Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “Hours of boredom punctuated by brief instances of sheer terror,” Firefly said. Mayweather looked at the speaker then shrugged. “You also don't know for sure if they can hack the black,” the AI finished.

  “Well, most do shuttle or pod work,” Mayweather replied.

  “That is within a fixed envelope under controlled conditions while in the shadow of the station or ship. By hacking the black I mean a prolonged recon flight with nothing but the darkness of space around you.”

  “Oh,” Sergio said nodding. He looked at Mayweather who was nodding slowly.

  “You are doing fighter exercises once a week?”

  “Yes Ma'am.”

  “So, my recommendation to you, dial back the combat sims and start fresh with the nuts and bolts on your next scheduled exercise. You know, the stuff you take for granted that can kill you if you do. Launches and traps. Long periods of boredom like our AI colleague mentioned. Lull them into complacency then toss them into the mix without warning. Teach them it's not easy to be at the top of your game all the time,” she frowned as she paused then shrugged. “Get one of the AI to add a random matrix generator, designed to throw you repair problems as well.”

  “Huh?” Sergio asked blinking.

  “Oh, like say, what would happen if you try to land a fighter that has been damaged? Now what about in a combat situation?”

  “Um...” his brows knit.

  “Or a fluctuating drive?” she asked again leaning forward. “Or a sticky trigger? What about a sticky throttle? Or a bad IFF? Jamming or broken radio? What about a defensive exercise? Defending a convoy or fleet?”

  “Okay. I get your meaning,” he nodded. “Can I ah, borrow Firefly..”

  “I'm not doing anything pressing right now Lieutenant. I can help you with your project,” the AI replied.

  “Fine. It'll keep you both busy and out of my hair,” Mayweather grinned. “Maybe I'll toss something in. Or toss the idea to the Admiral.”

  “Now now, there's no need to get nasty,” Firefly replied. Mayweather chuckled. “But your idea has spawned one of my own... a joint exercise.”

  “Ah?” Mayweather asked, eyebrow arched in query.

  “Yes, what about a group exercise? Entire ship companies? A mixed exercise with main line ships and fighters?”

  “Oh...” Mayweather rubbed her chin in thought. “We'd have to be all together for that or it wouldn't fly. I don't think we're up to a star siege or a planetary landing but... I dunno. After seeing that footage I think it's a good idea. We're not likely to run into Xenos, but if anyone runs across a fighter or two, we could be in trouble. If it was an unexpected drill though...”

  “Now who's the one being nasty?” Firefly teased. Both humans laughed at that.

  Sprite flicked a line across a paragraph, blotting it out. "What's that?" the Admiral asked curious.

  "Another naval reduction one. This one's even better," she smiled. "As of the next quarter all military personnel will use only Benson's food distribution," Sprite grinned.

  The Admiral groaned. "That makes what, twelve?" he asked. He couldn't believe how fast the Pyrax congress had started in with this. It was like they were taking up where the ghosts of their ancestors had left off, and determined to live up to their nasty reputation of obstructionism to the fullest. Pyrax had a congress, or what ever they called themselves for three months now and if they were like this now, he shuddered to think about what the future would bring. Nothing good probably. Hell, definitely.

  "Fourteen counting the one saying the navy has to use rugs from Balderdash inc and... This one that says the navy has to clear all movements in triplicate." The Admiral shook his head.

  "They're kidding," he sighed sitting back.

  "Gotta love the power of a line item veto," Sprite replied. He grunted. The campaign election for governor was still ongoing. The election itself wasn't for another week and a half.

  "Admiral we have a problem," Logan came into the room and stopped to view Irons staring at the ceiling.

  "Something I should know about?" he asked craning his neck to see.

  "Not if you count blue thoughts about politicians," Irons sat up straight. "Now what?" he asked.

  "It seems we've been bumped down as low man on the totem pole. The navy will get materials when system expansion and repair projects are finished," Logan said, obviously quoting.

  "Who gave you that song and dance?" the Admiral asked.

  "Bernard. Representative of New Kentucky international. Whatever." Logan sat. "I'm starting to regret saving the them. I think we should have been rooting for the pirates."

  Irons chuckled. "There is a fix for that." He keyed his communications implant.

  "Communications, how can we help you Admiral?" a voice asked.

  "I want a bulletin to each ship captain. I want them to pick up any unmarked or unregistered asteroids that are worth it when coming into the station. They are to use their onboard facilities to purify what they can and make what they can."

  "Ah, yes sir," Logan nodded.

  "Make sure Captain Mayweather knows this. Amend a copy of Representative Bernard's latest announcement so they know why. Irons out." He cut the signal.

  "Well, they won’t like it, but it will cut out the middle man," Logan smiled. "Boy are the people on station going to be pissed!" The Admiral chuckled.

  "Their problem. Not mine. I have enough on my plate as it is," he grumped. Logan got up.

  "What about fuel?" he asked.

  "We deal directly with the Valdez family. That isn't a problem. I own a partial interest in the gas giant refineries we put up anyway," Irons smiled.

  "Right. Okay then. I'll go check and see what else has gone wrong," Logan gave him a nod then left.

  "Yeah, my sentiments exactly," the Admiral muttered.

  Shelby smiled as a group of kids tossed a ball around. She was at her favorite spot, at the cantina on deck nineteen overlooking the park. Firefly was in for the moment and she was on liberty for another three hours before she had to report back.

  "My dad says it’s a religious thing some crackpot dreamed up," one kid said snidely. Looks like another argument she thought.

  "Nuh uh! My mommy says it's cause someone ran into something we don't understand," another kid said. She hid a smile.

  One of the kids looked up and spotted her. "There's commander Logan, let's ask her."

  The kids raced off in a mob up the stairs past nearby diners and then suddenly braked in a twisted boat load of brats at her feet. "And what can I answer that you can't?" she asked smiling.

  "Well ah, we ah..." a little girl with pigtails stumbled.

  "We ah.. Quit it!" another boy, this one covered in freckles with shocking orange red hair turned and yanked her pigtail.

  "Out with it! She's a busy lady!" He turned back to her. "Sorry Commander." She hid a smile.

  "No problem. Sometimes people are shy though Billy, give them time to get over it." She nodded to the girl. "Go ahead Francesca."

  She blushed. "Well..." she toed the ground. "We were wondering why people say spirits of space or goddess of space." Shelby's eyebrow's rose in surprise.

  "My my, you do pick the tough ones." She sat back gathering her thoughts. "Well, I guess it's a bit complicated, as many sayings are. Both sayings and several others are linked to spacers. You see, back on our home worlds before spaceflight there were sailors that sailed oceans of water."

  She smiled. "These people personified the oceans as female because of their fickle nature." One of the kids looked confused. He held up his hand. "Yes Nigel?"

  "What's persona personi..." She chuckled.

  "It means that we think of something, an inanimate object as a person. It's a physiological thing," she shrugged. "You see, the seas on many worlds changed, sometimes very fast. Rain, storms, high winds, no winds. Winds from one direction, then another, it was a bewildering time for some."

  Nigel looked confused again. "It was a confusing time," she amended
. His face cleared and he smiled a gap toothed grin.

  "Got it." Shelby chuckled.

  "Well, When people came to space they thought of it the same way. It is hot in the sun, but terribly cold in the shade. Metal breaks down or sticks to itself. there are storms of radiation and all sorts of things floating around," she waved. The kids nodded.

  "Like asteroids and stuff?" Francesca said. Shelby touched her nose.

  "Right." She looked up to the others. "Also, every time we come to space, things flake off, or we toss trash out," she shrugged. "In our time we recycle it all. But in the past space was dangerous." They nodded.

  "So why did you say it's like a woman?" Billy asked clearly confused. Shelby grinned.

  "Can you figure out a girl?" He shook his head. "How about you?" she looked over to Nigel.

  "Who would want to?" he asked looking innocent. One of the girls stomped on his foot. He turned on her and started to horse play.

  "Is that all that girls are? Hard to understand?" Billy asked, pausing.

  "You'll understand when your older," Shelby laughed. "Now get, go play while you can." He saluted and ran off. "Scamp," she said smiling again.

  The Major frowned at the marine recruits then went back to parade rest. "General McGrath's brilliant campaign against the Verg ended with the battle of their capital." He looked around. Irons nodded. "I want each of you to do an analysis of his campaign and then give me a look at what you would have done in the same scenarios. We will sim each in your next class. Dismissed," he nodded and watched stonily as the class came to attention then gathered their gear and filed out.

  "Bloodbath McGrath," Irons shook his head. He was making his rounds in the college now in between classes. Things in the college and military were settling down nicely. Not quite routine with all the new things coming out of the replicators, but they had learned to adapt and take the changes in stride over the past several months.

  "What was that Admiral?" the major asked looking over to him.

  "McGrath. Bloodbath McGrath." The Major's frown came out in full force. "You have to admit, he had a high body count," he sighed as he read the signs of a hero worshiper.

  "I wasn't there Admiral. Neither were you since that battle happened nearly a century before your birth. Respectfully, we can second guess the man on the scene all we want in hindsight, but..."

  Irons nodded. "But he was the man and called the shots as he saw them at the time. I know, I remember that argument," he frowned. "I actually knew him by the way."

  The Major's stoic expression broke briefly. "What was he like?" he asked.

  "He put up a good front. Bull in a china shop. He was built like a tank, and was a frontal assault type," Irons grimaced.

  "What?" the Major asked picking up a tablet on the desk.

  "His politics later on were... " he shrugged. "He wanted to replace all armed forces with genetically engineered cyborg super soldiers," Irons explained. “It was near the end of his career.” The Major frowned.

  "He even managed to get a small test batch of commandos together as a demonstration using black funds," he said grimly, scowling. He remembered the incident well, he'd been one of the people sent in to clean up the mess.

  "What happened?" the Major asked after a moment.

  "Our military, our Federation is a volunteer democracy. Having genetically engineered super soldier slaves didn't go over well when word leaked," Irons shrugged.

  "We had fights in the military and in the senate. Riots in some of the major cities. He was forced to retire early. The super soldiers became a problem however," he looked bleak. "They had been trained... more programmed than educated, since they were in the womb. Trying to break that and instill initiative and free will had its consequences." He looked away.

  "Bad?" the Major asked quietly. Irons nodded.

  "As bad as it gets. They went insane. They went on a rampage in the veteran hospital station they were in. Marines, and commandos were sent in to stop them. They charged powered armor in hospital briefs," he shook his head. "One got to the reactors, we're not sure how, but he somehow over rode the governors and got it to explode."

  The Major whistled softly. "Nine million casualties. Not to mention fragmentation damage to other stations and the ground. And we didn't get them all." Irons sat down heavily. "Three got out in a search and rescue shuttle. They went on a rampage until they were pinned down and taken out one by one. After that well, McGrath ended his political run and disappeared into retirement."

  Irons shook his head. "A year later he was killed by an angry woman who had lost her entire family when the station went up." Irons sat back studying the Major.

  "I didn't know that," he said quietly.

  "It's not in the tactical or strategic database. You'll find the news link in the library history section or in Knox's journalism class," Irons shrugged. "I can upload my meeting with him if you'd like." He looked at the Major who shook his head then paused as if to reconsider then reluctantly nodded.

  "He was a pain in the ass. We crossed paths just after I received these," he hefted his arm. "He came on strong. He thought I'd be gung ho about the project and would support him. He was wrong." Irons shook his head. "I'll let you draw your own conclusions," he shrugged. "It's history now anyway. I have no intention of repeating that or allowing anyone else to," he said firmly getting up. The Major came to attention.

  "Carry on Major," Irons nodded and left. He had an appointment with a congressional committee to get to.

  The council room was quiet as the representative made his presentation. "So you see, with focused gravity waves at strategic points we can force the belt in onto itself to reform into a planet," he looked enthused. Irons smiled as he sat back.

  "Just what sort of investment would this take?" another Representative asked. The presenter hemmed and hawed for a few moments then told the group to hold the questions until the end of the presentation.

  At the end of the presentation he folded his pointer and looked at the group nervously. "Back to my original question. what is this going to cost??" the rep asked. Irons chuckled softly. The representatives looked at him. "Admiral? You have something to add here?"

  Irons nodded. "I am not a planetary engineer but I do have some limited experience. To answer your question, quite a lot. You would need a series of gravity emitters each the size of the Anvil space station." The others murmured at this. "You would need massive power plants to power those same emitters. Most likely a star tap. You would also need a dozen smart AI's with a planetary class computer network and some strong communications links." He shrugged as the babble doubled.

  Judge Farley stood raising his hands. "All right ladies and gentlemen, let’s keep it down. I know Mr. Genshi's proposal is a bit much to take in all at once." Genshi's face went to stone. "But that doesn't say we shouldn't try to look at this objectively," Farley ended diplomatically.

  "One's reach should always exceed ones grasp," Irons murmured into the ensuing quiet. Again they turned to him.

  "What do you order Admiral?" a rep asked, leaning forward to see him. Irons frowned.

  "I am not here to order anything Mr. Brown, I am here as an observer and consultant. I do have some intermediary suggestions for you to consider if you would like to hear them." Irons sat back as several people nodded then turned back to him. He stood. "All right the first is a series of O'Neill colonies. These can be any size. You can build them in the traditional cylinder format, or a spherical one." Sprite fed the images to

  the holo emitter. The lights dimmed and he waited for each of them to watch it.

  "And just how much would these cost?" Genshi asked snidely.

  "A lot. About as much as Anvil. But each would house from ten to one hundred thousand people depending upon how they were built and could be occupied right away. We, that is the navy, is working on a more limited project.” A holo of the trans-habs was shown. “Each of these are cheap and quick to make, and can house up to a hundred people depending
on their size, but they have limited shielding and are easily breached. They are at best temporary quarters. On a change of subject, your reformed planet would take four centuries to make and would take up to another two centuries to cool before it could be terraformed and occupied." The babble of voices started once more. Genshi fidgeted a little in discomfort as dark looks were shot his way.

  "Ahem." The group quieted. "I believe we didn't see the long view there. Continue if you will Admiral," Farley smiled to the Admiral. Irons nodded.

  "Correct, there are no shortcuts, no quick fixes,” Irons said nodding. “But that doesn't mean it's not a worthwhile project to explore for those down the road.” He nodded politely to Genshi then turned back to the room at large.

  “There are four other habitat ideas. The first is to expand the lava tubes and underground caverns in the moons to house people. The second is a micro Dyson sphere." He nodded as the holo changed to an asteroid. "Precision, clean nuclear charges detonate on the inside and outside. The inside charges blows the material outward expanding the crust while the outside charges compresses it and places a spin on the body at the same time. This would form a hollowed sphere like the O'Neill colony.”

  “After a few months of cooling in the shade you could go in cut locks and set up shop." He waited as several representatives made notes or pointed and talked with their colleagues.

  “For your information we, the navy that is,” he turned and nodded to them then back to the holo projection. “are taking a different approach.” A few looked up curious at that. He smiled a little. “The Navy is currently finishing the ground work for the first micro Dyson sphere. We packed a four kilometer wide asteroid with about half of a comet then sealed it, started it spinning on one axis, and then super heated it with the weapons of Firefly.” The holo changed to show a potato shaped rock slowly drifting in space. The scene lit as Firefly's weapons played over the asteroid. They could just make out shuttles around the asteroid stabilizing it's rotation.