A Calypso Colonist

Macl · 10-25-2007, 01:51

I saw a calendar today.

I looked at it for a good minute before it dawned on me what it was. It’s been that long and that rare for me to see one and to stop and look at it. As a time keeping device they are a wonderful achievement and I haven’t had much use for them. A far cry from the way it was before I immigrated. I did my best to remember the exact date and decided eventually to settle on generalizing.

I’ve been on Calypso for about eleven months.

I can honestly say I don’t miss Earth Space at all.

I was born on a solar-orbital habitat and spent my first twenty-six years there. SoH457 was not a rich or large habitat, it was crowded and it was highly regimented. It wasn’t one the poorest habitats where a soul could get rendered down for resources if oxygen taxes could not be paid but that regimentation I mentioned was a needed survival tool. Crime was very low but it did happen and there was the occasional disappearance.

Disappearances that were usually attributed to organ-legers--everyone was sure that there was a black market for body parts. SoH457 did not qualify for general resurrection technology which meant that maybe three percent of the population could afford it. The rest of us had to make do with what ever med-tech the insurance we could afford would cover.

Personally, I had my doubts about organ-legers being the culprit in the majority of the disappearances. Given how few of the missing were good candidates for “involuntary donations”. We were a hard partying lot when not on the work or maintenance schedule and that means the prime target organs are not in the best of shape. I think they just pissed someone off and “fell” into a bio-reclamation chute.

So, twenty-six and no hope of anything better outside the lottery that everyone played. It had been the same for my folks and for their folks before them. A constant tight kept schedule of grind, a few hours of drinking and drugs and then sleep it off to repeat on the next cycle.

Then I hit the lottery.

Macl · 10-25-2007, 13:14

I hit the Lottery!

I spent about five minutes standing in daze as I repeatedly re-read the numbers sure a mistake had been made. Then I used another five minutes jumping about whooping and hollering. The only reason the jumping up and down didn’t last longer was because the klaxon call of a priority message on my com-center began sending its painfully loud call through my living cube.

I opened the holo-screen to see a notification that my credit reserve had just been approved to grow to a size of six digits.

I didn’t have time to start my joyful noise making and capering again.

My hatch buzzer had begun sounding. I opened the door to find my shift supervisor, Stan Merchant, standing there with a long solemn face. Behind him was his supervisor--arms crossed and looking stern. Stan spoke quickly.

“I regret to inform you that you have been terminated from your current duties.” His supervisor, Al Barthel, gave one curt nod as Stan continued in contrite tone. “Mac, I’m sorry man. I tried but there’s nothing I can do!” I felt my jaw drop as Al put a supportive hand on Stan’s shoulder. Stan needed support? I was the one who just got fired! I knew both of these guys--we hit our area bars together on a regular basis! Al spoke up then.

“Arlander, let me buy you a drink or three. We can talk about what you do now.” Arlander? This was bad, usually he called me Mac like everyone else. The one time he had used my given name was years ago when I had let a plasma torch get out of control in zero-g. For seconds my mind was blank--I could not for the life of me think of what I had done. Sure: I had just gotten a huge sum of money but it sure as hell wasn’t enough to retire on and getting terminated meant that only lesser paying jobs would be available.

A lot lesser paying! It would be food-services or sanitation blockage removal or something equally awful. I stood there shifting my gaze back and forth between the two of them before Stan gently grabbed my arm and pulled me out into the corridor.

I have to admit that I about jumped out of my skin as my ears were assaulted and I found myself being lifted from the deck.

I figure that I was borne several yards down the corridor before I realized the deafening sound was cheering, that I was up on shoulders and on the way to the biggest lounge/bar in the sub-sector. So figure that every one had heard about my winning the lottery inside of fifteen minutes.

It was a damn good party!

Of course the next day started off miserable. But that only lasted until I bought the anti-toxin shot to take care of the hang-over and then remembered that my termination had been a well played joke by everyone. The bar-bill wasn’t bad either given that I had bought all the drinks--a small nick in the cred pile.

I did start thinking though: What did I want to do with an amount of money that was not quite large enough to significantly change life here?

It did occur to me then that I did want a profound change to my life.

What did I want? Everything that the same old thing of life in SoH457 was not.

Open spaces without crowds of people.

Hell! Open spaces period!

No ceilings, no walls, something other than deck-plates beneath my feet and solitude when I felt like it. A change of pace when ever I felt like it. No more regimentation--no more endless cycles of the same old work, maintenance, inebriation and then sleep routines. Freedom to try my hand at anything with out being penalized.

Adventure, I believe, is what I wanted.

Macl · 10-26-2007, 06:09

Shift report time was still an hour off so I sat down and thought things over.

I already had a pretty good idea as to where I would go--Calypso stories were all over the entertainment and news nets. But what would I do when if I went? I had to smile then.

I knew for a fact what I’d be doing if I stayed.

With that last doubt banished--I pulled up the trade terminal function on my com-center and keyed in “Travel; Immigration” and bought my ticket. That cost a good three quarters of my winnings right there as I selected “soonest” and “direct” under departure time and travel routing categories.

In ninety minutes I would be leaving SoH457.

I put in a call to the job and tendered my resignation, made a series of farewell messages for various friends and then gave those closest to me personal com’s to say good-bye. I was a bit surprised when one friend tried to talk me out of going--I think now that it was a only a token argument given how fast she changed her tune to a more encouraging note. This took me to within twenty minutes of my departure time.

My parents had looked at each other and then said go. After that last call I looked around to see if there was anything I wanted to take with me.

It was with only the cloths I had on that I made my way to the habitat’s transportation center.

Macl · 10-27-2007, 14:57

The trip its self was uneventful. I spent the time doing such studying as I could to get a better idea of what to expect when I made planet-fall. I learned that Calypso was a dynamic and prosperous planet peopled with content and hard-working colonists. It was a land of golden opportunity and challenges that were just difficult enough to give life zest.

That’s what all the ship-board brochures said anyhow. Not much was said about any of the dangers I had seen on the news and entertainment nets back in the habitat.

It was also during the journey that the nano-tech that would give me access to the Clypso resurrection net-work was imbedded in my body. It was the only med-tech insurance I would have on the planet and it was at no cost to me. It would also give me some limited access to the few com-channels Calypso had. Anything else that might be needed would be my responsibility when I landed.

Eron² · 10-27-2007, 23:14

i dont want to break up your story as i hope there is more but i had to say great job ... rarely do i read a full story here but that one really kept me reading in its simple but compelling way. tell us more give us the landing ... the fist day and such

Macl · 10-28-2007, 13:37

Thank you Eron2.

I wanted to try to convert my in-game experience into a story form. We'll see how far I can take it.

Macl · 10-28-2007, 13:44

As someone who had been born and raised in a completely artificial environment I was less ready to face a natural world than I had thought. Though I had seen “nature” in plenty on the entertainment net I can now tell you it is not the same.

By a long stretch.

Real gravity is subtly different and it did not help that was not exactly earth normal. The air smelled funny. Although I had been out side of SoH457 and had seen the vast reaches of space it wasn’t the same as standing under a real sky. On a space-walk you have the structure you are tethered to in one direction and the universe every where else. Always I had been inside a well armored vacuum-welder’s suit which is more like a tiny vehicle than the thin jumpsuit I had made planet-fall in. Any craft in the area moved slow and you often knew how big they were so their relative size due to distance was subconsciously accepted. I found myself having trouble judging distance and often surprised when a person gave an object scale. In the habitat if the air moved like it did on a planet maintenance and repair crews would have scrambled with diagnostic and repair routines. Also in a habitat you simply did not have such distance that atmosphere caused objects dim with distance.

After disembarking I began to explore Port Atlantis to learn what the port offered and to get used to being on a planet.

Macl · 10-31-2007, 02:32

As I explored Port Atlantis I got my ground legs.

I found a lot of newcomers like myself--those awful orange jumpsuits were everywhere--and I heard the clamor that was made as endless questions were asked. Questions I had myself.

For the most part I kept my silence and learned the basics that a new arrival needed to know by just listening--sometimes to exasperated responses.

I must give credit where it is due: A lot of patience was displayed by the old hands--a question I would have asked was frequently answered several times. It made me wonder if there was really that much distraction, were these people that overwhelmed or were they just not paying attention? Or all the above?

I settled on just thinking it was varying combinations of all the above. I was getting used to my arrival in my way and who was I to say that others could not do it in their own?

Just following the noise I found a teleportation terminal and an open market full of people yelling about what they wanted to sell or buy. The yelling was a bit overwhelming: We had had free markets on the habitat but they were not as loud. Perhaps it was the open air that made the difference.

I found a couple of electronic sales locations and was surprised at how different the interaction terminals were from those back in the habitat. Rather than one kiosk with an overall menu everything was split-up into separate terminals. The kiosks themselves seemed quite bulky but with a little reflection that made sense. On a colony you’d want something very robust and if it was not economically feasible to put enough proper multi-function terminals around you would split things up to minimize bottle-necks.

I quickly found the mall and my thoughts turned to equipping myself.