Jupiter Three

They started increasing the gravity on board today. The plan is to increase it by about 0.3% Martian standard every day for the next 240 days until we reach about 1.79 Martian standard, or 0.675g. Apparently the TerraStar is working down from 1g at the same time.

People take it for granted, but gravity is a big deal when planning a mission like this. Earth standard is 1g, while Martian standard is about 0.38g. I mentioned before the impact this can have on sporting events, but there are other ramifications. For example, did you know that the average height for a male on Earth is only 1.78 meters? On Mars the average man is 1.85 meters. Our bone density is lower of course, and we tend to be thinner by comparison.

The gravity on the moons orbiting Jupiter is too diverse (and too low) for a good working environment, so they will be testing out these new artificial gravity generators developed on Luna (the moon orbiting Earth). The mission team had to compromise on a gravity level that made sense for Martians AND Terrestrials. The compromised at 0.675g. By increasing gravity on board slowly, they are hoping to allow our bone density to adjust. For the next several months, the exercise regime will be stricter for the same reason.

We were told not to expect to feel a difference for a while. They warned us that we may feel more fatigued, and objects may not react the way we expect when we move them.

Stop by the Messa Mesa tonight – we’ll be replaying the Hontoo finals on holo vid.

“Hey Derick, some woman was asking about you tonight.”

I was just coming into work, and Manuel, the second shift cook was eager to relay the news.

“Was she good looking?”

“Check her out for yourself, she’s over there watching the replay from last night.”

I glanced over at the holo vid, which was playing the same game it had been playing for the last two nights. It was a good game, but Verne Seven won by three, so most of us were disappointed. I walked over to see who the woman was, and was surprised to see the Lieutenant from the the security lock down. Sh*t.

“Lieutenant Alexander, I didn’t recognize you with your hair down,” I said as casually as I could.

She glanced over at me. “Crewman Ryan, you look different. Is it the pants?” She smiled as she turned her attention back to the game.

“Please, call me Derick. What brings you to the outer reaches of the ship?”

“I heard through the grapevine that this was the place to watch the Hontoo finals,” she replied, not taking her eyes off the game.

“Sure is. We have some great food, and you can’t beat Hontoo on holo vid.” Might as well play this out.

“I was noticing that. Did you know a holo vid went missing on level two?” She asked.

“I did not know that Lieutenant. There was nothing on the news broadcast about it.”

“There won’t be. Colonial Security is embarrassed by the whole incident. It seems the perpetrators stole it right from under the noses of a couple of our security officers.”

“Really?” I sat down on the seat next to her. “Interesting you would say that, because when CS did there search the other day, one of our monitors was broken. Maintenance brought this one to replace it.”

She turned her attention from the game and looked me right in the eyes. Hers were a sharp green, beautiful. “Funny you should mention that. Maintenance has no record of delivering a holo vid unit to this location. And the serial number of this one is the same as the one taken from the CS break room. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you Derick?” She smiled.

The gig was up. I sat back and looked at the gaming playing out. “Are you here to take it back?”

“I’m here to watch the game. CS doesn’t know where the unit is yet.”

“But your CS…”

“I’m off duty.”

I sat back to watch the game with her, not saying a word. After a few minutes, I asked “How long?”

“I would expect them to find it tomorrow night at the latest. They still have no idea who took it. Apparently there was a glitch in the video surveillance system. They have no id, though there were two eye witnesses who got a look at the perpetrators.”

It was time for me to get to work. “Thanks Lieutenant, for letting us keep the holo vid another night.”

“Janice. And I figured I owed you.”

“For?”

“Two things. The first, whoever ‘traded’ this unit for the broken one really brought Lieutenant Rebecca Johns down a notch. She’s a bit of a b%tch anyway, it will do her good.”

“You said two things?”

“Yes, I am afraid I was a little hard on you the other morning, making you stand in the hallway in your boxers. I could have let you put some pants on.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No I didn’t,” she replied with a smile.

I returned to my quarters this morning to a surprise. Not a pleasant one. As I opened the door, the automatic lights did not switch on. The first clue. The second was the impact of a blunt object to my solar plexus, forcing the air from my lungs. I was dragged into the room, in the dark , and the door was slammed shut as I was shoved into my bunk.

“You made a fool of me crewman.” The voice was feminine, harsh. It was followed by a kick to my ribs as I rolled on the floor. “No one makes a fool of me.” Something crashed down on my shoulder as I rolled. I think it was my favorite lamp. My only lamp.

There was not enough room in the small room for me to rise and protect myself at the same time, so I stayed where I was on the floor. I barrage of kicks struck me, mostly in my back, as I had rolled into a ball. I tried to protect my “tender” parts and my head at the same time, but it was difficult. I stream of expletives came from my attacker, which I shall not repeat here.

The last thing I heard as I lost consciousness was a less than feminine voice stating “We’ll be watching you.”

As I started to lose consciousness, I thought it won’t be the first time I awoke on the floor of my quarters, but damn this is gonna hurt when I wake up.

That afternoon I awoke to a knock on my door. I shouted something unintelligible, and stumbled to my feet. The lights in my quarters were working again, and I managed to swab at my face a couple of times with a wet cloth before the visitor started there pounding again.

I opened the door to Alexander, this time in full uniform. I wasn’t up to company, but I left the door open anyway as I walked back to the sink.

“What the hell happened to you?’” she asked.

“I fell out of bed,” I grunted, turning back to the sink. I wasn’t feeling friendly. Go figure. “What can I do for you Lieutenant? I assume from the uniform you are here on official business?”

“Sort of,” she said as she closed the door behind her. “Here let me help.” She took the cloth from my hands and soaked it in water from the sink. As she wiped the blood from my face she said, “I came to tell you that CS has ID’d you and your friend Benson. Johns was able to identify you from ship records, and the security guard on duty picked out Benson.”

“Ow!” I exclaimed as she hit a particularly sensitive spot. “I assume Johns was pissed?”

“How did you kn…, Oh, the bed. Damn her. Is your friend Carl OK?”

“Shit, Carl,” I exclaimed, grabbing my communicator. There was no answer, but he could have been on duty. I left him a message warning him about Johns. “So are you here to arrest me?”

“CS really wants to keep this quiet. They sent me to see if you would deal.”

“Deal? Deal for what? It’s a holo vid – if they want it back tell them to take it.” I walked over to my locker and pulled out a clean shirt.

“It’s not that easy Ryan. The holo vid was no big deal. CS is interested in how you managed to scramble the vid signal; and someone broke into the ship’s mainframe – we can’t let that go, its a felony.”

“How do you know someone was in the system? Is there proof?”

“Come on Ryan, we both know this required some manipulation of your security record.”

“And you think I am going to rat out some computer geek. Forget it.” I slipped off the bloody shirt and exposed several bruises. I found out later I have a cracked rib.

“Look, I can tell you how we scrambled the vid. If that’s not enough, you can just take me in now.” I held out my hands, wrists up and together. I paused for effect. “Of course then I’ll be forced to show the vid I captured on my laptop of Lieutenant Johns beating the shit out of me,” I lied. “Ask your superiors what that’s worth.”

That was cause for pause. We may have a way out of this yet, I thought.

I decided to press my advantage. “OK, tell them this is the deal – I tell you how we scrambled the vid, and you take the holo vid. You give us back our monitor, repaired. I destroy the vid of a Colonial Security officer ambushing a crewman – a crewman who will be a hero, by the way, if anyone on this level finds out he was in on the “trade”. You drop trying to find this mysterious geek of yours, who may or may not even exist. Is it a deal.”

She hesitated, but then looked me in the eye. “You can be a real SOB Ryan. I’ll have to run it up the pole, but think CS will go for it.”

When I came to work tonight, the holo vid was gone. Oh well, it was fun while it lasts. At least we got to see the finals in style, and our fourth monitor came back (repaired).

The “geek” and the “driver” have been warned to stay away from Carl and I for a week or two. I think Colonial Security will honor their deal, but it was best that we play it cool until there was a little distance between us and the “trade”. (Carl and I both suspect they already know about the “driver” and just don’t care, but Alexander made me cautious about the “geek”.)

I ended up seeing a Dr. this afternoon. She said there were two cracked ribs. She wrapped them, and was a little concerned because I would have to continue to exercise (gravity increase?) in spite of the injury. I managed to get a few pains pills out of her because of this.

She asked me how it happened, and when I told her I fell out of bed, she laughed, though skeptically. I guess on a long journey like this the doctors get used to people “falling out of bed” once in a while. She warned me about the hazards of letting my bed having access to any private stock I might be hiding and let me go.

Lieutenant Johns concerns me a little. Can anyone say “wacko”? I thought they screened everyone on this boat, but I am starting to wonder if a few of them aren’t on this trip just to get them off Mars. I keep looking over my shoulder anyway.

Stop by tonight. The service will be a little slower, but that will only improve the taste of the Sylvilagus in Tarragon we are serving.

Bon A Petite!