Martian Republic: The Fateful Secret

Chapter 11: Exposition

Location: TransitPoint-5 Orbital Spaceport

Timestamp: 5:00pm, +8 GMT

Josh steadily manoeuvred the Hyperion towards a large cuboid that protruded from the mass of adjoined cylinders and spheres that was TransitPoint-5. The orbital spaceport was originally intended as a refueling stop for Earth-Mars transit. However, after space travel became more commonplace, it was renovated, expanded and rebuilt to accommodate for higher passenger load to a point in which it barely resembled its original form.

The Hyperion's advanced controls allowed the craft to autonomously dock. Still, Josh had overriden the autonomous controls in order to hasten the docking process as much as possible. Speed was of the essence.

He quickly slowed down as the docking bay approached and manoeuvred into the cavernous space. He set the spacecraft down on a docking pad marked 24B.

A transparent bubble was slowly lowered from the ceiling, sealing the Hyperion in an airtight bubble. Nozzles hissed as air was pumped into the bubble. As soon as the readout on Josh's dashboard confirmed that the pressure was high enough, he hit the button to lower the ramp. He rushed out of the spacecraft. There was no need to manually retract the ramp, for the advanced controls would already take care of that.

He descended down a flight a stairs at the right edge of the spacecraft and found himself in the orbital spaceport's commercial area.

A woman approached him.

"You must be Josh Galloway," she said.

"Yes," he answered.

"Follow me."

She led him past an exhibit that boasted a hologram of the spaceport's upcoming expansion project and headed towards a secluded corner. She stepped in front of a door marked "Employees Only" and stared intently at it.

"Hidden retina scanner," she explained.

The control panel below the scanner flashed green and a click could be heard as the automatic locks on the door unlocked.

She pushed the door open and held it open for Josh. She walked into the claustrophobically small, bleached white tunnel and let the door slam shut behind her.

"This way," she said, leading him through the tunnel.

They reached a room shaped like a hexagon. She guided him into a tunnel marked "Offices".

"Don't worry, our destination is just ten metres away."

The woman finally stopped in front of a dull metal door and waved her card past a sensor. The door slid open and Josh walked in, finding himself inside a dark room. The room was lined with complicated looking consoles full of knobs and buttons on one side, with huge holocomputers lining the other. The middle of the room was filled up by a large hologram of the orbital spaceport's interior.

"Welcome to TransitPoint-5's security centre," said a stocky man, emerging from his seat behind a holocomputer. "You must be Josh."

"Yes, I'm Josh," he said, shaking hands. "And you're?"

"Ephraim. Just call me by my first name."

Josh heard the door slide shut as the woman left the room. Ephraim went straight to business.

"I've already been contacted by Bosporos Planum base on Mars," he said.

Thank God for Amy's meticulous planning, thought Josh. It'd be hard having to explain everything.