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

by Chris Hechtl

  They had to get it right. If power from the reactors skipped, if a computer was a split second too slow, … he did his best to put the litany of ways things could go wrong out of his mind.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Kathy watch nervously as they counted down to the jump. She checked the dolphin vital signs. All were high; they were all excited she realized. Ruefully she grinned to herself. They were all high on excitement, it was in the air they breathed, it made things crackle. A few people were nervous, she heard a crew member drop something behind her with a clang. He swore softly and picked it up. She looked up with the others in the infirmary as they heard the ship's AI Sylvia over the intercom counting down. “Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know what the human body will do, so I suggest bracing and closing your eyes,” the AI said in a mechanical tone. “That is recommended by the design staff as well. Inertial dampeners are online. You may feel a jolt,” the AI warned.

  Kathy grimaced. The inertial dampener … sometimes inaccurately called a sump worried her. It was the weakest part of the entire works in her opinion. They should have found a way to test it in a jump, she thought as the AI dropped below the ten-second mark. She shook her head. It was too late now, she thought. She braced herself as best she could and closed her eyes. Silently she prayed to whatever deity was out there in the void to give them a safe journey.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Kaku was excited as the ship entered the final countdown. He'd pulled rank; as alpha male of the pod, he had the right and duty to lead them. The alpha female, his soon to be mate Chri'nick'trill, had so far ignored or defused his advances. She was good; he had to admit that. But he knew she couldn't hold out from his charm forever; there were only six males on the ship.

  His eyes scanned the various displays on his virtual HUD. All were good he thought, noting there were no hiccups or last minute dancing numbers.

  “Hyperdrive is charged,” Jamey Castill reported over the intercom. “We are ready when you are,” he said over the link to the bridge.

  “Course plotted and set in the computer,” the navigator murmured. “Just follow the bouncing ball Kaku,” he said.

  “I know,” Kaku said, fighting his impatience with the humans need for protocol. “Let's do this!”

  “You heard the fin engineering, initiate jump,” the Captain intoned, settling himself as deep as he could in his chair. This would either go smoothly, turbulent, or end in a very brief flash.

  The force emitters surrounding the ship were already charged; when the navigator initiated jump, he sent a signal to the computer to execute a complex program. Space was folded as the force emitters projected mass shadows around the ship, bending space to the will of the computer. When space was bent sufficiently, the computer triggered the hyperdrive. The ship lunged forward as it ripped a hole through the fabric of space time and entered hyperspace.

  Kaku saw a bright flash, and then he was in the thick of it, moving his body instinctively as the computer fed his virtual interface images of an imaginary sea complete with reefs, rocks, and shoals. A lot of them he realized. He did his best to surf the initial jump charge. The computer worked through his cybernetics, interpreting his muscle movements and thought patterns to move the ship. It wasn't as responsive as he'd hoped, so the computer adjusted for it. “Here are reefs!” His female partner trilled.

  Kaku heard Captain Locke make a comment about safe jump zones, but he was too busy fighting the current and dodging obstacles to say anything. There was something said about the company should clear zones for easy in and out. Chri'nick'trill adjusted the ship's trim, then helped plot a course to the ball the navigator had put up on their HUD. Kaku clicked a quick thanks as he worked. Then the dolphin's entire universe focused with incredible intensity on surfing the waves and keeping them off the shadow mass rocks.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Daedalus jumped in a prolonged flash as space was ripped apart around it, then it seemed to swallow it up behind the ship. Jack and others watched from the inner system through relays from Lagroose 34, the outer system science station.

  Every megacorp and media outlet saw the flash as the ship jumped. That sparked celebration, not of an individual company's achievement, but that of all mankind as Captain Locke had said in his farewell speech.

  The jump put to rest half the comments about Daedalus being a lame duck. But others cropped up saying Jack had pushed them to jump the ship knowing that it was a deathtrap. That was followed by Pavilion asserting that the ship had been unmanned. They quickly retracted the statement when Miss Cole indignantly replied to such slander.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Jean Pierre kicked back with a glass of champagne. He turned his attention from the ongoing replay of the event playing out on the big screen off to his left. “Bon voyage noble travelers,” he murmured as he saluted them with his glass. He downed the drink, watching the stars from his balcony.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  “The real celebration is when those valiant people return safely. For now, we'll keep the champagne on ice for their safe return,” Jack said in his first public statement. “My congratulations go to the designers, the yard dogs who built her, and especially to her crew and their families. Long may she sail between the stars. May her journeys be swift and safe,” he said.

  “Safe passage,” Aurelia said from beside him.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Hannah was in transit on a Mars bound liner when Daedalus jumped. She watched like everyone else in the solar system. When the media talking heads started to rehash the story, she shut her tablet off and smiled, dashing tears. “Good luck big brother,” she murmured, hugging her tablet. She ignored the requests for comment from the media. Head held high she focused on her own future and did her best to put her brother out of her mind. She got a note from their dad that he had been approved to take a job in space but was on another waiting list. She smiled. Perhaps her dad would finally get his dream. She hoped so for his sake; he deserved it.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Once Daedalus successfully jumped and the celebrations died down, Trey Ashton was lured groundside with a lucrative job. He'd dismissed it at first, but then he brought it up as a joke to his wife. He was shocked and dismayed when she responded. His wife insisted on going groundside; she threatened him with divorce and taking the kids if he didn't go along with her plans. It was a good school for the kids, near her family … she had been offered her dream job … And she pointed out they had followed his dream, now it was her turn.

  He was not happy but had to keep his family together. She even wanted him to take care of the kids as they'd promised when they had gotten married. The kids were older, so he could in theory work part-time from home. He looked into the job in more depth. He wasn't comfortable with it on the surface it sounded good, but there was little substance there. He checked the job market but the job prospects were bleak for a man his age unless he did a lot of telepresence and groveling. He knew that wasn't going to work; everyone insisted on a minimum amount of face time so any employer he worked for had to be local. He would also compete with kids fresh from college … he closed his eyes in pain. He pleaded with Zarana, but she would not be moved. When he noticed she'd primed the kids into an excited state over going down to Earth, he bowed to the inevitable.

  The next day he put in his resignation and refused to be talked out of it. Jack was on vacation with his family at the L-12B colony so at least he didn't catch any flack from him.

  When Levare found out, he was not happy about losing his boss. He made that clear when he stormed into the office only to find a pair of security androids and a guard watching nearby. “What the hell, Trey?” Levare demanded. “Who's going to take over for you?”

  “You shouldn't be upset; you're my replacement,” Trey said simply as he continued to pack his office. He didn't even look up, though he did slow down a bit.

  “Me!?” Levare squeaked, shocked and scandalized.

  Trey looked up to his eyes briefly. “You. Yes, you
. You can handle it.”

  “I'm an engineer, not a paper pusher! I can't deal with …” Levare shook his head and waved a feeble hand. “I never paid attention to the management courses!”

  “Then you'd better learn on the job. Anyone else will have to get up to speed and will want a full review. They'll kill the time table. So, figure it out.”

  “Boss, please tell me you'll be back or at least delegate groundside.”

  “No can do,” Trey said, scowling. He stood with his hands on his hips. “Security is too tight. No,” he patted Levare on the arm. “You'll do fine. Just ask yourself what I'd do. Or hell, give me a ring if you get stuck.”

  “Great. I'm really looking forward to the upper management meetings. Getting stuck in parties and crap,” Levare grumbled. “Remind me to thank you properly for that crap,” he grumbled, glowering.

  Trey laughed, shaking his head as he finished the box. He looked up as the security guard who had been standing outside politely came in. The guard nodded politely, but his face was a mask. Trey sobered as he stepped aside and let the guard check the contents of the box.

  “You know you can't take any data? No disks, no flash drives …” The guard warned.

  “Not a problem,” Trey said expansively.

  Levare frowned uncomfortable. It really was happening; he had to accept it. He waved to Trey. “Be seeing you,” he said quietly.

  “Not unless you hit the dirt. And I don't recommend it. Stay up here. For your health and mine,” Trey ordered. Levare nodded as he stepped out into the hall and left them alone.

  Chapter 17

  July 2160

  Hannah got to the Mars stations and settled inside the massive research complex of Lagroose 35 two and a half weeks after Daedalus jumped. Some of her medical colleagues ended up in various departments in the station or on other stations. She took a turn in the clinics and made the rounds with some of the other departments as a lab tech as well.

  It was a way of hazing but also to teach her the different departments she realized. To see what she could handle … and what she didn't have a stomach for.

  She found out more about the seedier designer pet trade as she got deeper into the genetics side of the company. She found out through her adviser Doctor Timeki that her career path was being plotted out for her. She'd experienced that nonsense before with Miss Coldwell. She'd been annoyed and ready to go to the mat to defend herself at first until he'd told her who. Apparently Doctor Lagroose wanted her to have a well-rounded education, and was determined to oversee most of it personally. Hannah didn't do much work in the actual genetic labs. She didn't have the training or patience to deal with genome manipulation; that much became clear after a few tests and a look at her record. But she did spend a great deal of time treating the people and animals in the labs. The human part she enjoyed.

  She wasn't sure she liked what she found though. Uterine replicators and flash growing bothered her; it seemed very unnatural. The ethics made her uncomfortable. Part of the job was to diagnose and possibly treat issues with the pets … or Neos she realized early on. Defects were sometimes found; they had to isolate how they came about, either through development or genetics, or some other issue. Training a neo or animal to use their body was something she was thankfully out of the loop on; rehab was someone else's problem.

  For the pets, the company tested them thoroughly like any product then once they passed quality control … she realized that was her, their genome was finalized and then spun off to another facility that turned the prototypes into gene engineered pets on an industrial scale.

  From there, they went to breeders groundside on Earth or Mars once they were ready to go into true mass production. The company was careful to provide the breeders with a number of animals from various bloodlines so they could breed them without inadvertently inbreeding. As they ramped up production the marketing department hit their stride with various campaigns to drum up a demand. Some animals were quite easy; they inspired interest at first glance. Others took a little thought.

  There was also a … call it fad to be in on the latest exotic pet, Hannah thought. Those that rode that crest paid through the nose for it of course. If they had the money they didn't care, and the money went to retire the debt of creating the animal as well as pay Hannah's salary so she had no right to complain.

  She'd heard about some of the rich people and their pets. They had all sorts: dinosaurs, extinct animals, miniature animals, and even alien-like creatures. Most of those were one offs, single line prototype productions done at astronomical cost. Some of the designs that became popular induced the company to put them into limited production … which was why the price was coming down on a few like the unicorns. Personally she liked the purple kangaroo, but the most popular were the miniature animals, specifically the big cats and horses.

  To accomplish the seemingly impossible, the geneticists took DNA from a lion and mapped it onto a domestic cat so it had the same body shape, fur, and look but still sized as a domestic cat. They perfected the process for other breeds of cats once the baseline had been established. Then they had moved on to miniaturizing other animals as well, such as elephants. “We had this one guy who had read a book; I think it was Crichton's book, his most famous one. He heard about that elephant and wanted it. And since he had the money …” Doctor Timeki told her in an aside as they worked on a cat with an injured claw. The little blue lioness had yanked out her claw when she'd caught it on a cage mesh. It was a bloody mess. She was also young and hurt so keeping her contained and distracted kept Hannah quite busy.

  Doctor Timeki was also a vet, which was why he was doing the work on the cat's paw and she was assisting. She preferred it that way. He'd dropped a lot of hints that she should go back to school for her full vet degree, but so far she'd managed to fend that sort of thing off. She had no intention of being stuck in the petting zoo as people called it. Not forever.

  She shrugged the idea off then frowned. “You just did it? What about um, well, stopping to think if you should?” Technically someone somewhere had to have; the miniature animals had been around for fifty plus years. The company kept their patents and kept the competition off their backs by introducing new versions every year or so, such as white or blue lions, or neon red and purple cheetah.

  “I don't think a cat-sized elephant will be a problem. Though we did run into some of the same health issues that were mentioned in the book,” Doctor Timeki said. Hannah made a face. “Sometimes fiction is a good indicator of what could happen. Of course, sometimes it's just crap,” Aurelia said from behind them, shaking her head.

  Hannah turned back to look at her thoughtfully. “Oh.” She'd forgotten the big boss was there. Doctor Lagroose had a way of being quiet as she worked. She was a good boss, quite amicable to work with.

  “The money supports our neo efforts,” Aurelia explained. “Ursilla Lagroose, Jack's mother, started it. I wanted to get out of it when I was your age; it was distasteful. But the money is lucrative,” Aurelia said ruefully. “Which is why we've continued it to this day,” she said, checking the genome report as the sequencer finished its last simulation.

  “How is our lady doing?” Doctor Lagroose asked.

  “Fine, fine,” Doctor Timeki said, surveying the paw. A laser suitor had cauterized the minor bleeder. A new claw would grow in eventually. He dabbed at it as the cat growled. “It's okay,” he said in a high pitched voice, knowing the assurance was in vain.

  “Can you get me a blood sample?” Doctor Lagroose asked.

  “Why, interested in her bloodline, Doctor?” the Vet teased as he finished up. He looked over his shoulder to her.

  “No, curious if she'd make a good host mother for the new line R&D is about to come out with.”

  “She's a bit young for that. Still not of breeding age,” the vet warned as the cat slipped through Hannah's fingers and swatted at his hand. He started to withdraw as her ears went back and she snarled. That was a mistake on his part; sh
e gathered herself and lunged. He, however, had over five decades of experience with cats; he changed course and lunged at her, using his hand like another cat. They tussled, and she dug her tiny claws into him as she tried to bite. He however pinned her. She squalled though, quite upset.

  “Oh no you don't,” he half growled, half laughed. “Feisty minx, aren't you?” he asked. Hannah reached in and grabbed the cat by the scruff of the neck. She pulled, and the cat froze. Her eyes rolled to look at Hannah. The vet used the distraction to get his bloodied hand out.

  “She get you?” Aurelia asked, looking over his shoulder. “She was caterwauling enough, yup, guess she did,” she said. She pulled him over to a stool near the first aid kit. She broke out some gauze and biofoam to clean his hand up.

  “Nothing I'm not used to,” the vet said with a grimace.

  “In other words it's part of the job?” Aurelia teased, grinning.

  He chuckled as he shrugged and watched Hannah put the still squalling cat carefully into her container. “I didn't pull the stitch did I?”

  “She's one livid little lady, but she's fine, Doc,” Hannah said. She dropped the kit then yanked her hand out and slammed the door shut. She flipped the latch on it then shook her head as she checked for any injuries. The captive yowled in annoyance. “You're fine,” Hannah cooed at her. That earned a hiss spit. She snorted and turned to the others.

  Aurelia dabbed at Doctor Timeki's hand but snuck a look at her understudy. “I think she's a spitfire. A little wild. Who's in charge of socializing her again?”