Michael replied.
“What is the biggest ship in the Navy, daddy?”
Michael had to consult his memory for a moment. “The biggest ship; let me think, that would have to be the Jupiter class assault carrier, there are only four of them in the entire E.D.F.”
“Do they have rail-cannons?” Theo asked.
“Yes; they are the only carrier that does, but much smaller than Delta base, they mainly carry fighters and bombers.”
“How many fighters do they carry?”
“Usually two fighter wings and two bomber wings; a wing makes up twelve craft. So they can carry 48 craft in all.”
The shuttle cut through the cloud cover. And the various towns and villages of Orion IV could be seen dotted around far below.
Ahead they could just make out the imposing form of the Orion Plaza. It consists of kilometers upon kilometers of shops, bars, restaurants, and a huge cinema complex, it was a giant mecca of capitalism and indulgence.
A short time later the shuttle touched down on landing pad B. And the pilot spoke into the internal comm. again. “Welcome to the Orion plaza, we have successfully touched down on landing pad B, please wait for the airlock to open sufficiently to allow exit.”
Michael and Jana released their safety harnesses, and helped Theo out of his. Together they headed through the airlock and out onto the landing pad itself, a gentle breeze buffeted them and there was a bright blue sky; with only a small smattering of white clouds.
Directly ahead of the landing pad there was a set of automatic doors with a large sign that read ‘entrance’. Michael, Jana, and Theo, as well as the other occupants of the shuttle made their way towards these doors.
The glass doors slid open and allowed them access to the complex. Once inside they immediately stepped through a security scanner; and then continued through to a small desk directly ahead of them which was manned by another woman.
“May I see your identification cards?” she asked again.
Michael handed her the cards once again, and she punched their details up on her terminal.
“Everything seems to be okay, the fare is 35 credits please.”
Michael handed the woman his payment card.
“Thank you,” the woman said, and slid it into the receiver.
The three of them then proceeded through a gate in the large open arrivals lounge, and entered another elevator directly ahead; this one was heavily crowded. Still the three of them managed to huddle together in the tight confines.
Michael asked an elderly looking man that was stood next to him. “Does this elevator go to the shopping complex?”
“It sure does,” the man replied in an odd old Texan voice.
“Thanks.”
The elevator began to speed them to their destination. It soon stopped and the large grey doors slid open, everyone hurried at once to get out. Jana almost lost Theo in the press of people.
The three of them continued to follow the crowd; Jana was all the while trying desperately to keep tight hold of Theo’s hand, for fear of losing him in the crowds that swarmed about this place.
Theo looked up at his mother, his little legs almost struggling to keep up.
“It is busy, isn’t it mummy?”
Jana looked down at him and smiled, “it’s always busy here.”
They had entered a wide hall, with tall grey coloured walls, there were four elevator stops all in a row. On a far corner of the hall there was a lit up map of the complex.
Straight ahead, a giant set of automatic glass doors opened out into the main shopping complex.
They continued to walk towards the main doors. Slowly and silently, the frosted glass doors opened out revealing the interior of the main complex.
When they stepped inside; it made the three of them gasp in awe of the magnitude of the structure.
The complex was completely enclosed by a magnificent arched glass roof; which was suspended from some three hundred feet above them. The two sides of the hall were made up of huge department stores of every type of brand conceivable, and towards the center of the complex smaller niche stores existed selling more specialized types of goods.
Further up the main complex, there were giant escalators that took hundreds of shoppers up to a second level; where more stores were located. The center of the ground floor was dominated by a massive indoor fountain that sprinkled water into a larger circular pool. In the pool smaller jets of water shot up into the air, the water jets were lit up by lights from within the pool. Due to refraction, they looked like giant arcs of coloured water until they themselves splashed back down into the pool.
Michael and Theo were stood, dazzled by the beauty of the fountain. Circling it were many restaurants, snack bars and bistro’s where people sat and ate while watching the fountain itself.
For the rest of that day they all went into and out of shops of all kinds. Clothes shops mainly for Jana and Theo; Michael looked in a few of the hardware stores that were dotted around, but never really noticed anything particularly interesting. Still; he was glad that Jana and Theo were enjoying themselves. Theo had never seen so many toyshops in one place before.
Jana laughed, “he’s like a kid in a sweetshop.”
“Yeah,” Michael laughed as much at the pun than at Theo.
They stopped at midday; at a small restaurant with a deep red sign above the door, reading “the Ballisaire.” They all ate well, and Michael had his favorite grilled steak.
Later that day they did some more shopping, before they began to think of heading back home. Michael was tired and weighed down with the shopping that Jana had bought. Secretly; he was wondering if it was particularly wise to bring Jana to the biggest shopping facility in the Orion system.
Theo was also beginning to get tired, but Michael suspected that it was more to start playing with his new toys than of anything else.
Later that evening they re-boarded the shuttle and it lifted off and took them all on the short journey back to Delta base; where they headed back to their apartment.
Theo immediately went to play with his new toys, but stopped short; as if wondering about something, turning back to Michael with a puzzled expression he asked. “What do they eat in the E.D. F daddy?”
Smiling; Michael said, “Depends on the length of the mission son; if it’s just a short mission it will be similar to what we have eaten today. If it’s a long mission; say four months or longer then ration packs would normally be used.”
Michael watched as Theo went to play with his new toys, he picked up the model of the star liner, and pretended to fly the ship, doing his best to mimic engine sounds, he emitted a whooshing sound as he glided the model through the air with his hand.
“You know, one day he’s going to be exactly like you,” Jana said.
“I suppose, he is so intent on following in my footsteps, that he doesn’t realize that space can be a very dangerous place.”
“He’s young, give him time.”
“You know Jana, I see a lot of myself in him when I was his age. Curious, full of questions, I thought space was just one big adventure. Surprising what you learn when you get older isn’t it.”
Michael turned towards the viewer, the news was on again. “I am Annika Raumov and welcome to the outer colony news service. The headlines today, the hull of one of the damaged mining vessels has been recovered, and a full investigation has begun into the damage the vessel sustained.”
The image showed the smashed hull of the mining ship, berthed in a small private dockyard in orbit of the Agemman colony. The hull of the small vessel was shredded in several places, a huge hole was blasted into its front, making the fore of the vessel virtually unrecognizable. Its engines were just blackened craters, silenced long ago.
Michael wondered about the images, they are no pirate attacks. Not unless they had a new super powerful
