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It’s the year 2424, and the trip to Castlebourne will take 108 years,
because it is 108 light years away, and the ship will be able to travel at
just under light speed. Due to special relativity, however, it will only
feel like a couple of months for anyone on the ship. That preposition is
more appropriate for Mandica than for anyone or anything else. They will
actually be inside of it while she’ll be on the outside, like a parasite.
“That’s not the right term,” her pilot argues. “It makes it sound like
you’re hurting the ship. I promise, it won’t even notice you. You’re not a
parasite, it’s...” He trails off as he looks it up on his device. “Phoretic.
You’re a phoresy. Yeah, that sounds better.”
“You literally called the pod The Barnacle,” Mandica argues.
“It’s a joke,” he defends.
“That hat is a joke,” she snaps back. She knows, she shouldn’t be so
mean.
“Uh, it’s a trilby, and it’s what we call retro-stylish,” he boasts.
“All right, Trilby.” She notices that he seems to like that nickname. “Tell
me how this works so I don’t vaporize myself in the middle of interstellar
space.”
Trilby literally pulls back the curtain to show the little pod that she’ll
be in. It looks like the inside of a nutshell, but only half of it. There
is no other half. This will evidently be sealed against the hull, so
the hull acts as the fourth wall, and if that seal ever breaks, she’ll be
exposed to the vacuum of outer space. “Okay. You’ll have to be in your
Integrated Multipurpose Suit when we begin, helmet and all. You can hold
onto these handles so you don’t slip off. Of course, you’ll be tethered, but
if you slip out during the process, the seal will snap that tether, and
you’ll start to float away.”
“Got it. Hold on tight.”
“Right,” he agrees. “Once it’s sealed, I wouldn’t unseal it until you reach
your destination, or you’ll be screwed. It can be resealed, but you
would have to keep your grip on it for that to work, so just don’t do it.
There’s no door. You can only get out by detaching from the hull. I assume
you’re halfway decent with computers. Everything you need is on this
console, and it will interface with your suit. It has its own powersource,
but it’s minimal, so I suggest you let it siphon from the arkship. Don’t
worry, it’s a small pod, and you’re only one person, so the power draw will
be well within the margin of error. As long as you don’t do anything crazy,
you won’t be detected.”
“Can I take my helmet off in transit, or even my suit?”
“Helmet off should be fine. This thing has its own climate control. I would
leave the suit on most of the time, however. If you do remove it, do
it in short bursts to let your body breathe, but don’t fall asleep like
that, or anything. It’ll be a tight seal, but I won’t be there to fix any
issues. It will all be up to you.” He lifts a flap on the end of the
console. “Here’s a copy of the operator’s manual, in paper form. There’s
obviously a virtual version of it, but this is just in case. He opens a
small cupboard. It also has dayfruit growers, but I could only fit four of
them, so you’ll want to supplement with the meal bars below it, and your
dayfruit smoothie in your Portable Resource Unit. I don’t remember how long
regular humans can go without food, so rationing will be up to you. Just be
careful and pay attention to your supplies.”
Mandica sighs and looks over her little lifeboat. “Any exercise equipment?
I’ve actually never been to space before today, and I spent most of the time
hiding in that shipping container. But I hear that we regular humans
have trouble with zero-g over long periods of time. I assume I’m subject to
the inertial dampeners, or I simply wouldn’t survive high relativistic
speeds at all anyway.”
Trilby nods. “The pod will leech from the inertial dampeners, but it’s weird
because of how it attaches.” He points to some of the controls. “You’ll be
able to tune it, however. If you just turn this dial, it will lower the
effects slightly, allowing you to make the back of the pod down.
Don’t be scared of it, you will not be able to turn your private dampeners
so far down that you splatter against the wall. And this isn’t even the
wall. Think of it as the floor. See? Here’s your bed.” He slides the bed lid
away. Because of this little shuttle’s own inertial dampeners, it looks like
the bed is up against the wall, but that will change once she’s attached and
on the move. “You can still do exercise. Your suit has a number of programs
built in, which you can peruse yourself. Just be sure to narrow the results
to close-quarters, or it may try to get you to run away.”
Mandica nods repeatedly. She’s growing quite nervous. It was bad enough when
he snuck her onto the space elevator, but now she will be completely alone.
If this fragile thing pops off, and she manages to survive that, she won’t
be able to get into the ship. She won’t be able to ask for help. Even in an
emergency—even if she’s willing to get caught—the arkship may be fully
automated, and help may be difficult. Some bots don’t respond to black swan
events. They won’t know how to respond to her pleas. And she’s not
going to ask this guy if there will be any intelligence present, because
nothing should go wrong at all. She will be tucked away safely for two
months, and be free of Core World rule forever. She doesn’t hate the
establishment, but she wants to remove herself from it, and this is the only
way. She can’t afford the energy credits for anything else.
“It’s gonna be okay,” Trilby says to her.
“Have you done this before?”
“Not this exact thing, but I’ve tested the barnacle pod. It will work, as
long as you treat it right, and don’t push the wrong buttons.”
“No pressure,” she says.
He takes a chance and places a hand upon her shoulder. “You’ll do well.”
She doesn’t know him, but he’s been helping her, and risking a lot to do it,
so she decides to go for it and give him a hug. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He looks over at his screen. “We’re comin’ up on it.
Remember what I taught you, and for everything else, rely on your survival
instincts. Digitized people don’t have those anymore, but yours will know
what to do. Better put on your other two IMS layers, but first, fix your
inner layer. You have it on backwards. The autozipper goes in back. Let me
know when you’re ready. I have to seal the bulkhead before I open the
airlock, but we’ll be able to talk on comms. I’ll stay with you until I get
out of range myself, or the arkship launches, and you speed away in a
flash.”
“All right.” She puts her suit all the way on, and tethers herself to the
barnacle pod. He opens the airlock, and lets the pod drift out for a little
bit before seizing it with his grabber claws. He maneuvers the barnacle in
front of his shuttle as he makes his approach. She wants to close her eyes,
but that would just be unsafe, so she watches. She looks around for any
cameras, drones, or lurking spacewalkers. No one. No one will know she’s
here. The claws push the pod forward, and automated systems automatically
latch on. The vacuum seal engages until she’s fully secure. They spend the
next few hours getting to know each other better before the arkship powers
up and flies away.
