by Dain White
“Gene, I am glad you asked. I am currently fabricating parts for a small-form tokamak. I would really appreciate it if you could help me check my math.”
“I would be honored, my dear.” he said reverentially.
The captain floated back in with refills for Yak and I, and I realized I have chatted completely through my two-off, and it was time to come back on shift.
Good thing I had a fresh cup of sleep-replacer.
Chapter 3
Dak found me napping. I don't know how, but he's finally caught me at it, and I will never hear the end of it.
I was doing so well, but I had been working so hard. These tired old bones needed rest, and I had made so much progress. I found a nice, comfortable spot to hook my feet, loosened the belt just enough to let me float a bit off the couch and shut my eyes – but only for a moment!
Unfortunately… that moment stretched on a little longer than I planned.
“Gene, rise and shine, sleepy-head.” a voice called, drifting down the halls. I was inexplicably holding a small stuffed animal, and wandering down a hallway lined with doors that kept getting smaller and smaller.
“Gene…” the voice said louder, taking on a more strident urgency that pulled me forward against my will. I raced toward the exit, and crawled through the opening, but behind that was another door I had to slither through like a snake. I had to get my shoulders sideways for the next door, but it was constricting as I slid through it, breathing hard and racing for escape. I pulled desperately, but my hips wouldn't fit, and I could tell my head wouldn’t fit through the next.
I was trapped.
“CAPTAIN ON DECK!” the captain bellowed, in his best parade voice.
He has a very commanding parade voice.
I snapped awake in a moment and would have been halfway to Mars if I wasn't wearing my belt. My dream faded into the shadows, as I blinked myself awake.
“Sorry Captain...” I started to say, and then trailed off sheepishly as the realization of what had just happened started to sink in.
“Napping, eh?” he said with a severe face.
I didn't say anything. I was mortified. I couldn't believe what a mess this was. He was going to use this, for the rest of my natural life. I will never get a moment of rest from this.
“Mister, are you aware that sleeping on shift is rank dereliction of duty?” he asked in a level voice I am not sure I’ve ever heard.
“Sir, I know. I just--”
“Closed your eyes?” he offered, with a half-smile.
“Yes. I am sorry Captain.”
“Gene, I can’t believe I have to do this. It pains me to be put in this position, but the sad truth here, is you need this. It's unacceptable for you to fall asleep while you are on shift. You need to learn from this experience, and you need to learn from this lesson. As the Captain of this vessel, I am hereby commanding you that, you are never, ever, allowed to let your caffeine level drop to dangerous levels like that again.” He passed over a full cup of coffee – his own personal cup, and completely full of coffee.
If I wasn’t belted in, I might have fallen out of my chair. I would have expected anything, but for him to actually give me his cup of coffee? I considered the possibility, albeit briefly, that this may have still been a dream.
“I mean it, mister”, he continued with a giga-parsec stare leveled at me from beneath bristling brows, “Heed this warning well. Falling asleep is what you do when you’re not on shift, when you have the luxury to dream, and get real rest. You sleep on shift and you’re going to just hurt your efficiency.” He winced slightly as I took a deep sip from his cup.
“Dak I know… I am sorry. It won’t happen again.” I punctuated it with another deep pull off his cup, then handed it back. He looked at it like it was a victim of a disaster, needing a hug and a warm blanket.
“Gene. I know you nap. Heck, we all nap. You know, one time on a patrol in Regulan, I took a nap?”
“Just once?” I asked politely.
“Don't you start with me, mister… I might just have you weld us up a nice keel so I can have a place to haul you out-system.”
As much as I wanted to laugh, I didn’t. You never know with Dak. He might actually have me do it. “I am just beat, Dak. I've been really pouring it on the past few days. Janis is sure making it easy to do this sort of work, but it's still a lot of climbing, crawling, lifting… I’m not a young man anymore.”
The captain smirked. “Gene, we're in null-g. How much lifting are you doing, really?” he chided with a wink. He knows full well how hard it is to move mass in null-g, so I just sniffed politely through a scowl.
“In any case, I meant to come back earlier and see what sort of progress you were making back here. From the look of our cargo bay, you and Shorty must have bought just about everything Tranquility had.”
I laughed. “Well, we were under strict orders, as you recall.”
“Be that as it may, I am still impressed at how much you both managed to spend, to be honest. I didn't think you were going to be able to dent our balance.”
“Well, I probably wouldn't have except for the new drives. Shorty's gear though, that was some spendy stuff. That girl knows how to burn a budget. Not even my tools came close. Pauli though… he just about spent as much as both of us put together on those cores. I am sure glad I had one of those handy when we refit the Archaea – we might have worked our entire career and not have been able to afford one.”
“You know… might and maybe are words I don’t really use these days, not after having met Janis.” He took a sip, and then continued. “As much as I appreciate the effort, while you may have put a nice little dent in our bankroll, that’s about all you did, mister. Next time I am going to request it be spent more lavishly. Some of these parts here,” he looked around at the still piled crates and packing materials, “can’t you mill any of these out of gold, and then chrome plate it or something? We need to get the rest of those crates out of our bay.”
“Well, I suppose I could redo a lot of our electricals with it, now that you mention it.” I offered. Gold wasn’t really a good replacement for a part made out of titanium, but as a conductor it was first rate.
“Well, that won’t do much. I suppose we could make some deck plates out of it and paint them or something… If there’s any left after I restock our coffee, which reminds me, one moment.” He looked up from his cup. “Janis dear, please place an order with Montana Coffee Traders for 100 kilos of their best beans, a full assortment - fresh roasted and vacuum packed.”
“I have placed the order sir”, she replied less than a second after he had finished talking. “It will be ready for pickup when we will be able to take delivery.”
“But Janis, we’re headed out-system, pretty far off into the fringe, in fact. Do you know when we’re going to be back?”
“Of course I do, sir.”
“So we do make it back from this adventure?”
“I believe that will be your intention, sir.”
He flashed me a wink.
“Your confidence is pretty infective my dear, very well. On the subject of coffee, do we have enough on hand to make it to that point in time?”
“Unfortunately we do not.” She said, sadly. Right as the captain started to work his jaw to try and order engines full reverse, she added, “At least, not without significant rationing, sir”, she said with a low chuckle.
Dak looked sternly at his cup for a moment, and then smiled. “Well, at least I won’t run out…”
I groaned.
“In any case Gene, I am sorry I interrupted your little nap, but we are just about to our halfway point, and I believe you said that you needed to drop power to the tokamak to do some work?”
“That’s correct, but it should be minimal, Dak, just the work of a few moments. The new plasma pumps are all set up and ready to install, I just need to scram, cool her off, and drop them in. It’s a pretty simple process.
I hesitated a moment,
then added, “I am a little more concerned about the work we need to do on the sensor package, to be honest.”
I was not very keen on having Janis blind. We were in a very busy area of Sol system, and probably moving right along, if I know the captain.
“Well, we need those online sooner than later, Gene. That's the other reason I am keeping you awake.” I sighed as a tiny part of me died inside. This was one joke that was simply never going to end.
“Dak, we are facing a pretty significant engineering challenge with the sensors. Before we need to even think about installation, I need to complete the process of merging the prototype gravimetrics with the new sensor array package.
“Is that a hard process?” he asked.
“Well, it’s a hardware issue, really.” I said, as I unclipped and kicked towards the starboard bulkhead racks where I had a work area set up. “The prototype isn’t really standard; they hadn’t really gotten around to tooling this up for a specific sensor package. This is pretty much what I have to do – we’re essentially completing their prototype.”
He floated down for a closer inspection of the sensor mounts. “Well, if anyone could, you’re the man for it. I am a little confused though… I thought you said these things were all modular?”
“Well, normally they are, but Janis wanted a specific one, sir, one that happened to be a prototype, test model, not a finished product from the catalog. By the time they took this baby to market, they’d have adapted it to snap right in. This is a hardware interface sort of process, really. I just need to figure out how to fit tab A, into slot B.” It was a little more complex than that, of course.
“Well, that doesn’t sound too hard, but worth your best effort all the same.” He pulled himself around the sensor array, looking at the various components I was re-routing to make room for the new gravimetric sensor. “What sort of time frame are we looking at for getting this ready to install?”
“Maybe another day, Skipper”, I said, running through the list in my mind and immediately doubting myself. “It might take me a little longer, but not much.”
“Well, as long as you can stay awake.” He said with a fear-inducing eyebrow tuned precisely for maximum shock value, and looked me in the eye for another moment.
“Very well, Gene. As your Captain, and until this current crisis is over, I am hereby ordering you on double-rations of coffee.” He smiled, adding “Because I am your friend, however, I will take pity on you and drink half of your ration. As much as I need you alert, I don’t want you to become too 'jittery', whatever that means.”
Janis broke in before I was able to respond, saving him from a withering scowl of such ferocious magnitude, I might have pulled muscles.
“Gene, please be advised that I have completed the remaining components to complete the sensor array. Would you like me to deliver them?”
With a little more time to work up, I fired off my ultimate scowl towards Dak, only to have it deftly fenced by an adroit eyebrow.
“Captain, do you know what she is talking about?”
“Not precisely Gene, though I have my guesses. Janis, please proceed to deliver those components to engineering.”
“I shall do so Captain.”
We didn't have long to wait. The engineering lock opened, and a… machine floated in that looked like an overgrown ant that moved like an octopus. It moved with unparalleled precision through the null-g environment, smoothly transitioning between grabbers with highly articulated limbs terminated in four opposable appendages.
The limbs moved very gracefully, with a full range of motion – they seemed to be able to function as 'hands' or 'feet' as needed. The limbs were attached to a smooth, almost featureless carapace that appeared to have compartments, strong-points, and retractable clamps.
I made these observations as if I was floating somewhere far away from where I was. As strange as it seemed, I forced myself to reconsider that this could all be a very strange dream, and that it would be a pretty good idea to wake up before Dak caught me napping. I didn’t wake up, sadly, and had to come to grips with the fact that I was looking at something real.
The machine moved nearly silently, making a low hum you could hardly hear over the background noise, and it’s pretty quiet back here when we’re not burning the drives or ramping up the tokamak.
It was flawlessly engineered, and looked to be formed rather than built, like liquid alloy. As we stood by in shock, it glided across the room and placed a crate full of parts and components near the sensor array.
“Gene, would it be okay with you if I began assembly?” Janis asked, sweetly.
“That would be great, Janis.” I tried to say, though the sound I actually made was a rough croak and a cough as I inhaled some extra drool. She seemed to get the message, and started working.
I was captivated by the lithe motion of the machine as it started pulling parts out of the crate, and almost completely overwhelmed by a wave of unexpected admiration.
It seems that nothing has the ability to catch Dak off guard, however. “Janis, please excuse Gene, he appears to be overcome with envy.” he smiled at me. “This is some damn fine machinery, dear.”
“Thank you sir.” she said proudly.
I swallowed loudly and composed myself. “Janis, he’s right – this is exceptional work. Do you mind if I take a closer look?”
“Not at all Gene, please do.”
The captain and I kicked closer. The larger appendages on the ends of the limbs that were working on assembly had folded back, and four smaller opposable 'fingers' had emerged from sockets. They were manipulating tools with incredible precision, with a motion that looked organic.
“What is this using for power, Janis?”
“Gene, this unit uses a simple fuel cell with a gallium-aluminum reactant to generate hydrogen, which is then catalyzed.”
“Interesting… how much water does it require?”
“There is a four-liter tank that will last for six standard months, depending on the amount of usage, though I am utilizing condensers to charge the tank from atmospheric humidity. I reclaim the alumimum from the hydride left over from the reactant to produce additional reactant for the process. It is foamed to have a high surface area, and quite easy to install in block form.” A panel opened up and ejected a shimmering foam block cartridge. I pushed it back in, and the panel slid closed.
“Janis, that is...” I trailed off. I was transfixed by the precise, unfailing, surgical motions the limbs were performing, but even more impressed by the working space. If Shorty was doing the work, the entire area would have become a snarl of tool tethers in just a few moments. I don't think I would have been able to keep a work area this well-organized.
“Janis, what are you using for actuators? Are these pneumatic, or hydraulic?”
“Neither of those methods provided me with the capabilities I required. I used nanotech fabricants to assemble chained-molecules of electrochemical myofibers that function similarly to muscles at the cellular level. The fibers contract and expand when current is applied.”
“What do you do when the components fail? Wouldn't those fibers require continuity to function correctly?”
“They do… however with fabricants the maintenance layer can be engineered in at a molecular level using specialized assemblies. You stated that systems need support systems, to reduce maintenance requirements, and this methodology supports that tenet. Because I wanted a proactive response, the maintenance fabricants rely on fiber continuity for their survival, and are motivated to seek and correct faults in the myofibers. I suppose you would consider them symbiotic, in the purest sense.”
“Janis, I have very little experience with fabricants, to be honest. This really sounds like something Pauli would work with.”
“Gene, he has assisted me greatly in the design and implementation of these components. Steven is positively brilliant in this specific field.” As usual, whenever she spoke of or about Pauli, her voice took on a respectfu
l tone.
Dak spoke up, “Janis, just so you are both aware… I don’t even know what language you’re speaking at the moment. You lost me at the word ‘gallium’ a while back. I feel like I am reading an old sci-fi novel at this point.”
Janis laughed brightly. “In one sense sir, the only difference is scale. Nanotech requirements are similar to any other mechanical system, the implementation of assemblers, support, and reclamation units drive the process.”
“Um, well I am going to take your word for that Janis”, Dak said with a smile. He and I (and probably Janis) knew he understood far more of this than he wanted us to believe. Part of his secret to success is that he does actually know a little more than he needs to be dangerous, about damn near everything.
We took a moment more to watch, and I caught his eye. “Dak, we need to make sure we have enough funds left over to keep our material stocks up. Janis should have been in charge of this a long time ago.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “I agree Gene, this is really astounding stuff.” We both watched the assembler's limbs unerringly seek and select individual tools using impossibly precise movements. “Janis, how are you able to see?” he asked, after a few moments. I was curious about that as well, from looking over the smooth carapace there didn't seem to be any indication of visual inputs.
“Captain, I am not utilizing visual light as you do. I guess it is safe to say that I don't 'see', rather, I sense through passive and active receptors placed strategically through the unit. I sense my environment through wave-triangulation of various wavelengths of energy. Sound, for example, works very well for passive sensors, though I utilize other frequencies during active scanning for precision location of manipulator units.”
“But what if you were to need to see something visual, like... well, what if you wanted to see Gene's scowl?” he said with a smirk.
“Is there a reason to do so, sir?” she said innocently.
He laughed, while I fixed him with a look. “Janis, not as such, no… it is safe to assume he is scowling as the situation requires. I've been doing that for years, and it's never let me down. In contrast, you do not need to see me to know that I am smiling whenever you speak. You make me more proud with every passing day.” He smiled and tossed me a wink. The man was a charmer. “Now, Gene, on the other hand... he's looking more and more obsolete as time goes on.”