Starcorp 1: Escape from Sol

“Hi,” Daphne loudly greeted with a large smile.

“Hi,” Leann returned with equal volume and enthusiasm.

The two girls closed the eight steps between them with outstretched arms and grins on their faces. A second later, they clasped hands and escalated their grins into giggles as they examined each other’s attire.

“I like what you’re wearing,” Daphne reported with a broad smile.

“Thanks,” Leann responded excitedly. “Your suit is so cute on you,” she reciprocated an instant behind.

They examined each other for two seconds more and then turned their attentions to all that was going on around them.

“Wow! This looks great,” Daphne acknowledged in a soft voice. “I wasn’t expecting all of this.”

This close proximity to each other made it easier for them to hear over the music that filled the air around them.

“I know,” Leann exclaimed back. “Isn’t it great?”

“Yeah,” Daphne concurred as she looked about her with an elated expression.

After a brief hesitation, Daphne looked back upon the face of Leann with an expression of excitement and put to her a question that had just popped into her mind.

“How long have you been here?”

“I just got here a few minutes ago,” Leann responded without hesitation.

Both girls were of the same thinking with regards to this event. An explanation for the question and the answer to it was not needed between them. They both were eager to know who had come and who had not.

“I didn’t think that there would be this many people here,” Daphne exclaimed with wonder in her voice. “Most of the people here look like adults.”

“So are we,” Leann exclaimed sharply and with a mocking scowl. “Get used to it, Babe, we’re not little girls anymore.”

Both Daphne and Leann openly laughed at this. When they exhausted their mirth, a few seconds later, Leann hooked her arm around Daphne’s and gave her a leading tug supported by a spoken summons.

“Come on, let’s see what we can get into.”

The Sector Seven public pool was one of three within the Amundsen Starship. Each of the three had their own characteristic design. The pool in this sector was the least popular of the three. This was due to its size and the amenities associated with it. The other two were larger, and one of the two had a large waterslide attached to it and a small theme park built around it. The Sector Seven Public Pool had none of these amenities and was configured to accommodate smaller crowds, two-hundred people at the most. It was also enclosed in a translucent dome. This is what made it perfect for the gathering that was present here this day.

Daphne and Leann had just recently graduated out of DCT01E21480610’s Compulsory Education Division (CED) and were at present new students within its Vocational Education Division (VED). The event they were attending was a pool party that was orchestrated by a handful of students within the VED’s School of Science. These social affairs were common and popular occurrences aboard the starship. The only limitation that prevented them from being daily occurrences was the expense of renting the venue. To secure this site, and the amenities within, tickets were sold exclusively to School of Science students. This had the added advantage of limiting access to a select group of people.

Life aboard the Amundsen was, for the most part, easy and carefree. The park that dominated the open space on the top floor of the ring was generally available to all. This included physical fitness gyms, clubhouses, sports facilities, spas, and salons. Most its occupants frolicked in its resort-like ambiance. Because of this open access, private affairs had to be secured in advance. These events were nearly always inaccessible to adolescents. That is what made this event all the more exciting for Daphne and Leann. It was their first time attending an adult only affair.

Daphne reached eighteen years of age two months earlier. Her Compulsory Education Program came to an end one month before that. By DCT01 law, any further pursuits of academic accolades, if any, was from then on her decision to make. The Starcorp was prepared to pick up the bill for her continuing education as a dependent of her parents until the age of twenty-two with the codicil that she maintains a B average or better. Also, as a full-time student and a resident of her parent’s home, all the taxes concerning her would be waived during this time. The only other option to this deference within the starcorp was for her to vacate the status of a dependent of her parents, enter the labor pool and to start paying taxes. The former was Daphne’s chosen path. Her elected course of study was Physics. This was due to her intrigue with the mechanics of the universe and her strong penchant for mathematics.

As a member of the Science Department, Daphne frequently came across the fliers that advertised this pool party. At first, she gave no thought to attending, despite the encouragement of Leann. Her reluctance was due to her discomfort with mingling among people she did not know. This discomfort was intensified by the suspicion that all present would likely be mature adults. It was well known to all that adolescence was an extreme minority in space. On average, recent CED graduates represented just short of ten percent of student enrollment into the VED each semester. This numerical disadvantage became startling apparent to Daphne when she examined the mix of students in her classes. Most were well over thirty years of age.

At this time, all of the people that Daphne called her friends were eighteen years old or younger and she felt comfortable in their company. The social gatherings of the VED student body felt too much like a place where she did not belong. She regularly fended off Leann’s efforts to recruit her as a companion to one of these affairs. This resistance came to an end one second after Benjamin Romano inquired if she would be there.

Benjamin Romano was a twenty-seven-year-old DCT01 Security Officer. He was, at this time, taking classes towards an Aerospace Engineering Degree, part-time. He stood one-half of an inch above six feet. His hair was dark, short and softly curled. His complexion was naturally tan. His shoulders were broad, and his physique was slim and toned. He was, in Daphne’s eyes, the ideal image of a male, and this appearance of perfection did not end with his looks. She and he shared a Differential Equations class which became the means for their meeting. She perceived his manner as charming and pleasant. And his smile disarmed her intellectually whenever he directed it her way.

Daphne had very little experience with the mating process. Before going up to the Amundsen, her predisposition for achieving academic excellence, her age and her mildly shy nature did little to generate opportunities for romantic encounters. After her relocation to space, the opportunities became far fewer. This was due to the smaller population of romantic candidates. This notwithstanding, she did have a brief, innocent fling with a young man that was one year her junior. In this, she did not have any serious feelings for the young man. The act was more intriguing than the actor.

Benjamin Romano was Daphne’s first serious crush. Eagerly she went to the class that they both attended as pupils with the hope of seeing him there. Much of her day was spent thinking of him, and her grades suffered for the attention. With each new school day, she meticulously adorned herself to be pleasing to his eyes. All that she said and did in his presence was premeasured to incur his favor. And in this, she was completely successful.

Daphne did not know the extent of Benjamin’s affinity for her. She knew that he liked her, but she persuaded herself that this was no more than how he felt about several others in the class that they attended. However, in this, she was mistaken. In reality, Benjamin Romano had eyes for her and none other. It was only her age and inexperience that gave him cause to question the propriety of pursuing her. He struggled with this thinking for several weeks before deciding to give into his fancy. He had every intention of acting upon it for the first time at some point during this party.

When Benjamin first saw Daphne, she was moving in his general direction. He watched, to the exclusion of all others, as she casually weaved through the throng of people assembled about the pool while looking about for someone she knew. Benjamin took advantage of this time to examine her physique in detail. Standing five-feet-eight-inches tall, Daphne had a light brown complexion. Her hair was shoulder length, black and naturally wavy. Her body was slender and shapely, and her face was unblemished and symmetrically attractive. She wore a two-piece, black and white swimsuit that was striped at the top, solid black at the bottom with a striped tie belt. She wore a sheer, white, hip-length, gauze tunic over the swimsuit. Benjamin was not displeased with any part of what he saw.

Shortly into her stroll about the pool Daphne caught sight of Benjamin looking directly at her. The sight of him alone, unattended by another female, gave her an instant feeling of relief. She smiled at him modestly while praying that he would come to her side. This he did without hesitation.

“Hi,” Benjamin announced as he walked up to her.

Benjamin was attired in blue, white and black patterned swim shorts and nothing else. His physique was muscular and tone, just as Daphne had imagined it.

“Hi,” Daphne gushed back shyly.

“Hi, Benjamin,” Leann spoke with a suggestive singsong inflection. “How are you?”

Leann was well aware of Daphne’s preference for Benjamin, and she was confident that there were very few men that would not be attracted to her. The sight of Benjamin walking directly up to Daphne, at first sight, was confirmation of this in her mind.

“Hi, Leann,” Benjamin responded with a turn of his head in her direction.

Benjamin wasted no time after this directing his attention back onto Daphne. Standing a foot away, he locked his eyes onto hers.

“You came,” Benjamin spoke with a questioning inflection and a modest smile.

“Yeah...,” Daphne bashfully answered.

Unnerved by his tightly focused attention onto her face, Daphne searched her thoughts for something more to add to her response. After a slight hesitation, she said the first thing that came to her mind.

“It’s nice.”

“Yes, it is,” Benjamin agreed with a smile and a gentle nod of his head.

Both Benjamin and Daphne paused to exchange smiles and stares. Leann had concluded, ahead of Benjamin’s response, that this was an intimate affair and that had no place within for her. She quickly took advantage of the brief silence to act upon this comprehension.

“You know; I think I’m going to do some mingling. So, I’ll see you… You know… ah… Whenever…”

“Okay,” Daphne quickly agreed with a nod of her head.

Lean strolled away after this with a smile, periodically looking back as she went.

“You want to get something to eat?” Benjamin questioned after a moment of more of staring and smiling.

Daphne agreed to this and followed Benjamin into the pool house. A large buffet table was situated in the reception area. She and Benjamin perused the selection of food and drink while exchanging small talk about what they found there. Through her responses and smiles, Daphne gave him every indication that she enjoyed his company, and Benjamin’s desire to amuse her was well marked by the chosen topics of his banter. After loading their plates and cups with food and drink, they sat out by the pool and continued to enjoy each other’s company. The merriment between them continued for another forty minutes and then their talk became earnest.

“I suppose you already know that I like you—a lot,” Benjamin confessed to Daphne in an almost hushed tone of voice.

“No, not really,” Daphne responded shyly. “I mean I did think that you liked me, but not a lot.”

“Well, I do. I like you a lot,” Benjamin asserted softly. “And I have almost from the first moment I saw you.”

For a moment, Daphne looked away with a blush and a smile after hearing this report. At the end of this, she made her own confession in a meek tone of voice.

“I like you too—a lot.”

Benjamin felt embolden by this response. Up until that moment, he had no idea how Daphne would react to advances from him. His biggest fear was that she would reject him out of hand as being too old for her. He could not stop himself from seeing her as a grown girl rather than a young lady. Benjamin took relief from Daphne’s reciprocation of his regard for her and began vocalizing the remainder of what he had queued to say.

“The reason why I haven’t said anything until now is because I wasn’t sure how appropriate that would be.”

“I’m eighteen,” Daphne promptly defended.

“I know, that’s exactly what’s been making this so difficult for me,” Benjamin explained with a barely amused expression. “If you were seventeen I might have been able to push you out of my thoughts.”

“So, are you saying that my age makes me irresistible?” Daphne questioned with an amused expression.

“Something-like-that,” Benjamin corrected with a soft grin

Daphne displayed a large smile behind a blush in reaction to this confession.

“I’m telling you this because I didn’t want you to think that I had been leading you on.”

“Okay,” Daphne responded hesitantly and with a confused expression.

“I just want you to know that if I weren’t leaving the Amundsen, I would be asking you out right now.”

“Leaving?” Daphne questioned with a startled inflection. “Where are you going?”

“They’re sending me to RG01,” Benjamin explained with a slightly confused expression. “I thought you knew.”

“What do you mean sending you?” Daphne questioned quickly and with indifference to his latter remark.

“D-C-T has loaned me out,” Benjamin explained in a flat voice.

“But you’re coming back?” Daphne questioned in a tone laced with concern.

“That could be two—three—years from now. RG01 has been renting its workforce off other Starcorps for almost two years now. It’s really strange,” Benjamin pondered out loud. “A lot of people are beginning to wonder what they’re doing out there.”

Daphne did not share Benjamin’s intrigue with the goings on of RG01. Her only interest, at that moment, was for Benjamin’s immediate future.

“Yes, but don’t you have a choice in this?” Daphne questioned with the hope that there was still time for him to back out of this move.

“I can opt out,” Benjamin explained with a slight shake of his head. “But if I do I’ll lose my position. They’ll just hire someone else into my job and send that person in my stead.”

“How can they do that?” Daphne questioned with no small inflection of surprise. “They can’t just kick you out of your job simply because you don’t want to leave.”

“It seems they can,” Benjamin retorted with a huff and a half smile. “The Directors slipped a bill through the legislature that gives them that right. It’s got more than a few people very upset.”

Daphne had never in the past been interested in the business maneuverings of the corporate heads, or Starcorp laws and politics. These subjects bored her, normally. If she had been interested in them then she would have certainly taken note of the public political wrangling that had been going on for the past two years about this practice. It was only because of her interest in Benjamin that her curiosity was piqued at this moment.

“What happens if you opt out?” Daphne quickly questioned back.

“I lose my seniority,” Benjamin returned woefully. “And I go back into the employee pool.”

Daphne instantly comprehended how significant this setback would be for him. At that moment, she could think of nothing else she needed to hear to clarify his decision to go. She hesitated to ponder what more she could say before asking the one question that she most needed an answer to.

“When are going?”

“Tomorrow.”

Daphne and Benjamin spent the remainder of that afternoon in each other’s company, and most of that night in each other’s arms. For Daphne, this was her first true affair. When the evening was over, she could not imagine going through the next two years separated from Benjamin Romano. She left him with the promise to see him off the next day. Daphne entered her home when the habitat ring’s dome light was at its lowest intensity and all members of her family were asleep in their beds.

The next morning, Daphne got up from her bed and set off to spend the morning with Benjamin. By midafternoon, she had made her tearful goodbyes and Benjamin was into the first leg of his journey to the Saturn system. Daphne spent the remainder of the afternoon, somberly, confiding her fears and sorrows to Leann. By early evening, she was back in her home trying to act as if nothing had happened. In this, she was successful with Sawyer and Adam. However, Wendy took note of her depressed state of mind and inquired about it on two occasions. Daphne brushed off both inquiries with nonchalant dismissals and then walked away to sulk in her room.

Daphne had no interest in interacting with her family this evening. Her depression was too great for their playful banter, and her appetite for food was nonexistent. She chose to remain closed away behind her bedroom door while they conversed, played and ate. This remained her state of being right up until the time that her father made his appearance early that night.

“I need everyone in the living-room,” Daniel loudly announced after entering the apartment.

Daphne heard her father’s call and the rap on her door as he went by. She hesitated to rise from her bed and did so reluctantly. She could not imagine what news her father had to impart to the family. This call for the family to gather about him was not a common occurrence. In the past, family announcements were given when all were at the breakfast table, or passed on to each member of the family in turn. The fact that her father was going the extra step of commanding them all to assemble gave her reason to be intrigued, slightly.

“Into the living-room, into the living-room,” Daniel encouraged an instant after Daphne opened her door. “I have something I have to tell you.”

“What is it, Dad,” Adam queried impatiently after bounding out of his room.

“I’ll tell you in the living-room,” Daniel instructed as he directed his son down the hall.

Adam responded to this by hurrying down the hall in the direction of the stairs. Sawyer followed behind him in with less visible display of eagerness. Daniel turned about and followed his sons after noting Daphne’s presence in her doorway.

“Daphne, come on,” Daniel called behind after turning into the stairwell.

Daphne listlessly moved towards the stairwell and the living-room on the floor below. Her depression continued to prevent her from displaying any kind of excitement for this family meeting. She could not imagine her father saying anything to distract her from her thoughts about Benjamin. After reaching the bottom of the stairwell, she noted that her mother and brothers were already seated in the room. Her father was standing before them.

Wendy noted her daughter’s appearance with a look of concern. She had never known her daughter to be so despondent. When Daphne hesitated at the entrance to the living-room, Wendy decided to encourage her forward.

“Come on, Babe, have a seat,” Wendy spoke softly as she patted the seat next to her on the couch.

Daphne dismissed her mother’s offer by moving two steps into the living-room wall. She then leaned back against the wall and folded her arms. Daniel noted his daughter’s sullen demeanor and elected to speak to it ahead of making his announcement.

“You okay?”

“Yeah Daddy, I’m fine,” Daphne answered in a soft voice.

“She’s been moping ever since she came home,” Adam reported in a mildly snide tone.

“I’m fine,” Daphne insisted with a tinge of anger in her tone.

Daniel looked to Wendy for an explanation for her behavior. She, in turn, gave him a look of disinterest along with a soft shake of her head. Daniel took a moment to ingest this while giving his daughter a look of concern.

“What did you want to tell us, Dad?” Sawyer spoke up into the silence two seconds later.

Daniel was awakened from his musing by this question. He turned to look at his family, one after the other while he formulated the appropriate words for the answer. He then explained the reason behind this meeting in one short statement.

“Family—we’re going to Saturn.”