(Originally written and published under the pen-name
Augustus Devilheart)
Cover Art: Graham TG at deviantART
Jacqui In Space
License Notes
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Jacqui In Space
Disclaimer
This book is a work of fiction. While some of the place names are real, characters are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Jacqui In Space
Dedicated to those who explore the world and themselves.
'There is only one journey. Going inside yourself.'
Rainer Maria Rilke
Contents
Chapter 1—The Explorer
Chapter 2—Another World
Chapter 3—A House
Chapter 4—Rescued
Chapter 5—A New Home
The End
About The Author
Also by Paul Whybrow
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Short Stories
Song Lyrics
Poetry
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Jacqui in Space
Paul Whybrow
Chapter 1—The Explorer
Jacqui throttled back, bringing Enfield to a gentle halt beside an oxygen-pod. The atmosphere on this sector of Mars was a little thin, though the landscape reminded her of the Australian Outback.
Swinging her weighted boot over the saddle to stand alongside her steed was an acquired knack. It helped to lean onto her right boot, before jumping sideways to the left, raising the right thigh off the seat and sweeping her foot over Enfield's tail-light. Gravity was about 40% of what it had been on Earth, so movement had to be counter-weighted. Enfield was quite skittish at times.
There was a portable solar-charged-power-pack alongside the oxygen-pod, so Jacqui plugged Enfield in for a useful booster-shot, while she replenished her own air-supply. She missed the steady thump of her motorcycle's old 500cc single cylinder petrol engine, which was now in a space-museum. The electric motor was efficient, with great torque, but lacked charm.
Petrol ran out on Earth a hundred years ago, and after dense smog-clouds covered the planet, it was decided to never rely on fossil-fuels again. The smog caused massive deforestation and crop-failure. The polar ice-caps were no more, and rising sea-levels swamped coastal towns, while most islands were submerged. Millions died of starvation, and plague returned killing millions more. The wildlife was extinct in its natural habitat, with only a few examples of each species preserved in zoos.
Funds were pumped into developing Cryonics, space-stations and green fuel solutions. All remaining fossil-fuel was requisitioned by the World Space League to fuel their rockets, until hydrogen fuel-cell power was refined.
The toughest decisions had to be made as to who was going to leave Earth and who was going to stay. It wasn't simply a case of abandoning the planet and its remaining population. Biodomes were constructed, and nuclear bunkers converted for permanent residential use. Some people returned to the caves. Others took to houseboat communities.
Those chosen for colonisation of off-world planets needed to satisfy several key factors. Good health was important of course, as were skills and breeding capability. Just as vital was attitude. Those who'd proven themselves by surviving adversity were valued. The selected were euthanized and cryonically frozen—a resource of humanity to be reactivated when the time was right.
Jacqui had health-care skills and was a renowned traveller on her motorcycle—her can-do enthusiasm and the wisdom gained with age were essential to motivate and inspire settlers on new planets. She was thawed, given a health-check and basic training before being put into hyper-sleep in a stasis tank to make the eight month journey to Mars.
Already an example to explorers on Earth, Jacqui was being used by the publicity machine for colonisation of other worlds as an icon of indomitable hope. She knew this, and accepted her status with the same fatalism she always approached change. Being 'famous' didn't alter the work that she was required to do on the ground, most of which was tedious and a hard slog with no glamour involved at all.