Transmigrant - Chapter 11
Copyright © 2024 Stephen B. Anthony
It is not lost on me that I’ve made the galaxy’s most astonishing discovery, but I have no one to share it with, all because I was selfish. All because my career was more important than my wife. I guess sometimes you don’t realize until you are older what truly matters.
—Alain Bradford
CHAPTER 11
From Earth, Adamastor appeared as the brightest star in the constellation Mensa in the southern celestial hemisphere. It had the characteristics of a G-type main-sequence star, being slightly smaller than Sol at around ninety-five percent in size, with lower luminosity and temperature. The Meridian, a generation ship, had taken just over one hundred sixty-six years to deliver six thousand colonists to the Adamastor system.
The star had five planets. Helios, a hot, tidally locked terrestrial planet, orbited closest to the star. Pyrion, another hot terrestrial planet, was slightly more distant. Tempus, an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone, orbited at nine-tenths of an astronomical unit from the star. Further out were the gas giants, Rombus and Anath.
Tempus was the target planet for the colonists. Despite its Earth-like qualities, excessive sulfur dioxide and chlorine gas levels in the atmosphere made it uninhabitable. Niruku scientists required twenty more years to mature the planet’s microbial capabilities and create a working biosphere.
The jump gate, Adamastor-1, built fifty years ago, remained unpublished in galactic coordinates, as immigration was not yet open to the rest of humanity. The Meridian’s birthing lab had stopped working ten years before arrival, and the last colonist had died off twenty-six years ago.
Niruku employees now occupied the system, extracting valuable resources before turning it over to the Galactic Congress. Alain Bradford had spent the last twelve years in the Adamastor system, designated as a Niruku employee, but considering himself working for humanity. He relished the solitude but missed his ex-wife, Janet, realizing a year ago that leaving her was his biggest mistake.
Six months ago, he had reached out to her to apologize. Over the last few months, they had rekindled something he’d long thought lost, making plans to reunite in Chicago. Then, two weeks ago, he discovered the pod, changing everything.
Alain sat in a windowless room at Mossley Landing, Niruku’s headquarters, facing Tim Scott, the station security chief. “Look,” Alain said. “I’ve already explained my position. If I found something, and I’m not agreeing that I did, but for the sake of argument, let’s say I did. It is mine by rights.”
“You know that everything you discover or invent, because of your employment agreement, belongs to Niruku Advanced Systems, right?” Tim asked.
“Everything that I discover or produce while working is,” Alain said. “Things I discover or produce on my time are my own.”
“You’re a salaried employee,” Tim said. “You are responsible to the corporation at all times.”
“Well, we can argue about that in court,” Alain said. “I think you’ll find a well-established legal history that disagrees with you.”
“You’re talking about case law that is part of the galactic congressional worlds,” Tim said, pausing at the end.
“What’s your point?” Alain asked.
“This system is not under the authority of the galactic congress. It belongs to Niruku.”
“I still have rights,” Alain said.
“Yes, you have whatever rights are accorded to you, as stated in your employment contract,” Tim said. “Galactic congressional law does not apply here.”
“You folks have said that already,” Alain said. “I disagree.”
“Why are you being such an ass?” Tim asked. “I’ve never known you to be difficult.”
“I just need to protect my interests,” Alain said.
“So, you admit you found something,” Tim said. “Just as you said in your message to Janet.”
Alain eyed him coldly. “You can just leave Janet out of this,” he said.
“I would if I could,” Tim said, “But you are the one who brought her into this by divulging company secrets to her.”
“I did no such thing,” Alain said. “That argument presupposes that what I may or may not have found was a secret that belonged to the company. I do not concede that. If I have a secret, then that secret is mine to keep. Niruku does not own my mind.”
“Niruku owns everything in this system until we turn it over to the galactic congress for immigration,” Tim said.