Aboard Hamilton Station, Part 5

Visitors to Hamilton weren't uncommon, but people still tended to get excited when word of a docking shuttle made the rounds. More often than not it was just a crew making a pit stop, looking to stretch their legs before they continued on to one of the stations above Venus or Mercury, or refueling before they continued the flight home to Earth or Mars. None of them stayed for longer than a few days. It wasn't like there was a lot to do aboard Hamilton, but at least we had a few recreational facilities that made their stay a little less dull. The cantina was a pretty standard bar and lounge. They had a decent selection, places to sit, music, and some synced lights so your senses could remain engaged as you pounded back drinks. We even managed to get a live band once, some classic rock cover group that were in the middle of some kind of station-tour. I can never remember their name, but it was a welcome distraction.

HabEn had gotten the alert about a shuttle coming in from Earth the day before it was scheduled to dock. It was more of a formality than anything else. A handful of people wasn't enough to put any kind of strain on our systems. It would take a full HabPod worth of additional bodies before we would have to start making adjustments. Still, news of a shuttle making a direct flight from Earth to Hamilton got me curious. I knew that this had to do with the stone. Everything had to do with it recently. It got brought up in our morning reports, I overheard people talking about it in the halls, the entire HabEn department was complaining about it daily, and Gus had told me that it had become a real point of contention for Security. They had started cutting down the length of guard shifts around R&D because the officers were getting antsy. Restless.

Speaking of R&D, I hadn't seen any of the scientists from their department ever since they had brought the stone in. From what I had heard they were pulling all-nighters to try and glean any bit of information they could from it, but part of me wondered how much of that was scientific curiosity and how much of it was being mandated by Administration. Cynthia hadn't spoken to me much since our exchange regarding the station's power levels. Even worse, she had canceled the upcoming Safety Council meeting where I had hoped to air my concerns a bit more publicly. After checking the shuttle schedule, it became obvious why. It was supposed to dock on the same day as the meeting. It had to be carrying someone important, right? Maybe it was bringing a team to move the rock somewhere with a more extensive research facility. Maybe not. At this point in my career I had gotten pretty good at identifying wishful thinking.

                            

"Vee! Hey, I was just about to- excuse me- just about to call you!" Bhatia was trying his best to get to me quickly in a crowded walkway, tablet in hand and an urgent expression on his face. He looked tired. Everyone in HabEn did these days. "I have to show you something, here."

I took the tablet and braced myself for the worst. More bad news that I could nothing about, no doubt. The charts he had displayed were concerning, routine power spikes from R&D that were increasing in magnitude. They were almost consuming as much power as three other departments combined, and if the trend continued they would be trying to draw more power than the station had on-hand. Even with the solar banks and the emergency fuel cells going, Hamilton would be a floating brick if this went on much longer.

"Christ, how are we supposed to manage this?" I muttered, swiping through reports. "So the spikes started picking up in intensity-"

"After the shuttle dropped off those new researchers, yes." Bhatia sounded breathless. I was very familiar with the amount of stress he was under. "They brought cases of new equipment, Vee, high-end stuff that we just can't compensate for. We have to-"

"I'll talk to them," I said, handing the tablet back. "Not to Cynthia, and to not anyone in Admin. I'll go to R&D and talk to them directly. Maybe a little face-to-face with the people they're throwing under the bus can convince them to dial it back to 'dangerous' levels and not 'station-ruining' like they seem so fucking keen on reaching."

"They won't let you in, Vee," Bhatia said with a tinge of concern in his voice. "Security isn't allowing anyone not directly participating-"

"I know! I know. Look I'll..." I trailed off, unsure of what my plan actually was. "I'll be convincing. Maybe I'll get loud."

Maybe they'll throw me in the brig.