Contact

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

December 11th, 2157

Two shuttles began to faerie passengers from the ship to the station.  It was only a short wait before Mike led Logan onto a shuttle and they began the trip.  The shuttles were large and designed to transport either passengers or cargo.  Logan noticed that the seats could be collapsed down and folded flush with the floor.

A communications link was built into the arm of his chair.  Activating it, he then sinked his DNAC up to it.  He now had limited "guest" access to the ships computer.  Twelve seconds later and Logan was looking at the approaching station.

"Ha," Logan was embarrassed as he realized that not only did he laugh out loud, but also how loud it was in the quiet shuttle.

Mike glanced at Logan's holo and then at Logan himself.  "What's so funny?"  Mike asked with a low tone.

"Oh, it's nothing.  I was just looking at the station."  Logan paused for a moment trying to overcome his embarrassment.  "It's not complete, and i had a stupid thought."  Logan trailed off hoping that would be the end of it.

After a moment Mike inquired, "Which was?"

"Well, the station is still being built, so i thought it was as if a socialite invited all of their rich friends over for a dinner party.  But then the socialite realized that they didn't have a house for the party.  So instead of delaying the party or canceling it, they brought in a huge construction crew to build it.  Only the crew was still working when the guests arrived."  Logan paused once again.  "That's what this feels like."

Mike squinted his eyes in thought, and looked back to the holo projecting the station.  Nodded his head slightly and then sat back in his chair with out a word.

Returning to the holo, Logan checked the numbers counting down at the top of the screen.  They were approaching one of the many stations air locks.  The shuttle began to change it's trajectory to match the rotation of the station.  Shaped like a giant ring the station spun giving an artificial gravity inside the station.

It wasn't long before the shuttle had matched the rotation of the station and began to carefully close the distance.  With no noise and almost no noticeable movement, the shuttle docked with the station.  The air locks cycled followed by the opening of the doors leading into the stations interior.

Logan and Mike stood up and filed behind a knot of people waiting their turn to enter the station.  Moving through the air lock, Logan noticed a sign painted on the wall.  It read; Callisto Residential Station Airlock 12e.  It struck Logan that this station was brand new, built for what ever purpose, he still wasn't aware of.  The shipyard was probably assembled here to build this station.

Keeping close to Mike, Logan turned down one corridor after another.  It didn't take long before he was absolutely sure that he couldn't find his way back to the same air lock.  The group began to slow as it approached what looked like a security point.

A guard was trying to calm down an elderly looking man with white hair.  A second guard stood back a few steps from the first, with a hand on the hilt of what looked like a riot stick.  The old man was waving his arms, "The agreement was that i would meet with him.  That is what we both agreed to!"

The guard was speaking much quieter and Logan couldn't understand what he was saying.  The group of people that Logan was in stopped well short of the confrontation and waited for a conclusion.  The old man looked as if he were about to start screaming again when an NBS who was standing next to him reached over and placed one of it's large hands on the old man's chest.  A few seconds latter and the old man and NBS turned and began to walk towards and then pass Logan's group.