The Cocktail Party

    Sol Esther did not feel comfortable in his outfit. It was a thick and heavy blue robe designed for important events, and he seemed to be allergic to something in the material. An unpleasant, prickly feeling covered his skin, and to make matters worse, it was a hot, sticky day in Paris, and he was sweating profusely. The streets were crowded, and Sol had to jostle his way down the sidewalk. He was was not the most athletic, and was rapidly getting out of breath. The stout man scanned the road for taxis, looking for an out from the heat and the crowd, but there were none to be seen.
    Down the street, however, he noticed the elevators that led down to the new Paris metro, a recently inaugurated affair of pneumatic tunnels and maglevs. It had been cleverly laid out to take commuters anywhere in the city within 10 minutes. Sol was, in fact, heading for an event to celebrate its one-month anniversary, a lavish cocktail party reuniting, among others, politicians, urban planners, construction managers, and executives of the New Frontiers Mining Company, which had provided the resources necessary for the project's completion. He decided it would be fitting to ride it there.
    Sol worked as a factory manager for the mining company, which harvested metals from nearby asteroids and parachuted them down to Earth. His duties were to oversee facilities on the Moon that built, launched, and remotely controlled mining robots in the outer reaches of the Solar System. He had just flown down to Earth from the company's lunar headquarters.
    He was greeted by a blast of cool air as he stepped into the elevator terminal. The change in temperature came as a relief, but Sol shivered as the air made his sweat feel icy cold against his skin. Air-conditioning was always on too high in these public facilities.
    Sol elected to go down in one of the tourist elevators, which descended at a more leisurely pace, giving visitors plenty of time to admire portions of the old Paris metro, now restored to their original glory. An old-fashioned subway car rode along the tracks below, prompting ooh's and ah's all around him.
    The tourists got off at the first stop, which gave access to the renovated old Paris metro, now serving as a museum. Visitors could explore the refurbished tracks either on foot or on the old subway cars. Sol took the elevator further down to the brand new lines, getting off at the track leading to La Défense. He walked out into a brightly lit marble hallway, where a group of circus performers were putting on a comedic juggling show that was heavily layered with slapstick. Sol pushed aside a clown trying to give him a flyer. The portly businessman was in no mood for drollery.
    Despite his foul temper, he could not help but admire the scale and grandiosity of the newly built subway project. The station he stood in mixed traditional Haussman architecture with modern, sleek lines, resulting in a futuristic hall that still felt very Parisian in its essence. Asteroid mining marked a watershed in the construction industry, cutting costs enormously with the new access to cheap resources. Cities all over the globe were undertaking pharaonic infrastructure projects, and the Parisian metro was one of the more impressive ones.
    As the maglev silently whisked him to his destination, Sol wondered when he would next return to outer space. Leaving the Earth and its gravitational pull was a lot more costly than returning to it, and his company frequently simply reassigned employees to new, Earth-based positions. Unless an employee's presence on the Moon was truly irreplaceable, it was cheaper to bring in new workers from Mars. When he had received the invitation to the anniversary party, Sol had seen it as an escape from his dull life on the stark, grey desert that is the Moon.
    The maglev reached Sol's destination, and he walked into another elevator, bringing him to the highest floor of the building he was in. He emerged in a magnificent penthouse. The floor was covered in rich carpet, and the room was surrounded by large windows offering magnificent views of the sunset on Paris. A buffet with shiny platters, luxurious food, and fancy cocktails stood in one corner of the room. In the center of the room, four dancers were performing a traditional French country dance, the cotillion.
    Sol strode in, but his foot caught on something and he fell forward awkwardly. He got up and dusted himself off, feeling like quite the lummox, before noticing what he had tripped over. It was a low-hanging branch that extended from a large, black, dendriform plant that he had never seen before. A group of well-dressed people were gathered around it, appearing to chatter excitedly about the strange tree.
    Sol scanned the room for familiar faces. He was surprised to see one of his bosses, Prem Sengar, an abstemious man who typically abhorred the excess of such events. The man had always avoided the luxurious staff dinners the company held on the Moon, so it puzzled Sol to see that he had made the long trip back to Earth for this party.
    "How very good to see you, Mr. Esther," said a beaming Mr. Sengar when Sol came to greet him. "Have you grown weary of the selenite landscape as well?"
    The Indian man was wearing a flamboyant red and orange outfit with a yellow dhoti, and looked beside himself with excitement. Typically a subdued man, the fact that he was smiling at all was a probative sign of Mr. Sengar's delight.
    "Indeed. Though it never did get quite so humid as down here."
    "That is true. You should see how it gets in Kolkata," Prem replied, jokingly.
    Sol grabbed a flute of champagne from a passing waiter's platter, before turning back to Mr. Sengar.
    "Do tell me, what is the name of this fascinating flora?" Sol asked, gesturing towards the bizarre plant.
    "Ah! I see you've noticed the clou du spectacle. Its latin name is vitis semina, though we call it 'The Vine of Life.' It is a genetically modified version of grapevine, designed to spread like wildfire in bogs and marshes."
    Sol immediately knew its purpose - colonizing a new world. Plants like these were typically designed to make other planets suitable for human habitation. An Antarctican moss had already been used successfully on Mars.
    "Ah, I see... and with a dark color like that, I suppose it must be destined for the dim sunlight of Brahe B."
    Brahe B was one of the nearest Earth-like planets to the Solar System. He had seen many photos of its swampy, quaggy landscapes while growing up. It orbited a red dwarf, meaning that it was difficult for most Earth-based plants to photosynthesize there.
    "Destined? Oh no, no, my dear Mr. Esther. You see, it has already been successfully introduced! New data arrived just yesterday showing that the seeds have germinated. This is the first successful extrasolar plant colonization, and we are the ones behind it!"
    Sol now understood the man's excitement. Seeds were constantly being sent out to planets outside the Solar System, but so far there had been no signs that any had taken root.
    Mr. Sengar continued: "There is already talk of sending humans there. New Frontiers is assembling a team of talented scientists to set up a base and supervise the growth of our plant. But of course, they might also be looking for a dauntless man of experience such as yourself to help manage the operations... You have done great things on the Moon, and I would be happy to refer you if you are interested."
    Sol was quite taken aback at the suggestion. He had never been called dauntless before, at least not since he was far younger. He considered the offer. This project was far beyond the typical scope of New Frontiers mining projects. It was an ambitious mission, one that he would be proud to be associated with, and who wouldn't dream of exploring new worlds? If Mr. Sengar seemed to think it was plausible, this might be his big break.
    "That is an interesting proposal indeed. But I may need some time to reflect on it," he replied, careful to mask his enthusiasm.
    "Please get back to me soon. The higher-ups have asked me for a list of my recommendations within the month so that they may proceed to the selection stage."
    On those words, the two men bade each other good night, and Sol returned to his hotel in a daze. To be one of the first men to set foot on a planet outside of the Solar System... now there was a truly thrilling prospect.