by Hall, Gerald
“Sneaky bastards from our drone division. Still, we need to be able to hit our targets even if they are not being terribly cooperative. Keep on it. Be prepared to fire a second missile at that target if necessary.” Terrance noted.
“Just remember, we have to think ahead of what an adversary might do to counter our missiles, so that we can develop and implement countermeasures of our own.” James replied.
“You’re right, Sir. We’ll figure those out too so that we and our customers will not be surprised when put to the test.”
“Very good, mate. Now, I have to go to my next destination.” James replied before leaving.
Chapter Ten:
Cavill Industries Headquarters
Derby, Western Australia
October 21, 1955
The days were already getting sweltering hot as it was nearly the middle of spring in Derby. The skies were mostly clear, but even the evening sea breezes did little to alleviate the mugginess of the air during this time of year. People around here learned how to dress for the October heat and to plan their schedules to avoid being outside during the hottest parts of the day.
Many of Cavill Industries’ manufacturing facilities were constructed underground or had earth-sheltered buildings to help tame the heat. Even Cavill Shipbuilding’s construction slips were completely covered so that they could be worked in during all sorts of weather. But even the shade provided by those enclosures could easily be overcome by the seasonal heat. That meant that the workers often did most of their work in the evenings or even at night when the temperatures were far cooler.
Judith Cavill was looking over some new design proposals at her office desk with her sister Beatrice when Judith’s administrative assistant Colleen Taylor opened the door and said.
“Ma’am, I have a man here from Canberra who is here to see you.”
Judith immediately knew that when Colleen said that the visitor was from Canberra that it meant that someone from the Australian government was here. Usually, when they came unannounced, it meant that the visitor was not there to deliver good news to her also.
Judith grimaced before steeling herself for the likely unwelcome visitor and attempting to put a pleasant smile on her face.
“Well, let the man in, Colleen. Let’s see what he has to say.” Judith finally said while Beatrice moved to the side of the office and sat in another chair to observe.
A thin, but otherwise nondescript man in his late-forties wearing a suit in what Judith had come to refer to as ‘bureaucrat pinstripe-black’ walked into the office and smiled before introducing himself. Judith could see the bands of sweat already showing through his shirt and jacket. He was obviously not from Western Australia and had not dressed accordingly. He was quite uncomfortable from the look on his face, but was beginning to cool down a little in Judith’s air conditioned office. He had no ideas that temperatures of another sort were about to quickly rise inside.
Good morning, Ma’am. My name is Daryl Clinksdale. I’m with the Australian Ministry of Telecommunications. There are a few matters that I would like to discuss with you, please.”
“What is it that you wish to talk with me about, Mister Clinksdale? This is a very busy day for me so we need to take care of this business of yours as quickly as possible.” Judith curtly replied while still sitting at her desk.
“Well, to be blunt, I’m here to inform you that you have been conducting illegal telecommunications operations here in Australia. All such operations are only allowed as part of the National Telecommunications system. Therefore, you are required to surrender all operations and equipment to our control. Of course, you will be compensated fairly for the value of the assets that we will be taking control of, Miss Cavill.”
“Seems to me that your organization has done this to my family once before. My father told us about how your office strong-armed him into giving up the telephone system that he built in Western Australia. He also mentioned on how the government gave him less than half of what the real worth of that network was in compensation. I don’t think we are going to play that game with your people this time, Mister Clinksdale.”
“Miss Cavill, I don’t see where you have much of a choice here. The Australian government is legally the sole provider of telecommunications in this country. Your headquarters is here in Derby, therefore, your telecommunications operations is covered under Australian law.
“Actually, Mister Clinksdale, our main headquarters of our telecommunications division is not here. It’s in London. We also already have facilities not only in London, but also just outside of New York City as well as near Tacoma, Washington. So, Cavill Telecommunications, a sub-division of Cavill Aerospace Industries, is a transnational corporate entity, not an Australian telecommunications company. Therefore, you can’t nationalize any of our assets, Mister Clinksdale.”
“You still are conducting telecommunications activity within our borders. So your company is subject to our authority.”
“You might want to take a look back at the laws concerning this, Sir. There was some recent legislation passed that directly impacts your actual jurisdiction in this matter. It passed Parliament by a substantial margin also, I do believe. Think carefully before you make your next move, Sir.” Judith warned.
Judith and her siblings had established relationships with a sizable number of Australian politicians through the judicious use of campaign contributions just as their father had done over the years. The Cavill family then used that influence to have certain pieces of legislation introduced and passed that would permit Judith and her siblings to maintain control of their new telecommunications network, in spite of the Australian bureaucracy attempting to nationalize it once again.
Daryl Clinksdale stood there, anger seething from the expression on his face. It was obvious that the Cavills were not about to back down at all. He also knew from the reputation of their father that anyone who crossed him would eventually pay a steep price, one way or another. He had expected that he would be in charge of this new frontier of advanced telecommunications through his bureau. With that, he would likely be promoted, earn substantially more money and have far more prestige than ever before.
“I will have to see what our legal counsel has to say about this. You can be certain that I will be back to conclude this discussion.”
“Of course, Mister Clinksdale. But if you do come back here to see us again, it will be to apologize because my family is standing on very firm legal grounds here, I assure you.” Judith said with a confident smile.
Daryl turned away after a moment and stomped away, an angry scowl still on his face. Judith simply shook her head as the Australian government bureaucrat left her office for the relative peace of the scorching sun.
“I really hate politicians, especially ones who are into ‘empire-building’ at the expense of our citizens. We already know that we can deliver superior service for a lower cost than anything a government-run agency could provide. What has happened to the idea of actually the average person’s best interest?” Judith angrily said after the bureaucrat had left her office and she had closed the door.
“I don’t think that our Father liked them very much either. It would be nice if we could somehow reclaim the property that the government essentially stole from our father all those years ago when they nationalized the telephone network that he built for Western Australia.”
“I know, Bea. But the local telecommunications network here is insignificant compared to the international communications satellite network that we have created. Soon, we will be slowly adding a data transfer element as we begin to introduce electronic computers to the marketplace. They will be utterly primitive compared to Father’s original notebook computer. But we will be able to control the international market on computers for years. We will also use their overt development to mask the technological upgrades to our own underground data processing facility at the same time.”
“Just like we are controlling space flight technology
right now?” Beatrice asked.
“Exactly. But our control of spaceflight will be even more profound because it will be far more difficult for anyone to steal our most advanced technology because it will be in space, not on the ground for our adversaries or competitors to access clandestinely. We could be decades ahead of the rest of the world before anyone else realizes it. They will have no idea that it is what human technology would have been in the twenty-first century either.”
“We may very well have to push that leap in space technology in any event. You know, our father always felt that the real future to protect the future of the human race wasn’t merely to prevent the development of nuclear weapons or to stop the spread of Marxism in its various forms. There is always going to be madmen who would find a way to build nuclear weapons or design a disease that could wipe out our entire species. Father felt that humanity had to spread beyond this world to truly save humanity from destroying itself or being destroyed in one dramatic blow.”
As the two sisters continued to talk, their brother James quietly slipped into Judith’s office and simply stood there, carefully listening to the conversation.
“Doctor Von Braun has certainly talked about building orbiting space stations. But he was thinking of them as orbiting science laboratories first, then as stepping stones towards journeys to other worlds.”
“We need to think of even more advanced concepts. We need to push to get much bigger rockets into space so that we can put habitats into orbit that are large enough for people to truly live in space. There may even be other ideas on the computer database to get people into orbit and beyond that we can also use.”
“Aren’t you afraid that by pushing the technology forward too quickly that we could cause something else catastrophic to happen? That was something that Father was absolutely terrified of, you know. That fear even tore apart our Father and Mother because they had different ideas of what to do with the knowledge of such advanced technology and the path of the future.”
“Judith, we are so far into uncharted territory already that we have absolutely no idea where things are going to go now. We really need to stop trying to manage someone else’s history anymore. Instead, we need to take far more active measures to ensure mankind’s continuing survival. We are basically managing our own future now.” Beatrice replied.
“We still need to be very cautious about all of this. If anyone truly found out that our Father came back through time, it would only be a matter of time before someone attempts to steal the information that we still have, especially if they think that they can reproduce the phenomena that allowed Father to travel into the past in the first place. Then who knows what sort of terrible damage that they might do? They could go back into history and make things far worse like having Stalin or Hitler actually win the war and defeat everyone, including the rest of the Western Allies.”
“There are some ideas on the database that the Americans had been working on from only a few years ahead of where we are currently. We could start the design work with a few suggestions to our engineers as to what direction that we would like for them to go. By the time that the technology is ready, we will actually be very close to the science of Father’s own world at that time in history.” James explained to his siblings, as he entered the conversation for the first time.
“Perhaps you are right. But we must remain careful. This includes keeping any new technologies very closely held by our people. This must not get out to the world in general. If this rocket technology somehow winds up in the hands of people who have also obtained nuclear weapons technology, it will put this world in the same place that our Father fled from so many years ago. When we breakout with our rocket launch vehicle designs, I want to be so far ahead that no one will be able to catch up before we establish ourselves firmly in space far beyond any power’s ability to control or destroy us.” Judith forcefully declared.
“If we can make the rockets reusable after recovery and refurbishment, then we can control access. Obviously, we will have to ensure that we successfully recover the launch vehicle so that other entities do not have the opportunity to have access to it.” Beatrice replied.
“Still, we know that other countries are now working on their own rockets. The Americans are certainly putting a lot of money into their program. Even without Doctor von Braun working for them any longer, the Germans have considerable experience in rocket development also.” James interjected.
“That is why we have to focus our rocket program on space exploration, not military purposes. That will give us the moral high ground to push others to limit their rocket programs to peaceful applications.” Judith noted.
“That might work with the Americans and British, maybe even the French. But I don’t know if the Germans will follow along, especially since they have already used ballistic missiles in the past. They are unlikely to pretend that they don’t already have more long-range missile designs ready to go.” Beatrice explained.
“They are still bound by the terms of the Armistice not to develop more offensive missiles like the V-1 and V-2. Remember that the Germans are only allowed to develop defensive missiles for air-defense and short-range air-to-air missiles under the terms of the Armistice.” James noted.
“I know, but there is little to stop the Germans from using third-parties as proxies to test new missile technology. Weapons development is a very expensive and potentially very profitable business. We already know just how much money can be made if you develop technology that outstrips what anyone else has, whether it is military technology or anything else.” Judith asserted.
“At least, our rockets will be able to pay for themselves through our telecommunication business and the sale of imagery from our imagery satellites. They are not designed for use as offensive weapons at all.” James noted.
“That’s true. But we are going to have to make a big step here. We have to commit to develop and build nuclear thermal rocket motors for missions beyond the moon. We know that they are possible from what we have found on the computer data base. We also know that chemical rockets simply do not have the power and fuel efficiency necessary to do the job. Developing a nuclear thermal rocket is going to take us several years, even with the advanced information at our disposal. It is also going to be fraught with danger because it will involve the enrichment of uranium to create the core for this new rocket design.
We already do a limited amount of uranium enrichment for the manufacturing of fuel for our power plant reactors. But we blend that with thorium in a salt for the reactors. The byproducts of the process doesn’t create any byproducts that can be used like the plutonium that was discussed in the data base.
But to build a rocket motor, we would need a compact solid core reactor. The original design required enriched uranium fuel with a high percentage of U-235. But we should be able to use of U-233 instead, which is a byproduct of the liquid fuel reactors at the power station.” Judith explained.
“Remember that our father had warned us about all of this. This uranium U-235 enrichment technology could be used all too easily to produce fuel for a nuclear fission weapon.” Beatrice warned. This surprised Judith and James since she was more of a risk-taker normally.
“I know. But do we really have much of a choice here. There is another problem as well. Even we have limits to our resources. If we have unexpected delays in development or increases in cost, we could have a problem with solvency. We are going to need a partner to help assume some of the financial burden and risk.” James responded.
“I recognized this several months ago and started making quiet inquiries at that time. We have already talked briefly with the government in Canberra. They are, after all, our first choice. But Canberra is only willing to offer limited financial resources.”
“Well, that is at least some help. But will it be enough, Judith?” Beatrice asked.
“Probably not. But there is a private group in America who is willing to help in exchange for a stake in our o
rbital telecommunications network. There are also several smaller private groups in Australia who also want to be a part of our proposed space consortium. Together, this might just be enough to get the job done.” Judith explained.
“That’s bloody awesome. But I am completely against them having any access to our technology, no matter how much money that they invest. They can have access to our end products. They may even fly up into space aboard our rockets. But I absolutely oppose us sharing our technology with any partners. There is just too much of a risk of compromising the source of our secrets or that someone will begin to copy our most advanced designs.” Beatrice warned.
“I agree with your concerns. Whatever we choose to do, the most sensitive technologies will remain exclusively in our hands.” Judith assured the others.
“Do you think that Sarah will concur with this idea? After all, she’s not here right now.” Beatrice asked.
“I think so. She’s already been involved in the discussions with Canberra and the American group.” Judith replied.
“Then, I’m for it. What about you, James?” Beatrice asked.
“Well, you already know that I want to be the first one in our family to fly into space. I am totally stoked at the idea of setting up a human colony on Mars too. So, I am definitely in as well.”
“Alright, then it is agreed. Now, we just have to build a big enough rocket to safely push an entire nuclear reactor into space. We certainly can’t start the motor up on the ground without making one hell of a mess afterwards.” Judith told her siblings.
“Well, actually the Americans did test a nuclear thermal rocket on a test stand. They had to clean up the area afterwards. But you are right about using the engine on the ground. We can’t actually launch a rocket from the ground using a nuclear thermal rocket engine as the first stage. But we can launch it to serve as one of the upper stages though, especially if the rocket motor is not activated until it is completely out of the atmosphere.” James mentioned.