AUSTRA
The offshore oil rig had been bought and repurposed as a launch platform for interplanetary rockets. It stood as an island off the coast of Texas, in the churning Gulf waters. The launch tower rose high above the platform, holding the largest rocket and booster ever built, taller than the Statue of Liberty with its base. The crane built into the tower raised the fueled starship, a stainless-steel cylinder, aligning it precisely atop the shining cylindrical booster. Inside the top of the launch tower, sapphire crystal windows dampened the glare of the powerful Gulf Coast sun.
The scale of the launch tower became apparent as the elevator accelerated to the top. The umbilical to cross from the tower into the top of the starship was one hundred and twenty meters in the sky. The elevator doors opened to the staging area with windows and the final boarding gateway. A tall blonde woman with a thousand-watt smile turned to greet her guests. Her dimpled smile accented her angular cheekbones and long hair.
Austra Ubiytsa, a former college athlete, exuded a restless energy, muscular, with the hint of power and violence beneath. She wore a shining white vac-suit, with an amused smirk, and hands on her hips. Like the rocket dominating the view outside, she promised fire and caused an electricity in the air around her. She added the wink and the gleam to the futuristic facility.
The twenty-eight passengers milled about in the causeway, uncertain of their vac-suits, with their helmets hanging back off their suits. They looked anxious, and she waved them to the windows as the umbilical extended to connect to the starship.
Her voice rose above the din as she introduced the rocket outside. “This is the Rocket Line Interplanetary launch system, a two-stage, fully-reusable rocket we’ll be taking to orbit, refueling, and then flying to Mars.”
She waved an arm. “We’re wider, taller, and more powerful than the Saturn V rocket that first landed man on the moon. We’re hauling an incredible one hundred and fifty tons of cargo to Mars.” She pointed to the middle of the starship. “Porters stowed your baggage in your cabins, below.”
Austra used her cover name to introduce herself, “My name’s Celerity Lowhry, and I’ll be your rocket attendant for the journey. Welcome aboard.”
The passengers edged to the windows and looked down. The rocket’s geometrical perfection looked fake, too exact to be believed. The liquid oxygen began outgassing as it rose above freezing temperatures and sublimated into the surrounding atmosphere, a smoking gun about to go off.
The passengers were experts in their fields, recruited to work on the burgeoning colonies of Mars. All passengers had been recruited, passed rigid physicals, and accepted their positions voluntarily.
It was Celerity’s job to make them understand the hardships of Mars, the lack of gravity, the thin air, and lack of pressure. She had checked through all twenty-four passengers on the flight manifest, knew what they did, what weak points to train to get them ready for a safe arrival on the red planet.
With a flourish, she spun the wheel that opened the giant steel door, swung it wide, and waved everyone inside.
She assessed them as they passed through to the umbilical, connecting to the boarding portion of the starship. Two people were Rocket Line executives, and two others were technicians overseeing the orbital refueling. They would join the crew to oversee the orbital refueling and land back to Earth. If anything went wrong on the journey to Mars, it would be up to Austra, the pilot, the copilot, or one other attendant to handle it.
For the passengers, this was a career expanding and dangerous trip to the frontier of humanity and the bleeding edge of technology. For researchers, scientists, and engineers, it was like climbing Mount Everest, going to Antarctica for two years, and taking a wilderness survival course, in one. Companies recruited top talent in their fields, they had to be fit, adventurous, and able to commit to at least four years on Mars. Enforced regimens covered fitness, body-mass, and cardiovascular health. There were more subjective tests for social-engagement, but results had been fudged for top recruits before.
Mars was the frontier and needed top engineers to keep the American colony breathing, eating, and expanding. Earth had difficulties solving climate change as coastal flooding, storm surges, and fire seasons expanded worldwide. Food shortages, caused by the collapse of the bee population, the extinction of tuna, and the spread of African swine fever made Earth look outward. Martian colonies had begun as a symbol of technological advancement, but now, supporting the colonies had become popular.
This group of passengers included a surgeon, two doctors specializing in lung-related illnesses, a chemist, a metallurgist, and three geologists, all selected for their skill, health, and willingness to travel to Mars.
The interior attendant, a dour man, met and instructed all passengers to their assigned launch seats, strapping them in for the most dangerous portion of their ride, the initial liftoff from the bottom of Earth’s gravity well.
Following the last person in, Austra sealed the door, walked the umbilical, and sealed the interior door of the starship. She made certain she was unobserved, and locked it in place with a retinal scan. She turned, already smiling, to visit her charges.
“We have a few minutes to wait as the last of the cargo is stowed and locked down. Nothing can be moving during liftoff, including us, so strap in tight.”
Her passengers flexed and tested their vac-suits, looking out the windows at the rising smoke in the brilliant sun. The impending launch weighed heavily, the anticipation building.
An older man said, “We won’t have to wear these suits the whole time, will we?”
Celerity’s grin didn’t falter. “Only during liftoff. During the initial refueling week in zero gravity, we’ll learn how to get into them in an emergency, and then not again until landing on Mars, five weeks later.”
She didn’t mention why they didn’t bother with the suits during the journey. Any emergencies that far out, and there was no point in trying to survive. The cargo might get picked up or towed, but the people would be long dead. Best not to mention the worst-case scenario. There was no point in causing fear, they would be helpless inside the technological marvel carrying them.
She swept an arm smoothly and said, “When Mars is on the opposite side of the Sun, the journey is too long and expensive. The path of the orbits aligns every twenty-six months, known as the Hohmann transfer window. Every two years we double the amount of flights to the Martian colonies, and we’re scheduled for twenty flights with ten separate rockets during this window.”
There was no reason to mention the state funded launches of the Russian and Chinese governments, the only real competitors to Rocket Lines.
She looked them in the eyes, as she walked, checking straps, testing helmet seals, and she saw no panic. She put her helmet on as well and tested the coms. “The Martian colonies welcome our safe delivery of their required scientists, engineers, heavy-equipment, and raw materials. We’re helping to complete and expand the American colony.”
Austra was on her seventh trip. Her first had been six years ago.
“The journey to Mars has been shortened from six months to five weeks. The extra fuel means we’ll be flying to Mars with two-percent gravity to help us acclimate and shorten the trip. This year, we’re scheduled to deliver a record two hundred and forty-five people.”
The rocket’s destination was the American colony, the largest, richest, and most advanced. American investors had poured capital into automated drilling, chemical plants, and steel mills. Solar panels, battery manufacture, and nuclear energy were a close second. The third largest industry were the essentials, air, water, food, and housing.
As Mars improved, so did the possibility for tourism. The American Colonial Hotel’s impressive tower and views of the colony were a destination among the rich and famous. The penthouse rose high enough to see Mount Olympus in the distance, the tallest mountain in the solar system.
On Mars to shoot a film, a famous actor had returned to Earth and been overheard saying he’d seen the disgraced senator from Georgia hiding out at the American Colonial. The senator had been convicted on charges of bribery, corruption, and statewide election fraud. He was due to be sentenced in a federal court, when he disappeared. Politicians decried his guilt on television shows every night. Finding the man and extraditing him would be interplanetary news.
This rumor of his whereabouts had circulated into some of the upper echelons of government. Ranking members of Congress took it seriously and within the State Department, a dossier had been planned, generated, and disseminated.
Austra finished inspecting the passengers, found her seat, and strapped in. She watched them over the top of the dossier she was reading. A week before her current flight, Austra had been signaled for a meeting. The dossier had been left anonymously in a dead drop location where she picked it up. She sat in the rocket, waiting for liftoff, and read the transcript again, trying to fill the anxious time before the engines erupted into life, when she came across photos and this quote from the actor: He had a table with four young women, all gorgeous.
Austra looked at the enormous purpling neck wattle of the man in the photo and cringed. She didn’t judge those women. Sometimes she got paid to do awful things with deplorable men as well.
The countdown commenced, Austra tucked away her confidential material, and steadied her breathing to control her fear. She’d done this over half a dozen times, but it was still excruciating. She tried to steady her breathing.
The countdown hit zero, and six gravities of acceleration piled on as the deafening roar of the engines rattled every cell in her body. The engines erupted for over three soul-shaking minutes as the rocket punched up and out of Earth’s atmosphere. The booster stage cut its engines and there was a six-second break until the release. The booster flipped, turned its tail, and did an entry burn to return to Earth. The starship portion reignited its engines and pushed them up to the required twenty-five thousand kilometers per hour before cutting the engines once more.
Once in orbit around the Earth, they were weightless. The first refueling shuttle launched the next day, with three more refilling their tanks before they could fire the engines all the way to Mars.
Now that they were weightless, Austra unbuckled to give her lecture on their exercise requirements. The exercise agreement was included in the signed contract for travel, but many passengers failed to connect the written word to reality.
She explained, “The exercise is mandatory because it will save your life.” She knew from experience that some would think they were exempt.
“I’ll lead the exercise classes, twice daily. I’m in charge of your health and getting you safely and in physical shape to survive your stay on Mars. I oversee the health of all passengers, and I cannot be overruled, not by the pilot, the captain, or anyone on Earth.” She looked the passengers over, seeing who would buck her authority. She considered stubborn males to be a part of the job, even where their own health was concerned.
She saw some doubting looks. “Originally, there were deaths on arrival. There are serious risks, strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms from the lack of pressure, all are possibilities. Your hormones will be off balance, you’ll lose bone-density, and your eyes won’t focus.”
Hence the need for more doctors on Mars.
She saw some fear, and pulled it back. “Luckily, I have the cure. You can avoid all this with twenty minutes of cardio and twenty minutes of strength training, daily. All right, let’s get you guys to your cabins and out of your vac-suits.”
Austra gave them instructions on unbuckling and demonstrated the handholds in the zero-gravity. She led them to their cabins and demonstrated where to stow their vac-suits.
“You won’t need them again unless there’s an emergency, so keep them in their designated locker.”
The starship was nine-meters in diameter, and above the sleeping quarters, there was space to exercise. They exercised daily, begrudgingly, and Austra leaned into her chipper Celerity personae to cheer them on. She would fly and grab anyone stuck in midair, teaching them how to kick and wriggle to a handhold in the zero-G.
The three doctors were women, more experienced with exercise bands than the men, and motivated to take the workouts seriously. She suspected the geologists had never exercised before in their lives. They were not inclined to respect her authority and reinforced each other’s lackluster efforts.
Austra taught weightless maneuvering, and after a week of fuel rendezvouses, the ship began the final four-week journey to Mars. She helped everyone acclimate to the gravity created by the two percent acceleration.
“Hand holds! Jump, stretch, land, recoil!”
The women were more graceful with the new gravity and Austra almost never had to rescue them. Some of the men were more adventurous, but less agile, except for the dark-haired metallurgist. He could do flips on his way across the open expanse of the exercise area and there was a joy in his movements.
Austra complimented him. “Impressive!” She received a solid smile in return. His dark eyes met hers and she felt a spark.
Austra saw her passengers less as individuals and more as her flock, which she had to coerce to work hard together to stay fit. She ran interference against any conflicts. In a confined space, she had to intervene early and often.
During the twice-daily classes, one of the geologists said, “Why is this exercise necessary? I feel like I’m at fat-camp, not going to Mars.”
“Without these exercises, you’ll lose bone density. Without calcium, you’ll feel tired all the time, lose hormonal regulation, and your mind will get muddy.”
She considered how much she should tell them. She decided to hit the main points and keep it vague.
“The first pioneers didn’t emphasize exercise and it was disastrous. The low gravity of Mars messes with your circulatory system and at worst, you could stroke out and die. If you don’t work out daily, you’ll get a lot of pain, broken bones, passing out in the thin-air, and even some madness.”
She felt a fierce protectiveness for her charges, and took extra time to cajole the geologists into participating, working them gently, both mentally and physically, building rapport slowly and then ramping up the workouts. If she gave up on them early, they could lose weeks of company time in a hospital or stroke out and die. That wasn’t the sort of death Austra wanted on her conscience.
Austra had been an Olympic hopeful in track, tall and gangly, and then a prominent track star at University. Excellent at retaining her Earth-based musculature during the long journey, she stayed strong on the trips she took to Mars and back. To preserve their employees, Rocket Lines never stranded anyone on Mars during the twenty-six-month span between flight windows. The lack of gravity would cause muscle loss and a loss of bone density. The passengers would be ok if they were diligent in their workouts, but with stressful jobs and long hours, what were the chances? If they worked hard, they could regain their muscle and be able to adjust back to Earth gravity, but it was unlikely. The actor had only been there four weeks for a movie shoot before he left. Austra knew of no one who had stayed the two years and returned.
During a spin-class, someone asked, “What do you do on Earth between flights?”
Smiling, pedaling, and punching with her headset on, she said, “Keep pedaling! If you have air to talk, you aren’t working hard enough!” She saw the dark-haired metallurgist had asked the question and backtracked. “I’m a private trainer at a club. I teach classes there too.”
To the class, she recited, “You need to build habits, and these habits will sustain you during your trip. If you ever want to be able to get back to Earth, you’d better do these exercises daily!”
Sometimes people’s bone loss was sudden and severe. Exercising helped, and minimized the health risks, but nothing could compensate for the loss of Earth’s gravity over time.
Beads of sweat flew, and she grinned and shook her head, exulting in the workout.
The geologists improved, their waistlines shrunk, and their appetites increased, as did their positivity.
Austra loved the physique of the metallurgist. She liked his abs and his dark chest hair and had him do extra reps after the others broke for dinner. Making certain he was last for the blood pressure cuff, she sat much too close to him. She missed being around athletes and seeing athletic men. She had read his bio on file, saw no ring on his finger, and made too much eye contact.
She played aloof to begin. “How are you liking the journey so far?”
He was uncertain of her intentions and said, “You’re fun and I like your classes. They’re the highpoint of my day. I’m not sure about the guy that serves the meals and does the turn-downs. He seems, well—”
Pumping the cuff, she said, “Maladjusted to the outside world?”
He laughed.
She nodded. “Yeah, he prefers it in here. He takes extra cruises and flies regularly.”
“Is that healthy?”
She typed in the readings and put on her stethoscope. “Not long term. There’s even less gravity on the journey. Short-term, he might be fine, but if he suffers too much bone-loss, he won’t be able to survive Earth’s gravity.”
“Because his bones would weaken and Earth would crush him?”
Austra delivered a genuine smile. “Someone’s been listening. Yes, he’d need to retire on Mars because the lighter gravity would be easier on his weakened bones.”
“What’s it like on Mars? None of the passengers have been there—”
“In six years traveling back and forth, I’ve only taken seven people back to Earth out of four-hundred. None after longer than a month on Mars.” Gathering herself, she said, “A big priority on Mars is recruiting women to balance the sex ratio. The initial colonists did a terrible job and the men would fight over the few women on station. Men are risk-takers, and construction in dangerous environments is generally testosterone driven.”
“Are there a lot of women now?”
“Still less than half, but we’re more assertive. The wage-gap on Mars is inverted, with women making more money to suffer the hostile environment. Vac-suits, travelling millions of kilometers through space, and the possibility of never coming home are less of a draw for the ladies.”
“You do the same jobs? Like mining?”
She grinned. “I don’t, but the women do. Programming the drillers, civil engineering and planning. No one is out there with a shovel, if that’s what you mean.”
He gave her a genuine smile which broadened when she returned it. “What about the living spaces?”
“It isn’t a tight little dome. We’ve covered an entire section of the Mariner Valley. There’s tons of space, and water supplies continue to increase. Rocket Lines keeps an apartment I can use. I share it with other rocket flight attendants, but it’s mine for the few weeks until I’m booked for a return flight.”
He nodded, hoping. “How’s the air?”
“Thin.” She laughed. “You’re afraid you’ll suffocate?”
“I’m nervous.”
She leaned close and pulled her stethoscope. “Pull you shirt up. Breathe. Big breath.” She moved the stethoscope around. She smirked at him and eyed his abs. “You’re in good shape.”
His heart was racing and she knew she had him. “Where are you staying on Mars?”
“In the American colony.”
She purred next to his ear. “We’re all staying in the American colony. Are they putting you up in the American Colonial Hotel?”
“Until they finalize my arrangements, yes.”
She was sitting too close and brushed the inside of his thigh with the back of her hand. Maintaining eye contact, she saw his eyes flash wide.
“Can you, are you allowed to seduce passengers?”
“I’m not allowed to do anything. I do what I like.” She blushed. “That is, if you agree to my terms.”
“Terms?”
“Well, I’m a rocket flight attendant. I’ll be taking this rocket back to Earth, gone in a few weeks, a month, tops. If you’re the type that likes to call, then we can’t.” She watched his eyes closely and saw comprehension dawning in them. “It won’t be a long-distance relationship. I’ll be on another planet.”
She continued stroking his leg. “If you’re the type to enjoy a fling,” here she looked deeply into his eyes, “then we can have an amazing rest of the trip, and probably a spectacular two-weeks on Mars before I leave.”
His eyes went wide.
Austra liked this part of being a starship attendant named Celerity. She liked the metallurgist, although she could’ve chosen anyone, really. The anxiety and confinement led to riskier decision making, on her part as well. She’d have to be careful he didn’t ruin any of the prosthetics she used to disguise her appearance. The false nose and cheek implants could be popped off if she weren’t careful.
Her smile was genuine. “I can help you christen your bunk. I think you’ll like sex at two-percent gravity. We’ll be light and there’s a lot more acrobatics.”
“Is this happening a little fast?”
“Fast? We only have four weeks left in the trip. I’m amazed more couples haven’t partnered up.” She tipped her head. “We are on a cruise after all.”
Besides, she thought, she might need a good cover to get into the American Colonial. She’d have to tell him it was against regulations so she’d have an excuse to visit surreptitiously.
Where else would that disgraced politician hide?
If authorities found a dead body in the penthouse, that wouldn’t point to the rocket crew, just the newly arrived passengers.
She certainly didn’t look like a killer.
