Starcorp 1: Escape from Sol

“Good morning.”

Wendy’s greeting caught Daniel by surprise. He was expecting her to be at work by this time, and he had grown accustomed to seeing very little of his family.

“Hi,” Daniel acknowledged as he staggered into the middle of the kitchen.

Daniel was still groggy from his brief night of sleep. It was ten minutes before three in the morning when he returned home from his job. He had not seen the inside of his apartment for four days. He was expected to be in route back to his job by this time the day after next.

“Why aren’t you at work?” Daniel questioned ahead of yawn and a stretch.

“I traded my day off,” Wendy explained in a soft voice. “I wanted to spend the day with you. We hardly see each other anymore.”

“I know,” Daniel agreed with a shrug.

Daniel crossed over to the refrigerator, opened it and began searching through its contents for something to drink. Wendy visually followed his movement from her seat at the kitchen island.

“For how much longer is this going to be our lives?” Wendy questioned with a bewildered shake of her head.

Daniel’s job went into high gear five months earlier. Everyone involved with the task of making the basestar ready for launch was subject to mandatory overtime. All workers on site were required to spend four days in a row aboard the ship before taking two days off. This arrangement was set up to minimize the commute time and maximize the productivity of the workforce. While on the site they worked six hours on, two hours off, six hours on, ten hours off and then repeated the pattern.

“The basestar is nearly completed,” Daniel assured. “There is talk of a launch three months from now.”

“Three months?” Wendy questioned with astonishment. “Do they expect you to keep working at this pace for another six more months?”

“I think my job will be completed, at least for the most part, way before then.”

Wendy took some comfort from this report, but it was barely noticeable in her expression.

Daniel knew that there was work going on in many other sectors of the basestar that he knew nothing about. Because of this ignorance, he could not estimate on the time-frame for the end of their work. He did know that there was a super rush on for project completion. This was obvious to everyone working and living in RG01. Dozens of rumors about an overall end date for the project were circulating throughout the Starcorp. Talk about external events that might be responsible for this ramped-up effort were equally pervasive.

“What’s happening, Daniel,” Wendy queried with a worried expression.

Daniel poured himself a glass of Orangeade as he pondered for the best answer to give to that question. After replacing the pitcher back inside the refrigerator, he turned towards Wendy with a look of reluctance and answered her query.

“I believe that our new relationship with Earth has heightened the sense of urgency in the minds of the Starcorp League.”

“But they’ve given Earth Space to the United Front Alliance,” Wendy argued with a hint of hysterics. “Why should the league feel threatened?”

“There is still the matter of the reparations,” Daniel countered after a long swig of his drink. “That still hasn’t been resolved. And that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.”

This was something that Wendy did not want to hear. She had not forgotten the Earth’s compensation demand, but she chose to ignore it. This disposition was motivated by the fact that Earth displayed no reaction to the silence of the starcorps. It was her hope, far more so than a belief, that this issue would be quietly resolved. Daniel’s accusation to the contrary all but dashed this wishful thought.

“So, you think we’re going to war over money?” Wendy declared more than questioned with a mixture of shock and anger. “That doesn’t make sense. If we fight, everyone loses. They could destroy the very thing they’re fighting over.”

“I don’t think it will go that far,” Daniel suggested in a reassuring voice.

“But you do think there might be a war?” Wendy challenged back.

Daniel did not know how to respond to that. He knew that his wife was terrified by the thought of Earth and the starcorps at war with each other. He did not want to heighten her fear by giving weight to this thinking. He hesitated to answer her query because of this. But his delay was all the answer that Wendy needed.

“I don’t want to die in space,” Wendy implored. “I don’t want our children killed in some stupid war in the middle of space, Daniel. We have to do something to get out of this.”

Daniel noted the restrained hysterics in her plea and was quick to speak up to diminish her fears.

“Honey, no one is going to die,” Daniel assured with as much sincerity as he could project. “The Starcorp League knows what it’s doing.”

“You heard what that man said at the awards ceremony,” Wendy shrieked back at him. “We can’t win.”

“That man is a nobody,” Daniel insisted with vehemence. “Don’t let some doomsday fanatic get into your head.”

Daniel sat down next to his wife and placed his hand on her arm as he spoke again in a soft voice. “We’re okay. We’re going to be okay.”

Wendy calmed herself with a deep breath. Despite this appearance, she took no reassurance from Daniel’s Words. She concluded that nothing constructive was going to come from this conversation and elected to put it behind her. Wendy knew that the family’s fortunes were thoroughly fixed to the starcorps. Despite her growing regrets for agreeing to their immigration into a starcorp, she was well aware that the other members of her family had none. For her husband and children, their home was a starship adrift in space.

After a moment of silence between them, Wendy got up from her chair and prepared a hot breakfast for her and Daniel. Over The course of the time it took for them to prepare and eat it, she and Daniel avoided talk of Earth and war. Instead, Daniel steered their conversation onto Wendy’s work aboard the agricultural ship and held it there for nearly an hour. This was a subject that Wendy always had plenty to say something about. This was a tendency that Daniel was exploiting to keep Wendy preoccupied with happy thoughts. When her catalog of work anecdotes came to an end, Daniel changed the subject by inquiring about their kids.

“They’re fine,” Wendy reported with a slight shake of her head. “Sometimes it seems as if they’re away as often as you are. But they’re okay, for the most part.”

Daniel responded to this report with a look of bewilderment. He noted in Wendy’s expression that she had concerns regarding their children.

“What’s wrong?” Daniel inquired after a moment of thought.

“We barely feel like a family anymore,” Wendy explained while shaking her head in frustration.

“This schedule won’t last forever,” Daniel countered defensively.

“It’s not just your job,” Wendy retorted an instant behind. “It’s everything. It’s this place. It’s this life. The only time our kids come home is when they want a place to sleep. And we can’t even depend on that. This place—this floating tin can has stolen our family.”

Wendy’s distraught outburst was surprising to Daniel. He had no idea that his wife had been harboring concerns of this kind. His first thought while hearing this was to speak up in defense of their new lives.

“Our children are safe here,” Daniel began to plea. “This is everything we ever wanted for our children.”

“Daniel, this place—this life, it’s making us obsolete as parents,” Wendy countered with a hint of hysteria. “Our children are being raised for us. They’ve been brainwashed by all of this.”

Wendy gestured to everything about her to emphasize her last remark.

“It’s good for our children to have lives outside the home,” Daniel defended.

“That’s just it, this is not their home,” Wendy returned while gesturing to the apartment. “This ship—this habitat is their home. Our kids only come here when they want to sleep and you can’t always count on that. Daphne is practically living with Benjamin. Sawyer is always out somewhere playing sports or some video game with his friends, and there is no prying Adam away from this top-secret project that he’s involved in. And now you’re gone for days on end. We’re not a family, Daniel. I don’t know what we are now.”

“We are interplanetary pioneers at the genesis of humankind’s space-age,” Daniel advised with an excited expression. “Industry and commerce are no longer tethered to Earth, Wendy. This is the future of human existence and we’re a part of it. The life behind us is obsolete. We owe this to our children and our children’s, children.”

Wendy knew better than to contradict her husband when he was talking like this. Experience told her that an emotional argument would be a poor match against the logic of his thinking. Her resistance to their new lives was based on fear and insecurity. It was her knowledge of this fear that gave her cause to yield to his vision of their future.

“This whole conflict between Earth and the starcorps is going to be resolved with a deal of some kind,” Daniel assured with extreme earnest in his speech. “I promise.”

“What’s wrong?” Daphne queried with a look of concern.

Benjamin was adrift in his thoughts when Daphne’s query registered in his hearing. Changes in his situation at work were much on his mind at this moment. His thoughts were hard at work trying to discern the significance of these changes. He was also factoring into his thinking the events happening on Earth. It was his suspicion that the change in the Earth’s political landscape was behind the adjustments in his situation at work over the past several months.

“There is going to be a change at the academy,” Benjamin confessed.

Benjamin’s disconnect from her company was perceived by Daphne as out of the norm. She was far more accustomed to him being attentive and affectionate whenever she was in his apartment. The fact that he was not at this moment gave her reason to be suspicious about these changes at his job.

“What changes?” Daphne questioned back with a confused expression.

“I will be leaving the Amaterasu next week,” Benjamin reported in a dejected tone. “The entire defense force is relocating onto the basestar.”

Daphne felt a wave of panic pass through her. The idea of Benjamin relocating off the Amaterasu was frightening enough for her. The idea that he would be living on a basestar made it all the more so. His position as a member of RG01′s Defense Force kept her on the alert for any indicators that he might be on the verge of being deployed to some location off the Amaterasu. This concern had a tight grip on her thoughts at this moment.

“I thought they weren’t finished?” Daphne questioned with a hint of panic in her voice.

“They’re not,” Benjamin insisted in a hurry. “But the habitats are. We’re being assigned to our fighter wings. The force is to continue its training aboard the basestar. I don’t know how often I will be able to return here when that happens.”

Benjamin’s answer did nothing to alleviate Daphne’s concerns. Her worry that she might lose him because of this conflict with Earth doubled at that moment. She wanted to be with him always. At this moment, their single status was an unbearable hindrance for her to endure. She knew that their unauthorized relationship would give her no rights to be with him or to be kept informed about his status.

“We have to get married now,” Daphne implored with a mournful expression.

“Daphne,” Benjamin began an instant behind. “We’ve already talked about this. This is the best way.”

“If it’s going to separate us then no it’s not,” Daphne argued back.

The realization that this was happening made all of their past agreements invalid for Daphne. What made Benjamin’s reassignment all the more frightening for her were the rapid changes occurring on Earth. She, like all other spacers, was paying close attention to any news coming from the planet. The shift in the political landscape there was the number one topic of conversation in Sol System. The speculation on a possible war with Earth carried a lot more weight with Daphne at that moment. And the thought of being separated from Benjamin for any period of time had suddenly become unacceptable.

“I’m afraid,” Daphne reported with a look that mirrored her words. “I don’t want us separated.”

Benjamin understood her fears, but he did not agree with them. In his mind, all the things that were happening on Earth and in space were negotiating maneuvers. He could not imagine a way for an actual war to break out between Earth and the starcorps. He saw a military conflict as a counterproductive method for addressing the problem between them. It was his suspicion that each side was developing a posture that they hoped would strengthen their position at the bargaining table.

“I’m just relocating to a neighboring starship,” Benjamin assured. “They’re not going to keep us apart. Nothing is going to keep us apart.”

“You can quit,” Daphne suggested with a hopeful expression.

“No,” Benjamin responded an instant behind. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime. If they deploy us into a designated war zone, then I’ll start getting hazardous duty pay.”

Daphne’s reaction to his words came in the form of an expression of dread. This was due to the sound of zeal in his speech. Daphne noted this excitement in his voice every time he hinted about the novelty of his fighter pilot training. She knew that the prospect of being an RG01 Defense Force Space-Fighter Pilot was thrilling to him.

“I know,” Daphne roared back with an inflection of hysterics. “And if they send you into battle you get combat pay. Is that what you want?”

Benjamin did not know what the correct answer to that question was. As events drew forward towards their fate exhilaration began to build within him. His growing excitement with the idea of being a part of some great adventure was accompanied only by his fear of it. But his fear was minute by comparison. The thought of him being killed or injured was a distant worry. This was minimized more by his thinking that a war was highly unlikely. After a second of thought, he fastened together an answer that he thought would best serve him at this moment.

“Baby, they’re just posturing,” Benjamin reassured.

“But they’re training hundreds of pilots to operate those space-fighters that they’re building out there,” Daphne countered. “Why would they do that if they’re not planning for a war?”

“It’s a precaution,” Benjamin returned in a conciliatory voice.

“But it can happen,” Daphne argued back.

“Yes, I suppose it could happen,” Benjamin agreed after a moment of consideration.

“And you won’t quit, will you?” Daphne challenged.

Benjamin gave this question several seconds of thought. By the end of this time, he conceded that there was only one honest answer he could give to this question. And that is the answer he gave.

“No.”