Melbourne walked through a crowd in formal attire down a wide causeway extending from the airport where various holographic projectors airport where various holographic projectors showed advertisements to travelers coming to and from. It was early afternoon and he had just come back from the five star hotel he had been treated to courtesy of the voucher that Avian Venmonik had given him back in Lambdanville.
"Traveling back home to the outer worlds? Don't leave without a souvenir. Visit our local Greninham Gardens Store today in downtown Olympia to get one of many plants grown in the fresh air of the Martian wilderness itself. These plants are unique in that they are descendants of genetic clones of actual wild fruits from the Earth. From tropical fruits to arctic berries, we have it all. Enjoy the novelty of tiny strawberries and wild serviceberries in the comfort of your own home back on the Jovian Moons or the asteroids as you impress all your friends. Come to Greninham Gardens on 4310 Main Street today, just a free ten minute airbus ride from the airport and space elevator."
Melbourne looked at a building not far from the airport and just as close to the imposing black pyramid known as The House of the Republic to see a citadel. Extending above were a few carbon nanotube tethers connected to a space station in Low Martian Orbit. A few large elevator cabins could be seen in various stages of ascent and descent, apparently floating in midair from the view of the naked eye. Melbourne and everyone else knew this was the space elevator station. There were several such stations along the equatorial region of Mars. Somehow, they had managed to create one in Olympia, which was pretty far north of the equator. He wasn't sure exactly how they had managed to do it as he had never really researched the topic on the exonet, but for now he just accepted it as it was.
Another advertisement by Arian Horizons played.
"From exploration to space mining and prospecting, Arian Horizons has been the go-to spacefaring company for Martian clients including government agents for over a century now! Come visit our HQ museum today. Owning six blocks of downtown Olympia, our museum building is located on 304 North 2nd Street. Visit us in Downtown Olympia today."
"We interrupt your advertisement for a breaking news report." announced a news anchor as a news flash appeared. "We have news from the front lines of the Jovian Reconquista War. After retaking Io only three months ago and Europa a few months before that, the Ganymedian Kingdom has successfully conquered the moon of Callisto. The president of the Callistan Republic officially declared his surrender to King Janerio VII of Ganymede at 0900 hours Standard Sol Time on this day, June 1st, 2410."
The video changed to an image of the now former president of Callisto, President Vannek.
"It is a shame and a travesty, but I must admit defeat to the superior military might of Ganymede." said Vannek. "Today is a sad day for democracy. All the free nations of the Jovian moons will weep this day."
The camera panned to an even more well known face, the face of an old man with a goatee wearing royal robes. This was the monarch of Ganymede, King Janerio VII.
"Today is an historic day!" announced King Janerio with pride. "The might of Ganymede reigns supreme over the Galilean Moons. May all the Jovian Moons rejoice and surrender, for order shall come at last to your lands. On this day, Jovania is no longer the seat of a mere kingdom, for it's name represents the manifest destiny of our great empire to hold all of Jupiter in our warm embrace. Today, I welcome all the good citizens of Callisto into the newly established Jovian Empire! Welcome, good people! You now pay fealty to your newly named Emperor Galeion I, as I shall henceforth be known. The Reconquista shall continue and all of the minor moons of Jupiter shall soon be ours! No this, Sol, and especially the Martian Republic. Jupiter is now as one nation and one mind. We are a force to be reckoned with and our empire shall reign forever more."
Various boos echoed audibly throughout the streets. It was known that the Ganymedian Kingdom would win the war, but it was still disappointing.
The screen changed back to the news anchor.
"Cancellor Varato of Mars has yet to give any remarks to this latest conquest, though he has historically denounced the Ganymedian Kingdom for their 'rampant imperialism'. He has promised to place trade sanctions against Ganymede if this incident occurred with Callisto. We will try to keep you updated on events. In other news, migrations by settlers from Jupiter to Saturn and the yet unsettled moons of Neptune have increased in frequency in response to this development."
Melbourne stopped listening as soon as he caught his aero-bus at the balcony his smartwatch guided him to based on Avian's instructions. The bus would take him straight to the Arian Horizon's HQ.
Melbourne was let off at the balcony of the HQ, where he walked across a causeway towards the corporate office building. As he walked in, a security guard in black riot armor walked up to him.
"Stop, sir. What is your name and what is your business with Arian Horizons?"
"My name is Melbourne Acliate. I have been instructed by Avian to report here for a summer internship job that was offered to me upon my graduation from high school in Lambdanville a week ago.
The security guard frowned in a trained manner designed to make people feel uneasy as his smartwatch projected a tablet with various lists visible only to him. After he touched various screens and inputted a few passwords, he finally found what he was looking for.
"Ah, Mr. Acliate. Welcome. Please proceed back to the elevator and go to floor 4,321. After that, proceed to room 10 on that floor. Mr. Venmonik will be waiting for you there."
***
"Ah, Mr. Acliate!" exclaimed Avian pleasantly. "How very nice to see you again! I'm glad you made it! Sit down! Sit down. Grab some licorice. Have you ever had licorice, by the way?"
"Thank you for the opportunity." said Melbourne, shaking Avian's hand formally before accepting a piece of licorice.
"Great." said Avian, smiling in typical corporate fashion. "Now, down to business. Like I said, you will be responsible for developing autonomous ship probing systems en route based on data that will be gradually revealed by the ship's telescopes. Now, before I tell you any more, I need you to sign certain confidentiality agreements. The nature of this contract is classified and to be kept between the Martian government and Arian Horizons as well as those on our payroll who are involved in the mission."
Melbourne signed the agreements after skimming over them.
"Excellent." said Avian before his voice took on a deeper gravity. "Now, what I didn't tell you before that I may now tell you is that the derelict ship that was discovered is believed to be a Cosmist vessel. As you know, such things are not normally spoken about lightly and any Cosmist tech found is designated as a threat to national security. The mission is, on it's face, a mission of exploration and archaeology. Indeed, we do want to obtain as much information about the artifact as possible. However, that information is not to be ever disclosed to the public. The real mission is to acquire as much information about the artifact as possible before destroying all evidence."
[New Mission: Ancient Knowledge
*Explore the Cosmist ship
*Find a cerebral interface and interact without being detected to acquire potential information about Cosmist cybernetic technology.
*Reward: Unknown]
"Interesting." said Melbourne, responding to both Avian and his System prompt at the same time. "That's pretty exciting for a summer internship and it is most interesting that you would trust an intern with such a responsibility."
"Incidents like these happen a lot more than you think." explained Avian. "There are a lot more derelicts of this nature popping up than you think. It's a nightmare for the Martian Republic to contain these artifacts so that they are never obtained by some rebel faction that seeks to upgrade themselves with illegal cybernetics."
"I bet." said Melbourne, nearly imperceptible irony in his voice. "I heard a cosmist artifact was recently discovered that crash landed just south of my town the night after you offered me that internship."
"I think I heard about that." said Avian casually. "That type of incident is far rarer than this variety. Now, tonight you will stay at our space hotel and tomorrow you will be escorted to the archaeology ship where your internship will begin. I hope you have a good night. Proceed to the space elevator as soon as you leave this place and go to receive your room. You may participate in a number of zero gravity sports in the central hub of the Martian Gateway Station if you like. I presume, based on your background, that you haven't gotten much of an opportunity for things like this before."
***
Shortly after Melbourne left, a woman walked in with red hair and dark skin.
"Please state your name and business with Arian Horizons." said the security guard routinely.
"My name is Kaitlyn Young." lied the woman. "I've been selected as the onboard comms maintenance technician replacement. It was a last minute staffing update."
The security guard looked through his list and found the name and matching face.
"Alright, go on in. Proceed to the elevator and go to floor 4,321. You will go to room 10. Avian Venmonik will be waiting for you."
"Thank you." said the woman smiling as she proceeded on as though she belonged here.
Her superiors had successfully gotten her into the mission and Arian Horizons was unaware of the hacking right under their noses.