Chapter 14: Hidden Costs

Our ever alert and watchful pilots skirt between the multitudinous asteroids of every imaginable size and shape. After many hours we safely arrive where only a few isolated asteroids still exist. These rogues orbit in high elliptic at the outer fringe of the asteroid belt. Remote controlling the many monopolar high-temperature superconducting discs (HTSD) scattered around both ice spheres comprising MOM, the pilots deftly avoided the giant careening rocks.

This agile dance was enabled when our engineers unlocked and removed the manual clamps and security restraints on the HTSD gravity control disks. We didn’t want to prematurely fly out of the graving dock. Installed simultaneously with the disks, the devices are safety precautions against an accidental brush against a switch or a stray current shifting the disks. Only human fingers could unlock and manually remove the devices. AIs are not to be trusted. Not yet, anyway.

From out here, Earth is visible to the naked eye as no more than a pin prick the same as Mars appears from Earth. During a recent twenty four hour period, our space telescope was trained on Earth and a complete rotation recorded. Now a continuous high speed thirty foot diameter projection is displayed on the ceiling of our common area. Two hours is the length of the repeating loop. The telescope is occupied study other objects and directions while the blue globe on the ceiling continually revolves. It’s possible, we may leave it there the entire voyage, as a calming influence. If it tends to induce homesickness, we’ll stop the show.

In our passage through the densest part of the asteroid belt, we took a glancing blow on the comet head we’re using as a bumper. Actually, it was intentional. Our chief pilot zigzagged the ice ball just enough to shoulder away an asteroid that would otherwise have collided with our living quarters hollowed out planetoid.

The resulting gouge looks rather severe but, small HTSDs have been positioned to attract debris to accrete and fill in the gouge. Space is not empty in the region of the asteroid belt. It’s literally filled with dust and small ice crystals and even asteroids the size of baseballs abound.

We are within a stones throw of our point of departure. We’ll ease into it at a precise time in just a few hours. I need a nap before then.

Ah cripes. In all the excitement, I forgot to lock away the bonded stores we received at the last minute. Better do it now. The surety bond of one trillion Bippy I authorized, is what triggered the balance to finally display. In the crate is the most powerful and prohibited narcotics and hallucinogenics Earth produces. Highly controlled substances. Hence the bond costing many times the street value of the drugs. A deterrent against selling them. When we depart with the crate still sealed, the trillion Bippy will be refunded to the card, minus a million Bippy handling fee. If the crate is opened prior to departure of the solar system, a signal is received at the customs office and the bond forfeit. We may need these drugs for severe injuries or to relieve agonizing pains. I ordered them nearly a year ago, but delivery was deliberated delayed until the last possible minute. There. Locked securely away, and I have the only key on a chain about my neck.

Nap time.

“What is it Billi? I really would like to get a nap before the count down.”

“Oh, I thought maybe you were having trouble sleeping, like me. I’ll leave you alone then, rest well.”

“Come back, climb in here with me, we may as well take comfort when it’s offered. Right Billi.?”

We did fall asleep eventually, but for how long, whatever it wasn’t enough.

JoAnn has direct contact with the other Ais, and that includes our pilots.

“Wake up, Mark, the countdown is nearly finished.”

Racing to the common area where we have a panoramic view of nearby space cast on the ceiling, I was unaware of the snickers at first. When Maarta brought me her own pink frilly robe was when I realized I was only wearing my jockey shorts. No way could I fit in her robe, so, I wrapped it around my waist like a skirt. More titters and snickers. Never mind the feeble minded. Four, Three, Two, One, and what? No roar or sudden acceleration. No whooshing sounds. Are we even moving?