Flight of the Icaron: Ep 1 - Maiden Voyage

A bright summer sun shines out over the city of Mombasa. [MUSIC]

“Clear blue sky and occasional lazy cloud floating by.”

At the city's most hummingland mark, Nudon Plaza.

The first thing that draws your eye is the ground itself.

The entire plaza is paved in a vast mosaic of the global executive council in Signia. Two cup hands stretched upward, palms open to the heavens, around them, tiny, inlayed tiles catch the sun and shifting colors. Forming constellations and planets in brilliant whites, deep blues and flecks of gold.

When the light strikes just right, it looks as if the stars themselves are glittering beneath your feet. At the far end of the plaza, the space opens onto a viewing platform that looks directly toward the Mombasa airfield and the towering silhouette of its gravity well. From here, visitors can watch spacecraft's taxi across the strip, engines roaring

before they rise into the sky and are carried up towards into orbit

around the shining blue white column of the well. The air is alive with sound, distant turbines, sudden burst of thrusters and the smell of sea salt mixing with exhaust. Opposite the platform, a statue dedicated to the Mombasa initiative. Six astronauts, arm and arm rendered larger than life in gleaming alloy,

stand together atop an artistic rendering of the lunar surface. Their helmets are polished to reflect the sunlight and their stance is not martial, but communal, a symbol of unity. At the base lies a bronze plaque in scribe with words of decaying batso, the UN leader who signed the new Donak.

Those technologies that once propelled our destruction will be turned to the

heavens to launch humanity into a new age. Crowds gather in the bright equatorial sun, tourists, schoolchildren on field trips, space or families waiting for their departures. Some are taking hollows of the mosaic. Others linger at the rail of the viewing platform,

shading their eyes against the glare. The plaza hums with life. Broken only by the constant thunder of humanity's reach for the star. Abria, where do we find your character? Lackosis, who only ever responds to the name Kiki,

is she's looking around, but is physically uncomfortable. She stands at just a little over five feet tall. And she tries her best to shrink away in this bright open plaza into the thing that looks the most like her home. Be like cramped, artificially lit, but mostly dark and cool,

spaceship. But there's no space that's like that. So you just see her like backing away and trying to find a wall or a breeze or something without looking too uncomfortable because she knows that her handlers are probably close at hand.

And she's just uncomfortable with how open an airy everything is.

“I think it's Kiki's looking for a place that's like cramped, smaller.”

You see there's an on overhang on one side of the plaza that is, you know, you can tell a series of benches meant to kind of keep people who maybe spent a little bit too much time in the sun, give them a break. And you see flanking on either side.

You see men and women who have these small carts with like, you smell hot oil and dough calling up. Mandasi, Mandasi, these little bits of fried bread are handed out at carts on either side. But in this overhang, you're able to kind of, I think, shrink back

a little bit into something that is not as loud and not as open as the plaza itself. Nice. Then I'm gonna move over to get a little piece of that like fried bread to have a reason to move in that direction and then slink into the shadow.

“And I think she's, like, she assumes like arms folded across her front”

and with her left hand over her mouth and nose. It smells good here. There's too much scent.

So much going on.

“I think even as you get closer to the cart that smell,”

sweet as it may be, I think just kind of fills your nostrils

along with the sweat of the crowd and other people standing beside you. You get up to the head of the cart. You see the guy cooking the fried bread. Looks up at you. Best mandasi in all of Mubasa.

Best mandasi. One, two, oh, just one. Three, three. Two. Two.

Two. Yeah. You see he prepares for two of you. I think as you, he hands you the fried bread in the small bag. And as you kind of step to the side for the next person in line.

You do see your handler. A calling out from across the plaza. Miss Davis. Pat, over here. I'm just flexing a little bit to see if I can get him to move in my direction.

You see he stands and waves to you. Miss Davis. Yeah, right over here at a step more. You see standing there, a slim man. Thinning, sandy hair, a narrow frame.

The face marked by fine lines at the corners of his eyes and mouth. Pale complexion wearing a tailored black suit with gold trim. This is Chairman Dorian Dawes who you've spent the last couple days with.

He moves towards you finally.

Sorry. I have a having a hell of a time with the flight managers trying to get our time moved up. Thank you. I told them who I was and of course who I was traveling with. They were nice enough to make arrangements.

Would you like a piece of. Oh. It's really good. You're just shouting and I would love for you. This is a lot.

Can we go now? Yes, the craft is ready. Oh, great. You can just start with that. We don't have to do all of it.

That's fine. Sorry, I thought you were perhaps enjoying the plaza. No, thank you, Dorian. It's quite alright. I'm sorry.

I thought it would be nice to visit earth again.

But for some spaces, I understand. It's just. It's a lot. There's just so much. Here.

And it's all the time. And everyone. Yels. And smells. I mean, you just like slowly takes a bite of the bread.

“And I think this is the one thing that she's experienced in the last like.”

Three or four days. This is the best little bite of food she's ever had. And it grounds her and she takes a nice deep breath through her mouth. Okay. We can go.

This is great. Thank you. You're doing such a good job. Of course. I mean, it.

I apologize. No, you're great. I think I built my dinner every that I think reflected some of my own taste rather than being considered of yours. Okay. However, I promise this last bit is going to be incredibly special.

Please. Right this way. You see that he takes you across the Plaza where there's like a small golf cart waiting for you that takes you through an open gate where he flashes his badge. And you drive onto the tarmac where you come upon a kind of small jet craft.

It's about the size of maybe like a regional jet built with clean lines. And smooth white hole, black fueling strips, and a dark metallic band that wraps around the futileage with the GEC insignia that of the same hands open palm up to the heavens that you stood upon in the Plaza. Oh, is this the new model?

“Or is this the one from a couple years ago that had that problem with the heat sink?”

That it is the one that it's the one from a couple of years ago. That's great. Oh, you prefer it. Look, everybody crosses a finger in a couple toes on the way up and out. But once you get into low orbit, nothing better.

One, of course. But I was going to have to put the dampeners on so that it flew a little bit more like the new models. No, do you want to do it? That's fine. Do you want everything to do?

No, no, no, no. Can we take the dampeners off? Yes, that's fine. You see he looks at you and your excitement and they're like, yeah, take those things off. Take them off now.

We want to, we want to feel it. Okay, I'm locked in. And you can see her scaring at like all of like engineer personnel. And she's just looking at like tools and like large machines brought out and just listing them and loving them. You see that what was like a halfway done job to installing dampeners for the ride up our removed.

And you see bows and bagsmiths.

Oh, I don't carry my own bags. So did they get here or will they be kind or bad? You see that during steps forward Sloan, it's quite alright. They've already been delivered. Apologies again.

Miss Davis. No, it's okay. You got to stop apologizing. Sloan is it? Yes.

Yeah, how many, how are you feeling?

“Can you, can you get this burden the air without killing us without the dampeners?”

Do you need that? Is that for you? It's not for me. Okay. Happy to fly.

Okay. Confident. Incredibly. We should have started here. I had to see so many museums.

Shit.

Well, I just thought, I'm so sorry.

Well, I hit you. It's just, I won't hit you. Oh, that's very kind. Well, direct right. Oh, yeah, sure.

You see that the two of you are bored to ship. Sloan don't kill us. And I give them like a little pad on the shoulder. You see Sloan goes, wouldn't think of it, man. You see that you and Dawson board the craft.

Very plush, wide cushioned seats. You know, muted fabrics, leather textured recliners. You see that there's several privacy screens for rest. The flight to the moon and beyond is generally minimum of ten hours. You see that Dorian sits into one of the seats.

And that comes you to sit down. Like, buy him? Uh, yes. Like I, there's just so much for him. All right.

Well, I'm sure we can spread out of it. Good. It's fine. I said it cross room.

“Uh, you sit across coming up from the back of the craft.”

You see a woman carefully styled blonde hair that falls to her shoulders.

Sharp jaw lines soften by heavy makeup. Her skin fair, posture upright. Uh, she comes out. Extensive hand. Um, Talia.

Talia. Um, I don't, um, okay. And she shakes hands. Doesn't love it. Oh.

No, it's fine. Uh, hi. I don't know you. Um, Mr. Dawes wife. Oh, oh, it's lovely to meet you.

Uh, you see Dorian caught off guard. Um, sorry. She'll just be joining us for the night. No, that's right. For the weekend.

Oh, lovely. What do you do? What keeps you busy? Um. Home.

Things. The light behind the kickies eyes goes away. Yeah. I'm recently acquired a series of vows. Um, that.

Of what? Vows. What's of. The. The.

The. Like an an. All right. Ceramics. Oh, yeah.

What for what? What do you keep in? Oh, nothing. It's decorative. You keep empty jugs in your house.

And that's the thing that you share within minutes of meeting someone. I mean, you asked. Kind of damn. That's on me. Okay.

It's beautiful. Do you have photos? Of course. She pulls out her hollow. Scims through a few photos of a kind of rather bland and muted home.

Lots of grace. Lots of beige. Lots of top.

“I think Kiki understands now that the way to get to go to her own little mind palace is to occasionally ask just enough of a follow-up question that she keeps getting more and more of a tour of this like drab house.”

And then she can kind of just zone out for two to four minutes at a time before going. Wow. Tell me more. That goes on for about ten minutes before you hear Sloan kind of step into the cabin. They're ready for us to depart.

If everyone's ready to go. Yeah. Let's do it. Fantastic. You see that he gets into the cockpit.

You feel the ship begin to taxi. You see that the cabin lights dim. Tell me, do you think we're going to die? I'm sorry. Yeah.

Just on the way out. We took the dampeners off. Dory. Well, it's just off a friend would like to feel it. You don't like to feel it.

Dory and what else do you wish you bud? This is a skill issue. I've got to get off of Earth. This place buckets. You feel a subtle hop through the floor as the old dampen.

The existing dampeners system does come on blind. And you see that Dory and begins to strap himself into a five point kind of harness situation as you guys taxi. You feel yourself begin to pick up speed and take off. I think shimmer runs across the windows as the glass polarizes.

For a split second, your stomach drops like you're on a roller coaster.

“And because you don't have the dampeners on, it sits there.”

You hear Talia start. What's happening? As your weight is pulled forward, you can tell you are accelerating at a possibly fast speed. Even though they are somewhat muted, as though you are wrapped in layers of velvet.

Through the tinted windows, the world becomes a blur of light. The gravity well outside is a silver tower, and you can see that the darkening of these guys was sent. You glimpse bands of plasma and magnetized particles racing along the conduits as they flank your ship. Lights of blue, violet and gold, chasing each other upward like lightning.

The cabin floor vibrates faintly. You hear a glass shatter in the back. Talia.

You hear the structure of the ship.

And then abruptly, the sky outside darkens from blazing ashore to the deep indigo of mere space. Stars start winking into view as the ship bursts from Earth's pole. And you hear over the call sign from Sloan. Welcome to outer space. Sloan, you did it!

Oh, I'm glad I could make it easy for you. Look, every time I get to head and back a plan outside that feeling. We don't get that where I'm from. I'm sorry honey, if that was scary for you. You see that Talia's hair is a mess.

She is gripping the sides of her seat. Eyes clenched. Her hands white as she goes, "Oh, it's fun. It was fun."

“I believe that maybe a little more if your knuckles went the color of your vase.”

You see that she immediately lets go and unclipped.

But even like champagne. Oh, yes, please. You see that she moves to the back. Dorian leans over to you, unbuckling his harness. Wow.

Wow, it's just, it's great to feel it. Right? What's what I'm saying? Because once we're up there and we're out there, you don't feel the scale of it.

Of course, yes. You get it, bud. I totally get it. Speaking of which, the out there, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, you, your work. Mm-hmm.

This claim you've stayed. Oh, yeah. You know, as the chairman of Rare Minerals. Yeah. Well, the GEC, it's, uh, my pleasure to kind of parlay what a possible deal could look like for us to be installing infrastructure and then perhaps, yeah.

Uh, gleaming some of, uh, your resources. No, I love that because, uh, we've spent, oh, God, maybe, good couple months at this point, really upgrading gear. So what we've got going on that little rock. Uh, we're going to get things up pretty quickly.

And, I mean, if we're going to talk business, we're going to talk business. You're just not only offer of course, complete the understanding. So just knowing that like everything that's going to be happening with a little red friends. Yes. Things move quickly.

Of course. So I'm excited for whatever this last thing you show me is, but I'm hoping we could, like, tie off and offer in the next 24 to 48. 100% the, um, the actual, with the place we are going.

“There will be a number of members of the executive council, right?”

Who will be excited to meet you. You know, we'll all be able to discuss, um, you know, what, uh, what a, what a, what a sum that makes you feel seen and make sure that we are able to get what we need. We, I, I feel so confident we'll be able to come to a number. Okay, all right, I look forward to that.

Of course, of course. I mean, it's just you mean you understand, since tranquility and, and since. Sure. You know, yeah, our voices all get low when we talk about that. Well, I, we, we, we respect and all that.

No, I understand. No, but it's, it's, it's just our hope to be able to build defenses. Of course. And, um, I mean, the platinum resources on your asteroid. And, you know, I mean, we, we call it Jimmy, but we've got platinum.

We've got a couple. There's a radium and a couple. Kiki is normally quite like sharp and on top of her business. It's all she has in great space. The entire arc of her arc is bent to mining.

jumping over words and thoughts and not naming everything, even though in all of the

“docs that have been going back and forth, there are, like, comprehensive lists.”

Mm-hmm. And she's trying very, very specifically to, like, sort of pussyfoot around a couple things about the asteroid. Mm-hmm. Uh, but it's all in there.

I'm sorry. I'm just a little, uh, you know, it's been a big day. Give me a deception check against dawn's insight. Oh, natural 20. Uh-huh.

That beats the hell out of a four. Uh-huh. You see that does, looks at you, goes, it has. And again, I know I'm not supposed to, but I'm doing everything I can. To make sure that you know that the global executive council is excited

at a potential partnership with you, Ms. Davis. Thank you, Dorian.

Uh, the GEC has been nothing but, uh, accommodating and generous in all of our discussions.

And, uh, I do know that. And it'll be remembered. I wouldn't be here spending this amount of time with you if I didn't think we were going to get to like it. We're going to get to an amicable plate.

We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out.

But right now, how about champagne? I love that. You see, Talia comes out. There's about 10 hours to kill.

“Is there anything that Keke's does during this time?”

If not, Talia's just going to show you more pictures of more things that are top. Uh-huh. She has a folder. It's called my favorite things.

And they're all top. At some point, there's like a middle stretch of, there can't. How much top could there be? And she's now free bought in on the like, this couldn't, this could only be like a 10 to 20 minute presentation, right?

Uh, you know, something that's really exceptional is that I've actually been partnering with a paint company to create my own version of top. Oh, wait. Well, what do you mean? They got it.

They got it in one. Well, this is called top two. Hope two. They made a sequel. I actually hold on.

I'm into this now. It might be the Chambers, but let's find out. Show me, talk to. Yeah. Uh-huh.

“She, she, she, she takes you on a law through her process of dividing the new”

color, talk to. Is it cute? Is it like a little, because there's that moment where you like kind of lose the, like, lose the plot? And you're like, oh no.

I kind of, I kind of fuck with it a little bit. Yeah. Give me a wisdom saving throw. Okay. Okay.

13. Top two's kind of cool. Okay. All right. So my question for you now, dang.

I feel like I stressed you out earlier, but I really like what you're putting down. There are some space, some communal spaces on my arc that actually could maybe be a little calmer and give. Oh, what, how did you phrase that? Uh, the illusion of grandeur without the distraction of grandeur.

Yes. Oh, gosh. Can I, how do I get to talk to you? Well, you're on the right ship. Yeah.

We're gonna make a deal. Oh, we are. After a number of hours passing the colony of tranquility along the celestial highway, emerging kind of into deeper space, your Sloan come off of the inner calm.

The vessel is coming in view. You'll be able to see it out the right side of the ship. Come on, Talia. You're ever by the hand-inflated. You see Dorian moves with you.

Ah, so this is it. This should be choose to partner. Is what your resources will be going. Steering out into space as you approach.

The ekoron doesn't at first look like a ship.

It looks like a city stretched into the void. It's spined the arcline. Once nearly eight kilometers long armoured in hyperwood plating and reinforced with lattice. Running the full length of the spine, you see the meridians. Four vast parallel arms each as long as the ship itself.

They frame the ekoron like a colossal outbreaker. Balancing and bracing the vessel against the stresses of deep space. Each meridian is stuttered with detail. Defense arrays bristle along the outer faces. Railguns, lasers, EMP projectors.

Mathered on armoured housing. And on the inner faces, docking spines. Glitter with magnetic capture coils and port rings. Drawing in visiting ships much like a round.

A glass dome mushrooms outward like a lantern.

“And at the other end, another like an observation bell.”

Midway along the vessel, you notice reinforced housing and glowing conduits. And as your vessel draws closer, the scale becomes overwhelmed. What seemed like smooth plating and additions revealed itself to be dense with gantries, antenna mass, armoured shutters and faintly glowing observation galleries. Were crew and guests alike watch the void.

You see Victorian turns to you. This is the accord.

Earth's first S-class battle station.

There is no art laden Basilica. No statuary or feat of earth architecture that has ever moved her. Ever moved her the way this has. That is the most beautiful thing she has ever seen. And she is just quietly weeping.

And doesn't hear Dorian speak at first. Um, I'm so sorry, sugar. What was that? It's, it's the crown.

“This is our province, yes, you'll have to see it. It is, I've only seen plans.”

But it is magnificent.

Dorian, my word is my bond.

If this is as good as you say. Our deal is struck. And she simply puts her hand out to the side to shake. As kicky fixates on the accordion, She does not see the ear to ear grin on Dorian's face.

As he quietly shakes your hand. And we move from this place to the accordion itself. Within the bowels of the accordion, a broad canter, a 15-foot wide catwalk, a graded metal, in an immense space, nearly 3,200 feet tall and over 400 feet across.

At its center, the thermoplastic routed door,

a massive glowing torus, 250 feet across, 40 feet thick. The size of a ferris wheel turned on its side. Along the walls, cooling towers, and tall black pillows are built to quench, invent, plasma, instantly, should anything falter.

And in this space, a sound hits you, a low-framing base of a troll.

“Where among all of this, do we find your character grinning?”

Andre Delca is a 57-year-old man, short, thick, earthy, graying hair. It's, you know, 90% salt, 10% pepper at this point. He is charmingly unattractive. He's got a kind of affinity to metal and welded material

that makes him, almost, like, I think he harkens back to some kind of spirit of some slavic folklore of, like, a deep, earth-mind-hunting creature. But in this moment, he's got his white engineers uniforms and hives, strips on it, in case lights suddenly go out.

The hives strips don't look that different. It's like a slight yellow tint to the off-white or cream of the engineers uniform. Right now, he's hanging upside down, whatever that means on a sideways tourist.

But it essentially just means that he's activated the grips on his knee pads and the tops of his shoes. So he's in a kneeling position, but with the artificial gravity is not on in the sector that he's working in. So he's just sort of, like, swaying kind of weightlessly as his knees

and feet are attached to this panel. He's got a panel open. He's taken a small net that is pinned down over the panel that's open in case any tools get dropped, so that they don't float off into the mechanism.

So he's got, like, almost a mosquito netting over the panel that he's working on. And it's happily working away fine-tuning something. This is not a problem. This is, like, a readout from a fail-safe protocol

that it should be so that they can run diagnostics on it.

“So it's like, oh, we're not getting diagnostic input”

from the fail-safe program. It's not even on right now. We're crossing T's that are not even in the final draft. We're going back and crossing T's from, like, earlier drafts that just need to be preserved for propriety.

Otherwise, I am aware that it is a good time, as they say. So just focus on work here for this moment. As Andre works dedicated to his craft and his creation, because of the immensity of a sound in here, you all wear these communication collars

that essentially just allow you to speak to each other and hear each other in your ears more clearly over the many sounds in this cavernous space. You're coming over the comms. You're builder, the person who's dedicated himself

to the actual, like, manifestation often

of your most, like, complex ideas. Tubes, McIntyre, comes over the comms. And most are getting down here. We got the same problem from before. They want everything to be able to talk to everything

else, but also all be firewalled for maximum security. So, you know, it's a contradiction. Yeah, you get better get down here as fast as you can. No, can you come on there, you? Tubes, you want me to come down there.

You come on there, you? What problem you have is big as my problem? No, it's the problem. Okay, cool, big up problem. I'll be right down.

And he's going to put his tools away, seal up the panel, open up his slate, which is the sort of wrist-mounted writing tablet and type in a shorthand.

“I think my great shame in this moment is”

the document I'm supposed to have prepared to make everything user-friendly because this whole project is going to get handed off to Jesus. So, everything here needs to be usable and readable.

I have perfect faith in the military engineers that will be taking this over, but I know that this will be reviewed by military brass and it will need to feel noable from people that are not engineers.

So, this document is my great shame because it is all engineers shorthand and not full sentences that can be read by someone who's not a scientist. And I just go, okay, this is going to be,

okay, we're going to fix this. No, no, you know what I mean? I'm not going to fix this. We're going to explain why this can't work like they want.

“And it takes the net away, puts it down,”

and it makes a note that, like, for this to stop reading as a malfunction, they will either have to open its operational security to let it talk with other systems and be exposed or make their piece with only being able to come down

and read it manually. And it's just, they're going to choose and he's going to head off to go find tubes. You see tubes is just on the gameplay below you, so you just have to kind of make your way

off of the TRC and then safely down to the kind of catwalk that's kind of the base of operations for you guys. You see tubes is there, weathered and wiring, older black man wearing a kind of half-button formal shirt and a work-stained fabrication vest,

deep-lined skin looks up at you. Now I understand what we're doing this whole pass around the sun. Does the doctor understand how much cooling that's going to require?

You can only put reports on many times. We put reports, we say. It's a happy result. It's a happy, I got it, we deserve it. Tubes, you want bus to catch plate,

you have to let plates drop. We tell them how much cooling they take. They say it's not a problem,

we say here's what can go wrong.

They say we need to do this for other reasons, so we do what we can. Our job is not to drive cars to build. Yeah, all right, all right. Are you going to the party?

Of course I got to party. Make me live in space for three months, I got to party. I'm going to double my wage in crudity. Yeah, it's good snacks. They're good snacks.

You know, my daughter is coming. My other daughter is coming. I was telling her where. Oh, God. I've got to hear about one of me. I tell you, if you actually want to bring Mandasi,

and if she don't, I disown.

Are you going to go to the party?

I just want a little bit. How much is little bit?

“You're going to get there, like you're going to try to go for middle 15 minutes of party?”

Yeah, first bath. The first five. Get in, level get out. Oh, God, it's so rude to arrive to party on time. What?

It's so rude to arrive. No, no, no, no, no. Why didn't make it just dark night? I mean, they don't want you to be there right at it. No, no, no, no, because listen,

what you are describing is not attending party.

What you are describing is food heist.

Well, you're the same thing. You're the same thing, you're the same thing. Absolutely. You are called blooded. You are ruthless.

Hey, I don't know. Come and do the nothing. All right, hey, I cannot knock the hustle. If the goal is to get small cubes of cheese and get out, this is planned that we'll work.

“Well, this is dark with mild cubes, wouldn't they give it?”

Big cube. I really sit with that for a long time. I think I go kind of classy hide and stare up into space. Small cubes into big cube. Yeah.

Cubs are uniform. Small cube, you need minimum eight cubes. To make next biggest cube. Then from there, you're going to need it. That's going to be 12.

That's going to be 16. That's going to be 20. And then you need the corners. So it's going to be 24. 24 cubes for next size of cube.

Yeah. Okay, let's get out of here. You see interrupting this conversation,

“entering the walking on the began point.”

We're in the same comps communicator. So you actually start to hear them as they approach. You see group before people enter this engine room. You see leading the group is a small slightly younger person. His enthusiasm kind of bubbling over pale skin sharp jawline.

We're in a slim black suit, crisp white shirt and tie. With a small pin in the symbol of the Icaron, a kind of parentheses around a star. Fastened high and straight on this jacket. So this is the thermal plastic routing core.

A power and energy distribution system for the vessel. It takes all energy from a number of sources or nuclear magnetic. You can find them in the city. Dr. Dochha. Hello. Good to see you.

I'm sorry. I was giving a tour to the council member, Ressnik. Oh, very good to council member Ressnik. This is you're explaining the routing core. You know, the plasma is actually not the only energy source.

We convert to stable plasma stream. But the core itself still use some of the electromagnetism. Nuclear solar because for the purposes of those energy. It's actually a sort of interesting to dive into the specifics of it. But probably this short version to say is yes, stable plasma streams.

You see that Councillor Ressnik who is pale complexion, tall, angular, dark hair streaked with silver, immaculately dressed in the black and gold of her office. Looks at you in credit. When Dr. Cortez told me that she had found someone who

could build an engine for the vessel she was describing. It really lifted our spirits. That is the number one quality I aspire to, spirit lifting. Am I doing it right now? It's quite an impressive room.

As far as rooms go, this one way up there. Andre smiles. He knows he's being funny. He's trying a very gregarious. He smiles in a good-natured way and says, "I'm glad, yes, the toruses is something else.

It is very strange to be young men and university and have peace of theory, land in front of you. It feels almost unfair that I am the one who gets to see it in real life. After everyone did work so hard to draw it on paper so long ago."

Must have been incredible to have access to the resources

that project data was provided. Of course. Yes, the resources are for this to happen.

They don't all get to see. Very few eyes, very many hands.

“But we say thank you to the hands, you know.”

Of course. I've brought along two of the engineers who will be working in here. After you. Gentlemen, you see stepping forward two young men, one of them steps forward, absolutely sweat, drenched hand. Harjun. Nice to meet you.

Harjun, nice to meet you young men. This is a lot. Sure. In terms of size or in terms of... That's interesting. That's interesting.

That's interesting. That's just a lot going on. We've been reading over some of the...

Some of your notes that you've been providing to the G-Second are.

They are dense. Which is great. It's been great kind of jumping in. And we're really feeling wrap in our wrap in my head around it. I'm going to lean in and go.

It's not just the plasma streams. When you talk to the brass, you say plasma stream, stable plasma stream, because that's the showstopper.

“That's what's actually powering the vessel's movement”

and the core systems, weapons, everything like that. But, like, for life support systems and things like that, you don't want to... There's a tangential energy efficiency losses. If you're going to use systems that are already

coming prefabricated from Earth to use solar energy, you want to divert some of that to turn it from solar to plasma back to solar as a waste. Do you understand? Uh-huh.

Yeah. Yeah, I got it.

So the energy comes through the turbine.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. How many years you spent studying thermoplastics? 14. 14 years? That's good.

OK. I'm genuinely very happy to hear that. So, OK, you understand the transition to plasma is that it's a recurrent loop,

“and that we are going to be able to, in other words,”

you're drawing energy refracted off of the transition to fluid state and back again to solve it. You see, stepping forward here is the second engineer who introduces himself. Sorry, Lewis.

Yeah, man, we got him. All right, Lewis. Big, your bridge is there, so big. Well, you know, me and Arjun have been studying for, I mean, Arjun got their first, but we're feeling pretty good.

All right, feeling pretty good.

This emotion is always good to see in scientists.

They call this hubris. I slept on the arm and I go, Lewis, you are good. Confidence is necessary. If you don't mind, we were hoping to kind of look around. If that's all right.

You want to look around right now? Are you a woman's younger? I look over at tubes and I say, I can, I can do it tubes. No, no, no, no, no. You gotta go.

You gotta go. You're going to take one for the team. I put my hand on the back of tubes as neck and I go, you are a good man and a good friend. I don't want to show the young ones the machine.

I'm going to run these boys through their bases. You see, the tube puts on two climbing, like the same kind of climbing apparatus as you were. It's as if you want to follow me. It's just climbing the side of the wall

as Lewis goes. All right. I look up at tubes and I go tubes. By the way, I was wrong before it. Not 24, 27.

Coups. Yes. You need one cube and then you need eight and then you need 27. Exponential growth. Is it why I like you?

This is why I like you? I snap over to Lewis and I go, Lewis. What do you think I'm talking about? Oh. Coups.

You can't slip one past this guy, Lewis Sharp. You see, breaking up this moment, arriving into the space, striding forward. Spride Brazilian woman in her 70s,

tightly braided gray hair, sharp discerning eyes, warm brown skin, wearing a formal black dress with kind of a lab coat over it. You recognize this to be Dr. Imani Cortez. Leader of Project AWS.

She walks in. You all aren't bothering my engineer, are you? You see that Nico goes, no, no, we were just doing the tour. She goes, it's quite all right, Nico.

Dr. Cortez, thank you for defending me. My very valuable time. It is being me sandled. Yeah, of course, there's a big slide ball game tonight. And I mean, you need to get prepped.

I'm going to get cheese. I'm going to grab Stella when she gets in. I'm going to hope she bring Mondazzi. I'm going to make sure we get a pregame pep talk with the circles, girls, circles.

Do you want to walk with me for a second, Andrew?

Of course, let's have a walk. All right, boys.

“Tubes going to take you and show you everything you need to know.”

Remember, a minor issue can absolutely galvanize an entire chain reaction negative consequences. Make sure all eyes dotted T's crossed. You have a go one. You see that Arjen's face falls as Lewis just quietly

nods along and Nico and the counselor continue their tour. Dr. Cortez walks with you back towards the central lift. You're going to change? Well, for party? Yeah.

If you say so, this is you know these are systems in which you are expert. So if I should wear nice clothes, I wear nice clothes. Just a little something.

Little, little propeller hat.

It's not right now, Andrew. I could do it. We have members of the global executive council. I wear suit. I wear suit, high color, look like good engineer.

I keep propeller hat in my satchel. Now, if you wear the suit, you're more than welcome to wear the propeller hat. I'm pretty key. Why not? I'm going to look at her and say, but I'm a gesture to what I was working on

before the young engineers got here. I say, this, I look. I'm going to tell you this whole thing with the calm system. You know, we've had the brief change once a day for the last three weeks in terms of new information coming in.

So this is not going to be fixed in time.

Everything working, we already in the back up of the back up of the back up,

but this is, I understand the stakes. But this level of security means that it's not going to beef. You can't have this much security and have it to be functional. No, of course. I mean, I have been trying to keep general manhood off you.

And believe me, he has been on me. I'm having the same issue up and down the art corner. Every station, every lead is getting backwards directions to try and explain operations. Wow.

Also keeping them clandestine. I mean, it's, it's all over the place. The transition is not, I think that, Gsec is thinking that this transition is going to be seamless. And it's, I mean, I'm already getting really to stay on the ship

for an extra month or two after, I mean, you know, we were,

“I think most of us were hoping to load off next week,”

but I think I'm going to be here for at least another month. You are holding up the sky on this one and money. Big dreams need a strong foundation. I hope that I have done right by you. I know that everything is writing on you, your reputation,

the work you have done here kind of another month. If I'm not, I'm not going to lie. I'm having a skateboard with a back door in it. If they say I have to stay here one extra week, I'm going to be, you're going to find me in gray space

at some blackjack table. I'm not, I'm going to change my name. I'm going to burn my finger print soft. Is it room for two? I give her, over the shoulder, like around that,

like big hog and polar clothing. I'm like shorter than her. Yeah. Okay. We're going to make a brave getaway.

I explain to my children. I try not to ruin my daughter's political career. Well, I have, we've done this whole. I've played this whole solar past thing that I, you know, I just thought would be a nice

demonstration of everyone's hard work.

“And I think that it's, I mean, I, I have no worry”

that there's not, I have no, I have no fear that it's, it's, the ship can manage it. I just, it's, you know, tubes, you know, tubes, he mentioned coolant to me again. I know, I know it's, I know they're landing on your desk,

but, but it is going to be extremely, taxing on this ship to do this past. Riggins just thought if we could show the count to how well their money was spent, it, you know, it would just ease everyone's hearts

about this and make it easier to demonstrate to the public that this was a worthy endeavor. Cost analysis, this easing of hearts going to be about as much coolant as putting four X class con voice to Mars and back.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Just saying these hearts, I hope they were a lot of money. Mayor. Okay.

Against the high dresses.

The high dresses. They're looking so strong. High raxes. That's it. Yes.

Well, I, I, I ranged for the sun viewing and we're keeping you off the command deck so that the monkey mugs can't. It encircle you. So I put you on one of the Meridian operations gallery

with the kids from the, the, the, the cuts program and that you, you're going to be giving them a lesson.

“I mean, you should be able to get out of there.”

10, 15 minutes.

Get your pregame pep talk in and all of that.

Oh, that, that is so. I, thank you. I prefer much to be at the kids table. This is not, uh, grown-ups table. I need something a little bit more mature than grown-ups table.

Uh, kids table is perfect. Yeah. Uh, I just, I'll be down and in half tonight. Just, let's save me a beer at six. Yeah, I do it.

I saved you a beer at six. Also, I tell Stella to bring Mondazzi. So, you know, she's going to bring it, right? She better.

I mean, I get it that she's an aide to, uh,

uh, uh, uh, one of the leaders of Earth space. But, you know, it's not that hard. I just, I just know, it's 10 hours from Mombasa to tranquility and then it's, I just hope. I mean, Mondazzi's best in like the 15 minutes right after

it comes out of the oil. But, it's still a little bit of air. Yeah, I just need a fraction. I just need a fraction. There's a lot of writing on this one.

Yeah, it's been, I'm not going to lie. I'm going to talk to some people about how much I've been thinking about the Mondazzi because it's started to, I even, I recognize it's not healthy. It's, it occupies my every waking moment. There'll be time for that soon.

You guys ride the central lift down to Enhab for you guys to get changed for the event that is to come. [Music] As the airlock fits into place, we hear the release of pressure. Stepping off a not so luxurious shuttle walking between two rows

of seating bolted into the walls and into a wide receiving corridor where the block yellow letters, you see, read welcome. Zenith docking bay. We see a group of children. Five kids kind of dressed up.

Pile out of the ship into the open corridor, pushing and shoving each other. Behind them, a patient older man. The cowboy hat, broad shoulder, full beard, heavy set frame. Hold on, hold on, step off and behind them.

Another character.

“Erica, will you please describe who you'll be playing in this campaign?”

Vera Lam, who is known to most people as fish cakes, is a small and skinny, very foldable looking human, who is 19 but looks younger, a shock of white, frizzy hair, big watery dough eyes, wearing a functional clothes that were clearly not made for them.

Fish cakes has clearly spent a lot of time drifting and is in one of those states right now of great alertness. You see the man in front of you, who you know as Boris Koff or Bogo, is wrangling the five younger children with whom you've traveled. It looks back to see you in this state and it's just going to offer a hand.

As I take the hand, I look them in the eyes and I say, so I did get the blue prints of the Icaron, but I did not get the blue prints for this station. Oh, well, kiddo, I asked and they said those were government secrets. That's ridiculous. I mean, I mean, these children we are all guests here.

We should have some sort of a feeling of safety and knowing the ins and outs of this place. Fish cakes, they promised that there would be plenty of security and at all times you would feel safe and secure. Okay. All right, well, that's very, that's very kind of them.

But, uh, be that as a may. Now, especially since I'm, you know, helping out with some of the younger ones,

“I think baby, perhaps they would feel a little safer if, you know,”

we just had a little more control. You see that running up to you as you speak of them,

and goes, fish cakes come on.

Okay. Well, come on.

“I just want to make sure that, you know, before we get ahead of ourselves,”

that, you know, everything's secure and in place. Come on, fish cakes. Book us that there were lasers on the ship. There's lasers here. We have lasers. But back at the, at the cops house.

Yeah, but like fun ones, these are big ones, big laser fish cakes. No, right. Well, I know we've been really looking forward to this, but you know, we're going out there now. And you haven't seen the things that I've seen. Yeah, you say that like every day.

Well, you haven't. Not yet. Because they don't have your eyes. I have my eyes. Well, if you could see, fish cakes gets up real close to Timo, points at her eyes. If you could see with the eyes that I have,

you'd know that it is, it's best to be prepared for anything.

And I pray. I pray that you would never have to look through eyes like mine.

Go ahead and give me an intimidation chair. It's an eight. You can see the sort of fluid because she has not blinked in good 30 seconds. The water in her eyes sort of brims up and spills down over her cheeks. You see the Timo looks at you, his face kind of curling. Your breath stinks, fish cakes.

Yeah, it's the fish cakes. You see at this point, BoGo walks back over now, followed by a woman, elegantly dressed in the black and gold of the global executive council. Kids, I want you to meet Helena. She's going to be showing us around. You see this woman steps forward.

Hi, I am a to the Vice Counselor Quill who has invited all of you here this evening. We're just running a little bit late. So if you could just follow me, we're going to head right upstairs to the event. I'm going to take a look at this lady.

“What can I tell about her from her demeanor, other than that she's on the council?”

She seems to be well to do. What do you mean inside check? Oh, natural 20. Natural 20. Hi, so.

Is that our second, that 20?

Yeah, we're going to have a baby. You see this woman, Helena Voss. This person has just introduced themselves as Helena Voss. Tall, narrow shoulders, tightly pinned back black hair, wearing rimless glasses, precise minimal lines that match their kind of sharp posture. A looks at you, especially fish cakes.

I think on this net 20, you see that this person is very concerned with doing a good job. They want for anyone who sees them to imagine and understand that they are doing a good job and are a good representative of the global executive council on a net 20. You see that this woman is scanning the group of children that have landed here, but that her eyes rest especially on you.

“You see that she looks at you up and down, and then actually looks for Vera, correct?”

Yes, hello. I am Vera Lam. I, Helena, was it? Yes. You're doing a good job. Thank you so much for inviting us. You, we are thrilled to have the children of the stars here.

It is your futures that we will be fighting for, and Vera, you, especially. It means the world that you would join us. Right this way. You see that she takes you down corridors that are lined with clean, white illumination, soft edge panels set into walls, fiberlit conduits run along the floor, glowing a steady blue.

You see that she walks at a kind of quickened pace with a sense of urgency, kind of leaning back, talking to Bogo. So did you have any trouble getting in, or wondering about the partiness? Was it something on our end? No, no.

It's just wrangling these kids sometimes. People need a little more time. Of course, of course, that makes sense. Right this way. She takes you through a series of corridors. You've entered on one of the maridians, kind of four

calls slightly curved parts of the ship, extending out from the center.

causeway that will take you from the maridian to the arceline, the center of the ship.

As you pass through a kind of bulkhead windows that allow you to see out into space, into the connecting elements of the ship. As you wait for one of the lifts that looks like it's going to take you up to the causeway that will inevitably cross you over into the center of the ship, the arceline. You see that she stops you, and kind of more to the kids than to you,

and says, "Do you all want to see something around this threshold?" You see that they go, "Yeah!" "That's a child." And she points off the causeway looking down into one of the cargo lanes that seems to kind of take up the majority of the maridian. And she says, "Down there, gravity runs in a different direction."

And fish cakes, as you step forward and look over, you do see that the gravity here pulling you down, but that below you in the cargo lane, workers and exo-loaders are moving in a direction and have gravity oriented to what is for you the wall.

As you stand here on the causeway looking left and right, you see them moving up and down.

But if you see a massive shipping container, collides past your magnetic tracks, appear to defy your sense of the direction you would define as "up." And you see that, you see that Helena steps forward pointing. So the maridian, these maridians on the four of them attached to the arceline, they used localized graviton channels to optimize cargo flow.

And so here, while we are able to walk this way, they are able to move more efficiently up and down. Pretty neat, right? You see, goes, kind of.

“As you're looking at the cargo moving up and down, will you give me a perception check?”

Oh, 13, 13. On a 13, big tall men are pushing this cargo down the lane. It's just simple on the cargo.

Oh, horizontal line, and then above it, two dashes connected by a curved line.

There's something familiar about it. On a 13, you can't, it's not immediately coming to you, but you see this simple, and there is just something in you that it evokes familiarity. That is a very efficient way of loading cargo. What are they loading there?

You see, Helena looks down. Well, I'm not sure. I know there are a number of finishings on the ship that are still being put in. Some of the habitats aren't fully complete.

The life support systems have all been installed, but in terms of, you know, every little control panel, every little dial, you know. Right, I'm sure you don't have, don't have oversight in all of the manifest for the cargo hold.

My, myself personally, no. Oh, well, can I tell the, everything being loaded by the men, or do they look like locals? Give me a, like a lower check.

18. On 18, these are definitely spacers. Your car's ward is on tranquility.

“So I think you, and as like a 19 year old,”

with your ability to roam and leave and come and go as you please, like you've interacted with a lot of different communities on the tranquility colony. These are true spacers. These aren't, yeah, you wouldn't even call them G-sac.

You would assume that these are the kind of people who operate in mining colonies, gray space, dock workers, like it is that kind of, these people haven't seen Earth in a long time. Hmm.

The cargo, you said that it's very large. Very large. Very large. Huh. Now what kind of cargo would be needed for, and such massive containers?

I turned to the, the kid who said it was kind of cool. Yeah.

“And saying, you should familiarize yourself with the different ways”

that gravity can benefit or detract from your living. Uh, you see a younger girl, Sadie, looks June goes. Yeah, they, we talk about gravity all the time in school. Yeah, but talking about something in school is different. Then, uh, the practical application of the theory.

Okay. Okay. You gotta prepare yourself. Fish cakes. Your breath stinks.

Oh, again. It's the fish cakes. You guys say that every day, you think it hurts my feelings at this point? I'm called fish cakes.

Uh, yeah.

You see that Helena leads you all into the lift.

Rising up, connecting to the causeway

“where you're then loaded onto a people mover,”

which move you over to the top of the arc line. Stepping out, see a broad sign that reads, "Zeneth Habitat." The floors here are a polished, hyperwood composite smoother and warmer than other spaces.

You've seen private rooms, offices, line the outside of this kind of circular space. But stepping forward, you see that Helena leads you to a staircase. That spirals up around the central pillar, bringing you to a viewing platform.

Underneath a glass dome, mushrooming out, looking out at the void. Wow.

There you stand on a central platform,

bring by greenery and what looks like temporary seating, much of which is occupied by a kind of small gathering of folks. You see a lot of them wearing the black and gold of official governmental uniforms. You see that in the corner, there's a bartender,

“there's drinks, a large table of little canopays,”

cheeses, rolled meats, and a race stage on which a man is currently giving a small speech. You see that Helena kind of usures you into this area. And says, "All right, if you could all just stay from moment on, I'm going to let Vice Captain look cool know that we've arrived."

Oh, thank you so much. You see that Bogo immediately turns around. No mess around. All right, guys. Just please.

Act respectful. Yes. Act respectfully everyone. And then under my breath, I de-sate to the younger kids. I say, "And what did we say about all the appetizers?"

Yeah, I pockets. Yes. Right home. Mm-hmm. That's right.

That's right. Yeah, you see that the crowd up here mingles as the man on the stage giving a speech. As chairman of Defence for the Global Executive Council, it has been my honor to oversee project dataless working with its architect,

Dr. Mane Cortez. We are thrilled with the results of the project,

“and I believe as you all will see today,”

the power of what is currently called the Ecaron, but we'll soon be having the official G-Sec call sign. This vessel is state of the yard. And unlike anything existing in our solar system today. Now I know it's tempting to go for the streets,

but we need the color intensity of the meats and the cheeses. Is going to be what really puts us over the edge here. Which is like a mix? All right. Okay, you can do a mix,

but still keep it like a, at least a 70/30 split between, you know, meats, cheeses, sweets. Okay, 70/30 split. 70/30. 70/30.

No, no, no. 70/30 cheeses. 70 cheeses, meats. Uh, you see, as you're having this conversation, Lena crosses to you.

Could you welcome with me? Could you welcome with me? And you see that the man on the stage is wrapping up his beak. I would now like to bring to this stage to speak of Vice-Counseler Everett Quill.

All right, everybody, big smiles, big smiles. Stepping up onto the stage, chasing the general off the stage with polite applause. Vice-Counseler Everett Quill hints him in a boyish way with a quick smile

and carefully styled hair that never seems out of place.

Fair complexion in a narrow nose. His black and gold suit, pristine. Uh, as he steps up to the mic. Fellow council members, grew staff. Thank you so much for being here.

I'm a specially great thanks to Dr. Romani Cortez and her crew for their incredible work. Building this magnificent station. Now I hope people won't mind if I remind us what we're all fighting for. The children.

And you see that at this point, Helena pushes the four of you up onto the stage. Go, go, go, go. We shuffle up. I have ZAD's shoulders in my hands as I guide everybody up towards the stage. These here are children of the stars.

An organization I'm sure we're all familiar with. Each of them has lost their parents or guardians to awful

And I want them all to be here on Dr. Cortez's solar pass.

They might know that their futures are safe.

“I think that's something worth clapping for.”

E turns to you. And especially important person is here today. I'm not sure you all remember the stories about ten, fifteen years ago, just before the attack on tranquility. When a young girl was found floating in this skateboard and grace space,

having just escaped from the horrors of Martian rule. That is Vira Lam, who is with us today. I'm glad my head gratefully. And as I raise my head back up, you can see my eyes tilt upward well-ling up once again.

I poke jacks as well. What? Well, it starts. Oh, yeah. You see tears.

Well, the corner of his eyes.

It's you. It's you that brought us all here today. So that other children don't have to have the experience that you've had. Never again. I think we could all say that together.

Never again. You see that applause breaks out. And she steps down. And now I'd like to welcome you to this stage, councilor Miriam Adayem. As he steps down with you, puts a hand on your shoulder.

Nicely done. We are grateful for the honor of being here. You are so very brave.

I don't see it as bravery.

I see it as just doing what I had to do to survive. Go get a photo. You see that Helena slides up for the photo. He puts his arm around you. Good click.

Of a few hollows being taken as you are freed from your obligation. And you see the jacks walks up to you. Can we do switch now? Yeah. Okay.

Maybe more of a 60/40 spike. Yes. Play out from this moment. This is the welcome drinks and kind of snacks for all of the visiting guests and crew here on the ship.

Where would we find Kiki and Andre? Kiki?

“I think she is over in a corner holding court.”

Now she's going to be looking for a thing she cares about the most. She's trying to duck any government official and is trying to find something gambling. Something just more interesting than listening to people give brief and unuseful speeches. I'm just trying to look for fun people with drinking hand. Give me a stealth check and an investigation check.

That's a 30/20 for stealth and a two for investigation. We're back baby. I'm not CV. You are able to effortlessly dart and move around the crowd. As you multiple times catch Dorian seem to find someone wearing like an official kind of black and cold looking uniform

and then kind of begin to move to wherever you just were. As he kind of moves around the space you avoiding him seeking. You struggle to find anyone who looks like full party. There's just so much black and cold here. There's so much government.

There's so many officials. Give me a perception check.

“Are you eventually are looking for crue or people who are just a little bit more with it?”

Yeah. And people who start to stand out are essentially secret surface. Like the kind of people attached the attachions traveling with these different executives. Among them you're seeing you're definitely seeing spacers. Which I think is maybe odd but not really.

But you're seeing these like big guys. Big guys with tattoos kind of creeping up above kind of black and gold collars suits that don't exactly fit the way that maybe they're supposed to. I mean you've been so long since you've been on earth. Yeah. And who knows maybe they're just hiring new types of people.

I think Kiki is of the opinion. Like this isn't working and she's not finding people that are interesting to her. Because she's dressed too much like the other officials.

And the formal wear she's got.

“She commissioned a 10 meter long sorry when she was on earth.”

That cost her. It's ghost to say the number not that she cares very much. But there are six places in it.

Or maybe it hit a million.

She wasn't really paying attention and taxes as a concept are confusing. And it's this like very like. Gossamer thin like silk fabric that's embroidered at the edges with like isolated geometric patterns. In actual platinum and studied with like clear sapphire. And she's just now kind of looked down and is like, oh my god.

I look like these fucking nerds got it. Okay, and the ones that look like spacers look like a different breed of spacer than people I've dealt with. Is this like the beginning of the night? This is the very beginning of the night. Oh, because I'm here to damn early.

Okay, okay. The next time I unfortunately get caught by Dorian long enough to like make eye contact.

I'm gonna do some like gesture to my outfit.

That would be like, I gotta fix it. Where I go. Down down there are restrooms in the lower area. I'll be right back. Of course. Over just take your legs and use that an excuse to try to move across the room.

She's gonna make it a retreat in the next couple of minutes. Like that's where her brain is at. 100%. You begin to take the initial steps in making your retreat. 100%.

I am keeping an eye out primarily for Sophie who I know lives up on Zia. I'm in a sharp.

“I think it's like a little gray narrow suit.”

There's not a tie that goes with it. It's like a high collar. It's sort of like it looks. Spacey. You know, like I think there's certain things where they have like formal attire for non-military staff.

And they're like, make him look like a space man. So it's like everything has like your in your own society with its own conceptions about what it is that you're doing. And because we want to aspire to this ascent around the sun, I look. They have made the uniform such that non-military engineering core have this little like sort of formal space.

Look at this outer space engineer man. But I am a little bit, I'm not the body type for it. I'm a little bit thicker and it is sort of squeezing my neck a little bit. But I'm rooting around looking for Stella. A Priya is your character near the catering tables or no?

Yeah, she's going like she's trying to find a door and it just always like entrances and exits keep getting blocked by groups of officials that she doesn't want to talk to.

So she keeps losing sight of it and then getting bored in a little hungry and grabbing food and then trying to find it. I am lifting up one of the table covers where they foot to look if the catering coolers are underneath the tables for service. And if I notice you noticing me doing that weird thing, I'm going to look up and go, "Big is cute, you're going to be able to make is going to be five inch cheese cube, unless you mix cheeses." Because the serving packets, they come in, they don't have enough, it's a small serving packet.

So you're going to do, if you want pure cheddar, you best you're going to do mixing the little cubes together is a five inch cube, which is... How many of those cubes would that be? 125. Uh-uh. Alca is there one inch each?

Huh? What? Andre Delca. Hi. Uh, Kiki Davis? She says it, like she says her last name very quietly.

Nice to meet you, Kiki. Nice to meet you.

“Are you? Why are you making cute? What are you? Is there a door under that table?”

I'm trying to get out of here. Uh, my friend, Tubes, who's going to come by, he's looking to get it, make a quick getaway with cheese and get out. So I'm trying to see if there's unopened the bags of this cheese for him to get. Oh shit, hold on. I'm going to go ahead and go to the, like, other end of the table and, like, do that, like, turn my back because it's hard with, like, the full sorry wrap. So I got to go heel, heel back, and I'll, like, flick my heel up and just try to, like, get a little...

Can I get a little whiff? I have a really good sense of smell. Can I check for cheese smell? Go ahead and give me an investigation check or perception check for cheese smell. That's a nine. There's no cheese down here. In perception for me as well. Oh, sure.

Now, that's a little bit, that's a little sharper there. That's going to be a dirty 20. Oh, it sounds like that, or? They're keeping the cheese under the bartender station. I'm going to look over at the bartender station and I go, that's a bingo.

What I'm looking at is I'm looking at whatever cheese is the least populated general look from table to table.

Because least amount means most popular in stomachs and not tables. And I noticed this herbal white cheddar is moving very fast. As you guys stand here over the cannabis table, you see that encroaching on you is a group of five children and a six larger child. Actually, I would like to say I rolled the combined 26 for stealth.

Being by the bar crouched down hand in the cheese bag. Under the you see a shape at the bar of someone as these five children as five children approach your your cannabis table with hungry eyes. Oh, my God. Why is there loose children? Excuse me. Excuse us.

Ten hands just begin powering through cannabis. Hands up. You're losing. Oh, look up and go. Hey, everyone, everyone, I'm going to wear it. What's your life? You like the good stuff? You like sweets? 60 40 60 40 sweets.

So not sweets are not sweets just sweet.

You see one of the tolerance we're interested in a 60 40 sweet 40 percent non-sweet.

“Okay. All right. You know what? How old are these kids remember about?”

10 to 15. The youngest probably around 10, the oldest 15. These are my, no, my children are politicians and engineers. And I go, I'm going to turn around and go, okay, we're going to do 60 40, but some of the sweets they're going to be healthy sweets. And I'm going to start passing out dried apricots to kids.

You see them hold the dry apricot. What? Take a bite. This doesn't count. It has this doesn't count.

It has higher fructose than can. Dad, what are you doing? I turn around. You see your daughter Stella dressed in the black and gold of the globally executive council steps forward. Are you giving these children apricots?

Oh, Stella, my sweetie. And I'm going to just give her a big hug. Dad, she hugs you back. Dad, I'm not going to work.

“I want time to work too. Your father not important?”

I'm very important. It's just, you know. I turned around and I said, the children they wish for sweets, but 60 40, that's a high ratio. None of those children are holding apricots anymore. I was immediately like, in my hand, in my hand, in my hand. Get me out of here.

I turned back right at CD, apricot has vanished, and I go, Miss Davis, you have seen where the apricot went off to? Oh, they put them in the, I got hungry. Okay, we're going to learn about fuel input output, because if you want these chocolate covered espresso beans to go to these children,

you're going to see a real output like you never believe.

I'm going to point to Stella and say, one time, she gets into chocolate class espresso. Dad, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please. You see that she lets you go on as she just shakes her head. You hear a whistle-trip?

You see the all five kids immediately turn their attention away from your story. And rush towards the bartending station.

“I'm following the kids, because what is that sound?”

We're on a spaceship. I'm going to look over to you and say, apricot, very sweet. Have fiber fiber. Oh, I've made them a steak before. Don't you worry.

I'm a killer of a tube. I'll turn around to Stella. Darling, you did very good to see. It's good to see you today. This is incredible.

I mean, we've been getting the pictures and reading the updates, but to see it in person. Oh, the ship? Yeah, the ship. I thought you meant the spread.

Oh, this is fine. I mean, for the spaceship, it's not bad. I made it here for three months to get a nice fresh cut of meat, or they get something like a nice chicken and goat stew, or some actually well-coated rice.

I'm going to get a mandazi, which speaking of this. Dad, I tried. It's a small craft, right? If I bring mandazi on the ship, the whole ship smells like mandazi. This is a faith worst in death.

Dad, come on. Help me some slack. All right. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. When you get home, it's on me.

I was Joe. He said, Joe, I like to review. You don't have to bring mandazi. No, I wanted to. I tried. No, no, hey, listen. I wanted a piece of home and look.

She is here. You look beautiful, my darling.

Is Sofia around?

“Yes, she should be around here somewhere.”

She is supposed to give me pep talk, because big game is tonight. We're going to take those higher access down the pay. Oh, you, you're playing slutball again. Yeah, I start the league on the ship. I leave the children.

I've heard a word I care about. You see, you come back over. You're, you're, that's awesome. Let's see, we find Sofia. She's around here. Slow down to be.

Have you all had your beautiful moment yet? It's like, oh. You're looking to play.

Always some players throughout bout last minute.

Hold up, what? I managed the league. So you need to, listen. There's a league here. I'm going to slide ball.

Walking toward you, wearing a souvenir jacket. Tall and lean, close-cropped hair. A perpetual five o'clock shadow. Walking up to you is Nate Sharp, who has been the security consultant for the last couple of months on the Icaron.

You know the high-rexes are going to get dressed tonight. I hope you're not telling our guests anything different. Uh, this man, he flagrant cheater. I don't know how, but we're going to eat her. We're going to eat her.

We're going to eat her. We're going to come out. Wow. Everyone. Big words.

Everyone displayed.

We're the five o'clock shadow along the jaw line.

Everybody distracted. He wowed them with the sculpt from marble face. And then no one can play good. Mm-hmm. All right.

All right. Well, hey, man. You stepped to the wall wall. You better be prepared. Oh, hey.

Hey. You're going to come for the servals. Get ready. Yeah. This cat can jump.

Not bad. Not bad. Oh, that's kind. When's this happening? Oh, is there money on it?

“We're, you know, some people can't but I believe.”

They leave frown on it. They do. Don't let me be supposed to be a team building. Mm-hmm. You're going to bet.

You make sure you bet with someone who's not going to blow their whole commissary on it. Okay. Ha ha. What's the color of the servals? Are you in a form yellow and black?

And by uniform, I do mean Penny because you can't get uniform shipped out to your Secret Military installation. Well, you know what you can get if you ask you, set nicely. Uh, you see that he turns around and on the back of his souvenir jacket is imported the words the wall wall.

Which, of course, is the name of a group of higher access? Is the wall wall wall? We all know that. Ha ha ha. Underneath my actual, like, key card pass.

There is a small, uh, little pin of a serval jumping. A little, like, a small hunting cat. And I flick it. And I go, all right. The wall wall go.

Where the wall wall go?

“Are you going to be a little rock rod in the screen?”

I tell you what you're going to be screaming. Oh, no. We lost so much. Okay. I've been, I'm getting limber.

I'm too stretch.

There's never been a bigger serval fan than me.

In this moment, uh, I'm going to pull out a little slate from, like, a little pocket of my jumpsuit. And, like, quickly toggle through, uh, and, like, tap it. And every clear sapphire has, like, an LED sitting under it. Uh, and they all turned yellow.

So now she's in yellow and black. Wow. With my head over to you, and I go, like, oh, so you, like, imported and imported. Oh, I'm a huge deal. Let's get out of here.

A fun one. You see that Nate goes, uh, well, I mean, we're not supposed to get up to anything until after the, the, the pass. So, uh, well, but we'll be, we're going to head down to and have, uh, and cook up some food, just, you know, something a little bit more substantial. But after you guys do the whole something, please come on down.

I miss, I'm going to say, uh, I'd be right down. Uh, Stella, uh, I can introduce you to my friend Kiki. Kiki, number one, servals fan. I am, hello. Hi, Kiki, you are, uh, this is your first time aboard the Ikaran.

It is, uh, well, I'm aboard this ship. I need to go get cheese for tubes, or you're going to be mad. Uh, and I want to turn and walk over to the bartending station. You move toward the bartending station where five children have all gathered around. And you see the bartenders now, like, you guys, you can't take the cheese.

Please, we, some of us have not had cheese for so long. I've never been to. [laughs] 22. Uh, you see the, the guy, means down.

There's, there's more cheese in the back. Really? I can get you some cheese. Is the herbal kind? The, okay, you specifically want the herbal kind.

Yeah, it's a special treat from, uh, Timo's home, and I push Timo forward. Yeah, it's from my home. You see that he goes, "I'm so, so..."

Ah, yeah, I'm going to go.

Special treat cheese. Yeah, I'm going to go, I'm going to go. Thank you. Thank you. Quickly.

“Meanwhile, I'm taking cheese, and so, so what you have to do,”

if you squish them into a little, like, little flat, as flat as you can, the pancakes. You can just slip them under any sort of layers you might have. I'm going to walk, as the bartender just left. Has just left.

And the, these, you see, a group of children underneath the table, mashing cheese together. I'm going to go, look down, and I go, "Oh!" Cheesecakes. Ah, hello, may we help you?

Hello, I am Andre. Pleasure to meet you. You are Vera. Yes? Ah, yes.

Pleasure to meet you. Welcome to Icarong.

Ah, I see that you are employed in the service of this ship.

We thank you for your service. Hey, not that kind of service. My thank you, coming the form of a paycheck. Well, would you care for some cheese? Oh, certainly, actually, I'm grabbing for my friend.

Bartender is gone. We grab and make a run for it? Ah, yeah. He's coming back with more cheese, though, and we do kind of...

You know what kind it is? Ah, the herbal kind? Nice. Yes. Okay, yes.

I went for this. No, I'll go over it at this point.

You're like, "What is the drink in age on earth?"

Because there's a lot of kids here. From legal perspective, you are on earth right now. Sure. What is it that doesn't matter? Hi, young child.

Please make me a drink. I look around at the ingredients that are in the bar. I can cook something up. Yeah, go ahead and give me like a chef's... I was about to call him chef's tools again.

What is it?

“Do you go ahead and give me like a kitchen utensil's proficiency check?”

11. Massive glass of ice. A little bit of whiskey, and a lot of soda. You've done the terrible job. So you don't do this. Who are you?

Oh, hello. I am my name is Fira Lam. We call it fishcakes. You smell like fishcakes? Mm-hmm. Yes. Oh, she...

You're one of the... Y-you got found. Yes, it was a very tragic story, Miss. Oh, Davis. They were looking for you.

They came to my arc trying to find you 15 years ago. You're from arc. Mm-hmm. Well, it is nice to meet you, Miss Davis. I apologize.

I don't have that much of proficiency with mixing drinks. I'm much more used to sort of a... Don't apologize.

“Fira, I'm going to ask you. You are traveling here with the children of the stars with cuts program, yes?”

Yes. So you're not planning to stay for a long time, though? Oh, no. I think we're just here for the photo opportunities, and then we will be back on our way. Well, you know, my daughter, she worked on the ship.

She, a young woman, maybe a few years older than you, but she worked here as life support engineer. You know, I know that you are partially here for promoting your program, but... Caribbean, if I'm wrong, you are adult, yes?

In a manner of speaking, yes. Well, I'm gonna... Oh, a vocational sort of a vocational right along. If you are interested in this, you know, I happy to make the introduction. I just want to...

Well, that's very kind of you, yes. I don't know what I'm going to do after this. I'm hanging around with in the cut house for a little while, just because everything that I've sort of tried to embark on, and I'm not going to be a free enterprise, since graduating,

has not really paned out for one reason or another, so I would not want to disappoint you or your lovely... I'm daughter. I'm sure she's lovely. Ah.

Um... Well, I am... very sure you could not disappoint me, because I actually don't have any expectations for you. So, not possible to upset something that don't exist.

But... Yeah, why not...

I'm kind of looking around to see if Sophie is around anywhere.

Yes, please. You do not see your daughter. Yeah, low roll. However, you do see your next wife. [laughter]

I didn't roll in that one, man. [laughter] I'm going to look over... I look over at Vira and go. You know, I... Good.

Listen. Is that your daughter? No. We're looking at... Over here, the over there, the woman that had

there's some sort of a recognition. Ring check.

Uh, I do not wear a wedding ring.

Uh, Bantan. Bantan, yes. Uh-huh. Got it. Uh, but old, old.

Like, you know what I was saying? It's essentially like there's just an area that... But I think we're doing it. Take care of it. Yeah.

I'm going to look over to you Vira and say... Uh, I don't see my daughter so if you anywhere. But, um... Listen. Uh...

Any... there...

“If you want to take tour of ship look around that someplace,”

I'm going to lean in and say... I think sometimes... Very uncomfortable for everybody to know... Big thing about you. So you want to go for walk, see tour of ship, anything like that.

Maybe bring other kids along. Maybe we can make that happen. So you don't have to sit here and everybody ask you the same question over and over. Do you have a breakdown of all the ventilation shafts? Hey.

That is a question which if... Naked Sharp here are you? He's going to ask you follow questions about why you want to know this. That's why I didn't ask Mr. Sharp. Okay, Vira. Well, you have a nice time. I'm going to hear that question and peel off to go say hello to Nisha.

He absolutely does know where all the ventilation shafts are. You do that just really quick. The language of everyone associated from Mars is that... Is it a different language or do they just speak? They speak most of the world speaks English.

And so it's the predominant language. I'm in both Terence and Marshan's place. Okay. I'd like to think there's like enough of a pat-watt or something in it to like mark it as like Martian specifically.

And I want to lean in and use sound trick. Just to get a little whisper in your ear. As you make the like comment about the ventilation shafts.

“And to say, I think they were looking for you”

because they came to my arc asking questions years ago. Just very quietly in your ear as I then chuckle about the ventilation shafts and like look over your shoulder at the rest of the party. Just to see, I'm just like reaction checking you. I also look at over the party and I say very low.

Oh, so you haven't worked here. You're out in a gray space, huh? Mm-hmm. Oh. Every now and then they can convince me to come back.

I never stay around these parts long, though.

Hmm. What about you? Oh, you know, we go from place to place where we're needed for a hand shake or a reminder of the horrors of this war, huh? And, you know, you're not a child of the stars.

Where do you belong? Fishcakes. I don't really belong. I say, looking out over the crowd. Someone is interrupted by feedback from a microphone.

Yeah, it's so slow. Dr. Romani Cortez steps up into the stage. Andre, how do you approach Nisha? I approach respectfully. Like, I don't, I don't want her to see me like walking across the B-line.

But I'll walk up to join whatever circular conversation she's in. Uh, just to say hello. She turns to you, her face. Lights up. Andre.

Nisha, good to see you. Welcome. Hope trip. You travel up with Stella? Uh, yes.

Wonderful. I just see her. She did not bring any Mondazi. We need to discuss as family. Yes.

Of course. A few in a show.

“Oh, Dr. Cortez, I think he's about to speak.”

And I will take that minor rebuffing of a bit really hard on an exterior level and turn around to look at Dr. Cortez about to speak. Uh, you see that she steps up.

And of course, my fellow crew.

My name is Dr. Romani Cortez.

“I service the G-C's chief technical advisor on fleet development and is the lead architect”

of project data. Ten years ago, when Morris struck us at Tranquility, the world was faced with a choice. How should we respond? It assumed was made by those in this role that our next steps would not be just right back in vengeance.

But to create a defense, one is strong enough to protect Earth's space and allow our home to flourish and safety rather than become an aggressor in turn. Test with that mission, I dreamed of a wall, a protector, something to shield us. And what I'm most wanted to protect was not just our planet.

But this is sense of boldness that carried us to the stars in the first place.

“As the head of project data lists, I had the privilege of naming it.”

And I, of course, just data lists my favorite inventor of legend and it felt only right that the creation of project data lists should bear the name of his son, Icarus. And thus, Icarama. And a few days' time, once he is formally commissioned into service by the global security corpse, he will take on his official name of the ESS to campaign Batsu.

Some of my colleagues found the name Icarama usual, but I could think of no better one. The myth of Icarus is about a young man who flew to close to the sun. And that is exactly what we are doing here. There's nothing safe about going to space. There's no protection, but the one you build for yourself.

“For me, the lesson of Icarus has never been about that we should not fly.”

The lesson is that we must be prepared for the fall. And 10 years ago, we fell. However, today, we were prepared to ensure the generations who come after us

will inherit the same audacity that carries humanity to the stars in the first place.

That's all I have for pros. And now I'm on a brown to thank somewhere in the range of four to 600 people who made this all possible. I'd like to start with. You see that she begins to go on. Oh, she's really going to do it.

Of course, I need to thank the members of the global executive council. Those present today, she begins to go through it. I lead and back under the bar, and I hand you the full bottle of whiskey. Thank you there. Give me a reception check everyone.

12, 7, 17. Reeling from your ex-whise for a buff and focused on the bottle of whiskey in your hand, fish kicks. You are the only one of these three who notice that multiple members dressed in black and gold at this moment, produced their side eyes, and raised them up, and begin firing the shots thinking they are. There's a screen as people fall to the ground in terror, and the one of them steps forward in this.

Nobody move. This ship is under our command. That was Erika Ishiyi as Vera Fishcake's land. A pre-eying gun as Kiki Davis. Brennan Lee Mulligan as Andre Dalka.

And me, Lou Wilson as everyone and everything else. Flight of the Ecaron is produced by Fortune at Horse and Worlds beyond number. Editing sound designed by Brian Flarity of many-sided media, and score by Will Savino. For even more stories like this, join us on our Patreon. We'll see you there.

Thank you. Thank you.