In Orbits of Earth, above Allanea
"Welcome, Sir." - said the official. Congressman Robert Jones [D-VW] smiled at the clerk, who was forced to do his job in those strange conditions, and pulled himself forward. Or up. Whatever. In zero-gravity, it made no difference. In a few meters, he entered a large, spherical chamber. There, hovering in mid-air in various directions, where about twenty Jordaxians. Out of the one hundred first applicants for citizenship in Allanea, only those passed the complex psychological test that was obligatory for every applicant. That was a very high rate, and the Congressman was satisfied.
He smiled to one of the strange beings; "Good day. You will become, today, an Allanean citizen. What is your name?"
"Tetsujyo" - replied the Jordaxian - soon to be a Jordaxian-Allanean - and smiled happily to the Congressman.
"Congratulations, Tetsujyo"
Jordaxia
28-04-2005, 16:20
Tetsujyo was a complex individual, and one who had lived a most active life. Born during the exploration era of the Eternal Empire, he had abstained, to his eventual regret, not taking up the risky life of an intersteller trader and freelancer, instead preferring to settle for a simple in-sol trading job, running a small vessel between sol and pluto, trading nothing in particular for much of the same, and making whatever he could out of it. Individual spaceships had always been cheap in Jordaxia, as they tended to involve cheap, easy to come across materials, and very little advanced technology, bar whatever weaponry was affordable. it was rare for such a ship to have any FTL drives, and even rarer for them to have a functioning gravity generator, as such a luxury was almost useless. Jordaxians were raised in such a light gravity that it was almost pointless to spend such a large amount of money when they could function just as efficiently in zero G. Spending the first, and the best half of the second century of his life amassing a small fortune to retire on. He was quietly thankful that he had managed to get that part of his life over with before the pirates returned from their extrasolar ramblings to take up a more permanent residence in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud of Sol. Nowadays traders hoping to make the same living were under constant threat of pirate attack, forcing them to spend much of their savings on expensive ship insurance, weaponry, and payoff bribes when the inevitable attacks occured. To Tetsujyo, however, Jordaxia was not a place to spend a fortune. Luxuries were rare, comfort was low, and real estate... dreadfully hard to come across, which is why he had taken the decision to leave and stay in Allanea. It was a typically Jordaxian thing to do, in the scheme of things, most ended up purchasing a small ship and living out the remainder of their lives chasing after the glory years of their youth, or attempting to live them for the first time. Few ever remained in one place for very long, if it didn't have a lot of variety. And there were only so many different types of rock in the sky.
Now, however, it was all coming to the end of the beginning. The long, and painfully boring application over, immigration accepted, he, and roughly twenty others simply waited to be inducted so they could find out precisely just how interesting their new home was. Tourism was one thing. But tourists only ever seemed to find the "touristy" things. Only once you had lived somewhere did you see everything beneath. The real meat. Looking over at the corridor, he seen a small individual emerge, and begin floating over to him. The Allanean, of course. He thought. There is always a small amount of pomp and ceremony at these occassions, isn't there? Tetsujyo had taken the liberty of looking into immigration ceremonies across a broad spectrum of nations, and it was one feature that most had in common. The Allanean asked Tetsujyo his name, to which he responded, and gave a courteous, happy smile. The man proceeded to congratulate him, presumably for fitting the requirements the Allaneans deemed necessary to live within their borders. Of course, then the inevitable happened, something inescapable in all human cultures. Silence followed for a few moments, tangibly awkward to Tetsujyo. Was he supposed to ask questions? Be silent? Wait? Continue smiling and hope he didn't end up looking completely gormless? The butterflies in his stomach prevailed for the time, and he settled for simply floating in place.