Stars

Part I - Evacuation

To a stranger, the lift-off of an INTERSPACE shuttle might be a little disconcerting. The Grav-drive is, to the average human ear, totally inaudible. The ship itself is a simple sphere. No visible doors, no ports, not even an antenna to break the dull grey surface. A one hundred and fifty meter metal ball sitting on a spider's web of carbon-fiber. Waiting. Silent.

"Mommy, when do we get to take off?" Aaron was just a little nervous about his first flight. He had known that this day would come for about four months now. The slowest four months of his entire six years.

"Honey, we haven't even checked in yet. We still have an hour before our shuttle boards. Let's just sit and watch for a minute. OK?" At thirty-five, Melinda Creel had learned to deal with her little one's impatience. When it comes to small boys you really have to learn, there just isn't any choice.

For the past four months Aaron's excitement had been building. Today was certainly the climax. There wouldn't be any calming him today. Melinda, on the other hand, wasn't so much excited as just plain sad. She had flown before, several times actually, before Allen had been stationed off-world. But those times she had always known she would be coming back home. That's where this trip was different. There would be no coming back. Evacuation was permanent, and that made this trip just plain depressing. It didn't matter how run-down everything got. It didn't matter that soon no-one could live here. It was, after all, home.

"How long now Mommy?"

"Fifty-eight minutes Sport. It's been exactly two minutes since you asked me that same question."

"Maybe we should give the man our tickets now. Don'tcha think?"

"Oh, all right sweetie. I guess you're right. Lets go up to the desk." Stalling wasn't going to help.

The short walk to the flight desk didn't burn off any noticeable energy in the boy. The tickets were checked by a very official-looking young man in an INTERSPACE uniform; if she wasn't mistaken, a private. She wasn't mistaken. Anyone of real importance had been shuttled off-world some time ago. The Arks had been ready for over three years now and critical staff and crew had been living shipboard for at least two years. Any sudden change in the solar schedule was not going to catch INTERSPACE off their guard.

By the time they got back to their seats, it had started to rain. Melinda sat and stared through the glass. How did it ever come to this? She didn't really expect an answer. In fact, Aaron was out of ear shot now anyway, looking for a window with a better view. Apparently, he had succeeded. He was climbing up on an aluminum sill at the south end of the concourse.

"Hey Mom, check it out! There goes one now!" Without warning, one of the huge balls silently fell upwards, gaining speed quickly as it disappeared into the thin clouds.

"Did you see the numbers on the shuttle hon?"

"I think it said four-two-one-nine, Mom." He scrunched up his face as he fought to visualize the flight numbers. "Was that Jimmy's ?"

"Jimmy was scheduled on 4216. Are you sure of the numbers?"

"It might of been a six, I guess. I didn't get that good a look.."

"I think that probably was their flight. Jimmy's on his way up to the Ark now. We'll be seeing him soon enough, baby." The Creels and the Williams would be travelling on the CRANE II. That was the name of the Ark that would be their home now. What would it be like? Living in space, no blue sky, no trees, no grass, no seasons. How would they ever survive? How could they not?

"FLIGHT NUMBER FOUR-TWO-SIX-SIX NOW BOARDING AT GATE TWENTY-EIGHT. SEATS NUMBERED 125 AND HIGHER MAY BEGIN BOARDING AT THIS TIME."

"That's us Honey. Get your bag, we're going now." Lost in thought, time was slipping past her at a surprising rate. Melinda picked up her carry-on bag and scooped up Aaron's hand as she headed for the boarding gate. They strolled together down the walkway and found two empty seats together in the boarding tram. It took about 15 minutes to fill the tram. Once all the seats were taken the tram started down the tunnel which led to the shuttle. In the dim light of the tunnel the speed of the tram was difficult to judge, so it was a bit of a shock when they broke out into daylight with the landscape nothing but a blur. The high speed tram made the trip to the shuttle in under 3 minutes. The deceleration was much more noticeable as the small tram glided past the huge frame of the launch gantry.