Janitors of the Late Space Age by Satoshi Karasu

Author:Satoshi Karasu [Karasu, Satoshi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781521516218
Amazon: 1521516219
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: 2017-06-17T00:00:00+00:00

The new Space Race

Oh, how lonely they felt. Despite the elevated feeling of forging a plan and putting it to work, there was no denying the oppressive silence that covered the whole sector after the death of all communication relays. All the radio chatter was gone, and terrible confusion poured in to fill the void. No signals were coming through, even though there must be thousands on the planet’s surface freaking out just like them, sending their muted cries to the hollow sky and wondering why no one was answering. The whole sector was lit with automated S.O.S. beacon signals and one-directional cries for help.

The isolated inhabitants of Mars had no idea what was going on and why nobody was replying to their calls. The traders and mercenaries at the Holiday Inn station had no idea what was happening or why the Navy patrol wasn’t reporting. The Earth had no idea what was going on either, but they didn’t even care for now.

A few people who cared and knew what was going on did their best to push back a creeping feeling of terror at what it all meant. They prepared for a confrontation with their unusual enemy – a Shimmering God, a roaming alien song, a computer glitch, or all of the above.

In his pale blue skinsuit, Iyor was streamlining his bathyscaphe for manoeuvrability, while Sev opted for additional heavy armour for his sand-coloured MC spacecraft. Out in space, they were assisted by three technicians of Vladivostok clad in white spacesuits who worked like ants, transporting the needed components from the assembler grotto of their massive science vessel.

A blood-red planet slowly rose above them, foreboding and gorgeous at the same time.

Watching Iyor at work, Sev had a chance to ‘admire’ Ceran's building method for the first time. It was not a pretty sight, this bathyscaphe of theirs. He understood that there was no need for aerodynamics in a vacuum, but this was plain ugly. Or maybe the ideals of beauty were obsolete, carried over from long captivity on Earth, where if you wanted to go fast, you needed to look like a bird or a dolphin: smooth and slick enough to push through air or water. This thing that Iyor was working on looked like an elongated sarcophagus with no cockpit or windows. A new aesthetic was rising, with the form still strictly serving function.

Now the little Ceran noticed he was being observed and cheerfully waved at him with his grinding tool. He was removing armour blocks to make his craft more manoeuvrable, a dangerous combat solution that Sev struggled to comprehend. He waved back and returned to his work, adding those same armour blocks to strengthen both sides of his MC. This was the fastest way to build something, merely transferring the same blocks between constructs. He only welded the initial structure, outlining the work for the Vladivostok technicians to finish. His spacecraft was now well-armoured, but an increase in mass demanded more thruster power. An efficient ion

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