The ship was slowing down. The blasts shook Arthur, dampened by the gel. The ship would be on Venus orbit soon. The ship was not very large, only thirty meters long and nine thick. Painted bright green outside, and silvery inside. Way slower than the solar cruisers. But it didn't have a set timetable. It was a rental ship, available at any moment. It would return itself to the shopkeeper via autopilot, if it was stolen. Totally justifiable paranoia. Arthur took a look at his wrist. The tattoo showed that it was 20.31 SIPT, cytherean morning at Cindir. The cytherean day was as long as the year, and you couldn't see the sun through the atmosphere there, so time of the day didn't really matter. He thought for it to vanish, and it did. His bag floated next to him. The gel was not wet, but the pressure was similar to that of water. He swam to a screen, and watched as the planet came closer, while the blasts still shook the ship as it slowed down to orbital speed.
The ship reached the dock, and locked to it. Arthur swam towards the gate, and got out of the gel. He took off his helmet, squeezed it, and put it to his pocket. He grabbed to the rails, and pushed himself forward. At the end of the steril white hallway, he grabbed the rails again, to stop. Then he flung himself out of the hallway, and put his feet on the station's rotating inner wall. It was sticky, as in every station, to help in the transition. He stumbled when the floor, previously a wall, moved under him at 40 km/h.
After his inertia catched, he felt the familiar 1 g of acceleration towards the floor. Actually, it was slightly less. Venus cloud gravity. 8,73 m/s^2. He stepped off the sticky part, and looked upwards. The station was mostly covered in plants and bright white curved hexagonal floor panels. In the middle there was the sunpipe. Only a small strip of the inner surface was designated as public terminal. He looked forward, and saw the security check. The timetables showed the next shuttle was arriving in an hour. He had time.
He walked through the security check, which only took a few seconds while a swarm recorded everything he had with the precision of a microscope. It confirmed his identity, and was ready to paralyze him if anything dangerous was to be found. It noted only one thing to he operator. She looked at it, slightly suprised, and waved him to pass through. He walked through, and found himself in the lobby. It was mostly empty, because of the next solar cruiser wasn't arriving for six hours. He decided to take a cup while waiting, and walked to the nice little café.
Most of the round orange tables were completely empty. He walked to one of them, and sat down. He chose an espresso. After a few moments, a cup on a saucer was dispensed from the center of the table. He drank, and felt the hot liquid starting up his body after the week of sleeping in the steady pressure of the gel. He swiped from his left wrist to the table and read the news. Nothing new. Slight instability in Neptune diamond ring. Economy falling, as always. Bombings at Reiden, Mars. He did a gesture, and the interface vanished. He looked forward, past the elevator terminal, and saw the other part of the station, rotating in the opposite direction. It had 1 g of centripetal force, and lived by the earth-synchronized EaCT, not the arbitrary SIPT. The difference was a few milliseconds, and he saw the sunpipe slowly becoming dimmer, and the window between the interplanetary zone and terran zone darkening.
He sat there, still being a little tired after three cups of coffee. The clock was nearly 9 pm, and he had not slept the night before, so it was understandable. He pulled a headphone from his pocket, put it to his ear, and started listening a randomised playlist of popular songs. He ordered a glass of cold water. Barely nothing happened for a while. As the minutes crawled by, Arthur listening to music, drinking more cups of coffee, suddenly the shuttle came. Arthur finished his last cup, rose up, and started walking towards the center of the station. At the edge, he waited for him to turn closer to the entrance. Then he stepped off to the small ring, which moved at 40 km/h relative to him, experiencing a similar feeling to when he stepped on to the station. After the momentum was gone, however, instead of gravity, there was weightlessness. He floated to the entrance, and went in to the shuttle. After it was unloaded and reloaded, it left. He could feel gravity returning, when the shuttle was de-orbiting.
The windows first showed space in all its glory. Then, as the shuttle descended into the atmosphere, they showed the thick red clouds. The trip took nearly an hour. He couldn't see anything through the clouds. After a while, the bright lights of Cindir appeared. The shuttle landed on a runway, and drove in to the airlock. The outer wall closed, and all the dense air was pumped out. Then normal air was pumped in, and the shuttle door opened. He walked out with the few people that had been on the station with him, and looked at the beautiful city of Cindir. The buildings looked like straight from a terran citycenter, towering up to the ceiling, that protected the city from the acidic rain. He walked along the silent streets, thinking about the meeting he was going to, and the importance of what he had in his bag.
The meeting was set to 6.00 next morning, so he should find some place to sleep.. The city's sunlight was shut down. He searched for a hotel room, that was not just sleeping pod. He got a few results, chose, booked in and started walking. He followed the line under his feet, not really concentrating, and even more tired than previously. After the line passed directly through a door, he opened it, and went in. He was positively suprised. The hotel was an exceptionally traditional one, with red carpet with golden ornaments, and white concrete walls. Clearly going for the 2010s. It seemed like a place designed for richer tourists to sleep at and eat a breakfast while on a vacation. It had looked quite small from the outside, but it expanded below the first ground level in the rather three-dimensional city. He touched the reception desk, which showed his room number, and he noticed a glowing line on the floor. It was LEDs below the carpet, which clearly showed the way. They were pure white. He followed the lights to his room, and pressed his hand on it. He heared a rather loud clack, but the door didn't open.
He noticed a handle on the door. He smiled a bit. They had put a handle on the door. He pushed it down, and pushed the door inwards. He had encountered them previously. It still seemed a little unnatural compared to the normal doors opening with a tiny push and closing with an another one, with the top and bottom part both turning ninety degrees. He walked in to the room. It had a bed and a closed area acting as a bathroom. Everything was clean, and he was quite tired, as clock had reached 11 pm. He dropped the bag in the closet, and went to the bathroom through another door with a handle. He used the toilet, took a shower, and went to bed. He set the alarm at 5.30, because the place for meeting was a few hundred meters away. He would have time. He fell asleep
End of part one.
Post
Fri Apr 25, 2014 10:53 am
#1
Perihelion
In space, no one will hear you scream. #262626
I've never played a space sim. Ever.
Vos estis tan limes.
I've never played a space sim. Ever.
Vos estis tan limes.