1991

Excerpt from Sol Survivor

Berlin rolled to face the ceiling of her bedroom and noticed that the storm had passed during the night.  The skylight displayed the last stars about to disappear from sight for the day as the eastern half reflected the dark blue shade of her bed covers.  The western half was still black as the night from which it came.
     She tumbled from her bed gathering a set of clothes to change into after a quick sonic shower.  The black and white attire she had chosen suggested her serious intent for the day.  
     She quickly gathered her personal items.  Each person was allowed five cubic meters of personal effects on the station comprised of no more than one hundred kilograms in mass.
     "Sid, give me a measurement of volume and mass on everything that I have here," she requested while standing near her desk, facing the rising sun, and holding up her luggage.
     "Four point nine, one, three, nine, two, one, one..."
      "Thanks, Sid," she interrupted, "Accurate enough."
     "Cubic meters," Sid added. “Fifteen point six, three…”
      “Thanks Sid. Time?"
     "Seven twenty four."
     "I'm so nervous, Sid.  Everything will be all right here, won't it?"
     "I'm sure it will be," Sid answered.  "Don't forget that you can contact me at any time."
     "Thanks, Sid," Berlin said.  "I sometimes wish you were human."
     "Thanks," Sid said as Berlin started to laugh.
     "You're such a remarkable computer," she exclaimed. "You've helped me so much, Sid.  I will miss you."
     "If it will make you feel better, Berlin.  I'll miss you, too."
     "Thanks, Sid," Berlin responded politely. "I'll contact you when I get to the station."
     "Good bye, Berlin," Sid said, carefully monitoring her movement toward her personal hovercraft compartment.  She whispered to herself, "I just hope I'll be okay."
     "I'm sure you will be." Sid remarked after the sliding glass door had shut behind her, and she approached her craft.  "I'm sure you will be."
 
      Five sliding panels opened in the ceiling to allow the hovercraft to rise above the apartment.  After tapping a few keypads on the control board, the HoverSigma lifted off from the apartment floor and hovered motionless above the open launch chamber.  She checked the LCD on the windshield that displayed craft status: hovering at 20 meters, energy levels maximum.  A "VELOCITY ZERO," and an "ALL SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL" LCD flashed momentarily at the center of the screen as she set the coordinates for Space Transfer Terminal 12.
    "Velocity 5 kilometers per second.  Engage," she commanded systematically.
     Space Transfer Terminal 12 quickly came into sight as the remodeled office windows reflected the sunlight from the top floor of the scraper.  A series of red landing lights became visible on the surface of  the scraper after she had increased altitude to 4000 meters. "Space Transfer Terminal 12 control. Prescott HoverSigma.  Request landing approval," she said.
     "This is S.T.T. 12.  Landing request approved. Subterminal four is unoccupied," came a voice from terminal control.  "Stand by for landing sequence."
      A few moments passed as her craft was programmed by the S.T.T. 12 landing computers.  Then the HoverSigma descended to Subterminal 4 as the huge bay doors opened.
     "LANDING SEQUENCE COMPLETE," came the reading once the craft had securely settled down on the floor of the holding bay.
     "Stand by for atmospheric lock," came the flight controller's voice again as the huge bay doors closed and the lights snapped on.  "Lock complete.  Proceed to transfer door nine. Your craft will be magne-fitted in about one hour. Have a nice day."
     Private hovercraft are structurally qualified for flight outside the earth’s atmosphere, however, each craft requires magne-fitting. Magne-fitting is a common procedure, under contract from the dealer, which adapts a magnetospheric repulsion drive to the hovercraft engines. Rather than buy a new hovercraft every two months a person can request temporary magne-fitting of current model engines. Hovercraft dealers include magne-fitting in the buyer’s contract in order to accommodate new technologies. It is also a convenient way to monitor extra-terrestrial traffic. As a hovercraft ascends past the atmosphere, the air density becomes too low for conventional hovercraft engines. The craft then relies upon magne-fitted repulsion drives which utilize the earth’s magnetic field for flight. Escaping earth’s gravity was typically unnecessary since private flights were restricted to low earth orbits which include orbits as large as those of commercial hotel platforms and space stations.      Berlin motioned for the hovercraft door to open and stepped out onto the titanium floor of the holding bay.  Turning around to reach for her luggage, she paused a moment to look the craft over and tried to realize what she was doing by going into space.  Leaving everything behind was going to be difficult.  Her dreams lay above, but her life was on Earth.  Although Earth wasn't very kind to her, she was kind to it.      A remarkable sense of returning home overwhelmed her as she reached into her luggage for a gray beret and gently secured it on her head.  The craft's door closed after she pulled her luggage from it and walked briskly to a door marked with the number nine in front of the HoverSigma.
Berlin sat down  at the bay windows of the transfer terminal lobby. She took note of a particular strand of hair dangling about her face. Her eyes then sought the glass pane of the window. Frustrated by the glass’s invisibility, she reached out her hand only to discover the stinging coldness of the surface and immediately withdrew.
     Looking beyond the glass barrier, she noticed the soft luminosity of street lights penetrating the sea of gray clouds. Resting her palm against the window pane once again, she felt the sharp iciness of it dart through her body. She watched her hand glide smoothly across the surface and cried silently. Her tears rolled noiselessly into a partially closed hand as a few steady moments in silence calmed her. She envisioned the tears beating like a drum into her palm as they collected into a pool of sorrow and despair. The lucid sounds peacefully dissipated into a hollow abyss as music flowed into her sleeping ears. The music was very emotional, so structurally rooted in her mind that it crushed her as her mind drifted.

Fluorescent lights illuminated her daydream as she found herself sitting on a stool next to an old friend whom he felt disappointment for. She remembered how she had missed him as he looked at her with his penetrating eyes. He hadn’t talked to her for such a long time. She only wanted a friend in high school. They hadn’t spoken to each other since.
     He politely asked her to dance.
     Tears emerged from her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her. Just being held was an incomprehensible release of emotions.
     “Thanks,” she whispered into his ear.
     They moved across the dance floor slowly for what seemed like hours.

Carefully opening her eyes, Berlin found the strength to sit up and wipe away her tears.
     “Miss Berlin Morgan Prescott. Please report to subterminal four at your convenience,” a voice stated from her wrist. “Your hovercraft is ready.” She spoke a reply to her wrist computer and sent the message to confirm that she would be there soon.
     Berlin quickly stood up and then crouched down to pick up her luggage and her beret.

The hovercraft's engines began to groan a little from turbulence in its main thrusters. Each thruster quickly calmed as the craft entered the upper atmosphere where the air density was greatly diminished. In the upper atmosphere there are very few air molecules for the thrusters to ionize, thus the magne-fitted engines quickly came online while the atmospheric thrusters slowly shut down.

     Berlin transmitted coordinate data to a south California tracking station for coordinate confirmation. She then requested a trajectory sequence to bring her craft to the S.S. Justice. The tracking station’s computer uploaded the appropriate trajectory information into the HoverSigma‘s navigation control module. Berlin executed the trajectory program and the craft began a steady ascent.

The sky abruptly became black with the moon rising from a blue atmospheric ocean. The  stars were sharply defined.  The automated trajectory sequence brought the craft into a final approach orbit for rendezvous with the space station. When the craft entered the dark umbra of the earth, a bright star flourished along the horizon -- Space Station Justice.