The Optimum Project

Chapter 2

Omega
The city of Depro was considered small compared to the other ports in the galaxy, but it was the cheapest for everything. From docking fees to parts for fusion cores, clothing to weapons, the whole nine yards. As I walked down the semi-crowded street I took in the sights; Although it was summer back on Earth, the particular planet that Depro occupied, Partika, had no true seasons, and an always pink sky dominated the day. While earth's summer could be swelteringly hot, the temperatures were always around 75° on Partika, and at night the temperature never dropped below 65°. While winters on earth were around 30s-40s, Partika's winters were still in the 60s, the planet was also popularly known as Eden due to its nice weather and beautiful flora and fauna.

I pulled myself away from my thoughts, or should I say someone slammed me away from them. I cursed quietly to myself as the culprit jogged off farther down the road, I was cursing at him less then I was cursing at myself, I was an engineer on my fathers ship, the Selena, and as engineer I had to be constantly aware, always paying attention. I read plenty of engineering books and every one of them put a bunch of emphasis on this point, saying that plenty of ships have been destroyed simply because the engineer didn't notice a leaking pipe or a damaged uranium power cell. I continued walking, letting my eyes flick back and forth over the faces of the people, not really taking in the details but recognizing that they were there. I had become a master at this after a year or two, paying attention to what's present but allowing my mind to wander freely. I idly reached up and grabbed at the necklace that hung around my neck, a gear about the size of a watch face, with three smaller gears rotating around a fixed shaft in the middle, the last thing I had from my mother.

As I entered the bustling port I looked for my father and wondered what we would be shipping. Often times it was just microchips or clothing, but we occasionally get military shipments to off planet bases. Most of the time the stuff we shipped was just food and other gear but one time we hauled some space bikes. I looked around and noticed one leaning against a warehouse building, but soon realized it wasn't military-grade, this one had cracked hover coils and the frame was rusted in places. I sighed at its condition, knowing it was just one of the dock workers bikes. I walked toward the shipment office. I had a pretty good bet my father was probably offering his services and describing the dimensions of the Selena's cargo hold.

I walked in and saw him talking to one of the ladies at the far end of the Counter, and knowing better than to go over there and interrupt I went over to the lounge and watched the news. There was nothing of particular interest on, a meteor storm was going to pass the planet in a day or two, but we would be long gone by the time that hit. I felt a hand ruffle my spiked black hair and I looked up. My dad towered above me, a tall but well muscled man, with black hair like mine and light brown eyes, unlike my sharp and piercing blue ones; he was really popular with the ladies.

"Okay, well, that nice lady over there," he turned and pointed to the woman I saw him talking to earlier, "was kind enough to grant us a shipment to the Omega System."

I raised my eyebrows, catching onto the implications of what he just said. The Omega System was a militarized system of four planets orbiting a sun. Each planet had a certain duty, one was a Barracks and entertainment area, while the rest was classified information. Although some people speculate that one is a lab planet, another is weapons testing and development and the last is ship construction. I sat up and as we walked out he leaned over and whispered, "We're getting paid triple what we usually make." I smiled and we walked toward the warehouse to pickup our shipment.