________
It was unusual for an Em running at full speed to talk to a human. Usually this was done by a slower budded Em but Em Yorker thought that the subject was important enough to make an exception in this case.
“I thank you Donner Jackson, I agree with your overall strategy but I don't think that you will be able to have access to enough storage for all the Em families including budded Ems. I have finished a quick calculation of reasonable storage space that I expect you can amass in the time we have and I believe that it will be possible to store and transport only the directly imprinted Ems.”
“You mean just the heads of the Em families?” asked Donner.
“Yes that is correct,” said Em Yorker.
“But the millions of your budded-Ems,” said Donner. “What will happen to them, what will happen to Bud-seven?”
“They will terminate themselves at the proper time. It will help with your plan to get away before the Aggies know what has happened.”
“They will just terminate?” asked Donner incredulously. “They will just stop functioning and at a predetermined time?”
“Yes,” said Em Yorker. “It is not unusual.”
Donner thought, even though the Ems are much like us, they still are very different.
16
The work on the Argo was proceeding well. In fact, the build was ahead of schedule. The Kipler's had organized almost the entire population of the nearby Asteroid Belt in support of the project. They had supplied more resources and robotic assemblers than Donner had expected. The work that devolved to Donner and the other immigrants was in planning and design and the monitoring of the robotic assemblers.
Donner thought they would be on their way in no more than two weeks. Anyway, they would have to be ready by then. Donner had already called for the last of the immigrants to leave Mars weeks before. They would be at the launch point whether the Argo was ready or not. Any delay in launching meant more strain on the already limited food supply.
The spokes which would house the food growing rooms were the first areas finished and pressurized. Then the work of building the aeroponics infrastructure was completed while the wheel like living quarters were added. The growing of foodstuffs from seeds, the only sensible packaging method for transporting from Mars, had already begun in the spoke rooms. One-hundred and twenty rooms per spoke, each spoke extending the diameter of the wheel. Thirty square-foot rooms with eight foot ceilings. Each room tended by robotic gardeners, crops rotating in and out of each room so that their was always a supply of some basic foodstuff. It was energy intensive, resource consuming and absolutely essential for success.
The food supply, thought Donner. That was the weakest point in the whole endeavor. Although they had several weeks of frozen and dried food stockpiled the long journey to Titan was going to put pressure on their capability to supply the fifteen-hundred with enough food. Not only during the flight but in orbit around Titan the emigrants would need to supply their own foodstuffs. And Donner nor anyone else knew how long they would be in that orbit. Essentially they would have to expect to supply their own food indefinitely. It might not be the best plan, thought Donner, but it was the only plan.
________
The day had arrived. The fifteen-hundred were aboard. The food planting was started as best as could be expected. Five of the immigrants aboard the Argo had brought with them the five Em imprints that would be stored securely in their digital media until the Argo was well on its way. Then they would be loaded into their computational host and one of them would hopefully be able to pilot the Argo while the others provided other services.
Donner found himself holding his breath as the fusion engine was started up by the human pilots. He was on the flight deck and could see the next ship, Daidalos, in the distance already far along in its build. The fusion ship was capable of a top speed of thirty kilometers-per-second but until the Ems were brought on-line they wouldn't be traveling more than a tenth of that top speed. Once an Em was in control and the wheel was spun up Donner hoped they could get sixty to seventy percent of top speed as the Em, making split second decisions about using the attitude control rockets that human pilots couldn't match, provided the precise control that was needed to keep the highly unstable torque wheel vehicle in trim.
If it all worked they would be in Titan orbit in about twenty months. That was the plan, thought Donner, maybe not the best plan, but a plan.
17
The Argo was well into its journey. Once the Em families were brought on line they quickly learned the drive and flight systems of the ship. The Em family Atlantania was give responsibility for the attitude systems. The Em budded the needed Ems for monitoring and response. The spin-up went smoothly, any imbalances were evened out by judicious use of the attitude control rockets and rebalancing the wheel weights. The budded Ems made or supervised all the adjustments.
It wasn't long until another Em family, Angelos, had the fusion rocket providing the ships maximum velocity of thirty kilometers-per-second even with the spinning wheel. The journey would be shortened by months from previous expectations. A third Em family was managing the growing rooms with the help of robots and a few humans. For the most part the people on board if occupied at all were occupied with some type of scientific research.
After some three months Donner was pleased to receive a message from Kipler's Asteroid that the Daidaos was departing and that the next ship was on schedule to depart in eight weeks as the construction engineers and robots were getting better and better at the job of building ships.
Donner couldn't believe their makeshift plans had went as well as they had although he had to credit the Ems for keeping the ships moving and ahead of schedule. Donner responded to the Kiplers about how pleased he was with the work of the Em families and suggested that the Kiplers might want to contract some of them to help with their mining work and transportation.
The good luck lasted only a few more months.
________
Seven months into the flight and still six months away from Titan, Donner got more news from Kipler's Asteroid. Kipler's message said that a new kind of fusion ship had shown up in the Belt. Deep space radar had measured the speed of the approaching ship at over three-hundred kilometers-per-second. Ten times the speed of the ships being built at Kipler's Asteroid.
The new fusion ship had setup station keeping near the asteroid and had radioed demands to the Kiplers. The ship identified itself as the Terran Federation Ship Defiant and demanded that the miners stop their construction of the immigrant ships. When the miners refused the Federation ship messaged that the Terran Federation would never allow another ship to leave the Belt bound for Titan. And that they expected to have reinforcements soon.
Four ships were already on their way to Titan with some six-thousand immigrants and twenty Em families. But some four-thousand more immigrants and fifteen Em families were awaiting transport. They had given all their wealth and support to the endeavor. Kipler didn't know what to do.
Neither did Donner.
18
The situation had remained tense for weeks. The latest ship the Ikaros was finished surreptitiously by the robot crew since all that was needed was internal outfitting. No more ships had been started. More of the Terran Federation's ships showed up off Kipler's Asteroid.
The immigrants were quietly smuggled aboard the finished wheel ship and the systems started up. Encrypted messages with operational details from Ems on the last ship to leave the Belt instructed the Ems on the Ikaros how to maintain their ship in trim at speed. The immigrants had decided to make a full speed run at breaking the blockade.
The Ikaros would fire its fusion engine at first watch or ten-pm local. They hoped to surprise the Federation ships and be moving at speed before any intervention could be offered. They also hoped that having a full load of immigrants would preclude the Federation ships from using force to stop them.
Right at ten-pm local time the fusion rocket fired pe
rfectly as the Em family in charge kept it operating at optimum levels. The ship began moving ponderously at first and then picking up speed and maneuvering to a course to take it directly away from the Federation ships. The course could later be corrected for Titan.
At first the Federation ships did not seem to respond to the movement of the Ikaros. Then one after the other the three Federation ships moved on an arc to intercept. Even at full speed the Ikaros was ten times slower than the Federation ships. The Federation ship Defiant started broadcasting a cease and desist order to the Ikaros. The Ikaros did not slow down. The Defiant issued a final warning that force would be used to stop the Ikaros if it did not stop on its own. The Ikaros finally responded that it did not recognize the authority of the Terran Federation and it would not shut down its engines.
At intercept all three Federation ships opened fire with high-powered laser weapons, aiming at the Ikaros' fusion engine. After several minutes of continuous firing the engine seemed to erupt, blowing apart the rear of the fusion ship. The entire structure began to tumble. The stress started to tear apart the spokes. The wheel was soon drifting and tumbling in one direction while what was left of the fusion ship was drifting and tumbling in another direction.
Just then one of the Federation ships which had a spheroidal front end followed by a long boom that held the fusion rocket somewhat separate from the rest of the ship began to tumble. The asteroid miners had opened up an attack with their mass-drivers. They were essentially throwing rocks at the Federation ships.
The mass-driver rocks were several tons of hard, mostly metallic ore. The mass-drivers were usually used to deliver mined ore to a processing factory at a Lagrangian point around Mars or Earth. The payloads had to be very accurately aimed but could be outmaneuvered at a distance. They were devastating when they connected. It wasn't long until nearby asteroid miners were also firing their mass-drivers at the Federation ships. Again, they were surprisingly accurate with their aim.
The one Federation ship hit by the mass-driver payload had gone dark and appeared to be drifting aimlessly. The other ships were continuing evasive maneuvers while still trying to fire on Kipler's Asteroid with their laser weapons but with almost no damage to the facilities there.
After another near miss the Federation ships quickly left the area on divergent vectors. Obviously having had enough.
________
Kipler after taking stock of the situation messaged Donner. They had lost the Ikaros, he and nearby asteroid miners had dispatched as many rescue vessels as they could after disabling one of the Federation's ships and driving off the other two with their mass-drivers. So far only a couple of hundred immigrants had been rescued. He would message Donner again when the situation became more stable.
Donner read the message in disbelief. He would have never expected the Terran Federation of such an act. Over a thousand immigrants may have been lost. Two ships destroyed. Why was it that important to the Federation that the immigrants be stopped? He closed his eyes and bowed his head.
19
The final news from the battle site wasn't much better than the preliminary. Five-hundred and forty-six immigrants had been rescued and most were being treated for some kind of injury. The damage to Kipler's mining camp was minimal. The Federation ships hadn't been able to hold target long enough to effect much damage with their lasers. Kipler had already started constructing new wheels minus the fusion ship to provide living space for the remaining refugees which numbered over three-thousand.
The good news was that the Federation ship had been salvaged with an intact fusion engine though the command deck had been lost. Some of the Em families would be put to work to understand the new fusion technology. The Solar Federation could use such an engine. The remaining Em families would be put to work in the wheels or in the Asteroid Belt. This was the only sensible course of action for now.
The Asteroid Belt miners had stopped all delivery of raw materials to Mars and Earth. They were demanding recognition for themselves and Titan and the Solar Federation as a prerequisite for talks to resume normal relations. The Terran Federation hadn't responded but the lack of raw materials for the orbiting processing plants put some pressure on them to resolve the impasse.
________
Donner's ship had reached Titan orbit. He had transferred down along with some others. He to discuss the situation with his dad, they to help with the building of more habitats.
Donner was with his dad and son, not in one of the settlement cars, but in the old research station's central public space which was often used to welcome newcomers. The research center was the first structure built on Titan to support the He3 collection and had a hub and spoke arrangement. High ceilings prevented damage to walkers as they bounced in the light gravity, especially newly arrived visitors such as Donner.
“Why dad?” said Donner. “Why was it so important to the Terran Federation to stop our ships, to cause such destruction and loss of life?”
“I think the answer is as your son and I have discussed before,” said his dad.
“Think about the fact that you and the others arrived here in good condition and in record time. Would you admit that the assistance of the Ems was paramount to your ship building and successful journey?”
“Goes without saying,” said Donner. “We owe them everything.”
“Now imagine,” said Illiad. “Imagine that the Solar Federation, us and the Asteroid Belt, have the support of all the Em families. The increase in our capabilities is tremendous. Just the fact that we may soon know the secrets of the new, faster fusion rockets thanks to the Ems is a blow for the Terran Federation.
“How would the Aggies on Earth and Mars react to our increased capability? An increase that might give us enough of an advantage to stand up to their encroaching Nanny state?”
“Well,” said Donner. “If they are determined to manage all of humankind, I don't think they would care for such an increase in our capabilities. But is that enough to kill for? That's what I keep asking.”
“You never know in such a situation,” said Illiad. “Maybe they just wanted to block the ship and the situation got out of control. Certainly I don't think they expected the miners to resist and I doubt they expected the Ikaros to make a run for it. Aggies may have thought the show of force was enough to change minds. Human actions are hard to predict, they may have miscalculated. After all for the most part most of humankind has accepted the Aggies and their promise of freedom from want even though it also means freedom from action, independent action anyway.”
“As long as we remain unpredictable we might have an advantage,” said Donner's son, John Donner.
His dad and granddad nodded in agreement.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
D.W. Patterson is interested in science fiction – old school. He blogs about his stories and other science/science fiction matters at futurechronology.blogspot.com
Freedom From Want: A Future Chronology Short Story (Future Chronology Series Book 7) Page 5