by Pam Uphoff
"Ah. Unexpectedly sensible of someone, Pax." Jason flicked a smile. "I didn't think you had it in you."
Rebeccah hoped Pax wasn't expecting a reward. Kennedy didn't see the Tellies as sufficiently human to be given more than a doggie biscuit and pat on the head.
Marty griped about missing the party and the mess made of the Red dorms. Pax put his nose up in the air and acted like he was above such base behavior. Jack had a conniption fit over the wreck of the dorm lobby, all he could see from the outside. No one would let him in.
She taught Wolfgang her illusion symbols, and he opened bank accounts for everyone, and helped them break into the company offices for an all night illicit hiring spree. For awhile, it was easy to tell friend from foe, by the new clothes arriving via Wolfgang's mail drop. Eventually all the Tellies were informed of their new status and given the information on their bank accounts. Even Pax was willing to keep the secret, although he demanded a raise. They gave raises to everyone.
***
Tellie night out, in town, became a regular occurrence. Wolfgang, Jason, Charlie and Rebeccah explained the practical aspects of bank accounts and credit cards to the more protected and institutionalized Tellies. It wasn't as if they could be any worse at budgeting than the average real person.
Walls came down in the dorms, and new furniture appeared. People moved to be near friends, and all the guys griped about the paucity of females in their lives.
Chapter Twenty-four
NewGene Experimental Facilities
Wisconsin, North American Union
15 March 2116
The usual seating order they'd fallen into, in the cafeteria was thrown over by the arrival of the colonists.
Wolfgang looked them over and chose a spot in between two tables full of strangers. "Colonists?" He looked over his shoulder at a fellow probably twice his age. "I envy you. I've always wanted to do an in-depth study of one of the worlds we've been finding."
The man looked a bit repulsed, but his habit of good manners took over. "Yes, have you been to many of the worlds?"
"Oh yes. Gaia's a beautiful place. I was in the third exploratory party across." He glanced over the room. "There's close to a hundred of you? Which sciences? All the biological disciplines, I suppose, and geology?"
That got a bit of a laugh. A woman on the far side of the table answered. "I doubt that any of us have fewer than three degrees in separate fields. I started with astronomy and cosmology, then added genetics and statistics. This is a fantastic opportunity."
"Do you think, in a few years, you will want to move to another world, for more comparisons?" Rebeccah felt herself blushing.
The woman shrugged. "Other people will be studying those worlds. The sum total of all our studies will be available to everyone."
Jason raised his eyebrows. "Even the ones not brave enough to cross over themselves?"
The woman smiled cattily. "There will be a five year delay of release of basic data to the public. The across groups will all share immediately with each other."
With that as an ice breaker, they mingled with the colonists, and after eating, took them on a tour, then arranged an extra gate late that night, for a quick trip across with the two men and two women who would be building the colony's infrastructure.
Wolfgang scowled as a team of normal explorers travelled with them. "I would have liked to see how they chose a town site, and laid out the amenities."
AK snorted. "Do you really think we'll ever be let go?"
"That's an opportunity we'll have to make for ourselves. But I do plan on doing it." Wolfgang flashed his teeth at her. "But if you want to stay behind, no problem. I'm a believer in free will and civil rights."
AK rolled her eyes.
The Gaia Colony equipment and supplies rolled in over the next three days, and were mostly shunted straight through the rings. The beacon was moved two hundred miles, and the whole team sweated as they forced the gate to touch down near it, and not on the usual crimp. By the third gate, the second crimp was large enough that any team could find that spot.
One piece of equipment surprised them all. A small satellite launcher, complete with three rockets and miniaturized satellites.
"We can't get them up to geo sync, but the low orbits are better for mapping anyway. With shortwave communications, we won't need communications satellites right away."
The first maps were fascinating.
Recognizably Earth, but with differences. The Straits of Gibraltar were closed, the Mediterranean basin a salt desert. A hazardous looking gap was open between a truncated Nicaragua and Costa Rica. "Current must be vicious, lots of shoals. This is amazing." One of the geologists was fairly drooling over the pictures.
"Do you have many of those little launchers? Perhaps every world under consideration should get at least one satellite up and mapping, as soon as possible." Wolfgang noted all the eager expressions. We'll just have to keep track of some really good worlds, and make sure we get one of them.
The astronomers of the first colony had a small telescope, and with careful maneuvering, the Tellies opened a gate on a mountain top a quarter of the continent away from the main colony.
The long heavy load of the telescope tube lurched through the gate; just under the size limit. Then four more vehicles. Jeeps pulling trailers with fast release hitches. Wolfgang pulled out of the group enough to overhear the chatter from the next room.
"Perfect! The altitude more than makes up for the inconvenience." His lady friend of five days, and bed mate for two of them, waited for the return of the jeeps, then stepped through the gate.
Some day, I'll step through, never to return.
***
"The clear success of the Gaia Colony means that not just other colonies, but temporary work camps can be set up, moved at need, returned to Earth." Harry waved at the picture currently shining on the wall. "This is an example of what we call an algae world. Complex algae, similar to kelp are the most advanced plant life. Animals such as worms and a few things not unlike bryozoans and crinoids are present in shallow salty water. Nothing larger than plankton is out in the open oceans. There are no land plants at all."
One of the suits watching leaned forward. "So there won't be any objections to strip mining."
Harry nodded. "Oh, it will look good if you have runoff control, but basically, no. No cute animals, no stately trees. Just rotting seaweed washed up on shore. Now, if you look at this satellite map, you can see that the western parts of North America are changed only in tiny details. No reason to think the California and Alaska gold fields aren't just sitting there, waiting to be picked up. You know better than I where the best mining areas are. And even for just iron, all the original banded iron formations are untouched."
The president of the mining company nodded and sat back to eye Harry. "And the Trans World Travel Company gets twenty percent."
"Exactly. Now, the main constraint is going to be the size of the vehicles you can send across." Harry brought up those specs. "Everything has to fit through a three and a half meter circle. And I do mean fit. Rubbing the rings is not an option."
"Hmm, we'll need at least a separator on the far side for alluvial gold. Perhaps, if the reserves are high enough, a small refinery for other ores." He eyed Harry. "I want to send a prospecting team through."
"An excellent idea. Just remember the three and a half meter limit for all equipment."
They talked details, and haggled, then turned it over to the contract lawyers. Harry shook hands around the table, much more enthusiasm in their grips, now, the avarice in their eyes sharpened.
His second meeting was with the representatives of four groups that wished to immigrate. They all traded suspicious, competitive greetings with each other and made Harry feel like the lamb invited to the wolf clan picnic. A very divided wolf clan.
"We won't share a world with anyone." The Hopi pair glared at the white guys from Texas.
The big black man cracked his knuckles.
The Romney woman had come in full regalia, she curled a lip and studied her fingernails.
I really like traveling. It's the meetings at the end . . . "We currently have nine worlds under consideration for colonization. Let me show you the Gaia Colony, how they set up, how they are progressing."
"I've heard that you're going to mine some of them, rip the heart out of the land, all over again." The Hopi spokesman didn't seem to think he needed to be diplomatic.
"We are confining the mining to worlds without land plants or animals. And insisting on runoff control to keep the rivers and oceans unaffected by the mining operations." Harry clicked on the presentation. "This is the town, as you see they have sewage and water treatment, electricity from photovoltaic panels on the roofs."
"We don't need any of that. We will take our horses, cattle and sheep through with our hand tools and weapons. And then we want to never see you fat white liars again." The Hopi had obviously over-practiced his insults, as he suddenly paused, the inappropriateness of that comment registering.
Surprise! Unexpectedly dark skinned salesman. And I'm skinny, too.
Harry smiled nicely. "The company is actually owned by an Asian family, but there are some white guys around."
"We have wagons, RVs, everything we need. With a whole world, there's no need to even farm, there will be so much to just gather from the wild." The Romney man nodded in satisfaction. "We want one."
The black man cracked his neck. "We'll take two." He grinned. "Nah, just kidding. But the Blacks Only Colony Company has over three million subscribers already, over ten percent of them committed to financing a colony, and planning on going themselves."
Harry made note of that. "That's a huge group. I think we'll have to spread you out, eh? At least ten groups of thirty thousand each?"
"Actually we're organizing into 'towns' with five thousand families each. At this point, we've got fifteen towns. Now, how hard and fast is this three and a half meter limit I've heard about?"
"It is absolute. You can't push the limit or it literally won't fit through. You jam the rings part way through, the vehicle is converted to high speed shrapnel. And vehicles that are over eleven meters in length tend to get compacted on their way through. Of the ten deaths on this project, six of them are related to oversized vehicles. If you are extremely well organized, we might be able to get five thousand vehicles, one per family, through the rings in, umm. Ten gates. We've pushed the limit, and can hold them for nearly ten minutes at a time, now. And it sounds like you'll need at least a hundred and fifty?" Harry winced a bit at that. Three a day for almost two months? The Tellies will be exhausted. And we'll still need to open gates to the other worlds at the same time for supplies, equipment, ores coming the other direction.
"That's better than one vehicle per second. How fast do you expect them to be driving through these little rings of yours?"
"At least thirty miles an hour, and they must keep going on the far side so the line doesn't back up through the ring. Which is one more reason to not push the size of the vehicles to the absolute limit."
"Indeed. I'll consult with my engineers."
On the return trip, he spent two days in Milwaukee, talking to groups of parents who'd had their children's minor genetic problems fixed. They were all in an uproar over the election results, and half of them were demanding worlds to colonize.
And then the parents of the test kids. Rebeccah's father had formed a colony company, and was accumulating a "starter package" of everything needed, public works-wise for a small town.
"No point in not planning for water treatment, sewage disposal, power generation and the like." His gaze was still angry. "All I need is my daughter."
"At the rate computers are improving, I suspect the Tellies will be out of jobs within a few years. I'll be sure to let all of them know which worlds their families have immigrated to, so that they can find you."
The compact muscular man to his left was making Harry nervous, the way he occasionally, deliberately, crowded Harry's personal space. "We'll hold you to that, and additionally, we want to be able to communicate with the kids."
"The company is a bit anal about that, and I don't want to upset the status quo. Mister?"
"Oldham."
"Ah. Wolfgang's father." I knew better than to expect him to look like Wolfgang, but I'd always pictured tall.
"Yes?" A purring drawl, narrowed eyes, definitely encroaching on Harry's space.
"I rather suspect that Wolfgang can contact you anytime he wishes to, and hasn't due to the possibility of your phones being monitored."
The short man flashed a sharp smile. Now there was a resemblance.
***
Mike flew in from DC, and grabbed him as soon as the parents were gone.
"The administration is finally starting to move on your company. But," The agent held up a warning hand. "They are going to wait until the genetically engineered have been, err, allowed, to colonize some of your worlds."
"A new president, a new policy." Harry shook his head. "Not easily seen as different from the old policy."
"What about you, and the two women 'emancipated' Tellies? You'll be exiled with everyone else, if you aren't useful. As they say in the movies, we'd really like an eye on the inside."
Harry nodded. "We've talked it over. We've been training on various things, up to and including the prototype rings. We'll take a test run on the full scale rings in a couple of weeks. Any more information on the Chou clan?"
Mike sighed. "They are very clannish. And close mouthed. We can't track Jaejong prior to his life in Russia. And can't find a childhood for him there."
Harry smoothed the short hair on the back of his neck. "I really hate the feeling that there's more going on than I can see."
***
The Chairman was back, again.
And the nearby worlds were fascinating. Wolfgang clandestinely assisted Isobel in finding another nearby world that looked well populated and at least modern, if not advanced. Three days later they found the world again, and the beacon, but no team. And again, six days later. Still no returnees.
Chapter Twenty-five
NewGene Experimental Facilities
Wisconsin, North American Union
1 April 2116
"Ah. There, you are, Harry." Jack smiled in delight. "All ready for your trial? Where's Gisele?"
:: That’s Doctor Heath to you, asshole. ::
Wolfgang looked at Harry in surprise. That thought had been very clear. He didn't usually 'hear' Harry at all.
He eased toward the door, and thought inconspicuous thoughts, and while they were glaring at each other, sat down out of the way and thought about being part of the back ground. Just plain gray walls here.
Dr. Heath walked in a few minutes later. Elsie Barstow, looking apprehensive, followed in her wake.
"So, all the free Tellies are here, eh?" Jack swaggered over to the women.
"Stick it, Jack. Let's get the electrodes on." Heath turned her back on him and pulled three headsets out of the bin.
"You're a solid two years behind in this training, you know." Jack reached for her hair.
She swatted his hand away. "Yes, something we'll have to keep in mind, along with us older ones not having the full suite of engineered genes."
Elsie nodded. "We may not even be able to create the power flow."
"But if we have an ability, we may be able to coordinate with the students. Even forming one more team will help take the pressure off."
"Ha! Each team gets four days off, between stints on the gate. Pure luxury, and they ought to be enjoying it while it lasts. When we ramp up colonization, they'll be busy full time. And we've broken ground on the second gate. Purpose built for the mining equipment and ore shipments. Two years to complete it and we'll move half the gods to run that one. Then they'll have a reason to complain."
"Then you'll start seeing some problems." Harry shook his head. "People aren't machines, and if the
company continues to treat them as owned commodities, it's going to come to a bad end."
"You are owned commodities."
Harry ignored him. "Go do your job, Jack. You know, all the prep for the mag bottle?"
"The techs do that."
"And you check them, right, Jack? You certainly wouldn't shirk your duties, would you, Jack?"
Jack glared, and walked out the door to the mag room.
"This was a very bad idea, Harry. They're going to treat us like the kids, now."
"And what, pray tell, makes you any better than any one of 'those kids,' Dr. Heath?" Harry's voice was chilly.
"Nothing but Court recognition of my civil rights. I'd appreciate your not pointing out to the company that with Jason's loss in court, followed by Wolfgang's, we're very vulnerable. And then how are we going to help the kids?"
Harry glared.
"And what, pray tell, have you done to help 'the kids', any of you three high and mighty free Tellies?" Wolfgang snorted as they looked around for the voice. "Other than train them to be obedient and very valuable possessions? Any more rapes while I was gone? Any blanks in your own memories?"
They all glared toward his corner.
"Go away."
"Nope. You three amateurs may need to be rescued. Or those snotty techs rescued from you."
Harry turned his back on the corner and finished gluing his last electrode.
Elsie gave his corner the big-eyed-hurt-look. "You used to be nice, Wolfgang."
"That was when I was a human being. A trusting child you sent off to slavery."
He shut up as the door to the mag room opened again. The head tech looked at them, apprehension all over his face. "The mag bottle is up. You can start anytime."
The three of them joined hands, eyes closed. In his corner, Wolfgang reached way up into what he thought of as the high range, the high frequencies of his mental hearing. Pale blue like electricity, fizzy with bubbles that looked tiny from this perspective. The bubbles jigged frantically past and he sat and watched as the rings spun up, tuned. A bright spot appeared. Something reached through and fumbled about, terrified to stretch too far.