by Bob Blanton
“They can do that?” Catie asked.
“Yes,” Marc said. “Sam, can you use your contacts to see how the prime minister is viewing it?”
“I start right away,” Samantha said.
“Anything else, Admiral?” Marc asked.
“Except for that, it appears that things are quiet in the White House, at least as far as we’re concerned,” Admiral Michaels said. “They’re still trying to figure out what to do with the North Koreans. Right now, the president’s leaving that to the Secretary of State to figure out. The upcoming election is keeping him distracted.”
“Is he worried?” Samantha asked.
“What politician isn’t worried about re-election,” Admiral Michaels said. “But he’s feeling the heat. His popularity has been at a record low since he was elected, so he’s trying to sow discord in the opposition.”
“Typical,” Marc said. “While we’re talking about out-of-this-world things, Liz, why don’t you give us an update on the space station?”
“Very funny,” Liz said. “We’re prepping the work so we can extrude the first ring. We’re in desperate need of more material. We don’t have enough lift capacity.”
“Blake will update us on that in a moment,” Marc said. “How is the outfitting of the hub going?”
“We’re over fifty percent complete,” Liz said. “We just need something to put there. We’ve got the polysteel plant up, the clear polysteel plant should be online next week. We’ve completed the production of our first Oryx with the particle accelerator in the engine. We’ll be making one a week.”
“How are our scientists doing?”
“They’re going gangbusters on the fusion reactor. I offered up the particle accelerator project, and Dr. Nakahara jumped on it. He says he’s bored with the fusion reactor work since it’s just engineering now. So I gave it to him. We’ve set him up with a new lab.”
“Did he give any indication of how complex it would be?” Marc asked.
“Not really, but he did say it should keep him occupied for a few months,” Liz said.
“We should take heart that he didn’t say a few years,” Marc said. “Okay, anything else?”
“Dr. Zelbar is jumping on the superconductor project; he’s handed off the clear polysteel to his wife. She’s going to finish up all the proofs and run the experiments. I guess that’s a good thing since we have a production plant running already.”
“Good!” Marc said with a laugh. “Now we’re in desperate need of the ability to manufacture more computer chips. Sam?”
“Since you mentioned it to me last week, I’ve done some research,” Samantha said. “I’ve found a young company in Vancouver that was a big splash, built a big plant, and hired a bunch of people just to be hit with a huge patent infringement lawsuit. They’ve been struggling to keep afloat for the last eight months. They have a lot of talent; I think we might be able to bring them into the company.”
“How much are you talking about?” Marc asked.
“I think it will take about three hundred million,” Samantha answered. “There are four young engineers who are heading it. Smart people, but they got in over their heads on the patents.”
“Would they join us or just sell out?” Catie asked.
“I don’t know, but being the first to manufacture computer chips in space sounds like a great draw,” Samantha answered.
“Why don’t you set up a meeting with them,” Marc said. “Take Catie.”
“Got it,” Samantha said as she gave Catie a wink.
“How’s our car plant coming?”
“We reached out to Ayyour Dahmani, your friend from that little incident with Catie,” Samantha said. “He’s helped us push through the red tape. He and Herr Johansson have become good friends. They are estimating another six weeks before they can start production.”
“Wonderful! Catie, what do you have?”
“We need to start a bank,” Catie said.
Marc sat back and blinked a few times. “How did we miss that?”
“I don’t know, but if we want to have businesses start up here, we have to be able to lend money,” Catie said. “I’m going to do a personal loan for the Jamaican restaurant, but a credit union would be nice. And with ADI managing the investments, it’ll give a better return than the Bank of New Zealand.”
“Anybody know a banker?” Marc asked.
Samantha raised her hand sheepishly.
“Who?” Marc asked.
“Zane Parker, Linda’s boyfriend,” Samantha replied.
“Oh,” Marc said. “I guess I’ve never paid any attention to him. What’s he been doing since he arrived?”
“He’s been teaching at the school,” Catie said. “He teaches economics and social studies.”
Marc smiled; he was glad that Catie was able to interact with her mother’s new boyfriend without feeling awkward. “Okay, so who wants to approach him?”
“I will,” Catie said. “It’s my idea.”
“Okay, you’ve got it,” Marc said. “What else do you have?”
“The asteroids are settling into position; they’re close enough that we can start sending the modified Oryxes out to them.”
“Do we have pilots trained?”
Catie smiled.
“Besides you.”
“We’ve been running a few of them through training on the simulator,” Fred said. “It’s not all that different than just making the orbital run.”
“Okay,” Marc said. “Go on Catie.”
“We have the final certification from New Zealand on the Lynxes. Canada, Australia, Mexico, and France have all reciprocated contingent on an inspection of one. I’m sending one on a tour of all the countries. We’ve got Uncle Blake a tentative approval for his trip to Toronto, but they want to see a jet first.”
“Then we definitely want them to see one,” Marc said. “Let me know when France gives us the green light.”
“I have an alarm set on that one,” Catie said as she gave Samantha a smile. “I’m also working with Natalia and Tomi to get the treatment plant for the Delphi Station designed. Natalia really likes working on it, and they’ve been making great progress. Kal, that means Natalia will probably need a backup so she’s doesn’t have to chase after me all the time. That is unless you’re going to let me off my leash.”
“Not a chance,” Marc said.
“I’ll send one over,” Kal said. “I just need to pick one who can deal with such a problematic protectee,” Kal joked.
“Har, har.”
“I’ll have Nattie help me pick,” Kal said.
“And the open-air market was a big success,” Catie said. “All the booths did well, and we got lots of positive feedback on the merchandise quality and variety.” Over the weekend, Catie had done a couple of passes through the community market to see how it was going. She was surprised at how many people were shopping. A third of the space was filled with booths, she thought that was a good start.
“Ah, Dr. Metra, thank you for joining us, I know you’re busy,” Marc said as Dr. Metra entered the room and took a seat. “Do you want to give us your update next?”
“Yes, please,” Dr. Metra said.
“Catie was just updating us on the community market they held last weekend,” Marc said.
“Some of my patients mentioned it,” Dr. Metra said. “I think I’ll go this weekend.”
“I’ll go with you, I missed it last week,” Samantha said.
“Let me know what time, and I’ll go with you,” Catie said.
“Liz?” Samantha asked.
“I’ll be with Catie. Nattie will be there too,” Liz said.
“I’m sure you will all have fun,” Marc said. “Dr. Metra, are you ready?”
“Of course,” Dr. Metra said. “I’ve finished the physicals on all of your recruits from Pohawk. An interesting lot. Most of the men needed to be treated for one kind of lung disease or another. It seems coal mines are filthy places, and on top of that
, most of them smoked. Another week of treatment should sort them all out. A couple of them could have done with a new liver, but I just fixed up the one they have.”
Everyone at the table chuckled at Dr. Metra’s humor, and all of them were surprised by it. She was spending a lot of time watching various TV shows to acclimate herself to Earth’s culture better. Apparently, she’d settled on the British dramas and comedies based on the word choices.
“How about the children?” Catie asked.
“They’re all very healthy,” Dr. Metra replied. “The mothers opted for the hormone control for their children and for themselves. I have one interesting case with diabetes.”
“Mrs. Mueller?” Blake asked. “She’s the matriarch of one of the bigger groups.”
“Yes, that’s her,” Dr. Metra confirmed. “She not only has diabetes but a serious weight issue. It appears they are related. I’m treating her for both of them. I’m very interested in how she responds to the weight-loss treatment.”
“What about the diabetes?” Samantha asked.
“Oh, I’m interested in that, but I don’t think I’ll be surprised there,” Dr. Metra said. “I believe we have several other people with similar weight issues, so I’d like to be able to offer the treatment to them if it works.”
“Keep us posted on that,” Marc said. “Anything else?”
“I had to convince a few of the parents to allow me to immunize themselves and their children,” Dr. Metra said. “It’s never been an issue before, but you should add that to your orientation material. We don’t want to have non-immunized people wandering about.”
“Why is that an issue?” Liz asked. “We can treat anyone who picks up a disease.”
“We can when we know about it,” Dr. Metra said. “Then, they need to be close to the clinic. But you are planning to have people running around up there a few days away from the clinic. We don’t want tragedies to occur on one of those missions.”
Liz’s eyes went wide as she realized what that would mean, “No, we wouldn’t. Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
“Okay, Blake, you’re the man of the hour,” Marc said.
“Thanks a lot,” Blake chuckled a bit. “I’ll get the obligatory airport update out of the way. We’ve completed all the decking, so all we have left to do is install a bit of infrastructure. Then we can add buildings as we need them. We’ve got the warehouses there, a unit of dorms for the pilots to rest up, a cafeteria, and a bar. I’m going to let it sort itself out for a few months before we do anything else.”
“What are we going to do with the construction crews?” Marc asked.
“I’m scaling them back,” Blake said. “We still have at least another quad ring to do around the city, that’s eleven more quads. Plus, we have all the buildings we need to add in the empty lots, but there’s no hurry there. About a third of the people we’re letting go are asking to stay on and pick up some of the manufacturing jobs.”
“That’s good,” Liz said. “If we need to ramp back up, they’ll be right here.”
“That’s what I thought,” Blake said. “Now, to our mining operations. As you all know, one of our pilots is from a mining town in West Virginia named Pohawk. He took me there to recruit miners since most of the local mines have shut down. We came back with twenty-one miners and another forty-one people, a lot of them young children.”
“It’ll be a nice infusion of fresh blood for the community,” Kal said.
“I’m glad you think so,” Blake said. “One of the big sticking points was no guns. I have a bet with one of them that he can’t smuggle any into the city. I’m counting on you to protect my money.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Kal said. “It’ll be a good test of our systems. I assume he’s the one who tried to bring three handguns in his luggage.”
“Yep, that’s him. I gave him five free passes, so that’s three of them used up,” Blake said. He shook his head and laughed a bit. “We picked those up on the scanner in the cargo hold. Catie, those things work great, by the way.”
Catie beamed at the praise. She’d added the scanners to the Lynx design to protect the jets from any bombs or other attempts to disable one. They’d become a plus for dealing with attempts to smuggle stuff into Delphi City.
“Okay, so we have our miners, now what?” Samantha asked.
“So now we have to figure out how to mine an asteroid. I’m having the first meeting with a couple of the miners on Thursday to go over the objectives. It’ll be the first time we tell them about the asteroids. I’d like Catie, Natalia, and Liz to be there since they’re the only ones with experience,” Blake said. He spoke very slowly to emphasize that he’d been cheated out of doing the space mission.
“Oh, quit whining,” Catie said. “Natalia and I would love to be there.”
“Just give me a time and place,” Liz said.
“Good, I’m looking forward to a report on the meeting,” Marc said.
“I’m sure it will be entertaining,” Blake said as he shook his head and chuckled.
“Okay, now for our last subject, how do we staff our space station?” Marc asked.
“It should be easy,” Catie said. “Who wouldn’t want to work on a space station?”
“Well, we can’t exactly advertise,” Marc said. “If you and Sam are successful with the company in Vancouver, that will give us a start. But we want to be selective about who goes up there. It’s not quite the same as being here in the city.”
“We can start with the people we have here,” Kal said. “Quite a few of them will want to go up, I’m sure we’ll be able to find good matches.”
“Why don’t we wait and see what happens with our Vancouver deal,” Samantha said. “If it works out, then you’ll have a good base. It’s possible we could just recruit through referrals after that.”
“Before we close, does anyone have an update that we’ve missed?” Marc asked.
“Not much,” Fred said. “The fabricators are going up on the next Oryx, so you can start making a few parts.”
“That’s good, we’re running out of things,” Catie said.
“Our four police officers are starting to take over local patrols,” Kal said. “The community seems to like seeing them around.”
“That’s good,” Marc said. “You need to think about staffing the space station as well. And are we going to need more down here?”
“I’m going to recruit another four to go to with these four when they go back,” Kal said. “We can always put them to work on other things if we don’t need so many.”
“Alright, back to work, people,” Marc said to close the meeting.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi, Mommy,” Catie said as her mother answered the door.
“Oh, hi, Sweetie,” Linda said. “Did I forget you were coming over?”
“No, I’m here to see Zane,” Catie said. “I thought I’d just surprise you.”
“It’s a pleasant surprise,” Linda said as she gave Catie a kiss on the forehead. “What do you need to see Zane about?”
“Work.”
“Oh, you’re here,” Zane said as he came out of the kitchen.
“What are you two cooking up?” Linda asked.
“Well, I just made lunch,” Zane said. “I don’t know what Catie has going on, but she said she had a business proposition for me.”
“She did, did she?” Linda asked. “Do I get to listen in?”
“Fine by me,” Catie said.
“I guess it had better be fine with me then,” Zane said. “Come on in. I told you I’d make lunch.”
Linda and Catie joined Zane in the kitchen. He had them sit at the counter as he served up BLTs for everyone. “What would you like to drink?”
“I’ll just have some water,” Catie said.
“Me too,” Linda said.
“Okay, waters all around,” Zane said as he grabbed three glasses. “Ice?”
“Not for me,” Catie said. Zane apparently knew how Linda wan
ted her water; he brought three glasses of water, no ice, to the counter.
“Now, what is this about?” Zane asked.
“Sam tells me that you’re a banker,” Catie said.
“I was,” Zane said.
“You didn’t like it?” Catie asked.
“Oh, I liked it,” Zane said. “But you guys don’t have a bank here. Almost everybody uses ANZ on Rarotonga.”
“I know,” Catie said. “But I think we need to have our own bank. A credit union.”
“You do?” Zane said. “What about your father?”
“The board agrees with me,” Catie said. “And since you’re a banker, we’d like you to run it.”
“And just what would that entail?” Zane asked.
“I don’t know,” Catie said. “That why we’re asking you to run it. I assume it’s mainly about approving loans and stuff.”
“And stuff,” Zane said with a small laugh. “You make banking sound so glamorous.”
“We already have an investment person,” Catie said. “She’s managing my money and MacKenzie Discoveries’ reserve capital. But we need the person to manage the bank and deal with people.”
“How would you capitalize it?” Zane asked.
“MacKenzie Discoveries would,” Catie said. “We’ll move fifty million into a separate fund for you. Then any deposits over that you would loan out or put into the investment fund our guy would manage. I think you’re supposed to manage the reserve differently.”
“That’s correct, or at least you should,” Zane said. “That’s a pretty big capitalization for a small bank.”
“We want to get more businesses to start up here on Delphi City,” Catie said. “I had to make a loan for a restaurant just the other day because we don’t have a bank. Besides, we have different objectives than ANZ Bank would.”
“What’s the difference?” Zane asked.
“Well, we don’t really want to make money off the loans, we just want to enable the startups. That’s why we’re thinking of a credit union,” Catie said. “We also have more control over how the new businesses will do since we control the competition.”