The PRIME8

4 Recruit I signed up to the Prime8 program at a meeting back in 2032, the one chaired by Sir Melvin Rodgers; as did most of those there, the only disappoint was my old friend Doctor Stan Butler; the idea of anyone messing with his brain was a non-starter for him. I like the whole Prime8 package, because of the way it solved many problems for Interstellar Travel and the expansion of Human kind, the key feature is we don’t actually ever leave Earth, just your quantum duplicated mind. It gave us humans a real chance to start again from scratch, without the Political, Social or Religious dogmas holding us back. I am not naive, I know primal human nature will eventually emerge, but I hold onto the sincere hope that with good management we can create a society that will embrace the very best of human values, and keep the worst at bay,,,, and don’t forget; it’s only a two-year mission and the pays good too. That said I was not a hundred-percent sure that we could get that far into the Prime8 program, like all of us here, I keep thinking I have family and friends to consider, I have a life to live, a wife Christine and my boy six-year old boy, Toby. Leaving them for two-years was not an easy decision. I had a few sleepless nights and a few heated discussions with Chris, (she hates me abbreviating her name). We talked over the Pro’s and Con’s; Pro’s for me being the money, and not having to watch Reality TV; Chris’s favourite pastime after work is two-hours of TV cookery challenges, I can’t stand it,,,, followed by singing contests. The Con’s of the mission are the two-years of separation, and missing Chris and Toby, and always wondering how they’re spending the money. Previously the longest I had been away was eight-months, when I was working on the Quantum data transfer experiment, back in 2139, the lab was on Ascension Island, the island has been part of the British Overseas Territory since 1815, together with St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. Situated just south of the equator, Ascension Island is located Mid-Atlantic, so it was too far to travel home to Oxfordshire at the weekend. The Islands compensated for this with weekend’s scuba diving and barbequing with the team. Dave tells the gathering, that we haven’t got near P1 yet, and that’s not due to happen for another sixteen months, but when we do, The Mech’s have to build us a few well constructed landing craft out of the ships numerous Lab modules. Then the Mechs have to re-assemble a Lander that is stored in G-Deck, its needed to get the hanger decks down to the surface under power. In complete contrast the Sci, Tech, M-Tech and Bio labs, complete with crew, will be dropped down onto the surface, one by one, using a twenty-kilometre nanofibre cable, the labs will depend on a combination of chutes, braking motors and inflatable heat shield for a safe touchdown. The priority then is to help Bio to fire up their labs power supply to start the 3D replicators, and get viable Human DNA production going,,,, not a lot to ask is it? Question time finished Dave called out for a Ships Time-check; ‘Time is now 06:50, you may all retire to your bunks in just a moment, but use your time to rest, I must assure you all that you will dream. These first few day can be a little unsettling so immerse yourselves in your work and don’t bottle-up your concerns, talk with your team leaders, it really does help to talk. The first shifts, involve the entire Sci lab, working on Satellite Enabling. You will work with the Tech teams, report to Tom Stevens on B-Deck, at 12:00. He will split you up into shifts, but I want the heads of teams with me for the next few days; meet me here in the lab at the same time, 12:00 please.’ Sci-02, Maurice Leverson, was our Head of Science, and had selected me as his Second-in-Charge, or 2IC, so I’ll have the pleasure of being with the Seniors. ‘Now please look at the bunks windows you’ll see your SCI crew number etched in the top left hand corner. We all turned around, to look at the windows that ringed the lab on the first floor. We filed-out towards the labs airlock, either side of it was a ramp up to the Science crew’s bunks, the corridor was full of droids looking for their own little space, my bunk was forth from the ramp, and Paul and Martin were another three to four bunks away from mine. Droids shuffled along while others halted the traffic to key in their codes one-by-one. Entering my Bunk for the first time, the first thing you see is the workstation desk, basically a large ergonomic touch-screen terminal, its positioned central with the window, with storage space to the right; what the storage is for I’ll never know, no baggage, not even a photo of home. The same fabric lighting panels found everywhere on board, lit the room too. In the corner of this cramped room is the bunk bed, all black carbon construction, and a five-point harness. the sticker-clips and harness hung space as caught in a freeze-frame photo shoot because of the Zero-G. The bunk bed looked much like the Docking stations in the arrivals assimilation station, but without the umbilical cable. The Reac2Lite’ window was set to one hundred percent opaque, so I searched around the window for the controls, then adjusted the window to zero opacity, when the window cleared, I could see down into the lab, Dave Callum was working away on the central consol, I darkened the window again for sleep. I parked the ZG boots in the boot rack near the desk and cautiously bent down to release the boot clips, ‘Push and Turn,’ there’s a little click then a little push of the toes and I’m free. The feeling of just hanging there with no weight loading is liberating, I’m about a centimetre or two above the floor, with feet slowly rotating backwards. I thought it best to start looking for a handhold to help me manoeuvre safely to the bunk for a recharge and sleep. Moving around like this reminds me of the anxiety I felt at my first venture onto skates at the Ice Bowl. I found recessed handholds in the wall, so I stretch out my right hand to get a grip and took hold. With a gentle pull from my right arm, I propelled myself forward towards the bunk on the wall. At the two-metre mark, I rotated my upper body left and the lower half started to follow too, and then straighten quickly to wait for landing in the bed. The Bed has two handles moulded into the sides to hold onto while you strap-in for a good secure rest. No sooner had I secured the harness, I felt the recharge start; when I closed my eyes, the mind instantly started drifting away towards sleep, have had no problem remembering past events and recalling feelings, even smells and tastes, experienced previously in life, I had no doubt I would dream If I’m able to sleep.