Space Station Dragon Star, a silver sphere with docking ports and sensory arrays, hungin the darkness of spacethe station each designed to cancel outlectromagnetic waves emitted by the station, making it invisible to anyone or anythingmore than two kilometers away The station was located in a small, dead star solarsystem, far from the normal trade routes and outside any League or terran jurisdictionswas not listed on any official maps and its survival depended on its privacy The onlyway to find it was by knowing the single radio frequwas highi cy emitted by the satelliteshoming beacon The stations source of income was highly illegal scientific researchInside the stationDocking port 16 two hifigures in dark bniforms, complete with lowered helmet visors, moved quietly and quickly toward an airk connecting with a small, red ship The smaller of the two carried a bundle wrappedsoft, brown fabric The other figure stopped, checked to see if theev were beinfollowed, and punchedck Theey movedshid to the pilots and copilot's seatsand ran her eyes over the console Pressing two of the communications systems buttonsshe connected with the stations intercom systemHurry! she said
"Theyve sounded a yellow alert on level 3 TIeve escapedThe small space ship disengaged its magnetic docking anchors and left the spaceIt required fiwarm-up time before it could shift to faster-than-light speedWithin seconds, alarms went off in the stations two defense systems, which hadbeen used in drills but never in real combat lasers and force field shielding were in onesection and missiles were in another The two systems had been deliberately debe autoth entirely different crews operating them Both sections followed thenstructions of a single tactical commander, who was currently racing toward his officeand yelling into his wrist communicator, "Destroy that shipBoth sectifter the other and a lasbeam immediately followed the path of the shiphey took evasive action The ship swung to the left with the laser trailing behindt In the process, the laser sliced into the lead missile Shrapnel from the explosiondetonated the second missile and gave them chance for escapeWithlaser beam fthey flew behind one of the cloaking satellitesThe station vanished from their screens as they passed the satellite The laser sheared theoaking satellite in half, causing the station to suddenly reappear on their screens, andcontinued to follow them
couple of days throfor travel time, and only coming back with 3000 credits isnt all that appealingIt's 3000 credits ifdont find the mole It's 40000 ifow reliable is your information? " Chris asked bluntlywere Valery practically squirmed in her seat "It' s not as reliable as we would like Ifwe would probably know who the mole isHis hunch was right They were working with weak information and hoping hewould absorb some of the loss, if it turned out they were wrong "I'd be happy to takethe assignment, Valery, but I'm afraid I have to insist on my standard fee of 500 creditsdayValery looked as if she were going to cry Chris, this is the offer the board hasapproved I don't have the authority to change itI'm sorry, Valery But I can't afford to get burned if it turns out theAs I said, Im be happy to take the assignment, but only at 500 hundred credits a dayValery's face was shifting to an expression of anger and there was a hard edge toThe screen went blankThis is somebody's idea of money management, he thought, perhaps hers Largecorporations are always trying to find a way to save a credit They'll happily pay 40,000credits to catch a thief, but don t want to waste more than 3000 for a wild goose chaseWhy cant they just play it straight? The odd thing is she didnt expect me to question itWhen I did, she had gotten flustered which is unusual behavior for her Stress-relatedbehaviorA few moments later Valery rang him back
She had recovered and was oncehave approval to pay you 500 credits a day Can you leave tomorrowes Thats not a problem"Chris answered, wondering what kind of problemsthis might createGood Too bad there arent more of you Well, maybe someday I'll have yourickets and an info package waiting for you at the ship tomorrow morning at 1I AM yourtime good huntf in s is w ae eeg ew heghapeds weire ivHe didnt enjoyprice and provided an hecompetentserviceThat whole conversation had an odd quality to it, Chris thought The way they 'rerushing me out of here means theyre concerned about it happening soon I'll have to becareful about the way i do business with valery I dont completely trust her And whatwas that crack about there not being more of me? An oddhad crossed her facewhen she said it Is it possible she knows something about my origins?Chris noticed the bathroom door was open and the light was out Melody musthave moved to the bedroom it was time to refocus his attention on thequickly called Chester and left a message saying he would be stopping by in the
orninge issue of tomorrow 's new case in an imaginary box and put thebox in storage for the night The bedroom was lit with candles Melody had been busyhile he was on the phone The candles provided a warm, soft light, and gave the rooma scent of vanilla She did know how to create a romantic atmosphereI have to leave tomorrow on an assignment, he said as Melody, who was alreadyde underneath a sheer nightgown, began taking off his clothes Intergalactic Mininghas a situation they want me to check outOh How long will you be gone? "she asked nibbling on his ear lobeShould only be about three weeks, he replied kissing her shoulder and movingthem toward the bedMmmm Well, dont plan on getting much sleep tonightThey kissed passionately for several minutes Chris lightly dragged his fingernailsup the back of Melodys thighs continuing their ascent until his fingers reached the napeof her neck Starting just behind her jaw line, he licked and nibbled his way around herBothcomplished lovers and firmly believed in the Martian credo, 'Aorgasm a day keeps the doctor away ' Martian culture had a very liberal philosophyegarding sex and lovemaking Sex was regarded as a necessary release for maintaininggood healthChris had experienced lovers since his sixteenth birthday and had even taken antitled 'Lovemaking 103 when he was twenty, which he hadoroughly enjoyed, in part due to the enthusiasm of his female classmatesWith the influence of sexually transmitted diseases no longer a threat, and theextension of life to approximately one hundred and eighty years, the culture of Mars haddapted
Young people started experimenting with sex at around age sixteen andcontinued into their late twenties Individuals in their thirties were generally morefocused on developing their careers than in finding marriage partners, though short-termmonogamous relationships were common Marriage normally happened at around agefifty and consisted of a fifteen year contract for purposes of having children Asdividuals reached the age of one hundred it was not unusual for them to have two orthree lovers, often in a communal-style setting These relationships usually lasted for therest of theAt fifty, most people were considered to be young adults, both physically andexperientially Signs of aging didn 't generally start to appear until a person was around ahundred years old Strength, vitality, and good health were maintained throughout aperson's life, due to a variety of medical and biofeedback developmentHuman evolution had moved from a genetic function of adaptation and survival ofthe fittest, to a conscious selection of desired genetic traits, and an education includingjects such as yoga and alien trigonometry An expanded lifespan had not been thebult of natural evolution, but of a greater understanding of human ghanisms Yoga training began at age twelve, as part of a basicMartian education By the age of twenty, Martian youths had learned to control most of
their autonomic functions through a combination of yoga techniques and biofeedbackAs the two of them shifted pehe could feel her breasts presschest and the heat from her loins pressing against his thigh Her breathing was starting topeed up and so was his Chris had learned matching his partner's breathing rate createda more intimate, trusting atmosphere, as well as adding to his own physical excitementShe moaned as he kissed her neck She lifted herself to give him a passionate kissand his hands moved down her backThey continued to cuddle and stroke each other Sensing the time was right, Chrisrolled Melody over on her back He thrilled at the sensation of first entry, as he alwaysdid They were not a monogamous couple, but they enjoyed and cared for each other andboth were open enough to be intimate without fearA few hours later they lay in each others arms exhausted They cuddled, relaxedand whispering to each otherWhere will you be for three weeks, mister private investigatororbin Ill, one of Intergalactic'sShouldnt be too bad l'm going undercover to try and sniff out someone of lowmoral character who wants to steal some corbinite All I should have to do is point myfinger, provide the appropriate evidence, and let Intergalactic handle it from there,Chris said sleepily He hesitated on going into the conversation with Valery FirsovHe knew Melody enjoyed hearing about details and a small battle betweencommunication laziness"and"sharing info" took place in his mindWith that incredibly sensitive nose of yours, you shouldnt have any problemssniffing someone out, she said playfishe rubbed homachm probably oversimplifying it
Theyre not even sure a theft is being plannedThe original offer included a clause saying I would get paid less if I was unable to findwere send io ad to renegotiate to get paid a daily rate, regardless of whether or not theyg me on a wild gooseI can't beedyou off They had better be paying you a faiamountThey are Chris assured her "i have to get together with Chester tomorrowmorning before I leave I'm fading fast, Sweetie Good night, he said kissing her on theforeheadMelody lay with her head resting on his chest She felt content and loved She wastrigued with Chris He wasnt your typical Martian male He wasnt an engineer, orysicist, or a language specialist He was an adventurer He wanted to go out andexplore the universe Yes, he was intriguing, and a little odd
Chapter 2A reddish, squirrel-like creature was moving across the desert sand Waves of heatradiating from the blue sand distorted its outline One of its six legs, center-right, waswounded and oozing a purplish-colored blood It looked around for predators and shadeIf it could find shelter from the blue double suns it would surviIf a predator didnt get it first At that moment it was attackedA spider, half a meter in diameter, leapt onto the sand squirrels back The spidercoated in a permaneer of light bnd, providingith perfecttwo front legs had evolved a mechanism for spraying powerful digestive acids, whichused to spray in the face of its prey It held on tight as the sand squirrel bucked in painand terror Finally the spides meal shudeed one last time and died, its head a stickygoo of partially digested proteinThe spider moved off its prey and circled around to the head Suddenly,red laser beam sliced the spider in half Its digestive fluids spilled over the sand andfoamed on contact A moment later, another laser beam sliced off the mass of proteingoo and acid that had been the sand squirrels head a gloved hand grabbed it by the tailand carried it away, purple blood dripping to the sandTwo heavy feminine hands held a bone stripped of flesh, then casually tossed itinto a small pile of bones The owner of the hands was an average looking woman with astocky build andblackShe was clean and neat in appearance and had softwhite skin unused to the harsh sunlight on this planet Sitting in a camouflage tent as shewaited, she amused herself by thinking of what she would be able to buy and where shewould travel to when this job was done
a two year vacation sounded awfully gooder thoughts drifted to what she had done the night before The screams of dyingwomen and men, the snapping sound of bones breaking They, too, had paid the price ofher upcoming wealth Pangs of guilt began to surfaceer thoughts shifted Those people mean nothing to me Human life meanslothing to me I hate them for being the small, pathetic people they were They had to beeliminated It was the only way to steal the corbinite Their deaths were nothing morethan their own bad luck The thoughts were foreign to her, and though they were helpfulas rationalizations to explain away any responsibility, they were not her own and feltuncomfortableAs she pulled herself back from the ego and anger in those thoughts, she heard aow mechanical humming noise in the background and knew her ride had arrivedStepping through the tent flap, she raised her hand to her brow in an effort to block thebright blue light from the double suns The interstellar pickup she spotted matched thedescription she had been given She began tearing off the camouflage from the truck shehad stolen to haul the pressurized containers of corbinite
from the truck to the shuttleMartha decided to leave the tent and any remainingequipment in an effort to get bn schedulThe last of the corbinite was loaded and the armatures folded back into the pickFrank sealed the pickup's hatches and gavinstructions The antigrav boosters lifted the pickup, and the thrusters quickly pushedinto the upper atmosphere As they were about to leave the planet's mesosphere anothersatellite appeared, causing alarms to soundDamn said frank "Well have to try to outrunCan we activate the force field?ithin the planets primary gravmagnetic field We'd short out thesystem, Frank answered "See if you can get a bead on it with a missile I'll takeevasive maneuversMartha worked swiftly at the control panels Got itShe saw a flash of light from Franks direction, just as she launched the missileLooking over, Martha saw Frank twitching and shaking There was a hole where his lefte used to beuldhrough it to the wall beyond the satellite had gottenoff a laser shot before Martha had fired the missile It had gone right through Frankshead cauterizing the tissue and blood flow as it wenthe explosion on the viewscreen, of what had been the satellite, distracted hermomentarily She recovered her focus and pushed Frank out of his seat, taking over thecontrols
As they left the planet'sravmagnetic field she brought the force fieldon line and accelerated, shifting to fatal speedsThe pickup traveled without problems for almost ten minutes at standard fatalspeed and then gave a lurch and dropped to less then two hundred kilometers an hourThe laser must have done some serious damage, Martha thought Im a couple ofght years away from Corbin Ill Safe for the momentShe looked at Frank He had stopped twitching and she assumed he was dead And desire tong a desire she gave in to itLets make some soup, a foreign thought suggestedNo! she told herself firmly and, using the pickup's computer, began tonvestigate the damageThe satellite had fired multiple laser shots simultaneously The ship hulls variousbreaches had sealed with a thin membrane, designed for emergencies like this Naniteswere making permanent hull repairs Diagnostic sensors showed damage to one of theplasma feeds for the antigrav thrusters The ships computer had automatically reducedIts speed as soon as it had sensed problemsWith the exceptions of Frank and the damage to the antigrav feedsad bequite lucky and sustained minimal damageWhy didn't i know about those new satellites? she wonderedBecause they knew about you You've been betrayed, the foreign thought patternMartha shook her head trying to clear it of the thoughts not her own She had been
warned that the more she used the memories that had been transferred into her brain themore likely personality bleed over would take place She had also been cautionedstressful situations would make the memories more intense and increase the bleed overStaring at the viewscreen, Martha thought about what had been done to her Thesteps taken to ensure she could steal three tons of corbinite The cells of her muscles hadbeen permanently altered giving her the strength of two men and increasing her reactionme by 50 percent Medications had made her bone structure denser Her body felt qdifferentd, exaggerating the concern she had lost her identity Not exactlywhat she had in mind at the beginning of her vacation three months agoOn the first day of her two week vacation from Intergalactic Mining, she had metan attractive man and had enthusiastically allowed him to seduce her She rememberedhow he had told her of a place more beautiful and romantic than anything she had everexperienced and convinced her to go with him to"paradise" as he referred to itMartha was sunning herself by the pool at the Harrison Hotel which was locatedide the Devoe satebiting earth sheoking forward to theight She had been told by the desk clerk both the Earth and a full moon would be inthe satellites night sky at the time and she didn't want to missA tall, muscular man had settled into the recliner next hers and she gave him aquick once over from behind her sunglasses He's quite a hunk, she thought as she felt awarmth in her loins He may not have any interese but i can dreamMartha was startled when he spoke to herHave you been at the hotel long? he asked"No i just arrived this morniReally
So did ibeen looking forward to this vacation for a long time Thenight view is supposed to be spectacularHe spoke with an accent Martha couldnt place, but found very attractive "Yesshe said "Tonight, both the Earth and the full modoposed to be in the sky Atabout 11: 00 PM Im on vacation, too I'm going to be here for the next ten dayReally! What a coincidence I'm here for ten days also My name is richard, " hentroduced himself, looking into her eyesMarthaThere was silence for a few moments Martha was nervous She wasntexperienced at picking up men and she certainly didnt want to start off her vacationwith a rejection but she knew if she didnt try she would never get laidAnd then he spoke Forgive me for being so forward, but if you're availablwould you like to have dinner with me this evening?Martha paused, and found herself about to say no'out of fear and shyness Yed enjoy having dinner with you, she finally answeredher sey ta
Inside the station, two more missiles were being prepared for launch The tacticalcommander, now in his office and watching the developments on his holoscreen, roaredhis frustratieng his fist on the deskCease laser fire and shoot off two more missiles he bellowedThe laser ceased and the ship's pilot crossed his fingers, looking at the stationrough the rearview screen He held his breath, anticipating They had gotten this far onfifty/fifty ratio of intelligence and luck, not having known about the laser defensesystem The next few minutes would determine if their escape plan would workIn the missile room the gunnery officer followed his orders The first missile firedbut the second one seized and began its detonation sequence a technician ran towardsthe missile, hoping there was still time There wasntThe missile had been sabotaged It sat in its launching armature, one of twentyid fire machinestyle The technicians eyes widened andracked down the row of deadly cylinders as he realized if this missile exploded it wouldset off the other nineteen His second realization was he was too late to stop thegotten into the sloppy habit of checking only the first three missi\es hig w odetonation Whoever had sabotaged toccurring maintenanSeconds later the space station exploded, a brilliant flash of red and yellow lightagainst the background of black space and pinpoint starsInside the small ship the bundle began to cry The copilot pulled off her helmet,exposing the face of an attractive woman with curly, blonde hair
She lifted a dark-hairedbaby from the brown fabric and held it in her arms The pilot glanced at the woman andld The glance became a look With a deliberate snap of his head, the pilot refocusedon the rearview screen and the control panels Thee remaining missile was closingThe small red ship began moving in an ever-enlarging spiral as they had originaanned The missile followed, gaining on them faster than they had expected Theship shifted course suddenly, heading back towards the debris of the station and passingthrough the emptyOp, Deep inside the missile, its magnetic brain became confused and distracted Oneits subprograms would not allow it to aim for the space station Additional confusionwas created by the lack of a cohesive space station form The space station erform the missiles brain could not comprehend Question marks appeared on itsviewscreen and it overlayed an outline of the station where it should have been locatedRather then hitting the station, the subprogram initiated a self-destruct sequenceThe missile explodedThe pilot pulled off his visored helmet to show a light skinned face, with a thick,blond beard and short blond hair a few moments later he allowed his shethe adrenaline rush used up and exhaustion setting in Now he could allow himself toite of some unexpd surprises, their plan of leading thethrough the debris of the station had worked They had escaped
The woman held their black-haired, six month old son, Christopher, her armswrapped around him protectively Her green eyes sparkled, and she felt anThelmof relief They were safe Their son would have a norfe andwould they She placed her hand on her husband's thighWe madehe saidHe looked at her and smileddward and Laura black were both astonished they had escaped and survivedNow, they could return home to Mars and pick up their lives
It had been nearly fifteenmonths since their kidnapping, and Lauras forced pregnancy Their escape had not beenas much of a risk as complacency would have been If they had not escaped, they wouldhave faced a scheduled execution, and their son would have had to endure any numberof experimental procedures as a human guinea pigEdward feltIt about blowing up the station It had been a"them orsituation and like most husbands and fathers he would do whatever it took to protechis family He could rationalize away any guilt with the know ledge the people on thatstation would never again kidnap innocent pEdward and Laura wanted their black-haired, dark-eyed child to grow up a freeman They had risked their lives, and his, in a desperate and successful escape attemptdward set their course for Mars, brought up the force field, shifted to"speedsand slumped back into his seat to relax and appreciate the momentThe year was 2297
Well, yes, a few I have to admit that is part of the attractionThe lights dimmed slightly They each glanced at the ceiling realizing they shouldfind their seatsAre you available for lunch tomorrow? " asked Maryuld you like to meet?Were staying at the Atrium Inn Call me tomorrow morning and we'll schedulet, Mary said hurriedly as her husband brought out their tickets and began lookingaround for their seatsd moving toward her own seat She hadsurprised to bump into her old professor, and wondered if there was any way sheIdbe involved in the digAs the lights began to dim, Chris had nearly reached the threesome, but now theywere separating and moving toward their seats He followed her quietly, staying out ofher field of vision, and sliding into the empty seat next to her Her look of surprise as hesuddenly appeared prompted him to give her his usual dopey, lopsided grinThe nexg to be a lot harder for you to sneak intoshe warned him with a smile, wagging her finger Where were you? You're lateate They havent even started yetheyre starting late If you had been here on time, I could have introduced youto professor winslowe grief? "Chris asked with mockMe, give you grief? Never! " she said, rolling her eyesThe speaker came out onto the stage and began his lecture
As he spoke, it quicklybecame clear to Chris he was a very good speaker and gifted with a large dose of stagepresence His voice rose and fell with a rhythmic quality which both hypnotized andstimulatedood evening, ladies and gentlemen When thinking about therealityof twenty-first century humans, please consider the different belief structures existing atthe time He paused dramatically, catching his breathFaster-than-light travel or fatal travel as modern slang has abbreviated it wascompletely unknown and considered impossible bymany otheir leading physicistsField theory technology was in its infancy, generally limited electricity and holographprojections Physicists preferred to work with particle theory, a simplistic mathematicalsystem The speed of light was not considered a variable, but a speed limit which couldnot be exceededAntigravity thrust drives, force fields, and even something as simple as artificigravity wells did not yet exist There was no clear understanding of how gravity andagnetism worked Space travel during those times was not only a difficult process, butit could lead to illness and death if you stayed in space too long Radiation poisoningd tisiightlessid sheer boredom from beconfined in a small space ship or station for months or even years, were trials the
pioneers of space travel facedAs he spoke, pictures from the past appeared on a gigantic screen behind him Thefirstfloatingit Tchanged every few minutes to emphasize a point the speaker was makinOne of my favorite myths of the twentieth century was their belief in a theorycalled the 'Big Bang, which was popular until about 2015 The Big Bang theoryproposed the universe was created from a tiny speck perhaps the size of a proton Thisproton sized mass exploded creating all matter and energy in theThe original basis for this theory was the observation light shifted to the red asthey travelled from other galaxies to Terra It was theorized the redshift was caused bythe galaxies moving away from each other in the same way sound waves shift from ahigh pitch to a low pitch, as the source of the sound, or theener moves awre thought to behave in much the sameAndprth thonly theory that seemed to make sense The question became: Why were the starsOne popular answer, was an explosion propelling all of the galaxies away from acentral point
The Big Bang theory It was thought eventuaavity whe universe back into a proton sized mass or else the universe would continue to expand,scenarios spelled the end of all life I won't pretend toknow the impact this theory had on individual perspectives, but I imagine it must havebeen at least a little depressingNow i should point out not all Terran cultures of the early 2 lst century embracedthe big bang theory The leading country of the time, the United States of America, didhowever, actively promote it, by teaching it in their schools as a fact, rather than theI find it fascinating this thefact by North Amescientists, when there was no way to prove the validity of it thru direct observationwas a strongly held belief by many of their leading cosmologists Information andobservations creating doubts were scoffed at and ignored"The Wolf Effect, named after Emil Wolf, was developed durin edshift of lighte perIobut was never seriously considered an alternative explanation for theThe Wolf effect was, of course, proven to be correct after the first"fatal " expeditions toother galaxies From our perspective with 20/20 hindsight, it seems the discovery spacewas not empty should have alluded to the possibility there might be other reasons for theredshift of starlight I suspect the change to particle research and away from field andwave theory research blinded scientists of the time to other possibilitiesst century Leaders of physics appear to have developed an almost religiousContinually finding stars and galaxies older than the proposed age oted objectivityfaith in the big Bang theory a faith keping them from open mineobserving galaxies on a collision course with each other, should have stirred doubts
out the theory Only after discovering that galaxies orbit around galactic cores, whichent theory suggests are over a hundred biears old, did the big Bang theorybegin to falter It should noted Terra still prefers the photon model of lightBefore we pat ourselves on the back for our current state of enlightenment, wshould consider our descendants may very well wonder about some of the current beliefsand perspectivve given you a sense of their technical expertise and how they viewed theirphysical world Now I'll move on to an overview of the three dominant cultures of thetime And as I'm describing them, imagine how these cultures must have conflicted witheach other when doing business or interacting in other wayshe United States was the primary world power, with Canada as their culturaNorth American Culture As a culture, their primary idealsseemed to be a combination of honesty and efficient use of resources, while maintaininga strong sense of individual freedom and identity Not always met, to be certain, butstrived forThe‘ Asian cultureluded Japan, China, and KeThe strongest idealinfluencing their behavior was the concept of harmony, essentially, to avoid creatingemotional stresses, and to know your place, or status, in society To be a hard workerwas also an important ideal Again, not always achieved, but strived for Altho eachcountry spoke its own language, they shared the common written language of Chinesehich acted as a unifying influence
he soviet Union was also a world power, and as mentioned before, was anexperiment in communism Sharing the wealth seemed to be the primary goal in theoviet culturedo not believe thphilosophy was embraced by the general population The Soviet Culture was one ofchaos and disorganization Domination and lack of individual responsibility, tho notideals, were behavior patterns in the Soviet Culture Patterns leading to its dismantlingfter thismber countries of the Soviet Union began toembrace north americas cultural idealsThe Soviet Union had created a massive welfare state philosophy, from which itspeople did not fully recover until approximately 2080or those of you unfamiliar with the concept of a welfare culture, a simpledefinition would be a culiduals expect to be givthem theof life Work and social responsibilities do not earn the essentials, and arephilosophically separated In a welfare state the government provides the basics forsurvival and concepts such as quality and personal worth fade awayhe concept of synergy played an increasingly important rolethree culturestarting with Canada Synerganthropological concept, originated in the 1940An anthropologist named Ruth Benedict compared what she considered to bunhealthy primitive cultures with three healthy primitive cultures She developed theconcept of 'synergy'as a description of broad cultural behaviors By her definition, itmeant behaviors that, when combined, produced effects greater than the sum of the
ctions a culture in which individuals shared their resources, communicated honestly,and took care of its children in a collective and loving way would produce many positiveesults, both materially and psychologically The amount ofhese results were minimaCompare this with the much larger amounts of energy used in a culture whereindividuals hoarded their material resources, saw lying as a necessity for accomplishingtheir goals, and attempted to weaken or eliminate their neighbors and the children ofA synergistic culture supported long term thinking patterns and non-synergisticcultures supported short term thinking patternsThe concept of synergy had a gradual, but expanding impact over the course ofthe twentieth and twenty-first centuries Beginning in the North American culture, thenexpanding into the Soviet culture, and finally moving into the Asian culture Synergya cultural concept, also laid the groundwork for our current Martian cultureWe'nl focus primarily on the North american Culture partly because they keptmost of our own belief structures have evolvedfrStanding outside the door of Chris'apartment with Melody, he asked, "What isolf effect?If I remember correctly, the basic idea is that if you have lightdifferentfrequencies entering a plasma or gas cloud in space, the interference causes a frequencyshift towards the red end of the spectrum The thermal fields of the atoms absorb someof the lights energy and some of it gets scattered Most of it passes thru at a lowerfrequencyDh, Chris responded Well, photons dont apply in the process I wonder whyerra still uses them as a model?Politics in the physics community, Melody answered as the two entered hiapartment one of three new haven Towers as always he admired the view from hapartment
It was on the fifth floor and overlooked New Haven and the martianlandscape He had been on the waiting list for six years to get an apartment above thethird floor, and it was well worth the wait The view from his apartment was spectacularage light was blinking on the comm system as they entered Theyhumans Chris was torn between answering a possible business prospect and focusing s nboth still buzzing conversationally about the lecture, which had provided all kinds oinsights into the mindset of early 21st century humans, as well as a few about modeof his attention on Melody Curiosity and his sense of business responsibility wonfor a fehe saidelody gave him a dirty look and picked up a magazine comm-link lying on thecoffee table She began scanning for the latest fashion articles Chris hoped she wouldid the styles coming out of the Jupiter colorThe viewscreen brought up the face of an attractive blonde-haired woman in her
early fifties It was Valery Firsov, Security Director of Intergalactic Mining EnterprisesHe had contracted with them before and knew she had been pleased with his work Oneof christrong base of repeat customerspleased she had calleThe message started to play Hello, Chris This is Valery Firsov of IntergalacticMining I have a job for you, if you're interested We have received word through thegrapevine a mole is in our mining base on Corbinour understanding the mole isplanning to steal a large quantity of corbinite We would like to have you go undercoverand investigate the situation Were prepared to pay you 40, 000 credits if you find themole within a two week period If you are unable to find the mole, we'll pay you 3,000Give me a call back and let me know what you thinkChris enjoyed being a private investigator It was a field he seemed especiallyPsychological counseling he had received in his youth had sparkedkeen interest in the workings of the human mind In school he'd taken a number ofpsychology classes He also had a gift for observation and accurately"reading"eventsbasedChris was a natural for detective workThank god for career testing! he thoughthad verye compas a private investigator Therfand he was the only one on Mars Unfortunately, there was also very little demand onMars, so most of his work came from Terra Computers could investigate the majority ofuations quite efficiently Occasionally, though, a humanded to gatherinformation and make intuitional connections computers simply could not
This waswhere Chris cameChris paused for a moment to analyze the situation He needed the work and thecredits But the payment arrangements were not his standard operating procedure Hnormally worked for 500 credits a day, and was not thrilled with the idea of having hisustomers dictate his fees It made for a bad precedent Still, he thought, I would like toMining as a repeat customer, andd use the credits on the otherhand, do I want them as a customer if their going to underpay meconvinced their info is a hundred percent reliable and thats why they want to set it ups way Time for a little direct communicationComputer whaton Terra, Pennsylvania, Scranton Cityerran time, Scranton City is 3: 34: 20 PM, the computer respondedlace call to Valery Firsov, Security Director, Intergalactic Mining EnterprisesChris stood as he waited for the call to go through (After sitting at the lecture for anour and a half and another fifteen minutes in the cab home he had no desire to sitdown again for this comm call Melody decided this would be a good time to use thebathroom Chris noted she took the magazine comm-link with her He hoped shee it in thereChris Is this something you can fit into your schedule?Chris turned to find valery 's face on the vidsScheduling isn'tValery, but the payment arrangements are a concern Normally, I charge 500 credits a