Death in space

Everybody knows it is dangerous to go up into space. The astronauts of Apollo 1 died in the capsule and they never even took off. The Challenger disaster happened 73 seconds after takeoff. Everyone aboard the Columbia died upon reentry.

Death is a part of life, or so says Rome in the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution. The mission planners for the Ark program knew that people were going to die during the long journey so they sunk their money into the sarcophagi instead of the Ark II. We got to see some of the dead bodies in Rome's Evolution during Rei and Rome's trip back to The Cathedral.

When Rei got to Tabit, he was given an apartment of his own. This confused him because it made no sense that the Vuduri would build "extra" apartments 26 light years from Earth. Here is Rome's explanation from the original VIRUS 5 novel:

     “How is it that you had a spare apartment for me?" Rei asked. “Surely you weren’t expecting any guests way out here. Why build more than you need?”
     “We did not build more than we needed,” Rome said somberly. “We have had a few, eh, accidents. We have lost three people since we got here. In fact, the apartment you are in belonged to a man who just died less than one day ago.”
     “What!?” Rei said, doing a double-take. “And you put me in there? Isn’t that a little ghoulish?”
     “I am not sure what you mean. Accidents happen,” Rome said. “Death happens. It is all part of life. We cannot stop what we are doing just because a person died.”
     “Oh,” Rei said, the implication sinking in. “Well, still then. I’m sorry.”
     “Do not be,” Rome replied. “It was expected.”
     “Expected? What do you mean expected?” Rei asked. “If you knew people were going to die, why didn’t you prevent it?”
     “We did not know how they were going to die,” Rome explained. “Only that they were going to die. Accidental death is an actuarial hazard of being in space. Of this place.”
     “Oh…” Rei pondered this for a bit. “Still, Rome, that seems kind of cold.”
     “It is unavoidable,” said Rome. “We do our absolute best to prevent accidents, but they still occur. The person that died last evening was crushed by a cargo pallet that tipped over during a tremor. Before that, two others suffocated when one of the airlocks malfunctioned. We have been fortunate that no fatal accidents have occurred other than those.”

Later, I "borrowed" the death by shelving in one of the extra murder attempts on Rei's life. Sheesh, space is dangerous enough without people trying to kill you on purpose!