Several hours later, we were at the Outpost entering the elevator that led to the surface. There was enough room for the three of us, as well as some labor robots and a few samples collected from Europa. My hair was braided so that it would be less of a nuisance in microgravity.
As I played with my long hair, the entire room was hauled up the elevator shaft until it reached the exterior of the moon. The doorway opened and revealed the interior the Outpost’s surface-level station. CARA explained the transport vessel would have view-screens allowing us to see beyond the walls and I looked forward to getting a good view of the exterior.
The labor robots who were with us earlier each carried a bit of cargo down a hallway. We followed them through the corridor and into another room. This one was considerably larger than the previous one and housed a moderately sized spacecraft.
Once we entered it, I found myself hurriedly searching for the nearest view-screen. CARA made certain that we, and all other objects were all securely strapped down and drew my attention to a black rectangle on the wall raised about 1.75 meters from the floor. CARA called out a verbal command.
“View camera 3.”
With that, an image appeared on the screen and I marveled at the majesty of what I was seeing. It was the moon, our moon, and it stretched outward for kilometers. The surface was bright (not nearly like my own luminescence, but still enough to reveal itself). The bright ice was interspersed with streaks of brown rocky material. The ground seemed to terminate where it met a dark wall, but this could not be so since I knew that the moon was not flat. This, I deduced, must have been what was known as a horizon.
A countdown began and when it reached zero, I could feel the acceleration of the vehicle beginning its assent into the heavens. Still looking at the screen, I saw each geological feature of the moon became smaller and the sky appeared to dominate more of the screen.
“Beautiful!” I couldn’t help uttering. Tsuri was by my side and also watching the monitor.
“Yeah,” it said, nodding.
A bright, ring-shaped object in the distance bean to grow until the boarders of the screen could no longer contain it all. The structure soon large enough that details could be seen. The ring was a silver-white on the outside, but the center of it was lined with a large number of reflecting mirrors. Several spokes bisected each other at a point lying at the center of the ring. The screen switched cameras and displayed a good view of the center of all of the spokes. As the ship drew closer to the center, the gigantic ring disappeared from view, leaving only the spokes and a small cylindrical section where they bisected each other. The cylinder seemed to grow larger and larger until finally it swallowed us. We had safely entered the docking station of the Colony.
An elevator running the length of one of the spokes carried us to the residential portion of the station within the large ring. I watched my long braid drop as the centripetal acceleration of the entire ring provided the sensation of weight. Though different than the actual gravitational attraction of two massive bodies, it was a reasonable substitute.
The elevator “descended” from the Colony’s “ceiling” allowing a brief view of the scenery inside. Green trees, white buildings, and blue lakes were scattered around the gently sloping surface of the ring.
When at last the elevator ride was over we faced a lengthy decontamination. Of course, robots, some autonomous, and others remotely operated, accomplished this. The colonists would never sully their own hands with such menial tasks even if they still had to oversee them. Regardless of the discomfort I felt, I tried my best to follow procedures.
Tsuri was following procedures as well, albeit at a slower pace. Not once during these checks did it leave my side. Its long prehensile tail was wrapped around my nearest arm and slung over the opposite of its body was the pouch with its rock. Trying to keep its balance, the child decided, rather resolutely, that it would use all four of its legs to walk.
While Tsuri stumbled around, one of the robots came to us and slipped our bags off of our shoulders.
“These need to be inspected and sterilized, explained the robot, “ in a deep human-like voice.
“Will we get them back?” Tsuri asked.
“Yes,” replied the worker. “As soon as we determine if—”
The bag was opened there was a surprised gasp followed by an interested “hmm!”
“And why weren’t these reported?” it asked our instructor.
“Sir, those stones are the playthings of my children. I have brought many other rocks for research purposes.”
“I’m afraid we’ll need all we can get.”
“But— ” CARA began.
“—You will permit us to taker these rocks!” a worker barked. “And that’s an order”
CARA fell silent.
“W-what? Why?” Tsuri asked desperately.
“Because,” the deep voiced worker responded. “They may contain minerals and even microbes exclusive to Europa. The structure of these samples is common, but intriguing and they should be turned over to the Europan geologists at once.”
“B-but those belong to us…!” Tsuri protested. It looked to CARA. “…Don’t they?” There was pause.
“No…they don’t,” responded CARA. Tsuri and I were taken aback. CARA continued, sounding as though it loathed every word it spoke. “The three of us are considered ‘semi-liberated entities’. We are machines given many of the rights of humans, but we are still considered property. By extension, anything we have that pertains to our primary programming technicality belongs to our owners. We were created to work for the Institute of Biotechnology And Robotics Research (IBARR), so if they say that your stones are necessary for their research we must give in…”
“Lets get these to the lab,” said one of the workers to its partner, clearly unaffected by our pain.
“They just look like rocks to me,” said the other as they walked through a doorway. “But I guess the geologists can get some use out of them…”
I was indignant. How dare he speak about our rocks like that?! He belittled their geological importance, but what was particularly egregious was how little he understood what those items meant to us. Tsuri and I knew meanings of those rocks that no instrument could ever find. They were testaments to our fantasies and dreams, becoming anything we wanted if only we imagined it.
What bothered me the most was their lack of regard for Tsuri’s feelings. Since we were no longer in the ocean, I was acutely aware of its state of mind. The child ached over the perceived betrayal. It obeyed our instructor and came all this way only to have its toy taken from it. It had done nothing wrong. CARA made sure our rocks were not included in the group that was to be studied, and yet the IBARR felt it necessary to exercise their authority anyway. How powerless and worthless Tsuri felt.
The child looked to me with its large gem-like eyes. I wanted to express my sympathy, but words couldn’t possibly suffice. In silence I embraced my sibling.
“…Come, we must move on,” urged CARA. “Besides, now is not the time to get into conflict with the colonists.”
We followed our instructor to the exit. Tsuri was still deeply wounded and wouldn’t speak. This soon changed when the door slid open and both of us let out gasps.