Chapter 2 Part 1

Chapter 2





Nathan Thomas flipped through the laminated pages of a holographic magazine and tried not to get too bored. He and his fellow passengers on the trans orbital shuttle were enroute to New St. Louis, the space station between the earth and its moon.

New St. Louis was a city in orbit and was hailed as the gateway to the stars. Though somewhat poetic, the title was essentially true since all travel between the earth and the extraterrestrial colonies was routed through the space station for customs, quarantine and administrative purposes.

Nathan had been enjoying a sunny Saturday morning in Omaha when his monitor signaled that an incoming message had arrived. Nathan had debated on whether of not to view the message for several long moments before his sense of responsibility kicked in. As and agent of the Market Internal Revenue Athourity, he was always on duty. The Athourity, or MIRA as it was referred to was the judicial and financial branch of the mighty Population Liability Command that had for years been the real power behind every country on the face of the planet.

It had been in the early twenty first century that the population of the earth had exceeded the planet's capabilities to support life. Thousands of people were dying of starvation each day and the planet was at the brink of war when the major powers proposed a desperate solution.

From that day until just fifteen years ago, the Population Liability Command evaluated the net worth of each individual of the human race. If a person produced more than he consumed, he was ignored by the Command. But if a person consumed more than he produced, he was targeted for population control termination.

There were of course three automatic appeals, the first was a reevaluation to detect any errors, the second was an evaluation to ensure that the person was capable of producing and to make an attempt to place the person in a work environment that would enable the person to produce. If the person was incapable of producing, he would be placed on a welfare program. The final appeal was a one year stay of execution in which the targeted individual had to work very hard to eliminate his deficit. If at the end of the year, the person had produced more than he had consumed and had reduced his deficit in the process, that person was placed on probation and termination was suspended for five years. If after five years, the person had continued to produce and had worked off his deficit, the execution would be canceled. But if during the probation period, a person failed to produce, the execution was carried out immediately.

The Population Liability Command was cruel and it was evil but it worked. The population came under control and the Population Liability Command became the most powerful organization in history.

Nathan remembered how shocked he felt when the message he had received had contained travel orders to Alpha Station, the Terran Market's main communications and administration base on the earth's moon.

The message had instructed him to prepare for a long trip and that confidentiality was of the utmost importance. He had been told that he would be briefed at New St. Louis and then again upon arrival at Luna's Alpha Station.

Nathan closed the magazine when he heard the tell-tale sounds of external moorings connecting to the transport. They had arrived at the space station. Nathan tossed the magazine on the table, the Velcro patches grabbed the counterparts on the cover of the magazine to keep it from floating away. The dock of New St. Louis was a non rotating part of the station and so there was no centrifugal effect to produce artificial gravity.

Nathan unstrapped himself from the seat realizing that he did not even know what the magazine had been about even though he had been looking at it for three hours. He and his fellow passengers exited the cabin using the Velcro slippers they had been issued before launch.

When they stepped out on the flight deck, the stewards ushered them to the long airlock tunnel connecting the dock to the ship. There was no carpeting for the special slippers to grip there so they were actually blown by means of a gentle breeze through the weightless tunnel to the main reception area.

A young woman, her hair braided and woven tightly to keep it from floating about, hovered near a console and registered each passenger into the station's roster. Most passengers were either enroute to Twilight Station, the central spaceport for the entire solar system on Mercury or New St. Louis was their final destination.

Nathan waited patiently for the other passengers to register, then finally he approached.
"My name is Nathan Thomas," he announced. "I am bound for Luna Alpha."

The receptionist smiled. "Yes Mr. Thomas, your reservations are posted. The next shuttle for Alpha will board tomorrow at ten o'clock station standard time." She passed him a console card and smiled. "Most people suffer from jet lag, but since you are from the American Central time zone, you should not have any problem."

Nathan took the card and returned the smile. "Thank you," he politely replied. He was not known for small talk.

"Are there any other arrangements I can make for you?"

Nathan grunted. "No, thank you," he finally said, and walked over to a clutch lock. The clutch lock was essentially an elevator which followed a large circular track between the docking core and the rotating part of the station. When the door opened, Nathan stepped onto the vinyl padded floor and held onto a handle to keep himself from floating about. When the door closed, he selected the only choice button and the elevator accelerated to match the speed of the rotating part of New St Louis. As the elevator moved, the artificial gravity slowly increased and Nathan easily righted himself to a standing position. A small chime sounded and the other door opened leading out into a walkway with several pedestrians passing about.

Nathan exited the elevator and checked his directions with a terminal on the near wall. Getting his bearings, he headed off to the nearest office of the MIRA.

The office was not far, and within ten minutes he had arrived. He inserted his card in the door slot. A chime sounded and the door slid open.

Nathan entered the office. A young man in a business suit, seated at a desk looked up.

"Ah, Mr. Thomas," he began. "Welcome to New St. Louis." He stood and extended his hand.

Nathan accepted the greeting and responded likewise. "Is Gerri in?" he asked.

The secretary nodded. "She will see you momentarily. Please be seated."

Nathan took a seat and the secretary excused himself and disappeared through another door. After a moment he reappeared with a small, elderly woman in trail.

"Nathan, she laughed, "how good to see you."

"Hello, Gerri," he replied standing and walking across the office. He took her outstretched hand and shook it enthusiastically. "It has been a long time."

"It has indeed," she returned. "I only wish the circumstances were better, though. Please step in my office." As Nathan passed through the door, she glanced over her shoulder. "Tim, please hold all calls and visitors until further notice."

The secretary responded and the door closed sealing the office. The cubicle was only large enough to prevent it from being called a cell. The desk was neat and tidy with small stacks of disks and a terminal view plate. The screen presently showed the MIRA logo.

"Have they told you anything yet?" Gerri asked.

"Only that a Red Sunrise alert had been called and that I was to report to the regional headquarters at Alpha as soon as possible."

"I can't tell you much more because that is about all I know as well."

"Well, a Red Sunrise means natural disaster with suspicious circumstances," Nathan reminded his friend. "I guess headquarters suspects foul play, but in what?"

"The answer to that will be released to the public very soon because it is too big to conceal, so I will go ahead and tell you," she decided. "Yesterday morning a previously uncharted small asteroid destroyed Beta Six. The official operations of that outpost was geological research, but in reality is was a weapons research and development station."

An asteroid destroys a Market military research facility?" Nathan mused. "That is awful convenient if you are a Syndicate leader."

"Hence the Red Sunrise," Gerri added.

"Anything else?" Nathan asked.

"No," she replied. "Now you know as much as I do." She pressed a key on her terminal.

"Your flight leaves tomorrow morning," she reminded him. "You have your expense card?"

Nathan flashed his card. "I haven't checked its balance yet," he admitted.

"I recommend you take in a meal and some recreation for the rest of the day, but be sure that you make your flight."

"Sounds like good advice," he agreed. "Where am I lodged?"

"You are assigned a suite in the outer promenade," she said referring to the third of the concentric shells of the station. The gravity there was near earth normal and therefore considered the luxury area. Your account appears quite healthy even if you have to go to the outer system, so why don't you live it up a little. It may be the last chance you get if they do send you to the outer colonies."

Nathan stood and pocketed his card. "It has been nice to see you again Gerri," he began.

"Come and visit us more often," she replied.

"I will," he assured her and left the office. He waved to the secretary as he passed.
When he was out of the office, he went back down the corridor the way he had come until he came across another directory. He studied the diagram for directions to the outer promenade, then slowly made his way through the space station.

When he exited an elevator onto the outer ring, he was amazed at how earth like everything was. The ceiling was painted to resemble a clear blue sky and the walls were fairly wide and littered with shops giving the illusion of a terran city street.

Nathan quickly located his suite and used his card and PLC identity number to open the security lock. The ship's central computer would deduct the appropriate funds from his account for the rental.

Nathan entered and closed the door behind him. Reaching into the inner pocket of his vest, he withdrew a pocket computer. He touched a key and the display informed him that the room contained only one covert recording device, and that of course was the pocket computer itself. The artificial intelligence of the machine was always assessing his situation and if it determined that he was in danger would initiate a distress signal to the nearest MIRA operation center.

Nathan took an hour to shower and order a new set of clothes. The paper fibre attire was waiting for him when he emerged from the shower.

Cleaned and dressed, he departed to find food and entertainment. He stopped at a sports club called the Red Birds of Summer. It was obviously a reference to the New St. Louis Red Birds, the Interplanetary League baseball team. He recalled seeing the stadium represented on the directory, but it was on the far side of the station. It was very amusing how as the human race had come together, many of the popular sports had faded away until only soccer, hockey and baseball were left.

New St. Louis' soccer team was also called the Red Birds. The once popular sports of basketball and North American football still existed, but were no where near as popular as they had once been. In actuality he was a fan of baseball. He remembered how excited he had been when the first Galactic Series had been played between the London Royals and the Lunar Astros. The great Mare Dome at Alpha was a huge underground thing as the balls tended to travel fantastic distances in the lighter gravity. A lot of bets had been made that the Astros, playing in their home stadium would sweep the series, but the Royals actually took two of the three games only to lose the series to the Astros in London.

At present the club was uncrowded and Nathan located a booth and seated himself. He casually reviewed the menu as a waitress approached. The fact that the waitress was human instead of a robot indicated the quality status of the club.

"Can I help you sir?" The waitress was about five and a half feet tall with golden hair platted into a single braid at her back. She was very shapely and wore a red heart shaped medallion which identified her as a licensed private entertainer.

"Is the food real, or synthesised?" he asked.

"Our menu is real food," she advised. "It is a little expensive, but worth the price."

"I will have the filet mignon, medium, and baked potato," he decided.

"And to drink?"

"Iced tea."

"Dessert?"

"None."

"Entertainment?" she asked with a smile.

Nathan eyed her body momentarily. It was quite firm and desirable. He considered that he may soon be gone for a long time. "What are the rates?"

"A dance for ten credits, all the way up to a night for one hundred credits; station currency of course."

Nathan considered the price as reasonable. "Your credentials?"

She produced a small wallet and opened it for him to view. Nathan noted that she was licensed for prostitution and her contraception and infection inoculations were up to date.

"Okay he agreed. Here is my address." He scribbled the suite number on a piece of paper. "No later than nine o'clock. I will take the full deal."

She smiled and left. Nathan watched as she departed. It had not been too long ago that prostitution had still been illegal. After millenia of trying to stamp out the oldest of professions, though, society decided to give up on wasting the effort to eliminate a harmless non-violent crime and instead capitalize on it.

In actuality prostitution, though still a frowned upon profession, was much safer when the government insured contraception and disease control. In fact the population control laws had implemented reversible sterility in all persons born after 2032 AD. There had been some serious legal battles involving human rights, but the Population Liability Command's highest court, the MIRA Command Council, had ruled that the survival of the human race overruled any single human right. From that day forward contraception had no longer been a choice.

Contraception were licensed so that no couples could have more than two children and no single person was allowed to impregnate or conceive. The penalty was separation from the offspring and a half life term in prison. It was cruel, but necessary since the human race was starving. Thirty years later, the population had been brought under control and conception laws had become more liberal.

The waitress returned with Nathan's meal and smiled broadly as she served him. "My name is Dawn," she said. "I will see you around eight."

"Eight," he replied and proceeded to attack his meal. It had been a long time since he had eaten.