Yes, I Am Happy
13 Mar 2018Namita Pear
Balatu 4 D is a salmon-coloured planet whose icy nature is revealed only by the deep, startlingly blue canyons that etch across its rolling surface. Its inhabitants are corporate and industrial workers whose relation to the very world they live on is so transient that no personalized name is shared among them. No atmosphere and a distance from any celestial body, even the sun it orbits, means a cold, lonely, subterranean existence whose appeal really only exists to scientists and mineral harvesters. That the majority of cargo sent its way is primarily alcohol makes for a fact more succinct than any other description I can give it.I am also in love with Balatu 4 D. I was in the neighboring Aeternitas system when I had purchased my Keelback, the Charon's Emissary, ID DS-02A. I was, I told myself, putting my Cobra into storage and following the tracks of my friends into becoming a successful trader, my reputation ascending (or diminishing) from that of a privateer who preferred to quickly take out lone pirates. Even with the hauls that originated from the three stations in Aeternitas quickly becoming lucrative, those dreams dilute; on my first haul to 4 D, docking in-orbit, I was instantly hooked. I know that out there somewhere are prettier planets, ones full of sulfur, or ammonia, or any number of elements which leave a more vibrant impression on my brain, but the storybook, fairylike crossings of Balatu 4 D's glacial valleys were what told me those worlds were out there.
Right now I have spent ten million credits on this Asp. Six for the stock price, four more in trimming or beefing whatever seems important. I still will need, possibly, ten more million before my package is complete; but that's easy. It just takes time, at this point, with the craziest hauls I'm being offered up to eight hundred a run... but, God, this is boring. I won't lie, without the threat of ejection or even death around every corner (not that you pirates don't try, lazy combatants,) I simply can't do this forever. And, well, combat isn't lucrative enough, at least with a third-generation Cobra. My friends say there's money to be made in hauling passengers and exploring everything I care to fly to - I have every intention to test their theories.
There is the whole 'ship' thing, though. I still need at minimum two million more credits to place the necessary drive in here, but at least all the necessary bells and whistles are in - it took two million just to get the sensor suite installed! Then, there's the name... Charon's Emissary was my transporter, my foray into legitimate, bloodless business. Before her, the D'Acheron, a Cobra that's won me some small infamy to pirates and let me put the foot in the cargo hatch with forty tons of cargo space. But, the Inferno theme needs to go, I think. I may be in more danger of a permanent, painful demise, far from civilization and possible rescue, but I don't think I'm going to hell. It wouldn't be that bad if the last thing I saw was a naked view of a pulsar, frying my body as I fly through its waves among wreckage.
And, on top of that, I write this while the ground crews at Ali Dock and their automated helpers fit my Explorer with everything I've requested. I sit in the big, glass-encased 'cockpit' and type on the personal computer and watch everyone walking by me - they give me funny looks at my smile. In fact, it's been hard not to smile since I've entered. Just the sensation of sitting down in this ejection seat, looking all around me, marveling at how even Charon doesn't have this astonishing view... and all I'm looking at now is the interior of the hangar. Am I psyching myself up too much? Will I just let myself down when I get out there, will it feel even crazier seeing something totally new out of these strengthened panels? I have a lot of questions as I funnel way more money than I once thought I'd ever have, into the very ship I'm sitting in.
But, I'm still smiling. I think there's one question I can at least answer, and it's one that I've answered since I sat down. I'll go and ask the Pilot's Federation to reserve its name now, I guess.
Asp Explorer, ID DS-12A. "Yes I Am Happy".