Timoshenko admired the captain. She was capable, intelligent, even-handed whenever a dispute arose, and when necessary she could peel four layers of skin off a man with language that would have made her mother faint.
“X minus thirty seconds,” said the computer’s synthesized voice.
Timoshenko eyed his console. Every single icon was in the green.
“Ignite the thrusters on my mark,” said Captain Nicholson.
“Roger,” the first mate replied.
Normally Timoshenko would have sneered at her insistence on human control. The four of them knew perfectly well that the computers actually ran the propulsion system. This lumbering oversized sewer pipe would be pushed out of lunar orbit at precisely the right instant even if none of them were on the bridge. But the captain kept the old traditions, and even Timoshenko — normally as dour and scornful as a haughty, patronizing academic — respected the old lady for it.
The computer said, “Ignition in five seconds, four … three … two…”
“Fire thrusters,” the captain said.
Timoshenko grinned as his console showed the computer command and the human action taking place at the same instant.
The thrusters fired. Goddard broke out of lunar orbit and began its long flight path to the planet Saturn.
Even with Duncan Drive fusion engines, an object as massive as the Goddard habitat does not flit through the solar system the way passenger carriers or even automated ore haulers do.
Part of the problem is sheer mass. At more than a hundred thousand tons, the habitat is equal to a whole fleet of interplanetary ships. To push the habitat to an acceleration of even one-tenth g would require enormous thrust and therefore a bankrupting amount of fusion fuel.
Yet the major problem is the spin-induced gravity inside the habitat. A major acceleration from rocket thrust would turn the world inside the cylinder topsy-turvy. Instead of feeling a gentle Earthlike pull “downward” the inhabitants would also sense an acceleration pushing them in the direction of the rocket thrust. Life within the habitat would become difficult, even weird. It would feel to the inhabitants as if they were constantly struggling uphill, or traipsing downhill, even when walking on normal-looking flat ground.
So Goddard accelerated away from the Moon at a leisurely pace, a minute fraction of a g. The force went unnoticed by the ten thousand inhabitants, although it was closely monitored by the habitat’s small crew of propulsion engineers.
It would take fourteen months to reach the vicinity of Jupiter, giant of the solar system. There Goddard would replenish its fusion fuels, isotopes of hydrogen and helium delved from Jupiter’s deep, turbulent atmosphere by automated skimmers operated from the space station in orbit around the enormous planet. Jupiter’s massive gravity would also impart a slight extra boost to the habitat as it swung past.
Eleven months after the Jupiter encounter, Goddard would slip into orbit around ringed Saturn. By then, more than two years after departing the Earth/Moon vicinity, anthropologist James Wilmot expected the subjects of his experiment would be ready to form the political systems and personal bonds of a new society. He wondered what form that society would take.
Malcolm Eberly already knew.
DEPARTURE PLUS THREE DAYS
The great advantage of having a scientist in charge of the habitat, thought Malcolm Eberly, is that scientists are so trustingly naïve. They depend on honesty in their work, which leads them to behave honestly even outside their sphere of expertise. In turn, this makes them believe that those they associate with are honest, as well.
Eberly laughed aloud as he reviewed his plans for the day. It’s time to start things in motion. Now that we’re on our way, it’s time to start these people looking to me as their natural leader.
And who better to begin with than Holly? he thought. My newborn. She had been sulky, pouting, since he had been so curt with her at the breakout ceremony. He saw that his morning’s messages included one from her; she had called him twice yesterday, as well. Ah well, he told himself, time to make her smile again.
He told the phone to locate her. The holographic image that appeared above his desktop showed that she was in her office, working.
As soon as she recognized Eberly’s face her expression lit up with hope, expectation.
“Holly, if you have a moment, could you come to my office, please?” he asked pleasantly.
She said, “I’ll be there f-t-l!”
Eff-tee-ell? Eberly wondered as her image winked out. What could — Ah! Faster than light. One of her little bits of slang.
He heard her tap on his door, light and timid.
Let her wait, he said to himself. Just long enough to make her worry a bit. He sensed her fidgeting uncertainly outside his door.
When at last she tapped again he called, “Enter.”
Holly wasn’t pouting as she stepped into Eberly’s office. Instead, she looked apprehensive, almost afraid.
Eberly got to his feet and gestured to the chair in front of his desk. “Sit down, Holly. Please.”
She perched on the chair like a little bird ready to take flight at the slightest danger. Eberly sat down and said nothing for a few moments, studying her. Holly was wearing a forest green tunic over form-fitting tights of a slightly lighter green. No rings or other jewelry except for the studs in her earlobes. Diamonds, he saw. Since the Asteroid Belt had been opened to mining, gemstones were becoming commonplace. At least she’s taken off that silly decal on her forehead, Eberly noted. She’s rather attractive, really, he thought. Some men find dark skin exotic. Not much of a figure, but she’s got good long legs. Should I find someone to get her involved romantically? No, he concluded, I want her attention focused on me, for now.
He made a slow smile for her. “I hurt you, didn’t I?”
Holly’s eyes went wide with surprise.
“I didn’t mean to. Sometimes I become so wrapped up in my work that I forget the people around me have feelings.” With a sigh, he continued, “I’m truly sorry. It was thoughtless of me.”
Her expression bloomed like a flower in the sunshine. “I shouldn’t be such a pup, Malcolm. I just couldn’t help it. I wanted to be beside you at the ceremony and—”
“And I let you down.”
“No!” she said immediately. “It was my own dimdumb fault. I should’ve known better. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble.”
Eberly leaned back in his comfortable chair and gave her his patient fatherly smile. How easily she’s maneuvered, he thought. She’s apologizing to me.
“I mean,” Holy was prattling on, “I know you’ve got lots to do and all the responsibilities for the whole habitat’s human resources and all that and I shouldn’t have expected you to take time out and stand around watching the ridic’ ceremonies with me like some schoolkid at commencement or something…”
Her voice wound down like a toy running out of battery power.
Eberly replaced his smile with a concerned expression. “Very well, Holly. It’s over and done with. Forgotten.”
She nodded happily.
“I have an assignment for you, if you can find the time to work on it.”
“I’ll make the time!”
“Wonderful.” He smiled again, the pleased, grateful smile.
“What’s the assignment?”
He called up the habitat’s ground plan and projected it against the bare wall. Holly saw the villages, the parks and farmlands and orchards, the offices and workshops and factory complexes, all neatly laid out and connected by paths for pedestrians and electric motorbikes.
“This is our home now,” Eberly said. “We’re going to be living here for at least five years. Some of us — many of us — will spend the rest of our lives here.”