Deep Space Adventures - 13. DSA Chapter 13

A short time later, we all boarded the helicopter, for the very short flight across the harbour, and we landed on the parking apron to the side of the former airfield, and moments later the URP shuttle landed on the landing bay. “By the way, we are having some work commencing shortly, to make this a proper Spaceport terminal, for all URP space craft to land on. Building material has already been sent to New Zealand, and the construction of the building modules, that will create the two-level terminal is nearly completed, and will be shipped over to here while you are away on your holidays,” the Ambassador announced.

“Why were we not informed about this from Ganymede, Lucas?” my mother asked, sounding a little annoyed, “Because Ma’am, it is to be a surprise for you from the Emperor,” Lucas replied. “Oh, ok, I guess that is alright then, but I still would have liked to have had some input into the matter,” my mum responded as the Ambassador said farewell, wished us a happy holiday, and he walked over to the shuttle and entered.

When the shuttle was just going out of visual range to the North-East of us, we heard another space craft approaching, but this one is far bigger than the standard two deck URP shuttle, as it slowly came down over the airport, and landed softly on the landing bay.

We all stared at the huge space craft, which looks to be about 8 decks high, and it was cover most of the area of the landing bay, so I estimated it to be nearly 700 metres long and a bit over 100 metres wide, but that was just a guess, as we watched as a wide side door open and stairs were lowered.

We were all very surprised to see our grandfather, Dr Marten Lenegan appear at the doorway, before coming down the stairs to greet us. “Hello son, how are you keeping? I hear you have had a little bit of drama today?” our grandfather asked our father, “Yes Dad, the second kidnapping attempt this fortnight, and that is why we asked for a transport to collect us,” Dad replied, as they shook hands.

“Hello Nahtliya, my how beautiful you are each time I see you,” our grandfather said to our mum, “Hello Marten, this is a nice surprise to see you, maybe you can fill us in on what this new space vessel is about?” our mum said to grandfather, who smiled.

“So, Ambassador Lenegan said nothing about it?” our grandfather asked, and both of our parents shook their heads no. “Hello grandsons, how you have grown since I last seen you, and this must be the protector,” Grandfather said to us. “Yes Grandfather, this is my protector, Isaac Ottremyn,” I said making the introduction, and this caught my grandfather’s attention.

“Any relation to…” my grandfather began to ask before Isaac interrupted, “Yes My Lord, he was my father, he passed away a few years back, so it is just my mother and little brother and I now, and they live at the capital,” Isaac responded.

“I see, I will make a point of going to see her when I get back to Ganymede, I had enjoyed many meals with your parents when we were on the homeworld,” Grandfather said, as he gave Isaac a friendly pat on the shoulder. “I am sure she would look forward to proving you with another enjoyable meal, my Lord,” Isaac said, as he gave a slight bow of the head.

“So, grandfather, can you tell us a bit more about this monster ship that you arrived in?” Toby asked, and Grandfather chuckled at his enthusiastic enquiry, “I can do just that, she has been built for a very special purpose, I introduce to you the Star Cruiser – Galileo, designed as the very first luxury cruiser for holidays into space,” Grandfather announced.

“We better get moving so we don’t cause to many air traffic problems,” Mum suggested to her father-in-law, “Quite right dear, let’s all get onboard and we can get started on your holiday,” Grandfather said as he turned and led the way back on board. As we entered the Star Cruiser for the first time, we were met by 6 armed guards, who snapped to attention as we entered.

“Do you have anything to declare family?” Grandfather asked us all, and we all responded no, before we passed through a security scanner, and our luggage went through a similar system that most airports around the world have, to check the inside of all luggage. “As you see, everyone has to pass through security, before they can get any further inside, and if anyone attempts to force their way through, then the whole ship goes into security lock down, until whatever the threat is had be neutralised. This way please,” our grandfather announced, as he led the way through a set of heavy-duty doors, that brought us into a large foyer, with stairs and elevators.

“The Galileo is 120 metres wide, 650 metres long, 34 metres and 10 decks high, she has a total of 91 permanent crew plus a team of 24 entertainers, who are on rotation. This ship is just like one of those ocean cruise ships that are a plenty of on Earth now, and there are a total 198 guest cabins split over five decks, and does not include the 6 Royal suites, that are reserved for URP and Sahndrol dignitaries, including this family, plus two staff cabins.

We have 28 VIP guest suites, 28 Executive Suites, 102 standard cabins and 40 economy cabins, so we can accommodate a total of 396 guests in total, and while you are enjoying your holiday on board, we will be starting to promote the new space holidays, for starters, to every major television station in the 23 countries of North and Central America, 24 countries of Western Europe, 11 countries of South-East Asia and 14 Oceania Countries.

Once a few trips from these countries have been completed, then we will consider expanding the advertising to other countries on Earth,” Grandfather announced to us, as elevator took us upwards, and stopped on deck 3. “Isn’t that a bit bias to be only selecting the richer countries in the world?” my father asked.

“It may seem that way, and in a way it is true, but considering that the cost of an economy ticket for a three day cruise into space, from Earth to Mars and return, will cost $1420 a day per cabin in Economy, and $1960 a day per cabin for a Standard Cabin, I think that it will be out of the price range of many of Earth’s citizens,” Grandfather replied.

“Have you already made the promotion advertisement yet? Mum asked, “Yes, we have actually, we did it while travelling here from Ganymede, including doing orbits around Jupiter, Mars, the Moon and Earth, and we will show it to you all once you have settled into your suites and had a good look around,” our grandfather replied.

“Grandfather, I am surprised that it doesn’t have more guest cabins, considering the size of the Space Vessel,” I commented, “That is because we concentrated on providing very comfortable guest cabins and crew cabins, plus plenty of recreation space, entertainment facilities and sports centre,” Grandfather replied.

When we stepped out of the elevator on level one, we stepped into a lavish lounge area, and we didn’t have to walk far to get to our suites, and I was very impressed with how nice they are. Isaac was allocated once of the staff cabins, and he thought that his cabin was just as good as the suites, even thou they are a lot smaller.

“When you have finished exploring the ship, you will find me in the VIP Lounge, on deck two, section F1” our grandfather said, before leaving us to settle in. We had no idea what he meant by section F1, but during the next two hours, we eventually worked it out, as Sam, Isaac and I carefully explored the whole ship, with the first letter, F meaning forward, C meaning centre and A meaning aft, and the numbers 1, 2 & 3 being the three areas, with the 1 at the front and 3 at the back of each section.

As we sat down for a late lunch, in one of three cafés located on the Serenity Promenade, on deck three, a large screen television come to life, with our grandfather stepping into the picture. “Welcome to the Space Cruiser Galileo, the first every space cruise ship that will take passengers on a lifetime three-day journey, from Earth to Mars and return. My name is Lord Martin Lenegan, one of the original crew members of the Deep Space Mission, onboard the Star Explorer, more than fifteen years ago.

It is my privilege to give you a tour of our facilities on board the Star Cruiser Galileo, which will be doing regular holiday tours… as you see like the Ocean cruisers on Earth, it has all of the luxury accommodations, entertainment and recreation facilities, to keep you busy for the journey… we hope that you have enjoyed this tour of the Galileo, and that one day you will book a holiday with us soon. The website is galileospace.com, where you have all the information that you need, to consider a space holiday with us,” the promotion said.

“So, what do you think?” our grandfather asked us, “It is very well done, and I think it won’t be long before we get booked out for months,” our mother replied. “Do the holidays fees cover the costs of running these holiday tours?” our Dad asked.

“Yes, only just, we don’t want to be charging too much, or we won’t get any passengers at all, as I mentioned earlier, the costs for a three-day cruise to Mars and back, is $1420 a day per cabin in Economy, $1960 a day per cabin for a Standard Cabin, plus $4380 per day for an Executive suite, and $5740 per day, for a VIP Suite,” our grandfather replied.

“Which is just from $4,200 to 17,200 per Cruise,” our father stated, “Yes, that is correct,” grandfather replied, “Wow, that is a lot of money to spend, for just three days,” I commented, and I saw Isaac nod his head in agreement. “Yes, it is, but it is probably the one and only time that the passengers will get to go into space, Grandfather responded.