Session 1.10 Index Session 1.12
Everyone wakes up. We each seem to be on a hospital bed in a ward-like room facing a glass wall looking out over a vast city of huge buildings under a dim red sun. Two moons are also visible in the sky. From the grav vehicles that can be seen moving around the buildings must be kilometres in extent. Medical staff check us to see that we have come out of low berth well, and when it is confirmed that we have, allow us to get up and change. They tell us that we are in Selidorn, the capital city of Rhylanor. A few other low berth passengers in the ward with us do the same.
Outside, we find ourselves in a corridor, still outside customs. We seem to be in one of the huge buildings. But we are not sure where to go from here, so we find a clever internet-capable help point. With its help we quickly find and book into a mid-range hotel close to the starport here. As we do this a pair of robots wander past. We gawk like the yokels we are. Then a pair of aliens, lion-like humanoids, wanders past. We gawk even more. The terminal informs us that they are Aslan.
Directions to the hotel are downloaded by the terminal onto Mumu's hand computer. It displays a big arrow pointing in the direction we should go. We follow it. We pass through customs without difficulty and out onto the starport concourse, which seems more than anything like a shopping mall. It is long and narrow, but very tall, with lots of plants in a hanging-gardens type of arrangement. People, robots and aliens throng the place. We make our way through them to the hotel, and check in. We are directed to our suite of rooms, but are not given any keys. The doors let us in anyway.
Inside, the room is fairly plush, with a view out over the vast expanse of Selidorn. We can't make out the shape of the building we are in, but as he tries to do so, Ak notices a vast flying city drifting past in the distance. More gawking ensues.
We order some food, then go onto the internet, looking for ships we could purchase. There seem to be hundreds of second-hand starship brokerages. We search for the sort of ship we really want - an affordable battleship, for preference. There are many Scout/Courier-type ships on sale, including Seekers and small scoutship-derived cargo vessels, as well as old and run-down trading ships. In terms of price they range from new (too expensive for us) down to about 10MCr.
After a short while we do get two hits on our 'pocket battleship' search. Each one is a 100 tons displacement vessel, not too old, quite distinctive-looking and cramped inside with a triple turret, other weapons, short endurance, and an air-raft (which can mount non-man-portable weapons). They are both jump-3 and maneuver-4, and cost 25.5 MCr (as if whoever is selling each one knows of the other one). One, designated type HG (Hunter, Gunned) is on sale in the city of Clift, on Rhylanor. The other, designated type HZ (Hunter, Experimental) is on sale at the orbital city of Zetaddor.
We also look on the Rhylanor internet for information on anagathics research at the University of Rhylanor. From the internet, the University of Rhylanor has campuses across the Rhylanor system, at least one in every city on or around Rhylanor itself, plus on Rhylanor's three moons of Reassa, Iddan and Nenel, and in the Dizunni belt further out from the system's star.
However, it seems that the centre of anagathic research within the University is at the University of Rhylanor at Stillingfleet, where, it seems, there is also a large SuSAG facility. The (large) Stillingfleet campus seems to be mainly involved in medicine and the bio-sciences. We conclude that anonymity is called for!
We look at SuSAG's web site too, for reference purposes. It seems SuSAG have a major presence in the Rhylanor system, with facilities scattered about the system doing pretty much everything that SuSAG does anywhere - manufacturing, research, distribution, administration and so on. They have various links to the University of Rhylanor, and they seem to co-operate with the university in some areas of research.
We consider ways to get useful information out of SuSAG and the university here. Ozymandias uses the internet to check on jobs and studentships at the University. He finds that it is possible for off-worlders like us to obtain studentships in the University, for money. One pays to take an entrance exam. As the university of one of the five highest-technology worlds in the sector, it would appear that the University of Rhylanor can afford to be discriminating - students are queuing up around the block to enrol...
It costs 2000 Cr to take the entrance exam, and 1000 Cr per term if one is accepted. Mumu and Prettywell are bought past papers in their respective subjects (for a few credits each) and told to take them, to prepare for the entrance exams (if it comes to that). They moan a bit, but comply. When they have completed the papers it seems that Mumu has done rather averagely, but Prettywell has done very well.
We send emails to the two ship brokerages selling the two ships we are now interested in, to arrange times for us to view them.
Then we research becoming citizens of Rhylanor. It is possible to gain citizenship over the internet, but not easy - lots of people want to immigrate to Rhylanor, so vigorous checking is performed on all new applicants. And only citizens can change their names here. We decide we do not like the idea of vigorous checks being carried out on us, so do not pursue this any further.
However, we do find that we, as citizens of the Kingdom of Osoku on Inthe, can apply to the Osoku embassy here to change our names. So we decide that Mumu and Prettywell should change their names again. They 'don't like their stupid names and want to change them.' Just to muddy the waters a little further. We tell the Osoku Embassy of their new names. Mumu is now Szechuan Mississippi, while Prettywell is now Bingbong Dinnergong. This costs 100 Cr each.
While this is going on we are contacted by the two ship brokerages that own the ships we want to look at. We arrange with them to see the HG type ship in Clift at 8 PM tonight, and the HZ-type ship in Zetaddor at 10 AM tomorrow morning. With that done, we book tickets on flights, first from here to Clift, then from Clift up to Zetaddor.
Then we have to wait for our flights.
Bingbong does more anagathic research, in particular looking into what research the University of Rhylanor is doing. He does not find too many details; commercial confidentiality seems to definitely be an issue. However, there is a list of professors and their subjects, as well as anagathics and general university gossip newsgroups, through which he looks.
Szechuan is made to do more past papers until he starts to do better than he did with the first one.
Ak looks for parachuting courses on the internet. Parachuting is possible here, the thin atmosphere of the planet being balanced out by its low surface gravity. He finds a course taking place in three days time, and books himself onto it with a 50 Cr deposit.
Scarlett looks on the internet for psychiatric assistance for Szechuan. There are no on-line psychiatric tools, but there are on-line human psychiatrists. She avoids these. She does find an 'anonymous headshrinkers' newsgroup (sci.medical.psychiatry.anonymous.headshrinkers) and looks for help for Szechuan there. She gets lots of useless replies. More drugs are procured for Szechuan instead...
Some of us leave the hotel and head for the campus of the University of Rhylanor at Selidorn. We find that it is a distinct area (its own very large building) but not separate or isolated from the rest of the city; parts of its halls are thoroughfares from the parts of the city adjoining it. There are student shops, cafes and bars (some with drugs as well as alcohol) as well as laboratories, lecture theatres, halls of residence and so on. Having surveyed the area, we return to the hotel.
Ak looks for details of high-tech weapons on the internet. The best that seems available are assassination guns which fire target-seeking bullets, with the target designated by the firer, or by an image of the target. These are rare and expensive.
Eventually, it is time to leave for Clift. We leave the hotel and take the tube to the top of a nearby mega-building, where the airport is. Out on the top of the building is a sleek, streamlined, fast-looking grav vehicle, a 'Tachel'-type grav transport. There are no customs, and we board without any problems. And at the appointed time, the aircraft lifts smoothly off and speeds away from the city.
We fly onto the night side of Rhylanor, over terrain consisting mainly of ice and rocks, dotted here and there with active volcanoes. After about twenty minutes a group of three mega-buildings become visible ahead - the city of Clift. The aircraft lands smoothly, and we disembark. There are no customs checks.
The ship we are here to look at is owned by the Clift Brokerage, who are based in the same spaceport we just landed at. We are a bit early, so we wait in a coffee shop until the appointed time, then head for the brokerage and announce ourselves. The brokerage is a huge warehouse-like structure with ships supported on cradles throughout it.
A smartly-dressed salesman bustles up as we arrive. He shows us to the ship we are here to see. The HG-class ship is named the 'Black Kiss'. It is a sleek, matt black vessel bristling with weapons. In addition to the normal starship-type turret mounting a laser, a missile launcher and a sandcaster, we can see two large plasma guns, four point defence lasers and four medium-calibre projectile guns. Apparently the ship carries thirty missiles as standard.
While Ozymandias uses a small grav platform to examine the outside of the 'Black Kiss' the rest of us examine the inside. There are many iris values rather than normal doors, four staterooms, a common area, and a small amount of cargo space.
The outside of the ship looks fine, and once Ozymandias is done, he examines the ship's service records and other details. It seems that it is one of three of the class built by a Rhylanor shipyard twelve years ago. However, they proved too small for the military and with too little cargo space for commercial use, so no more of the class were built. The other two of the class were destroyed in combat. We are a little dubious of acquiring a unique ship, but even so...
We take the 'Black Kiss' on a test flight up to orbit and back to Clift, and find that it performs well. We bargain with the salesman, and eventually work him down to a cost of 25.5 MCr for the ship (i.e. the list price), but they will throw in a full load of thirty missiles, and the ship's next maintenance for free, plus full after-sales warranty.
This does not sound bad, so we tell the salesman we'll be in touch but we do have another ship to look at.
We leave the Clift Brokerage and go back to the spaceport, where we check in for our flight to Zetaddor, then head for the bar. We sample various high-tech 'no-hangover' and 'sober-up' drinks. Then it is time to board our flight, on another of the sleek 'Tachel'-type transports.
Again, there is a smooth takeoff and Clift recedes rapidly below us as the aircraft heads up to orbit. After twenty minutes or so, we approach a collection of linked spheres floating in space like a giant molecular model. From the space vehicles visible about it, the place must be a couple of kilometres across. This is the orbital city of Zetaddor.
Our aircraft docks, and we enter the city. Again, there are no customs checks. We head for the hotel we booked, and once we have checked in, enjoy the TV, Jacuzzi, food, and alcohol on offer. Ozymandias tries a 'sober-up' drink, while everyone else sticks to more traditional beverages.
The next morning, we head for our appointment at Balick and Sons Brokerage in Zetaddor. When we enter the place we are greeted by a salesman who introduces himself as Leenoss Balick. He leads us through the brokerage, which seems to keep its various ships in separate glass-walled hangars, to one containing a ship he names as the 'Sweet Revenge'.
Like the 'Black Kiss' it is a sleek and well-armed ship in gloss black with a flame pattern emblazoned on the nose. In addition to a triple turret mounting a laser, a missile launcher and a sandcaster, we can see it mounts a large fusion gun, a large laser, a large projectile gun and eight small laser guns. Apparently it carries 25 missiles, and 25 rounds for the projectile gun. Again, Ozymandias examines the outside (on a 'cherry-picker' platform on the end of a long robot arm) while the rest of us look inside.
It is much the same as the 'Black Kiss' in terms of layout and contents. From the ship's records it is the only one of its type, and was built about eight years ago; the design was not widely adopted for much the same reasons as in the case of the 'Black Kiss'. We are dubious about the hull's colour scheme, so Leenoss demonstrates the ship's chameleon hull to us. Nice.
We take the 'Sweet Revenge' for a test flight (the whole hanger bay in which it sits turns out to be an airlock, with the floor turning into a set of space-doors). The ship performs well. As we fly, Ak discovers a whole suite of sensors that we have not seen before - neural activity sensors. The ship also seems equipped with extensive data recording facilities.
We dock with Zetaddor and discuss things with Leenoss, telling him about the deal we were offered by the Clift Brokerage. He offers a similar deal, twenty five missiles, 25 high explosive shells for the ships cannon, warranty, and our next maintenance paid for. They clearly want to get rid of this ship! When we press him, he drops the price to 25.25 MCr (from 25.5 MCr) and throws in a FGMP-14 (a non-grav-assisted one) for the ship's air-raft. Sold!
Papers are signed and sealed, 25.25 MCr changes hands and we take possession of the 'Black Kiss', now renamed the 'Fantasy' (belonging to our new company of Fantasy Escort Services). We ring the Clift Brokerage and tell them we won't be wanting the 'Black Kiss'. They thank us for telling them.
And, in the 'Fantasy', we fly down from Zetaddor and back to Selidorn, landing on the roof of the mega-building our hotel is in. We arrange to have our locally illegal equipment (currently in bonded storage) delivered onto the ship, and then return to the hotel...