The last two times I posted new chapters, notifications weren't sent so if you get one this time, there may be a few back chapters to read too.

This chapter has a reference to the preview story called The Ship and because some readers may not have read it, I try not to make knowledge of it absolutely essential.

I do believe this is the longest chapter so far.

Chapter 44

If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?

Ruth Kinderman double checked the airlock hatch manually before checking the seal electronically. The computer asked her to verify undocking procedure for the lander headed for Mars and with all lights green, she presses the confirm button. The station vibrated slightly as the clamps released, setting the capsule free and sending half the Orbit Station crew on their short journey back home to the red planet.

"Have a good trip guys and we'll see you next month" she said before releasing the comms button.

After all the revelations they had discovered about Professor Adisa, Blue and the ship on their last trip back from Earth, the Kindermans decided to stay on station as long as they were permitted by the Mars Citizens Council. When asking for the assignment, Jarred had told them it was because they had become accustomed to living in space and wanted to make the most of this last opportunity until the MTV returned from its last journey. No one knew the real reason they wanted to stay was actually to eavesdrop in on any more communications that may come from Earth and now they were alone on station, no one would ever find out.

Ruth floated back to the ladder and began to climb down to the control room of the rotating station. Every step away from the hub and towards the rim brought a higher level of simulated gravity until she reached the rim where her husband had made a complete mess of the orbit to ground comms system.

"Careful where you step" he warned "I've got delicate equipment everywhere."

"What did you tell Mars Comms?" Ruth asked.

"We'd be down for maintenance for the next hour."

"You really expect to get all this back together in under an hour?"

"No; but they know I'm working on the comms, so they'll just assume I ran into a few unforseen problems" Jarred grinned.

"When in reality, you're... what are you doing?" Ruth asked.

"I'm setting up our own little bypass receiver system" Jarred informed his wife "From now on, anything routed through the station or even picked up by its receiver, will have a copy stored in this little box."

He held up the 100mm cube and waved his hand over it as if it were a magical object.

"What happens after we leave the station?" Ruth wondered.

"All we have to do is access the focused laser transceiver and send the right coded signal, and then the unit will transfer all its data back on the same carrier. It should keep working as long as the station still has power, even after we eventually leave here for Mars."

"You really missed you true calling in espionage" Ruth said "I'm just glad you're on my side."

As the weeks went by, work continued steadily on the extension of the Railgun. The first task was to electrify the empty section of the tunnel so the workers could see what they were doing and the Works Tram could travel past the end of the current usable length. None of the Railgun staff believed they would ever be working on this empty section of tunnel again and it felt good to be finally filling it with equipment.

Even though there was still a long way to go before the first humans would be launched, preparations were already being made to resume firing payloads into orbit. Supplies from the ship arrived daily and the manufacturing of the new Autonomous Asteroid Mining Equipment was soon well underway. There were robotic machines for collecting rock, processing ore, grinding and collecting ice, purifying water, manufacturing bonding silicates, printing habitats and many more devices ranging from the size of a toaster, through to the size of a school bus.

Blue was so busy, he was run off his feet. There was his work with Willow and her team on the Asteroid Ring Base design, training the future asteroid miners, as well as keeping his deal with Maximilian DeGroot. As time went on, he found working with Calla was getting easier and easier because she found it very satisfying to be the Assistant Trainer. She did like showing everyone else proper procedures, how things worked and generally being the centre of attention in both classes.

After she had been in the role for a while, Blue found a good way encouraging the more nervous members of the classes by using Callas youth against them.

"If a thirteen year old can go in the pool in a pressure suit to simulate working in a micro gravity environment, then surely you can too" he would say to them.

This method worked well for him; until one day when Calla interrupted him in the middle of his speech.

"What makes you think you can't learn to manually dock two spacecraft, if a thirteen year old girl finds it easy... " Blue started.

"Err... fourteen actually" a voice behind him said.

"I thought you were..."

"I was yesterday" Calla grinned.

Everyone in the class began wishing Calla a Happy Birthday and after singing the traditional song, Blue abandoned class for the rest of the day in favour of retiring to the kitchen so everyone could enjoy a celebratory desert. Most of the day's minor celebrations made Calla very happy, but not when Doom started telling humorous and slightly embarrassing stories about the birthday girl.

"The worst part was when she told them all about the time I tripped on a lanyard and fell against the mast. Everyone laughed when Doom said there was still a blood stain on the Star Runner's mainsail" Calla giggled as she told her parents over dinner.

"Well I'm glad you had a fun day but if you will all excuse me, I've got some work to do on a Core Drill" Emerson declared and left the dinner table.

Ursula was perplexed; her daughter seemed to have matured in attitude so much in the last few weeks, while her older brother appeared to be regressing.

"She may enjoy regularly embarrassing me in front of the others, but I'm still really going to miss her if she leaves" Calla added.

Emerson halted in his tracks so sharply, it was as if the floor was covered in glue. The real reason behind his sudden stop, was the arrival of the Magpie of Heart Stopping Shock.

"Where is she going? Are you still talking about Harriet Doom?" he asked.

Slowly over time, most of the people from Captain Branson's exodus fleet came to the same decision. Life in the Railgun Complex was better than anything any of them had ever known in the past. There was relative safety, good food, comfortable quarters and interesting work, so almost all decided not to continue on to the unknown north. The few who hadn't made up their minds eventually realised they were too small a number to go on alone, and so they all considered the other options apart from the Railgun Complex; the nearby town, the ship were some options, along with joining the crew of the One and All when it sailed to America. One of those people considering leaving with Captain Branson, just happened to be Miss Doom.

After Calla had told Emerson the whole story, he put the Core Drill on hold and went in search of Doom; eventually finding her working in one of the underground farms. She was standing with a cart containing fifty eggs and it would soon also contain various vegetables for tomorrow's meals.

"Harriet!" he called out as he approached.

"Now you know better than to call me by that name" she smirked but without turning to face Emerson.

"Calla just told me you're leaving" the young man blurted out.

"Perhaps" was all Doom said in reply.

"But why?"

"Surely Calla would have told you why."

"She said you were hoping to meet someone" Emerson said while trying to ignore the influence of the Rockhopper Penguin of Confusion.

"So you already know why then" Doom replied as she chose a very fresh looking zucchini for the cart.

"But who do you want to meet?" Emerson continued to dig.

"I don't know; I haven't met them yet" Doom answered and pushed the cart towards the onions.

Emerson followed while desperately trying to work out what to say next.

"I thought you and Blue... were..." he began.

"Blue and I were what?" Doom asked when nothing more came from Emerson.

"I thought... he was... well... your boyfriend."

"Did you really?" Doom replied casually "And what made you think he was, as you so quaintly put it, my boyfriend?"

"Well err... when you first met him... you err..." Emerson felt like he was rapidly burying himself.

"Said he was a babe? Went for a long walk on the beach at sunset while holding his arm?" Doom smiled to herself.

"Well... yeah."

"Is that why you've been avoiding me?" she asked.

"I haven't been avoiding you" Emerson protested "I've just been... doing... other things."

"Other things" Doom repeated.

She was tempted to point out the only time Emerson had not constantly found excuses to be in her company, was when he was sailing with his father; but she decided against it.

"I'm afraid I really have no choice but to go on the One and All when she sets sail for America" Doom insisted "Unless of course..."

"Unless what?" Emerson asked eagerly.

"Well... maybe if someone could give me a reason not to go?"

Emerson quickly racked his brain in an attempt to come up with something viable.

"Calla told me you were enjoying those living in space classes" he blurted out "There's one good reason to stay."

Doom sighed as she pushed the laden cart towards the door.

"I'm going to drop this stuff off at the kitchen. If you come up with something better than training for space flight, I'll be down at the ship; Mr. DeGroot is going to tell Blue and I more about the Dragon Riders this evening."

"There's another reason" Emerson lit up "If you go, you won't get to..."

"Give up Emerson" Doom interrupted "Firstly DeGroot is going on the voyage too but even if he wasn't, learning about the Dragon Riders is not enough to make me change my mind. It's becoming more and more obvious to me that you're not going to give me any good reason to stay."

Doom's mood had suddenly gotten much darker; so although Emerson desperately wanted to keep trying, he thought he'd better wait for another opportunity.

Time continued to pass by quickly in the complex as more and more parts and supplies arrived from the ship but one of the main topics of conversation was the imminent departure of Professor Adisa. While many wished he would not leave, there was one person who also wanted to ensure he and his shipmates returned safe and sound. With the departure of the One and All only a few days away, Fariz Amran asked the Professor to bring a few of his engineers along with Captain Branson to the village south of the Railgun. He said it was about something very important.

"Thank you for coming" Fariz said as he led the small group down an ally off the main road.

"No offence but I hope this was worth the trip" Branson complained "We've got a lot of prep work to do before we leave."

"I do apologise for not bringing this to your attention earlier, but I completely forgot about what I'm about to show you" Fariz admitted.

They passed by several buildings till they came to what used to be a small mechanics workshop, but was now a forgotten relic. As Sid and Amos helped Fariz pull open the main entrance, the top hinge of the five meter door snapped off and everyone had to jump back before being flattened.

"Err... whoops" Fariz grinned sheepishly.

"Is it safe to go in?" Jeana Davy asked.

"Probably not" Linton said as he walked in behind Fariz.

"As you can imagine, after the armed men came fifteen years ago asking questions about you, we became a little concerned about our future safety, almost to the point of paranoia" Fariz admitted as he lifted a wooden trapdoor in the floor.

"It's not paranoia if the threat is real" Sid noted.

Willow and Branson turned on the torches they carried and shone the beams onto one of several tarps in the cramped cellar.

"True; so when the ship did turn up, we all felt we should not leave these out for anyone to find" Fariz said as he pulled at the tarp.

Everyone stepped forward to examine the large pile of crates as Fariz pried off the lid of one in the front.

"Is that..." Sid gasped when he saw what was inside.

"The barrels from one of the Phalanx guns? Jeana finished the sentence.

"How could you forget about this?" Willow asked in surprise.

"After we'd dismantled them, we put them in here specifically to forget about them" Fariz revealed "We didn't need them, but we also did not want them used against us... or against you either."

"Surely the Phalanx system would be too big and heavy for a wooden sailing ship like the One and All" Linton sighed.

"I'm sure we could fabricate the gun parts into something a little less automatic and a little more defensive" Willow noted "I don't imagine you would need to shoot down any more anti-ship missiles on this trip."

"These things can shoot down a missile?" Branson gasped.

"Correction; these things did shoot down a missile; when we were attacked southwest of Hawaii" Jeana grinned "and if anyone tried to take your vessel Captain Branson, it could easily cut the attacking ship in half; assuming it wasn't a reinforced steel military vessel."

"Well it all sounds very impressive but I still doubt we could make room for them and still have enough space for all the supplies we'd need to carry."

"Guys; huddle" Willow beaconed her team for a quick discussion.

After a minute of mumbling, they broke with broad smiles on their faces.

"I do believe we can fix all your problems" Willow nodded "but you will have to delay your departure for a week or two."

Soon a new set of pods were being readied for launch in the staging area adjacent to the Railgun and Blue decided it would be good to take the opportunity for his students to familiarise themselves with the equipment.

"If everything goes according to plan, these five spacecraft will be the foundation of our future home" Blue explained. "Each cylinder is fifteen meters long and four meters in diameter and they are a revolutionary new designed being used for the first time."

"Uh... excuse me for asking, but what's so revolutionary about a big tube?" one of the trainees asked what they all were thinking.

"These differ from previous supply pods we've sent up for Mars Base, in two important ways. Firstly there are no rockets to slow the craft, parachutes, airbags or landing legs. Secondly each one is made from a flexible material and can be opened up along its length. When all five are open, they can join with each other to make one much larger cylinder" Blue explained.

"Okay but what are you going to do with an even bigger empty tube?" another trainee asked "We can't just live in it like that."

"I doubt anyone will live in this" Blue explained "but you may end up working in it. These units are not empty; each one is packed with autonomous machinery for mining, refining, building, water purifying and many other tasks."

"By autonomous machinery, Blue means robots" Calla said with a sigh "Try not to confuse everyone."

"Oh err... sorry" Blue apologised "Anyway, when the pods are all liked together, two Ion Engines will fold out of units three and five, and the entire unit will begin a two month journey to the asteroid belt; in particular to a rocky asteroid about fifty kilometres across. When the integrated unit arrives, it will attach itself to the asteroids and then all the robots can go to work processing rock and ice while the Ion Engines will start to push the asteroid to a different location; a much bigger metal asteroid named 16 Psyche."

"So the robots in these five pods are going to build us a new home?" another asked.

"Yes but not just these five" Blue continued "There are a total of fifty being constructed making a total of ten full sized units. The second will go to straight to 16 Psyche and attach to one of the poles. Eventually the first one will arrive with its mined supplies and begin construction. The others eight units will be sent to eight much smaller asteroids of rock and ice and attached themselves just like the first; the robots inside each will go to work while each asteroid is also being pushed into orbit around 16 Psyche. By the time they all meet up, there will be about five hundred robots busily working on the first space habitat; the first two people should arrive about a year later."

"Who will be the first ones to go?" Calla asked.

"I don't know" Blue responded "but I can tell you now, their main tasks will be servicing and repairing autonomous construction machinery, and setting up hydroponic plant systems; we can't keep sending food supplies forever and being self sufficient is the name of the game."

Seeing and touching the first fruits of all the promises made by Linton Adisa and Sarah Spencer, gave the trainees a whole new outlook on the whole project. Perhaps not surprisingly, a few were actually put off by having to face the reality of what they were doing. As a result, Captain Branson ended up with a few more crew members for the One and All, due to depart for America in only two more days. There was also one more person planning to join the crew, but he had a very different reason for wanting to go.

"Hey Doom, can I talk with you for a minute?" Emerson called out as he chased the young lady down a corridor.

"Hi Emerson" she smiled "have you come to say goodbye?"

"Not really; I just wanted to see if you were still going."

"Nobody has given me a reason to stay yet" Doom answered.

"Well... I've decided I'm going too then" Emerson said with purpose.

Harriet Doom stopped in her tracks; she had not expected him to say this.

"Are you really?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yes" he declared adamantly.

"Come in here" Doom demanded as she entered one of the currently unoccupied workshops "Now tell me why."

"Why am I going?"

"No; why is a Raven like a Writing Desk" she declared sarcastically "OF COURSE WHY ARE YOU GOING!"

The Raven of Despair poked his beak around the door but soon realised Doom did not mean him. The Raven used to be very busy when the Railgun complex was in lockdown for fifteen years, but now the doors were open once more, he seemed to have a lot more free time on his hands... I mean wings.

"Well?" Doom crossed her arms.

"It err... should be a bit of an adventure" Emerson put forward.

"Adventure" Doom sneered "And do you remember why I am going?"

"Calla said you wanted to meet someone" Emerson reminded himself of what he did not want to think about.

"I assume you know what that means, don't you?" Doom asked but got no reply "So how will you feel about it if I do meet someone else?"

"I didn't think of that" Emerson sighed.

"The last time we talked, you tried to get me to change my mind and stay; why?" Doom pushed.

Emerson felt trapped by the Grass Finch of Embarrassment while Doom could not shake off the Pink-headed Fruit Dove of Frustration.

"I... I'd miss you" Emerson admitted at last.

"So why do you really want to go along now?"

"To... to..."

"Spit it out!" she demanded.

"TO BE WITH YOU" he blurted out.

"WHY?" Doom shouted back.

"BECAUSE..." Emerson head dropped as he closed his eyes "...because... I... like you."

A fog of silence descended over them as Doom considered the confession Emerson had finally made.

"Then why didn't you ever bother to tell me before?" she said coldly and walked out.

Okay, here's a weird little fact about my home.

South Australia is the only place worldwide where a milk drink outsells a cola product.

The amount of Farmers Union Ice Coffee drunk each year here equates to about 22.5 litres per resident. Such is the prevalence of this Ice Coffee in South Australia, that the locally produced third edition of the Mitsubishi Magna came with square cup holders to hold the carton.

Statistics show that Famers Union Iced Coffee outsold Coca-Cola at a ratio of almost 3:1 in South Australia.

Personally though, I hate coffee (yuk).