22. Kilgore Station

Seventh Day paid for a complete check up on Ransom's car. They performed some general maintenance, like a lube job, fuel cell flush, and a verification of the vehicle server's hard memory. Nothing should go wrong on the trip to Spaceport Canaveral.
He drove to Seventh Day headquarters and went directly to Dr Dacron's office to pick up the precious cargo. The doctor handed him a black leather bag and the gun he would be using. The doctor shook his hand. "You'll be alright. I'll be praying for you."

Ransom took the half-hour trip to the Cape. It was completely uneventful. It was Sunday, so there was no traffic. When he passed the Titusville exit on the highway, he got a little nervous and called corporate security. "Courier to base, come in."
"Yes, Officer Archer?"
"Is everything okay on your side?"
"Roger. Is everything okay with you?"
"Yeah, I was just checking. Has there been anything interesting coming off the police channels?"
"I'm sorry, Mr Archer. This transmission is heavily encrypted. However we still ask that you only call us when absolutely necessary. Just an extra precaution."
"Sorry, I'm just nervous."
"That's understandable. Over and out."

When he reached the spaceport, the first thing that the Port Canaveral Space Authority Security people did was confiscate his weapon. Ransom didn't need it anymore. The most dangerous part of his mission was already over. Once he stepped into the spaceport, his risk level went from orange to green. Port Canaveral Security was the best in the world. There had never been a major incident on a transorbital passenger flight, ever. Sure, there have been hijackings and robberies of cargo vessels. And every now and then, a satellite will be stolen right out of the sky. But the safety of tourists and workers going into orbit was virtually guaranteed.
And it's no wonder it's safe. Ransom had never seen security measures so ridiculously excessive. After putting his carry-on bag containing Beatrice, and every bit of clothing he had on on a conveyor belt, he was made to walk naked through a PET scanner. Then he waited anxiously in a cold exam. A short old male wearing blue scrubs and a badge that said "Biological Security- Port Canaveral Space Authority" entered the room. After taking a blood sample, the man swabbed every one his bodily orifices with a bio-scan wand. That's right, every orifice. He didn't even kiss him first. The bio-security guard made nervous conversation about plans to build an automaton that would do his job. He did mention that Ransom handled the violating search for bio-weapons better than most people.
After waiting for two hours on the runway, the trans-orbital jet took off. Once reaching the right altitude, the jet turned off it's hydrogen engines and switched to anti-matter fuel. After the Captain gave a warning, Ransom felt himself pushed back into his seat by the force of acceleration. When he was able to pull his head away from the headrest again, he saw that the sky outside the window had turned from blue to black.

Beatrice is more important than anything?
Yes.
More important than your life?
Yes.
More important than God?
More important than an archaic fictional character? Yes, I think so.
You were once faithful. Would you have said the same thing a year ago?
No. What a difference a year makes, right?
What would you do if you were still faithful?
What difference does it make?
If you had to choose between God and Beatrice, who would you choose?
God is supposedly the ultimate good. Why would he ask me to choose between himself and something that could help so many people?
As the ultimate good, God is by nature jealous of anything placed at higher importance than himself.

Funny, Ransom had always thought that the space city on Kilgore Station would be bigger. The vessel gates led directly to the welcome module, which was about the size of a lobby of a large hotel. The high vaulted ceilings made the room seem bigger than it really was. The ceiling was made with nano-compiled diamond-glass, which allowed him to see the starry sky without looking through miles of atmosphere.
He was unsure where to go. He hadn't virtually explored the whole of Kilgore Station, just the Seventh Day module. Ransom spotted a guy about his age, wearing the navy and silver uniform of Kilgore Station Security.
"I would love to work security at this place. How does one go about getting this job?"
The guard eyed him with skepticism. "Well, I had to apply, then I went on a waiting list for two years."
"Two years is a long wait, but it must be really cool."
"It doesn't pay enough, in my opinion."
"It's gotta pay more than I make. Hey, I'm just a medical courier. I'm a security officer too."
"Oh, I thought you were a tourist. Yeah, working here is pretty cool. The best part is that we only work three of every four weeks. I go groundside every fourth week. That works out to three months of paid leave every year."
"Three months? Sweet."
"Of course, it's a bitch having to get use to Earth gravity again every time I return." said the guard.
"Can you tell me the best way to get to The Seventh Day corporate module?"
"Sure." The officer touched a screen on the nearest wall. "Map. Now, we are right here on the edge of the right wing. There are two wings. The right wing is for tourists. All the labs and research modules are on the left wing. Seventh Day actually has two modules. One here, near the left edge. And one here, near the rotational axis. You know, the closer you get to the rotational axis, the less artificial gravity there will be. If you weighed two hundred pounds groundside, you prolly weigh about one-sixty now. Near the axis, you'll only weigh a few pounds"
"I need to go to the one near the axis."
The officer traced a path with his finger. Ransom got ready to go when he noticed a familiar face.
"Is that who I think it is?" asked Ransom.
"Yes, the famous actress and play-write from Toronto Troupe." said the guard.
"I used to work security at the General Telepresence Resort theme parks in Baseball City. I would see a lot of celebrities there sometimes. But I bet you prolly see more up here."
"Oh yeah, see that dark-skinned guy in the really nice suit over there surrounded by guards, President of Pakistan. And see that tall woman and two men standing together in the corner. Those are Governor Thompson's children. They brought their families here for the week."
"Wow."
"I've seen so many famous people, it's nothing to me. However, one thing I will never get tired of seeing, is this." The officer pointed at the ceiling.
Ransom looked through the clear panels, and saw it. Everything he had ever seen and known, moving above him. Blocking out the black void of space with blue green life. All he could do was stare.

If God came to you and asked you to throw away Beatrice, to sacrifice it as if it didn't matter, would you do it?
Does God actually agree with the anti-abortion terrorists? Is he on their side?
God is on everyone's side.
Why would God ask me to throw away something so important. Something that can help people?
The Lord works in mysterious ways. You are just a man. You can't see the contours of God's future plan. Do you have absolutely no faith?
How can I be sure of anything? What does it matter?
What if something terrible happens as a result of your disobedience? Some dark evil thing that reeks of despair?
Then I'll just seek forgiveness afterward. Isn't that the way God works?
God wants obedience above sacrifice. He wants you to do what is right, right now. Once an evil is done, it can never be un-done. Yes, God will forgive, but the damage will still exist. And besides, you can never find God's grace unless you first make the decision to obey.
Why can't I act?! Why am I doing this? Why can't I ignore my fears and doubts? Is this God? Why are you doing this to me God? Why are you ruining my life? Why are you taking away the one good thing I have going?
So this is about you?
I've tried to be a good person. All my life, i've tried to do the right thing. I've tried to put others before myself. Has it done me any good? Have I made a difference in the life of anyone? Am I completely irrelevant in this spec of life in a cold impersonal universe?
How can you put anyone before yourself if you can't put God before yourself?
I am not a bad person.
If you had to choose between yourself and God, who would you choose?

The modules of the space city were connected with tube-like bridges. Ransom was bounding down the last bridge before he got to his destination. There was very little artificial gravity. His strides were about five yards long. He was going to enjoy spending the night here. He literally felt like a kid again.
He reached a door to the module with a placard bearing the Seventh Day symbol. He was immediately noticed.
"Yes?" said a disembodied voice.
"Courier."
"Name?"
"Ransom Archer."
"One moment." The hermetically sealed door opened. He stepped forward. As the door closed behind him, a voice told him to prepare for depressurization. For structural reasons, the bridges of the space city are kept at higher pressure than the modules.
Ransom waited patiently as his ears popped . As he was waiting, he saw a reminder of CenFlo crawling up the wall. It was a palmetto bug, a big cockroach. Ransom laughed. He remembers reading in the literature that there aren't supposed to be any insects anywhere in Kilgore Station. He guessed that nature must have found a way.
Ransom looked at the bug and noticed that it looked quite phony, like it was made of plastic. He saw that it was some sort of tiny automaton. The robot bug crawled towards a little black dot in the wall. The dot was the size of a period. It was prolly a sensor or an embedded camera of some sort. When the bug reached the sensor, a bright white electric arc closed the gap between the sensor and the bug's head. There was a crackling noise and a burnt smell.
Ransom was confused at first until he realized that he had seen this before. It was one of those technology links Data had posted at The Superhuman League. A Brazilian defense contractor made these tiny automatons that would seek out the "eyes" of a security server, the cameras and sensors that are too small and numerous for a human to find. Then it would disable the sensors, making the security server blind. They had many military applications, like espionage. Criminals could use them too.
Something was wrong, thought Ransom. Something was very wrong. He had to contact Kilgore Security...

BOOM!!!!!!!