“Aw, come on! It’s not like that, at least not yet,” Ben said, blushing again.
“You stopped by to see your folks? You know they miss you,” reminded Chuck.
“Yeah, I stopped by.”
“Good to hear, young man. Give me a hand you two, let’s get this stuff loaded up,” Peanut said, maneuvering the floater next to the airlock, then lowering it to the deck.
Ben triggered the jumper’s airlock, then overrode the safeties to get both doors open at the same time. Then Peanut and Chuck started bringing the boxes and crates to the airlock while Ben stowed them inside the jumper. In a matter of minutes, the floater was cleared, and Ben had everything stowed and strapped down.
Wishing the two safe travels, Peanut guided the floater out of the hanger.
Once the hanger was cleared of personnel and the inner airlock door was sealed, traffic control started evacuating the atmosphere. When the air was pumped out, the main hanger door began to open. Once it was open far enough, Ben piloted the jumper out into space.
Chuck admired Ben’s control of the spacecraft, his confidence, and his no-nonsense piloting; nothing flashy, no excessive speed. Halfway to the new habitat, Ben flashed the exterior lights at a jumper on its way back to the colony, receiving a flash of lights in return.
Minutes later Ben carefully nudged the jumper into the open staging area being used as a landing site, expertly handling the transition from zero gravity into the habitat’s one-G gravity field. The jumper touched down with barely a bump, its airlock door pointed directly toward the hab’s temporary airlock/elevator installation. For safety, he engaged the landing skids’ magnetic fields, then turned to Chuck, grinning.
“How was that?” he asked.
“Smooth as silk. You’re a much better pilot than I am, Angela trained you well,” Chuck said in admiration.
“She’s still teaching me, Uncle Chuck. Every time I think I know pretty much everything I need to know, she pulls a rabbit out of the hat and it’s like I’m starting out all over again. Last time she had me do about four hours of maneuvers with no interior gravity at all. She had me rocking G-forces all the way up to ten Gs. She said that’s how she trained for combat in jets back on Earth.”
“How’d you do?” Chuck asked, having gone through the same exercise when she trained him.
“I was wonky in the beginning. But after I figured out how to lock my neck and keep my head still relative to the jumper, it was a lot easier. At least I never threw up! She told me the story about having to dodge missiles when Lucius and Sydney were picked up,” Ben said wistfully. “That sounded pretty cool.”
“Hey, don’t be any too anxious to mix it up with some hostiles, kiddo. Combat ain’t fun. It’s more like a few seconds of sheer terror, followed by a lot of shaking, trying to get the adrenaline flushed out of your system. And if you’re really lucky, having to change your underwear,” admonished Chuck.
“Hey, open up! What’s taking you so long in there,” a voice suddenly came over the radio.
Activating the radio from the console, Ben said, “Give me a moment. We have to get our helmets on.”
“Roger, that.”
“Shall we?” Ben asked.
“Indeed.”
Once their suites were secured, Chuck triggered the air to be pumped out so Ben could open both airlock doors. Outside the jumper, two of the hab crew were waiting with a floater in tow. They brought the equipment to the airlock door so the men could load up the floater.
“Hey, what’s all this? Where does it go?” one of the men asked over the radio.
“Peanut said to deliver it to wherever they’re staging his department’s equipment. It’s G-waves and a bunch of controllers,” Ben replied.
When the jumper was emptied, Chuck exited while Ben reset the airlock and restored the atmosphere. He then exited, joining Chuck waiting for the floater and the crew to clear and send the lift back up to them. Once they cleared the airlock, Ben started to remove his helmet when Chuck stopped him.
“I know there’s atmo in here, but I always wait until we’re inside the hab proper. Just me being overly cautious,” he said.
“Roger that. It wouldn’t hurt,” agreed Ben.
They waited in silence for the lift to arrive. When the doors opened, they entered, and Chuck pressed the button for the bottom floor. Once they reached the current Ops command center, they removed their helmets. When the crew saw who it was, they gathered around them, greeting them like long lost relatives. After a few moments, Chuck begged off, telling everyone he was due in the in newly enclosed hydroponics floor. Ben said he wanted to visit a couple of friends in the soon-to-be computer core.
Chuck shed and stowed his suit. When he arrived on what was going to be the hydroponics deck, he was greeted by two of the engineers from Annie Perkins’ department at the colony.
“Hey, Leon, Joel, what’s shaking?” he asked.
“We’re doing just fine,” Joel replied.
“Just working the logistics of filling this bad boy and the tanks on the deck below with water, filtering out any junk and getting this party started,” Leon added. “We were thinking about building in piping directly outside to get water delivered right here,” he said, pointing to the exterior bulkhead.
Joel held out his datapad to Chuck. “Here, let me transfer the plans we drew up. Could use your eyes on it to make sure we didn’t forget anything.”
Chuck pulled his own datapad from its case, tapped Joel’s and accepted the drawings. It took a few moments while he examined the plans, nodding as he got deeper into the details.
“This is excellent. If I’m reading this right, you could park an ice asteroid right off the hull and melt the damn thing in place, right?”
“Exactly,” Joel answered excitedly. “We’re going to need over twenty-five million liters to run this installation properly. Ops has to approve grabbing more than one asteroid like Chris did when we were still on the moon. If we have a number of these collection ports, we can get the process of collection off to a great start.”
“This is a really good idea. I recommend you send this over to Peanut’s department so they can prefab the entire assembly. I’m thinking at least a half-dozen should be installed but run it by the Environmental Department and see what they say about mounting hardware through the hull. Brilliant work, you two,” Chuck said, clapping them both on the shoulder. “I’m heading down to environmental. Catch you later.”
Taking the lift to the temporary auxiliary operations center, Chuck exited to a chorus of greetings. Greeting everyone, Chuck then got the quick overview of the status of a number of ongoing projects. An hour later, Chuck was finally sitting with the head of the environmental team.
“Your team’s done a hell of a job here, Daryl. It looks like you’re sealing up a new deck every week. It’s unbelievable,” Chuck exclaimed.
“Yeah, we’re doing all right. We’re waiting for Ops to give the go ahead for a run to Saturn’s rings to grab us a big, fat mountain of ice. We need it for the water, we need it to crack oxygen, and if there’s any metal in the damn thing, so much the better!”
“What stage is the planning in?”
“There’s going to be a sortie week after next. If we can grab the same size asteroid Chris dropped on the moon, we’re good.”
“Other than a mountain of ice, is there anything else you need here? Something that hasn’t crossed Peanut’s or my desk?” asked Chuck.
“I was talking something over with a couple of the engineers, just idle talk mind you,” Daryl began, then stopped.
“What is it, Daryl? Spit it out, man. Whatever it is, it can’t be all that bad. This entire place is made of crazy,” Chuck said quietly.
“Okay, here it is. We were wondering if we couldn’t stock the hab with some supplies, then flying it out to where the water is, maybe have Astronomy look for a likely cluster of asteroids. We could even send a jumper to scout for us
so we can go directly there and come directly back,” said Daryl.
Chuck almost blurted out, “No fucking way!” but then he began to work it through. Three quarters of the habitat’s interior walls were completed. Over a quarter of the interior was under pressure, the air breathable throughout. He began to calculate the number of crew, engineers and construction team members that would be required to continue construction there and back. He was also trying to figure out the right balance of supplies and personnel, then gave up.
Pulling his datapad from its holster, he fired it up and called out, “Genesis?”
“Yes, Chuck? How may I be of assistance?”
“Could you get Peanut on the line?”
“What up, Chuck?” Peanut said a moment later.
“I’m over at the hab with Daryl–”
“Hey, Daryl,” greeted Peanut.
“–and he’s come up with an idea I want you and Genesis to look at. Daryl wants to take the hab and go get the water needed for environmental, hydroponics, for cracking enough O2 for breathing and for reserves. Genesis, could you do a simulation on how large an ice asteroid we need, the logistics to convert it into the water we need for all departments, and enough to crack for air to fill the hab?”
“One moment,” replied the A.I., paused a moment, then continued, “The results have been sent to all of your datapads. The plan that Daryl proposed vastly reduces the time and resources needed to bring the new habitat to full operation. The only additional engineering equipment required are propulsion G-waves and double the number of shield emitters currently installed,” Genesis explained.
“Thank you, Genesis. We’ll review the plan and if there’s need for clarification, we’ll let you know.
“Very well. Is there anything else I may assist you with, Chuck?”
“Thank you, that will be all,” Chuck replied. “Looks like you had a brainstorm there, Daryl.”
“What do you think, Peanut?” asked Daryl.
“Genesis said the logistics work out, and more favorably than dragging an asteroid into orbit here—hell, we can drag another big one back with the hab for some extra H2O for over here!” Peanut said excitedly.
“All true, but we will have to get a whole lot of people to sign off on this if it’s going to happen,” said Chuck. “I’ll take the hit for the team and sell it to Chris.”
Peanut’s laugh was loud enough to distort the audio feed. “Better wear a flack jacket, brother,” he said when he caught his breath.
“Something I should know?” Daryl asked, clearly confused.
“You know about Chris’ temper?” asked Chuck.
“I don’t know, maybe. I heard something about your first trip to the moon, but don’t remember the details. Why? What’s up?”
“It’s a great story, Daryl, but let’s save it. The short answer is that Chris is no easy sell where there’s any risk to the colony or one of us. This plan isn’t too risky, but it does involve a Hail Mary in taking the hab so far from here. The crew would have to be all be volunteers, with construction continuing en route. There’s really no downside unless something happens to the hab, we can put in some temporary bulkheads like in a submarine, segment the living space. There’s a whole crap load of things to do before we can even think about leaving the colony. Don’t say anything to anyone until the three of us have had the chance to go over this plan from top to bottom. Then let’s get together where we won’t be disturbed and see if we can find any holes in it together. What say you, gentlemen?” asked Chuck.
“I’m in,” Peanut replied.
“Same here. I’m free Saturdays, or we can do it most any evening after dinner. I try to eat with the family every night,” Daryl explained.
“All right, let’s give it a day, then get together and work out all the kinks we can find,” said Chuck, getting a nod from Daryl and a “hell yeah” from Peanut over the comm channel.
“Good. I’m heading back to the colony. Glad we had a chance to talk, Daryl. Gotta jet. See you soon, Peanut.”
Chuck closed the comm channel, then had Genesis connect him to Benjamin.
“What’s up, Uncle Chuck?”
“When are you heading back? You have room for a tired old man to deadhead home?”
Benjamin laughed. “Actually, I have two seats available. I’m ferrying some of the work crew back to the colony. I’ll be departing in forty-five minutes.”
“Great. I’ll be waiting at the bottom of the lift—meet you there,” Chuck promised.
Chuck took a quick walk around the hab, checking out a couple of the engineering installations, then suited up and made it to the lift just as Benjamin and his passengers were sealing up their helmets.
The ride back to the colony was quiet. When Chuck got to the locker room in the spacesuit storage area, he decided to leave his suit liner on and head to his apartment. When he walked in the door of his and Iris’ quarters, she looked up in surprise seeing how he was dressed.
“Was there a party I didn’t know about, or did you lose a bet?” she asked.
Despite his fatigue, Chuck laughed, “I’m getting too old for this shit.”
“Go take a hot shower. By the time you’re done, I’ll have dinner on the table,” she said giving him a peck on the cheek.
Even though he wanted nothing more than to stay under the hot water for a couple of hours, then crawl into bed, Chuck was back in the kitchen in less than a half hour.
“Tough day?” Iris asked while he was setting the table.
“Not in a bad way. It was like in the very early days when we were so few that none of us ever really had a spare moment with trying to get everything done. But looking back, I really don’t remember anyone complaining about being tired, or not having enough time. But today was nonstop.”
Chuck ran down his itinerary, from starting out in his office to the visit to the hab, being flown both ways by Benjamin, and his weary walk home in his spacesuit jammies.
For Iris, the best part of the story was when Chuck volunteered to run the new proposal for getting the new hab’s water supply past Christopher.
By the time they were done eating, Chuck was just about all in. He helped clean up the dishes, then sat with Iris as they started to watch a movie, but twenty minutes into it, Chuck was nodding off. Iris woke him and took him to bed where his head barely hit the pillow and he was out for the night.
Work To Do
California had recovered from the drought that robbed the state of its water reserves in the decade before 2020, several years had seen quite a bit more precipitation. But with ambient temperatures rising across the entire globe, there was no real increase in snowfall that formed winter snow packs that traditionally replenished water tables.
Valerie’s San Francisco home’s concession to the possibility of any returning drought were two trees flanking the overhang at the front door, and where there might have been a small front lawn was an expanse of small, ocean-washed rocks she had collected and spread.
When Aidan arrived, the trip from Harmony having taken just under six hours, door-to-door, he was amused to find that the exterior was exactly like in her online neighborhood. This time, he could use the intercom with the camera for visitors to announce their presence, unlike in her virtual online neighborhood. Pressing the button, he immediately heard the door lock click open.
Aidan walked inside, pulling the door closed behind him, stood up his rolling bag, placing his backpack on top, and waited. From downstairs he heard, “Come on down!”
Descending into the lower level, Aidan saw the kitchen area, and then the full wall of windows that looked out over the bay. Before he reached the bottom of the stairs, Valerie was coming out of the bathroom, wiping her hands on a paper towel. She hurried over to give him a hug, which he happily returned.
“It’s so good to see you again,” Valerie said as she pulled back. “How was your trip? Did you find the house all right? Did you take a ca
b all the way from the airport? Are you hungry? I was just about to make some sandwiches and a fruit salad. That okay with you? Otherwise we can go out!” she said in rapid fire fashion.
“Whoa! Slow down! Give me a second to try to begin to answer at least one of the five questions you asked,” Aidan said, smiling at her enthusiasm.
“Sorry, sorry. Okay, how was your flight out?” she asked.
“It was fine. I got some reading done on the way, almost finished a book I’ve been wanting to get to for over a year.”
“Good Now the important question, what do you want for lunch?” she asked.
“Which ever you prefer. If you want to get to work right away, we can stay in. Otherwise I would be honored to escort you to someplace nice; you decide,” Aidan offered.
Valerie laughed. “How gallant. Let’s eat in for now, then we can go out for dinner. That sound all right?”
“Sure. That works for me. Plus, I have an idea that I want to run past you when we take a break. So what it is that you wanted my help on?” asked Aidan.
“Let’s talk while I put lunch together.”
“Sure, need any help?”
“Nope. Paper plates okay? Or, I can break out the good China.”
Aidan laughed. “Nothing special for me. So what is this project that’s so important that you wanted me here?”
“In a nutshell, I want to investigate the possibility of putting a small bank of lasers together so I can get much higher resolution for my VR displays. I want an initial array of five-by-five lasers for testing, for proof of principle. Several arrays, actually. And the tracking lenses must be the fastest. There's some patent potential if everything works out. Licensing too, if someone like the military decides to buy into the technology. Any laser-based stuff is yours, I want to work the graphical processing angle. What do you say?”
“Damn, girl! You really take that make no small plans thing seriously!” he said, chuckling. “But yeah, what you want can be done. It’s gonna run damn hot though. Cooling is going to be the biggest problem.”
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