Starcorp 1: Escape from Sol

“Hi,” Sharon greeted with a wide smile.

The quick opening of the front door a few seconds after his knock did not surprise Sawyer. He knew that Sharon was expecting him. What did surprise him was the aesthetics of her appearance. The extraordinary beauty of Sharon’s visage on the other side of the doorway put him in a momentary state of amazement. He anticipated that she would be in her best attire, but what he saw before him was far more than what he expected. Sharon stood before him in a silver colored, strapless, figure-hugging, floor-length gown that flared out from just above the knees down. Crystal drop earrings dangled from either ear. A bracelet comprised of a string of pearls adorned her left wrist. Her hair flowed down in long soft curls and came to a stop five inches below her shoulders. Her expression was shaped into a bashful smile. Sawyer was overwhelmed. So much so that it took him several seconds of confused thinking to produce a reply to her greeting.

“Hi,” Sawyer fumbled out after a time.

Standing deeper inside the apartment was a woman of mature years. Ms. Stewart was tall, exceedingly attractive and elegantly adorned. She looked every bit the role of a middle-class mom. In reality, she was a well to do member of RG01’s upper class community. This was a status that she owed entirely to her beauty. In demeanor she seemed to be less than pleased with what she saw at the front door. A hint of a smile and a steady stare shaped her expression.

“Come on in,” Sharon urged Sawyer with a broad smile.

Sawyer complied with her lead and stepped through the open doorway. He stopped half a dozen feet past the entrance and took an attentive posture before Sharon’s mother. He too was dressed to impress. A perfectly cut tuxedo adorned his person and every part of his person was groomed to suit his attire.

“Mom, this is Sawyer Beck,” Sharon began in a pleasant tone, “this year’s Adolescent Male Single’s Tennis Tournament Champion.”

Sharon’s mother briefly examined Sawyer from behind a barely perceptible smile. She then congratulated him on his winning of the Adolescent Male Single’s Championship. Sawyer returned her salutation with a large helping of humility. This formality of introduction did not last more than two minutes. At the end of it, Sharon lured Sawyer out the front door and off towards the Awards Ceremony.

This was the day of the ceremony to publicly recognize this year’s sports winners. More than one-thousand RG01 members were expected to be in attendance inside the Oasis Gala Auditorium, within the starship of the same name. The bulk of RG01’s populace was expected to be watching the event live via the starcorp’s public communication network. Most of the people in attendance at the auditorium were expected to be among rich and powerful members of Starcorp RG01. A tiny percentage of these audiences were comprised of the winners with their dates and families. Sawyer, with Sharon on his arm, rendezvoused with his parents outside of the Oasis Gala Auditorium.

“You look amazing, Sharon,” Wendy gushed with a look of wide-eyed surprise.

“Thank you,” Sharon acknowledged with a bashful grin.

Yes, you do,” Daniel concurred with a nod and a smile.

Sharon took this compliment with a grin and a blush before responding in kind to Sawyer’s parents. After a minute of greetings and admiring one another, the four of them went into the complex. The auditorium had seating for two-thousand people. Most the people in attendance were invited members of the top echelon of the RG01 hierarchy. The remainder was the award winners and their company of friends and family. The stage extended across the wall opposite to the main entrance.

It took a full thirty minutes for the auditorium to fill up with people. The audience spent much of this time seeking out their assigned seats. Shortly after the audience was settled the stage curtains slid apart as the lights in the auditorium dimmed off. A medium size orchestra was situated to the right and the rear of the stage. It promptly began to play music. After nearly ten minutes of this, a master of ceremonies came out and the show began in earnest.

In between the ceremony of handing out an award to each team and individual that won a championship in their respective sport, various musical performers came out to entertain the audience. This was as much an event for them as it was for the athletes. Only the top entertainers were invited to perform at these events. The fact that these ceremonies were televised and commanded the attention of a large audience made them highly prized bookings for performers.

Ninety minutes after the ceremony’s start, it was over. Sawyer was called up onto the stage to receive his engraved gold medallion forty minutes earlier. Highlights of his year in tennis preceded this proclamation of him as this year’s Adolescent Male Singles Tennis Champion. After a brief and modest thank you, Sawyer spent the remainder of the proceedings as a spectator. At the end of the presentation, the bulk of the live audience retreated to a banquet hall in an adjacent structure. A small band, tables, chairs, food and refreshments, and a dance floor were in place for their enjoyment. This was the closing event of the evening, the mixing, and mingling of peoples from all sectors of the Starcorp RG01. For Sawyer, this portion of the event was nearly as uncomfortable as his brief appearance on stage. For Sharon, it was the highlight of the evening.

This segment of the event afforded Sharon the opportunity to make use of her attire to its maximum benefit, for her. In the beginning, she adorned herself to Sawyer flirtatiously, but this she did more for her sake than his. Starting from the instant that she stepped into the banquet hall, Sharon began scanning the myriad of faces there with discrete glances. Shortly after entering the hall she led Sawyer onto the dance floor, overruling his objection in the process. Daniel and Wendy separated from their youthful companions and set out in search of amusement elsewhere in the hall.

Out on the dance floor, Sharon ignored Sawyer’s clumsy attempt at appearing graceful and confident. Her attention was too affixed on exhibiting herself for all others. She blandly followed Sawyer’s lead while glancing about to catch the eye of other males in the room. A short time after this first dance a tall, handsome and mature looking man approached Sharon and identified himself to Sawyer as an acquaintance of hers. Within a few of seconds after this meeting, he requested a dance with Sharon. She accepted, ahead of Sawyer’s approval.

In truth, they were acquaintances. Sharon had met him at the awards ceremony one year earlier. His name was Arthur Chaplin. His appearance and vigor were suggestive of a man in his mid-thirties, at the worse. In reality, he was sixty-seven years of age. By education, he was a physician. By profession, he was the Health Systems Administrator at the RG01 Medical Center. In this position, he answered to the Chief Executive Officer of the Medical Center and a member of the top thirty percent in wealth. Arthur’s subservience to him existed only within their profession. The size of Arthur’s financial portfolio more than doubled that of his superior. His confident demeanor, good looks and sizeable fortune made Arthur Chaplin a well-known playboy with six expensive mistresses under exclusive contract to him.

Arthur led Sharon by the hand onto the dance floor. Ballroom music reverberated out from the live band. The floor was filled with elegantly attired couples moving about in synchronized steps. Sawyer watched with a confused expression as Sharon and Arthur moved into the middle of this assemblage.

“Weren’t you here with someone else last year?” Arthur questioned shortly after taking Sharon into his arms.

Sharon gave the question a brief bashful smile before responding to it.

“Yes, I was.”

Sharon and Arthur continued to dance amid a crowd of couples that numbered more than twenty. After several seconds, Arthur spoke again.

“You must be very popular with the boys in your school?”

“My popularity isn’t limited to just boys,” Sharon playfully countered.

“Oh, of that I’m sure,” Arthur returned with a smile.

With two steps, Arthur gave her a near complete turnabout before speaking again.

“I’m guessing that the only thing that’s been stopping you from adding men to your trail of broken hearts is your age.”

“That won’t be the case for long,” Sharon assured with an air of confidence. “I turn sixteen in two months. When I do, I’m filing for emancipation.”

Once again Arthur gave her answer a momentary smile before responding to it.

“Are you looking forward to this next stage of your life?” Arthur questioned with a quizzical look.

“I’m counting the minutes,” Sharon spoke back with a mischievous smile.

Half a century earlier, in most starcorps, the age of consent was lowered to include emancipated 16-year-olds. In a few other starcorps, it was lowered to one or two years below that. This was due to several factors. The law against unsanctioned sex was written to help contain the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among adults. This law was extended to cover teenagers a few years later. This was done so that sexually active teenagers could be screened for diseases along with the adults. To facilitate compliance with this law, teenagers were allowed to register their sexual partners without the consent or knowledge of their parents. This law was initially applied with the restriction that this sex was occurring between pre-adult teenagers. With that act teenage sex transitioned from adolescent misbehavior to a recognized practice that was managed by the starcorp’s Department of Health. The existence of social contracts made it possible for many attractive adults attain a comfortable living through the social market. Teenagers quickly became aware that they were giving away something to other adolescents that adults were willing to pay a large amount of money for, their innocence. This was especially true for females, but it was the demand for teenage males that brought about this change in the age of consent.

Emancipated teenagers were a growing reality within the starcorps. The ease of life, the inexpensive schools and the guaranteed food, shelter and medical insurance for all members was motivation for a growing percentage of pre-adult teenagers to file for emancipation and enter the workforce early. The growing population of middle-aged adult females became increasingly eager for access to these randy emancipated males with state governed sex privileges. Often these teenage males were far more eager to entertain their yearnings than older men were. And there was a growing population of adult females that were keen on obliging their amorous desires. The pressure for a change in the age of consent grew over time. It did not take long for the starcorps to begin writing a new law that permitted this union. But it was the unwritten law that made adolescent females a part of this revision, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

Arthur had danced Sharon about for half a dozen more steps before speaking to her report with a roguish inflection of his own.

“You sound like a young lady with a plan.”

“All young ladies have plans,” Sharon corrected without hesitation.

After a second of reflection, Sharon completed her retort with an amused expression.

“It’s just that some of us have bigger plans than others.”

“Don’t tell me,” Arthur instructed with quick response. “Your plan is to become the youngest female to ever earn a starcorp Board of Directors seat.”

“Boring,” Sharon returned with a dismissive air.

“No?” Arthur spoke with near to a grin on his face.

Arthur’s first guess was not a serious attempt and his second one was even more playful.

“Okay I’ve got it, you’re a science nerd?” Arthur spoke in a slightly mocking tone.

“Not in this lifetime,” Sharon haughtily deflected.

“So, tell me, Ms. Stewart, how do you plan on making your mark?” Arthur spoke back with a smile and a look.

“Marking territory is a male thing,” Sharon explained with a smug expression. “I’m here for the party.”

“Oh, a party girl,” Arthur retorted with a small act of surprise.

“That’s right,” Sharon confirmed a supercilious expression. “A life without enjoyment is a wasted life. I plan on enjoying as much of mine as I can.”

“And how do you plan on financing this party?” Arthur challenged a second behind.

“Through a man of course,” Sharon explained back with a smirk.

Arthur took this answer with a grin. He turned Sharon about with three more steps and then asked a question with a steady stare.

“Do you have a particular man in mind?”

Amused by the question Sharon answered back with a look and a smile.

“Several.”

“Dare I ask?” Arthur nearly whispered back.

Still very much amused by the conversation, Sharon responded his question with a question.

“I don’t know. Dare you?”

Arthur was more than a little entertained by this conversation. The little minx, as he perceived Sharon, was the highest form of delight that he had received in a very long time. Her age was the only thing stopping him from initiating verbal advances at this moment. He mused over this for several seconds while exchanging smiles and stares with her. At the end of this time, he asked the only question he thought safe enough to put to her.

“So, tell me Ms. Stewart, are you a Traditional Social Contract kind of girl?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Sharon retorted casually.

Arthur was encouraged by this answer. It was not uncommon for young girls to entertain the idea of being in a traditional relationship with a wealthy man. At this moment, he knew that Sharon was anything but traditional. And he suspected that he was the target of her plan.

“Well, when you come of age I hope you’ll give me a chance to submit a bid for your attention.” Arthur solicited politely.

Sharon took a moment to bare a sly grin. She then responded to his invite with an equally sly response.

“From what I hear, you don’t have any room for my attention.”

“I can always find room for someone I like,” Arthur defended with a slightly confused expression.

“Well, I hope you find someone you like that’s willing to share your attention,” Sharon returned with no small amount of guile. “I’m not that kind of girl.”

Arthur was confused by this turn in the conversation. Up until then his suspicion was that Sharon was pursuing him. Her dismissal of his offer did not fit in with this thinking. After a moment of thought, he came to thinking that Sharon was dismissing the contract and not him. A second later he tested this idea with a question.

“Don’t tell me that you’re opposed to Group Social Contracts,” Arthur queried with a bemused look.

“I don’t believe in sharing anything that’s mine,” Sharon answered back with a sharp edge to her tone.

An instant after speaking these words the music trailed off into silence. Sharon and Arthur took a half step back from each other and paused there to continue their converse. Arthur took a moment to ponder her last statement and then he spoke to it with a smile.

“Well, Ms. Stewart that’s a pretty steep order. There aren’t many wealthy suitors out there willing to sign on to an Exclusive Social Contract.”

“Really,” Sharon challenged boldly and without hesitation. “I’ve counted nine in this room and that’s just the one’s I know about.”

“So, you keep a running list of nearby wealthy men?” Arthur questioned with near to a grin on his face.

Sharon returned his grin with a broad smile. She retained her amused demeanor as she spoke to his last remark.

“A plan only works when you work it.”

Suddenly Arthur was captivated by the audacity of the teenage girl standing before him. He knew at that moment that he wanted her more than any woman of his acquaintance. And he had no doubt that he would give much to have her. It was the businessman in him that caused him to haggle against her plan.

“Well, it’s been my experience that everyone has a price,” Arthur returned nonchalantly.

“I’m sure that’s true,” Sharon spoke back with equal indifference and a slight shake of her head.

“So, what’s your price, Ms. Stewart?” Arthur questioned bluntly.

Sharon took a moment to ponder the question while holding an amused expression. At the end of this, she gave him his answer with a cool delivery.

“I think that if you took the money that you’re paying those six women you have under contract and doubled it that would probably be just about right.”

This answer prompted Arthur to produce a large smile. Sharon reacted to this with a hint of a smile on top of a complacent expression. A second behind this the music began to play again. As this happened, a second mature male stopped to either side of them. He was two inches shorter and far less handsome than Arthur. And he addressed himself to Sharon.

“Hello, Sharon, may I have this dance.”

“Mr. Linzer, absolutely,” Sharon happily responded with an expression of surprise on her face.

Sawyer noted Sharon’s change in dance partners from across the room. He had been standing alone there since she separated from him. His parents were being occupied by a conversation with several others in another section of the room. He gave no thought to joining them. The whole of his focus was on Sharon.

“If it comes down to military action, I think we should initiate a first strike bombardment from space,” a short angry man asserted fiercely. “Destroy their major industries, their transportation network, their space ports—the war would be over before it starts.”

Daniel and Wendy made themselves a part of this exchange five minutes earlier. So far, they had contributed nothing to it beyond an introduction. They were, however, keenly interested in the subject.

“BX01 Congress will never okay that,” a tall, ruggedly handsome man, with an athletic build, softly countered.

“Why not?” The short man challenged vociferously.

The tall man showed no sign that he was perturbed by the short man’s abrupt return. After taking a casual breath, he turned his attention towards the shorter man, with his eyes more so than his head, and gave his explanation with a soft delivery.

“If we did a large-scale bombardment from space we would be looking at ten million civilian deaths within the first forty-eight hours, just from the collateral damage. There would be another quarter of a billion deaths over the next year from starvation, disease and exposure. If you think the Earthers hate us now, how do you think they will feel after that?”

“I agree that would be a catastrophe,” a rotund man of average height supported in a gruff voice. “But do we really have any other choice.”

“Exactly!” The short man insisted emphatically.

“Yes, we do,” a thin man of medium height contradicted with an inflection that suggested he had spoken the obvious. “We can negotiate our reintegration with Earth. It doesn’t make sense for us to be detached from the world that we come from.”

“That’s not going to happen,” the short man corrected out-of-hand.

The thin man was unnerved by this perfunctory dismissal of his thinking. His unease was supported by the fact that none of the others thought to support him. Ideally, the thin man hoped that the tall man would come to his defense. After two seconds of waiting, he gave voice to the query that was on the tip of his tongue.

“Why not?”

“The BX01 Congress will never go for it,” the short man answered glumly.

“You hear what the Earthers are saying.” A tall lady supported with a near astonished expression. “They want to attach ninety percent of the starcorps’ net worth and sell it off as common stock to Earthers. They’re talking about swapping out starcorp members with employees from Earth.”

“So, what are you saying?” The thin man questioned with a confused look. “We just wait for them to attack us and fight them off.”

“If it comes to war we lose,” the tall man softly asserted with an offhand inflection.

“So, we’re just making these weapons for nothing?” The rotund man questioned back with a ruffled brow.

“I hope so,” the tall man answered as he gazed, introspectively, into the empty space in front him and three feet above the floor.

The short man suddenly took exception to this corrective remark from the tall stranger. The tall man had joined their converse without introduction not more than two minutes earlier. And his remarks smacked of being authoritative. The short man did not like being spoken to as though he did not know what he was talking about. For him, this last statement from the tall man was the final straw. He quickly directed his mind the task of discovering if the tall man had the credentials to know anything on the subject or if he was just a talkative janitor.

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t get your name?” The short man questioned with a steady stare into the eyes of the tall stranger.

“Joshua Sloan.”

“And what do you do, Mr. Sloan?” The short man questioned an instant behind that answer.

Joshua gave the question a moment of thought before deriving a fitting lie.

“I’m in insurance.”

For Sawyer and Sharon, the evening’s festivities lasted for another three hours. Daniel and Wendy left for home in half that time. Daniel had no desire to wait for Sawyer and his date, and Wendy had no interest in being in Sharon’s company any longer than she had to be. It was clear to all three of the Becks that Sharon was in her element there, but only Wendy suspected what this portended. She kissed her son on the cheek before leaving him to discover what she suspected was soon to come. Less than one-eighth of the occupants, that filled the room that night, were still present when Sawyer and Sharon made their exits.

During their time aboard the transport craft that was taking them back to the Amaterasu, Sharon gushed about how much she enjoyed the evening. Sawyer could hardly get a word in during her endless descriptions of the evening’s events. She thanked Sawyer repeatedly for inviting her to attend it with him. When the transport started its docking maneuvers, Sawyer began to fear that his time was running out with her. Initially, he had hoped to ask Sharon to formalize their relationship ahead of this day. But in the preceding days, Sharon was always too busy to take his call or meet with him. His hope at this moment was to broach the subject before this evening was through. When the transport made its physical connection with a docking port of the Amaterasu Sawyer spoke up with a hint of desperation in his voice.

“Sharon, I need to ask you something.”

“Okay,” Sharon agreed with a large smile. “But let’s wait until we get out of here.”

Sharon launched herself towards the passenger compartment exit without waiting for a reply. Sawyer had to brush past a couple of people to keep up with her.

“I hate waiting for everyone else to leave, don’t you?” Sharon whispered back to Sawyer after jockeying her way to the front of the line at the door.

Sawyer gave an unconvincing “Yeah,” with a slight nod of his head in response. GINO

There were fifty-seven passengers aboard the transport craft that was bringing Sawyer and Sharon back to the Amaterasu. Most were still seated when Sharon positioned herself in front of the passenger compartment exit. Thirty seconds after her arrival there, the transport pilot stepped out of his cabin and opened the passenger compartment exit. Sharon was the first person to float through the open doorway and into the transit tube on the other side. Sawyer followed behind her. They floated headlong through the tube at a hurried pace. Ten seconds later they came out into a transport pod bay. Sharon floated over to the nearest pod door and touched the control panel to summon a pod. After this, she turned about with a smile and faced Sawyer.

“I had so much fun today,” Sharon gushed with a slightly excited shake of her head. “Thank you for inviting me.”

“I wanted to,” Sawyer eagerly assured as he grasped the handhold on the opposite side of the transport pod door.

Sharon took a second to conspicuously note that Sawyer intended to travel in the same pod with her. At the end of this time, she asked a question with a hint of surprise in her tone.

“Aren’t you going to get a pod?”

“I want to ask you something,” Sawyer explained defensively. “I thought we could talk in the pod.”

It was not uncommon for couples to separate at the transport pod bays when they were traveling home. There was no part of the habitat that was not within walking distance of a transport pod bay and crime was virtually nonexistent. Escorting dates to their front door was regarded as an unnecessary practice aboard a starship. The primary reason spacers had for sharing a pod was convenience. Filling up the pods was the quickest way of dispersing a large crowd. Sharing a pod also had the advantage of enabling acquaintances to prolong their conversations before separating. Sawyer assumed the latter was applicable in this situation.

“Oh!” Sharon responded with feigned surprise. “Okay.”

The transport pod arrived almost to the instant that Sharon finished this remark. She and Sawyer floated into the pod and activated it. Ten seconds later the pod began its descent into the starship’s habitat ring. It was in route for the pod bay that was nearest to Sharon’s residence. It did not take long before they began to feel the tug of the habitat ring’s gravity beneath them.

“So, what did you want to ask me?” Sharon questioned in a pleasant voice.

As she said this Sharon began unzipping her way out of the zero-gravity sack that she was in. Visually this lived up to its name. It was essentially a sack that was wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. A zipper went down from the top of the sack to the bottom. The purpose of this was for ease of entry and exit. A tie at the top of the sack made it adjustable to varied waist sides. The design purpose of the zero-gravity sack was concealment. Dresses concealed nothing in zero gravity. Because there was little use for legs in zero gravity sacks came into existence the day after dresses went into space.

“I wanted to know,” Sawyer commenced hesitantly, “if you and I… I mean… if we could be… boyfriend and girlfriend?”

“You mean like going steady?” Sharon inquired with a surprised inflection.

“Yes,” Sawyer quickly confirmed.

“Oh!” Sharon responded with a mixture of delight and shock. “That’s sweet, Sawyer. Thank you for asking. But I don’t date teenage boys anymore. I’m sorry.”

For Sawyer, Sharon’s response hit him like a physically debilitating shock wave. He did not know what to say or do. His fear of rejection had him considering the possibility that Sharon would say no. But he was still unprepared to deal with it emotionally.

“I really appreciate you asking,” Sharon continued with as much sincerity as she could dissemble. “Thank you.”

Sawyer gave his acknowledgment in the form of a brief nod of his head. His mind and his emotions were still struggling to maintain normality in his demeanor. Two seconds after this the pod came to a stop and the door opened. Without hesitation, Sharon stepped out of it and looked back at Sawyer with a pleasant expression before speaking again.

“Thank you, Sawyer. I really had a wonderful time.”

Two seconds after Sharon stepped away, the pod door closed and a stunned Sawyer was on his way home.