18 Nov 2009

Dragons and Stars, Chapter 14: Hello Ceres

Posted by pendragon7

The S.S. Samson screamed into range of Ceres and Ceres’ Station. Uncle John didn’t want to take a chance on the pirates changing their minds and coming to finish them off before they made it to Ceres. As a result, the Samson was going to overshoot and blow past Ceres like a runner passing first base, before it could reach a full stop and work its way back to the Station.

Andrews had expertly flipped the long ship so it was flying end-first. The thrusters were working away to decrease the ship’s velocity at a rate their bodies and the ship’s frame could withstand. Even so, they all remained pressed into their seats for more than one hour as the ship screeched to a stop.

The intercom crackled.

“Freighter S.S. Samson,” said an upset man’s voice, “Please advise why you are flying at unacceptable speeds through Ceres orbital space.”

Uncle John’s voice crackled in reply. “Ceres Base, please be advised that we have recently undergone a pirate attack from three Kiff’eem ships and barely escaped after losing half our cargo.”

There was a long pause.

“Freighter S.S. Samson, send representatives to Space Security headquarters immediately upon landing. Also carry ship recordings of the event.”

“Roger,” said Uncle John.

The ship’s rear at last came to a full stop in space, and once again the ship was flying front-forward in approach back to Ceres Station.

“Oh!” said Mrs. Silver, sitting next to Neal. She was holding his right hand in her two hands, but it was more comforting than annoying to Neal after the past eight hours. “I see what you mean, Neal!”

On the forward camera screen, the largest of the asteroids looked very much like a small moon as it filled the left side of the monitor. In the right side of the monitor above the moon, a large multi-layered space station grew larger as they approached. And between Ceres and the station above it, a thin connecting wire shone in the light of the distant sun.

“That’s the connection tube,” said Hanna, pointing. “Even though it looks like a thin wire, it’s actually about a hundred feet in diameter and has two-way traffic going through it from the station to Ceres.”

“My goodness!” exclaimed Mrs. Silver. “It’s like a fifteen mile tall skyscraper with a huge station at its top!”

“Have you seen real skyscrapers before?” asked Neal, curiously.

“Oh my, yes,” she smiled. “I grew up on earth! But earth’s skyscrapers are not nearly as tall as those on the moon. On the moon there are towers more than a mile tall.”

Neal digested that information as the space station grew to fill the monitors. The ship slowed to a stop at one of the long docking arms of the station, and a transfer tube from the arm whirred out to the ship and connected to the back with a large bump. A sound buzzed in their eyes, followed by a hiss and a click.

“We’re connected,” Uncle John said. “Let’s pray before we leave. We should not ask for help and forget to give equal time to thanks afterwards.”

Uncle John bowed his head. Beside Neal, Mrs. Silver pulled herself down out of her seat and bowed her face to the floor, her arms up in the air. Neal tried to look away. He closed his eyes.

“Dear Lord,” Uncle John prayed, “We thank you humbly for delivering us from death. We’re also thankful we still have half our cargo. To you belong escapes from death.”

“Amen! Hallelujah!” shouted Mrs. Silver, making Neal jump.

There was a pause, then Uncle John said, “Amen.”

Everyone shuffled or floated out of their seats, some walking with magboots, others pulling themselves to the airlock by handles in the ceiling. Neal, Hanna, Mrs. Silver, and Grummel waited together and put on their helmets. Grummel had been ribbed mercilessly by the other miners for the past several hours for sleeping through the entire pirate attack. He took it sheepishly and good-naturedly.

“Now,” said Hanna, “You don’t have to come with us, Grummel, if you don’t want to. You can just go nap in your bunk while we spend the day on Ceres…”

Grummel grimaced. “I reckon’ I got enough sleep fer now,” he said.

They went out through the airlock and into the cargo area, where the miners were beginning to unlock crates from the hold wall.

MacHardy floated over. “Grummel,” he said. “I’m gonna need ye here helping to unload the cargo what’s left. You can go on down te’ Ceres later ef’ there’s time.”

Grummel looked disappointed, but nodded.

Neal turned to help with a box, but MacHardy barred his way with a meaty arm.

“Ye’ done enough today, young pilot,” he said. “You take Hanna an’ Mrs. Slender, er, Sliver, that es.. Mrs. Silver, on down to Ceres and rest up. Eny’ways, we only got half the cargo we had a’fore, so we’ll do jes’ fine by ourselves.”

Neal nodded. He pushed off behind Hanna and Mrs. Silver and glided down the cargo bay until they reached the back ramp. It was lowered into a large bright tube, where station crew waited with cargo floaters to tug the ore crates somewhere else on the station.

* * *

“Five credits each!” said the guard. They had floated through hall after hall crowded with dock workers, merchants and travelers. Now they had arrived at the entrance to the tube down to Ceres. “I’ve got it,” said Neal, handing the guard a twenty credit thin coin.

“And there’s a five credit service charge for giving out tickets!” the guard said, under his breath.

Neal froze and stared awkwardly to the side. Should he fight it?

“A five credit service charge?” asked Hanna sharply. “I would like to talk to your commanding officer about this charge. Would you like to go get him or her?”

The officer raised his eyebrows in surprise, then his face grew shrewd.

“Well, cutie,” he said, eyeing her up and down. “He’s on vacation right now.”

Neal clenched his right fist and saw red for a moment.

Hanna’s flushed slightly, but she calmly looked him back in the eyes.

“Well, that’s interesting.” She pointed at Neal. “His uncle, the governor of a large asteroid, is going to talk to base officials in just a few minutes about a pirate attack on us coming here.” She punched a button on her compad behind her left wrist and held it up to her mouth. “Perhaps we’ll just ask him to mention this service charge in connection with you…” she peered at his nametag, which read “Rice,” and at the mark on his sleeve. “Corporal Rice is it?” She thumbed the communication switch.

“Wait. Wait! Okay, okay.” He called her an uncomplimentary name and fished around for change in his side bag.

Neal looked around and was very embarrassed to see a long line forming behind them.

“Better make it ten credits,” Hanna said. “We are quite inconvenienced.”
“Why you little!” he began, but Hanna thumbed her wristpad. “Captain John?”

“Yes, what is it Hanna?” Uncle John replied through the compad.

The guard furiously snatched a ten credit coin and tossed it at them. Neal caught it against his chest.

“Never mind,” said Hanna into her compad. “Sorry to bother you, Uncle John.”

She smiled at the guard and they entered the tube.

“You know how to make enemies!” Neal said to her in a low voice.

“But you admire my spunk, don’t you?” Hanna asked him, shaking her hair out.

Neal smiled and shook his head no. “Yeah,” he said.

Mrs. Silver had watched the whole thing from a certain distance. She said nothing but laid a hand on each of their arms as they stepped off the waiting platform onto a pod.

It was already mostly full, and after they squeezed on the doors shut behind them. The clear texaglass pods rotated on the track leading down to Ceres. As it pushed away from the station, the pod swung so that they were traveling headfirst to the asteroid, giving their feet gravity against the floor of the pod. The three of them craned their heads up to look through the clear tube at the approaching asteroid. The pod picked up speed for about five minutes and the round asteroid grew to fill their sight. Then a bell sounded, and everyone grabbed a handhold as the pod swung until they were going feetfirst downward to the asteroid. The pod began slowing, giving their feet gravity onto the floor again after a few moments. A large city came up underneath them, and after five minutes they settled to a stop nestled in the midst of tall buildings.

The gravity eased up to normal Ceres gravity, 1/30th of an earth gravity. Nea normally would weigh 145 earth-pounds (72.5 pounds in the half-gravity of the Living Cylinder). Now he felt like he weighed about five pounds. Fortunately, their magboots worked on metal-cored Ceres. Several passengers leaned down to adjust their boots for better walking. Those who didn’t exited the pod with a sort of lunge forward, which floated them away just above the ground. Miners called these lunges “moonwalking.” Not to be confused with the dance, which ironically could be performed best in higher gravity.

Neal, Hanna, and Mrs. Silver made their way out of the station and into the city. To Neal’s eyes, the city was huge. Ceres’ diameter of 590 miles made Eros’ 20 mile length look like a pebble in space. But Neal had read that Earth’s moon was four times as large as even Ceres! It boggled his mind to imagine. And then Terra, earth itself–four times the diameter of its great moon, and fifty times the total volume. I guess compared to all that, Ceres is not such great shakes, Neal thought. But still. He stared out at the city sprouting out of the sharply curving surface of Ceres.

There were tall buildings, great tall columns and cylinders, a few of them spinning. Bubble geodesic domes covered large shopping and trade areas. Miners came from all over the asteroid belt to offload their ores and cargos and pick up supplies and fuel. Ceres itself had an amazing amount of frozen water in its mantle which could be broken up into oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for fuel, or simply collected as water.

A public conveyance tow-rope was gliding in front of them. They each stepped up to it, turned off their magboots, and grabbed hold of a handle. This tow-rope wound through various parts of the city on pulleys and wheels. Neal always enjoyed the ride, which now moved at a quick pace down streets and between buildings. After ten minutes a tall apartment cylinder loomed above them, marked “Mavery Place.” All three let go of the line. Their momentum carried them straight to the wall of the cylinder. The pushed against it lightly with their feet, bringing themselves to a stop, floating down to the surface where they turned on their magboots. Neal pressed the compad on the wall next to the entrance.

“Mrs. Turner, please,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” a robotic voice replied.

“Who is this?” said a woman’s voice a moment later.

“It’s Neal Washer, your nephew,” he said. “I have two friends with me.”

“Why Neal, how marvelous! Come on up!” The airlock beeped and the outer door slid open.

 

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2 Responses to “Dragons and Stars, Chapter 14: Hello Ceres”

  1. “Nea normally”

     

    joncooper

  2. I had a feeling you had fun writing this chapter! It has you written all over it.

     

    joncooper