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

by Chris Hechtl

  While Descartes worked on that front, Megan, Gerald, and Frodo arranged for money drives to build up their financial accounts in order to break Lagroose in a shareholder attack. Some of the funds were donated by other corporations hoping Lagroose would fail. They also took out insurance in the form of Lagroose Industries shares. When Saul passed on a warning that the ship would never return, those shares were dumped quickly causing the price to slide. One Earth moved in to snap up those shares and more until the market stabilized. Jean noted their activities had netted them less than a half a percent of the total shares of the company. It had also sparked a low level investigation by the market authorities and Lagroose Industries. Fortunately his people had used shell companies. Still, he was unhappy about the exposure.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Pavilion announced their first starship bid in a flashy press conference. The conference came cold to everyone to maintain the surprise. Lynn Raye, CEO of the company, took center stage herself. She showed a spinning 3-D rendering as well as a scale model. It looked like a cylinder body with rings like butterfly wings. Some of the rings were nestled within larger rings. There were two groups of rings in three clusters around the hull of the ship. Each was 60 degrees apart from the others in their group to form equal coverage around the hull. Each of the rings were flattened ovals with spindly struts that linked them to the main hull.

  Jamey saw the image and frowned thoughtfully. To him it looked alien, like something out of a cheap science fiction show. In fact it did remind him of a ship design, he frowned, playing with his bottom lip as he tried to remember which one. After a few minutes he gave up and focused on the design. It was similar in some ways to the version Hannah had put him on, which made him think there was something there to the idea.

  “I know the design looks like an alien bird or butterfly, but our people have thoroughly tested it in our computer mainframes for the past few years,” Miss Raye joked. “It is in my opinion and their opinion the only design that will work. Any other is far inferior.”

  “Ma'am, are you saying that the Lagroose ship won't work?”

  “I am saying unequivocally that despite their noble efforts at our competitor, we have the better design. Daedalus is doomed to failure I'm sorry to say; our people have assured me of that after modeling her hyperdrive. “If it works, and that still remains to be seen, it will be a one-way trip,” she said. She paused as her answer sparked a furious rustle as the reporters jockeyed to write it down and start on follow-up questions while alerting their editors to get others involved. “We have as I said, the best people, the best hardware. That was why Daedalus had delayed on jumping into hyper so long.”

  “Oh hell,” Jamey muttered darkly. “There goes the neighborhood.”

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  “Is she right?” Jack asked Trey.

  Trey snorted. “You're kidding me, right?” He shook his head. “We don't know how they have that thing engineered, but I've put my best people on reverse engineering it from the images they've released.”

  “What does Mister Castill say?”

  Trey shrugged. “He's one of the people I put on the project. He's unsure; it tallies with the new design he was working on.”

  “Should he even be on Daedalus if he's working on a new design?” Barbie Cole asked.

  “He's where he wants to be. Where he can gain real world experience and see the data first hand,” Trey said simply. “It's part of the deal we worked out with him to gain his services,” he said when she opened her mouth to protest.

  “Okay, I get that,” Barbie finally said after a pause to digest that. “But still …”

  “What does Ch …,” Jack paused and then grimaced. “I mean Saint Joy say?”

  “He's pretty sure the spindly things holding the emitters to the ship's hull are insane. We're not sure what they are planning to use for the composition though. It'd have to be something tough, something with a lot of tensile and compression strength.”

  “Like the beanstalk cable?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “That … certainly could be a possibility,” Trey said slowly, turning the idea over and over in his head. “Woven carbon fiber nanotube with self-repair … it's possible,” he mused. “I'll run it past Sheldon Reed. He may know something we don't.”

  “Okay, so that's a fatal weakness in the engineering, point that out please,” Jack said, eying Barbie. She nodded and made a note. “At the very least, we might provoke a response to get an answer on the design,” he said. She nodded again.

  “The field interactions are fascinating according to Jamey. He's asked to model the ship's fields based on what we know. I'm …” Trey sighed. “Right now we've got a few servers down for maintenance and Athena's re-prioritizing my resources. Levare is using a third for composition studies on the next class, and Jamey has a sim set up as well. I don't know about doing it.”

  “We need to get Daedalus off. It's been long enough,” Barbie said. “We're starting to sound like a laughing stock with all the returns to sender,” she said, making a moue.

  Jack scowled but nodded. “The ship will go when she's ready. But I agree, all these upgrades and rebuilds are getting out of hand. I want a set of tolerances. If they make it within the tolerances, enough. Move on.”

  “Part of the problem is how interlinked the systems are. Alter one and it throws others out of whack which cascades,” Trey warned. “That's part of the problem we're running into with the sensors. And the hypersensors are a major concern. With all the back and forth, we've made some fine tuning on the software to extend their range and resolution. It's still nowhere what we'd like to see though,” he said.

  “Figure it out,” Jack ordered. “But enough is enough. Set a deadline. If the crew isn't confident in the ship, we will dock her and deal with the fallout. But I'm going to do some headhunting of my own if it comes to that,” Jack warned. Trey nodded, cold sober.

  “What about this thing about the Pavilion ship using the force emitters as a shield and reactionless drive? Is there any truth there?” Barbie asked, breaking the uncomfortable tableau.

  “It …” Trey cleared his throat. “It's possible about the drive. I'm not sure how they think it will work. I'm pretty sure not very well, not unless they are near a mass. As far as the shield,” he shrugged. “A force emitter sends out a force field just like a magnet sends out a magnetic field. If it is strong enough and of the right polarity, it will indeed act like a science fiction force field, an energy shield. It's part of the appeal actually; eventually our ships will have these fields up so they can move about at high C without having to worry about hitting something.”

  “High C? Hitting something?” Barbie asked, confused but patient.

  “High C. Near the speed of light. E equals MC squared. E is energy, M is mass, and C stands for the speed of light. Einstein's formula. If you start playing around with mass at high speed, you start getting time dilation and other things. But you also have the risk of running into a mass. Even a couple molecules in your path can do damage. Anything of significant mass can destroy a ship.”

  Barbie blinked. “Oh.” She made a note.

  “Star Reach has been tinkering with the idea for decades. They had to when they started working on their antimatter drive. I think the last thing they were working on were mass shields, balloots that would be inflated on the bow of the ship to absorb impacts. We modeled it way back when and it isn't a good idea. Even a gram can hit with enough energy … I think a couple megatons,” Jack said thoughtfully.

  “Anything else?” Barbie asked. “About the ship design that we can use?”

  “Not yet. Jamey said the force emitters are cumulative. He'd love to get his hands on a cutaway of the rings. And why they nested rings? Ovals? Something doesn't add up. But unless I give him mainframe access we won't know. And we may never know for sure. That is unless Intel comes up with something,” Trey said.

  Jack shook his head. “This hit them cold. We didn't have any so
urces that had this design. Either they've been compromised and fed disinformation this entire time or Pavilion's security is very tight. Or this is a deception campaign. I don't know.”

  “Okay,” Trey said. He looked at Barbie. “Don't bug Jamey; he's working on it. I'll make some of the design team available as talking heads when you need them; just give me and them advanced notice,” he said. She nodded.

  “Okay, get. I've got to get back to the kids; Yorrick is colicky,” Jack said, rising to his feet. “Keep me informed,” he said. The two rose hastily and nodded as they made their way out.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  The next day Star Reach called a hasty conference of their own. Their new CEO Amin Nutel who had replaced a retired Reginald Pruitt. Amin was the company's former CFO up until two days before. He was a tall Mideastern male dressed in a tailored suit of blue. He had a sharp face and black haircut that matched his black eyes.

  Part of the press conference was to announce his taking over the CEO slot. “We have been in ongoing delicate, yes, delicate talks with Lagroose Industries to license their ship technology. Yesterday we opened the door to Pavilion, Lagroose, and the Chinese to create a universal standard of design based on our planned Pathfinder hull. We need to come together as a unified civilization; there is no need of rancor or division in the process. We are making a grand leap to the stars; let us do it as one people,” he said with a hand over his heart.

  He showed the audience of reporters and company people his company's 3-D renderings of the Pathfinder, which had evolved significantly since their last appearance years ago. There were two designs, but one was obviously more complete than the other. The new design looked like a fish or helicopter with its tail. Force emitter rings were embedded in the tail, but there were also larger rings along the flanks like Pavilion's design had. “We have discovered the holy grail of space transportation, the true reactionless drive. Purely by accident, mind you, and far more efficient than a magsail. The emitters can be focused on objects to act as tractors to move the ship. Obviously we are keeping the full details under wraps for proprietary reasons,” Mister Nutel said politely.

  Speculation among the reporters immediately kicked up after the conference paused that Pavilion had the right design and that Star Reach was jumping on board. The question was, would Lagroose Industries own up to its mistake and follow Pavilion's lead?

  Jack snorted as he listened to the press conference in his office along with the follow-up. It was bull; he hadn't heard anything about a joint venture. Sure Reg had pitched the idea, but he hadn't backed it up, nor had he come forward with anything else. He keyed his implants to get the intelligence department on the event. Obviously someone had dropped the ball big time, first with Pavilion's announcement and now this. And what the hell had happened to Reg??

  “Intelligence is currently chasing its tail as you like to say, Mister Lagroose,” Athena said to him out loud.

  “Oh?” he asked, looking up with a frown.

  “If you are wondering what happened to your friend, there has been a series of unconfirmed reports as of last night. Intelligence is still attempting to get confirmation so they won't comment or speculate on it.” The AI said carefully in a neutral tone.

  “But you know something. Spill,” Jack said, eyes narrowing as he sat back and settled himself. Obviously the news wasn't good. He was disturbed; he hadn't been told about Reg's retirement either.

  “I'm sorry to tell you that the former CEO of Star Reach suffered a massive stroke last night near one a.m. He was rushed to the L-5 Mercy General hospital in grave condition. He is on life support in the intensive care wing; his condition as of a few minutes ago is considered comatose,” Athena reported in a sympathetic voice.

  Jack sat back further, staring upward as feelings washed over him. He sat there for a long drawn out moment. Finally he seemed to come alive again, at least to sigh. “How? How did it happen?”

  “You of all people should know a stroke can hit anyone. If they don't take the proper precautions, it can be deadly,” the AI said, reminding him of his mother.

  He nodded. “Is there any hope?”

  “No, sir. I'm sorry. He's on life support, but there is minimum brain function. I believe his wife will … shut off life support shortly,” Athena said. “That is in accordance with his will.”

  Jack closed his eyes again, this time in pain. “Sheila,” he said softly. “The kids, they must be heartbroken,” he said softly.

  “I am monitoring them now. They are … clearly upset.”

  He opened his eyes and turned to the nearest camera. “You can see them?”

  “I hacked Mercy General. That is how I know this information,” Athena reported. “Do you wish to see them?”

  “Who told you to?” Jack asked, sitting upright.

  “Reginald Pruitt is your friend. He is, was, an honorable man. I was anticipating the request,” the AI said in a neutral tone.

  “Is there anything our medical people can do?” Jack asked softly. “Aurelia? The nanites? Neural stem cell injections to rebuild what was lost?”

  “At this stage it would only prolong his pain and suffering sir. Nanites could do a lot, but they have to have something to build off of. He went for hours before an emergency alert was sounded. He lost a great deal of brain function during that time period. Too much. To replace that would make him a vegetable. Or perhaps an infant trapped in an old man's body.”

  “How? How, why, I mean …” Jack scrubbed his face, hands covering his eyes. “My god,” he murmured over and over.

  “Sir, I don't know if an investigation has been launched. Do you wish me to do some digging? Or request Director Roman or Director Hillman to do so? Such overt interference might be troubling to the family and may be noted by the public and authorities,” Athena cautioned.

  “No,” Jack said, voice rough. “No,” he said again, wiping at his eyes. “No, we can't. I want to, but no, you are right, we can't. We'll have to watch from afar. I'll send a sympathy package to Sheila. I want to be in on the funeral; make sure they know that. If they don't want me there because of the media circus, I understand; let them know that too. But wait a bit on that last. Just … just pass on my sympathies. From the entire Lagroose family,” he said huskily.

  “Understood. I've sent the email,” Athena said quietly. Jack clasped his hands in front of him, then crossed his arms. “ … and we're getting inquiries from the press and shareholders. Both about Mister Pruitt and about Daedalus's design.”

  “It never rains but it pours. Get Miss Cole in on this. Have her staff draft a preliminary notice. We know what we're doing is the theme, and that we've been ahead of everyone else from the beginning. Remind them about our probe successes …” Jack said, swinging into action once more.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Jamey did his best to analyze the design of both ships but found dividing his time between the two was counterproductive. He attempted to focus on Pavilion's design alone but was lost. A check of the bow proved they didn't have proper sensor mounts … unless they planned on some other form of sensors. They definitely had nothing like what he'd designed. He made a note of that and passed it on.

  The Pathfinder was interesting, obviously a hasty redesign, not completely thought out. He'd seen the first designs and their evolution of course; Star Reach had released the designs from time to time to drum up support and show progress when they actually had very little. It had been to fire the imagination of supporters … he put the thought aside.

  The assertion that they could do a better reactionless drive … he shook his head. They'd have to have a lot of energy to make those emitters reach out to another body of mass large enough to push or pull against. That meant Star Reach was still banking on antimatter. He made a note of that as well.

  The ring designs though, they fascinated him. There were two different ways of doing it in his mind, one was a race track arrangement with the field rings along the one plane facing outward. That was highl
y inefficient though. If you threw in Hannah's small emitters though, arranged in small disks along the rings, … that made more sense to him. But with either design the force field simulations didn't add up right. There was a great deal of grav shier where the fields met … but that might explain the inner rings … were they there as some sort of shield mechanism? He shook his head in frustration.

  When Kathy came in and saw him about ready to pull his hair out, she firmly took charge and shut the computers off. When he protested she smothered his protests with a kiss and firm push onto the bunk. He bounced, but she landed on top and smothered any further thought of getting away. Not that he had any intention of doing so once she made her point …

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Kathy and Jamey were married by Daedalus's Captain Locke as the ship went out for another series of working-up trials. Hannah found out in an e-mail with a recording of the event attached. She watched the 320 x 240 grainy video her brother sent her in a befuddled state, unsure what was happening at first. But then when she realized what was going on she watched in shock and growing irritation. How dare he! She thought over and over, growing agitated with every minute. When the video finished, she was thoroughly put out and blasted her brother in a reply e-mail. He responded with a joke that their ceremony was brief and honeymoon consisted of the ship's breaking-in period. He put in a request for bandwidth to set the record straight. He was surprised when the skipper granted it right away. He checked the time and then nodded. It was graveyard ship's time; therefore, the senior staff were either off duty themselves or asleep in their racks.

  They'd been doing interviews for weeks when they weren't uploading telemetry and going back and forth with the engineers in the Lagroose yard and design team. He was heartily sick of talking, but he knew he had to straighten out Hannah or it would fester. He knew how she could hold a grudge … and how hard she could punch and poke him when they finally did meet face to face. He really didn't want the bruises.