The first experimental SWT tube line, between Bogota and New York, went into service on May 1, 2017.
29
The idea of a weekend on Star Towers came to Harry Conlon in connection with his upcoming tenth anniversary. Harry was a large ham-fisted man who had made it big in ceramic pipe— well, not exactly big by Texas standards, but not so bad, either, for a guy who could barely read the sports. Jolene, his third and best-looking wife, already had enough jewels and furs to hide her completely from sight; and besides, nobody either one of them knew had ever been to Star Towers, and this would be something to talk about—a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
When he mentioned the trip casually to friends, as he found increasingly frequent occasion to do, he noticed that their eyes bugged involuntarily; that was very gratifying, and he began to think he had made an upscale decision. It turned out that Jolene had to have new jewels and furs for the trip, in order not to disgrace him in front of all those billionaires, but as Harry said, it was only money. He got a big juicy kiss for that, and Jolene did one or two things that night that she didn’t usually do.
They flew to Houston, stayed in a hotel overnight, and the next morning, after indoctrination, medical checkups and parasite screening, they put on their special shoes and filed aboard the spacecraft with a few hundred other people, a very select bunch, naturally: distinguished-looking men, most of them past middle life, and women dressed to destroy, even though they all wore slacks or culotte dresses. “Isn’t that what’s-her-name, the holo star?” Jolene whispered excitedly. “And that one, I know I’ve seen his face—is he a senator or what? Look at the rock his wife has on her finger!”
Harry squeezed her arm, and she squeezed back. He figured he was going to get his money’s worth just in accelerated female gratitude and affection, but the next part was not so great. An attendant strapped them into reclining seats which reminded Harry unpleasantly of dental chairs, between plastic curtains that were like the way they curtained somebody off in the hospital when they were about to die. Harry’s heart was hitting him in the chest; he began to feel he had made a serious mistake.
The holos on the ceiling lit up and showed the head of a young woman, who said, “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Hi-lift Five, Flight Nineteen to Star Towers. My name is Wendy, I’m your chief cabin attendant. We are now in final preflight check mode, all systems are go, and we will lift off in approximately two minutes. While we are waiting, I would like to point out some of the features of your accommodations aboard. The controls of your holos are in the left-hand armrest of each acceleration couch, along with controls for lights and ventilation, and the call button for the cabin attendants. The controls of the couch itself are in the righthand armrest, where you will also find headphones for your holos and music, a box of tissues, and a small white envelope for your use in case you should experience stomach uneasiness in flight. Reading matter is stored in the wall cabinet at the head of every couch, and in this cabinet you will also find a mesh bag containing the loose articles and jewelry which you surrendered prior to boarding. Please use these articles with caution and do not let them escape while we are in zero gravity. Also in the wall cabinet you will find complimentary toiletries, stationery and postcards, and hairnets for use in zero gravity conditions. Once we have gone through the powered phase of our flight, cabin attendants will assist you with any difficulties you may have. As soon as the countdown begins, please make sure that your couch is in the fully extended position, that your belts are fastened, and that you are lying comfortably with your head straight, your legs slightly apart and your arms on the armrests. Thank you, and enjoy your flight.”
Harry noticed that she hadn’t said anything about what to do in an emergency. What did that mean, that if there was an emergency, there wasn’t anything to do? After a pause, a man’s voice said on the loudspeakers, “Prepare for lift-off. Cabin attendants, take your couches.” Then the countdown, “five, four,” and the whole thing, while Jolene was yelling, “Harry, I want to get off!” and then a roar that shook his back teeth like castanets, and a leaden weight falling over his whole body. Out of the comer of one eye he could see that Jolene’s face was all pulled out of shape, like his; her mouth was stretched open sideways, exposing her teeth like a dead rat’s, and her boobs were flat as cow pies. Harry blacked out for a minute. When he came to, the roar had stopped, and now the weight was gone—all the weight. He felt like the cabin was falling, even though he knew it wasn’t, and he grabbed the armrests in a death-grip.
“Well, folks,” the Captain’s voice was saying, “that’s it for now. We’ll be performing an orbital correction in about an hour. Until then, move around the cabin if you want, but please keep your feet on the floor and don’t try to float around in the cabin. When you are in your seats, please keep your belts fastened.”
Beside him, Jolene was throwing up. The steward came by with a little vacuum cleaner, and handed her some tissues afterward. Then it was Harry’s turn, but at least he got the barf-bag over his mouth first.
That was the way it went. Even when they weren’t sick, their faces were flushed and puffy, and their noses were stopped up. Harry got over the idea that he was falling after the first hour or so. But there were retching sounds from somewhere in the cabin pretty much all the time, and unless a person kept their headphones on they couldn’t help being reminded, so he and Jolene didn’t say more than two words to each other, and neither of them could face the idea of lunch.
They both got to the bathroom and used the vacuum toilet okay, or at least Harry did. Jolene came back from there with her face set, muttering, “I’ll never do this again.”
Then the Captain’s voice said, “Folks, if you want to get a look at Star Towers, there’s a telescopic view on channel thirteen now.”
They turned it on, and saw a little white stick with a knob at both ends, slowly turning against blackness. A dumbbell, the brochures had called it, but if it was a dumbbell it would have to be twenty yards long. Something almost too thin to see was sticking out of both knobs, and there was another bulge in the middle. Then the view changed to the Earth, like a blue-and-white beachball. Then Star Towers again.
The Captain came down the aisle with a frick, frick of velcro. He was a handsome young man with a beefy jaw, and he knelt by Jolene’s couch. “Feeling better, folks?”
“I'll be glad when I get some weight back!” said Jolene. “I never thought I’d say that!”
“Why, ma’am, I wouldn’t say you needed to lose an ounce.”
“How big is this L-Five thing, anyhow?” Harry asked.
“The arm is a little over forty-seven hundred feet long, Mr. Conlon, and the two spheres are two hundred forty feet in diameter.”
“Two hundred forty? It looked a lot bigger than that in the brochures.”
“Well, in fact, it really is bigger inside than outside. They don’t call it L-Five, by the way.”
“No, why not?”
“That was the name of the place they originally thought they were going to put the habitat—one of the Lagrangian points. Later they found out this orbit was better, but the name stuck.”
“So what do you call this orbit?”
“Well, the technical term is a three-one resonant orbit, so we call it Toro. Pretty cute, huh?” He turned to Jolene. “We’ll be docking real soon, and then you’ll feel better, Miz Conlon. That’s a promise.” He grinned and fricked away down the aisle.