Free New Title 1 by Steven Lyle Jordan Page A

about the enjoyment she got out of the class as a child. And something else was in her eye as well: Being handsome and in good trim, Mediterranean Euro-model looks (despite his Spanish surname, his family was largely from the Swiss highlands), and a distinguished mix of salt-and-pepper hair, Calvin had the kind of looks that went over well in the media, presenting a distinct air of intelligence and authority, plus an attractiveness and approachability that encouraged people to watch him; and he could tell this girl, now in her late-teens, was at that stage where she was taking more notice of men in general, and gauging them sexually. He guessed he was gauging well.
    She quickly produced her clipbook and brought up a page, which he noticed was filled with signatures of all kinds of people, a few of which he actually recognized (he assumed the signatures he did not recognize were of popular singers or actors she had managed to meet…
kids never change
, he reflected). He took her stylus and dashed off what had been his program’s signature closer—
“We can’t possibly imagine!”
—followed by his personal signature. The girl thanked him profusely, and backed off respectfully, then hurried back among her friends and proudly showed off her newly-collected autograph.
    Another passenger, a woman who was close enough to listen to the exchange between Calvin and the girl, watched with Calvin as the girl strutted with her friends, until they all left at the next stop. Then, once the tram had started moving again, she turned to Calvin and said, “Dr. Rios, do you think Earth is going to be all right?”
    Calvin looked at the woman, and his smile faded a bit, but he made it a point to put on an air of hope for her. “I sure hope so,” he said after a moment. “I don’t know what we’d do without her.”
    ~
    The main science complex filled the space from Floor 1 to the center, right up to the supply lines of the non-rotating Floor 0. Much of the research and development carried on in the science section was done in counter-rotating drums that resided just above the office floors, designed to take full advantage of the microgravity afforded them by being in orbit to study and create things that were difficult or impossible to do on Earth. Experiments in new materials and compounds, methods of fabrication, and analysis of the effect of microgravity on otherwise-well-known materials, were carried out here.
    It had been the first orbital research and manufacturing facilities, launched in the early-twenty-first century, which had cracked the fabrication problems of the most useful fullerene processes, perfected the migraponic growth system, and created a more efficient architecture for electronics. For decades, various products and manufacturing processes optimized for microgravity and hard vacuum were carried out in the orbital facilities, while more data was collected on long-term human habitation in space, specifically, long-term effects of microgravity and various proportions of 0- to 1-gee environments on human and other organisms. Their initial designs, and some trial and error, eventually led to the layouts used in the science and manufacturing sections of Floors 0 and 1. Although a few of the old orbital facilities were still in use, most of them, including the original Seven Heavens Conglomerate facility from the twenty-first century, were now maintained as orbital training facilities, or carried on much more specialized work.
    Calvin navigated the curved floors of the complex, the curve being much more pronounced here than they were at lower floors, until he reached the executive offices of the science section, and had no trouble finding Dr. Silver’s office suites. As he approached, he reflected on the fact that this was actually his first visit to Dr. Silver’s actual office, having always spoken to her at some function elsewhere. He entered a small anteroom with comfortable chairs along each wall to the left and