To Touch the Stars (Founding of the Federation Book 2)

by Chris Hechtl

“Is that a roundabout way of telling me your next public design will be closer in design to our own?” Jack asked, clearly amused as he eyed the silver haired man.

  Reg shrugged. “I'm not sure, to be honest our people are trying to figure out how yours works. They may learn a few things. I'm trying to light fires under their tuckus', but it isn't easy.” He grimaced.

  “I've been talking with the board about the design of our force emitters and hyperdrive. You have better sensors than we do; perhaps we can collaborate there? Or do a trade?”

  “It's certainly possible,” Reg said slowly, not sure if he wanted to trade on their friendship or not. His instincts told him to lean, but … “I can't commit like you, but I can take the concept to the board.”

  Jack nodded. “Good, as I said, same here. We're about even on life support, though I heard you are a couple percentage points more efficient with energy transfer methods. I think you have a couple tricks in your tool box we don't. Perhaps some licensing trades might be in order.” He cocked his head expectantly.

  “That is … certainly an … interesting proposal,” the CEO said finally as he seemed to think the idea over. From his expression he was eager and happy things were going so smoothly. Jack was fairly sure Reg knew it wasn't charity, that Jack honestly wanted them to catch up. Pavilion and the Chinese he could care less about. No, scratch that, he hoped they failed. He hated their cutthroat, underhanded business practices. Sharing the stars with such people bothered him on many levels.

  “Think about it. I'd rather mankind got to the stars together with a united front. The competition is great, but Reg you need to get moving if you're going to catch up.”

  “Don't I know it,” the CEO replied darkly.

  “Well, we've got more infrastructure. Your insistence on using antimatter is your Achilles heel I believe. You should have invested in fusion reactor tech or even old fashioned fission if fusion was too much for you.” Jack shook his head. Trey's people had looked at the idea and had followed along with it for a couple years before advances in capacitors, room temperature superconductors, and better force emitter efficiency had allowed them to abandon it. The fusion reactor didn't give them the instant power of antimatter, but they also didn't waste half their energy in neutrinos either. Capturing that explosion of energy was one of the ongoing problems Star Reach was still struggling to resolve. So far they hadn't had much luck getting above 40 percent efficiency. Which explained why their hyperdrives were better in some ways but 100 times more costly.

  “I'm … the cost of antimatter is dropping. It is down to what, a couple million per gram now?” Reg asked then shook his massive bear like head. “Especially since you keep driving down the cost of energy with your solar initiative and plasma tap,” he teased. “One wonders if you were doing all that to help us out,” he said with a broad hint.

  “We're certainly doing our best to try,” Jack said with a smile in his voice. He knew how the other companies hated that, the utility companies had been holding the price of electricity at a flat rate to maintain their profit margin. His entry into the field and competition had changed that. That was too bad for them. By driving the cost of energy down, it inserted fresh competition into the market … and forced them to think of new innovative ways to create and deliver energy. It also meant the energy that he sent to the microwave stations on the ground and into the electrical grid helped to push mankind further away from its maddening dependency on fossil fuels. A century into the negative effects of global warming and fossil fuels were still around.

  The problem with Star Reach was they were reliant on the grid to power their particle accelerators to make antimatter. And to date his spies had reported they only had a couple grams of the stuff which they used in yearly tests. The tests served to show their shareholders that they were making progress, and it made for a spectacular fireworks show to the media. But it was starting to generate a backlash of hysterical people concerned about what would happen if antimatter was unleashed as a bomb.

  Which was probably a good thing, Jack mused. He was pretty sure some general somewhere liked the idea of an antimatter weapon. Mankind had speculated about antimatter weapons tech for over 150 years. Making a bomb that could replace their aging nuclear weapons stockpile and was about a centimeter in size per bomb would be very appealing to someone somewhere. He was glad Star Reach refused to accept the occasional government contract feelers. They needed the money, but they stuck to their principles. Largely because of Reg he realized. He felt a pang of worry about the future when Reg passed on the reins to someone else.

  “Well, we're going to do something. What I'm not sure at this point, and I can't discuss it at this time with a competitor anyway,” Reg said.

  “True,” Jack replied.

  “See you at the next charity golf tournament in L5?” Reg asked.

  “Pass. I'm not big on public appearances. And since Aurelia had the baby, she's not interested, thank space.”

  “She's not interested in traveling?” Reg asked.

  “No. She wants time to bond with the baby.”

  “How are they doing?”

  “Fine, fine. He came in at a healthy 3.7 kilograms. He was a bit red, but the color changed once he stopped screaming his head off. I will say this, the lad has lungs,” he said wryly.

  “Good to hear. Or not,” Reg quipped.

  Jack rolled his eyes. “Yeah. I'm not looking forward to when he goes through teething,” Jack sighed. Reg chuckled.

  “You'll get through it. Just patience. I did. Admittedly I was a coward half the time and hid in the office as much as possible,” Reg said, grinning. Jack snorted. “You are a bit late starting your family, but you'll survive and thrive.”

  Jack nodded. “Definitely. Aurelia's already planning for a sibling. I'm going to make her wait a couple years though. I think once she realizes the sheer work involved she might back off. I hope.”

  “Hope,” Reg chuckled. “Don't bet on it.”

  “With that woman?” Jack shook his head, smiling. “She's stubborn as the day is long. And if she doesn't get her … ahem way one way, she'll find an alternative. With or without my consent. She's already made it clear that's not a threat; it's a promise,” he said in mock disgust.

  Reg sputtered and then laughed. Jack chuckled himself. He was a bit embarrassed at being so candid, but Reg was a friend as well as an enemy. They'd known each other for nearly fifty years.

  “Good luck with that,” Reg said as his chuckles settled into bass rumbles. “And thanks for that, I've needed a good laugh for a while,” he said, patting his tummy expansively.

  “You're welcome. I think,” Jack said. “Just don't pass it on to the tabloids. I've got enough headaches,” he said shaking his head.

  That sobered Reg a bit. “I know. Me too. Well, take care. Send me a gig of pics of your lovely wife and child when you can,” Reg said.

  “I will,” Jack said. “Just as soon as Aurelia lets me. She's banned cameras around her right now, something about a lingering fat issue.”

  That got another sputter from Reg. Jack snorted. “Sheila went through it with our first two. Aurelia will get over it eventually. She'll regret not having the time period documented later.”

  “Oh, it is. I've got the camera feeds recording it anyway,” Jack said with a malicious smile. “Every little bit. Which might come in handy when I want to blackmail my son with a bare bottom photo when he's a teen,” he said, “if his mother lets me live when she finds out.”

  Reg barked a laugh and then wiped at his eyes. “Yes definitely. They get all mortified when you embarrass them as a teen. Believe me, it is a handy weapon to have tucked away in your arsenal. Just don't abuse it.”

  “I won't. I am looking forward to using it though,” Jack said, smiling again. He was pretty sure young Zack was going to put his parents through all sorts of hoops, heart flutters, near heart attacks, the whole bit before he settled down. Getting even with the sprout was something Jack was pre
tty sure he would relish.

  “Take care,” Reg said, waving a meaty hand to the camera.

  “You too. Say hi to Sheila and the brat pack.”

  “Will do. Sheila's … slowing down, but we're working on it. Take it easy,” Reg said as he cut the connection.

  Chapter 10

  October 2158

  Over the next three years, the construction teams worked to complete the subassemblies and then join them into blocks, then grand-blocks that were then towed into the ship's building slip and added to the body of the growing ship. “It goes together like ancient Legos,” Charlie commented when he stopped by the observation deck to check out the progress.

  “Hopefully, it does go like that,” Sven replied through his suit com.

  “Don't bet on it. There is always something,” Charlie grumbled. His eyes searched the building slip but he couldn't pick out Sven's gold suit. There was too much organized chaos going on with robots and suited humans moving components about. They had started on the core of the middeck and then built out to the outer frame and hull. Now they were building on either and adding two-four grand blocks a week … that was when they didn't run into a snag.

  “Don't I know it,” Sven answered, “but that's the name of the game.”

  While the ship was under construction, the ship's crew trained in virtual simulators as much as they could stand. Virtual simulations and sleep teaching were standard training methods, but each had their limits and drawbacks. The first starship captain-to-be, Mussad Locke, was not happy about using the virtual sims. The captain was unsure about the potential for dolphin crew members, as well as having a ship AI. He'd worked with smart computers and ship computers, but having one this sophisticated made him uneasy.

  He made it clear in memos up the chain of command that they needed full real simulators. He was old school; he'd risen through the ranks of the inner system ships plying the space lanes. He'd spent decades honing his leadership and spacer skills. Charlie backed him since building the full bridge as a functional mock-up would give them a chance to check the ergonomics and how things functioned as well as give the crew more realistic training time. However, their request fell on deaf ears for months.

  Until they could get someone to listen and open up their wallet, the officers would have to be content with the virtual sims and the occasional guided tour of the ship as it was being constructed. They did get chances to give their input on the design to allow it to be customized to their comfort and needs.

  Training included the fins who had to train with virtual simulators. Training wasn't just practicing at the helm … building up their muscle memory and reflexes, but also learning how to better interact with the two-legs and building up the length of time they could handle being in the cybernetic link.

  Kaku for his part realized that. He'd devoured everything he could on helming a ship. His friendship with Captain Locke had steered a few conversations to how the bridge watch functioned … which had sparked his interest there and in officers and crew duties. He realized he and his people had a lot to learn.

  Kathy worked her team to improve the ergonomics of the sling as well as the implants and their feeds. They had started with the same sling the dolphins had been using for the past decade controlling robots or accessing the net. The dolphin would rest his or her body in the sling loosely, head first into the control station. They gripped hand holds with their fins to keep them in and from moving from side to side. A robotic armature would descend to plug a jack into their cerebral implant while the view screen in front of them would come on. The curved screen was specially designed for their people. It was able to feed them visual data like a human's virtual reality headset. Sonic transceivers sent and received crafted images to their melons while hidden speakers fed audio data to their ears. Micro cameras tracked their head movement and moved the screen image accordingly.

  There were also hand controls for their fingers to use. They rarely used them however.

  That had all been worked out during the initial year the stations had been put into use. But since they had to be used for longer periods, Kathy worked out better padding to prevent the occasional chafing. She worked from a list of suggestions from the dolphin operators. They improved the cybernetic implant, translating the dolphin's neural impulses to their muscles into commands to the ship.

  Her team included a feeder to feed the dolphin flavored fish paste or water from a tube. Working that out in the tight confines around the dolphin's head had been a pain. They hadn't kept the builders aware of the feeder until the first station had been prototyped. That had kicked off a firestorm in the design team as they tried to deal with the sudden change and what it meant for the logistics. More than one engineer was a bit put out over having to alter their plans to allow service access to the food containers.

  Charlie had to call a special meeting to clear the air and find a workable solution to the problem.

  “It's for their comfort. We need them comfortable and happy at their work station. I don't see what the problem is,” Kathy said.

  “You of all people should have known there are no minor things. Everything has an impact, and something like this tends to snowball,” Charlie said fighting his own frustration.

  “We're trying to build a ship here. A little fricking communication would be nice. We just got our asses chewed for pulling this shit twice. Maybe a little communication next time? You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Levare snarled. “How the hell are we going to deal with this? The feeding station is in the null gravity tank on the bridge, damn it! We can't access it easily; you can't just open a panel and dump it in!” He stared at it.

  “You know that's not a bad idea. A cartridge maybe?” Alec suggested.

  “No, it won't work. I already checked. You'd have to find a way to get in and out of the tube and the place they put the thing is right into the optical data trunks for the helm.”

  “Oh. Yeah, we don't need anyone fiddling about in there. Especially if the ship is underway.”

  “Yah think?” Levare asked sarcastically.

  “Oops,” Kathy murmured, chastened. She hadn't thought it was a big deal, imagining someone would just open the back, pop a tank in and swap the old one out. Or run a feeder hose to it. She hunched her shoulders. Obviously she hadn't been paying enough attention when they'd run into issues during the design stages.

  “Oops is right,” Charlie growled, glaring at her. She hunched her shoulders even tighter. “Oh stop that; you look like you don't have a neck,” the older man said. He shook his head. “What you did was stupid. The feeder station is a feature, something the dolphins can do without, right?”

  “Feeding at their station might be important. Food and fresh water,” she said stubbornly.

  “But you never brought that up when I asked you,” Levare snarled, throwing a hand up in disgust. “I …” he scrubbed his face with his hands, clearly frustrated.

  “We'll have to figure it out. A temporary fix is to run tubes up to the station through the access trunk,” Charlie said, pulling up his CAD program. He accessed the appropriate files and then moved them to the main screen. He used a stylus to draw in 4 lines up to the helm stations. “Technically we need six. We might get away with five though,” he mused.

  “Why six? Can't we do two and do a Y split at the top?” Alec asked.

  “Yes …and no. A bigger feeder line means less room in the trunk, and it's already tight.”

  “Can't we move the tubes out of the trunk?”

  “No. Moving things from one gravitation gradient to another is tricky. You get sheer and other issues. We'd have a lot of wear on the coupling area. We're going to have to do that here,” he pointed to a section in the dolphin habitat. “From here I can tie into the water lines.”

  “Can we come in from above?” Levare asked. He frowned thoughtfully and then pulled the image up on his tablet. The frown deepened into a scowl. “No, dummy me, we've got too many lines there already. We don't
want water and food lines mixed in with that mess.”

  “Yeah, water and electricity don't mix,” Alec murmured.

  “Oh it's not that. Most of the lines are low voltage or fiber optic. They are insulated too. But we kept them apart for a reason. The area is too tight; we'd have a bottleneck. We can't move anything to gain room either; it's already wired.”

  “So below is the way to go. How?” Alec asked. “And again, why six?”

  “Two per station,” Levare said. “One water, one food. The other two are vacuum lines I bet.” He looked at Charlie who nodded but didn't stop sketching on his tablet.

  “Vacuum lines?”

  “You have to have a way to vent. To move the water from point A to B, Plumbing 101. Otherwise, you get things like air lock, gurgling, or bursts.”

  “Oh.”

  “But we can use a Y for them too. Which is why, Charlie,” he indicated the lead ship's architect with a finger “only said six instead of eight.”

  “Oh.”

  “I think I can tuck the vapor locks into the upper piping. That won't cause any issues, and we don't need a lot of space for them. Just enough to give the air in the line a chance to bleed off and escape. We'll connect it to the air return here and that will resolve that issue. But that still leaves the lines here.”

  “And you can't reduce them to two because of the size?” Kathy asked. He shook his head. “Okay. If it's flat against the tube, they'll have to live with it.”

  “I know. It's the best we can do.”

  “But passing it on to Sven and getting his crew to retrofit will cost us time. Another damn delay,” Levare muttered with feeling. Charlie shrugged as Kathy winced.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Jack had to deal with the impatient public, investors, governments, the media, and fans who thought that since the ceremony had blocks coming together fast, they could continue at that pace. Barbie called a meeting to discuss it. Charlie and Sven were busy, and Jack didn't want to jog their elbow or piss either man off so he pulled Trey in. It was late in his day; he was overdue to go home. He wasn't sure if he was looking forward to it or not. Zack was a joy to be around, but Aurelia was still moody.