Black Star

Chapter Two

Stomachs turned a little as there was another tiny adjustment roll and then silence once more. Outside the Earth's atmosphere, the Sun appeared less significant than normal against the blackness of space, as if it was just another star only bigger. Of course, that was exactly what it was, but the other stars looked different too. They had lost their familiar twinkle when viewed from high above the Earth's atmosphere; instead, they were very defined as clear glowing lights. 

After a while, an object caught Maxtor's attention, but there was no sense of perspective up here. It shone like a star but was brighter and more defined. It looked very small but was obviously some distance away and was probably the Lazarus. The commander, like everyone else, knew what to expect and how the Lazarus looked. They would have absorbed all the media, taken the Virtual World tours and had been through the very unpleasant docking procedure. Each time he did it, he wished he hadn't, but in honesty, it would help make the unpleasantness a little more familiar. 

There was a certain amount of surprise expressed in the conversations he overheard this was their first meeting. They were all the inaugural members of the drop crew. In the distance and unnoticed to the others, the incredible form of the Lazarus space cruiser drew closer.

It was a huge rotating monolith, designed to take several hundred people to Mars in relative luxury. The ship itself was like a huge rotating tin can with the top and bottom missing, albeit it was a 'can' almost a kilometre in diameter with a skin over 20 meters thick. Instead, there were sets of spokes at either end and the centre held the propellant drive devices. 

For the coming 84 days, the crew and passengers would live on the inner surface of its skin, held there by its spin. Once aboard, they would be able to function in relative normality during the trip. The ship did not run on 1G as on Earth but was good enough for comfort, so they were told. It was this reason that the actual arrival and docking procedure would be somewhat of a thrill ride, for some at least. They had all experienced it in V-World, and the reality would be no different, as long as nothing went wrong, that is.

The commander leaned back in his chair and drifted off to sleep with the conversations in the room intruding into his dreams. He literally did drift off as his arms and straggly hair floated in the weightless environment. In his semi-conscious state, he laughed at the thought of Seiren with long hair. Tentacles floating around like some mythical creature. The realisation hit him that may have been the reason for her impromptu haircut. 

The shuttle had manoeuvred itself into a position some 150 kilometres in front of the Lazarus at a slower speed. Whilst the commander slept, the glowing silver spec he had observed grew in size as it gained on the shuttle. By the time it caught up, its incredible size was apparent to everyone. The tiny shuttle was dwarfed by the huge silver spinning monolith approaching. The booster rockets caused the shuttle to shift and wake him from his slumber. His stomach turned over at the very thought of what they were about to do. He had been informed there was no real danger as the docking process was fully A.I. automated, but there was little comfort in that.

The shuttle turned to point directly at the Lazarus, side on. It was so big now that they could see it through either side window. The manoeuvring took some time, and it was still difficult to scale the kilometre diameter spinning beast. At this distance, they could see the words painted on the side, one the right way up and the other upside down. It simply said 'LAZARUS'. 

A nice touch for any alien life thought the commander, regardless of which side the ship was viewed from one word would be the right way up. A red 40-meter line was painted around the rim of the ship, and this area was clear of obstacles and would act as an upside-down runway for the shuttles. The docking procedure was a little hairy but relatively simple. The shuttle would loop the loop around the Lazarus. Over time it would make the loop smaller and smaller until the Lazarus was close enough. By slowing down to match the speed, they could mimic her gravity and movement on the shuttle. Once the speed was in sync, then the shuttle would lock on to the Lazarus and the passengers could leave through a hatch in the roof.