Heavy Construction

[stardust47]

New Berlin Orbit
13:35 Local Time

Clay had seen big stations and orbital shipyards before, but nothing like The Ring. In fact, he didn't even know there was that much metal in the Galaxy. He almost couldn't tell what was a distant star and what was a welding torch or window light...

"Impressive, isn't it?" said the man sat next to him. "I've spent half my life here, and I'm still not quite used to it."

Clay turned to him. "Something I should worry about?"

"Oh no, it's perfectly safe if you keep your cool and don't do anything foolish."

"Good to know."

The transport docked at the New Berlin mooring fixture, and the passengers all filed off. Clay made his way to the Daumann shuttle dock and showed them his documentation. They waved him through without a word, and he climbed into a small low-orbit shuttle. The passenger compartment was somewhat plain, but comfortable enough.

Clay helped himself to a bottle of Rheinbier and looked around out the window. The icy fields of New Berlin's day side filled the bottom of his vision. In the top half, a large container transport was docked at the Ring, being refitted, repaired... Clay really didn't know the difference.

There was a jolt as the shuttle's engines ignited. The planet fell away and Clay's view became nothing but stars.

When he arrived, Clay climbed out of the shuttle, dropped the empty bottle in the bin, and went up the the front desk. "Hello," he said, putting the papers on the desk, "I'm Clay Coldstone."

The woman at the desk picked them up and tapped a few things into her computer. "Just follow the corridors marked in red, and you'll be at the Nuburg in no time."

"Nuburg, eh?" Clay looked off to the side and nodded his head. "What kind of ship is it?"

"Container transport, Uruz-class." She placed an ID card on the desk. "You'll want to take those."

"Thanks." Clay stuffed the ID card into his suit jacket and walked off down the corridor.