Chapter 10
Author's note: Sorry for the delay in the update. For health reasons I was unable to focus on my writing.
Day 398
Aurora and Jim were in the giant communal dining room. She gave him a Gold Class breakfast every morning. They exchanged a few words, but they were relatively quiet to each other. She liked him, he seemed nice. And he was relatively good looking. She tried to imagine just such a situation. She thought of herself as an attractive woman though she never consider herself vain or shallow, she wondered why Jim wasn't throwing himself at her. Though at the same time he would be sympathizing with her and he's probably just trying to be a gentleman.
A guy who's been what he's been through for a year would no doubt want some, 'action' from a woman like her. But at the same time she herself wasn't going to throw herself at him, as she didn't consider herself a slut or anything. Plus, she hardly knew him.
"You going back to the command ring with the tools?" asked Jim. "I wouldn't judge you or blame you if you did."
Aurora knew that he had already tried all of this for much longer than she had but at the same time she still had to try just a little while longer, but for today she's going to try to take a load off of her mind. She may die of old age on this ship, but she was still on a luxury liner, she'll take full advantage of the space.
"Actually I'm going to go for a jog." said Aurora. "Several twisting and turning miles of empty hallways through this colossal ship; I like it."
"Sounds refreshing for the mind." said Jim, wondering why he hadn't tried it before himself.
The ship of course had fitness centers, but perhaps a long stretch of running might be more stimulating than the treadmill.
He finished his food, and put his tray away.
"You enjoy your run." said Jim. "I'll see you later."
"What are you going to do?" asked Aurora.
"I'm going to fix up some malfunctioning robots." said Jim.
"What's going on with the robots?"
"Apparently every now and then one of them just stops working properly."
He then walked off while Aurora finished her food and then went back to her cabin. She changed into a comfortable athletic outfit and then started her slow jog up and down the corridors of the ship.
She thought some more about her situation. Wondering if perhaps they'll figure something out and maybe find a way to go back into hibernation. She then realized that Jim hadn't completely given up, just slowed down his efforts because his fresh perspective had long since run out. Also she wondered about him in greater detail. Why did his hibernation pod malfunction? Why was he here? And if it was so unlikely or completely impossible that so much as a single hibernation pod would malfunction how was it that two have malfunctioned within a short time apart from each other? One year being a short time.
It did not occur to her that her pod might have been sabotaged by him. She didn't really truly think that anyone was capable of that, though she'd never given it much thought. She had given him the benefit of the doubt and believed and considered only the story that was given to her that her pod had malfunctioned.
But she wanted to know more about Jim. She wanted to get back to her job that she was hoping to do when she had woken up. Her job of being a journalist. She was going to interview the passengers on the ship during the four-month period of skill building classes and Recreation before they land. And then she was going to interview the colonists on the surface of the planet.
Once she had worked up a sweat and she felt her muscles burning, she went back to her cabin where she then took a shower and then changed into semi formal casual clothing.
She picked up her voice recorder and her voice typing holographic Notepad.
"Locate Jim Preston." she commanded the computer.
"Jim Preston is in the forward section of the third level dining room on the Habitation Module." said the computer.
Jim was at one of the hundreds of empty tables in the colossal communal dining room. He had a half dismantled janitorial robot in front of him as well as a pile of tools.
He looked up when he sensed someone's presence within close proximity to him. He saw Aurora standing over him with a serious face.
Aurora activated her audio recorder and her voice typing function on her holographic notepad.
"Why did you do it?" she asked, question generalized.
'Oh no!' thought Jim in a panic while still remaining composed. 'Busted!...No, wait? Maybe it's not what you think. Just play dumb.'
"Do what?" he asked for clarification of her question.
"Immigrate." said Aurora. "Leave Earth?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I'm interviewing you." said Aurora, acting formal, and professional. "I'm a journalist."
She then sat down at the table across from him.
"What?" said Jim in disbelief and confusion.
"You're the first hibernation failure in the history of space travel." said Aurora. "That makes you a story."
"Who are you going to tell?"
"Posterity." said Aurora. "So, why did you leave. It's an awfully big decision to make. You go to sleep and when you wake up on another world, in another century, every person you've ever known is dead."
"Well, I could ask you the same thing?" said Jim.
"But it's my interview." said Aurora firmly.
"I guess that I just wanted a fresh start."
"That's Homestead company advertising." she said in objective perspective.
Jim set down his screwdriver and attempted to correct this thought for a minute.
"I left Earth because I don't really have anyone left to really leave behind. Just a few friends that I don't see that often, and a few distant cousins. I'm an only child, no girlfriend, both of my parents passed away a few years ago, before I was put in hibernation of course." Jim explained. "I always loved building machines or fixing broken machines. Just the thing is there's not a whole lot of demand for people like me on Earth. I could have gotten a job in a Tech-Factory but it just didn't seem enough for me. On the colony worlds they don't have all of the things that they have on Earth. On Earth when something breaks you don't fix it you just have it replaced. On the colony worlds if something breaks it may still be perfectly good you just need a competent mechanic to fix whatever is wrong with it and then it's perfectly good again. On the colony worlds my profession is in high demand. There are problems that they need for me. On the colony worlds I could build myself a house and live in it. There be a new problem for me to fix mechanical engineerwise every single day. On Earth I was lucky if I hardly ever got anything to fix. On the colony worlds...lots of space...open country...room to grow."
"Now you're back to slogans."
"Can't any of the homestead company slogans be true?"
Though this was supposed to be an interview to learn about him, she felt an extreme desire to try to convince him of her way of thinking.
"Follow me Jim." said Aurora. "I want to show you my perspective on things."
They then went to the hibernation bay where all the pods were.
"Look around Jim. Tell me, what do you see when you look at the faces of the people that are in suspended animation in this room?"
He looked around and paused to collect his thoughts.
"I see people with hopes and dreams. I see people who would not buy a ticket on this ship unless they had hopes and dreams strong enough in order for them to make the leap of faith that it takes to be here at all. While Earth is overpopulated and overpriced it's still a place to be. It's still everyone's home. I speak from personal experience that though I will miss Earth, yes, I'm also excited about building myself a house and having broken machines to fix everyday."
She then directed Jim's attention to a circle of six pods, four of which appeared to be a family of two parents and two children.
"What about them? It seems more like parents are uprooting the kids from the only home that they knew to a new place."
"Sometimes the move is easier when they're younger. And besides until a child is 18 they follow their parents."
"There is also the fact that the Homestead Company gains a constant stream of income from 20% of every person on the colony worlds."
"It's still a less crowded and less expensive lifestyle than on Earth." said Jim.
Aurora paused to collect her thoughts for a moment, then bent the subject a little.
"Do you know how much money the Homestead Company made on it's first planet? Eight quadrillion dollars! That's eight million billions! Did you pay full price for your ticket?"
"No. It was the Homestead Company's idea for me too be here. I'm in a desirable trade for the colony worlds."
"So, the homestead company filled your head with dreams, discounted your ticket, and then send you off to another world where they then get 20% of everything you make for the rest of your life."
"So when you look around this room you see 5000 suckers?"
"I see zeros on the Homestead Company's bottom line."
"I see 5000 people changing their lives." said Jim. "You judge these people before you even know them just for making this trip."
"Hey, I'm a writer, "said Aurora, "I know a lot about human psychology. I know people."
Jim then decided to challenge her on that.
"Okay." he said, turning and looking around.
He went to a random pod and looked at the little display screen. He observed the occupant's profession and covered it with his hand.
"Doctor, banker, or gardener?"
Aurora looked at the man who was in the hibernation pod. He was a middle-aged man. Perhaps a few years older. His skin was wrinkled and he had gray hair but he was thin with what appeared to be good health for his age. While his eyes were closed in his suspended animation he seemed to have a stern confident demeanor.
"Banker." said Aurora.
Jim then removed his hand from the display panel and revealed,
'Gardner.'
Aurora was disappointed that she guessed wrong.
He then walked over to another pod, observed a young woman and again held his hand over the display panel after he looked at it.
"Donna, Madison, or Lola?"
Aurora looked at the woman, the woman seemed to have a friendly face but was very strongly red-headed in her hair.
"Donna just isn't right for that hair." said Aurora judgmentally. "Lola."
He removed his hand for the display panel,
'Madison.'
"Shit!" said Aurora in even more disappointment that she had not guessed correctly.
He walked over to a third pod where he then held his hand over the display panel after he looked.
"Chef, accountant, or midwife?"
She didn't even bother attempting to guess on that one as that last one, Midwife was not something that a person would just throw in there as a multiple choice question unless it was the correct answer.
"Okay, there's no way that you made that last one up, she has to be a midwife."
"She's a midwife." confirmed Jim with a smile. "I didn't even know that they still had midwives."
Aurora looked at her and really took a moment to decide on this woman, not judging her for just her looks.
"I like her." Aurora decided. "I think she and I would be friends."
They stood there in silence for a little while sort of contemplating the interview and the subjects that they talked about. Neither one of them really breaking the ice after that.
"Aurora, I'm going to take you out for a drink." said Jim.
"When?" she asked out of curiosity.
"Right now." said Jim.
"Now?" she said in surprise. "But it's not even lunchtime yet."
"I found that in my last year here that it doesn't really matter what time of day you do anything when you have unlimited freedom. At least as much Freedom as the ship gives you when you're all alone on it."
"Grand Concourse." said the computer as they exited the elevator.
He walked her across the super large luxury shopping mall that was right on the ship until they got to the pub.
Arthur had been on low power mode until they came within 20 yards of the pub.
"Aurora, you are about to meet the artificial intelligence android bartender, Arthur." said Jim. "He's a feeble imitation of a real human being, but around here he's the next closest thing. Hello, Arthur."
"Hello Jim." said Arthur with a smile. "And who is this lovely lady?"
"Aurora." said Aurora stating her name.
"Aurora." responded Arthur with a smile, taking her hand in respect. "A pleasure."
"I have a whiskey, neat." said Jim.
"Martini, please." said Aurora.
Arthur pored the drinks.
Jim raised his glass.
"To living large on a large ship." Jim toasted.
"I'll drink to that." said Aurora.
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