by Ricky Sides
The steering wheel communicated to the computer, how much to adjust the momentum emitter, and in which direction. Using the steering wheel caused the emitter to move to the left, or right, of neutral, or the vertical position. The more the operator turned the wheel, the more the computer moved the emitter.
Patricia explained that the simplest control system used a keyboard control. Adding flight sticks, steering wheels, brake pedals, and gas pedals left more to go wrong, since in effect they simply told the computer what to do. However, operators would find the more familiar systems easier to handle with skill. “In short,” she explained to the trainees, “our job is to make it as simple as possible for people to use the new technology, or as some would say, make it user friendly. Make them comfortable with it and look forward to their next driving or piloting experience. Remember that and you’ll do fine,” she said. Laughing she added, “By the way, the company will have to decide on the official terminologies involved. Do you call it a car, or an aircraft? It doesn’t have wheels. It will look like a car but it will fly. In addition, are you the driver, or the pilot? So bring this to their attention as well.”
***
The peacekeepers made a trip to Detroit in the company of Bob Reager and his board of directors. They traveled aboard the Peacekeeper sitting in the mess hall as they made the twenty-minute flight to the city. Bob had invited the peacekeepers to attend the ceremony as the first vehicle rolled off the assembly line at the Detroit plant. The peacekeepers had agreed to attend even though that meant a two-day delay in their plans to travel to Millbrae California.
Bob pointed out that this first unit would not be the production model. A prototype would be tested and gone over by the engineering and quality teams to seek things that needed to be improved. He added that the production models would probably be at least a month to two months down the road, and that was rushing things. In the pre-quake days, it would have taken at least a year to get design approval, and then the government would probably have delayed it while they did safety studies, and argued as to whether the vehicle would require a driver’s license or a pilot’s license.
When they arrived, the company officers and board members of the Ford auto manufacturing facility greeted them. They led them inside the facility and gave an abbreviated tour. They saw the motor assembly line, the battery assembly section, the computer installation workstations, and the seat installation area.
The company executives led them back to the end of the assembly line. They watched as the line started up and the prototype rolled through the final checkpoint where an inspector used an electronic door opener to unlock the door. Pol’s eyes grew large and round when he saw the door seams appear and the inspector opened the door. Closing the door the inspector activated the door lock and the seams disappeared. Noting his astonishment one of the company executives said, “Oh you like that do you? One of our engineers speculated that if the alloy could be joined by the introduction of electricity at a specific voltage then it should be possible to make it separate at some voltage. She worked it all out and now we have a very good door locking mechanism. If you’re curious, she will give you the details,” the executive said. “You people developed this technology, and gave us this opportunity. We’ll be happy to share what we learn with you.”
Pol said, “Thank you, sir. I have need for this particular knowledge in a forthcoming project that I have planned.”
“Not a problem, Mr. Bleakman,” the executive said. He turned to the engineer who had made the discovery and said, “Kathy, give our guest the full research data on that project after the ceremony.”
The engineer smiled and nodded her head with obvious pride in her achievement and the fact that one of the original developers was interested in her work.
As the vehicle reached the end of the line, applause greeted the achievement. Cameras flashed and video cameras rolled film to document the moment. The car was a sleek two-door model with bucket seats in the front and a plush rear bench seat. A very large lift truck rolled up and picked up the large, heavy gauge steel skid upon which the new vehicle was resting. The lift truck then drove through a marked off area and exited the facility with the spectators in tow. Outside the facility, in the bright sunlit day, a test driver opened the door and got inside the vehicle. Closing the door, he locked it and Pol watched pleased as the door sealed. Then the car lifted to ten feet and the driver took the vehicle around the parking area. He took the car to twenty feet and came to a stop at the far end of the parking lot. He hovered a moment and then turned the vehicle around. Again, he hovered a moment and one of the executives said, “He’s going to open her up!”
A moment later, the driver must have punched the pedal to the metal, because the vehicle shot across the parking lot in a burst of speed. It continued to fly past the twelve-foot tall fence until it disappeared from sight. A few moments later the vehicle popped back into view and stopped to hover at twenty feet right in front of the crowd of spectators. It descended to ten feet for a moment and then it settled gently to the ground.
As the test driver got out of the car there was an outbreak of applause from the spectators. The driver stopped and summed up his opinion of the car quite nicely, when in an excited tone of voice he said, “I want one!” General laughter greeted that admission. Then came the real report as the man said, “It steers a little sloppy. That’s the only complaint I can find with the machine. It rides unbelievably quietly. Stopping is comparable to a good sport car. Take off is better than the average sport car. Top speed at one hundred is lower than sport cars, but better than the average family car could hope to maintain safely without blowing an engine. Overall, I’d say we’ve got a winner. The steering issues wouldn’t keep me from buying one. It’s just loose and sloppy. If we can tighten the steering a bit she’ll handle like a charm.”
“That’s great news,” stated the executive.
The Engineer approached Pol and said that she would go get his copies of the research and development of the metal separation and rejoining and that she would join him at the celebration in a few minutes. Pol followed the crowd back inside the facility.
The Detroit factory workers were every bit as excited about being back to work as the Saginaw personnel had been when the steel mill had reopened. They had worked hard to get their factory back up and running and the company executives told them all how much they appreciated their contributions.
The engineer soon found Pol at the celebration and smiled as she gave him the thick file containing her research data. “Enjoy,” she said and was about to say something else when one of the executives shouted for attention.
“I have an announcement to make my friends,” the executive stated with a smile. When he was sure that he had everyone’s attention he said, “It brings me great pleasure to announce that we have our first order for five hundred units.” The room erupted into wild applause.
After the applause died down, the executive continued, “The state of North Dakota wants to buy the units and offers to pay in wheat products from the North Dakota Mill and Elevator. They will also be paying in fuel oil from their refinery. When all is said and done, we’ll be able to pay you and you’ll be able to purchase wheat products from the bakery along with other necessities.” Again wild applause rocked the room.
“The fuel oil will go into city supplies, and the citizens of Detroit will be able to heat their homes this winter from the supply North Dakota trades us. The city in turn will absorb our utility bill for the next few months permitting us to remain in operation and all employees will get free heating oil from the city for the winter. Reager Industries will get three hundred units as payment for materials furnished, so as you can see we will have eight hundred units to build. That should keep us busy for a few months. Hopefully this time next year we will be in full production mode and be able to produce five hundred units per day but realistically, we’ll be a while getting there. We need to establish reliable suppliers for several of the suppli
es but we are making progress. We have already gathered the supplies needed to manufacture current orders and our men are establishing new contacts daily.”
The executive smiled at the employees and said, “I can’t thank you all enough for the contributions that you are making toward reestablishing our business. To demonstrate our appreciation the board of directors has decided to permit employees to purchase one of the new vehicles on a five year payroll deduction plan.”
The executives applauded the manual labor that made it all happen, giving them a standing ovation. Bob Reager and his board of directors joined in the ovation. The employees cheered because they all wanted one of the vehicles.
During the trip back to Saginaw, Jim congratulated Bob on the amazing success of the enterprise in such a short time frame. Bob thanked him and said that it was a beginning and that at first such barter deals would be the norm. He expressed the hope that within a year things would be turning around as the supply of the vehicles became more common and people began to reorganize state and local governments once more. He pointed out that the crippling of the transportation system had contributed heavily to the complete breakdown of the government. “Once officials regain the ability to travel I think we’ll see resurgence in state and local government. After that it’s just a matter of time before the national government is reestablished and international trade resumes.”
“So you believe it is the lack of an ability to travel that has held down the restoration of our government?” Jim asked.
“Oh yes, I do,” Bob said and then he added, “You peacekeepers are a good example. You come from an area of the country that dealt with the highway issues early on and got refineries working and look how much further you have progressed than our area.”
“Well with hundreds of these new vehicles hitting the market, it won’t be that long before you are all caught up on the road to recovery,” Jim spoke reassuringly.
Chapter 5
The peacekeepers said goodbye to the people in Saginaw, whom they had grown to know and like during their stay in the city. Several of the technicians who had received training from Patricia and Pol turned out to say goodbye as they departed.
Tim promised to buy one of their cars one day, as did some of the other peacekeepers. As they were leaving, Bob told Jim that if he ever decided to part with more of their technology he would appreciate the first opportunity. Jim politely told the man that he would keep that in mind but that the only technology they had left was weapons technology and it would be unwise to permit that technology to proliferate outside the peacekeepers.
Namid lifted her fighter skyward and circled as the battleship, then the Peacekeeper lifted into the early morning sky, and their journey got underway. Pete planned to stop at the Dillon Aero minigun manufacturing facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, to see what they could learn regarding the possibility of acquiring more miniguns for the fighters and the patrol class ships.
On the trip to Scottsdale, they discussed the plans that had already been set into motion. The peacekeepers had once more sent out a call for volunteers willing to take the flight training class. This time they had planned on a class of one hundred thirty. The flight trainers had requested an additional thirteen fighters to bring their available flight trainer squadron up to twenty. The council decided to raise the production goals to manufacture one hundred and thirteen new fighters and grant the request for additional trainers.
Many peacekeepers, exposed to the fighter wings at the bases and at the battle in Kansas, eagerly volunteered for the training. The men and women from the first flight training class who had not yet gotten a seat in a fighter would be given the opportunity to try again in this flight training class and they all leapt at the chance. Lina would be entering that class with the other students. There would be no preferential treatment given to her, but she would at least have the chance to take the training. If she graduated in the top one hundred, then she would win a seat in a fighter.
The peacekeepers discussed the options that they would be facing if no further miniguns could be located. Tim fielded a tentative plan when he suggested that if all else failed they might be able to persuade Reager Industries to consider going into that line of manufacturing. Pol asked if it wouldn’t be possible to locate some missiles with which they could arm the aircraft and Pete informed him that several teams had scoured every known location and that if there had been any missiles available at the remains of the air bases then someone had beaten them to those munitions. Pete speculated that Tom Whitmore’s men had scavenged the remaining missiles during the buildup to the war in Kansas. He further stated that locating more bomb racks was meeting similar difficulty; therefore, he had asked the armorer and his assistants to take on that project and see if they could manufacture additional brackets. He reported that when it came to the small bombs that they utilized on the fighters and the battleship they had found a large supply. In that area, they had been very lucky.
“Are we thinking too conventionally?” Jim asked during a momentary lull in their discussions.
“What do you mean, Jim?” Pete asked his friend.
“I mean we seem to be gravitating toward more traditional weapons systems and not considering developing another weapons system that utilizes our technology developed by Patricia, Pol, and the other development team members who conceived this ship,” Jim explained. “Have we exhausted the weapons potential of our technology?”
“I did go back and use Malcolm’s design for the laser minigun,” Pol said somewhat defensively.
“And that was a success. You did a marvelous job on that project, but what I’m referring to is a weapons system that the fighters could use, as well as the patrol class ships we need to build eventually. I’d like to see each peacekeeper base which could support and secure such ships have one at their disposal.”
“Oh, I see what you mean,” Pol said smiling. He turned to Patricia and asked, “Did we miss anything in Malcolm’s files?”
“Not to my knowledge,” Patricia said.
“In that case I’d like you to give the matter some thought, Pol. You have shown a marvelous ability to think outside the box. Please apply that ability to this problem,” Jim requested.
“I will of course do my best my friend,” Pol said but he sounded dubious.
“Would it help if we discussed the alternatives that we can think of as a group?” asked Pete.
“Yes, I believe that might well help,” Pol stated, sounding relieved.
“All right, in that case I’ll begin,” said Pete. “How about a robot drone style weapon that the fighters could use? One that could detach from the back of the fighter and directed at a target. The robot drone could then destroy the target and return to its fighter.”
“That’s a good suggestion,” Pol said. “Unfortunately, it is way beyond our ability to achieve. The miniaturization needed to make such a weapon feasible is critical, and that we cannot achieve. Then there is the artificial intelligence, which would be required to handle all of the infinitely possible scenarios. Even with the full resources of the United States, I don’t think we could safely accomplish that goal. The biggest danger would be fatal errors in which the robots turned on friendly forces. That is way beyond my ability to manufacture.”
“Are we making a mistake by building fighters instead of patrol class ships that would be able to utilize upgraded lasers?” Tim asked.
“No, I don’t think it’s a mistake. The fighters and drones won the war with Tom Whitmore’s formidable army. They have a proven value. I do feel that this should be the last round of fighters we manufacture until we have more large class ships,” Jim replied and Pete nodded in agreement.
“I think I might have an idea, Pol,” Jim began, “But I’m not sure that it is practical,” he added.
“By all means, speak your mind,” Pol encouraged.
“Well I’m thinking about a sort of laser shotgun. One that has its own battery system built in that gradually charge
s over a period of time until it is fully charged. When it is fully charged, it can fire the weapon two or three times. Can that be done and still have the capability to fire the main laser for the really hardened targets?” Jim asked.
“Now that is an interesting prospect,” Pol said. “I don’t think the shotgun would work because it would require so many components that mass producing them for all of the fighters would become problematic due to a lack of resources, and also because such a design would by necessity be extremely complex, thus their manufacture would be very slow. However, your idea of including a battery with the weapon system to trickle charge for a few shots would permit the laser minigun to work on a fighter though how many bursts you would get I cannot say until I do a feasibility study. It may only be one or two bursts. I seriously doubt it could exceed three,” Pol stated smiling.