Chapter 16

It’s early Sunday morning on Earth but I’m still on Arkadia time so I lie down for a quick nap, telling Sam to make sure I am up in a couple hours.

While I’m having my nap Sam contacts Trank informing him the big ass cruise ship is our transport for the people we will take to Arkadia. Trank thanks her for the information and tells her it is an impressive ship.

Ah, a short nap, and I feel wide awake. I grab a DD coffee from Chef and call for Sam so we can go over anything interesting that’s happened while we were gone. The most notable things were of course China and Russia’s recognition of our Sovereignty and Americas’ silence. One other thing was Angela McKee trying to get hold of me. I asked Sam to call her and see what was up.

Apparently, Angela is pissed because somehow the video of our interview got destroyed. She gave the tape to her professor who oversees the campus news, and when they went to view it a few hours later, both the tape and casing were torn and smashed. She is pissed because the professor won’t give her credit for the interview and told her to submit something else.

Sam tells her we have a copy on a USB drive she can have and she should make a copy for herself and keep it somewhere safe. I tell Sam to have a Furst keep an eye on the video just in case something happens to it again. I want to go to the apartment so we can give her the USB drive then.

We open the windows in the apartment to let it air out for a while. Angela comes by for the USB drive and thanks us for “saving her ass” as she put it. We wander over to the campus and hang out there for a while. I notice a lot more people looking at us and some even wave, so we wave back.

We are getting ready to leave when Security warns us of a potential visitor coming our way. Sam and I both look and see a hot looking blonde sorority girl who walks up to us and gives me a piece of paper. I look at the paper and see a bunch of female names.

The girl is just standing there so I ask who she is and what she wants. She says she is Priscila Prudhomme and the paper she gave me is a list of people who she thinks should go with us to Arkadia. I point out to her that I don’t know her and have never offered to take her to Arkadia. She says she knows that but since I am the King of Arkadia and she is the President of the best sorority on campus, that we need to be together and she will be my Queen.

I see Sam smirking so I ask Priscila for her Arkadian CAP card and she gives me her Confederacy CAP card. I see her score is 4.5 and pass the card to Sam. I ask Priscila if she has taken the ‘Enhanced’ CAP test yet. She says she hasn’t but because she will be my Queen she shouldn’t have to. I tell her no one goes to Arkadia without taking the “Enhanced” test, and even then that doesn’t guarantee they will be asked to go.

I silently ask Sam what her sub-scores are like and she replies they are all very low except arrogance, selfishness, and manipulation. Her mothering score is 0.1. I tell her that her CAP score would only qualify her to go as a “concubine” with the Confederacy and that she should look up what going as a concubine entails.

“I’m sorry Priscila but I won’t be taking you to Arkadia and you most certainly won’t be my Queen.”

“But look at me. I’m fucking hot and I can do things to you with my body that will drive you crazy!”

“Yes you are pretty but look at my Sam. She is much hotter than you are and already drives me crazy enough. Have a good day Priscila.”

Sam and I walk away leaving behind a sputtering Priscila and Sam says, “I’m your Sam? And I’m hot and drive you crazy?”

“Yes you are and yes you do. You know that. You all do. I’ve told you and the girls that more than once.”

“I know and we all know DD. It was nice to hear you say it though.”

“Ok Sam, take us home.”

Back onboard the J&J we are told we missed a speech from the American President concerning our Sovereignty. He said that he accepts our Sovereignty and if it was up to him, the politicians would have by now too, and he doesn’t know what was taking so long. He urged the politicians to get on the ball and formally recognize the Sovereignty of Arkadia and its leader so his team could start talking trade with us.

Huh, cool. Now let’s see if they get their collective asses in gear.

I tell her to see about setting up possible visits this summer to Russia and China, then India if they recognize our Sovereignty, with maybe other countries to follow. I ask her to contact the countries that hold a lot of the items on the list of things needed by Arkadia, and we could talk trade with them if they recognize our Sovereignty. She tells me she will get started first thing in the morning.

Damn, here goes my cell phone saying more programs that I don’t use need to be updated. I can’t uninstall them even though I have never used them. I ask Sam if there is anything we can do to get rid of the programs.

She tells me we can get rid of the programs and also make the phone unhackable and untraceable.

“Man I had no idea. Yes please take the thing and do your magic with it. I take it there is a lot more advanced tech in the IT and Comms fields than what Earth currently uses?”

“Much more advanced DD. We use the most advanced tech in our ships, shields, etc for protecting Arkadia and you, but we think you are right in saying to let the earlier knowledge and theory behind our tech be taught in our schools, and as you said, see what humans come up with. Though I would recommend going to Furst Satellite phones on Arkadia as there would be no signal loss anywhere, and the phones are about the same size as your SS9+.” (Samsung 9+).

I ask Sam and the girls if they want to go with me and check out the Cruiseship. Sam contacts the Furst onboard and lets them know we are coming over. We take a look at it on the TV screen before going and one thing I can say is, it is HUGE! 1,400 m in length x 200 m in width x 280 m in height, 4 cargo decks and 86 passenger decks, able to transport around 255,000 passengers! It looks just like a big ass sea-going Cruiseship without the balconies on the outside!

We transport over to the Bridge and hear ‘Guardian Prime is aboard!” as soon as we appear. I tell the Commander and crew to carry on as they were and ask the Commander if he would give us a quick tour. He says he would be delighted to and shows us around.

The seats look very comfortable, similar to an airline’s Business Class seats, and are arranged equivalent to Premium Plus airline spacing. You can stretch out, just not fully flat.

“Commander, it’s while they are in the seats that the people will get the Medical Checkup and Citizen ID Chip correct? How does that work?”

“Yes Sire, that is correct. When the person is first seated, the seat will recline and a force field will enclose the person in the seat. The person will fall asleep and the Medical Checkup and Citizen ID Chip will be done at that time. The person will be kept asleep for 3 hours before being woken and given instructions on the screen in front of them. They will be able to wander around though access to other sections of the ship will be closed until we are underway.”

“Excellent explanation Commander, thank you.”

I see there are many “you are here” video screens on each deck with a placard informing the person how to use the device to find out how to get back to their seat. Simply pass your Arkadia card in front of the screen, or state your name as it appears on your Arkadia card, or state your Deck and seat number. Sweet should be simple enough to use.

There are 9,750 hostess androids, giving a ratio of 26 passengers more or less per hostess, and 975 food replicators/recyclers for a ratio of 262 passengers per replicator/recycler. An awesome thing I notice is that a passenger has access to the food menu database on their seat’s video screen and can place their order from their seat, and then a hostess android would bring it to them! Each seat could place one meal order during their mealtime, and then the food menu would not be available until their next mealtime. Damn, I want to fly on this ship!

There are also 7800 bathrooms! 1 for every 33 passengers!

The Commander said the passenger configurations could be completely changed within 24-36 hours depending on how it was to be configured. There were templates for luxury cabins, standard cabins, more spacious seating, as well as for amenities such as swimming pools, fitness centers, salons, etc. Pretty much everything you’d find on an ocean-going Cruiseship, but this Cruiseship would be for cruising the stars, not bodies of water.

“Commander I think you just named your ship. What do you think about naming her “StarCruiser”?”

“Really Sire? The StarCruiser would be aptly named that is for sure! Will you be turning it into a Cruiseship for cruising the stars after all the colonists are on Arkadia?”

“Yes, I think we probably will Commander. I take it you would be interested in remaining her Commander?”

“Most definitely Sire, most definitely!”

“Excellent Commander! Sam will keep me from forgetting when the time comes. Until then we need to find a lot of suitable people to take to Arkadia and create our society. Take care Commander.”

Sam transports us back to the J&J where she tells me I just made another Furst very happy. I just smiled and shrugged my shoulders.

“Sam, make sure all the information about the StarCruiser gets put on the website. Have them put an animated model of it online so people can see for themselves how they’ll be traveling to Arkadia.

I’m also thinking of what the Commander said, Sam. About cruising the stars. What do you think of our creating another shuttle, like mine but with luxury seating, a few more observations decks, android hostesses, etc, and take the rich and famous for cruises around the solar system? Say a 6-hour cruise, showing them all the planets in Earths’ solar system?

I’m thinking, 3-5 Observation Lounges, 45 m long x 20 m wide x 4 m high, with Business Class Plus seating style should give us at least a 600 passenger capacity. I bet they’d pay at least a couple million for a ticket.

Tell me honestly Sam, do you think the rich and famous would go for it?”

“I think they would DD. Keep it exclusive to them for the most part but throw in a trip or 2 to a charity as well.”

“Ok great. Put it in my memory bank and remind me again once we’ve gotten ahead on things. I mean to have the money we need to do everything we need to do, Sam. I don’t want to not be able to do what is needed due to lack of money.”

“I believe there will be more than enough and that money will be the least of your worries. Just don’t try and get too many things started at the same time. Keep an easy pace so that everything is doable and doesn’t need to be rushed.”

“I’ll count on you to keep me in check Sam, and not go overboard or get in over my head.”

“You know I will DD.”

Ah, another Monday morning, another new week, and here’s to hoping the American government recognizes Arkadia’s Sovereignty soon.

I grab a coffee from Chef and go sit across from Sam at the table. I ask her if the Commanders have anything new to report and she says the solar system is quiet. I ask if we have all the pieces replicated yet for the Orbital Factory Replicator, and am told we do and once I give the ok the androids will start putting it together. I tell her I’ll do that as soon as we have some trade agreements signed.

I tell her I want to go to the office building this morning after my workout and check-in with Mark and Dean. We also need to go over results from the “Enhanced” CAP tests and see if there are candidates for migration to Arkadia yet. Sam tells me that the number of people taking the “Enhanced” test has risen significantly worldwide, however, the numbers are even higher in America.

I also reminded her to contact Russia, China, and India about possible trade talks, and to contact some State Department equivalents of the other “Western” countries as well. Sam said she would get started first thing.

I had a good workout doing 30 minutes on an Elliptical machine and 30 minutes with weights. A nice shower then breakfast, (it is so much easier getting a meal from Chef than making it myself!), and down to the office we go.

We go and see Dean first and he reports that everything is fine though he does ask about the Weapons Department. Was I going to disband it and move it to Arkadia or leave it as is?

I told him I was going to leave it here on Earth, but I was going to put the bug in some people’s ears about asking the Confederacy now for the weapons they promised. This would hopefully allow time for training purposes as well as for R&D companies to learn the tech behind the weapons and maybe improve the weapon or come up with something even better.

“So they won’t be getting any Arkadia tech here on Earth to work on?”

“Military weapons or tech, no. I won’t trade or sell any of those to any Earth government. Other Arkadia tech will become available but only with countries that Arkadia trades with.”

“Ok thanks DD, I will pass that on to everyone.”

“Please do Dean. I do hope we get some that want to go to Arkadia though. They’ll learn new theory and tech and I’d love to see what they come up with.

Say hi to Marsha and let me know if you need anything.”

We head to Mark’s office, see that he is in and stop and chat for a few minutes.

We leave Marks’ office and decide to head over to a café near the campus and wouldn’t you know it, there were still a few newsies out front.

I was surprised that there was no shouting as soon as they saw us. Maybe they were getting civilized. One reporter steps forward and asks if we had time to answer a few questions. I said sure and thanked them for not shouting questions as soon as they saw us.

The reporter that stepped forward starts by welcoming us back from our vacation on Arkadia, saying that Guardian City looks like a beautiful city. She then asks, “Have you heard the rumors that the politicians are putting together a Trade proposal?”

“Thank you, we had a great vacation, Arkadia is a beautiful planet and Guardian City is a beautiful, amazing city, just waiting for people from Earth to come and live there. I hope people will visit the website and take a look at the many interesting photos from our trip and stay in Guardian City and decide they want to live there. We are in the early stages of the process and things are underway, and after graduating from the University I will be concentrating more on making that happen, so go take the Enhanced CAP test!