More world-building for a possible WIP. Don’t know how it’ll end up. Info on Kolibri and his family in Leaving on Off-Planet TDY.1
“Where to, Captain?” asked the sergeant when Mike Kolibri stepped into the staging area of the Alexandria spaceport. One side was lined with about a dozen company size troop carriers. Portals were used on-planet; spaceships between them.
“Foloy 2” he said, naming the Force base at the system closest to where he was currently stationed with his family. “Close” was reckoned in energy expenditure, not distance. “Then the Segest moon, then Birdland Research Center, then back here. One overnight at each stop.” Birdland was named for the way the native word for their planet sounded, not for anything to do with winged creatures.
He got to his assigned carrier and entered. There were jump pods above the seats all along the length of the carrier on both sides, but of course, this wasn’t being used as a combat transport at the moment. Kolibri clicked into a seat beneath a nearby pod.
A Lieutenant entered with a platoon of 40 marines in fatigues, and they also clicked in without using the pods. He greeted Kolibri with a polite palm slash through the air. A full salute was not required.
“Training?” asked Kolibri, conversationally, after they introduced each other. Most of Lieutenant Rustin’s people looked not long out of boot camp, but no one was spec’ed out for combat.
“Joint war game at Somerset,” Rustin answered, naming a training base several jumps away. “We’re transferring at Foloy 2.”
Once they were underway, Mike took Magda’s Gold out of his pocket, and accessed the direct interface to the family data-well. He pulled up an old pulp novel from the twentieth century.
“A solid?” asked Rustin. It wasn’t just a hologram. It had tactile feedback, like an at-home interface. “Nice.”
“Gold solid,” answered Mike, showing off. He handed him the book, and Rustin admired the feel of the paper style pages. It was called Gold, not just for its color, but because it had the highest level of tactile feedback.
“Can you kick it?” he asked. His travel data-well interface, just a bronze, had only mid-level tactile feedback, and had a tendency to fade out.
“Yup. Full tactile, until dropped back into the well.”
The Lieutenant dropped the book, but when he kicked it with his foot, it just slid across the floor towards Mike. “I though you said –.”
“DNA keyed,” answered Mike. “Just me and the wife.” They had keyed the disc by kissing it.
When they landed, the Lieutenant and his marines headed for the barracks, and Kolibri checked in at the Admin data-well building of the garrison at Foloy 2. He got his room assignment in the VOQ, and passed through the portal door to his quarters. The next morning, the garrison commander, Captain Serapis, greeted Kolibri when he stepped through the portal to his office. “Welcome, Captain, I’m glad you’re here. We have a situation.”
Mike nodded. There was usually something.
“We need to buy a slave.”