2347

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I can't focus on writing and sooner than later I won't even have internet, so everyone: enjoy or whine, you choose.

PROLOGUE
In the year 2347, the solar system had been fully colonized – to the extent that it can be anyway. Venus still is uninhabitable, being the closest this solar system has to a world resembling those 19th century sermons of hellfire and brimstone. An early attempt at developing “cloud cities” had met in disaster, so any hope of colonizing Venus had been abandoned or, at the very least, delayed indefinitely.
Mercury has mining colonies which started with robots for initial excavation. Most of the heavy metals come from the mines of Mercury, for better or worse, as it’s now the primary location for the new energy monopoly. Some of the earlier wars over Mercury had been fairly fierce, especially since uranium is the primary export of interest.
Mars has a breathable atmosphere now, after two centuries of slow terraforming. Still nobody’s figured out a way to give Mars a magnetic field, but with the nitrogen, oxygen, and ozone added much of the radiation is now blocked. The auroras are beautiful there now, with the various colors reaching almost to the surface. The early settlers of Mars had risked their lives for freedom and a new hope of life on the frontier. Perhaps they had that, some of them may have, but now much of Mars is a crowded as Earth.
The Earth’s moon has some outposts on it, but only temporary ones, because the requirement of genetic modification to prevent bone and muscle loss is unappealing to many of the patricians who only want to say they’ve been to space. Apart from a few mines and observatories, the moon has some company headquarters and has the largest advertising space in the universe, the side facing Earth turned into an electronic billboard to whichever company is willing to buy the time and surface area for their advertisement.
Some have made colonies within the Belt, on the worlds of Ceres, Vesta, and Juno, and some mining companies have build centrifugal colonies at various gravities to suit workers from the various worlds. Most of the centrifugal stations in the solar system are within the asteroid belt, due to available work and resources, although the most popular rotating habitats are at Earth’s radius to the sun – primarily due to the warm beaches therein not requiring electric lighting, but having strong sunlight instead.
The outer solar system has the gas giants and the planets like Pluto, with Pluto and its many moons being the orbit of demarcation of division for the outer worlds. Most human habitations in the outer solar system are in orbit of Jupiter and on Saturn’s moons of Titan and Mimas. Most of the inhabitants of Mimas are there just for the novelty of living on a world that looks like the Death Moon from an old movie called Space Wars. Thankfully, they haven’t installed the giant laser in the crater, but if they had more resources they almost certainly would.
On Titan, you have many habitations as well as industrial complexes harvesting the methane like water is harvested from Europa. Most workers there now live in relative luxury, but, prior to the solar system being more populated and policed by the Colonial Administration, the workers of a century ago there had almost literally been slaves. They had been required to work only for food, with no luxuries, nothing but bare necessities. Well… let me clarify that to be fair: they were paid, so it’s not entirely accurate to say they worked only for food, but their monthly pay check lined up, almost entirely, with their weekly cost of food… and air. Now the inhabitants of Titan each have their own homes, each with huge gardens for food and air production. Some don’t like the tyranny of the Colonial Administration, but mostly those who own the companies that harvest the liquid methane and sell it amongst the solar system. Being required to provide the same living conditions for everyone as they had themselves, that had them operating at a lost for almost a full Earth-year.
On Jupiter’s moon Io, automated factories harvest the “geo”-thermal energy of that volcanic moon and use it to produce antimatter to be sold and shipped as an easy to use, albeit dangerous, fuel source. Regulated reactions of it with matter produce enough heat to be able to use thermocouples to power even interstellar ships, or at least that was the idea. Almost nobody wanted to buy the perilous substance, certainly not for travelling long distances. As it is, the robotic factories on Io had been operating for decades without many buyers apart from various defense agencies which would only use the antimatter as a weapon.
On Pluto, you had a singular colony of, primarily, astronomers and engineers. Some of the newest ships were being built on this world, some meant for travelling to Alpha Centauri and Tau Ceti. The ships were generation-ships; faster-than-light travel was still not developed. But the multi-ringed starships being prepared to depart the Solar system looked like massive space stations, and were, in a sense at least. They had a large enough stockpile of uranium to power each ship for thousands of years, although the journeys for each would be less than a century, but if they needed to loiter about and collect resources and build more stations, the future inhabitants would have the energy and time to do so. No habitable worlds had been detected amongst either star system as of yet, but that wasn’t going to stop those star systems from being inhabited – just different dwellings than tents would be built. Instead, rings would be built, centrifugal stations and ships.













CHAPTER I
Filius Baker sighed while putting down his textbook, and looked out the thick transparent metal window of construction bay D-12 while on break from working at the restaurant in which he had been a chef for almost an Earth year now. Looking out past the ship being built, he thought he could spot the Earth within the slowly spinning field of stars, but it could just as easily be Neptune right now. What might be out there in Tau Ceti? Supposedly there were many asteroids that could be mined and used to build yet more habitations for humanity. What good is that, if we’re always going to be cramped up together though? The rich brats always have so much space to themselves; and the poor always have barely enough to survive. Looking at his watch, he noticed his break was almost over and started walking back to his lousy job. “Time to make overpriced food for spoiled patricians again”, he said with a sigh.
Back to work. Dropping this in the fryer, putting this in the grill, placing buns in the toaster, assembling burgers and other food over and over again, Filius wasn’t even so much upset at barely being paid enough to pay rent - when he worked three shifts in a row, in six day batches, for a month – instead he was just exhausted. It sucked worse than the vacuum of space outside. The customers always dressed well when they visited Tastes of Ancient Earth, some in business suits and dresses, and some just in clothes that were recently cleaned – indicating they had money for laundry to be done. Filius was glad they allowed him to have a free meal a day and all the caffeine he needed to stay awake while working around all this dangerous equipment. At least tomorrow was his day off this week. He’d finally get to sleep for the first time in days, yet again. This had to be bad for health to stay awake so very much.
“This burger isn’t how I like it! There’s no blood in it! This isn’t like the burgers my mother used to make, your advertising is false! I demand to speak to your manager!” said another whiny patrician customer. Since we switched to using in vitro beef, for ethical reasons, customers started complaining about there not being enough blood in their food. It wasn’t “juicy” enough for them. A coworker, Tanillyn, once suggested to a customer that if they cut themselves they could have extra blood in their food. Unfortunately, she was promptly fired. “The customer is always right” and, despite a supposed freedom of speech here, the neo-plebs weren’t allowed to speak rudely to the neo-patricians. The rich could speak however they liked to the poor, but not vice versa.
Jacqueline Aurelian, the general manager, handled the customer while she had Filius prepare a new burger for them, using water, red food dye, and olive oil to imitate the juiciness of blood for the bloodthirsty patrician. “What are these people? Vampires?” said Filius to himself.
“What did you say about me you piece of trash?!” demanded the patrician. “I’ve never been so insulted in my life. I demand he be terminated immediately! I will not tolerate being insulted like that!”
“Well, how will you tolerate being insulted then? I’ll be happy to oblige.” said Jacqueline.
Aghast, the customer stood there with her mouth open in shock of being spoken back to in such a rude manner by a working class citizen. “How dare you speak to me like that?! I’m taking my business elsewhere!”
“Send them my condolences!” replied Jacqueline to them as they stormed away, stomping their feet loudly like a child as they left the restaurant. The other customers, who had been watching with mild curiosity, now, seeing that the scene was over, went back to eating and talking amongst themselves again. Jacqueline then turned to Filius and said, “I understand how you feel, but you’ve got to speak quieter if you’re going to say things like that.”
“Why? You heard how they speak about us? Why should they get to speak about us like they do, but we can’t say anything remotely similar about them?” asked Filius.
“Because they have the money and we’re here to work. I know, it’s unfair, but it’s how it is” replied Jacqueline.
“It shouldn’t have to be” said Filius.
“I know” said Jacqueline, “but there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Filius sighed and went back to work. Another customer approached the counter, probably about to complain about the bloodless burgers, and Filius handed the burger he had prepared for the other patrician over to Jacqueline.
“This burger doesn’t have any blood in it!” they started to whine.
Handing the burger over to the customer, Jacqueline said, “Try this”.
“This is good! Very good!” the customer exclaimed, “I’m going to write a good review of you!”
Speaking with Filius again, Jacqueline said, “That’s what we like to see here. The patricians aren’t so bad when they’re pampered.”
“But in playing their game, they control us. The money, of which we get not even a percent for working on the front line, being the carrot, and their complaining and threat of losing work, the stick. This isn’t right. They can say whatever they want, but we can’t reply in kind. That’s not freedom of speech” said Filius.
Jacqueline replied, “So, what do you want me to do about it? I didn’t fire you like they wanted me to. Isn’t that good enough for you?”
“It’s not what you can do, it’s just what’s right and wrong in general” said Filius.
“Well, I believe you need to remove the burgers from the grill. They’re charcoal now.”
“Dang it! Sorry Jacqueline” said Filius.
“Maybe you need some time off” said Jacqueline “You’re free to go.”
Filius suddenly felt cold with apprehension, “but I thought you weren’t firing me.”
“I wasn’t, and I’m not” said Jacqueline, “I’m giving you an unpaid leave of absence. Return to work after you feel like treating customers with the proper respect.”
“But I have been giving them the proper respect that they deserve” said Filius sardonically and with a slight smile to indicate he was trying to be humorous.
Jacqueline sighed with mild exasperation and said, “You know what I mean. Not the respect they deserve, but, of course, the respect that they want to be shown – that’s what you need to give them. Now, go, take a break. Return here when you’re ready to not insult the customers, or at least be a bit quieter about it.”
Slightly relieved, Filius said, “thank you.” He gathered his belongings and left. He hadn’t slept in almost six days now, and the relief of not having to work the last three hours of his shift made him feel tired already. He went to his quarters, and promptly fell asleep.






















CHAPTER II
Alarms sounding and lights flashing, Filius awoke hurriedly. Looking at his apartment’s console, the computer display indicated that there were micrometeorite impacts and hull breaches, causing atmospheric venting. Everyone was supposed to remain in their quarters unless theirs was losing pressure. Filius couldn’t afford a pressure suit, but he had been able to make his own countermeasure – an antique gas mask fitted to a canister of oxygen and a pressure relief valve to allow for only a maximum of 3psi in the mask.
He put on his mask and put industrial earplugs and earmuffs on to help protect his ears from the pressure difference. Attempting to open the door, the computer informed him that his quarters were not losing atmospheric pressure and were locked for his safety. Looking around, Filius gathered a vacuum cleaner and some duct tape, and after securing the hose of the vacuum to the pressure sensor in his quarters he flipped on the vacuum cleaner – prompting the computer to inform him of a pressure loss in his quarters and that he needed to evacuate immediately.
Opening the door to his quarters, the pressure difference between his door and the hallway pulled him outside into the hallway, he barely halted his involuntary advance toward the wall opposite his door, and his ears began hurting. Suddenly he felt extremely cold as all the water on his skin evaporated. He needed to improve the system to protect his ears, but he was still breathing, although it was difficult to exhale. Perhaps some elastic for his rib cage and diaphragm would improve this design.
Looking about, he saw two of his neighbors in the hallway, and they were looking rather less than alive. It might be too late for them, but just in case, he moved them into his quarters and closed the doors. He pressurized his quarters and applied automated defibrillators to each of them as fast as he could and attempted CPR compressions to attempt reviving them. Nothing. Everything he tried to do to save them did absolutely nothing. Nothing! He kept trying to revive them, but they were already dead.
Filius sat there looking at the people he had tried to rescue and failed at rescuing and just started to cry, the water from his tears filling the bottom of his mask and, realizing he didn’t need it any more just took it off and threw it in the corner. The jolt from his throwing the mask removed the air hose from the oxygen tank which started hissing. He closed its valve and sat there crying until the search and rescue crews showed up and found Filius sitting in his room with two dead bodies hooked up to automated defibrillators. They stood there looking at Filius for a moment, letting the camcorders on their suits record the scene, and then said, “We’re going to need you to follow us”.
Filius began to say, “There was nothing I could do, they were already dead. I tried to help, but they were already dead.”
One of the S&R officers said, “You know your rights, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say will be used against you, yada yada, you plebeian trash. You’re going to pay for their deaths.”
“What? You imbecile, didn’t you see? I was trying to help?” said Filius.
“Yeah, sure you were. We’ll let the judge decide that” said the officer.
There weren’t any lawyers or juries out here on Pluto, just judges and police… some more just than others. When the officer and Filius reached Judge Landry’s office however, he had already reviewed all the footage of both the apartment’s and the officers’ cameras. “Officer Bradley, remove the handcuffs from this man and apologize at once.”
“But, your honor, we found him with two dead bodies in his apartment. He’s guilty of murder” said Officer Bradley.
“I’m the judge of that you idiot, and no, he’s not. He tried to save their lives as he said. I watched all the footage of the event, he tried to rescue them, but they were dead already. Officer Bradley, you are dismissed, do not argue about this anymore” said the judge.
“I couldn’t help them, they were dead” Filius kept saying as he cried.
“I know. I know. Sorry about how those goons handled you. Would you like a coffee?”
Filius heard the question, but he was paying too much attention to the faces of the people he had tried to help and couldn’t stop seeing them in his mind.
“Filius, hello there, would you like a cup of coffee?” asked Judge Landry again.
“What? Oh, coffee, no. I drink too much caffeine as it is” replied Filius.
“Yes, I see that. I’ve been reading your record. You work nonstop for days in a row, study textbooks during what little breaks you have even though you aren’t enrolled in college, and you build things – like that mask – in your spare time, when you have spare time. Do you know how many days you’ve been asleep?” asked the judge.
“I’ve been asleep for days?” replied Filius.
“Yes, you’ve been asleep for almost a week now” said the judge. “Would you like something to eat, perhaps a sandwich?”
“No thanks. I’m actually rather sick of seeing sandwiches after working at Taste of Ancient Earth” replied Filius.
“That’s understandable. It seems you’re a bit of a free speech advocate at your workplace, as is your former employer” said the judge.
“I’m fired there? Jacqueline said it was just a leave of absence” said Filius.
“Jacqueline was fired also; the customer who complained about you demanded her termination also, taking her complaint all the way to HQ on Earth. Sorry to be the one to let you know, but would you like to work for Search & Rescue?” asked Judge Landry.
“I’ll need some time to think about it. I can say already that I don’t want to work with Officer Bradley already though” replied Filius.
“He’s actually not such a bad guy; he just jumps to conclusions way too readily. If it makes a difference to you, I wasn’t considering placing you where you’d work with him. I’d like you to help develop equipment, like that mask you made for yourself and any other devices you can develop. Does that sound good to you?” asked the judge.
“Yes, it does, but I want time to think about it before I decide” replied Filius.
Judge Landry reached into his wallet and withdrew a business card for S&R’s department of R&D and said, “Call me when you’ve reached a decision.”
Filius went back to his apartment, but as soon as he opened the door he realized he couldn’t walk in there. There wasn’t any physical barrier or police either, he just couldn’t bring himself to walk in the door. Looking in, it appeared like everything was cleaned up – completely actually, nothing of his was in there either. Checking the door number of the apartment, Filius had to look yet again. It was his apartment, but everything was gone, at least as far as he could see.
He went to a public phone and called Judge Landry. “Robert Landry speaking” said the judge.
“Hello, Judge Landry, this is Filius.”
“Did you make your decision yet?”
“That’s not what I’m calling about actually.”
“Oh, it’s not?”
“No, everything of mine is stolen” said Filius.
“Stolen isn’t the right word Filius” said Judge Landry.
A little perplexed, but realizing a possibility of what was happening, Filius responded, “Okay, well then, what is supposed to be the ‘right’ word to describe the state of my belongings being removed from my property without my permission?” demanded Filius, with as much courtesy as he could muster now.
“The pronoun, ‘my’ is also the wrong word Filius. You see, you failed to pay your daily rent for nearly a week. Your previous apartment was about to evict you at the time of the emergency, but dealing with that took precedence. I had my officers remove your items to impound and I haven’t started charging you a fee, yet. Have you decided as to whether you wish to work for me or not?” responded the judge.
“Not yet. I haven’t had time to think it over” replied Filius.
“Alright”, said the judge sighing, “Keep taking time to think it over and call me back when you’ve thought. I think you’ll like this line of work, though, just to let you know ahead of time, you will be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement.”
“Then my answer is no” said Filius. “I’m not going to restrict my freedom of speech just to build stuff when I can build stuff on my own and speak freely.”
“But you don’t get paid when you just make ‘stuff’ on your own, do you?” asked the judge, obviously knowing the answer already from the records he had read. “You just like to invent gadgets as a hobby. Wouldn’t you like to get paid for that? You’ll be paid well enough to be able to speak rudely to plebeians. You seem to like being insulting to others, so here’s your chance to do it and get away with it.”
“I don’t really want to speak rudely to anyone. What I want is to be able to speak freely. It’s unfair for those rich brats to treat workers like they’re trash, so I treat them with their own medicine. I don’t care about money and I have no desire to be mean to those who are living like I have, so you’ve lost me. You really seem to want me to make junk for you, but my answer’s going to be ‘no’ if I have to sign an NDA” said Filius.
“I’m sorry you feel this way Filius” said the judge. “You’re an honorable man, but stupid, so I’m going to expunge your record of the recent incident so as to make it easier for you to find work, but I’m going to keep your belongings in impound until you can pay the fines.”
“Keep them, my belongings don’t matter to me that much anyway” said Filius, “I just didn’t like that they were stolen. Goodbye” Filius shut off the video phone console and just stood there in the hallway of his former apartment for a while. Looking at the floor, he could see the places where his neighbors had been and started to cry again. He had to get out of here, now.
Walking as fast as he could manage, he went to the construction bay where he normally took his breaks from work. Sitting on the floor, he gazed out the window at the nearly completed generation ship and watched as the cargo and construction vehicles slowly travelled about. Exhausted and depressed, Filius fell asleep crying there.












CHAPTER III
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
“What?” said Filius groggily, his vision somewhat blurry having just awoken. A man in a uniform with a mop standing in front of him, name tag saying ‘Michael Panero’, apparently was the source of the voice.
“I said, you’re not supposed to be here. Really though, I just need you to move so I can mop where you’re laying, but still, technically, this area is off-limits to non-authorized personnel” said Michael.
“They must have really great security here” said Filius sarcastically.
“Eh, hush with that or I’ll spray you with window cleaner!” said the janitor.
“Okay, sorry, I’m moving already” said Filius as he got out of the way for the janitor.
“What’s your name anyway?” asked the janitor, “My name is Michael.”
“I saw that,” said Filius pointing at the name tag, “Mine’s Filius.”
“Filius?” asked Michael.
“It means ‘son’ in Latin. I didn’t like how people kept asking me stupid mocking questions, like ‘how long have you been ETC?’ before I changed my name from being Filius” said Filius.
“You really think that’s better?” asked Michael.
“It at least requires people who want to mock me in a juvenile manner to have to think a bit more, which I’ve always perceived wasn’t their strong suit” said Filius. “Anyway, I need to get going I guess, and figure out what I need to do with the rest of my life. Nice talking with you Michael.”
“Yep, you too, but try not to walk where I just mopped!”
“Sorry!” said Filius, changing his path to avoid where the floor was still wet.
Looking back again, there was nobody there and the floor was completely dry. “What the heck?!” exclaimed Filius. “No, no, no. I must still be asleep, or I’m losing my mind!” Trying to calm down, Filius figured it was best to behave as if this were not a dream, just in case he was awake, but still hoped it was all just a bad dream. “This is too crazy!” yelled Filius aloud, but nobody was around to hear him and the empty room just echoed and fell silent again.





CHAPTER IV
Unsure what to do now, Filius just started walking and kept walking. Going places on the station where he had never been to see if they’d exist. Though, it’s just as possible his mind could just interpolate and provide a virtual landscape of similar designs if this were a dream. He had never hallucinated before, not even when his stepfather had placed him on so very many medications while under his roof on Earth. Maybe it was just a waking dream, but he didn’t have sleep paralysis. He was able to move so the janitor could continue mopping the floor. Maybe it was just the shock of seeing his neighbors’ lifeless bodies upon the floor, and him being helpless to help them, maybe that was what caused him to hallucinate, if it was a hallucination. “What else could it be?” asked Filius to himself, some pedestrians walking past him looking at him as if he’s crazy, their eyes portraying disdain and even fear, which didn’t help his mood any. “Great, random people are afraid of me now” he said, rubbing his chin with his hand and noticing the facial hair that he hadn’t shaved in days. “Oh, that’s probably why they’re afraid of me; I haven’t shaved for a while. Good grief that’s annoying.”
Going to a public console, he accessed his bank account and found he still had money in there. Actually a fair bit more than previously. A recently deposited check had a memo of “thanks for the modified gas mask, we’ll put it to good use” and it covered enough to leave this place and head back to Earth if he wanted to. But first, he needed to shave. Withdrawing cash tokens, Filius went to the general store and bought some shaving razors and shaving gel, a brand of shaving gel that wasn’t made with steric acid because he didn’t want to support animal abuse, and then went to the nearest public restroom and shaved his newly grown beard away. He didn’t mind having a beard so much really, but how people reacted to him having a beard made him hate that he grew facial hair. His hair also needed a trim, but that could wait.
Feeling rather hungry now, he went to Taste of Ancient Earth to see if he could talk to his friends there and buy some food. He was hungry enough to actually eat a sandwich from there now. But as he approached, he saw the lights were off and “this property for sale” sign was in front of the gate. “Wow, that customer really must have been an amazing whiner.”
Going to the local grocery store, he bought some avocados, tortillas, fat free refried beans, went to the park Filiusches on this ring’s atrium, and made some tacos to eat. “Yay, breakfast, thank you God” said Filius, and started eating. Some of the birds in the park flew down to him and started begging him for food, so he tore up some tortillas and placed them on the ground for the birds. “I know you can’t have avocado, and I’m not sure about the beans, but there’s some tortillas for you.”
“What am I going to do now?” Filius asked himself.
“Fly!” said one of the budgerigars as they were eating some tortilla pieces, in its cute raspy voice.
“Fly? Cute, somebody taught you how to say, ‘fly’” said Filius, and then the bird that had spoken flew up to Filius’ wrist and said right to him, “you need to fly, right now, Filius, right now, you need to fly!” and then disappeared into thin air. Filius was so shocked that he jumped out of his seat and unintentionally scared away the other birds that were really there. “What the heck was that?!” Filius yelled, asking himself as he started to cry. He picked up his food and left, heading toward the shuttle bay and noticed, just now, Officer Bradley in plain clothes.
“Oh, what now?!” said Filius to himself. He stopped and stayed put. Then the bird returned from thin air and told him, “You need to run! Now!” Just as suddenly as it appeared it disappeared. But this time, Filius watched Officer Bradley and saw his eyes track and watch the bird. Filius was enraged. These were holograms! They’re trying to get me to move where and how they want to. They want it to look like I’m running from the police! Argh! I hate this stupid game of manipulation, thought Filius.
The bird showed up again, but this time Filius pointed his modified wristwatch at the holographic bird and recorded it as it told him to run and jump and fly and so much bad advice, followed then by its disappearing act. Filius walked toward Officer Bradley and told him, “My answer is still no”. Officer Bradley played dumb, saying, “Do I know you from somewhere, I think you have me confused with someone else kid.” Filius rolled his eyes and just walked away, overhearing as he left, “No Mr. Landry, he didn’t take the bait, I think he figured out we’re using holograms. What do you want me to do now?”
Filius called Judge Landry and asked, “Is it Judge or Mr. Landry?”
“Both,” replied Robert Landry. “Have you changed your mind yet?”
“Why does that matter so much to you? If you really want, I can build crap to sell to you, but I’m not signing a non-disclosure agreement. Heck, you bought my emergency mask, and that was without my permission! Just tell me what you’d like me to make and I’ll make you what you want, if I’m able to that is. I don’t need access to laboratories, just supplies and equipment of my own – some of which you stole!”
“Oh, your items in impound? I thought you didn’t want them. Have you changed your mind about those? The fines are quite hefty now, but I’m sure we could work out a deal. As for working without a contract, I don’t think so. How would I know that you wouldn’t sell to anyone else? Perhaps to enemies?” asked Landry.
“I don’t believe this!” said Filius, ending the call.
Unsure what to do next, Filius decided to call his family. Using a quantum entanglement communicator that he built into his watch before he left Earth, his call was answered immediately. “Hello, Garek speaking.”
“Hi, dad, uh, you’re probably going to be irritated with me about this, but I need help here. I’m sending you a video recording now; it’s of a holographic bird that’s urging me to run away from the police.”
“What did you do?” asked Garek.
“I tried to save some people who were already dead, and the ‘judge’ saw that, but he wants me to sign up with his R&D company and he’s willing to go to any lengths to force me to work for him and sign his non-disclosure agreement and take all the credit for anything I make” said Filius.
“Why do I not believe you?” asked Garek.
“Because you’re naturally distrustful after how your mother treated you as a child” said Filius, and hung up. “Oh who should care about him anyway?” asked Filius to himself.
Filius booked a transfer out of the station on the first available flight, which was to Mars 09:00 tomorrow, Judge Landry apparently still having done nothing to stop him from leaving. Filius decided to search the construction bay where he used to take breaks for the holographic emitter, after first finding the cameras there and disabling them. It took him only fifty three minutes to find all the projectors.
“Two can play at this game of smoke and mirrors” said Filius.























CHAPTER V
Boarding the civilian transport to Mars, Filius’ hologram abruptly took off running and went into an empty transport instead, closing the doors and locking down the passageway behind him. Officer Bradley and three other goons ran after him, but couldn’t get the doors to open. The transport started to leave, and without proper clearance the stations automated defenses tagged it as an enemy vessel and opened fired upon it, disintegrating it nearly instantly.
Filius, meanwhile, watched this from a surveillance room that he made out of the former restaurant he worked for. Never did Filius think that he’d be glad to be back here, especially since everyone he worked with and cared about were no longer here. But now, at least, he had a place to rest for a while – at least until they figure out he wasn’t dead and began searching for him. Technically, his actions had led to the lost of a multibillion dollar transport, but they didn’t have to fire on the ship they thought he was in. He knew their protocols after hacking their system, and it seemed like the best way to fake his death in short notice. Now though, they could actually charge him with vandalism. Great, this was just great. “At least I can rest for a while though”, said Filius.
“No, you can’t” said Garek’s voice from Filius’ wristwatch. “I watched the clip of the hologram and showed it to the authorities here, that person who calls himself a judge is a kingpin in an interplanetary mafia. You probably have, at most, a few hours until they find you. You need to get prepared or get moving, ASAP!”
“I can’t, there are crowds outside the restaurant right now, I’d be spotted leaving it instantly” replied Filius.
“Well, then prepare yourself for their attack. The Colonial Administration is sending a cruiser to extract you from Pluto Shipyard, but you’re going to be on your own until they arrive” said Garek.
“Thanks, dad” said Filius. “Just wondering, how did you have my side of the phone answer?”
“Who taught you how to program?” Garek replied.
“You did” Filius answered.
“Exactly” said Garek, with a smile you could hear in his voice.







CHAPTER VI
Thinking to himself, Filius thought, ‘Alright, ferrous core for the primary. This should be enough wire for both the primary and secondary… let’s build this!’ It took a little while to wrap the wires around in the right number of turns, but now Filius had a high voltage source that resonated in alternating current at an extremely high frequency – enough to incapacitate without killing. Looking around, he tried the sink and found it still worked. He closed off the drain to the sink, placing salt and baking soda in it to make the water a more conductive ionic solution. It started overflowing and soon the water was in the lobby, visible from the pedestrian passageway. Taking a mobile screen with him, Filius went into the freezer and tried not to barf from the smell of the rotting in-vitro produced bovine muscle tissue that customers used to love complaining about. Standing upon numerous plastic mats and wearing rubber boots, Filius waited with his thumb on the switch.
Officer Bradley was the first to enter the former restaurant, stepping in the water without a second thought. He and his three goons approached half-cautiously, each of them in the water. He waited until they were in the kitchen, away from the view of the pedestrians, and pressed the remote that activated the Tesla coil. The lights dimmed and browned out briefly and the circuit breaker shut off the Tesla coil. All the goons were on the floor, though one was face down in the water. Filius raced out and turned him over. The officer coughed up some water and began to regain consciousness. Filius punched him out and said, “Sorry” and then, “Oh crap, I just hit an officer.”
“No, you didn’t. None of them are police, Filius” said Garek over the wristwatch. “They are as much police as Mr. Landry is a judge.”
“Well, I guess that’s some relief” said Filius.
“You need to be leaving there about now” said Garek.
“Gee, you think?” asked Filius.
“Do you want me to keep helping you?” asked Garek.
“Yes, sorry dad” said Filius.
“You know you don’t have to call me ‘dad’. I know you miss your father” said Garek.
“Thanks Garek. Let’s save remembering my father’s death for another time when I don’t need to think so much about mobsters chasing me” replied Filius. “How’s mom doing though? How’s Elizabeth?”
“They’re doing okay. They want you to return home safely Filius. Sorry I threw you out” said Garek.
“It’s okay. I’m glad to hear they’re okay. What the heck do I do now?” asked Filius.
“Find somewhere to hide, perhaps, somewhere you haven’t been before. You could try leaving the station, but they’ll be watching like hawks for that” responded Garek.
“I’ll figure out something, but I think they’re starting to wake up. Looks like ‘officer’ Bradley had set his electrolaser to 55 Hz, the rest of them had them at 10 kHz” said Filius, as he stepped onto the counter and fired an electrolaser that was set to stun at the water. The fake officers who were starting to awake went back to sleep.
“55Hz, that Bradley character had planned to kill you, but the rest of them must have had orders to capture you alive” said Garek. “You’d better get going before they send reinforcements.”
Filius took the power cells from the other three electrolasers and kept Bradley’s. He set it to stun, at 10 kHz, however, because he didn’t want to kill anyone. However, he might need to incapacitate more henchmen. Where should he go now? What should he do? Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, though failing badly while still wearing rubber boots and a large coat, Filius walked down an unfamiliar hallway and tried to find a quiet place to rest. Not finding anywhere, he just kept walking, getting more, and yet more, tired.
He didn’t notice the man following him until it was almost too late. A thin, tall, man in his early forties, clean shaven, well groomed, and carrying a hunting knife in his right hand, was slowly closing the distance between himself and Filius. The man following Filius, however, didn’t notice Jacqueline following him until she whacked him with her purse.
Filius spun and drew his electrolaser, not sure what to think of the situation at first. Then, seeing the henchmen, or mugger perhaps, crumpled up on the floor with a knife fallen from his hand, he put away the electrolaser and said, “Jacqueline, you’re still here?”
“Yep, I am. I didn’t want to transfer back to Earth just because some whiny brat had me fired from a lousy restaurant” she said.
“You may not know what you’ve gotten yourself into” said Filius.
“Really, what’s that?” ask Jacqueline. “Stopping you from being robbed? That’s not so bad.”
“If he’s just a robber, yes, but if he’s working for Mr. Landry, maybe quite a bit worse. Thank you though” said Filius.
“No problem” said Jacqueline, “But who’s this Mr. Landry?”
“Apparently some mobster who wants me to make gadgets for him” said Filius.
“Really? You’re not just making this up?” asked Jacqueline.
“No, he’s not, agent Aurelian, but you already know that, don’t you?” asked Garek via Filius’ wristwatch.
“Why hello Garek! Thank you for blowing my cover” said Jacqueline sarcastically.
“You’re welcome, Jacqueline, anytime” said Garek sardonically, “but right now it’s both unnecessary and counterproductive. Filius needs to either escape the station or hide until the CA cruiser arrives.”
“What’s its ETA?” asked Jacqueline.
“… a few weeks” said Garek.
“Well, then, it looks as though escape is the option we must select” replied Jacqueline.
“Do I get a say in this?” asked Filius.
“Sure kid, what do you say?” responded Jacqueline.
“Why don’t we capture this fake judge?” asked Filius.
“Are you suicidal again Filius? Have you been taking your medications?” asked Garek.
“No, I’m serious. I think we should stop him. I think most of his goons were at the old restaurant. I gathered their IDs, we could just bring those to the police…” said Filius and realized it was probably pointless.
“Even if the rest of the police here don’t work for Mr. Landry, we’re going to have an interesting time explaining everything while we disclose our location to an enemy of unknown numbers and composition” replied Jacqueline. “Let’s just try to get off of this station in one piece, shall we?”
Filius sighed. “I suppose so.”
“Let’s get going” said Jacqueline.
Noticing the mugger starting to move, Filius looked again at the electrolaser’s setting to make certain it was on stun, and then shot the assailant and said, “Yeah, let’s get out of here.”













CHAPTER VII
“To leave the station, we have a couple of options. Either we wear disguises and board a commercial transport with false identities or we shut down the automated defense systems and actually commandeer an empty transport as you did with the hologram and autopilot” stated Jacqueline.
“Which is least likely to fail?” asked Filius.
“Well, your stepfather could provide the databases with the data for fake identification and it might not be noticed until after we leave, but once it is, we’ll be identified with certainty and Mr. Landry will most likely have associates at whatever spaceport we arrive at” said Jacqueline.
“That sounds certain to fail” said Garek over the wristwatch.
“Gee, now that’s a boost of confidence” said Filius.
“False confidence is worse than paranoia in dire situations” replied Garek.
“So, that leaves us with shutting down the automated defenses and hoping they don’t reactivate them before we’re out of range” said Jacqueline.
“Are you sure we can’t just take on the mafia?” asked Filius.
Jacqueline laughed and said, “Yeah, sure, you go and do that.”
Garek said, “I’ll just stay here and watch.”












Chapter VIII
Going over a schematic of the station, Jacqueline and Filius figured out the best routes to go to avoid detection while shutting down the station defenses.
“We’re going to need to cut power here and there, at nearly the same time. Perhaps using timers and just overloading circuits?” asked Filius.
“That could work, but they’ll probably fix that in no time” said Jacqueline.
“What about going to the Expedition? We could get aboard a cargo and construction vehicle and sneak aboard. If we offload approximately equivalent mass, we wouldn’t even affect their fuel ratios. How does that sound?” asked Filius.
“Maybe” responded Jacqueline, “Yes, actually, that might work.”
“Good, I know a place we can enter” said Filius.
“Where you used to take your breaks and study?” asked Jacqueline.
“Oh, I suppose not. They already had put up holographic projectors there when they were playing some sort of psychological game with me” replied Filius.
“Yeah, no” said Jacqueline.
“Perhaps another construction bay?” asked Filius.
“It will have to be” said Jacqueline, “If we go as cargo, what do we do about, say, not dying in the vacuum of space?”
“We could use some emergency pressure suits they keep in airlocks for the workers, or, if I had the supplies and equipment, I could build some more vacuum countermeasure suits of my own design. With some improvements that I thought about when I used it, it wouldn’t be so bad, except for being really freaking cold” said Filius.
“I don’t mind the cold, but we need to be as incognito as possible, so using suits meant for workers would be a better idea” said Jacqueline.
“Emergency suits then,” said Filius “and we’ll just remain in hiding until the ship leaves port. Two days of waiting, joyful. It could be worse though.”
“Yeah, we could wait the full extent for the Colonial Administration’s cruiser to show up, and increase the risk of capture by Landry that much more” said Jacqueline.
“Have decided what you’re going to do yet?” asked Garek.
“Are you certain that device isn’t able to be tapped Filius?” asked Jacqueline.
“It uses quantum entanglement, I figured out a way for it to work within a wide range of temperatures, so, yeah, it is secure. Garek’s communicator is the only one that can send or receive any communication with this one. The set of molecules entangled together can only change the states amongst each other, at any distance – that’s why there’s no time lag like a radio would have, especially out here at four light hours away from Earth” replied Filius.
“Yes Garek, we’ve decided to board the Expedition. It launches in two days, at which time it will head toward the inner solar system to maximize the Oberth effect at perihelion” said Jacqueline, “could you have the Colonial Administration cruiser rendezvous with the Expedition?”
“I’ll inform the captain of the Serendipity ASAP and let you know of his reply, ‘yes’ would be my guess” responded Garek.
“Alright, so let’s get going then” said Filius.



















CHAPTER IX
Jacqueline and Filius approached the construction bay, dressed in uniforms from the locker rooms that were meant for temporary workers. With a fabricated cargo manifest and storage containers filled with food and water, they went to the supervisor on duty and handed her the manifest.
“You’re new here, but I think I’ve seen you before. Both of you, actually. Didn’t you work at that restaurant that got closed down due to a complaint about improper treatment of customers?” asked the supervisor.
“Yep, we had worked at Taste of Ancient Earth. Not complaining, but I don’t miss it a bit. Way better here already” said Jacqueline, “my name’s Jacqueline, this is Filius.”
“Glad to hear you’re enjoying working here. Name’s Rebecca. It is awesome, building an actual starship, isn’t it? Not just another craft to travel within our own solar system, but a real starship. This one crossing the void to the Tau Ceti system, it just amazes me. Well, you need to keep working, nice meeting you” said Rebecca. “One thing though, you’ll need regulation pressure suits before going through the airlock, you need to get those from locker TW-AC1, over there.”
“Thank you” said Jacqueline, and they went to the locker for temporary workers assigned as airlock crews and separately donned their pressure suits.
“This seems to be going well” said Filius “Perhaps a bit too well? Or do they have nobody working here?”
“I’m uncertain” replied Jacqueline, “I haven’t noticed anyone following us and we haven’t ran into any problems yet, so it does seem to be going well for now.”
Going through the airlock and into the cargo ship also presented no problems. However, upon entering the Expedition, Filius noticed one of the henchmen whom had been with Bradley leaving the ship as they entered. They weren’t looking for Filius, or at least they didn’t seem to notice Filius. Seeing them there, something must be wrong, however. Perhaps they planted a bomb or sabotaged the craft. Oh crap, Filius realized, this is a nuclear thermal ship – they wouldn’t even need to plant a bomb if they knew how to sabotage it properly.
“Garek, one of the henchmen just left the ship, there’s probably some sabotage done to it or worse” Filius said, “Garek? Garek, can you hear me?”
“Hey, genius, this is a vacuum” said Jacqueline, “unless you have a way to patch it into the radio, Garek will hear precisely nothing.”
“Oh, right. Crap we’re on radios, that means…” Filius started to say and then drew out his electrolaser.
Almost on cue, the henchman returned back through the airlock and Filius shot him with the electrolaser, the high wattage light cutting through the suit and causing atmospheric venting out from the henchman’s suit.
“No, that’s not what I meant to do!” Filius said as he and Jacqueline closed the airlock doors and pressurized the airlock. Jacqueline took out a patch of duct tape and sealed the henchman’s suit and Filius shut off everyone’s radios. The guy was faint and short of breath, so Filius increased his internal air pressure until he started breathing normally.
“Garek, can you hear me now?” asked Filius.
“Affirmative, what do you need?” responded Garek.
“We’ve captured a henchman whom was leaving the Expedition, any suggestions?” asked Filius.
“Keep him with you” Garek said, “If he’s done anything to the ship, it’ll give him some motivation to fix it.”
“Don’t worry” said the henchman, “once the containment field deactivates, nobody within thousands of miles will feel anything.”
“Antimatter?” asked Filius.
“Darn right” said the henchman “Now you just try to remove it. You’ll have to find it first, and it’s going to take a while just for that.”
“Really? Why would you just tell us? Also, do you know how strong of a magnetic field would be necessary to house enough antimatter for that kind of yield? The hemoglobin in your blood would have the iron ripped from it. You’re lying” stated Filius.
“Or am I?” asked the henchman, laughing.
Jacqueline and Filius looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and Jacqueline used the duct tape as handcuffs for their prisoner.
“Hey, man trapping is illegal you know?” said the henchman.
“Yeah, so is extortion and attempted murder” said Jacqueline, “not to mention whatever you really did here probably also is.”
“You’re not cops, you have no right to treat me like this!” whined the henchman.
“What is your name?” asked Filius.
“It’s Greg” said the henchman.
“Well Greg, consider this a citizen’s arrest and please exercise your right to shut up” said Filius.
“Hey, what about freedom of speech?” asked Greg.
“Isn’t that something I don’t have because I’m a plebeian?” said Filius as he depressurized the airlock and left Greg’s radio shut off. He and Jacqueline would communicate via signing for now, and Greg continued to try speaking through the vacuum conditions, mouthing words that sailors of old probably used.
CHAPTER X
In the cargo bay, Filius took apart some electronics and cannibalized circuitry. It was difficult to find all the components he needed and had to attempt some of the math mentally, but wrote it down anyway just to be certain because he didn’t want to be wasteful. Using LEDs and phototransistors, along with the other necessary components, he modified the suits radios to use visible light rather than radio frequencies. They’d only work for short range, line of sight to be precise, but it was unlikely that anyone would be able to be listening in anymore.
“Do you have a compass Jacqueline?” asked Filius.
“Do I look like a museum?” asked Jacqueline.
“Of art, perhaps, but not otherwise” said Filius, “but I suppose that would be a ‘no’?”
Jacqueline smiled a quirky smile and said, “Yes, that’s a no.”
“Okay, well, just in case he wasn’t lying about there being antimatter here, we’ll need to be able to find it – quickly at that. It would be easiest to locate such a device storing the antimatter using something to detect the magnetic field. So, we’re going to need to make a compass or a magnetic field strength meter. Do you have a magnet and a pin?”
“Nope” said Jacqueline “I’m an art museum, not an office supply store, remember?”
“Sorry. We need to focus on this, if it’s true” said Filius.
“I think you were right before, the quantity of antimatter required for the explosion he stated would take way too strong of a magnetic field to hold. He would be dead, and how would he get it through the airlock?” replied Jacqueline.
“I don’t know. Perhaps it isn’t that” said Filius “I’m not sure what to think though.”
“Well, this is a nuclear thermal ship, there are any number of things that could be sabotaged” said Jacqueline.
“Okay, well the trick is finding out what it is before it’s too late” said Filius.
“Of course” said Jacqueline.
Checking Greg for any clues, Jacqueline found keycards for the engineering section. “Bingo” she said.
“Probably the pressure control valve for the superheated propellant” said Filius.
“Let’s start there” said Jacqueline.



CHAPTER XI
With the Expedition about ready to launch, it was surprising how easy it was to sneak about the ship. Nobody had boarded yet. All the colonists must still be aboard the station, but why? They should have been here already, but nobody was.
“This place is starting to freak me out” said Filius.
“Yeah, me too” said Jacqueline.
“Where is everyone?” Filius asked.
“Not here” said Jacqueline.
“Well, yeah, of course, but why aren’t they here?” asked Filius.
“I haven’t the slightest idea” said Jacqueline.
Approaching the engineering section, everything seemed normal. No signs of any conflict were present, so whatever had been done by Greg was done without interruption.
“They should have pressurized the rest of the ship already, only the cargo bay should be a vacuum right now” said Filius.
“Yeah, pretty so they ought to and pretty soon we need to get some more oxygen canisters” replied Jacqueline.
“Where the heck is the crew?” asked Filius.
“I don’t know. Still aboard the station, I suppose. If Landry’s men had them jettisoned into space the station’s operation center and anyone looking out the window would have noticed. They showed the crew boarding on the news a few days ago, but there’s nobody here – not even bodies” said Jacqueline.
Searching the computer for any recent changes, Jacqueline found what it was.
“This ship isn’t headed for Tau Ceti” she said.
“Where’s it going then?” asked Filius.
“Io, on a collision course” replied Jacqueline.
“Why?!” asked Filius.
“How the heck should I know?” said Jacqueline, “But let’s see what Greg is willing to tell us.”




Back in the cargo bay airlock, Jacqueline, Filius, and Greg waited until the room was pressurized to began talking.
“Way to go wasting the first starship ever built. Why did you set this ship’s course for Jupiter’s moon Io?” asked Jacqueline.
“Because I hear it’s nice and warm there in parts and I’m sure the new tenants would love a nice vacation to get away from their worries” retorted Greg.
“Filius, do you have a problem with torture?” Jacqueline asked.
Filius looked at her askance and said, “Yes, I do actually.”
“Good boy, Filius, you’ve earned a treat. Who’s a good dog?” said Greg.
Jacqueline kicked Greg between the legs, causing him to be a bit less condescending.
“Maybe I don’t so much anymore, thanks Greg” said Filius, “Why the crash course in interstellar travel Greg?”
“Because the trip was too long, I thought shortening it a bit might be nice” said Greg.
“Perhaps if that’s all you’re going to say we should take off your helmet and open the door?” asked Jacqueline.
Filius tried felt a bit cold and nauseous at the thought of that. Greg just laughed, certain that she was bluffing. Then she took off his helmet and started to walk towards the controls.

Any opinions?

I really wish I had time to read your first chapters before bed but I'll be back. Your prologue is great, precedented but far from derivative. I think you might have a bigger hook if you let readers guess at the year for themselves, you've given yourself a great basis to think of a unique title.

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"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos