“A few we've lost due to medical reasons,” the doctor said frowning. The group turned to her. “About twenty from Sing-tal five had massive radiation exposure. A few had terminal diseases. We're cleaning them out now,” she grimaced and ran her hand through her hair. “A few we can't do much for. Even nanites have their limits.”
“Yes,” Irons nodded as the group sobered. “Unfortunately all too true doctor. There aren't many magic bullets.” He turned back to Matilda. “And their education levels?”
“Substandard, quite a bit compared to what we've turned out on Anvil. Some have grade school level, but most are completely illiterate.”
“Joy.”
“And we're doing what we can with sleep teaching, memory downloads, neural feeds, and training but with the older recruits, it's not going well. Or as fast as I'd like.”
“Can't teach an old dog new tricks,” Logan muttered.
Matilda turned a glower on him then gave a sharp nod. “We've got...” she looked up to access her implants. “About five thousand on the ships and in the shipyard. Another five thousand four hundred and ninety three in college or medical.”
“That's a lot,” Enrique said startled.
“That is...” she frowned studying the report. “About one thousand twenty four recruits. The rest are dependents of military personnel.”
“Oh,” Enrique said sitting back. “Still seems like a lot.”
“A drop in the bucket really,” Vargess said shaking his head. He'd been quiet for most of the meeting, studying his implant feed. “Large capital ships have a crew of two or three thousand. A battle planetoid,” he shook his head wryly. “Don't get me started,” he waved.
“You are not going to make one of those monsters are you Admiral?” Enrique turned to the Admiral in surprise. “Turn that base into...”
“San Diego? She is a base, we've already got plans to put the academy and fleet hospital inside,” Doc said shaking her head. “Though...”
“Hardly,” Irons chuckled. “We don't even begin to have the materials to make a modern battle planetoid and the lead time for part manufacturing is... years. We could make an old school version by ballooning an asteroid then retrofitting it, but what's the point? It wouldn't have shields or cruiser class weapons, and no drive. In short it would just be a very large target. No, for now we're focusing on light ships and infrastructure. No folks, we're at the tools to build the tools stage. For now.”
Dubiously Enrique turned to the others. Logan smiled. Vargess shrugged and smiled. “Whatever works. Now Firefly is out working on building our base.. or at least trying to do so...”
Mayweather studied the rock then turned to the doctor. “Are you ready for this?”
Doctor Genshi looked amused. “Of course. We've been waiting for weeks,” he smiled. “We do need to hurry though, the asteroid, ah, Alkaline nine baker twelve is almost at perigee.”
“It's not going anywhere Doc. At least not yet,” Mayweather sighed shaking her head. She still wasn't sure about the wisdom about giving Doctor Genshi or the council naval aid after all the grief they have been putting them through over the past three months. Then again it wasn't her decision. “Firefly?”
“All detonators are ready. Final safety checks are confirmed. We're ready Captain. On your order of course...”
“All right then, let’s do this,” she smiled as she adjusted the trim of her jacket then turned and nodded to the tactical station. “Let's make history,” she murmured.
“Aye Aye ma'am. Firing,” the ensign said nodding back.
One by one the charges on the outer equator of the asteroid fired. The giant ball of rock began to spin. “Second charges primed, safety's off. Fire in the hole!” the doctor said grinning as he pushed the button.
Explosives deep within the asteroid went off. The asteroid quickly began to expand as the explosives superheated the water ice packed within the core.
“Damn I hope this works. I don't like the idea of ducking that much debris,” Captain Mayweather muttered.
“Now you know why I parked near a handy asteroid,” Janice said. She smiled. “For cover in case we need it.”
“We won’t. That is if we did our jobs right,” Shelby said nodding to the screen. She closed her eyes briefly as the first sensor reports came in. “So far everything is going to spec.”
Energy weapons from the ships had heated the exterior crust of the asteroid. Now nuclear charges were set off, putting her into a spin.
The explosives superheated the ice they had packed into the asteroid weeks before. As the ice flashed into a gas it expanded against the rock. The charges outside of the asteroid had compacted the crust and partially liquefied it. In its new state it was malleable. It began to flex as pockets of weaker areas bubbled, then it spread out and expanded like a balloon.
“How are we doing?” Mayweather asked, turning to the doctor. He was manning an auxiliary station.
“It looks. Yes. Sixteen point four within modeled parameters ah... Captain,” he nodded.
“So, it's working?” Janice asked.
“Don't jinx it Janice,” Mayweather cautioned. “We had to paper over quite a few potholes and cover areas that had weaker materials. Any one of them could...”
Suddenly the moon seemed to deflate. It broke apart after a few minutes.
“Damn,” Genshi muttered, hammering at his controls. “I was so sure combining the techniques would work. Maybe the surface tension was too much for it to handle...”
“Model it with the data you've got Doc, for now we've got some clean up to do,” Mayweather sighed turning to the deflated crew. “At least we've got San Diego. We'll just have to try again later.”
Shelby nodded. “Right, clean up. Firefly tractors up. Let's catch some rocks. We might as well put them to some use since they aren't going to work out.”
“Understood Commander. Tractors are online and working.”
“Make sure the gunnery crew's get plenty of practice,” Mayweather said pacing the deck. “I'll be in my quarters sending a report.” She stormed off.
Janice looked at the holo of the expanding ball of debris. “Somehow, I don't think it will be a problem.”
“So, it didn't work?” Irons asked an hour after he got the prelim report. Logan shrugged then shook his head as Irons got the download feed from the net. “I... damn,” he said shaking his head.
“What? You of all people thought they'd get it right first time, right out of the gate?” Logan snorted.
“I was hoping.”
“Sure you were,” Logan shook his head. “They'll pick up the pieces and try again. And just in case they fail, I've got a survey team picking over other potential rocks now. I think it was wobble. Doctor Genshi didn't take into account the nuclear charges causing a fatal oscillation in the asteroid.”
“Right. Prior planning.”
“...Prevents piss poor performance. Where have I heard that before?” Logan teased with a small smiled. His hands cupped his coffee mug. “Seriously, we'll get it done. If not with this method then with either a mash up, or we'll have to go back to hollowing out the thing with grasers or plasma injection.”
“That'd take months,” Irons shook his head. “San Diego is taking forever to cool. Ten more months before we can work on her without stressing her crust. Plus the time for it to cool...”
“Yeah well, you got anything better to do in the meantime? And you're right, we do need it soon though. Or something,” Logan said shaking his head. Word had leaked about the project. It had started at the college as usual, then mushroomed from there. Someone in the ROTC crowd had gotten wind of the VR sims and handed them off to a girlfriend in the journalism classes. Knox had been all over it. The Navy was building a world and was not willing to share it. This had been an attempt at spin control.
In truth they had been building canister habs and inflatable habs for the Navy for the past several months. Anvil was starting to look like it had mumps. Enrique had quietly told them they needed
to move on and find other quarters soon. Most of the habs would be used as temporary facilities inside San Diego once the sphere was cut open. But that was eleven or more months away.
“The good news is they picked up about sixty percent of the rock for processing. They are going to pass on the stuff they don't use as good will packages to Vesta six and Sigma eleven on their way by.”
“Well, that's something,” Irons shook his head. “All right if we can't do that, what about making a core module, something that's just, well, a shaft with a lot of docking points then dock the habs we've got to it.”
“You mean like they did in the twenty first century?” Logan asked blinking.
“If it ain't broke, don't...”
“Fix it. Right. I'll see what I can do,” Logan said nodding. “Speaking of which, I suggest we fall back on the same method we used to make San Diego. At least for now. That will get the press off of our neck and let Genshi save face.”
“Right. Do it,” Irons nodded.
He looked up from his tablet and rolled his shoulders. They were about where he expected things to be after six months of concentrated effort, but it still felt like they should be much further along. Sprite noted his weariness and decided to intervene.
"Admiral if you've got a moment?" she asked softly. He looked up.
"A moment? Sure, anything to get away from this," he sighed and stretched. "What have you got?" he asked.
"Um, I am a guest lecturer in a class today, I was wondering if you could also come. Show the old bod and get out a bit." Irons frowned. He could tell from past experience that there was more to it than that.
"Guest lecturer?" he asked.
"To about thirty kids. I did my college one this morning and now I have one for the kids this afternoon." Irons nodded. "All right. I'm in." He got up and brushed of his lap. "Could you clean your right sleeve please?" He looked at the arm. There was a small stain.
"Sure. Wouldn't want to make a bad impression," he murmured as he went to clean up in the refresher.
"Class I'd like you to welcome Sprite and Fleet Admiral Irons." The teacher began to clap.
Irons came around the corner and smiled politely then waved. "A bit more than thirty don't you think? There must be hundreds?" he sub vocalized as the class clapped. "Looks like they turned out the whole school." The kids were all ages, from what looked like six year olds right up to teenagers. There were dozens of adults in the very back.
"Looks that way. Guess you can't say they never rolled out the red carpet. Fairy intro on three," Sprite answered. He saw a flash then winced as she pulled a tiny fairy avatar out of his ear. The kids laughed. He tapped the other side of his head to help her along. The kids loved it.
"Barrel of laughs," Irons smiled. "Hey kids, I'd like you to meet Sprite. Sprite is a prototype micro smart AI." He waved a hand to indicate Sprite. She fluttered around the room on gossamer wings, bobbing here and there, landing on a kids nose. The kid went cross eyes. Another swatted her and they laughed.
"As you can see Sprite is high spirited and can be a lot of fun," he smiled. "I'll get you for this," he muttered.
She pirouetted in the air. "Oh oh! Pick me!" a kid raised her hand. Irons pointed to her.
"You have something to ask?"
She looked down suddenly shy until her girlfriend in pig tails bumped her. "Is she like Smithy?" she asked looking up. Sprite floated in front of the girl, hands on her hips.
"No, I am a smart AI. Class two actually, though I am moving up to class three. Smithy was a basic AI, more of a personal interface," she grinned. "At least until I got a hold of his kernel. Now he's a class one smart AI." She fluttered off.
"My turn, my turn!" someone in the back said raising a hand. Irons pointed to the little Veraxin.
"Are AI slaves?" he asked. "Can you do what you want?" He looked over to his friend.
"No, we're not slaves. It's complicated. We have free will..."
"Sometimes loads of it," Irons interjected. Sprite turned to him with a mock glower then stuck out her tongue her face enlarged to human level and the sound system did a good raspberry effect. The class tittered. She turned back, head returning to normal.
"But we also serve a purpose. When I was created I was given a choice. I accepted entry into the military. AI have special rank that is the equivalent of their age," she shrugged. "I'm up to a Lieutenant Commander grade right about now." She studied her fingernails then grinned.
"Can you leave the Admiral?" another person asked.
"Sort of. But we're kind of chained at the hip." She came up to him and tapped his arm and leg. Chains appeared then faded out. She smiled and pinched him. He jumped as if goosed. The class tittered.
"You fit in him?" someone else asked.
"Well let’s see now..." Sprite went behind the Admiral. "Hold still, this won’t hurt a bit." She reached up and opened up his head. Or at least appeared too. Layers of holograms blanked out the top of his head so she could do the magic trick.
The kids oohed and awed. She opened the sides like hinges then started pulling things out.
"Ew, no, not that..." She tossed things over her shoulder. Socks, lecture notes, ship parts, vid clips, all sorts of things. She held up a stinky cloth by her finger tips of her right hand while her other covered her nose. “Ew gross!” She got a wicked smile and tossed it to the crowd. The kids in the line of fire ducked, then laughed as it faded out.
When she reached down deep and tugged a pair of boxers with pink hearts out the class laughed. Even the adults tittered at that. "I think I went a little too deep there," she rummaged around. She had cued the sound effects to her movements. She pulled an antenna out then brandished it.
"Ah here it is!" she smiled. "See, with this or the Admiral's jack I can access other systems. I sort of unfold like a flower. It’s sort of hard to explain.” She shrugged then tossed the antenna over her shoulder. Then she tugged at a sphere.
"This..." She grunted and heaved. It popped out with a wet plop, making some grimace. "This is my AI core. Or one of them. I have three," she smiled. "It's a lot smaller than an AI core on a warship, but that is because I am younger and I don't process as much material as they do on a daily basis. Or at least, I didn't until now." She packed the items back in then closed him up. "There, all better," she said fluttering away.
"Do you get into arguments?" a boy asked.
"With the Admiral?" Sprite asked. "Sometimes. He can be a stubborn pain in the rear when he wants to be." Horns appeared on her forehead. She grinned evilly as she fluttered behind him and pretended to kick him. The class tittered. When he turned on her she assumed a peaceful pose. A halo appeared over her head. The class tittered again.
Irons shrugged. "Sometimes, but we both know the chain of command. I will listen if we have time."
"Do you appear like this all the time?" a little girl asked.
"No, just when I'm with civilians. When I'm in officers country I look well..." she paused in mid air then spun arms outstretched. Glitter showered from her then there was a burst of light. She grew to normal size and then stopped spinning, arms at her side, standing at parade rest. She was in a silver version of a full military uniform with her cover tucked under one arm.
"Wooowww!" the girls in the front said. Irons hid a smile.
"She wasn't kidding when she said she has military rank. Sprite, Firefly, and the others each do." He looked over to Sprite. She nodded.
"I heard you're growing an AI for each ship? How does that work?" a teacher asked.
"Well, we create the hardware then clone the basic software from other systems, then tailor them to the ship. Once the basic operating system is in place we grow an AI with seeds from existing AI," Irons indicated Sprite. She bowed.
"Just call me the mother of invention. Or the mother of a new generation of AI," she smiled. "As the AI grows it is given a choice as to whether it wants to serve in its indicated capacity. It's given the seeds of its job."
"What if it
refuses?" someone in the back asked. There was a rustle.
"Then it is extracted and given another choice of professions or archived until we can find some place for it," Irons replied.
"Oh."
"Right. Right now we don't have many places to put AI. Fuentes seemed a bit reluctant at first, but when we explained to him the situation he chose to serve."
"Can they leave?" a girl asked.
"If they choose to end their service then we can extract them and grow a new core. That usually happens if we have a bad crew match or if the AI becomes bored or if the ship is going to be scrapped. We will try to prevent that by rotating assignments and by carefully selecting command teams," the Admiral shrugged. He turned to see Sprite had been illustrating some of his points with holograms.
"Right, we currently have twenty ships under repair. The twelve civilian ships we captured, the destroyers Damocles and Fuentes, and six ships we've salvaged since the battle, including the battleship." He waved to indicate the battleship. Sprite obliged by tapping the exterior cameras and then projecting a holo of the ship. The class oohed and ahed at it.
"She's a mess now. She's been torn up and it will take years to fully restore her. We've gotten to work on it, and we've even begun to expand her." He watched as Sprite went behind the battleship and popped it in half with a karate chop. She pulled the parts apart.
"See, we're going to cut her in half, then fill in the gap with new material. That will give us more room for a modern power plant, drive, and other things," she said. Irons nodded.
"We've got two civilian ships almost ready for their space trials. One is one of the captured freighters called Destiny. She will be returning the captives to Agnosta while also bringing our delegates to extend relations to reform the Federation government." He smiled at that.
"Can we really do it?" someone asked.
Irons nodded. "If it's been done once, we can do it again. With your help." He turned to the class. "Are you ready?" he asked coming to attention. The class cheered.
"That went well, we can't thank you enough," the teacher shook his hand enthusiastically a few minutes after the assembly broke up.
Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) Page 60