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

by Chris Hechtl

  However, their absence in the moon's internet network had been detected by AI and people monitoring their situation from afar. Media bloggers on the moon had immediately picked up on the sudden lack of news and speculated that something had gone wrong. Their rumblings were picked up by mainstream news outlets. At first they were considered nonsense but they in turn attempted to get confirmation which alerted the authorities that yes, maybe something had happened, and gee, maybe we should look into it before it gets worse. They sent an investigation team. It arrived a few hours after life support had been patched together.

  Wendy did her part and was present when the camera crews arrived right behind the rescuers. She got herself on camera helping an older delegate. She wasn't certain if it would make system wide news, most likely not, but it would do her a bit of good in the long run, ramp up her popularity a little.

  “What'd I miss?” came from Yorrick and went viral across the solar system along with the image of his bare chested body holding a towel with a pair of blond girls behind him. Wendy was amused by the condemnation but not by the near death experience. There was a bit of talk from the delegates about postponing or even rescheduling the event. Instead she put forward that they should continue, after all, that was what the terrorists had wanted. She wasn't going to let them win. That won a lot of points with the delegates as well as her own people.

  Chapter 40

  February 2198

  Jean became increasingly unhappy and frustrated about the overexposure. It was interfering with their day-to-day business and undermining their control and plans for the future. It wasn't just the hounding, it was the appearance of impropriety that had tainted their image, possibly badly. He could see it as nothing less than a setback, a major one at that. Combined with Icarus's return, he had a serious mess on his hands.

  Megan Su did her best at spin control, but it wasn't working as well as it should he thought. The more they tried to spin something off the more it looked like they were hiding something … which they were. And of course that made the journalists want more, which kept their story on the back burner, simmering for so long. It was incredibly frustrating. Even more so because no natural or manmade disaster came along to take them out of the spotlight. At least not for long.

  The cynical mainstream media was now distant to them. Their friends held a hands-off approach, keeping the stories out of their own networks, but people with access to the net could read between the lines. They knew something was up. Enemies the organization had made began to circle like men with clubs. No, sharks, he thought with a grimace. They smelled blood in the water.

  Megan Su was clearly unhappy; he noticed that the moment she came into the room. She had taken the brunt of the impact, both from him, the board, and the media. From her expression and hunched shoulders, she knew her head was on the chopping block. She wasn't getting the job done, he thought, and noted she didn't look him or anyone else in the eye. The one look at her face told him she was tired. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her face drawn from a lack of sleep. There were some bags under her eyes; clearly she hadn't gotten much rest as of late. Her lack of attention to such minor details told him eminently that she was at her breaking point.

  Before the meeting began, she quietly stood trembling. She announced that she was quitting her job in a fearful voice, then left the room quickly.

  After she quietly left the board room, the remaining members talked about getting a replacement. Saul reminded them that Megan was a loose end, a pretty big one. They squirmed uncomfortably. “She knows it all. She is very uncomfortable with what she has seen, and we all know that. She is being torn in various directions. Now that she is out, others will come to her for information if they haven't already,” Saul pointed out. “You yourself said loose lips,” he said, looking directly at Jean.

  There was a gasp from Gerald, breaking their exchanged look. All attention turned to the attorney. “What can we do,” Gerald asked, breaking his own rule about not asking a question he didn't want an answer to. He looked at each of them. “We are being carefully watched now. Any,” he frowned, then got up the courage to look Saul in the eye. “Any,” he emphasized. “And I do mean anything seen as wrong they will pounce on. Anything. And if they see her die, they will be all over the case,” he pointed out. “We can't fend off the authorities forever,” he said shaking his head. He looked at Jean.

  “Maybe it's just me, but isn't that your job?” Saul asked mildly.

  Gerald scowled. So far their friends had managed to kill any subpoena or investigation warrant on technical grounds or by a bit of sleight of hand. His department was working like dogs to keep ahead of the various investigations.

  “We're doing our best,” Gerald replied in a tight voice, throttling his frayed temper with difficulty.

  “Perhaps it is a good thing,” Frodo suggested. Jean frowned at him. “A bit of house cleaning at the top. A fresh face to put before the public. They will need to get up to speed, but we can use this if we play it right,” he suggested.

  They talked about direct action if she talked, or leaving her alone and watching her. Eventually all eyes returned to Jean. He sat there, measuring their support while drumming his fingers gently on the table top. “This is why they pay me the big bucks,” he finally said.

  He turned to Saul. “Do it,” he said simply. “Quickly and quietly retire her. Before she is picked up by anyone else. Plan to announce that she quit due to health reasons,” he said, turning to Frodo. Frodo nodded making a note on his tablet.

  Saul nodded. “I'll handle it.”

  “Make it as painless as possible. Natural causes preferably,” Gerald said. He felt like a small fish looking into the eyes of a shark when the Russian looked at him with a slightly pitying expression. “We … don't want anyone taking note,” the attorney said weakly, sitting back and looking away. Saul nodded. He didn't like anyone telling him his job, but in this instance the attorney was correct. If the woman just dropped off the Earth, questions would be raised both with the authorities and in their own company. He'd already come to the conclusion that their house cleaning had been counterproductive. People were fearful, yes, but that bred an atmosphere he didn't like.

  “And Descartes?” Jean asked, changing the subject slightly.

  “He unfortunately is out of our reach. We nearly had him, which pisses me off. He rarely ever left his home, and he slipped out during the initial confusion when we stalled the investigation. Which by the way is coming back to bite us in the ass,” Saul replied with a grimace.

  “Don't I know it,” Gerald growled. He rubbed the bridge of his brow. He didn't like to squirm under the Russian's gaze but he couldn't help it. He hadn't liked Megan, hadn't liked how she'd gone out either. Nor did he like what was in store for her, no matter how much “painless” seemed. That had hit a bit too close to home for comfort; it told everyone in the room that they too were marked for death. The Russian was now enjoying the fear it seemed. At least the fear he and his people generated.

  “At least our assets have dispersed and gotten under cover. The trail's gone cold,” Jean replied. “We just need to … divert their attention fully. Then this will all be forgotten.”

  “For some they've gotten under cover or … had an accident. But those who delayed the investigation have labeled themselves complicit in the sabotage. Some are already out of office; others are on their way out for cushy consult jobs we or our allies have promised. But a few higher ups are nervous,” Gerald reminded him.

  “They knew the risks. Cut out the contacts between them and us,” Frodo said with a scowl. “This is a major setback, but we have plans to deal with such things.”

  “We are already working on it. We need to rebuild though. Otherwise we'll be cut off from the politics totally,” Jean said soothingly.

  “Work on the grass roots level. Get in at the ground floor. We'll start over, reborn in a decade or so,” Gerald said. “We need to duck and cover right now. Pick up any contacts ag
ain later once the dust has settled and everyone's calmed down.”

  “They tried grass roots with the Tea Party, remember? Remember how well that went? It hit off initially, but then they cut their own throat and fell to infighting allowing the other parties to rebuild and take control,” Frodo said looking at Saul.

  “Not my area,” Saul said, shaking his head as he spread his hands. Jean leveled a look at him. He shrugged. “I'm your dirty pool guy, remember? Talk to someone else,” he reminded him.

  Jean nodded thoughtfully. He turned to Frodo, then back to Saul. “And Icarus?”

  Everyone in the room froze at that question. They turned expectant eyes to the Russian.

  “We've had to take a … long term approach to her since Daedalus. Descartes proved … unreliable in that regard. Let's just say her future will be bright for a time, but eventually the light will dim … or go out spectacularly.”

  Jean nodded. “Good.”

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Since the ship was going to become a museum piece, the crew was broken up. Isley rose to the chief engineer slot on the yet to be launched Santa Maria after Chief Roak made it clear she was going to take a short run in the yard before she took the XO seat on Santa Maria or one of the follow-on ships. The Santa Maria would be out of the yard shortly, or so they promised.

  Isley had a lot to learn about the design; there had been some monumental changes in the design since Icarus had first flown. Playing catch up was a pain in the ass while also trying to do her job. At least her previous experience on Icarus stood her in good stead.

  Adal Smythe came up with a new hybrid propulsion design using force emitters, ion, and fusion engine components. His plan threw waste products from the ship into her sublight fusion drive's exhaust and then the ion component came into play. Once the fuel was vaporized and given its initial thrust, the force emitters acted as thrust nozzles to not only channel and direct the exhaust, but also to give it a push away from the metal walls and away from the ship giving it a last shove of velocity.

  Adal had been very quiet on Icarus, when he pitched the design to Isley she was impressed. He had even made a small working scale model as well as a plastic demonstrator out of printed parts. The force emitter thruster nozzle was an intriguing idea. Not only did it protect the ship's exhaust ducts from the caustic exhaust but it also gave the ship an extra boost in velocity. Not a lot, the exhaust was diffuse, but enough to justify further investigation. She backed his design to the hilt, even passing it along to Sven Eggebraaten head of the shipyard during a lunch.

  Sven paved the way for the young man's dream. He pitched the plan to Levare Saint Joy and then to corporate and they bought it. A week after he and Isley were transferred to Santa Maria he had to hastily pack once more. He was transferred out to the design division to build and test the new hardware. She hated to see him leave but was proud to see him go.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  As Yorrick grew older he continued to bounce between the business, delegations, and computers. He was a passable coder, but a playboy jock at heart. He didn't stick with one interest or one department for long, and when the family sent him off to represent them and the company, he invariably flubbed it in some way.

  It had taken him nearly a decade before he finally decided enough was enough and graduated college. Granted he'd graduated with a host of bachelors and two master degrees, but he could have gotten the degrees that really mattered if he had stuck with one field. His mother judged he was also a follower, always dutiful and compliant to his younger sister.

  Wendy for her part had gotten deeper into the family business. She had dived in hard, soaking it up. Jack tried to keep nepotism at bay but it was hard, so hard when she did a damn good job at whatever he threw her way.

  He had put both of them to work despite their young ages over a decade ago. Yorrick immediately coasted as much as possible, preferring to play the field with the women and just get by. All through college he'd enjoyed the party atmosphere, the frats and girls. Most of them were young though, his age but Wendy had been right, none of them had been the marrying kind.

  When he'd graduated and moved into marketing, suddenly women, real women were interested in landing him, sometimes as a one-night stand but a few got clingy. Wendy usually checked each out and eventually scared them off before they came to the full attention of the Lagroose parents.

  Jack and Aurelia were aware of Yorrick's pursuits due to weekly briefings from Roman. They didn't see a need to intervene, but they couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in the boy and his complacent attitude.

  Wendy, however, buckled down and learned quickly, determined to rise through the ranks on her own merit. Jack was proud of her. He sometimes brought her along for meetings or sat her down over a lunch to bounce ideas off of her. She made a good sounding board, better than her mother since she knew the players and was keenly interested in the business.

  Zack had created his own niche for himself with the military. He rarely saw his parents, only on holidays or birthdays. He, like his siblings, had matured greatly. Zack however had a hard edge to him, one brought on by intense discipline as much as the family's genetic “gifts.” Aurelia shook her head as she sat in her office. She made a note to check in with each of the kids when she had more free time. She wanted to remind them she'd prefer hearing about their lives from them than from the tabloid blogs or Roman's reports.

  Hannah's history in hibernation and cryostasis had been noted by her when Jack put her on the project to get it back on track. Aurelia had begun to explore stasis tech when she got bored with the terraforming projects but she knew she was a piker. She occasionally did consult work with Doctor Glass and the Neos but it was normally diagnostics. Finding the bug in their code was boring to her. She was a creator; she preferred to think of something, not run problems down.

  She did consult work on the pet trade, but that was winding down a bit. So was the genetic clinic for people born with deformities; genetic prescreening and proper nutrition went a long ways to provide a healthy baby. The cloning clinics were still doing a lot of business but really could handle problems that cropped up in house.

  Jack had asked her to look into the stasis problem, and she'd given it a try. She'd tried to play catch up with stasis tech, but she realized it wasn't really her field. Hibernation and various forms of stasis had been used in medicine for over a century. Modern emergency medicine had begun cooling a body to reduce blood flow and limit shock effects over a century ago.

  There had been several attempts at making hibernation and cryostasis work. Studies of animals that hibernated led to some breakthroughs but most couldn't be applied to humans. For instance, frogs could go into stasis, even freezing solid. Normally ice crystals would shred cell walls, destroying an organism. But a frog could freeze because it used large levels of glucose as an antifreeze. Unfortunately such high levels were lethal to humans.

  For the first several decades of the twentieth century, nearly two hundred years ago she reminded herself; researchers had started using induced comas and a chilled saline solution to put the human body in a limited hibernation. The body still aged and it had issues, but it helped with a lot of medical problems during that time period. It was also great for emergency medicine.

  In her research she'd run across various references including water bears, Terran bears, and other animals. She frowned thoughtfully, plucking at her lip. They'd had a hell of a time dealing with the ursines come to think of it. They still had the urge to fatten up and hibernate.

  Really, Lagroose wasn't set up for stasis. It wasn't their field, and the best they had was the basic research done decades ago. They had a choice, spend a lot of money playing catch up or invest in someone else who had the experience. She opted for the investment. She made a note of it to pass on to Jack.

  Until then volunteers were being paid to test the technology they did have in the main station. A small medical wing was dedicated to them. It was eerie going in there, se
eing them in what amounted to coffins.

  She snorted as a thought came to her. Apparently people in the early twentieth century, possibly even prior to then, had started to freeze their heads and bodies with the hopes that they could be dethawed and reanimated in the future. She shook her head. It wasn't going to happen. Not only was the earth already too crowded, but they didn't need nor want the headache of trying to figure out how to reanimate a corpsicle. That was ghoulish.

  For the time being Prometheus had been outfitted with a pair of prototype stasis chambers during her most recent refit. They were along the coma/saline method until the company found something that worked better.

  Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria had been planned to be the first ships to be built from the keel out with the technology. They were five times larger than Prometheus, they'd grown in scale over the years as the logistics of moving so many people finally hit home with the designers.

  They were supposed to be survey and explorer ships, but Jack had them redesigned as colony liners. That was a problem, using cold sleep/stasis allowed them to carry fifty thousand passengers in suspended animation, but the technology just wasn't there yet. The other problem was a destination; no habitable planet had yet to be discovered. There was a lot of speculation in the public that there wouldn't be one. The only planets that would be suitable for a low tech colony were in Rho sector and wouldn't be ready for decades.

  Instead of having the ships sit idle, Jack had their cryobays left out and instead filled with terraforming equipment. Once they had a planet to go to, they could pull the gear and outfit them properly during a refit. So far that had worked out well with Prometheus. The ship had managed to map a half a dozen star systems as well as test out the new drive.