Just a little bit of blue R1.5

1.5 - Coriolis

Sitting in his penthouse balcony while watching the mining barge dock in the distance, always made his mind wonder about the incredible crystaline strength of the amorphous carbon glass that the dome separating him from outer space was made of. Simultaneously, the other half of his brain calculated how many Drachmas richer would the Lythium and Silver ores contained in the barge's hold make him. Demetrius Corba was a true master of the Universe. Sole heir to a grandfather that had pioneered asteroid mining in the belt and had been one of the main backers of the construction of Coriolis Station, he was über-rich. Part space city, part refinery, part travel hub and military outpost, the structure where he lives is positioned half way between the Earth and Jupiter and marks the metaphysical border between the inner and the outer Sol System. Per agreement between all the planetary governments, it is both a free trade area and a safe haven for diplomatic relations. For people like Demetrius and the other galactic scale tycoons, it is an harbour for money stashing and concealing activities that would be considered reproachable in most of the planets and moons that are now used by the Human Species.

(Image: SciTech Daily)

Tasting another sip of the first batch of 40 year old Martian Whiskey from his family's distillery, he appreciated the slightly allucinogenic feeling produced by the drink, made out of martian barley and the inevitable Claviceps fungus that the particular planetary atmosphere helped become a super organism. Due to this quirk of nature, you can't eat any of the barley from the red planet, but you can drink it. And, when you do, it's in the form of this highly intoxicating beverage that, everywhere, except for Coriolis and the asteroid mining colonies, is illegal to possess or distribute. Heavy drinkers of the stuff have been know to have visions of extraordinary worlds and, at times, to have deep insights into the shape of things to come. Demetrius blames past moments of intoxication for some of his best business decisions, but he knows this liquor is dangerous and has led many abusers to extreme instances of psychosis and some even into irrevocable comatosys.

In the center of the circle that makes the rooftop balcony, an holographic trio of belly dancers ondulated to an old turkish folk music, the smoke from his cigarrette forming ghostly shadows through them, turning the colourful yellows and purples of the girls revealing outfits into blueish shades of grey. A buzzer sounded, - connect - Demetrius instructed, out loud. The dancers dissolved into silhouettes and were replaced by Dr. Steven Woo, the scientific genius that ran Corba Emporium's R&D Division. - Good morning, Mr. Corba, how are you today?- Feeling great, Steve. What's up? - Well... There's the matter of patient zero... - Demetrius closed his eyes, as trying to remember. -Who the heck is that?- The subject we used for the vaccine development... Err...- Oh! You mean the sanitizer we bought from the Billies?- He paused for a bit, again looking in the distance towards the unloading mining ship. - Mr. Corba? - insisted the scientist.- Flush him out.- Flush him out?- Yes, flush him out of an airlock. You can do that, can't you?- ordering the holodeck to disconet the call while Woo was halfway to saying yes. The belly dancers, and then the music, returned to the center of the room. Demetrius took another drag out of his cigarrete and fixed his eyes on the suggesting cleavage of the holographic dancer that was nearest to him.

-To be continued

28.01.25 - @hefestus

To find the other parts: https://steemit.com/created/justalittlebitofblue

Disclaimer:
"Just a little bit of blue" is a work of fiction. Every event, character, planet, continent, country, city, street, building, corporation, institution and product mentioned in this work is totally fictitious and has absolutely no relation to reality or real events, persons, planets, continents, countries, cities, streets, buildings, corporations or institutions. Everything is derived from the author's own imagination and no AI products were involved in the planning, writing or revision of this work. Additionally, the story happens in the future, in a time that has not yet come, so, any considerations about the possibility of the occurrence of facts or release of products mentioned herein, in the years to come, are due to mere coincidence and in no way derive from the author's inside or 3rd party knowledge of any country, organization or person's plans to implement actions or release said products into the market.
Just to be clear: All that's written here is fictional and originated by the author's own toughts about what may happen to come in the unknown future.