City-Ship Ascension

Geostationary Orbit

Since there was no sun on the ship to regulate night and day cycles, it was somewhat arbitrary when one day ended and another began. The work on the Ascension went around-the-clock, so people needed to adapt to different sleep schedules. For all that, the main residential level was still on Pagan Island time, and holo-emitters in the ceiling brightened and dimmed the sky accordingly. Even the positions of the stars were faithfully reproduced as seen from the island, and that was just one of the ways to make the entire transition easier for everyone.

Michael was sitting in his quarters while drinking his morning cup of coffee, he was looking at the wall that showed the same image he could have seen from the porch of his grandfather’s cabin. In these morning hours, he tried to grab a few moments of peace and quiet, since this day promised to be a hectic one. Max had reported earlier that the entire Earth was in an uproar, with so many demonstrators in front of the White House, the National Guard was called in to preserve the peace. The acting president’s spokesmen were clamoring some cockamamie story about subordinates firing missiles without authorization; telling the same lies like a broken record, reusing old excuses.

The whole media campaign Max was conducting, genuinely steered the passions and ire of the masses. As a result, protests were happening all over the world. Some even against the ship itself; no matter how crazy it sounded, a few groups wanted the ship to return to Earth, so outer space would be kept safe from human pollution. Michael had to laugh at that one; it showed how crazy certain groups could be. Earth’s orbit was looking like a garbage dump of old equipment, and dysfunctional satellites left here in past decades. Yet, nobody liked a nuke exploding over their heads, and the countries that lost satellites as a result of that explosion demanded full reparation from the United States. The nuclear detonation was the biggest thing in the world news, city squares were full of people waving signs against their use.

The consequences of that enormous explosion were far more severe than it was first thought. The nuclear explosion produced an electromagnetic pulse, which sent the entire Mariana Islands archipelago back to the Stone Age; nothing electronic survived there. Guam and all the naval bases were in the dark, except those pieces of military equipment that were hardened to the effects of the EMP. Additionally, parts of the Philippines and Japan were also affected, to a lesser degree. Those countries were not happy about what happened and were not afraid to express their anger on the geopolitical stage.

Right now, that part of the world was all about rescue missions, and surprisingly, everybody was pitching in. China was helping Japanese sailors, and there were so many other cases where neighbors that did not have such good relations towards each other, put aside their animosity to offer a helping hand. Max moved some of his satellites over the area, so everyone was accounted for, and all helpful information was relayed to the rescue parties.

One of the biggest news in Russia and North America was when the crew of the International Space Station phoned home from the Ascension. Almost everyone thought that they had not made it out alive. Those video calls were somehow leaked to the press, and all TV stations were playing them over and over again. Commander Dax openly expressed gratitude to Michael and the others for saving their lives, in an impromptu interview, and inflated the positive image Max was trying to create.

Michael took one last sip of his coffee and stood up from his Adirondack chair, one of the few things he managed to salvage from the cabin. In an hour, he had to attend another videoconference, since the world leaders have been calling nonstop. At first, they were asking, now most of them were demanding to speak to him.

He decided to go for a little walk in the Central Park; it has become one of his favorite places on the ship. The trip was just a short elevator ride away. The green grass underneath his feet and the realistic forest, they’ve managed to transplant, made the entire ship look more natural.

“Mr. Freeman!” A voice called out behind Michael. He turned around and saw commander Dax waving at him, from a picnic table he and his crew members were sitting around. He noticed that every one of them was nursing a beer, and by the few empty bottles beside the table, it wasn’t their first one.

“Isn’t it a little early for that?” He asked, with a tone of amusement in his voice.

Commander Dax saluted him with his bottle. “Oh no, for us it’s late at night, we are running on ISS time.”

He then lowered his bottle and looked straight at Michael. “Mr. Freeman, we would like to thank you in person for saving our lives,” the Commander said humbly.

“There is no need; we were at the right place with the ability to help. How are you holding up?”

“Right now, we shouldn’t be able to move under a full gravity, but one session in that AutoDoc fixed all that; even our injured crew members are as good as new. It is almost like magic, although that is not the first magical thing we witnessed here. Look at us; we are in space, sitting around a picnic table in a park… it doesn’t get any weirder than that.”

All the others nodded in confirmation.

Michael gave them a conspiratorial grin, “you know, if you like it so much, we are currently accepting immigrants. Furthermore, we have bigger things planned for the future. It’s something to think about anyway.”

The astronauts looked at each other and then at commander Dax.

He cleared his throat and said, “We were just talking about that. I mean… how great it would be to live here; all of us are space junkies, to tell the truth. Having said that, we have families and duties back home. Until we are done with all our previous obligations… we cannot. But, if the offer still stands after we are officially free, then we’ll take you up on it.”

Michael nodded, “whenever you’re ready, give us a call. We will even come and pick you up.”

“Thank you, Mr. Freeman. Now, we were wondering about going home. Our families are waiting for us.”

“The first flight we can arrange will be yours, rest assured you will see them soon,” he replied.

After they thanked him again, Michael continued his walk and ended up in the conference room, a few minutes before the beginning of the videoconference.

***

The setup was similar as before, the only difference was that acting President Philip Cain was not present, in his place was some official flunky that gave a weak explanation of how the President was unable to attend, but he was authorized to negotiate in his name.

It started out well, they were sorry for what happened since it was a serious breach of several international agreements. And they all applauded his initiative to rescue the astronauts from ISS. After that, the real reason for this meeting was put on the table. They presented it more eloquently, but the gist of it was that they wanted to know when they were going to get their cut of the technological pie.

Michael smiled pleasantly at the camera, “Ladies and gentlemen, it is obvious that the situation has changed. We were perfectly willing to share our achievements in the spirit of international cooperation, except our altruistic efforts resulted in an attempt to murder us all. For the love of God, we were even fired upon using nuclear weapons. In view of this changed reality, we will need time to decide what course we should now take. There are still people here who are afraid for their lives, and the lives of their children; try to understand our position.”

There were angry replies and disagreements all around, but the most vocal was the Russian president.

“You have a working spaceship, another thing you did not disclose to us. We demand that you give us access to that technology.”

He was rather abrupt, and his face showed that he fully expected his demand to be obeyed.

Michael looked at the man and simply asked, “Why?”

“What do you mean… why?” The Russian president was getting redder in the face.

“Why should we give you free access to something you took no part in developing? Nothing in this world is entirely free; even little children understand that fact. For the technologies we are prepared to share, we naturally expect appropriate compensations; isn’t that only reasonable?”

The Russian president hit his fist on his table. “You have Russian citizens on that spaceship; their intellectual achievements belong to Russia.”

Michael nodded. “And every one of them is free to go back to Earth anytime he or she chooses to do so. In any case, none of them ever worked on inventing or designing the ship; the same applies to all technologies we talked about.”

“You made a deal with us all! There was an implied intent to share everything you developed with us!” The man was screaming at the camera, and a few droplets of his spit landed on the lens, smudging his image.

Michael patiently nodded. “And that intent, as you call it, was broken when we were attacked in the middle of the negotiations. So now, all slates are wiped clean, and we are speaking from the starting position.”

That was not received very well, nor his refusal of accepting a committee to be their eyes on the ship, as one representative called it. It seemed to Michael that some of them thought this was a fire sale, and were planning to get something for nothing. Arguably, he may have led them a bit on that path, while they were trying to buy some time and escape. But that was then, and right now he had no intention to give them anything just for their thank you. He still planned to help Earth as a whole, with new medicines and ways to alleviate people’s day-to-day lives. But to give advanced technology to those who wanted to make a profit out of it, or gain the upper hand on their adversaries—no way in hell.

In the end, they all agreed that another videoconference would be organized at a later date, at which they would discuss if a mutually beneficial agreement could be reached.

“Well… That was fun.” Michael said to Max after the connection was closed.

“They’re not going to let go of this easily, it’s not in their nature. Some of them will try to make secret deals with you, the others will threaten, and it’ll get a lot worse before it gets better.” Max’s hologram replied.

“I know, yet most of the decisions they make are based on the perception of power. We will need to change that perception soon, so start running potential scenarios of how to make them do what we want. Continue with the media campaign that shows us in the best light; as I said, we need ordinary people on our side. God knows how they are going to react when we declare our independence.” Michael stated.

He still didn’t know what to do with the whole situation, since the plan they previously set was changed by the recent events. Their goals remained the same, but all dealings with Earth needed to be revised.

***

A few hours later, he was still thinking about some ideas about how they should accomplish that. How to make the world powers agree to things he wanted when their instinctual response was to say a resonant “No!” He was aware that they looked at him as some sort of an entrepreneur who managed to develop certain technologies in secret; in their eyes, he was not their equal, not by a long shot.

“Alice and Elizabeth had an idea for gaining us a bit of free publicity. When we return the astronauts, you should be present. It sends a powerful message of our willingness to help others in need.” Max said to him.

“Okay, that sounds good. When do they want to do this?”

“In a few hours, there are still some arrangements to be made. Oh, and Elizabeth said that you should wear a suit… as in a business suit… good luck.” The AI said snickering.

Since the only suits he had, burned when the cabin was destroyed, Michael had to go through the whole process of fitting a new one. By chance, one of the ex-slaves was a very good tailor and he, with Max’s help, opened a tailor shop. The man was obviously in his version of heaven; he could not stop smiling and thanking Michael for his new life. The shop looked very impressive, with polished wood paneling and fancy chairs for waiting. Michael needed to spend the entire hour being measured and prodded until the man was satisfied with the final product. A few robotic tailor drones, Max made for him, did all alterations; the owner only needed to input the measures and the design.

He arrived in the upper landing bay a few minutes before the takeoff and was glad that he could finally get away from the very fussy tailor. Commander Dax and his crew were waiting, but also his father, Elizabeth, Alice, Tyron, Pete, and Al.

Michael looked at them all and raised an eyebrow. “This looks like a school field trip, do we all really need to go, just to taxi a few people back home?”

His father smiled, “I’m only hitching a ride, there is a meeting I need to attend on Earth, and the girls are here to ensure you don’t make any PR faux pas.”

“Oh, ye of little faith, what can go wrong. We will drop the astronauts’ home, take some pictures and that’s it.”

“So says the man who had never been to a public relations event,” Alice said and picked up the professional camera she was planning to use.

Commander Dax and the astronauts were already entering the transporter; it was one of the big ones, so there was more than enough room for everybody to sit and be comfortable. Elizabeth was dressed in a beautiful flowery dress while Alice had a professional PR manager suit on. Tyron, Pete, and Al were in full battle-suits, to act as security.

“Son, you do clean up well,” his father said from the seat across his. “I guess having a good woman by your side agrees with you.”

Michael could see Elizabeth smiling at that remark, and her cheeks getting redder.

“Yes, you’re right. Since we are on that subject, when are you going to find some nice lady to keep you out of trouble?”

It was amusing to see his father being put on the spot like that. He had that deer in the headlights look, all of a sudden. “Ah… well… I’m still looking, but when I find one, you will be the first to know,” Robert Freeman said, with a self-conscious smile.

The transporter’s hull was transparent, so they could see Earth growing larger. No matter how many times Michael saw the same sight, it always left him breathless.

They passed close to the ISS, which Max planned to tow close to the Ascension later that day. Michael and the others could see the pain in the astronauts’ eyes, as they watched at the damaged station, which used to be their home.

They previously arranged to land on the Commander’s Dax ranch, which was in the middle of Texas. Max took them down slowly, so they could all enjoy the slow descent. The ranch itself was out of the way and they did not expect any surprises, but to be on the safe side, Tyron, Pete, and Al were carrying their weapons.

The transporter landed gently on a pasture behind the big ranch house and turned off its camouflage.

“Well, Commander, as we promised, you are home again, safe and sound,” Michael said to the excited man.

“Come on, my wife always has a few cold beers in the fridge, and I have been dreaming of sitting on my porch with a cold one, for a while now.” Commander Dax beamed at them.

They exited the spacecraft and felt the warm air under the scorching Texan sun. The back doors of the house opened and a woman came out, holding her hand over her mouth, with tears streaming down her face.

Commander Dax ran towards her and took her in his arms, just as she was about to come down the stairs. A young boy followed her, yelling “Daddy!” and hugged both of their knees. The other astronauts approached the porch as their family members started coming out of the house too.

Michael and the others exited the spacecraft but were standing close to it, giving the happy families some space. Alice was standing close to them, with a camera on her shoulder, recording every second of it.

Michael’s enhanced hearing picked up a strange sound, similar to a wasp flying close to his ear. He heard Max beginning to yell something when the overpowering sense of heat engulfed every part of his skin. A start of a familiar feeling spread through his entire body; It was a Boost, which only Max had the authorization to activate remotely, and only in the case of an emergency. The pressure wave detached him from the ground and launched him into the air, only to slam him back down, a few seconds later.

There was no time to think or have any reaction to whatever this was before the darkness descended on his consciousness.