Vanguard Of The Mutants

4: Home Among The Stars

There is a rather large picture at the end here. This chapter is not as long as it seems.

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The Vellamun's crew shed a million tears upon launch. But the next morning, their world among the stars already looked much brighter.

They spent almost the entire day preparing the Vellamun's food producing facilities. Vertical zero gravity gardens in the front section used for growing grain which Tacitus would harvest automatically and store for many years. Several small protein synthesizers, most of them used for growing chicken meat, beef, pork and even reindeer meat. One, however, had been designed specifically for synthesizing blood for medical emergencies and, as a result, could also make milk and eggs.

But most of the Vellamun's food would be produced in the aquaponic facilities. A huge aquarium contained in the walls and floors of the habitat ring, connected with floating and hanging gardens for all sorts of plants.

Pomatoes, rice, numerous types of vegetables and berries, a few hundred spices and medicinal herbs, coffee and even a cacao tree, genetically engineered to be smaller and more productive, allowing the crew to make their own chocolate. The aquarium below these gardens had yet to be filled with all sorts of fish, crabs, lobsters and mussels.

Almost everything here had been genetically engineered to some extent. The shellfish had been modified for better taste and the fish were all female so they would also produce caviar. Some of the plants, however, had even been genetically engineered from the ground up.

Mushrooms producing antibiotics. Nuts facilitating lucid dreaming if food was spiced with them. Even flowers, producing an aphrodisiac which doubled as a contraceptive. Although the crew did not need this one, since they had adjustable birth control implants. Thus, they kept the seeds in storage and used the space for something else instead.

With so many different plants and animals soon to grow in the habitat ring's limited space the biodiversity relative to the area of the habitat ring would soon grow to rival the tropical rain forests of Earth. A paradise for plant lovers like Valentina. She had told everyone where to put all the plants, always leaving space for Funi's and Vini's tiny little tree houses.

After all, the Apuas had an important job in these gardens. They would eat the leaves and make space for fruit as long as the little fuzz balls and the crew needed it. Once they went to cryosleep, the plants could keep their leaves. This reduced their productivity to almost zero, but increased their life expectancy by orders of magnitude.

All this had been set up and only needed time to grow. Now, the crew set up their living area, which made up less than a fifth of the entire habitat ring. Everything else had to be dedicated to aquaponics.

Setanto walked through the Vellamun's front section, holding onto the padded walls with velcro socks while carrying a massive crate through zero gravity. Funi sat on top of his head, stretching out her tiny little paws to try and grab everything in reach.

Soon, he arrived at the entrance point to the habitat ring. A rotating section in the otherwise fixed corridor connecting the forward and rear modules. He stepped in, velcro socks holding onto the carpet floor. Now it seemed as if everything around him spun. Funi, still clawed to his head, stretched out her little paws as if riding a roller coaster.

Setanto went down one of the two staircases leading out into the habitat ring. A red carpet floor indicated, this one went to the living quarters, as opposed to the one with the green carpet, leading to the aquaponics. Slowly, artificial gravity started to grip him as he went down the stairs. The crate in his hands became heavier and heavier until it felt as if he carried a baby elephant.