As I still did. That little stone alter had somehow come through Buddha only knew how many firefights, explosions, celebrations in the courtyard, and what have you, in the years since. I never expected it to be permanent, but somehow, like the colony itself, it had survived.
"You see, you see? Her saved this for last, Miss." Lily said brightly, then stepped off to the side, Krenshar holding the recorder focused on the little stone alter and the structure they'd placed around it. A tiny gazebo built around the alter, sheltering it. On shelves built into the small structure, people had placed posties and stills. Pictures and memories of us.
They'd turned the simple alter into a shrine.
"You likes? Whole town help build. Put up pictures and everything. You goes all the way to Erf that Was, but we remembers. Her remembers. But her gots to go now. You be safe Mommies! You be safe, Auntie! Her loves you." Krenshar held the image of the shrine in frame for a long time before the recording stopped, frozen on lily and the shrine. A moment frozen in time.
I stared at the frozen image for several minutes before a single tear landed on the glossy surface, bringing me back to the moment. "I like, Mei Mei. And I love you too. I'll never forget. We'll never forget."
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Five months on
Officially, at least, the major work on Children of Earth and the crew integration phases are complete. The ship, now, has started into the Acceptance phase with the crew's undergoing their final training stages before we start the final shakedowns before departure. Never mind the 'last testing stages' would take another four to six months, depending on how things went.
Sabrina and Belize were both taking well to their roles. They'd both settled in well with their teams and quickly earned the respect of the people in both directions of their respective food chains. I hadn't had it quite so easy. While I was a competent leader and had managed to gain the respect of many of the people who reported to me, most notably the ORCA's who I understood, and the Scientists, who I did not, there was still a very subtle friction with the Captain and other members of his hand picked ex-fleet staff.
The inter-service rivalry between those who served in the Ground Forces and those who served in the Alliance Fleet, was as old as the Alliance. Older. Records from Earth that Was had some famous examples of rivalries between the different services almost as intense as the rivalries between different national militaries. As long as it didn't interfere with operations, the rivalries were usually pretty healthy. They kept the services sharp by trying to out do one another, rather than just drilling against synthetic enemies. And therein lay the problem.
While I was an accomplished pilot with hundreds of hours in the command chair, my official service record was with a ground unit, not a fleet element. I was a Major, not a Lieutenant Commander, and that difference in title apparently mattered more to the Captain's senior staff than my current position as their Executive Officer. Never mind there was an official promotion in the works, which would actually give me the Fleet rank of Commander, equivalent to a Lieutenant Colonel, the fact was my capabilities and matching responsibilities had never been limited by my official rank.
There was a reason Admirals would would talk to me when I asked.
I would deal with things, of course. I actually understood Captain Gill's reason for being a little standoffish with me. He'd wanted to pick the deck crew entirely on his own, but to his mind, had been saddled with an unsuited officer who'd been picked by the constructors, rather than the Alliance.
Not that our problems were even that pronounced. But one thing I had learned from my covert operations experience and, to a lesser degree, running the colony on Hale's Moon, was how to read when someone harbored ill will. Even when they may not admit it to themselves, I had learned to see it. He could claim he was perfectly happy having me as his XO but I know, deep down, he resented a Gropo, picked by the company, on his staff.
Dealing with Gill, and all the fleet specific retraining, made me relish the occasional breaks we took planetside. I'd been born and raised on Ariel. I'd probably been to every worthwhile place to get some away time on the planet. But a favorite, shared with a fair number of Children of Earth's crew, was a small island roughly in the middle of nowhere.
Bolinger's Rock wasn't well named. While the center of the roughly five my three kilometer island was indeed quite rock like, it was actually the highest point of a mostly submerged undersea mountain: the central cone of an ancient undersea volcano. Shallow reefs surrounded the central island, providing natural breakwaters that let Bolinger's retain some truly pristine beaches.
There wasn't actually much on the island, save a tracking station near the peak KHI had installed decades ago to monitor atmospheric flight tests, some bungalows used by the station's resident technicians, and a couple of landing pads. The island itself was named for the Range Master who'd overseen the station's construction, and had become kind of a 'special benefit' for KHI executives and specially invited guests once they'd landed a retired luxury transport in the island's lee on a specially built pad.
Now, it was mostly ours.
Since the finalization of the crew and their coming aboard, we'd pretty much annexed the "Liner-turned-Hotel" for our own needs. Given the stress the crew was under, and the fact that we may never see a beach again, Grandfather had been willing to turn the keys over. While the station was still quite active, it's crew had been augmented by a handful of people who were dedicated full time to supporting whoever was visiting the grounded "Lady Minerva."
Laying out on the beach, under the light of a star I would soon leave far, far, behind, listening to the waves, I could forget, if only briefly, the troubles of the 'Verse. It was an excuse to pretend I didn't have any responsibilities. Besides, 'Brina still liked me in a bikini. for that matter, I think the ORCAs may have too.
Sabrina and Belize were both taking well to their roles. They'd both settled in well with their teams and quickly earned the respect of the people in both directions of their respective food chains. I hadn't had it quite so easy. While I was a competent leader and had managed to gain the respect of many of the people who reported to me, most notably the ORCA's who I understood, and the Scientists, who I did not, there was still a very subtle friction with the Captain and other members of his hand picked ex-fleet staff.
The inter-service rivalry between those who served in the Ground Forces and those who served in the Alliance Fleet, was as old as the Alliance. Older. Records from Earth that Was had some famous examples of rivalries between the different services almost as intense as the rivalries between different national militaries. As long as it didn't interfere with operations, the rivalries were usually pretty healthy. They kept the services sharp by trying to out do one another, rather than just drilling against synthetic enemies. And therein lay the problem.
While I was an accomplished pilot with hundreds of hours in the command chair, my official service record was with a ground unit, not a fleet element. I was a Major, not a Lieutenant Commander, and that difference in title apparently mattered more to the Captain's senior staff than my current position as their Executive Officer. Never mind there was an official promotion in the works, which would actually give me the Fleet rank of Commander, equivalent to a Lieutenant Colonel, the fact was my capabilities and matching responsibilities had never been limited by my official rank.
There was a reason Admirals would would talk to me when I asked.
I would deal with things, of course. I actually understood Captain Gill's reason for being a little standoffish with me. He'd wanted to pick the deck crew entirely on his own, but to his mind, had been saddled with an unsuited officer who'd been picked by the constructors, rather than the Alliance.
Not that our problems were even that pronounced. But one thing I had learned from my covert operations experience and, to a lesser degree, running the colony on Hale's Moon, was how to read when someone harbored ill will. Even when they may not admit it to themselves, I had learned to see it. He could claim he was perfectly happy having me as his XO but I know, deep down, he resented a Gropo, picked by the company, on his staff.
Dealing with Gill, and all the fleet specific retraining, made me relish the occasional breaks we took planetside. I'd been born and raised on Ariel. I'd probably been to every worthwhile place to get some away time on the planet. But a favorite, shared with a fair number of Children of Earth's crew, was a small island roughly in the middle of nowhere.
Bolinger's Rock wasn't well named. While the center of the roughly five my three kilometer island was indeed quite rock like, it was actually the highest point of a mostly submerged undersea mountain: the central cone of an ancient undersea volcano. Shallow reefs surrounded the central island, providing natural breakwaters that let Bolinger's retain some truly pristine beaches.
There wasn't actually much on the island, save a tracking station near the peak KHI had installed decades ago to monitor atmospheric flight tests, some bungalows used by the station's resident technicians, and a couple of landing pads. The island itself was named for the Range Master who'd overseen the station's construction, and had become kind of a 'special benefit' for KHI executives and specially invited guests once they'd landed a retired luxury transport in the island's lee on a specially built pad.
Now, it was mostly ours.
Since the finalization of the crew and their coming aboard, we'd pretty much annexed the "Liner-turned-Hotel" for our own needs. Given the stress the crew was under, and the fact that we may never see a beach again, Grandfather had been willing to turn the keys over. While the station was still quite active, it's crew had been augmented by a handful of people who were dedicated full time to supporting whoever was visiting the grounded "Lady Minerva."
Laying out on the beach, under the light of a star I would soon leave far, far, behind, listening to the waves, I could forget, if only briefly, the troubles of the 'Verse. It was an excuse to pretend I didn't have any responsibilities. Besides, 'Brina still liked me in a bikini. for that matter, I think the ORCAs may have too.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Two months on
Several years running a mining colony, after my time in the military, had given me a fairly good idea of what was involved in the "logistics" of running what amounted to a major project. Or so I thought. But Children of Earth wasn't a frontier mining colony or a covert operations unit. It was a starship the size of a downtown city block with a crew of four hundred thirty five people, all of whom I would be directly responsible for.
It was mostly a KHI project still, with their project management staff handling most of the details. But I still had things to keep track of through far too many aspects of the project. And as more and more of the ship's crew was finalized and came aboard, I found myself having to fully integrate them into the mission plans. Scientists. Technicians. Operational crew. Most of whom had been selected and in training for a good deal longer than I had. But they were only now coming together as a crew. And that's where my responsibilities really started.
While I still hadn't gotten a good handle on the Captain, aside from a vague feeling that he wasn't especially happy to have me as his XO, I had established a working relationship with most of the other department heads. Including the tactical unit we'd been assigned for 'mission security and other miscellaneous duties as required.'
I fully understood having a couple squads of specially trained soldiers aboard, even if their primary duties would be grunt work for the science and maintenance crews. There was the finite possibility we'd receive a hostile welcome on Earth when we arrived, and having some dedicated professional soldiers might make the difference between mission success and a bunch of dead scientists.
Of all the crew dossiers I had to read, theirs were the ones I understood. Each of them had been in one of the Alliance elite units. Drop troopers. J-TAC. Special Forces. All elite, hand picked, combat troops. All of whom had volunteered for this and spent most of the last year training to do all the other jobs they'd have to do aboard Children of Earth, while maintaining combat readiness in case it came down to it.
They'd been designated "Operational Reserve, Combat Auxiliaries," which promptly got shortened to ORCA. Operationally, they were answerable to the Captain, like everyone else, but their CO, Lieutenant Conner, answered to me. These, at least, were folk I would know how to lead.
Over in Medical, Belize appeared to be having an easier time of it. Socially, if not technically, since her job was so technical at this point. At least from my perspective.
There were two major stages to this mission that would take a doctor's care. The first, and longest in duration, if not in direct attention, would be Cold Sleep. Hibernation. There was a fifty odd year period at each end of the mission where the entire crew would be in suspended animation. The doctor's care going in, and coming out, would have a huge affect on the crew member's survival during that long period in the middle where the only thing watching them would be the ship's mainframe.
While Bel was a good doctor already, and well prepared for the other half of the job - maintaining the crew's health for the decade or so we were expected to stay in Sol system before coming home - cold sleep was something new. Or, more precisely, the kind of long duration hibernation systems we would be trusting our lives to were new. We'd dealt with people who'd been stuffed into Cryo more than once out on the Rim. But those were always short term, self contained, little freezer pods, intended to keep someone in suspension for up to, maybe, five years. This was a whole different animal.
On this end, leaving 34 Tauri, most of the crew would be in suspension before the sled pointed her nose at Sol and lit the torch. The doctors would have to worry about maybe fifty people to get safely to sleep before they, themselves, went into the tanks.
That was a job I didn't envy. There was some debate, still, as to who'd be the next to last person to go into suspension: me or the Captain. The last person to sleep, though, would be one of the doctors. They would have to put themselves into suspended animation. No one but the computer looking over their vitals as they settled in for the long sleep. No one to bail them out if something went wrong.
That would be scary. Probably the most alone a person could ever be.
For her part, I don't think I'd ever seen Sabrina happier. Since getting here, she and Elsoph had been almost inseparable. I would actually be worried if I was the jealous type, and I'd ever seen Elsoph show interest in, you know, a girl. But for 'Brina, this was like being a kid in a candy store. She was getting hands on with Children of Earth at a level that most of the people who'd worked on her hadn't. She'd been looking at specs for this ship for over two years at an academic level, and now she was up close and personal with a truly amazing piece of hardware.
She was making it her ship. She'd been Elsoph's baby, but now Sabrina was coming in to be the big sled's step mother. The good kind. Not the wicked, send to your room so the mice can talk to you in the dark, kind.
Her enthusiasm for the job was contagious though. We were both working crazy long hours, but when we got time together she could barely stop talking about all the shiny new things she'd gotten her fingers into, and how amazing the engineering was, and the mods she wanted to do but wouldn't have time for, and how tomorrow it would be the pre-nuclear framastatz decoupler, or something else that was only just within my comprehension. In contrast, I normally didn't want to talk about dealing with personnel issues away from the compact office I had as Executive Officer. Which usually resulted in my having to gently remind her that she was my wife, as well as my Chief Engineer, which subsequently led to both of us sleeping quite well, if not long enough.
All in all, things were coming together. As massive as the project was now that we were actually into it, I could see how it would all fit together. It was still overwhelming, to be sure, but it wasn't insurmountable.
And we still had another eight months left to go.
It was mostly a KHI project still, with their project management staff handling most of the details. But I still had things to keep track of through far too many aspects of the project. And as more and more of the ship's crew was finalized and came aboard, I found myself having to fully integrate them into the mission plans. Scientists. Technicians. Operational crew. Most of whom had been selected and in training for a good deal longer than I had. But they were only now coming together as a crew. And that's where my responsibilities really started.
While I still hadn't gotten a good handle on the Captain, aside from a vague feeling that he wasn't especially happy to have me as his XO, I had established a working relationship with most of the other department heads. Including the tactical unit we'd been assigned for 'mission security and other miscellaneous duties as required.'
I fully understood having a couple squads of specially trained soldiers aboard, even if their primary duties would be grunt work for the science and maintenance crews. There was the finite possibility we'd receive a hostile welcome on Earth when we arrived, and having some dedicated professional soldiers might make the difference between mission success and a bunch of dead scientists.
Of all the crew dossiers I had to read, theirs were the ones I understood. Each of them had been in one of the Alliance elite units. Drop troopers. J-TAC. Special Forces. All elite, hand picked, combat troops. All of whom had volunteered for this and spent most of the last year training to do all the other jobs they'd have to do aboard Children of Earth, while maintaining combat readiness in case it came down to it.
They'd been designated "Operational Reserve, Combat Auxiliaries," which promptly got shortened to ORCA. Operationally, they were answerable to the Captain, like everyone else, but their CO, Lieutenant Conner, answered to me. These, at least, were folk I would know how to lead.
Over in Medical, Belize appeared to be having an easier time of it. Socially, if not technically, since her job was so technical at this point. At least from my perspective.
There were two major stages to this mission that would take a doctor's care. The first, and longest in duration, if not in direct attention, would be Cold Sleep. Hibernation. There was a fifty odd year period at each end of the mission where the entire crew would be in suspended animation. The doctor's care going in, and coming out, would have a huge affect on the crew member's survival during that long period in the middle where the only thing watching them would be the ship's mainframe.
While Bel was a good doctor already, and well prepared for the other half of the job - maintaining the crew's health for the decade or so we were expected to stay in Sol system before coming home - cold sleep was something new. Or, more precisely, the kind of long duration hibernation systems we would be trusting our lives to were new. We'd dealt with people who'd been stuffed into Cryo more than once out on the Rim. But those were always short term, self contained, little freezer pods, intended to keep someone in suspension for up to, maybe, five years. This was a whole different animal.
On this end, leaving 34 Tauri, most of the crew would be in suspension before the sled pointed her nose at Sol and lit the torch. The doctors would have to worry about maybe fifty people to get safely to sleep before they, themselves, went into the tanks.
That was a job I didn't envy. There was some debate, still, as to who'd be the next to last person to go into suspension: me or the Captain. The last person to sleep, though, would be one of the doctors. They would have to put themselves into suspended animation. No one but the computer looking over their vitals as they settled in for the long sleep. No one to bail them out if something went wrong.
That would be scary. Probably the most alone a person could ever be.
For her part, I don't think I'd ever seen Sabrina happier. Since getting here, she and Elsoph had been almost inseparable. I would actually be worried if I was the jealous type, and I'd ever seen Elsoph show interest in, you know, a girl. But for 'Brina, this was like being a kid in a candy store. She was getting hands on with Children of Earth at a level that most of the people who'd worked on her hadn't. She'd been looking at specs for this ship for over two years at an academic level, and now she was up close and personal with a truly amazing piece of hardware.
She was making it her ship. She'd been Elsoph's baby, but now Sabrina was coming in to be the big sled's step mother. The good kind. Not the wicked, send to your room so the mice can talk to you in the dark, kind.
Her enthusiasm for the job was contagious though. We were both working crazy long hours, but when we got time together she could barely stop talking about all the shiny new things she'd gotten her fingers into, and how amazing the engineering was, and the mods she wanted to do but wouldn't have time for, and how tomorrow it would be the pre-nuclear framastatz decoupler, or something else that was only just within my comprehension. In contrast, I normally didn't want to talk about dealing with personnel issues away from the compact office I had as Executive Officer. Which usually resulted in my having to gently remind her that she was my wife, as well as my Chief Engineer, which subsequently led to both of us sleeping quite well, if not long enough.
All in all, things were coming together. As massive as the project was now that we were actually into it, I could see how it would all fit together. It was still overwhelming, to be sure, but it wasn't insurmountable.
And we still had another eight months left to go.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Arrivals: One of several
Our flight from Hale's Moon to Ariel was, ultimately, uneventful. We'd each made the flight, often together, many times over the last few years. The only real difference this time was the sheer number of waves we got en-route. I usually flew with an active Cortex feed going and this time, everyone and their brother seemed to want to send their regards.
What had the last few weeks been for? You'd think by now they'd be tired of wishing us well, and hoping we had a grand adventure, and missing us, and, and, and. I couldn't really blame them. Any of them. As far as most of the 'Verse was concerned we were about to be dead and gone. Literally.
We weren't gone, yet, of course. There were still months of preparation left to do on Children of Earth, and nearly as many months of training for us to become her crew. We'd become part of a project far bigger than I think any one ever expected, both in scope and duration.
Decelerating to dock at the orbital yard, we could see the massive shape of Children of Earth in her gantry less then her own length from the platform. Structurally almost complete, she dwarfed the IAV Huygens, docked for maintenance, in length, if not bulk.
While Sabrina and I had been aboard a number of times, and Belize had seen the big sled before they moved her to the platform, the sight was still awesome. Her fuel talks and drives overwhelmed the rest of the ship, including the massive long duration fusion pile and the life section for her four hundred odd crew. All told, she was one of the largest speceships, no, starships, ever built by Human hands.
"That is one gorram big ship," I heard Bel say softly as we slid past the sled's gantry and backed into our spot on the platform. "Aye. More living space in there than we had in buildings on Hale's," I replied, hard docking Wave Equation to her cradle. "She'll be our home soon, if we don't decide to back out."
Sabrina let out a little snort of laughter. "Back out? As if."
I managed to suppress a giggle myself as a familiar voice came over the local intercom asking us to please hurry up and open the hatch because Uncle Elsoph was so glad we were finally here and he had so much to say and hardly enough time to say it because there was just so much that needed to be done and we had to start getting ready and don't forget to breathe before you run out of air because you can't stop talking.
I loved my uncle. I always had. He was the beloved, crazy, gifted, brilliant, uncle who was often hard to follow because his mind could easily, and frequently, jump tracks and you had to hope you could somehow keep up. He'd designed the last three spacecraft I'd called home and, spiritually at least, fathered Children of Earth herself.
Sabrina practically tackled him when he came aboard. Since meeting her, Elsoph had treated her like the daughter he'd never had time to have. But more, he treated her like a kindred spirit. Another natural Engineer. Never mind she hadn't had that much formal schooling when they met. Invention was in her blood, and the formal schooling was something she'd been able to add later.
Elsoph wasn't the only one who wanted to see us when we arrived. My parents and a handful of friends had come up to the Yard, probably knowing it would be a while before we had any time to go planetside.
In fact, it would be almost a week before we managed to get planetside. While we spent most of the first day or so visiting with family and friends, we very soon got into the details of what our respective roles would be during the upcoming mission. Something you never quite know until you you start doing it.
As Executive Officer, my duty would be to the ship and her crew first, while the captain, a former Alliance cruiser captain by the name of Mathew Gill, would be in charge and have overall command of the mission. His resume certainly looked good. Results driven. Attention to detail. A history of successful command. There was just something in our initial meeting that put me a bit on edge. Nothing I could put my finger on, really. But there was something about the man I just couldn't quite pin down. Usually, I could get a read on someone in a matter of moments, but not Captain Gill. Figuring him out would take time. But time was something we had.
Belize would be one of three actual medical doctors aboard. The chief of staff, and flight surgeon, Doctor Bernard Olson, was a former emergency surgery professor in a teaching hospital, with a background in 'space medicine' - the sub-field of dealing with the fā kuáng tián sè people encountered in space and on other worlds. Bel seemed to hit it off with him instantly, which was fortunate, given their wildly different backgrounds. Still. Belize was a real doctor now. Board certified and everything. But it wasn't the board certification that brought her here. It was the experience on the Rim, in the Wastes and on Hale's and other Rim worlds, working minor miracles with not much more than safetly pins and duct tape.
Where my world would be Children of Earth and her crew of four hundred odd souls, Sabrina's world would be Children of Earth herself. As chief engineer, hand picked by the big sled's designer, she already knew more about the ship than half the people who'd worked on her.
Long before she'd decided to accept Elsoph's request, he'd been sending details and exchanging ideas with her, nurturing her natural machine empathy with toys and data she couldn't get out on the Rim. It didn't matter there were still a few gaps in her formal education, there was nothing in the sled's systems she couldn't fix given time and tools. I wasn't quite sure how she'd have an actual staff under her, being used to working alone or with one or two hands, but we would worry about that over the next few months.
The next few months. So much to do. Honing skills, finding our place in the mission, coming up to speed on the myriad details already worked out over the years of planning already in place. It was going to be a busy eight or so months.
But at least there was a pristine beach only an hour's flight away...
What had the last few weeks been for? You'd think by now they'd be tired of wishing us well, and hoping we had a grand adventure, and missing us, and, and, and. I couldn't really blame them. Any of them. As far as most of the 'Verse was concerned we were about to be dead and gone. Literally.
We weren't gone, yet, of course. There were still months of preparation left to do on Children of Earth, and nearly as many months of training for us to become her crew. We'd become part of a project far bigger than I think any one ever expected, both in scope and duration.
Decelerating to dock at the orbital yard, we could see the massive shape of Children of Earth in her gantry less then her own length from the platform. Structurally almost complete, she dwarfed the IAV Huygens, docked for maintenance, in length, if not bulk.
While Sabrina and I had been aboard a number of times, and Belize had seen the big sled before they moved her to the platform, the sight was still awesome. Her fuel talks and drives overwhelmed the rest of the ship, including the massive long duration fusion pile and the life section for her four hundred odd crew. All told, she was one of the largest speceships, no, starships, ever built by Human hands.
"That is one gorram big ship," I heard Bel say softly as we slid past the sled's gantry and backed into our spot on the platform. "Aye. More living space in there than we had in buildings on Hale's," I replied, hard docking Wave Equation to her cradle. "She'll be our home soon, if we don't decide to back out."
Sabrina let out a little snort of laughter. "Back out? As if."
I managed to suppress a giggle myself as a familiar voice came over the local intercom asking us to please hurry up and open the hatch because Uncle Elsoph was so glad we were finally here and he had so much to say and hardly enough time to say it because there was just so much that needed to be done and we had to start getting ready and don't forget to breathe before you run out of air because you can't stop talking.
I loved my uncle. I always had. He was the beloved, crazy, gifted, brilliant, uncle who was often hard to follow because his mind could easily, and frequently, jump tracks and you had to hope you could somehow keep up. He'd designed the last three spacecraft I'd called home and, spiritually at least, fathered Children of Earth herself.
Sabrina practically tackled him when he came aboard. Since meeting her, Elsoph had treated her like the daughter he'd never had time to have. But more, he treated her like a kindred spirit. Another natural Engineer. Never mind she hadn't had that much formal schooling when they met. Invention was in her blood, and the formal schooling was something she'd been able to add later.
Elsoph wasn't the only one who wanted to see us when we arrived. My parents and a handful of friends had come up to the Yard, probably knowing it would be a while before we had any time to go planetside.
In fact, it would be almost a week before we managed to get planetside. While we spent most of the first day or so visiting with family and friends, we very soon got into the details of what our respective roles would be during the upcoming mission. Something you never quite know until you you start doing it.
As Executive Officer, my duty would be to the ship and her crew first, while the captain, a former Alliance cruiser captain by the name of Mathew Gill, would be in charge and have overall command of the mission. His resume certainly looked good. Results driven. Attention to detail. A history of successful command. There was just something in our initial meeting that put me a bit on edge. Nothing I could put my finger on, really. But there was something about the man I just couldn't quite pin down. Usually, I could get a read on someone in a matter of moments, but not Captain Gill. Figuring him out would take time. But time was something we had.
Belize would be one of three actual medical doctors aboard. The chief of staff, and flight surgeon, Doctor Bernard Olson, was a former emergency surgery professor in a teaching hospital, with a background in 'space medicine' - the sub-field of dealing with the fā kuáng tián sè people encountered in space and on other worlds. Bel seemed to hit it off with him instantly, which was fortunate, given their wildly different backgrounds. Still. Belize was a real doctor now. Board certified and everything. But it wasn't the board certification that brought her here. It was the experience on the Rim, in the Wastes and on Hale's and other Rim worlds, working minor miracles with not much more than safetly pins and duct tape.
Where my world would be Children of Earth and her crew of four hundred odd souls, Sabrina's world would be Children of Earth herself. As chief engineer, hand picked by the big sled's designer, she already knew more about the ship than half the people who'd worked on her.
Long before she'd decided to accept Elsoph's request, he'd been sending details and exchanging ideas with her, nurturing her natural machine empathy with toys and data she couldn't get out on the Rim. It didn't matter there were still a few gaps in her formal education, there was nothing in the sled's systems she couldn't fix given time and tools. I wasn't quite sure how she'd have an actual staff under her, being used to working alone or with one or two hands, but we would worry about that over the next few months.
The next few months. So much to do. Honing skills, finding our place in the mission, coming up to speed on the myriad details already worked out over the years of planning already in place. It was going to be a busy eight or so months.
But at least there was a pristine beach only an hour's flight away...
Monday, June 1, 2009
Departures: One of several
"You look sad," I heard Sabrina say from the passenger seat just behind me. "I'm not, love. Not really. It's just this'll be the last time we do this," I replied softly, going through the preflight for Wave Equation's burn from Hale's Moon across the Black to Ariel. It was the last time most of the people here would ever see us and the last time we would see any of them. In less than a year, Sabrina, Belize, and I, would be in cold sleep on our way to Earth that Was. By the time we came back, if we came back, the 'Verse would be a very different place. The folks here would be another generation's honored ancestors, and the three of us would be footnotes in a history book.
"Hale's control, this is Wave Equation, requesting departure clearance." I said calmly, keeping the layers of emotion out of my voice. Looking out through my long suffering Matagi's ports, I could see a couple dozen people scattered around the ramps and on nearby rooftops. Over on top of the Sheriff's office, I could see a crew of three, a bit too far away to identify, holding a banner - "God's Speed, Children of Hale's!"
Children of Hale's? A pun on the big sled's name, but somehow appropriate. I'd come to Hale's Moon a damaged woman, with emotional scars hidden behind a calm, confident, veneer. This little slice of Heaven had changed me. This world and the people here had taught me I could love again, and could be loved. Taught me that Humanity wasn't restricted by form, that the shell didn't matter to the ghost within. Taught me that right and wrong were more important than legal or not. Taught me that I couldn't fix everything that was wrong in the 'Verse. That sometimes good people died and bad people lived, no matter what we had to say about it. It'd given me a family. And now? Now it was time to say good bye.
"Wave Equation, you are cleared for immediate departure. Safe journey, Miss Seana," came the reply. Krenshar's smooth artificial voice from the tower. It might have been imagination. Hard to say. But I thought I could hear emotion in his tone. A machine with the soul of a man. The one person who might actually live long enough to see us return.
"Thanks, Krenshar. You take good care of Lily, ok?" I said, loading the departure clearance into Wave EQ's nav system.
"Always, Miss Seana. Always."
I rotated the lateral drives and hit the throttles, launching us skyward, the colony we'd called home for over five years shrinking rabidly as I kicked the nose up and lit the main drivers. Wave Equation clawed sky as she had hundreds of times before, burning for orbit before turning towards Xuan Wu to take advantage of its gravity for the run in to Bei Hu and Ariel. At maximum burn, Ariel was barely a day away: the advantage of a Matagi's impressive performance. But somehow, I didn't want to make this trip short. While I knew we'd made the right decision to go, it didn't make it any easier to leave our friends behind. Going max thrust would feel like we were running from them, rather than going to embrace a new future.
Sabrina, and Belize lounging in the main cabin, left me with my thoughts for the few minutes it took to climb to orbit and swing around to burn clear of Hale's Moon's gravity well, before 'Brina drew my attention to the transponder. Two ships, with Alliance military idents, vectoring in on an intercept course.
Given things had been Shiny 'twixt us and the Alliance for months, I was a little confused. Then the comms lit up. "Wave Equation, this is Delta Two Niner. General Silvermane asked us to provide you an escort to the edge of the Kalidasa sector. You don't mind if we form up, do you?" said a voice I hadn't heard in nearly six months. Lieutenant. No. Lieutenant Commander now, Otsuka.
I could still remember the day we'd met the man and he'd taken up arms on our behalf, standing shoulder to shoulder with our militia to take on a nest of Reavers. He'd made a genuine effort to live up to the 'spirit of cooperation' then Colonel Silvermane had set for her compliment on the Sun Tzu. We'd done our part too. Treating fair with the Alliance soldiers as long as they treated fair with us. It was probably what saved us major pain during the Second Independence War, if you could really all it a war. We'd found a way to live peaceably with the Alliance forces on the Rim, but it took willing folk on both sides to make it work.
"Sidle on up, Commander. We're glad of the company."
"Thank you, Ma'am. The General sends her regards. Wishes you and yours luck."
For the next couple hours we talked to the Commander and his mates, holding our thrust back so the Alliance patrol boats could keep up. But eventually, it was time to go. Bidding farewell to our Alliance escort and, ultimately, everyone we held dear in the Black Tortoise system, I throttled up to vector for Ariel.
"This really is it," Belize said softly as the drive flares from the two Alliance escorts faded into the Black behind us. I just nodded, watching Sabrina give Bel a hug in the reflection from my console.
Behind us, lost in the actinic glare of Wave Equation's drives, Hale's Moon faded into the Black.
But never from memory.
"Hale's control, this is Wave Equation, requesting departure clearance." I said calmly, keeping the layers of emotion out of my voice. Looking out through my long suffering Matagi's ports, I could see a couple dozen people scattered around the ramps and on nearby rooftops. Over on top of the Sheriff's office, I could see a crew of three, a bit too far away to identify, holding a banner - "God's Speed, Children of Hale's!"
Children of Hale's? A pun on the big sled's name, but somehow appropriate. I'd come to Hale's Moon a damaged woman, with emotional scars hidden behind a calm, confident, veneer. This little slice of Heaven had changed me. This world and the people here had taught me I could love again, and could be loved. Taught me that Humanity wasn't restricted by form, that the shell didn't matter to the ghost within. Taught me that right and wrong were more important than legal or not. Taught me that I couldn't fix everything that was wrong in the 'Verse. That sometimes good people died and bad people lived, no matter what we had to say about it. It'd given me a family. And now? Now it was time to say good bye.
"Wave Equation, you are cleared for immediate departure. Safe journey, Miss Seana," came the reply. Krenshar's smooth artificial voice from the tower. It might have been imagination. Hard to say. But I thought I could hear emotion in his tone. A machine with the soul of a man. The one person who might actually live long enough to see us return.
"Thanks, Krenshar. You take good care of Lily, ok?" I said, loading the departure clearance into Wave EQ's nav system.
"Always, Miss Seana. Always."
I rotated the lateral drives and hit the throttles, launching us skyward, the colony we'd called home for over five years shrinking rabidly as I kicked the nose up and lit the main drivers. Wave Equation clawed sky as she had hundreds of times before, burning for orbit before turning towards Xuan Wu to take advantage of its gravity for the run in to Bei Hu and Ariel. At maximum burn, Ariel was barely a day away: the advantage of a Matagi's impressive performance. But somehow, I didn't want to make this trip short. While I knew we'd made the right decision to go, it didn't make it any easier to leave our friends behind. Going max thrust would feel like we were running from them, rather than going to embrace a new future.
Sabrina, and Belize lounging in the main cabin, left me with my thoughts for the few minutes it took to climb to orbit and swing around to burn clear of Hale's Moon's gravity well, before 'Brina drew my attention to the transponder. Two ships, with Alliance military idents, vectoring in on an intercept course.
Given things had been Shiny 'twixt us and the Alliance for months, I was a little confused. Then the comms lit up. "Wave Equation, this is Delta Two Niner. General Silvermane asked us to provide you an escort to the edge of the Kalidasa sector. You don't mind if we form up, do you?" said a voice I hadn't heard in nearly six months. Lieutenant. No. Lieutenant Commander now, Otsuka.
I could still remember the day we'd met the man and he'd taken up arms on our behalf, standing shoulder to shoulder with our militia to take on a nest of Reavers. He'd made a genuine effort to live up to the 'spirit of cooperation' then Colonel Silvermane had set for her compliment on the Sun Tzu. We'd done our part too. Treating fair with the Alliance soldiers as long as they treated fair with us. It was probably what saved us major pain during the Second Independence War, if you could really all it a war. We'd found a way to live peaceably with the Alliance forces on the Rim, but it took willing folk on both sides to make it work.
"Sidle on up, Commander. We're glad of the company."
"Thank you, Ma'am. The General sends her regards. Wishes you and yours luck."
For the next couple hours we talked to the Commander and his mates, holding our thrust back so the Alliance patrol boats could keep up. But eventually, it was time to go. Bidding farewell to our Alliance escort and, ultimately, everyone we held dear in the Black Tortoise system, I throttled up to vector for Ariel.
"This really is it," Belize said softly as the drive flares from the two Alliance escorts faded into the Black behind us. I just nodded, watching Sabrina give Bel a hug in the reflection from my console.
Behind us, lost in the actinic glare of Wave Equation's drives, Hale's Moon faded into the Black.
But never from memory.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Decisions
I've never been good at delivering speeches. Even worse at writing them. I never seem to quite find the tone I'm reaching for when I'm trying to get people to listen. Fortunately, I don't have to deliver a lot of them. The folks on Hale's Moon have never been for long winded speeches in any case. When they elected me Mayor the first time, my acceptance speech consisted of "Thanks, folks. I'll try and do you proud." It went over well.
But now, standing in the midst of two hundred odd colonists packed into Fook Yoo's and damn near everyone else watching on a screen somewhere nearby, I hoped I'd be able to say what I felt. There were so many people here who'd touched my life, saved me from who I'd been when I arrived, made me feel welcome and wanted without caring about who I'd been before. I owed them a lot. More than they owed me, and I sincerely hoped I'd managed to do them proud.
"Relax, Boss, you'll do fine. Now get your skinny ass up there," Genni chided me, giving me a gentle nudge towards the stage. In the two years she'd been my assistant and the three she'd been Deputy Mayor, we'd grown close. Who'd have thought our friendship started after she shot me? Now, years later, I'd be turning the colony over into her capable hands. From disgruntled colonist, to Town Elder and mother of three.
I nodded, gave her a hug, and started working my way through the throng. I knew all these people. Colonists and visitors alike. Folks from Shadow, Washtown, Burnholme, Suzhou, half a dozen other Rim worlds. Folk from Blackburne who'd settled here after the Reavers wrecked their colony four years ago.
The people in this room had changed with me over the last few years. Some more than others. Little Jin, growing from an enthusiastic, gearhead, orphan to a strapping 17 year old who'd learned to shoot from General and Duncan, and learned to wrench from Sabrina. Uncle Sobi and Lady Jade, married two years now, watching the crowd arm in arm from the loft. Krenshar, the machine with a soul, sporting a new skin around the same core chassis. General, talking quietly with Belize in the loft opposite Sobi and Jade, mellower, more mature, the anger that'd driven him now years behind. Lilybell. My Mei Mei. Standing with Krenshar, watching, knowing what I was going to say, a look of both sorrow and joy on her engineered feline features. And somewhere, somewhere unseen, Aurora and Blue, watching as well.
At least I hoped they were watching. Somewhere.
Folks quieted quickly when I stepped up onto the small stage between the two well worn dance poles, voices fading to a murmur then actual quiet, waiting for me to speak.
"Good morning, Citizens. Thank you all for coming here or watching on the feeds," I started, settling into a nice, protective, zen-like calm. "First, thank you for letting me serve as your Mayor for a full term and now re-electing me for another. Can only guess you're glad it gave the folks looking to harm us a better target than your fine selves."
I let the round of light laughter subside. it had been a running joke for years that I'd been elected more for my ability to attract bullets away from the townspeople than my ability to lead. In fact, it wasn't entirely a joke as I'd caught more than one bullet over the years as Mayor.
"As many of you know, I've been offered the Executive Officer position aboard Children of Earth for her mission back to Earth that Was. My wife, Sabrina, and Doctor Carver, have also been offered positions on the crew, as Chief Engineer and Medical Officer. After a lot of soul searching, and talking to the Town Elders, we've decided, all three of us, to take the assignment," I waited a few moments for the crowd to absorb what many of them already knew, and the murmurs to die away.
"To that end, I'll be resigning my position as Mayor of Hale's Moon effective the end of next week. With the Elder's blessing, Genni Foxtrot will take over in my place until you fine folk decide whether to let her finish out my term or to hold another round of elections."
"If we shoot ya again, will ya stay?" I heard from the back of the crowd, followed by a wave of laughter. The familiar voice of Sam Foxtrot, Genni's husband.
"Sorry, Samuel. This decision has been a long time coming. It's been a pleasure and a privilege to serve as your Mayor, and I hope I've managed to keep my promise of doing you folk proud. We've stood together through interesting times. We've fought back to back against enemies and the elements, and I can't think of a finer group of people to have done it with. We've survived some major challenges together. We've shared both suffering and joy on this little slice of Heaven. But the fact was we had to choose before the opportunity burned a hole in the Black, and we've chosen to go."
I looked across the room, the sea of faces. Some smiling, others nodding, showing signs of acceptance or regret. Sadness. Joy. Hope. Loss. These were good folk and I would miss them.
"Some of us have had our differences over the last few years," I said, looking directly at Genni across the room to another round of laughter, bringing a hand up to rub the spot on my chest where she'd put a bullet into my armor. "But the fact is, I'll miss all of you. I've tried to give enough time to get everything in order before we leave, but I know you'll be in good hands. So rather then us dwelling on departures, let's have ourselves a little shindig and celebrate the ongoing prosperity of Hale's Moon."
I waved to a round of friendly cheers and laughter, stepping off the small stage to give Sabrina a hug. It was a brief speech. Probably didn't say all it could have. How could it? I was saying good by to the colony I'd called home for over five years to set of on a one way trip to a world out of legend. Half these folk probably thought I was toppyoushimonai, and I might well have been. Over the next few days I was pretty sure more than one person here would try and talk me out of it, but we'd made the decision. Sabrina and Belize and I. We were going.
Butsuriki help us. We were going.
But now, standing in the midst of two hundred odd colonists packed into Fook Yoo's and damn near everyone else watching on a screen somewhere nearby, I hoped I'd be able to say what I felt. There were so many people here who'd touched my life, saved me from who I'd been when I arrived, made me feel welcome and wanted without caring about who I'd been before. I owed them a lot. More than they owed me, and I sincerely hoped I'd managed to do them proud.
"Relax, Boss, you'll do fine. Now get your skinny ass up there," Genni chided me, giving me a gentle nudge towards the stage. In the two years she'd been my assistant and the three she'd been Deputy Mayor, we'd grown close. Who'd have thought our friendship started after she shot me? Now, years later, I'd be turning the colony over into her capable hands. From disgruntled colonist, to Town Elder and mother of three.
I nodded, gave her a hug, and started working my way through the throng. I knew all these people. Colonists and visitors alike. Folks from Shadow, Washtown, Burnholme, Suzhou, half a dozen other Rim worlds. Folk from Blackburne who'd settled here after the Reavers wrecked their colony four years ago.
The people in this room had changed with me over the last few years. Some more than others. Little Jin, growing from an enthusiastic, gearhead, orphan to a strapping 17 year old who'd learned to shoot from General and Duncan, and learned to wrench from Sabrina. Uncle Sobi and Lady Jade, married two years now, watching the crowd arm in arm from the loft. Krenshar, the machine with a soul, sporting a new skin around the same core chassis. General, talking quietly with Belize in the loft opposite Sobi and Jade, mellower, more mature, the anger that'd driven him now years behind. Lilybell. My Mei Mei. Standing with Krenshar, watching, knowing what I was going to say, a look of both sorrow and joy on her engineered feline features. And somewhere, somewhere unseen, Aurora and Blue, watching as well.
At least I hoped they were watching. Somewhere.
Folks quieted quickly when I stepped up onto the small stage between the two well worn dance poles, voices fading to a murmur then actual quiet, waiting for me to speak.
"Good morning, Citizens. Thank you all for coming here or watching on the feeds," I started, settling into a nice, protective, zen-like calm. "First, thank you for letting me serve as your Mayor for a full term and now re-electing me for another. Can only guess you're glad it gave the folks looking to harm us a better target than your fine selves."
I let the round of light laughter subside. it had been a running joke for years that I'd been elected more for my ability to attract bullets away from the townspeople than my ability to lead. In fact, it wasn't entirely a joke as I'd caught more than one bullet over the years as Mayor.
"As many of you know, I've been offered the Executive Officer position aboard Children of Earth for her mission back to Earth that Was. My wife, Sabrina, and Doctor Carver, have also been offered positions on the crew, as Chief Engineer and Medical Officer. After a lot of soul searching, and talking to the Town Elders, we've decided, all three of us, to take the assignment," I waited a few moments for the crowd to absorb what many of them already knew, and the murmurs to die away.
"To that end, I'll be resigning my position as Mayor of Hale's Moon effective the end of next week. With the Elder's blessing, Genni Foxtrot will take over in my place until you fine folk decide whether to let her finish out my term or to hold another round of elections."
"If we shoot ya again, will ya stay?" I heard from the back of the crowd, followed by a wave of laughter. The familiar voice of Sam Foxtrot, Genni's husband.
"Sorry, Samuel. This decision has been a long time coming. It's been a pleasure and a privilege to serve as your Mayor, and I hope I've managed to keep my promise of doing you folk proud. We've stood together through interesting times. We've fought back to back against enemies and the elements, and I can't think of a finer group of people to have done it with. We've survived some major challenges together. We've shared both suffering and joy on this little slice of Heaven. But the fact was we had to choose before the opportunity burned a hole in the Black, and we've chosen to go."
I looked across the room, the sea of faces. Some smiling, others nodding, showing signs of acceptance or regret. Sadness. Joy. Hope. Loss. These were good folk and I would miss them.
"Some of us have had our differences over the last few years," I said, looking directly at Genni across the room to another round of laughter, bringing a hand up to rub the spot on my chest where she'd put a bullet into my armor. "But the fact is, I'll miss all of you. I've tried to give enough time to get everything in order before we leave, but I know you'll be in good hands. So rather then us dwelling on departures, let's have ourselves a little shindig and celebrate the ongoing prosperity of Hale's Moon."
I waved to a round of friendly cheers and laughter, stepping off the small stage to give Sabrina a hug. It was a brief speech. Probably didn't say all it could have. How could it? I was saying good by to the colony I'd called home for over five years to set of on a one way trip to a world out of legend. Half these folk probably thought I was toppyoushimonai, and I might well have been. Over the next few days I was pretty sure more than one person here would try and talk me out of it, but we'd made the decision. Sabrina and Belize and I. We were going.
Butsuriki help us. We were going.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Prelude
Good advice sometimes comes in very simple terms. "Her think you should go." Lily had a way of making simple, direct, statements, and this was certainly one of them. I wasn't even sure how the conversation had come up, other then in the quiet aftermath of a post 're-elect the Mayor to another four year term' shindig.
My first term had been, shall we say, eventful. In the four years since I'd first gotten elected Mayor of a little backwater mining colony, we'd fought wars against Loyalists, Reavers, and Machines, and lived to tell the tales.
We'd seen new lives come into the world, and old friends leave it. We'd watched a colony of barely three hundred fifty people grow to over fifteen hundred souls, thriving on a world that we had to update the terraforming ourselves to make it possible.
We'd seen the Independence movement sweep through the Rim worlds. Rising up, as half a dozen worlds declared their succession from the Alliance, then die back down as those same worlds either worked out some kind of truce with the vastly more powerful Alliance, or fell beneath that same unstoppable force.
We'd seen the Reavers flare up into violence then die out as quickly and violently as they'd come, leaving death and terror in their wake until that one, final, massive, battle, that ended their reign of terror. Now there were just scattered tribes, dieing out as Entropy ended their collective span.
And the machines. Those accursed machines. Designed to help rebuild after the first Unification War, then perverted into weapons by the self serving hardliners who still had factions interwoven into the fabric of the Alliance. They'd been a quiet scourge on at least half a dozen known worlds, and possibly many more unknown ones.
For the last few months though, we'd been able to pretend the Machines were gone. While we couldn't be sure they'd been eliminated, the last attack we could attribute to the weaponized von Neumann mining machines was almost four months back. Long enough to give us a sense that maybe, just maybe, they threat was gone.
The quiet, the stability, was why Lily thought I should go: Take Grandfather's offer of the Executive Officer position on Children of Earth and leave all this behind for one grand adventure. His offer had been standing for years. Literally. Long delayed, the ship was still at least a year from completion and the crew selection still not finalized. Grandfather had wanted me to serve as the ship's XO for at least the last five years, even knowing it was essentially a one way mission. While we could come back, the round trip was over a hundred standard years.
For all her being the fastest ship ever designed, the journey from 34 Tauri to Sol was a long one. Bound by the absolute limit of lightspeed. The crew would have the advantage of the most advanced hibernation systems ever designed, and a long time at relativistic speeds, but everyone the crew knew when the left would be long dead by the time they returned.
If they returned.
It was potentially the second greatest adventure Humanity would ever undertake. All contact with Earth that Was had been lost shortly after the first colony ships arrived in the 34 Tauri system hundreds of years ago. With all the struggles of trying to settle into Humanity's new home, our birthplace was almost forgotten. The stuff of legends. To this day, Earth that Was was spoken of as a mythical place, but none of us knew anything that wasn't in a history book.
Sure, there had been attempted contacts in the past. There were at least three documented cases of scientists in the pre-Alliance days trying to get a signal back to Earth, Luna, or Mars, with a high power comms maser. None of which ever heard a reply. Not that the reply would have come back within the lifetime of the person sending the signal. There were also at least two automated probes, neither of which ever reported home. System failures? Somethine ate them in Sol system? No one knew. But twenty years ago the Interworld Science Foundation had proposed the idea of a manned expedition back to Earth that Was. Humanity deserved to know what had become of their homeworld. In respose, half a dozen of the best naval architects in the 'Verse had submitted designs for consideration - should the project actually be funded. Of them, one showed actual promise.
Children of Earth was the magnum opus of Kawanishi Heavy Industry Ltd's most talented, and eccentric, designer. A massive ship that incorporated some of the most sophisticated drive and power technologies ever devised. She would take a crew of hundreds across the stars to Humanity's homeworld and do it in record time. If only she would be built.
With the Alliance being the political quagmire it was, and the years long Unification War, it was no wonder she'd taken a decade just to be approved in principal, then years more before construction could start after updating and approving the design. But she was being built. Now, roughly a year from completion, KHI, as the shipyard and secondary sponsor, and the ISF were trying to finalize the crew selection.
And Grandfather wanted me to go. Still.
We had turned him down before, Sabrina and I. But our reasons had changed over the last few years. The priorities that kept us on the Rim were changing as the people, and the worlds around us, changed. For the first time, I could see Sabrina was actually considering the offer. Uncle Elsoph himself had recommended her to be Chief Engineer: high praise from the man who'd designed most of the great ship himself. "I'm too old." he'd said. "Your Sabrina though. She knows. She understands."
"We'll think about it, Mei Mei" was all I could say. But we would. At length. It would be a huge decision, leaving our lives here behind. When we returned, Krenshar might still be alive. Or functional, rather, since he wasn't really 'alive' to begin with. But everyone else we knew? We'd be coming home to their grandchildren, assuming the mission was a success and we came home at all.
So much to consider. And all because Lily thought we should go.
My first term had been, shall we say, eventful. In the four years since I'd first gotten elected Mayor of a little backwater mining colony, we'd fought wars against Loyalists, Reavers, and Machines, and lived to tell the tales.
We'd seen new lives come into the world, and old friends leave it. We'd watched a colony of barely three hundred fifty people grow to over fifteen hundred souls, thriving on a world that we had to update the terraforming ourselves to make it possible.
We'd seen the Independence movement sweep through the Rim worlds. Rising up, as half a dozen worlds declared their succession from the Alliance, then die back down as those same worlds either worked out some kind of truce with the vastly more powerful Alliance, or fell beneath that same unstoppable force.
We'd seen the Reavers flare up into violence then die out as quickly and violently as they'd come, leaving death and terror in their wake until that one, final, massive, battle, that ended their reign of terror. Now there were just scattered tribes, dieing out as Entropy ended their collective span.
And the machines. Those accursed machines. Designed to help rebuild after the first Unification War, then perverted into weapons by the self serving hardliners who still had factions interwoven into the fabric of the Alliance. They'd been a quiet scourge on at least half a dozen known worlds, and possibly many more unknown ones.
For the last few months though, we'd been able to pretend the Machines were gone. While we couldn't be sure they'd been eliminated, the last attack we could attribute to the weaponized von Neumann mining machines was almost four months back. Long enough to give us a sense that maybe, just maybe, they threat was gone.
The quiet, the stability, was why Lily thought I should go: Take Grandfather's offer of the Executive Officer position on Children of Earth and leave all this behind for one grand adventure. His offer had been standing for years. Literally. Long delayed, the ship was still at least a year from completion and the crew selection still not finalized. Grandfather had wanted me to serve as the ship's XO for at least the last five years, even knowing it was essentially a one way mission. While we could come back, the round trip was over a hundred standard years.
For all her being the fastest ship ever designed, the journey from 34 Tauri to Sol was a long one. Bound by the absolute limit of lightspeed. The crew would have the advantage of the most advanced hibernation systems ever designed, and a long time at relativistic speeds, but everyone the crew knew when the left would be long dead by the time they returned.
If they returned.
It was potentially the second greatest adventure Humanity would ever undertake. All contact with Earth that Was had been lost shortly after the first colony ships arrived in the 34 Tauri system hundreds of years ago. With all the struggles of trying to settle into Humanity's new home, our birthplace was almost forgotten. The stuff of legends. To this day, Earth that Was was spoken of as a mythical place, but none of us knew anything that wasn't in a history book.
Sure, there had been attempted contacts in the past. There were at least three documented cases of scientists in the pre-Alliance days trying to get a signal back to Earth, Luna, or Mars, with a high power comms maser. None of which ever heard a reply. Not that the reply would have come back within the lifetime of the person sending the signal. There were also at least two automated probes, neither of which ever reported home. System failures? Somethine ate them in Sol system? No one knew. But twenty years ago the Interworld Science Foundation had proposed the idea of a manned expedition back to Earth that Was. Humanity deserved to know what had become of their homeworld. In respose, half a dozen of the best naval architects in the 'Verse had submitted designs for consideration - should the project actually be funded. Of them, one showed actual promise.
Children of Earth was the magnum opus of Kawanishi Heavy Industry Ltd's most talented, and eccentric, designer. A massive ship that incorporated some of the most sophisticated drive and power technologies ever devised. She would take a crew of hundreds across the stars to Humanity's homeworld and do it in record time. If only she would be built.
With the Alliance being the political quagmire it was, and the years long Unification War, it was no wonder she'd taken a decade just to be approved in principal, then years more before construction could start after updating and approving the design. But she was being built. Now, roughly a year from completion, KHI, as the shipyard and secondary sponsor, and the ISF were trying to finalize the crew selection.
And Grandfather wanted me to go. Still.
We had turned him down before, Sabrina and I. But our reasons had changed over the last few years. The priorities that kept us on the Rim were changing as the people, and the worlds around us, changed. For the first time, I could see Sabrina was actually considering the offer. Uncle Elsoph himself had recommended her to be Chief Engineer: high praise from the man who'd designed most of the great ship himself. "I'm too old." he'd said. "Your Sabrina though. She knows. She understands."
"We'll think about it, Mei Mei" was all I could say. But we would. At length. It would be a huge decision, leaving our lives here behind. When we returned, Krenshar might still be alive. Or functional, rather, since he wasn't really 'alive' to begin with. But everyone else we knew? We'd be coming home to their grandchildren, assuming the mission was a success and we came home at all.
So much to consider. And all because Lily thought we should go.
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