Callisto 2.0 by Susan English (e novels to read online .txt) 📕
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“Yeah, that’s true. Not a lot of room to pursue your own passions.”
“Some private companies have budgets for basic scientific research, but from what I’ve seen, it’s mostly lip service. If you don’t produce something that can be commercialized, you’ll be out on the street in the next hiring cycle.”
“Uh-huh. The goal is revenue, not acquiring knowledge for its own sake.”
“Exactly. Not that any of those companies were knocking at my door.” I smirked.
“Then there’s teaching, but that’s not a good fit for someone like me, desperately trying to carve out a few moments here and there to focus on my own ideas, with all the time constraints, the classes, the students, the university politics. I couldn’t do it.”
“Me, either.” Naomi gave a little shudder.
“I thought that at least with the government position, I’d have access to a lab.” I lifted a shoulder then let it drop. “I’ve gone as far as I can with thought experiments.
But you know how government work is, the main focus is armament and war.”
“Oh, you mean ‘national protection and peacekeeping’.” She rolled her eyes. “And if California is anything like Great Britain, they would probably make any interesting discoveries classified, claiming they had possible military applications. But you don’t have to worry about any of that any longer!”
I looked at her, my eyes swimming with emotion. “I never thought something like this could happen to me.”
This time Naomi hugged me. “I’m so delighted Diana found you.” She released me, then said, “Oh, I almost forgot. Yasmin wanted me to ask if you’re interested in helping on the farm this afternoon?”
“Sure.”
“Brilliant! We can meet her in the workroom.”
We walked down the long hallway and into the spacious workroom, where Yasmin was sitting at a table, working on her tablet. She looked up at us as we approached.
“Hi, Calli, feel like getting your hands dirty?”
“I’d love to.”
“What about you, Naomi?”
“No, I’m good. I’ve got to check in with the bio lab here. Oh, there’s the person I 29
need to see,” she said, looking across the room. I followed her gaze and spotted a woman working at one of the consoles. “But I’ll catch you in a bit, Calli, and we can have dinner together.”
Naomi made her way toward the other side of the room, and I followed Yasmin through the double doors and down the corridor.
“So, Calli, first time on the Moon?” Yasmin asked.
“I came here as a graduate student a couple of times, stayed in the university sector.”
“Yeah, this is way nicer.”
“That’s an understatement!”
Yasmin opened the door to the farm, and we walked over to a small shed. She handed me a pair of gloves, clippers, and several baskets. “You can harvest apples.” She pointed toward a row of dwarf apple trees full of ripe, bright red fruit. “Just fill these baskets and leave them here next to the shed.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be working with the bees if you need me.” She gave me a big smile, then turned and walked down the path.
I took a deep breath of fresh air and went to work, happy to be contributing. Berit appeared just as I was setting the last full basket beside the shed.
“Hi, Calli, look how industrious you are.”
“Just finished.” I pushed my hair off my brow with my gloved hand.
“Super! Then you can help me clean the aquaponics filters. If you want to.” She raised her eyebrows and cocked her head.
“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”
Berit let out a laugh. “Follow me.”
After hanging the clippers on a pegboard inside the shed and putting my gloves on a shelf, we walked down the path to the pond.
“I don’t know how aquaponics works,” I said.
“You’re in the right place, then.” Berit stopped in front of an array of large barrels, all connected by a series of white polymer pipes. “First, let me shut off the pump,” she said, raising her voice so I could hear her over the sound of the motor and flowing water. She flipped a switch on the outside of a large metallic box next to the first barrel, and the noise was replaced by silence. “That’s better. Hard to talk with all that racket.”
She stooped down and closed a valve on the pipe going into the first barrel, then removed the lid from the barrel and reached inside to pull out a mesh filter, which she handed to me. “You can use the water hose over there.” She pointed to a hose attached to a spigot in the ground. “Use the spray nozzle to clean off all the gunk.”
I leaned the filter against a barrel and got to work, the earthy, slightly fishy odor strong but not unpleasant.
“Okay, the idea is this,” said Berit. “The fish waste, which is basically ammonia and nitrites, is converted into plant fertilizer with the help of bacteria. The plants absorb the nutrients directly from the water.”
30
“Sort of like hydroponics?” I asked, handing Berit the now-clean filter, which she exchanged for a dirty one.
“Yes, exactly, but the difference is that with hydroponics, you have to add chemical nutrients to the water. With aquaponics, the fish do that for you.”
“Wow, amazing.” I wiped my forehead with my sleeve.
“These mesh nets,” she held up the filter I had just cleaned, “are for large particles that don’t settle to the bottom of the barrels as sediment. Once filtered, the clean water is piped back into the fishpond.”
“What an ingenious system. Out of curiosity—why don’t you automate this process?
Seems like it wouldn’t be too difficult.”
“It’s a fairly new operation. This is the first aquaponics system on the Moon, and I’m just figuring out what works best. So at the moment, I need to be hands on.”
“That makes sense.”
“Plus, I enjoy the manual labor. It’s better than sitting at a desk all day.”
“Good thing you didn’t study theoretical physics,” I said, laughing.
◆◆◆
At around six p.m. Naomi found us. “There you are, Calli! Ready for supper?”
I looked at Berit.
“Go ahead, you two, I can finish up here. Only one more filter to go. Thanks for your help, Calli.”
“My pleasure.” I washed my hands, using a bar of soap which was lying next to the water spigot, then patted them dry on my jumpsuit.
“Enjoying yourself?” asked Naomi as we walked into the dining room.
“I’m in awe. This place ….” I shook my head in wonderment as we filled our plates—
pumpkin ravioli and spinach salad.
We sat down at a table, facing each other. Naomi smiled broadly at me, white teeth flashing. “If you think this is great, you’ve got to see Shambhala!”
“Shambhala—that’s an interesting name for an orbital lab.”
“I’ve no idea who chose to call it Shambhala, but from what I’ve understood, it’s a mythical realm where all the inhabitants are enlightened, where injustice, cruelty, and conflicts don’t exist. It’s supposed to be one of the Beyul.”
I arched my eyebrow.
Naomi laughed. “I didn’t have a clue, either. Based on what I’ve read on the internet, according to one school of Tibetan Buddhism Beyuls are hidden places of refuge, which can only be found when the Earth is on the brink of destruction, when humanity is so corrupt there’s no room for spiritual Buddhist practice.”
“That kind of describes the world right now.”
“Yes, unfortunately it really does.”
“And Arcadia?”
31
“Oh, that I know! It’s an ancient Greek vision of a place that is in harmony with nature.”
“Nice name.”
“So, excited to give the orbital lab a visit?”
“For sure! If it’s anything like here,” I gestured with one arm, “then, wow.”
“Oh, you’ll love it.” Naomi’s eyes twinkled. “I won’t say more. Wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”
◆◆◆
Later that night, as I was lying in bed, my head was spinning, and not only from the low gravity. So much human interaction was unusual for me, but it had been an amazing day, surrounded by so many remarkable women. And then it occurred to me—I hadn’t seen any men. I cast my mind back to the workroom filled with scientists, the farm, and the dining room. No, I was sure there hadn’t been a single male. Strange. There wasn’t much time to contemplate, because I was asleep almost before my head hit my pillow.
32
The next thing I knew it was morning. Light was shining from the “window” next to the bed, a liquid-crystal display, with an impressive replica of the Sun rising over the ocean, a white-sand beach in the foreground. I could almost hear the waves breaking on the shore and smell the hint of salt in the air.
There was a knock on the door. “Calli, are you awake?” It was Naomi.
I got up and opened the door, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“Oh, you were still in bed. I called round to take you to breakfast.”
“Sure, give me ten minutes.”
“No worries, I’ll be waiting at the end of the hall.” She stepped out and closed the door behind her.
In the small bathroom, I turned on the shower. Despite having spent time on the Moon before, the physics of one-sixth g was still a thrill. The water fell more slowly from a showerhead on the Moon than one on Earth, and the impact of the spray was softer. I quickly showered and brushed my teeth, then put on a jumpsuit I found in the closet, a perfect fit, though how they had guessed my size was a mystery. There were shoes as well, my size, comfortable and functional, and I slipped them on. I gave my hair a final rub with the towel, tried without much success to pat down the many cowlicks, then went to find Naomi.
As we entered the dining room and made our way to the buffet table, I scanned the room—not a man in sight.
“Naomi, here’s a question.”
“Go ahead.”
“Is it my imagination, or are there only women here?”
Naomi laughed, and handed me a plate, then took one for herself, and started filling it with food—potato pancakes and scrambled eggs. I did the same. “The only males in this colony are the drone bees, and I suppose there are a few male tilapia in the pond.”
Our plates full, we sat down at one of the tables. Naomi filled two glasses with water, handing one to me. “In all seriousness, Diana feels as if it makes for a more amicable work environment.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah, it’s quite
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