Chapter 6

En Route to Ptolemy-1
Lead Plasma Physicist Abolou Yabro

The week I turned 18, I became Abolou Yabro, the new Ghanan Bantu name I chose for myself. I hated the name my mother gave me, William Calhoun. She picked the name because it belonged to some rich guy, and she wanted me to be rich too. Apparently she didn’t notice, the man she named me for was the son of an American Vice-President who thought slavery was a great thing.

My mother was a stupid, hopeless criminal, a thief and drug addict. If she were attractive enough, she would have been a prostitute instead. My father met her by selling my mother a dose of illegal drugs and won her heart by giving her an extra dose for free. I wanted no part of their lifestyle, or any of my family anymore.

I think I was the only one on the ship who hated being in cold-sleep, because it resembled what people said being intoxicated was like. I’ve never been even mildly intoxicated, and I never plan to. People often tease me because I’m firmly opposed to drinking or any sort of drugs unless they’re medically necessary. Keeping my mind sharp and training it well is how I went from living in a wooden crate at age 16 to being a fully qualified plasma physicist.

I greatly enjoyed my wake shifts on the journey since my only duties during unpowered flight were inspecting and maintaining the Zolachev drive. Inspection took less than a day, and ‘maintenance’ consisted of marking the drive’s perfect condition in the log. The drive’s magnets, lasers, and electronics are handled by Electrical Engineering, so those are a whole lot of ‘Not My Problem’. The fuel piping is the responsibility of the Builders, so again, ‘Not My Problem’.

It’s pretty hard to damage anything built to resist 400 million tons of force anyway. Unless two large asteroids miraculously hit the drive in the same spot, I had nothing to do. Each wake cycle of the coast phase, I had 28 or 29 days to get to know one of our Geologists, the cute and amusing Antonella Campos-Este de Napoli. Even her name was exotic and beautiful.

Her situation was similar. Since we were several light-years from the closest planet, there were very few rocks for her to study. So far, my ‘job’ on our journey had been about 50 days of actual work, and nearly four years getting to know Antonella. If it weren’t for the fraternization rules, I’m sure we would have produced at least two children already.

I heard about the collision, and the four crew we lost when I was woken from cold sleep. I was sad and a little worried, but they assured me most things were fine. We would be able to complete our journey.

We were decelerating now, so I needed to check the drive systems at least three times a day, but my job was still easy. Well over 90 percent of the effort had gone into the engineering and construction of the monstrously powerful behemoth of a reactor.

The same general rule applies to ground vehicles, boats, and spacecraft, it’s a hell of a lot easier to drive a vehicle than design and build one. My recent work still left me at least 6 or 7 hours a day with Antonella. I was walking to her quarters to see her, when the Commander announced; “Please meet in the mess hall, as soon as your work shifts are over.”

The two of us were finishing our meal, when the last of the duty crew entered. The Commander started. “First, I want to thank everybody for all their hard work. Considering what’s happened, the ship and crew are in good condition to finish our journey. We do have one significant issue. During the incident, we lost over half our water. We have enough to survive, drinking water and food production are not a problem.

However, we don’t have enough water left for daily showers. The senior staff and I have decided on a plan to keep things at least reasonably hygienic, and I think it will make most of you happy. Our remaining water will allow everybody to get one sponge bath a day, and one weekly shower. Chief of Science and Medicine Enka Karjala will explain the change.”

I was confused. Why would I be happy about fewer showers? Chief Karjala grinned as she walked to the front. Why was she smiling? Unless she was giving orders, it was hard to understand what she was thinking. I was the lead Plasma Physicist, and it’s one of the most difficult fields of science. I also play drums and guitar, and speak six languages. I’m a borderline genius, but Enka’s mind is beyond even me.

She said, “We’ve decided to begin the family selection process early. Each day pairs of family members will help each other sponge bathe, since it’s hard to clean your own back, and dirty backs could cause all sorts of health problems.”

I seriously doubted that but stayed quiet. She continued, “Pregnancies are still totally forbidden, but there are a lot of fun things that don’t make babies. The first group of women will be implanted with embryos once the colony is stable, at least several months after landing. No baby making until then, but once your family has been selected, have some fun. Make sure your partner’s body is nice and clean daily.” There were cheers and some applause.

“The family selection begins now. Everybody will choose ten people they want in their family, and an AI will compute which two male four female families will make the most people happy. If there is somebody you don’t want, there is also an option for that. You may also select one specific person as a priority, and there will be a higher chance of that person being included. Be aware, at least one of the people in this room will be in your family, since you need a bathing partner on the same wake shift.”

“Just a tip for the ladies, since you only get two males to a family, you should use at least half your selections for females, so the other women in your family don’t make you crazy. Men should do something similar, pick at least two or three males you get along with. Be aware, if you choose somebody as a priority, and they use any of their choices for you, you’re almost guaranteed to be together. It will take some time to wake those in cold-sleep and let them vote. We should have the results within two days.”

There was more cheering and applause, then everybody busily started selecting their future mates. I obviously chose Antonella as my priority person, and let her know. We both liked Molly Wallace, and agreed Antonella should use her priority choice for her. We were very surprised when our results came back immediately.