Wake Me When We Get There

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From: Franke Fischer
To: Derek Larwood
Date: August 15th 2042
Attachment: UnDoIt Recovery file #B-10374-NXZ-06
RE: Hydrostasis article
 
Derek,
I had to run UnDoIt to find this article. I’m guessing Kovak didn’t want their name in the spotlight? It was wiped from the Mambo registry entirely. Well, not entirely…
Let me know if you need more,
Franke
 
Science Weekly
Friday November 2nd, 2035
 
Wake Me When We Get There
Report from Lance Overmars, ESA correspondent, Kourou Spaceport
 
With next month’s launch of the ESA’s Red Alpha manned mission to Mars, we take a look at the unexpected investors backing the historic flight to our celestial neighbor. Red Alpha is scheduled to take flight on December 13th. Just a few weeks from now, the long journey to Mars will begin with a nerve-racking countdown from Mission Control, here at the Kourou Spaceport. Next, there will be a thunderous roar as the Phoenix Engines ignite their 400,000 kg payload of LOX and RP-2 fuel to send Red Alpha screaming up and out of the atmosphere. Finally, a riotous round of applause will be heard from mission control and the viewing gallery. At least, that’s what the ESA hopes will happen, and their recent track record suggests this launch will be as routine as their previous 14 missions, all of which have been executed without a hitch. They’re getting pretty good at it.The only major difference (apart from the significance of the first manned flight to our scarlet brother) will be who is watching the proceedings. The standard dignitaries will be there of course, and many of the 2,000 ESA support staff not working at Mission Control will have a front row seat; but there will be two surprising guests observing proceedings from Flight Control.

One is Janson Davies, CTO of Dreyfus Industries. Perhaps that is not so surprising given that Dreyfus seem to have a hand in everything these days (and Davies himself is a known space fanatic). Next to him, a seat has been reserved for a representative from Kovak Defense Services. Yes, that Kovak Defense Services, the company that offers dubiously dubbed “security services” for over 150 of the Fortune 500 companies and several less-than-democratic governments. KDS also run multiple correctional facilities across the globe, including the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil. Their detention methods are frowned upon by lawmakers in the European Union, but despite the distaste many Brussels politicians have for KDS, they will have a seat at the launch party. They’ll insist on it, in fact, and no one at the ESA is going to argue with the people writing the checks. It is a BIG check.The crew of Red Alpha will be asleep for much of the 4-month journey to Mars, thanks to the new Hydrostasis Hibernation Chambers on board. This breakthrough technology has been funded almost entirely by Dreyfus Industries and KDS. Plenty of rumors abound regarding the reason for —

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