The view was incredible. Even though it wasn’t Hayley’s first time in space, nor her first time visiting another planet, it was her first visit to Vega IV of the Vega system. The planet expanded around the transport craft she and number of others occupied. After the usual bout of jump sickness passed following the exit through the Vega system’s jumpgate, Hayley was able to press her head against the transparent steel passenger window and look upon the beautiful blue and green marble below them.
Vega IV. In the nearly one hundred years of human interstellar space exploration, it was the only world that even came close to Earth. Called a ‘Mini-Earth’ by some, the planet was roughly three quarters the size of Earth, or slightly smaller than Mars, possessing nearly one and a half times Earth’s gravity and was estimated to be about a billion years younger than Earth. Looking down upon it now, slowly growing larger as the transport descended towards its surface, Hayley found it almost surreal to see a planet that looked so much like earth, but had none of the familiar continental formations. Instead, Vega IV had two main continents, each taking up a little over half of the planet’s entire surface and separated by two oceans.
Hayley could feel a surge of excitement fill her body. There was something about visiting a new world that always got her revved up. In her relatively short life she’d been to nearly a dozen worlds. She’d seen Mars, Centauri Prime, Sirius V and Luyten III just to name a few. Most of those worlds all had something in common however- their colonies were all fully enclosed. Those planets did not have breathable atmosphere, and while she’d managed to do some exploration in an environmental suit on some of those worlds, it just wasn’t the same as actually breathing in alien air, and feeling alien soil beneath your bare feet. This was going to be an experience of a lifetime.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be arriving in New Liberty in approximately ten minutes. Please ensure your safety harnesses are on, we’ll be hitting atmosphere in three minutes."
Hayley could feel her heart begin to beat a little faster now the closer they got. Seated just to the left of her was an older woman who seemed rather nervous. Obviously not a spacer. Not like her. She had to grin at herself. She was a spacer, regardless of what her actual profession was. She’d been in space more times than most early astronauts had ever been, and had been on more distant planets than any of them had been. The woman noticed Hayley’s glance, offering her a small smile as the transport hit turbulence breaking through the planet’s outer atmosphere.
The young, short brown haired girl returned the smile before turning her attention back outside of her window and watching with unblinking eyes as flames licked the outside of the hull for several seconds while the ship passed through the upper thermosphere. The turbulence grew in intensity for several seconds while the ship’s internal dampening system automatically readjusted for atmospheric entry. Within two minutes they’d passed into the mesosphere and were now well within the planet’s gravity field. Everyone inside the shuttle breathed a sigh as their bodies suddenly became a few pounds heavier thanks to the slight increase in gravimetric pressure.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Vega IV. Landing will commence in six minutes."
Pressing her face against the window again, Hayley stared out in awe at the new world below her. Soaring through cloudy blue skies, she would have sworn she was back home on Earth. The closer they neared the surface, the more difficult it was for her to distinguish between the two worlds. Passing by a cluster of snow covered high mountain peaks the ship soon emerged over a rather flat yellowish brown region; a place that looked quite similar to the prairie region of her own homeland. She knew the New Liberty colonists had settled in the less fertile area of the planet following the schism that precipitated the Vega Cold War. The original colony, located on the opposite continent, resided in the more resource rich part of the planet. Unfortunately, the original colony, now calling itself the Aegean Republic, had closed its borders some years ago.
The New Liberty colony soon appeared below. Made up mostly of modular mobile housing units, the colony looked very much like most newer colonies looked – a disorganized gaggle of temporary structures encircling one or two permanent structures, usually the headquarter of whichever company or organization had commissioned the colony. The difference here was the New Liberty colony was vast. The original New Liberty colonists had once been citizens of the Aegean Colony. However, following the colony’s successful bid for independence from the Terran Federation, many disgruntled and disenfranchised colonists decided to leave the Aegean Colony in order to create their own, Federation affiliated one on the other side of the planet.
Now, thirty years after the so-called ‘Vega Colonial Schism’ New Liberty was just under two million colonists strong.
From the sky, New Liberty appeared similar to what Hayley figured ancient Persia must have looked like. Hundreds of small buildings surrounding a few larger ones. The colony seemed to be divided up into neighborhoods, each neighborhood centralized around one of a few tower structures. Each tower stood between 30 to 40 stories high and had that sterile metallic giant headstone look that was common of most modern Federation architecture.
The spaceport came into view. Built around a pair of long steel runways, the spaceport was little more than a cluster of industrial-looking structures that ran along the runway, and included four large square hangars, each large enough to fit a typical commercial transport craft, similar to the one Hayley was on that very moment. Other space faring vehicles occupied space on the tarmac, including Federation military aircraft.
With a jolt, the transport’s forward momentum ceased as it came to a hovering stop directly above the spaceport. Slowly, the vessel began its descent. Hayley kept her eyes outside of the ship, watching as they dipped below the buildings surrounding the spaceport, finally coming to a soft touchdown. The transport taxied to the end of the runway before turning onto the holding tarmac, coming to a complete stop not far from an awaiting mob of people. The crowd, there had to have been at least a thousand or more, were held back by security and barricades.
"Oh my..." the woman seated next to Hayley said as she stared out the window, noticing the crowd. "There must be a celebrity aboard." Hayley smiled sheepishly and nodded her head. "Yeah...I wonder who?"
"Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve arrived. Please ensure you have all of your carry on luggage with you before departing the spacecraft. On behalf of Universal Transport, we thank you and hope you have a pleasant day."
Hayley unlocked her harness and rose to her feet, tugging on her rather form fitting gray turtleneck sweater, smoothening the wrinkles that had formed after the past two hours sitting. She followed the line of passengers down the aisle between the rows of seats, feeling the cool alien air pouring in from the open access hatch. She inhaled deeply and felt a smile bloom on her face. While the scent of engine exhaust permeated, Hayley knew she was breathing in the air of a new world. As she got to the head of the line, emerging at the top of the deployed ramp, her senses were almost overwhelmed by an array of new stimuli all at once. The cool air on her exposed skin, the beautiful blue sunlit sky, the sight of the various structures and people surrounding her, the smells of a dozen unfamiliar odors and scents, the sound of a roaring crowd, cheering and chanting. Chanting her name.
"Ladies and gentlemen of New Liberty!" a man holding a bullhorn hollered at the crowd. "Give it up for Ms. Hayley Komit!!"
The crowd went into a frenzy and for a brief instant Hayley felt a tinge of embarrassment when the woman she’d been sitting next to glared back at her with a rather confounded look on her face. She supposed it was kind of a rotten thing of her not to tell the lady who she was. Perhaps there was a little bit of conceit there, her just figuring everyone in known space should have known who she was by now. As she stepped down the ramp, her attention turned to the crowd. Men, women, old and young. Hayley’s appeal was universal. In the five years since she’d been on the scene, she had two number one records, and her celebrity had skyrocketed following her Intergalactic Tour. She’d visited every single major Federation colony on that tour, following it up with a thirty-city tour on Earth. She was the first singer to ever perform on more than three planets. That distinction alone had put her on the map as arguably one of the greatest music icons of the past two hundred years, nevermind the music she put out. Not bad for a girl from Montreal, she thought to herself with a smile on her face.
She took time to meet with the crowd, signing autographs as she moved along the barricade. She even took the opportunity to thank the security personnel standing at regular intervals along the barricades. She could tell they appreciated the small gesture as they all beamed wide smiles at her when she spoke to them.
Hayley was absolutely stunned at how many people there were waiting for her. This was the kind of treatment she had come accustomed to on Earth, but never on a colony world. Vega IV was special however. The only near Earth planet discovered so far, people were attracted to like moths to a flame. The promise of a new life in serene natural surroundings, away from the congested super metropolises that now covered Earth’s surface, and with the highly valuable ore Newtonium on the planet, Vega IV was generating the kind of interest that the Yukon and Alaska experienced during the days of the Gold Rush in the early 19th century. In the seventy-five years since the planet’s original discovery, nearly eight million people called Vega IV home, making it the single largest and profitable colony world outside of Sol system.
After several minutes of meeting with some of her adoring fans, Hayley was interdicted by the man with the bullhorn; her manager. Max Trainor gave her that look he always gave her whenever she was behind schedule with something, as if telling her to ‘get a move on’. She’d only ever let him get away with it though. If anyone else, her publicist, her band, anyone attempted to push her, she’d snap back on them in a heartbeat. Max had been her manager for just shy of two years, but he’d already proven himself better at keeping a leash on her than her former manager. And she appreciated that. He didn’t have a problem with getting her back on schedule, even if it meant physically pulling her away from a crowd or a fan. She’d snapped at him a few times for doing it, but ultimately she knew he only had her best interest in mind.
She nodded in response to the look he gave her, and followed him and his security entourage down the path between the rows of barricades keeping the gathering crowd separated. At the end of the path was an awaiting all terrain luxury vehicle. Similar to an SUV, it had a large cab that could fit eight people with large wheels that were designed to navigate through the colony’s unpaved streets and beyond. Before entering the vehicle, Hayley turned toward the crowd one last time, and blew a kiss toward them, eliciting a raucous cheer. For a moment, it looked as though the crowds were going to overwhelm the security forces, but they held steady.
With a smile, she lowered herself into the back seat following her manager and followed after by her publicist. The driver closed the door behind them then quickly rounded the vehicle to the front and climbed in.
"Wow," Hayley shook her head in disbelief as the vehicle started moving, keeping her eyes on the crowd as several of them broke through the barricades and started running for the vehicle. "That was crazy! I didn’t think there’d be that many people waiting for me."
"You think that’s crazy..." Max turned to the short brown haired girl. "Wait until tonight. Your show’s been sold out for three months. Both of them. Hell, your first show was sold out within the first hour that tickets were available."
Hayley sat back in the vehicle’s comfortable upholstery. "Thanks for the intro by the way. Knowing you, you probably had them going crazy for the past few hours."
Max grinned. "Well, the first group of fans showed up around 0520 local time. I had to be there. Oh, which reminds me, you’re on Vega time now. The planet goes by a 22-hour clock. You probably notice that the air’s a little cool...well, technically we’re in this hemisphere’s autumn cycle. Daytime temperatures usually range from around 5 to 15 degrees Celsius. Nighttime goes down to about minus 10. They’re expecting snow tomorrow."
A wide grin blossomed on Hayley’s face. "It snows here?"
"Yeah, a lot," Max nodded. "Lots of precipitation on this planet. Rains half the time during the day, snows half the time during the night." "Reminds me of winters back home."
"Just remember, we’re on a bit of a tight schedule," Hayley’s publicist intoned. "We’ve got ten hours before the show, but that doesn’t give you much time to dawdle. Once we’re at the hotel, you can organize your belongings, figure out what outfit you want to wear for the show, then we have to get to the auditorium so we can set up and have a rehearsal. Then we need to do your hair, makeup...have you eaten yet?"
"No, I just woke up about three hours ago. I didn’t have time to..."
"Then we’ll get you something at the hotel. No red meat though, because it’ll make you fatigued, and we have a long day ahead of us."
Hayley sighed heavily, throwing her head back against her seat’s backrest. "I’d kill for a hamburger and fries." "After the show, my treat," said Max, giving Hayley’s nylon covered leg a pat. "And hey, don’t worry about exercise. The planet has nearly one and a half times Earth’s gravity, so you’ll be working out just walking. Like wearing a fifty pound rucksack."
"Still a lot better than on Zeta 2 Reticuli Delta," Hayley glanced at Max with a grin. "I felt like I weighted about three hundred pounds on that planet...that show was horrible! I just stood there like a statue as I sung...and I was still sweating bullets."
Max chuckled. "I think you lost about ten pounds that night. Not to mention the planet was hotter than hell. Just our luck that their air circulation systems were undergoing maintenance."
The all-terrain luxury vehicle wound its way through the rough, uneven dirt roads that formed a web work of interconnecting paths between the various structures that comprised the colony. Most of the structures were alike- the standard one or two story boxy-shaped modular structures. Each unit was about the length of a standard rail container and about twice as wide. The two story ones were about half the size in length. The interiors could be altered the serve different functions. Most were simply used as inexpensive housing. People would put up temporary walls inside, then fill it with furnishings, appliances and electronics. Each unit could further be connected to another unit, either by stacking or lining up. Some had created very elaborate configurations, consisting of a dozen or more units.
After a twenty-minute journey, the vehicle finally pulled up to a unique structure; one of the few permanent buildings located within the colony. It was unique for a few reasons. At its base it was quite narrow, no wider than one of the temporary structures. By the second floor however, it expanded outward and got narrower the higher up the building one got. Hayley’s instant impression of the building was as if it were some kind of towering obelisk.
The group disembarked and waited a few moments for the rest of the band to show up before funneling into the hotel. Check in was a simple process as they’d had their reservations finalized months in advance. The hotel staff was more than courteous in tending to Hayley’s luggage, which arrived shortly after she did. When she finally arrived in her room on the 12th floor, she was pleased by its size, although a little put off by its Spartan décor and rather typically sterile aesthetic. Most Federation structures had that look about them, both internally and externally. White floors, white walls, white ceiling with a synthetic veneer that made everything look like polished ceramic or plastic.
A large flat-screen viewer occupied a section of one wall; presently it was cycling through various works of classical art. Its ultra-hi resolution display made each work of art appear as if it was really hanging off the wall. The fact that the screen was bordered by a wooden picture frame simply added to the illusion.
After putting away her luggage, Hayley settled herself inside the common room, allowing her body to sink into the soft cushions of the solitary loveseat set in the center of the room and flanked by a pair of identical looking easy chairs, all surrounding a glass coffee table. Hayley turned her attention to the large view screen on the wall in front of her.
"Viewer. Display menu."
The image on the screen shifted from the paintings to a virtual menu that allowed for interactions. Using her hands, she stimulated the screen’s external motion sensors, and scrolled down the menu. After a thorough inspection of the menu items, she settled on a chicken salad wrap, water and a cheese plate. She vocalized her order, a message appearing on the screen a moment later saying ‘Order Accepted’.
Barely a second after the order went thorough her room’s door chime went off. She winced in surprise, thinking there was no way they could have gotten her order so fast. Hopping to her feet, she sauntered over to the door, pressing her palm against the access plate. The door slid open with an airy whoosh, her manager standing on the other side.
Wordlessly, Max took one step into the suite, his eyes intently focused on the young woman before him. As the door slid shut, the two lunged at each other, throwing their arms around one another’s bodies and madly pushing their lips together. Max’s hand ran up under Hayley’s sweater and desperately felt around for her supple breasts, finally getting a hold of one and giving it a squeeze as their tongues played around in each others mouths. Max guided Hayley to the nearby loveseat, Hayley falling back first into it while Max followed her in. It’d been days since she had felt his embrace and vice versa. The tour planning had kept them apart with Max doing a lot of the running around, making final inspections of the venue, getting to know the planet a little better, ensuring the local authority were well informed of everything that was happening. Meanwhile, Hayley had been back on earth, preparing for the start of yet another tour. Exercising her vocal chords. Practicing new dance routines. Working things out with her band. All in all, in the past month Hayley and Max had only seen each other a handful of times. Things had gotten to the breaking point. Now, all that tension melted away as they kissed each other passionately, grinded their bodies against one another’s and studied the various nuances of the other’s neither regions with their hands. When the doorbell rang again some minutes later, Hayley had forgotten all about the lunch she’d ordered. Down to her bra and panties at that point, she quickly slid out from under Max much to his annoyance.
"Shit...I forgot I ordered food," she whispered as she quickly lifted her black skirt back up, fastening it around her waist with a button. She grabbed the sweater she’d thrown across the room and quickly stuffed herself into it before tending to the door.
Max rolled off the loveseat, picked up his pants and shirt from the floor and hurried into the bathroom as Hayley greeted the hotel server. After tipping him through a biometric thumbprint scan, she stepped back into the room carrying her lunch trey. "He’s gone."
Max peeked out of the bathroom first before heaving a sigh and stepping out into the common room. "Damn, this sneaking around shit is getting old."
Hayley offered a shrug as she lowered herself onto one of the easy chairs. "Don’t blame me, you were the one who said we should keep our relationship a secret. I wanted to tell everyone, but you said..."
"I said it’d hurt your career if everyone knew you had a boyfriend," Max rolled his eyes, as he wandered back over to the loveseat and dropped down onto it. "Actually, my predecessor said that...he was right of course, but it still doesn’t make it suck any less."
Hayley took a small sampling bite of her wrap, nodding her head approvingly at its agreeable taste. "Well, you’re the manager. Supposedly you know what’s best."
Max smirked as he glanced at the younger girl. "Believe me Hayley, I’d like nothing better than to tell everyone I’m dating one of the greatest singers of our time...not to mention one of the sexiest."
She glanced at him giving him a wink.
"But the tabloids would have a field day," Max shook his head, reaching for the glass of water that came with Hayley’s food and taking a sip. "First come the accusations that you fired your old manager for me, just because we’re dating...then comes the whole age issue."
"C’mon, you’re only ten years older than me," she said between bites. "Back in the 20th century there was another famous singer from Quebec who ended marrying her manager, and they were like twenty years apart."
"You French girls...bunch of grave robbers," Max chuckled.
"And you Irish boys are just a bunch of cradle robbers," she retorted with a snicker.
Max could only shrug and grin sheepishly at the accusation. "So...what you were saying before about your manager knowing best...does that mean you’ve decided not to attempt to get into the Aegean colony?"
Hayley paused and stared at Max in silence for a handful of seconds. She knew he had her well-being in mind by trying to dissuade her from going, but that’s not what this whole tour was about. Part of her whole reason for coming to Vega IV on her ‘Viva New Vega’ tour was to make people aware of what was really going on in the Aegean Republic. It was well documented that their semi-autocratic oligarchy government was essentially a totalitarian regime. Despite claiming themselves a ‘Republic’ they were a dictatorship, ruled with an iron fist by a Supreme Chancellor and his Administrative Council. From high atop their towering arcologies, the Council controlled everything. They knew everything. They saw everything and would punish anyone and everyone for even the smallest infraction. Most disturbing however was the manner in which they maintained order and control. A secret police force known as the Directorate of Internal Security was responsible for crime prevention, but from what Hayley had read of them, they were more like thugs- hired muscle for the Council who excelled at getting rid of anything and anyone that contravened with the Council’s ideals and agendas. While executions were few and far between, the manner in which they imprisoned those found guilty of crimes was truly horrifying. While there was little information on the process or method, the Republic turned their prisoners into walking, self-contained prisons. Individuals were stripped of their identities and made to wear special suits that essentially took away their individuality- made them all appear nearly identical, concealing their heads with helmets and locking their bodies into black skintight bodysuits. These individuals, known as Exiles, would then be released into the wild, left to shamble aimlessly for the duration of their sentence...sometimes months...sometimes years. It was a horrifying prospect, and one that served well to keep the population in line. But Hayley still wanted to see it all for herself. She wanted to witness the atrocities so she could bring awareness back to the rest of the Federation who were essentially allowing these activities to go on, unobserved and unpunished.
"I still plan on going," Hayley admitted at last after a long contemplative pause.
"Hayley..."
"Max, don’t try to talk me out of it," she stared at him through dark narrowed eyes. "This is the whole reason I’m doing this thing. People need to know what’s going on behind those walls. People are suffering on this planet and half the Federation doesn’t even know or care. Max, I didn’t become a singer just because I like singing...I knew if I became a singer I could get a message across to people. Well, I need to get this one across."
Max sighed and shook his head. "You don’t know what those people will do to you though. You know they’ve cut off all contact with the Federation and New Liberty? They’ve closed their borders, and they consider anyone from New Liberty a traitor. How do you think they’ll feel about you when you wind up on their doorstep?"
"I don’t care. I’m a Federation citizen. Even if they arrest me for anything, they’ll have to extradite me. They can’t legally keep a Federation citizen locked up."
"Christ Hayley, you don’t know what you’re talking about," Max shot to his feet, and marched over to the window, staring out into the city stretching out below him. "If the rumors about that place are true, they can come up with any law they want. They don’t care if you’re a Federation citizen. They’ll charge you and find a way to make it stick, I guarantee."
"Then I guess I’ll just have to not get caught," Hayley smirked. "And hope if I do, my boyfriend will be there to get me out."
Max glanced back at her. "You’re out of your mind Hayley," he sighed and turned toward her. "Look, we’ve got enough on our plate as it is. Lets just concentrate on getting through tonight and tomorrow night. Maybe after you’ve been here for a few days you’ll come to your senses."
Hayley just nodded, deciding to keep her next thoughts to herself. Not likely...