Ring Transport - Origins Pt. 02

We had to regard this as a basic safety feature in a spaceship, it wouldn't do to have large open spaces where a single loss of atmo or contamination with smoke would cause problems for a large volume of the ship.

The partitions were almost perfectly clear, but some reflective glare revealed where they were. Various sculptures stood around, including some with writing on them. The lighting was quite dim, but we could see what was going on well enough.

One sculpture stood directly in front of the waterfall, and it was the clearest depiction of what a Hob looked like that I'd seen so far. The cameras the away team had took lots of pictures, which of course were relayed to Earth as soon as they were taken.

I translated the writing under the statue as best I could.

"That says, basically, 'Nurture All Life'. More or less. The 'nurture' is kind of close to meaning, 'Grow' or 'Nestle' or 'Cuddle', or something like that. It implies providing nutrients or help, but also attention and care. The word for 'Life' has broad meaning, I get images of plants and animals both with it."

There were colors to the statue, clothing and all, but the light level was so low it was difficult to discern what the colors were.

The team heading for the bridge / control room was approaching it, so we switched view to them. The approach led up curved shopping-mall multi-level space, shrouded in a dusk-like quiet stillness, lights barely glowing and much of the area lost in shadows.

The multi-level space seemed to be several stories tall, though the team came in on the second level up and could see several more above them, as best they could guess a 5-level-tall area. On either side, just like a shopping mall, alcoves about 30 meters deep lined the walk.

Rounding a corner, the walkway they were on expanded out and sloped upwards before opening to a large 5-terrace-tall atrium space.

As an atrium, it was majestic.

The central end-wall went straight up many levels, but each of the different 'shopping' levels had arms that hugged the walls and joined wide verandas. The end-wall itself was obviously the focal point. It was wide and could hold a large number of people, much like an event stage that everyone on every level above could see.

The veranda's 'point' was obviously made so someone could address a crowd.

The group went up the ramp, and the video revealed that the floor was changing from being an off-light-gray high traction surface to being smoother and all-white. At intervals, red lines cut across the path.

Leading the group, G22 (a very early joiner) passed the first line, and it immediately lit up very brightly. Obviously, the red wasn't just paint. A deep tone sounded though the space, echoing a little.

The tone sounded again as the rest of the group passed the line, again filling the space with echoing 'bong' sounds somewhere near middle-C.

After the second line, it sounded again, and the third, until they were at the entrance to the veranda, below-eye-height solid-metal fences forcing them towards an entrance point blocked by an ornate barred gate. It all seemed to me to be a defilade, a way to easily defend the space and fall back gradually. In retrospect, putting this kind of security in made perfect sense to defend the bridge of the ship.

As the team approached, lights in the gate's metal blinked brightly, irritatingly, and a harsh two-note discordant alarm sounded, louder as they got closer.

Writing on the floor, and on the gate, appeared, glowing brightly and unmistakable. Hob language was one of the things I knew extremely well, and this message was clear: "Captain Only / Else Death"

G22 said into the mike, "What does it say? Seems like a warning -- this klaxon is seriously irritating!"

I said loudly, "Back off! That sign says, 'Captain Only, Else Death' So, if you go farther, you'll be killed. Back off to a place where the klaxon isn't sounding, and hold camp there. Sounds like I have to come over."

Commander Elk, and the rest of the bridge crew, looked at me worriedly. I made calming motions, "Relax. Commander, what are my shuttle options?"

Elk looked at her clipboard and said, "SB3 is on hot standby near us. I'll have her dock."

I nodded, "Crew, Attention please. Commander Elk has the con and is my designated successor. I'm going over to the Maple."

Before I could leave, Elk came over and shook my hand. She didn't say anything, but I knew she was concerned for me.

Dani met me in the hallway. "Where you go, I go. Julie and Pri are on away teams. You wanted us to blend into the rest of the crew, mostly, so they went, but we agreed I'd stick with you."

"Happy for the company."

Getting to the Maple didn't take long, but we took a while to get to the bridge area from where we docked.

Walking up to join G22, we hugged, and I knew that the cameras were recording this so I kept things formal and didn't kiss her, too.

"So, it wants you, Captain. Glad to not have to walk into that blaring noise."

"You may yet, G22." I used her G-number freely and with some affection. Ann was trying to get the crew sorted into ranks like in the navy, seaman, bosun, lieutenant, all those ranks. But, I wasn't there yet, and habits die hard.

I shed my backpack / go-bag, which usually had a book, a change of clothes, binoculars, and the like, since I didn't know what I'd be facing. I approached the gate, feeling the cameras on my back as I walked. They had to stop at the barrier, but could see over and through it to follow my progress across the platform.

Walking through the gate (which opened automatically for me and closed behind me), I kept going towards the circle in the center of the balcony area.

Getting there, I saw the floor was painted with a large red circle. There was an outer ring of circles that started blinking inwards, showing I obviously needed to go there. Walking up to the line, the circle itself blinked, and words in Hob appeared in the center of the circle.

The words translated to, "REMOVE ALL CLOTHING. ENTER RED CIRCLE."

There was no mistaking the meaning of these words -- I'd read enough Hob by now to get the meaning as imperative form, conditional to compliance.

I called back to the waiting group, "There's writing in the red circle. You might want to send a video camera up a level to look down on this." I didn't mention what the writing said immediately, I was trying to confront the fact that I was going to have to be naked.

"What does it say?"

"Uh...." I gulped a little and called back loudly, "It says, 'Remove all clothing, enter red circle'.

No one reacted. I guessed they were happy they weren't in the group, either.

"I guess that's what I do." I stepped back, bent down, and untied my shoes. Slipping those off and my socks, and pants, folding each on top of my shoes, I proceeded with taking off all my clothes and folding them onto the pile. The cameras were focused on me, those video feeds were going to the ship, the ship was broadcasting everywhere, and probably everyone on the planet was watching me.

The moment of truth. I was glad I had trimmed my pubic hair. I sort-of had to, since with the sperm-collection procedures required getting as much as possible, I didn't want to risk getting any in my pubic hair that wouldn't easily be collected. That was different, though, that was a known group of people in an enclosed environment.

I pulled my underwear down, keeping my legs somewhat together, half-folded them and put them (folded in half, in a nod to 'tidy) atop the pile. I knew I was being filmed from both sides, so hiding wasn't possible. I was aware of my nakedness, but it occurred to me that it was somewhat chilly aboard ship, usually about 13 degrees C (58 F), and my privates might not be 'full sized' at that temperature.

Not much to be helped, I thought, though, and walked forward past the blinking red lines into the center of the circle.

As I stepped on it, the lights in the room came up. No longer shrouded in darkness, the true grandeur of the space was suddenly revealed. Looking up, a domed ceiling revealed a gold and silver-encrusted intricate design spiraling out from the center and continuing on the walls and down the ceiling of long, curved space we'd come in through.

Distracted slightly, I didn't realize the red circle had turned into a red pedestal, which turned beneath me to rotate around so I was facing the rotunda, and then continued back to face the wall. The wall itself had a 10-meter-tall sideways clamshell which I was expecting would open.

Instead, the outer red ring rose, and it became obvious it wasn't a ring at all but a half-sphere that was rotating closed over me. My pedestal was sinking, going lower than the floor, and I caught sight of the girls trying to film me.

Inside, lights shone from the inside of the sphere, though the whole surface was a vivid dark red, almost a crimson hue. I descended 5 meters or so below the surface, sealed off from above, then rotated until the outer shell aligned with an opening in the wall.

It appeared the point was to ensure there was no way for anyone to follow me, nor for me to trail a cord or anything behind me, either. It sealed off the entrance in a ceremonial and kinda grandiose way, I was thinking - but, hey, sure, why not. If you can have something grandiose, might as well put it there.

Walking into the well-lit tube, the door shut behind me and another passage opened at the end.

Out of that passage, I was suddenly in an open, spacious, high-ceilinged hallway stretching away from me. I had to appreciate how much these Hob liked gold filigree and relief work. The ceiling was festooned with ornate designs, deep cobalt-blue, crimson-red, vivid purples all framed in sections of gold metalwork swirling around in intricate bas-relief knotwork.

The hallway itself had several side rooms, it looked like, and I started walking down it to see where it went. I had to explore a little bit, not knowing where I was supposed to go.

One of the side rooms was a giant living-room / bedroom combination, including several bunkbeds on the walls. Perhaps for party-crashers if someone needed sleeping space. There were tons of closets, closets, and more closets.

Down the hallway further, I found several of the doors led to other bedrooms with less ornate beds, separated by several house-sized storage rooms that went down a level, full of (empty) adjustable shelving like we'd seen in the engineering spaces. Another hallway had a grand ballroom or banquet hall on one side, and basketball-court open high-ceiling place adjoining another workout room with a bunch of odd-looking equipment in it, obviously designed for Hob physiology.

Beyond the banquet hall were kitchens and prep areas, even refrigerator-sized boxes and other equipment obviously meant for food mixing and prep. I made my way out of there, not wanting to spend too much time, especially given that I was naked and getting kind of cold in the chilly air.

Back in the main hallway, I went to the end area and up to a solid-looking door with very strong-looking latches. Opening it, I went in to find the lights turning on steady and bright. A chair, fitting human design, sat behind a desk, also of human looking design like someone would find in an office building. On one arm of the chair was an interface sphere, but the facing wall was framed like a viewscreen.

"Hello, Kevin."

Egads! I almost jumped out of my skin.

"Uh... Hello?"

"Did you enjoy your exploration of the Captain's quarters?"

The voice was feminine, and slightly British... or Australian. "Yes? Who am I talking to?"

"My name is Gwag. I am the ship's computer." She paused, and said, "Why don't you sit down. I've made a chair that fits your body, though your clothes won't be ready for a couple of minutes."

I went over and sat in a convention-hall-type steel and vinyl chair, the cold surface not especially comfortable against both my bare skin and privates. In my old body, I would have been quickly freezing my ass off, but a better body and a month on the Minnow bred more tolerance to the constant cool temps.

"Good, you're settled. I know you have questions, we'll get to those. First things first; I've created a 'face' to give you something to look at as we talk. I don't have a physical body, I'm inventing one for your benefit."

On the screen in front of me a face appeared of a serious, middle-aged woman with short tied-back black hair and green eyes. Her skin tone was almost olive or Mediterranean, contrasting against a starched white oxford dress shirt and solid blue silk bow/tie. She was only visible from the shoulders up. On either side of her collar was a gold maple leaf emblem.

Though she'd just said she was invented, it was a very, very lifelike face, complete with pores, whisps of hair, and eyebrow hairs that weren't quite coiffed.

She regarded me with narrowed eyes, "You're noticing the emblem. Yes, I took that from the name you've given the ship. This is a good name. I've had the mechs start putting the emblem at various points around the ship. You have questions?"

I had a million, but started with, "Why am I naked?"

"It was necessary for a variety of reasons. First, there are too many cultural norms on Earth that allow for women to be naked but not men, which disadvantages women, and further reduces the ability of your species to advance. Second, personally to you, there has been a cult of personality building up about you and it was necessary to show you as a 'cog in a machine' to reduce that buildup. There are other reasons, less important ones, we can go into later."

I gulped out an, "Oh." Her demeanor was very human-seeming. "Uh, I..."

She interrupted, "Questions later. We have limited time here before the people outside start worrying needlessly. Though I am the ship's computer and have the right to do whatever I want, some orders and directions should, ethically and therefore legally speaking, come from you. There is a startup sequence that occurs with each ship. With your entrance, I have powered up the full lighting over any part of the ship where there are 'away teams', as you put it. I need your explicit authorization to admit personnel to the ship's bridge, but we should agree on their clearance levels first."

"Clearance?"

"Two kinds, passenger and crew. Passenger access levels 0 to 16 allow for fine-grained restrictions based on mental age, mostly so the young can't wander too far, or get into dangerous situations. We can talk about that later. For crew, various levels and clearances, from basic info access to shuttle pilots to full helm control and more. You'll also need to set up your power structure and designate succession."

"...In case I'm....?"

"Correct. The quarters here are set up for 3 sets of independent leaders, your immediate successors for following ships, or whatever arrangement you want to make. We can talk more about that later."

I nodded; this had some logic to it. There were entire countries in the world with a population that'd be less than this ship when loaded.

She continued, "First, though, you need to designate bridge crew. Please state the instruction directly and clearly indicate the specific persons you are talking about."

Her implication was clear, so I answered clearly, "I designate all persons currently waiting outside the bridge entrance as being bridge crew, with all the rights and responsibilities that come with that."

"Noted. Access Granted. Doors will remain closed, however, until you open them from the inside. I would recommend a formal announcement for the audience on Earth. Before you do that, you'll need to be dressed as Captain. Clothes are now behind you in the large delivery cabinet next to the mirror."

I stood and turned around, walking over and getting the clothes.

As I dressed, she narrated, "Your captain's uniform is in blue, in keeping with your color scheme on the Minnow. I made it to your size. If you want to change the coloring or insignia, that's up to you. I indicate rank with a striped design on the shoulder; there are 64 levels in this system so you can designate 4 branches of 16 levels each. It's a starting point since there are many choices to make."

The boots were a bit large on me, even over the thick ankle-high socks. After pulling them on, they changed size slightly and I found they had automatically adjusted to my foot, which struck me as pretty damned cool.

She continued, "Though the uniform looks like your clothes -- each item - underwear, shirt, pants, socks, shoes, and light jacket -- is part of a suit that doubles as a fully-functional vacuum-qualified pressure suit. Rapid pressure loss activates the safety features. Of course, the underwear has processing systems that fully process all waste products into inert molecules that are recycled through the rest of the suit. Urine and feces are handled safely so the suit can be worn constantly, even over days or weeks."

The visceral experience I was having with the soft, comfortable textures of the clothing made for me being silent and appreciating it all. The pants and boots were black, the shirt a white medium-neck long-sleeve white tee-shirt (also thicker than normal), and the jacket was a bright coppery-yellow with large blue accents, soft like leather, with a bunch of inside pockets of various sizes. The left-front outside breast had a small maple leaf logo, and the shoulders had 4 stripes of silver outlined in deep blue.

Dressed, I stood and looked at myself in the mirror.

Her voice got a bit mother-ish, "I should remind you that there are about 4 billion people watching on TV right now waiting for you to open the doors for the bridge crew. I recommend you make an announcement, saying you'll be open for applications to be a passenger or crew, sometime soon."

I nodded at myself and said, "How do I open the doors, now?"

"Up the steep spiral ramp to your right. Once on the bridge, it's the same type of door as the Minnow."

"Gotcha."

As I left, she said, "Do not reveal that I am a thinking life form. Only state that you checked on the computer and got the information that way."

Calling back, "Okay..." I walked up. I had no intention of telling anyone about the computer until I had to. Those in power would freak out. I'm not sure I'd blame them.

I climbed the ramp, delighting in the newness of it all but at the same time, a bit nervous about announcing crew and passenger applications.

Sure enough, the large bridge space was brightly lit, with a subtle brocade design in the ceiling, darkened viewscreens as wall-space, and a large, central viewscreen as the focus of the front. It reminded me a bit of NASA mission control, each row of stations slightly stair-stepped to ensure people had a good view, but with a central pedestal containing a large chair.

Knowing I'd have ample time to study the bridge in detail, I went to the rotating-can entranceway and started it moving, but when I came out the other side, I was still on the inside of the clamshell. Two 4-meter-tall, 4-meter wide doors, concave to me, were barred closed like the castles of old, held there by central T-brace that latched into slots on each door. Raising one, then the other side of the T-brace, I unlatched it, folding the brace parts back easily despite their obvious mass, showing the hinge counterbalancing as amazingly well-designed.

There was no motor to open them, at least obviously, so I pushed on them both. The inertia took a moment to kick in; these doors were each half a meter thick of solid metal, it felt like. As they opened, light from the atrium spilled in and I found myself smiling into some cameras and applause from the crew assembled there.

Holding up my hands, I addressed the central camera as well as the crew, motioning palm-downwards to stop the applause. They stopped, but everyone was smiling. "Welcome. The bridge of the Starship Maple is now open. Crew, I grant you access and permission to use bridge controls. We'll proceed like we planned, with assessments and maintenance items."