Christopher Nuttall - A Learning Experience

He smiled at the thought. That was one thing Heinlein Colony — and the smaller Wells Colony on Mars — had already experienced, although from people on Earth rather than settlers on the moon. They whined about terraforming the planet, they whined about mining for water and HE3, they whined about setting up farms… as if they could afford to import food from Earth indefinitely. Didn’t people have enough troubles of their own to keep them busy?

Mariko cleared her throat, drawing his attention back to her. “What do you want to eat?”

Steve hastily replayed her words in his mind. She’d asked if he wanted curry or microwavable burgers. “Curry,” he said, quickly. Like most women in his experience, Mariko got annoyed if she thought she was being ignored. “It will make a change.”

“And you make better burgers of your own anyway,” Mariko teased. “Far better than anything you get in the cities, right?”

Steve nodded. Her skill at reading his face was remarkable.

He stood and walked towards the balcony as she put the food in the microwave, staring out over the endless blue sea. In the distance, he could see waves breaking over the barrier reef that shielded the island from the ocean and tiny lights where other inhabited islands were preparing for darkness. They had sometimes heard planes flying overhead, but apart from the boat that had brought them to the island they’d seen no other boats. The resort owners kept all traffic away from their islands, jealously guarding their right to ship travellers to and from the resorts.

And make sure they collect as much money as they can , Steve thought, cynically. The Maldives had been largely isolated from the Middle Eastern economic depression, but they’d once had Arab Princes coming to the islands for a holiday away from public observance of Islamic Law. Officially, the islands were Islamic, but money talked louder than the Qur’an, particularly when the area was dependent on tourists. But now, there were few Arab Princes who had the funds to spare for a holiday. The smarter ones had already fled the region for Europe. There, at least, they would be safe from their vengeful populations.

There was a ding from the microwave. Steve turned, just in time to see Mariko pull the containers out of the machine and pour the contents onto the plates. She picked them both up and walked over to the balcony, passing Steve his plate as she walked through the door. A cool wind was blowing over the sea now, something of a relief after the heat of the day. Steve sat on the steps leading down to the water and smiled at her. After a moment, she joined him and sat down to eat.

“This isn’t too bad,” Steve said. Compared to some of the curries he’d eaten in Iraq, it was downright mild. The Marines had joked that the Iraqis deliberately made the curries hot as a test of manliness. Steve, however, recalled the medic saying that the meat wasn’t always the best, which explained outbreaks of the dreaded D&V. The spice often helped cover up the poor quality of meat. “It could be worse.”

Mariko elbowed him. “It could be better too, couldn’t it?”

Steve shrugged, placed his empty plate on the floor and put his arm around her as the stars began to come out. High overhead, the stars competed with the reflected light from humanity’s vastly expanded presence in space. Two fast-moving glints of light were almost certainly inflatable space stations, while others might well be the freighters Friend had sent them or one of the captured warships. Steve smiled, unpleasantly, as he contemplated the freighters. Human ingenuity, matched with alien technology, had started preparing a few nasty surprises for anyone who wanted to invade the Sol System. He had no illusions about the outcome if the Galactics really wanted Earth, but the bastards would have to fight to take the planet. And, even then, parts of humanity would be free.

He smiled, remembering just how many men and women had gone out to the asteroids over the past month. The MSM had called them everything from dupes to suicidal fools, but Steve knew better. They understood the risks, yet they were prepared to chance everything to make a new life for themselves in the new Wild West. Many of them would die, Steve knew, but they would make history. And hidden colonies among the asteroids would help ensure the survival of the human race.

The thought made him smile. A year or two would allow him to produce a generational starship, one that could be launched out into the galaxy at STL speeds. If something really bad happened to Earth, the starship would survive and — hopefully — set up a new colony somewhere else. And, when they had more FTL starships, one of them would convey a colony mission well beyond the edges of galactic space.

They stayed outside until the moon began to rise, then stood up and went inside. Steve kissed her on the lips, then pulled her towards the bed. Mariko smiled, then kissed him back. Steve gently reached down to her bikini and started to undo it, kissing his way down to her nipples and enjoying the taste of her in his mouth. And then the interface buzzed.

“Steve, it’s Kevin,” a voice said. Steve bit down the urge to swear virulently. Kevin didn’t have any idea of what he’d interrupted. “We have a political problem.”

“I should have known,” Steve commented. He reached for his dressing gown and pulled it on. Beside him, Mariko did the same. “I relax and look what happens.”

He sighed. “Two to beam up,” he added. “And this had damn well better be important.”

Shadow Warrior, Earth Orbit

Kevin had been trained, long ago, in reading the subtle signs of their body language. A person pretending to be annoyed, his tutors had taught him, tended to overact as badly as a child actor and start shouting in outrage at the drop of a hat. Body language wasn’t entirely universal — it hadn’t been universal even before the humans had first encountered the Galactics — but there were plenty of points of similarity. And all of his training was telling him that Steve was very definitely annoyed.

He looked at Mariko. Unlike Steve, she was more composed, but there was a faint flush to her face that told Kevin precisely what they’d been doing when he’d interrupted them. Kevin sighed, inwardly, silently cursing their bad luck. If the whole affair had waited a few more days, Steve could have dealt with it without having to deal with sexual frustration too. Or, perhaps, nipped it in the bud before it got out of hand.

“This could become a major problem,” Kevin said, once they were seated in Steve’s cabin. “And it needs to be handled carefully.”

“No one has ever accused me of being subtle,” Steve commented, dryly. “Why didn’t you handle it yourself?”

Kevin sighed, out loud. “Because this requires your personal attention,” he said. “Because it could have a major long-term effect on our relationship with Earth’s various governments. Because…”

Steve held up a hand. “All right,” he said. “What — precisely — has happened?”

“We’ve had a request for asylum,” Kevin said.

“Oh,” Steve said. “ Another one?”

Kevin scowled. The previous requests had been from men and women fleeing political, economic, religious or sexual persecution. They’d all been given the same chance to make it on the moon, with an added note that they would not be permitted to interfere in the affairs of their former home countries. Quite a few of them had accepted the warning, one or two had tried to steer events back home from the moon before they’d been given a sharp rebuke for breaking the terms of their citizenship. But this was different.