Quest

Transit

...
"Station-to-station stasis has put an end to any adventure in space travel, and I don't mean the 'adventures' of earliest wormhole traveling either. I mean the romance of ships and trains. Uncharted coasts and intriguing local customs. Maybe they still look at it that way on survey ships. But, I mean, new species can still be encountered, and unexpected phenomena aren't unheard of."

"I'm told that that is also rather uneventful. One of the Spivulet's crew was a rogue of my clan. He described it essentially as scientific laboratory work where the laboratory was contained within the experiment rather than vice versa. And then there is the risk of mechanical failure and whatnot. Surveyors are getting gradually bigger mainly because they desire to take more and more communication blimps along. Rest assured, stasis removes the unpleasant passage of time, and in addition, advances us safely beyond adverse constellations."

Without any hope, Luke concluded: "So you don't want to be taken out of stasis on the way? We have stops of a couple of days at Hiakaton and later at Gate 395. I read somewhere that they can take you out of stasis, although it is incredibly expensive."

"No. No ... That would be most awkward. Feel free to enjoy as many sights as you like, but I prefer to circumvent them in other dimensions. Even Daimando may prove unpropitious."

Stasis was an Urrr invention and, after space travel, probably the most significant technological advancement in the Federation. Its development was inspired entirely by Urrr religious zeal. The required presence of moons, or rather certain celestial constellations, made space travel an insurmountable obstacle for Urrr gentlemen. Only rogues, having left the path of righteous zeal, would stray into adverse conditions.

Stasis essentially isolated a fragment of our three-dimensional space, or rather our ten-dimensional reality, and shunted that fragment ever so slightly beyond. Whatever was contained in the fragment traveled neither in time nor in space until it was pulled back again into our reality. Accordingly, stasis was very auspicious, at least so your points of departure and arrival.

Luke considered seriously getting out on the way because he would very much have liked to see empty space around Gate 395. And the gate itself, of course, -- one of the few relics of early days space travel. But in the end, he decided against it. It was too expensive: $500, two months' pay, just for two days of deep space tourism.

Accordingly, their journey was entirely uneventful. They didn't perceive boarding their six different starships, nor did they notice being stored in various places for various lengths of time or the actual movement on rockets and repulsor thrust. Wormhole travel was unnoticeable even had they been fully present, so from their perspective, they went into stasis on Bethnell Prime space station and got out immediately over Daimando.

...

Daimando starport wasn't at all what they expected.

Greater Bethnell starport, one of three on Bethnell, was perhaps not the busiest place Lucas had ever seen, but it was more than lively nonetheless. When it was built, it was, by regulation following various cable-car mishaps, still located a safe distance away from the city and the airport. But there were frequent bullet trains to the airport and nearby major cities, including trains into Greater Bethnell every five minutes. In addition, there were ramjet services circling between starport, airport, city center, and key places around the vast city. Hardly a day went by without a starship visiting Bethnell. In addition, most freight between the surface and the asteroid mines, the microgee factories, and several other places went through the starport.

Not so Flianderel, Daimando's starport. The trip down had already given Lucas the shivers. He had the distinct impression that he could hear the rush of escaping air in the cable car. Whenever the flight attendant thought they were unobserved, they fingered the masks at their belts nervously, or so it seemed.