by Arlin Fehr
'What's the status of our passengers?' Howard asked Mark
'A few bumps from people who apparently forgot the test was today, and didn't strap in.'
'Even though we announced it more then once.'
'Yes sir.'
'Some people I tell you. I guess we'll have to try a louder siren next time.' Howard said with a smile.
'Indeed sir.'
'I'm going to head down to engineering and have a look. Mr. Jona, you have the bridge.'
'Aye sir.'
Engineering
Howard walked through one of the large double doors to engineering. The chief engineer, Keith Loheim, was on duty to supervise the test. Most of the hook ups for the control had been his work. The laying down of the new cabling had been left to a team of civilian specialists.
'Mr. Loheim, how is everything on your end?'
'Ah Captain, I was hoping you'd stop by.' Mr. Loheim, exclaimed happily.
'Oh?' Howard said curiously.
'Yes. I do have a concern with our new set up.'
'Oh, what would that be?' Howard asked.
Loheim smiled sheepishly, 'Well sir, James and I have been talking and he's still concerned about the lack of shielding on the cables. I did some looking into it, and I have some data to back up his concerns.'
'Okay, what have you got for me?'
'If you'll follow me sir.'
Howard followed Keith over to a computer station in the vaulting bay. In the centre of the bay sat the assembly of the Jump Drive, which hummed softly as it drew power from the ship's reactors. They'd be ready for another jump once the capacitors were fully charged, and the drive system had a chance bleed off it's residual energy from the last jump.
Keith sat down at one of the seats, and Howard took another one near by. Keith keyed up some data on the screen.
'Now Captain, as I had said earlier, the reason for the shielding along the cable conduits in the spine is because we run into a lot of cosmic interference. Stars throw off all kinds of signals, and if we are unlucky enough to be close to a pulsar, or a collapsing star, or any number of particularly strong phenomenon in space, we could be in for a rather strong burst of interference.
'Unfortunately, due to the nature of our set up, and the limited tools we had to work with, part of our cabling had to be strung on the outside of the hull. Engineering itself here has shielding, but the spine connects to the engines at the top of the ship. We had to splice in our new systems up there on the outside of the hull. We've got a portion of our cabling that's just sitting there, completely unprotected. I wouldn't like to make any guess as to what some of that cosmic interference might do to the system, but it wouldn't be nice.'
'Valid concerns, but as we discussed when designing this system, the path we're taking has been chartered before we came out here, and it's been shown to be quite devoid of anything particularly dangerous. To top it off, when we reach the new planet system, it's got a very strong magnetic field,' Howard said.
'Before that though, if we come out of a jump, or even just sitting between jumps, and find ourselves in the path of a wave of some high intensity burst well I don't know what it would do, but I'd rather not find out.'
'Any suggestions?'
'I suggest we leave this entire system switched off until we get into the star system. We can use the primary system in deep space without much fuss. A few second delay shouldn't make too much of a difference.'
'I'll keep it under advisement,' Howard said standing up, on a thought he asked one last question, 'How long would it take to do a cold start of this system anyway?'
Keith thought about it for a moment, 'Shouldn't take more then four or five minutes. Of course we'd want to make sure it was the only system online. We'd want to shut of the primary system so we don't have any command function overlaps. Especially with the delay in the other system. That would just get messy. The primary would say fire the manoeuvring jets, and the new system would say fire the main thrusters, then they'd both go one after the other, and we'd start going in circles. Of course we'd know something was wrong and quickly fix it, but still.'
'Five minutes... I'll hold you to that.'
'Yes sir.'
'Now then, anything else of concern?'
'No sir, we're doing fine down here. The jump drive is charging happily, and none of our other systems seem to be having any trouble.'
'And how went the test on your end?'
'Overall it went swimmingly. Having the flight plan planned out in advanced works fine. If we need to do any emergency manoeuvring, I can patch the ships sensors through here, but it's an awkward set up. Not impossible, just awkward.'
'It's the best we can do. High grade cabling is in rather short supply. We were lucky we got what we did.'
'That reminds me, James wanted to talk to you. He was also talking to me about his plans for reassembling the solar array when we reach Vodea.'
'I'll go find him then. If everything went well here, then I'm satisfied with the test.'
'We'll I've got no other quibbles to bring up.'
'Good. Keep up the good work Mr. Loheim.'
***
James was back at work in the cargo bay housing his arrays, after having weathered the engine test in an acceleration couch in another part of the bay. Procedure stated that he should have been in a public space, or his quarters, but he had to be sure that the rigging holding the disassembled array would hold. So he had been double and triple checking the rigging right up until the test was about to start.
The array sat in the air, held in place by a series of meshes and straps. It's kilometres of surface area had been broken down into individual panels and stacked carefully in any place that had the space. The wiring that had been stripped had been in the very structural joints of the array, so those had to be disassembled.
Rather than put the structural frame work back together again, he had decided to just store it as is, so they could put it all together in orbit.
When the door to the bay opened, James looked up from his work. Captain Fredrick was walking towards him. James straightened up and smiled.
'Ah Captain, good day to you. I trust the test went well?'
'It went very well. The new system is performing as expected. The fact that our engineers and civilian techs could put that together makes me think we shouldn't have any problems setting up our colony on Vodea.'
'We do have some bright minds.'
'Some of the best. Although there were a few accidents from people not strapping in against the force of acceleration.'
'Being bright in one field, doesn't mean it'll carry over to any others. I can't cook to save my life.'
Howard laughed, 'And I haven't got any musical talent.'
'So what can I do for you Captain?'
'I think it's what can I do for you, Mr. Loheim said you wanted to speak to me?'
'Ahhh he did remember then. Sometimes I wonder about him. He gets so focused on his projects and everything about them that he seems to forget everything else.'
'He certainly is good at what he does though.'
'Half of the new systems design is his. The other techs just put it all together. I mostly figured out how to make the most out of our limited cable.'
'He's voiced some concern for the shielding.'
'Yeah, I swayed him over to my concerns. Unfortunately, we don't have a whole lot we could do differently.'
'So then you agree with his plan so far?' Howard commented.
'We're going to have to do it that way I think. We just don't the proper equipment to make modifications to the hull, either to shield the connections, or to make them all internal. It's got to be external at the connection from the cable to the engine.'
'Do we have any way of making a shielding casing for that area?'
'Maybe we could, but I'd have to talk to some of the other specialists. I don't think we have enough to play with though.' James replied uncertainly.
'Have a look into that when
you can. For now we're just going to leave the system off until we need it.'
'That'll have to work for now. Wouldn't want to just rely on keeping it off. We know the parts in the primary are defective. If they break down, we could have to rely on the new system.'
'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Now then James, Mr. Loheim, said you had some things you wanted to ask me about reassembling that array over there.' Howard said, gesturing to the stacks of solar panels held in place by storage rigging.
'Ah yes. Back to my primary job. So, as you know, I chose not to put humpty dumpty back together again after we pulled it apart. I didn't think we needed to do the same work twice. If we threw it all back together, we'd just have to pull it apart again to put the wiring back into the support structure.'
Howard nodded his understanding.
James continued, 'Now once I get all this in orbit,' James gestured to the other still intact arrays, 'we'll be able to reposition it using it's on board ion thrusters. I'll just use the solar power to move it around. So where you drop us into orbit doesn't really matter. Just so long as it's a stable orbit.
'Yes.' replied Howard.
'So, my team and I are going to need more time than normal to reassemble all this. I propose that when we reach orbit, you jettison this bay first, along with everything we need to work, and then continue on to the planet's surface to set up the colony and collapse the ship into the smaller ship. Every time we orbit, you can contact us and see if we need anything. Once we throw together the first four arrays, which won't take any time at all, we can position for the geosynchronous orbit using the ion thrusters. The thrusters should be enough to bring the bay with us if we just tether it all together.'
'That sounds like it could be complicated.'
'My team has more experience with zero-G work then anyone on this ship. If anyone can pull this off without support from the ship, it'll be us.'
'And then we just take the ship, set up the colony, and come back up to get you?'
'The bay has it's own oxygen supplies and an airlock system. After we push all the parts out into space, we'll just pressurize it and use it as our crew quarters.'
'If anything goes wrong, we might not be able to orbit around to you fast enough.'
'We don't have the luxury of a huge safety net. We can't have you held up waiting for us to finish before you drop colony modules to Vodea. The colony will need power as soon as they start setting stuff up. I'll need a head start. It's a logical plan.'
'It's not safe though. We need some kind of safety net for you. A back up if anything goes wrong.' Howard exclaimed adamantly, 'The colony will need you and the team to keep the power grid operational.'
James thought about it for a moment, 'Well we could create a crisis rooms in the bay. If we seal off an area of the bay, make it self contained, give it it's own oxygen and water supply, we could hole up in them if anything went wrong.'
'Still tricky, but better. I'll consider your plan for the array if you give me a plan for the crisis rooms as soon as you can.'
'Will do Captain. I honestly believe this is the best choice available.'
'Then get me that plan James. Show me it'll work, and after that, we'll work on putting it in motion. Is there anything else?'
'No sir.'
'I'll be off then.'
Howard turned and left. Once in the hall he checked his watch. Sam was supposed to meet up with him in one of the observation rooms, along with Ayla and her mother.
It was almost time.
He went for the nearest lift in the area and took it to the deck where the observation room was located. Sam had suggested this one personally. He thought it had a good view of the rest of the ship.
As he walked through the hall, he saw Sam standing by the door to the observation room. It wasn't really a door, more a two level lift. The room was a clear dome with some seating inside.
'Hello Sam. Decided to show up a few minutes early?' Howard said.
'Yes. I can't say I've been looking forward to this.'
Howard glanced down the hallway and saw Ayla and her mother, Ira, coming hand in hand towards them.
'Apparently we weren't the only ones who decided to show up early.' Howard said softly to Sam.
They all walked into the observation room, and took seats facing each other near the centre of the room. It was both a observation room and a lounge.
The adults looked at each other in a awkward silence for some time, but Ayla just smiled at Sam.
Ira broke the silence, 'I've given this a lot of thought. I just wanted to say no. So badly I wanted to say no. But, I know what happened to Tim wasn't something he could control. And he did exactly what anyone could hope he'd do.'
'It was more then anyone could have hoped,' Sam offered.
Ira smiled sadly, 'I know. I also know that Tim wouldn't have wanted me to fear the choice he made being made by our daughter. He would have made the choice at her age too. I'm just afraid for my daughter.'
'That's understandable Mrs. Geer. If the application is approved by Axion HQ, I'll personally watch over her. No step in this process will go unwatched.'
'I'm sure you will Samuel. And I appreciate it. Ayla honey, why don't you tell them your choice?'
Ayla beamed at Sam, 'I want to be an Advocate just like you.'
Sam knelt down on the floor and looked in her eyes, 'It's going to be hard work Ayla. You are going to have to have some doctor's appointment and there will be surgery. Do you know what surgery is?'
Ayla nodded, her smile gone, and a look of seriousness on her face.
'We'll need to add some things to your body. Things that will let you talk to the Guardians that you will work with.'
'Will I get to work with your Guardian?'
'He'll help teach you about Guardians.'
'Cool.' she said happily.
Sam got back up and sat in his seat and looked at Ira, 'I'll fill out the forms and send them over to you for you to look over and sign. After that I'll send it to Axion and they'll approve it. Then we'll start the process here. We've got all the needed equipment here on the ship. I'm afraid you won't be able to be part of any of the medical procedures, due to the possibility of a conflict of interest.'
'I know that rule. I'll abide by it. I'll want to be present for it all though.'
'Of course,' Sam stood up, 'I believe that's all we needed to cover. Is there anything else?'
Ira stood up as well, 'No, I think that's everything. Thank you Samuel, and you too Captain Fredrick. I'll be waiting for those forms.'
'I'll keep Sam on his toes for you.' Howard said as they all got up to leave.
Sam separated from the group and headed for his quarters to get the forms ready.
'Sam. Are you sure about this child?' Exo questioned.
'She's eager. There's not much you can judge on at this age.' Sam replied.
'She is not top of her class in grades. She is above average yes, but there are better candidates.'
'You know I failed math class at her age. ' Sam replied.
'I did not know... I have never accessed your personal file. '
'We'll you have my permission if you'd like. As for the child, she'll do fine. There's not many Advocates that have ever failed in the process. '
'But the few examples we have had have been quite detrimental.'
'What exactly is your concern Exo?' Sam asked pointedly.
'I have watched Ira Geer for some time. She suffered from psychological pain. I am concerned that Ayla will also suffer. She has lost a parent. My analysis shows that losing a parent at a young age has the potential to unsettle humans to a great extent. Sometimes the extent won't even be visible at first.'
'You're getting awfully observant these days.' Sam said.
'You have taught me to answer my own questions. '
'To the best of your ability. Frankly, I don't think she will be a problem. It will be a stressful time, but with her Mother on the ship and me to guide
her, she won't be facing it alone.'
'Fear of loneliness is a driving force in human interactions. '
'Very observant again. Yes it is.'
'I will keep an eye on their psychological health and let you know if I discover anything new.'
'Very well Exo. Also, if you would be so kind as to forward the necessary Advocate authorization forms to my personal terminal, I'll fill them out as soon as I get there.'
'Yes Advocate. And you remember your dinner with Sarah tonight?'
'Wouldn't want to miss that. Did you find a place I could get my package?'
'Deck 13, section A, room 24. Your order was placed ahead of time. It's not quite as you requested, but those kind of supplies are not abundant here. The proprietor will be expecting you. '
'Thank you Exo.'
'Good luck Advocate.' Exo said.
Sam just smiled.
***
Sam had gone and met Sarah at her quarters. They had walked to their destination together.
Sam and Sarah had chosen a proper restaurant that had been set up on this ship over the last two weeks. Hearing complaints that there were no good places to eat, Captain Howard had ordered one of the mess halls converted into a functional restaurant. The better cooks were asked if they wanted to switch over to the restaurant, and enough had done so to make it a worthwhile destination.
Due to the fact that the space was limited, and it was in high demand, a voucher system had been implemented. Each person on the ship could book a reservation using a voucher, and vouchers were given out to the crew and colonists once a week.
Some people never used them, and instead traded them as a kind of secondary currency on the ship.
Sam and Sarah sat at a table in one of the corners of the restaurant. It had a red table cloth, and the walls had cloth drapes tastefully hung over them to cover the gunmetal gray of the wall. The lighting was soft.
It was hardly a five star restaurant back on earth, but it was a far cry from the old public mess hall.
'I think the lighting helps,' Sam said, discussing the décor of the restaurant.